3DS Critic Reviews

It’s not a revolutionary title by any means, but in terms of nostalgia value it accomplishes what it set out to do.

Chronus Arc is competent RPG that fails to deliver on one of the most important aspects of the genre: the story.

Chronus Arc may not be anywhere near as desirable as some of the other latest RPG releases, but for the price, it still manages to deliver a somewhat enjoyable traditional and recognisable Japanese role-playing experience.

Dedicated fans of the JRPG genre, especially those of you who grew up playing SNES, might be able to find at least some fun with Chronus Arc based on the fact it delivers a mostly competent version of the sights, sounds, and gameplay mechanics of the era. However, when you delve any deeper than that nostalgic veneer the experience feels rather hollow.

The overall difficulty level is low and will not pose any problem for players with a bit of experience, which inadvertently ends up throwing the game against the expectations of its target audience of players longing for RPGs from the early 1990s. Chronus Arc ends up falling significantly below its potential in several fields.

At first I was enraged when I started to get killed all the time. Then I figured out how to just grind, and the game became easy again until the final boss demanded further statistic embellishment to take down. Now that I have experienced the entirety of a Kemco title, I too understand why this constantly-reviled publisher gets so much flak. Maybe other games under the Kemco banner are better: it wouldn't be hard.

There’s nothing to actually recommend about Chronus Arc. Fans of 16-bit and earlier JRPGs won’t get the nostalgic rush they might hope for from this game because it’s so artificially put together it feels more like an insult to the memory of those games than a celebration of them.

Chronus Arc is an awful game. It is a grind from start to finish. The story either doesn’t make sense or is boring. The retro graphics are just lazy. It isn’t engaging and you would probably have a more enriching experience watching paint dry or the washing machine go round.