So, after playing Sengoku Rance, this game was recommended to me, so here it is. I actually beat this quite a while ago, but I've just been too busy. As I write the review, I've only played through it once and gotten one of the endings. I haven't had time to go through a second time, thus judging by how long the first time took.
So, let's give out a bit of background about this game. It is much older (released in 2003) than Sengoku Rance and some small features, like skipping text at specific times, was much more crude. On top of that, the process of saving and general "turn style" was much more simplistic. This leaves me slightly jaded while reviewing, since it is always hard to compare older games with newer ones. I mean, Tetris is a classic, but compared to some of the shittier games coming out now, it just doesn't hold a candle. I'll mostly be comparing this to Sengoku Rance, since it is the same genre and I am still relatively new to this type of game.
 |
| I wanted a screen cap of an early moment in the game, but I don't have a save file of that... D: |
Gameplay
So, this one played in a similar manner to Sengoku Rance. It had zones that you had to conquer, much like Rance, but with just a bit more simplistic system. The order in which you cycled through the phases was set, rather than in Rance where I was free to do what I wanted in the order I pleased. It is split in to the infrastructure phase, talking phase, unit placement phase and then, finally, battle phase. The rather crude engine pulled back the game, but I have a natural bias with games that are semi-tactical. This game proved much more difficult than Rance, due to the time limits. I was forced to restart the game from scratch because I didn't have an older save and I had taken too long. I was only short two turns, too... D: It was definitely fun learning the ropes slowly, regardless of the crude engine.
~7.5/10
Story
I think this part is rated so high due to my inexperience with this genre. I find back stories for all the characters important. A game of such genre needs you to learn their story to unlock their CG. I do it more to learn about the character, though. Having each character explained really helps the story. The main storyline had the basic generic shounen base and played out as such. I wouldn't say it was anything amazing, but it was a well-woven story, which is what you ultimately look for in your stories.
~9/10
Graphics
I gotta say, this was pretty much the same as Rance and pretty much the same as every other game of this genre. It was simple sprite-based stuff, so I guess the only fair way to rate this is to give it the same thing as Sengoku Rance. I am playing this game as a regular game, rather than an eroge, so I must rate it lower in comparison to games of this age.
~5/10
Sound
I'm still not a big fan of this. There were only a few games where sound made a difference, such as in The World Ends With You since it played pop music. Otherwise, the background-ish music just doesn't appeal to me.
N/A
Replayability
This is high, if you want to unlock all the CG and beat it in Hard Mode. I personally haven't tried Hard Mode yet, but you would need a high score for it. You would at least want to play through the game twice, just to get both endings, which I haven't done. They could have added more things to unlock, like in Sengoku Rance, but this is still highly replayable.
~8/10
Personal Satisfaction
Well, this one isn't hard. This is a genre I enjoyed quite a bit; combined with back stories for all the characters, this is placed high in my book. I am extremely biased when it comes to games of this type, and pretty much rate them all high because of it. Well, anyway, this section is supposed to be biased. XD
~10/10
Overall
It's a nice game to sink a good 15-20 hours into. I quite enjoyed this, with the strategic RPG elements I look for in a game. I guess the biggest thing for me is still hitting that perfect genre. This was a slightly cruder version of Sengoku Rance, but it was still quite enjoyable. I recommend trying it out; if not for the ero parts, then just for the RPG elements to it.
Final Score [8/10]
Here are some final links, if you're interested in the game:
Link to actual game (torrent, DDL)
Link to translation patch
Wiki for the game
Enjoy!
~Pearz
