Greetings, all! Welcome to the newest edition of the most entertaining and fast-paced review action this side of ANYTHING! This month, I shall be discussing five games that I found in a deep dark hole in Maryland whilst on one of my many many traveling adventures. Everyone, READ ON! And be enlightened.
Sigma Star (GBA)
If you’re like me, you may have thought that the era of great shooting-stuff-with-ships games, such as Zero Wing and the like, was long dead. But like me, you would be WRONG! Sigma Star brings back the beloved genre and mixes it with everyone’s favorite gimmick: a leveling system! Now, levels don’t really do much. In this game, they just make you a bit stronger and take a bit more damage. The one thing about this game that really will keep you playing, besides the “old-school” feel, is the wonderful customization that you have concerning your ship’s weaponry. You can customize the directions, bullets, and impact types with almost 30 different choices for each. While many of the possibilities are kinda of useless, there are still a load of them that are very useful and can give you a few options even at the highest levels. Besides the jet-blasting levels, there is also a pretty intriguing story and some ground-level destruction thrown in. However, that is just filler to get you to you next super explosion!
Captain Eric’s Super Thumbs Say… Thumbs Up
Growlanser 3 (PS2)
With some great storylines and some spiffy battle engines, it is not hard to see why this series deserved a third game. The movement and travel is a lot like in other RPGs, where mini-versions of your main characters stroll around a gigantic map and are throw into random encounters with vicious baddies. The battles are a lot like strategy RPG battles, save for the lack the grid. Your characters can walk all over the battlefield and perform other actions that take up time in your battle cycle. Once it’s done, rinse and repeat until all the enemies have gone kersplat. Different characters will join you in your quest, and the unique interactions and decisions you can make with these characters really add a whole nother fun and interesting twist to the already snazzy story.
Captain Eric’s Super Thumbs Say.. Thumbs Up
Unlimited SaGa (PS2)
So, are you in the mood for one kick-ass epic adventure? An RPG that will let you save the world and feel SUPREME power?? Well, you might want to skip this game, because, while it may provide all that, you’d have a better chance of ending up at your local asylum than getting there. Now, the classic turn-based RPGs have been around for ages, so I guess you can’t fault a company for trying to add some new ideas into the genre. Unfortunately, whatever they were smoking when they came up with the ideas for this game just wasn’t the right stuff. Walking around the world has been replaced with some sorta board gameish transportation style that will sometimes see you being attacked and facing off against the baddies, or sometimes trying to outsmart some traps. Towns have been replaced with menus of what you wish to do. Hit points? You have those, but how much they actually matter never became apparent in my adventures. On the other hand, healing does seem to be a big problem, so it is probably not a bad thing. But in the end, this game is just too weird, and the developers might have been better off sticking to what is actually playable.
Captain Eric’s Super Thumbs Say.. Thumbs Down
Rygar (PS2)
Now, back on the good ol’ NES, Rygar was one of my favorite games; I rented it like five times in a row. So I had some expectations for this game that, realistically, I did not think were going to be met. However, when I started playing this game, I was quite pleased with the gameplay and feel of it. Since the time of Rygar, a lot about video games has vastly improved, yet this game still maintains the old game’s platformy feel while also providing great new aspects and customizations that make sure the game doesn’t feel outdated at all. It’s a pretty straightforward game where you beat the baddies with your swinging shield and complete the various tasks at hand, getting power ups and new skills as you advance, such as new shields with different ranges as well as new jumps and slides and all of those fun things. At the very least, it should keep you entertained.
Captain Eric’s Super Thumbs Says… Thumbs Up
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
I must admit that the idea of playing an action RPG featuring some of Disney’s most famous cartoons…wasn’t really that appealing to me. However, I played this game anyway, and, well it’s even less fun than it sounds. Now, there are a lot of actionish RPGs around nowadays, where you level up and such. It’s not that hard to make slicing stuff up and gaining power good times for all, right? Well, this game somehow manages to complicate that basic formula. First off, your weapon of choice is…a key. A giant one, but still, a key. Who would fear the almighty power of a KEY? And not any key, some maaagical special key that has to be used with cards and numbers to effectively bash stuff. Throw in the fact that your spells consist of summoning Disney cartoons, and it’s just not a game I could really get into.
Captain Eric’s Super Thumbs Says… Thumbs Down
Well, I would like to thank you all for reading yet another edition, because I know it more than met your already lofty standards as the greatest article in the history of articles. You just keep coming back, and I shall keep on delivering! Until next time, behold the power of THUMB.
