Hoooo boy I have a lot to say about this game. This is not going to be a pretty review. First off I should say that this is part of a trilogy with the other two games I've played. El Viento was fun if a bit flawed but it's enjoyable. Earnest Evans was OK though some hate it but regardless they aren't the worst games you could play. Meanwhile this one, it's just, dear lord...
So this is now a beat em up unlike the last two games which were action sidescrollers. You play as Anett once again as you go through stages fighting enemies and bosses until the credits roll. Now folks I like to usually list positives for games even if they're small but I'm going to be real here, there's so much wrong with this game.
First off, your moveset is very limiting like you have about like 6 moves. It doesn't even have a special that drains a bit of your health or even one of those weak air moves by holding down. The game also uses magic and this breaks the game in half. Finished a section? Don't worry, just stand still for a little while and boom you got magic that can finish the next wave in seconds. I also wanna point out the magic animations are horrific. These are so far from the quality of animations that were featured in Golden Axe's magic abilities. Now some might argue that it's lame to do a strat like this but to me, if your other combat options aren't interesting or fun, why does it even matter?
The game as a whole just feels really unfinished, in fact it most definietly was because apparently if you look at older images of this game on BEEP! Sega Magazine or whatever it's called, you'll find out the game had a completely different look for it's gameplay stuff that was changed very late into development. There was even an EXP system.
But still with what they have done you have the likes of every enemy having the same male scream or the same scream as Anett. Look at how enemies will just get stuck on places with their awful AI pathing. Just be amazed at how easy to get enemies stuck in a loop or even yourself because no one of the team went and give you a second of i-frames. Spend 5 years just standing still waiting for the enemies to get on screen seriously how does this even happen? The running jump attack has such a huge hitbox that I'm convinced enemies just get hurt from the near shock of it. Why does every stage start with Anett falling from no where off screen. You gotta love how one time I landed right next to a boss that hit me with no way to dodge it in any reaction time. Grabbing and throwing just has like no sound effects in fact why is the game so quiet when it comes to sound effects. Why does the game go dead silent for the last 30 seconds of the credts?? Why do enemies just love to attack nothing like I'm expected to run into it? Why is the title screen not only silent, has no background but then the options screen just has a random screencap of one of the cutscenes?? I know I just mentioned the game was rushed but did the higher ups just not noticed how obviously flawed the whole game is? I guess it was some forced deadline because the whole experience is just horrible. It's not even funny like some of Earnest Evans.
The only part of the game that actually feels finished is the story and it's about as good looking as Earnest Evans was on the Sega CD. It was in Japanese so sadly I couldn't understand it at all. There is a subbed playthrough on Youtube so maybe I'll check that out later. It seems to end like there could be more but there was never a sequel so guess that'll never get resolved.
The game itself is nothing outstanding, it definitely doesn't take advantage of the Mega CD unless I'm dumb and didn't notice it. Nothing about it sticks out well to be interesting and the magic like I said earlier is animated horribly. The cutscenes really are the only competent part of the presentation. The music isn't too bad though but I think the other games had better music. Certainly doesn't get award for sound effects that's for damn sure!
Guys and gals, don't play this game. At most just watch the cutscenes on Youtube and be done with it. I can't even say it's worth playing to laugh at it. I think learning about its development just makes me feel bad. Like I list all these negatives and I'm sure they knew it sucked. It's such a tragic end to a series that was never outstanding to begin with. Actually there was going to be another game...you might know where this is heading. So have any of you ever heard of Valis X? It was a hentai multi-part visual novel for the Valis series that is so bad the fanbase basically just pretend it never happened. Even hentai enthusiasts in Japan don't enjoy it. They were also going to do this for this franchise so yes we really could have gotten the final game as a NSFW visual novel game. As bad as this was for the finale of the series, it somehow could have been worse. Anett deserved so much better, damnit!
So this is now a beat em up unlike the last two games which were action sidescrollers. You play as Anett once again as you go through stages fighting enemies and bosses until the credits roll. Now folks I like to usually list positives for games even if they're small but I'm going to be real here, there's so much wrong with this game.
First off, your moveset is very limiting like you have about like 6 moves. It doesn't even have a special that drains a bit of your health or even one of those weak air moves by holding down. The game also uses magic and this breaks the game in half. Finished a section? Don't worry, just stand still for a little while and boom you got magic that can finish the next wave in seconds. I also wanna point out the magic animations are horrific. These are so far from the quality of animations that were featured in Golden Axe's magic abilities. Now some might argue that it's lame to do a strat like this but to me, if your other combat options aren't interesting or fun, why does it even matter?
The game as a whole just feels really unfinished, in fact it most definietly was because apparently if you look at older images of this game on BEEP! Sega Magazine or whatever it's called, you'll find out the game had a completely different look for it's gameplay stuff that was changed very late into development. There was even an EXP system.
But still with what they have done you have the likes of every enemy having the same male scream or the same scream as Anett. Look at how enemies will just get stuck on places with their awful AI pathing. Just be amazed at how easy to get enemies stuck in a loop or even yourself because no one of the team went and give you a second of i-frames. Spend 5 years just standing still waiting for the enemies to get on screen seriously how does this even happen? The running jump attack has such a huge hitbox that I'm convinced enemies just get hurt from the near shock of it. Why does every stage start with Anett falling from no where off screen. You gotta love how one time I landed right next to a boss that hit me with no way to dodge it in any reaction time. Grabbing and throwing just has like no sound effects in fact why is the game so quiet when it comes to sound effects. Why does the game go dead silent for the last 30 seconds of the credts?? Why do enemies just love to attack nothing like I'm expected to run into it? Why is the title screen not only silent, has no background but then the options screen just has a random screencap of one of the cutscenes?? I know I just mentioned the game was rushed but did the higher ups just not noticed how obviously flawed the whole game is? I guess it was some forced deadline because the whole experience is just horrible. It's not even funny like some of Earnest Evans.
The only part of the game that actually feels finished is the story and it's about as good looking as Earnest Evans was on the Sega CD. It was in Japanese so sadly I couldn't understand it at all. There is a subbed playthrough on Youtube so maybe I'll check that out later. It seems to end like there could be more but there was never a sequel so guess that'll never get resolved.
The game itself is nothing outstanding, it definitely doesn't take advantage of the Mega CD unless I'm dumb and didn't notice it. Nothing about it sticks out well to be interesting and the magic like I said earlier is animated horribly. The cutscenes really are the only competent part of the presentation. The music isn't too bad though but I think the other games had better music. Certainly doesn't get award for sound effects that's for damn sure!
Guys and gals, don't play this game. At most just watch the cutscenes on Youtube and be done with it. I can't even say it's worth playing to laugh at it. I think learning about its development just makes me feel bad. Like I list all these negatives and I'm sure they knew it sucked. It's such a tragic end to a series that was never outstanding to begin with. Actually there was going to be another game...you might know where this is heading. So have any of you ever heard of Valis X? It was a hentai multi-part visual novel for the Valis series that is so bad the fanbase basically just pretend it never happened. Even hentai enthusiasts in Japan don't enjoy it. They were also going to do this for this franchise so yes we really could have gotten the final game as a NSFW visual novel game. As bad as this was for the finale of the series, it somehow could have been worse. Anett deserved so much better, damnit!
2 Comments
The running jump attack is basically this
wafflesforleah
1 year ago
The train level looked kinda neat though hahaha