When Nintendo aim their system at the casual demographic it’s always weird when you find a super hardcore rogue-like RPG game ported from the Saturn. It might not sound like the best fit but that didn’t stop Sting Entertainment doing it.

Baroque takes place after an event called the blaze that changed the world as we know it. Set in 2032, humans have now been turned into Meta-Beings. These are people who have lost their minds & hearts to the Baroques. The protagonist must then travel to the bottom of the Neuro Tower while purifying Meta-Beings he encounters along the way. The game starts off in a very ambiguous way as the protagonist doesn’t remember who he is or what he’s done wrong. All you are told is that you are the only one who can purify these Meta-Beings.

Baroque is basically your average run of the mill rouge-like RPG except you can move in a full 3D environment & there aren’t turns. The key thing about the Neuro Tower is that it’s randomly generated. This can be a good thing in the genre as the action is always fresh but the controls & engine, in this case, seem fit to level it out. The controls are so basic that you can play on the Gamecube controller without any limitation. The intuitive controls that the Wii offers aren’t being used to their full potential and you can really tell. It begs the question why even release it on the Wii when there are many other platforms were it would appear more logical.

The visuals haven’t really received much work since the original and further makes you question the games release. The low-resolution textures that get repeated way too much, give an overall samey feel despite the randomly generated levels. Graphically the game still looks like a Saturn game and the animations haven’t been improved that much either. Characters & environment’s appear a whole lot more static then they should be.

The thing that put me off the game is the way it doesn’t help it’s self. The game’s sense of self-loathing makes it hard to get into on a quick pick up and play basis. This combined with the poor graphics & awkward controls makes it hard for me to recommend Baroque to anyone who isn’t a Rougelike RPG fan.

Meanwhile if you are you one, you should be able to see Baroque for what it is, a complex piece of storytelling that is wrapped up in a lack of execution. Baroque is conceptally a lot better than the actual result and that alone makes it hard for anyone new to the genre to enjoy.