Between Fire Emblem, Project X Zone, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and others the 3DS is hardly starved for turn based strategy games. While they all share some core mechanics, each of them has carved out their niche in the genre with their own intricacies that differentiate them from one another. The most recent turn-based strategy to hit the 3DS is Stella Glow from Imageepoch. With appealing character designs and an isometric perspective, Glow manages to avoid being just another RPG on the system.
Glow wears it’s anime style and JRPG influences on it’s sleeve. Our protagonist is a boy in his teens named Alto, he holds an amulet which ends up being important to the character development of his female co-star Lisette. He starts the game with amnesia, a horrible event happens in his hometown and he has to go on a quest larger than himself to save his townsfolk. While the introduction may feel a little rote, things definitely get more interesting as more characters are introduced. In this world, normal people cannot sing. Singing is the domain solely of Witches, as song contain hidden power which can be used for good or evil. The world is terrified of witches, fearing their powers of destruction. For good reason too, since the story begins with a Witch of Destruction trapping the citizens of Alto’s village in crystal. Lisette discovers that she is a Witch thanks to the mysterious amulet Alto has been holding onto, and our group leaves in search of more friendly Witches who might help restore the village to it’s normal state.
Aside from the visual novel style story scenes, the bulk of the actual play is an isometric turn based strategy affair, along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea. You and the opposing side’s characters take turns to make moves, moving to advantageous positions, directly attacking or using abilities and songs to attack, heal, buff and debuff the characters on the field. Positioning is important, as attacks from the back and side do more damage and can’t be countered. It is just as important to attack enemies from a favourable position as it is to avoid yourself being attacked from one, and it can take some thinking ahead to minimize the risk of your characters’ side or back being attacked. As the story progresses, more and more characters join the team, and each new character adds a variety of new options for strategically surviving and vanquishing foes. Learning how each character can be used to support your overall strategy is critical to success, and is a huge part of why the game is compelling over the long term as strategy games need to be.
When you’re not fighting on an isometric field, you’ll be spending free time in cities and towns. While here you have a set amount of time and can choose from a set of activities to fill the time. You can choose to explore the surrounding area for useful items, take on small jobs for money, check on your equipment and buy new pieces or upgrade the ones you have with supplementary orbs. Possibly the most important free time activity is spending time with other characters. Short scenes will play out where Alto learns a little more about each character, depending their bond of friendship and as a result the characters usually gain a new ability or stat boost. Along with levelling up and managing equipment, managing the relationship levels is crucial to developing each character for the battlefield. A little later on you will also gain the ability to ‘tune’ witches. Alto is able to reach into the girls’ hearts to help them with their innermost fears and concerns. This is done through a battle with special objectives, and unlocks particularly powerful abilities and songs for the girls to use in battle.
The Witch characters play hugely into Stella Glow’s presentation, defining the overall aesthetic for the game. The Witches all have interesting (if maybe a little tropey) personalities and their character designs are wonderful. They are all brightly coloured with vivid hair and outfits that make them stand out against the more standard knight and bandit characters. The Witches’ abilities affect the musical score of battles too, as when they use their powerful song abilities they become instant J-Pop idols and the standard dramatic battle music changes to an upbeat vibrant anthem for the duration of the attack. The idol pop themes are intertwined with the Witches’ singing abilities in a way that gives Stella Glow a style entirely different to it’s contemporaries in the genre, especially on the 3DS. On that note, headphones are absolutely recommended for this game. Whether it’s the more general dramatic military themes or moments of pop splendour, the speakers on the 3DS system really don’t do the sound justice.
Stella Glow sets itself apart from it’s handheld strategy peers chiefly with it’s strikingly colourful anime presentation and pop music themes. The strategy portions of the game feel different to most other 3DS strategy games thanks to these themes as well, as immensely powerful songs can both turn the tides of battle as well as completely redefining the mood of the scene. The combination of upbeat music, colourful character styles and varied strategy tactics make Stella Glow a game I’m happy to recommend.
Rating 4/5
