Recent reviews by fuzz

AI sucks and every feature is either incomplete, unbalanced or half-arsed

buy the bull

masterpiece

china simulator 2020

Music is good as always and stage bosses have cool 2nd forms

The main gameplay feature and selling point is supposed to be the "Double Gear" system, but honestly I only ever used speed gear with charged buster shot

Stages are not fun to play and are full on instadeath traps, with Torch Man's stage being the absolute worst. Wily stages and the final boss were underwhelming

The game is way overpriced for what it offers, even at half price

canada simulator

Unfinished and poorly balanced

+ the campaigns are fun
- the AI is some of the worst I've ever seen in a strategy game
- the game is buggy as ♥♥♥♥ and some of the quest bugs are game-breaking, forcing you to restart the entire map

Interesting enough for a dozen or so hours, which isn't much compared to other titles of the genre. Floors and enemies are lacking in variety and game balance is all over the place.

If you have never played the original, it was quite frankly a clunky action RPG with little action. You spend most of the combat either waiting for weapons to recharge, waiting for animations to finish so the damage calculation can catch up, charging up weapons, accessing the menu (which pauses the battle) or being effectively stunned by the numerous effects. Characters also get stopped when being targeted by spells, meaning you can stunlock any enemy (including bosses!) by repeatedly casting low MP cost spells over and over and over again, making fights trivially easy.

The ally AI is dumber than a pile of bricks, which back in the day meant that you would willingly hand over the 2nd controller to your little sister. She may not have been particularly good at the game, but at least she didn't get stuck in every single sharp corner on the map. That's also the reason why people have fond memories of the game: multiplayer. It was our first taste of an action RPG and the mechanics were simple enough for us to understand, meaning you could easily let a sibling or a friend grab a controller and play along.

As for the remake, the graphics have been updated to 3D models. They are relatively low in polygon count, but fit the overall aesthetic. However, the lighting/shaders used for the characters make the shading of the skin look unnatural for the otherwise cartoony look.

New music is a mixed bag. Most of it is good or passable, but there are some seriously awful renditions of the classic tunes, especially early in the game.

There is voice acting and short scenes when sleeping at the inn, giving the party some of that much needed characterization. The Japanese voice actors are relatively well-known and do a good job, especially Primm's and Popoi's.

The 40 euro price tag is ridiculous. It's simply not worth that much. Only buy on sale, if at all. Seiken Densetsu 3 significantly improved the series in virtually every way imaginable, and that's the real remake we're all waiting for, not this one.