Despite the decent visual package,
Alon D'ar begins to fall apart when it comes to the story and is decimated when it comes to gameplay. The story is one that any RPG player could recite by heart. A great, unspeakable evil is revived, and it's up to an unlikely, 'chosen' hero to save the world. As clich' as the set-up is,
Alon D'ar does manage to keep the story interesting enough for you to want to know more, but some questionable, okay - outright bad - gameplay decisions hamper you from wanting to play more.
The biggest problem is the half-baked combat system. Instead, of the menu and turn based systems we are used to seeing, Alon D'ar tries a modified, real-time system. While I will always applaud a company for trying something different, I will also be one of the first to point out the flaws and question why. As I played through the game, two glaring problems continued to pop up with the system. The first was that it didn't look like the monsters used the same combat system as you. After swinging a weapon, your character has to wait to 'charge' his attack. During this time, which varies depending on your proficiency with the weapon, you are not allowed to move or access your inventory. The problem is that enemies do not seem to have this problem and in the time it takes you to charge up a swing, they will pummel you. As the game progresses and you gain more powerful weapons and proficiencies, things become a little more tolerable. However, since you are so woefully under-powered at the start and it's so hard to level up, it's not very likely many players will make it far enough into the game to reap the benefits items like the 'Dragon' weapons.
The second problem is that combat itself is way too complicated, especially when you add members to your party. I had no problem flipping through the belt menus, but doing so while the enemies plug away at you is not fun and adds an unwanted sense of haste during battles. This is a problem however, that could be improved - but not fixed - with the addition of the multiplayer option. Just plug in another controller and then you only have two party members to worry about and not four.
Unlike other RPGs, Alon D'ar has no 'overworld' map and relies more on a 'real world' map - like in Aidyn Chronicles for the N64. Simply put, if you want to get from one town to another you better get to walking - something that is hard considering you have no map and just a vague sense of where to go, so count on blindly searching around for areas.
As dire as it seems, there are a few bright spots in Alon D'ar, like the weapons, magic, and 'hunt' quests, the bad just overshadows them so much it is hard to derive much enjoyment from them.
