Legend of Xanadu

~ THE LEGEND OF XANADU ~

Falcom / NEC Home Electronics

Super CD-ROM

1994

A number of years have passed since I first beat this action-RPG. I loved it so much back then that I actually found its brilliant sequel just a bit disappointing when I gave it a try shortly thereafter. The first game is about ten times longer and twenty times more difficult; it's an incredible epic that dwarfs the beautiful-but-brief followup in scope, and trekking through it made for one of the most satisfying game completions I've ever experienced.

But I do need to stress the "long and difficult" aspect. This probably shouldn't be your first Japanese adventure game; it's definitely one of the toughest to be found for the PC Engine. But if you've been through a few Blood Gears, Eferas, and Magicoals already, then you certainly should try your hand at this title. I just finished playing through it for the third time, and there was hardly any consternation this go--partly because it's a very memorable game and a lot of it has stuck with me, partly because I can understand some of the Japanese now, and partly because I experienced plenty of other JPN RPGs in the interims. Nonetheless, it was still quite a challenge--and I loved it just the same.

95% of the adventure is composed of Ys-esque fast-paced overhead-view action that has you knock enemies off by crashing into them. There are so many people to speak with, tasks to complete, puzzles to solve, and dungeons to explore that the whole affair can be quite overwhelming for the PCE RPG neophyte. And some players may be turned off by the need to go back and forth between locations while they try to trigger the next significant event. But if you dig the Ys style of play and you're willing to engage in some trial and error, you should derive plenty of enjoyment from LoX. And while the game is fetch-quest-based material at its core, the interesting missions one must undertake--from holding secret meetings on a slave farm late at night to pursuing diplomatic relations with a tribe of yetis--make one forget about the basic go-there-and-come-back sequencing.

Then there are the sidescrolling hack-and-slash scenes, which feature plenty of parallax and large, well-drawn bosses. You've got to see these sequences in motion to get a sense of just how beautiful they really are. They're full-fledged action stages, not mere side-view boss fights like LoX2 offers. And they can be pretty difficult at times--as if the overhead stuff weren't hard enough!

It all culminates with the most incredible game labyrinth ever created, a massive thirty-two-floor tower. This is a true triumph of dungeon design, a maze containing so many traps, secrets, and puzzles that it can drive players mad. You actually don't need to know any Japanese in order to conquer and enjoy it. You just need to keep your wits about you, pay close attention to your surroundings, and use plenty of brain power.

Yes, this game is killer. Most of the music isn't red book, but it's fantastic nonetheless; and hell, even the cute start-up screen rules.

The only complaint I have concerns something I thought was neat the first few times I played the game. LoX keeps track of its imaginary land's time of day; and naturally, townspeople go to sleep at night. This is cool in concept and allows for some interesting events to take place, but it sucks to be in a position where you need to talk to someone who has just hit the sack, and it's easy to miss things like cave entrances when it's really dark at night. (I should note, however, that there are ways to accelerate the cycle.)

But that's a minor gripe. The game kicks ass, pure and simple. You might want to play LoX2 first, however, as it's much easier to get into and complete. In any event, this one is very cheap, so purchase it and accept its challenge if you enjoy action-RPGs and have some experience with Japanese ones.

Bonk 3 CD: Bonk's Big Adventure

RED/Hudson Soft - 1993 - U.S.A.

Super CD-ROM

Bonk 3 CD is a perfect example of why the TurboGrafx/TurboDuo failed in the US. Instead of focusing on developing new cutting edge titles, TTi was wasting their time attempting to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with. Those of you who've read my review of the HuCard version of this game will understand that my critique here is not reflective of the game itself, but rather the enigma that is the CD version.

Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure already proved itself a worthy outing with the release of the cartridge earlier in 1993. For whatever reason, TTi felt motivated to try to one-up this release with a "new and improved" CD version of the same game. Maybe to try to push the CD format and the Duo in the process? Not likely, since by the end of 1993 the writing was already on the wall for the console. We may never know the motivation here, but that's beside the point.

Bonk 3 CD addresses the "shortcomings" of the HuCard version by adding a redbook soundtrack and some extra 2 player bonus rounds. Wait a minute.... Oh, that's right, the cart version already had a fine soundtrack and plenty of bonus rounds. At least it should be a no brainer that a redbook soundtrack would automatically destroy a set of lowly chiptunes. .....Right?

The redbook tracks are recomposed versions of the same tunes using "real" instruments which in itself isn't a bad thing, but there are some serious mixing issues that shouldn't have been allowed to make it out the door. First and foremost: someone forgot to equalize the volume of the music tracks. So what, you ask? So a number of the tracks are mixed at such a high volume that they completely and totally drown out all sound effects. Combined with the fact that some tunes (like the short "invincible" jingle) are still chiptunes, and relatively quiet in comparison, makes transition from one to the other extremely jarring. To make matters worse, TTi saw fit to add environmental noises to some of the stages to "complement" the atmosphere. These effects are repeated over and over at 2 second intervals for the duration of the levels. Like many of the redbook tracks, these clips are played at ear-splitting decibels. I don't know about you, but I can do without 30 clips per minute of a bird chirping or "wind" blowing against a microphone.

If there is one thing Bonk 3 is most famous for, it's the introduction of 2-player co-op play to the series. The standard HuCard version offers a fine co-op mode, but Bonk 3 CD takes it a step further by introducing special 2 player bonus rounds. Instead of mixing these with the standard bonus rounds, these have a real tacked-on feel, via randomly placed "VS." gates. I imagine these would be somewhat enjoyable in an actual 2 player game, but in 1 player mode you're pitted against a CPU AI. Problem is, the AI is so utterly stupid and useless that facing off in, say, "wrestling" is excruciatingly tedious. And what's with having to win 10 rounds of these things to move on? Without even so much as a score bonus upon victory, I found myself wondering what the point was.

A glimpse of the exciting new CD-exclusive content.

Worthy of note are the missing frames for angry Bonk when you are giant Bonk. Curiously missing from this CD edition, when Bonk eats meat while he is giant his appearance does not change like it should. In fact, he stays as normal Bonk despite possessing angry Bonk's normal abilities. Chalk up another point for TTi!

The Ugly Crab!

Rocket Man!

A little bit of attention to detail would have gone a long way with this release. You get the feeling the product was rushed out the door, and for what? The game was already out there on HuCard. It's a real shame because Bonk 3 is a really great game, and a properly done CD treatment would've been killer. Unfortunately, Bonk 3 CD proves itself to be a totally superfluous release, and with the ridiculous price it fetches these days on the used market (you can expect to pay hundreds of dollars), I can't think of a single justification for picking it up.

Tecmo World Cup Super Soccer

~ TECMO SOCCER ~

Tecmo / Media Rings

Super CD-ROM

1992

My curiosity is piqued whenever I see "Tecmo" at the beginning of a sports game's title, a phenomenon that exists only because of the brilliance of Tecmo Super Bowl, as many of the company's other endeavors within the genre resulted in utter awfulness. And I'm always up for trying Media Rings products, as they seldom fail to be interesting and sometimes achieve sleeper-level greatness; but porting a standard-looking soccer title didn't seem like a project that would grant the group much opportunity to showcase their ingenuity. What this means is that Tecmo World Cup Super Soccer intrigued me thanks to the names involved, but empirical evidence indicated a feast-or-famine result was imminent.

As it turns out, Tecmo Soccer is a rather middling title--playable and innocuous, sure... memorable, not in the least. It looks nice (except, perhaps, during gloomy rained-on matches), as it employs a small batch of bright colors and relatively large sprites. The animation is poor, and the scrolling, choppy; but the game still plays smoothly and at a decent (if not exactly exhilarating) pace. It isn't superior to the soccer games EA delivered for the Genesis, but it's solid in its own right, and it comes cheap.

There are a number of different nations you can represent, but the USSR isn't among them, unfortunately. I go with Argentina since it has always been like a second home to the Duomazovs.

Tinker with your formation before kick off. An offensive alignment really can help keep the ball in your opponent's zone, and you won't have to worry much about defense if you can maintain your assault. Once you've settled on a strategy, you can adjust the weather conditions.

This idiot wears the same outfit to every game regardless of said conditions.

Remember the old NHL Hockey games in which players would continually try to carry the puck down the rink sides to set up one-timers? The bicycle kick is Tecmo's one-timer and your best bet for scoring goals.

As in most other old sports games, playing goalkeeper is always an adventure.

Neat, I thought, a game where penalty kicks/shots don't employ the usual "fancy" close-up view. Then I remembered that the fancy close-up view is typically the only thing remotely cool about them.

Goals are appropriately hard to come by, so make them stand up. A single tally can prove decisive.

Kaze Kiri

Kaze Kiri

Naxat Soft - 1994 - Japan

Super CD-ROM

This game basically sums up everything I hate about people who collect video games. If you look around you'll find endless hype and ebay auctions ending at ludicrous prices, all because long ago some fucktard who could barely speak English posted a glowing review of this Kung-Fu remake on his website (a laughable collection of "reviews" where a game had to be a blank CDR to score less than a 80%). At the time there wasn't much for PC Engine info out there so all the other fucktards took it as gospel and immediately rushed to ebay to buy the game. To their dismay they found that it was slightly uncommon (when compared to say, Keith Courage), so the price immediately skyrocketed and a legend was born.

Unfortunately the legend is complete dog shit. This is easily one of the most boring, repetitive games I have ever played. I wasn't joking when I said it was a graphical remake of Kung-Fu-- Kaze Kiri is a carbon copy of Kung-Fu with really nice graphics and a few (and I mean literally "a few") new moves. It plays exactly the fucking same as a shit, boring game made in 1985. You've probably read some dufus reviewers talk about the "depth" of combat. This is totally made-up bullshit. Here's how every battle goes down-- you attack, the enemy blocks... and blocks... and blocks... then you get lucky and get a strike in, then you do it again until either yours or his life meter is empty. Repeat for every fight in the entire game. That's it, there's no reversals or parrying, the "depth" comes from a block button which only serves to make the experience like stripping all but 4 moves from Street Fighter II and then playing 100 matches in a row with someone who just stands in the corner and blocks the entire time.

Which brings me to the next problem-- you do all this without once ever seeing even the tiniest of bumps on the floor. Every part of this game is flat as fuck-- there isn't a single environmental obstacle in the entire game. Despite what the screen shots tell you, the reality is that everything which looks like interesting parts of the environment is purely background art. And there are 19 levels of this boring crap. 19 levels and not a single fucking platform or pit to break up the monotony-- for fuck's sake, even Kung-Fu at least had a staircase you could climb.

The graphics are definitely really, really nice, though. And hell, if walking left to right over a perfectly flat floor and engaging in protracted turtle-fights with the same 10 enemies for a couple hours is your idea of fun, then you'll have a blast with Kaze Kiri in between adult diaper changes and trying to forge a third digit on your IQ test results.