The new Record of Agarest War game is a pretty good game with some interesting new gameplay features. Oddly, Record of Agarest War is available on the PS3 and Xbox 360 but in different formats. On the PS3 you can get Record of Agarest War as a download, but it is a big download at about 10gb. The Xbox 360 version is for sale on disc. This is a rather unique way to handle the distribution of a rather unique game.
If you do not really like Japanese anime, and manga you may still like Record of Agarest War. I am not a fan of anime or manga myself, but I enjoy the RPG gameplay of Record of Agarest War. One obviously foreign aspect of Record of Agarest War is that the English version of the game does not have English dubbing which is unfortunate and will be an issue for some who already are hesitant to get a very Japanese game.
Obviously fans of Japanese games, anime, and manga will love this game. If you are not a fan of Japanese pop culture you may still enjoy the game if you are a RPG fan. As an RPG one thing that I don’t like about it is the very old simple style of moving around the map. Even NES RPG games gave more choice in movement. the things about this game I do like far outweigh the things that I do not enjoy.
One innovation in the game is that you can use your characters to work together and use combos. So even if a player is not battling they can still be of use and it adds a level of complexity to the game. This is one aspect that gamers will likely be tinkering with to see what works best. The other innovation that I like is the introduction of dating sim play to the game. The dating sim idea may not work on all games but I think for RPG fans it is something that may not appeal to all players but certainly will have a following in the RPG community. Even if you are a RPG fan that does not like dating sims you will still enjoy using this new feature to create a new character.
I certainly think that this game is not for everyone. However I think Record of Agarest War will be well received in the RPG community for some of its new innovations which I think at least the system of combos will likely find its way into more RPGs. Besides the obvious RPG fans Record of Agarest War will also be popular with fans of Japanese pop culture, whether it is Japan only games, anime, or manga though most of the fans of one of those things are often fans of all the others. Being a download for the PS3 it is priced reasonably. Even as a standalone disc purchase it is reasonably priced especially since you would normally have to find it at a specialty store normally. Overall the Record of Agarest War video game is pretty good and I recommend it to RPG and Japan pop culture fans.