Xak III: The eternal recurrence

~ XAK III ~

Micro Cabin / NEC Home Electronics

Super CD-ROM

1994

Just as Ys had undergone a change in play formula upon reaching its third episode, so too did Xak abandon its old bump-to-kill ways for its own second sequel. But while Falcom made a foray into the realm of sidescrollers, Micro Cabin opted to retain a bird's-eye view for Xak III and simply added button-press-triggered slashing to the mix. The PC Engine had seen this "Ys plus manual hacking" recipe before in Brain Grey's Efera & Jiliora, a favorite of mine that I believed Xak III would resemble in style based on similarities I'd perceived in screen captures.

Well, I was right in thinking that Xak III would play like E&J, but the speedier of the respective avatars, the one that possesses the greater range of attack, is to be found in Brain Grey's title. I don't mind X3's imperfect combat so much (as E&J is kind of rough itself), but the sluggish shambling really annoys me. People often observe that The eternal recurrence is longer than its two-quest predecessor, but they usually neglect to mention that the added length is primarily attributable to the game having you shuffle along at an extremely slow pace (whereas its forerunner allows you to blaze across the countryside), not to mention that it forces you to trudge through a number of very large towns and structures, with nothing of note happening during the dragged-out trips.

What's frequently mentioned in testimonials (in rather nebulous fashion) is that Xak III is "dark." Well, when I think dark, I think of games with somber atmospheres and bleak environments--games like The Legendary Axe II and the aforementioned E&J. Xak III's take on dark is more along the lines of Mortal Kombat-type "darkness," as it contains a few bloody scenes where big, bad assholes decide to rip some people apart. Keep in mind we're talking in-game gore here, "horrific" happenings featuring small sprites and little red puddles, not breathtaking cinematic doses of blood-spattering a la the dramatic ice cave scene in Manji Maru. Also keep in mind that most of this stuff happens very early on. What follows is adventuring of the typical old-action-RPG variety, questing with a humdrum feel about it and not a whole lot of "darkness" to speak of.

There aren't many quality tunes to come across, either. I & II's soundtrack is brilliant, but III's is mostly boring and forgettable. And the graphics are so bad in some of X3's first few areas that it's occasionally difficult to tell which zones are open for exploration and which ones are perennially closed to travelers...

...but I suppose I should mention that the visuals do eventually advance all the way to "so-so" caliber.

The sporadically presented cinemas also fail to impress...

...and aside from one or two cunning creatures that confront you early on, the bosses can all be beaten through attrition.

Forgive me for making the comparison again, but Efera & Jiliora stars a crew of much cooler and tougher bosses. And E&J doesn't have us control a flying goober for its final battle.

Ugh.

Xak I and II

~ XAK I & II ~

Micro Cabin / Riot / Telenet

Super CD-ROM

1992

The whole "two episodes in one" thing along with the knowledge that the main Xak games are action-RPGs caused me to think of Ys Book I & II whenever this particular Riot release would come up in discussion. But it wasn't until I got to try it for myself that I realized just how many commonalities Xak I & II has with Falcom's famous product. In fact, it immediately comes off as an overt Ys mimicker, due in large part to its deja-vu-inducing bump-and-run gameplay. But with extremely fast-paced action and an excellent red book score, Xak proves itself to be much more than some cheap, two-bit imitator.

Nothing could shroud the Ys similarities on display here, but subtle graphical touches and neat in-game moments make Xak special in its own right. Inspect a heavily guarded treasure chest to find a family of helpful little gnomes, don an aquatic suit for a trip across a dual-tower's watercourse, and shrink yourself via magical means for dashes through mouse-made tunnels. Watch for cool little in-game animations: your character sheathes his sword when he's not on the offensive, and his mantle blows in the wind as he leaps from one platform to another. Indeed, there are jumping gauntlets to pass; there are even a couple of vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up sequences.

Most legs of the adventure, regardless of the play styles implemented for them, are straightforward. While some of the dungeons demand a good bit of time and thought, none of them are even nearly as complex in design as the largest Ys labyrinths. This may not be a negative for those who weren't enamored with Book II's required "in and out and all around" Solomon Shrine treks. However, most everyone will miss the unforgettable villains and dramatic plot points that Ys is known for but Xak is devoid of, though the latter does manage to hold its own cinematically.

Perhaps the only significant letdown here is the ease with which all challenges can be passed. The bosses, as cool looking as they are, come off as easily annihilated chumps if you're at reasonably high levels when you encounter them. Of course, power grinding isn't exactly compulsory, but level-ups occur so frequently anyway that you almost can't help but end up an almighty boss-slaughtering beast.

Xak is easy and short, but it's still a very well-executed action-RPG in the Ys vein, and it makes for fleeting-but-fantastic fun. Fans of the first, second, and fourth Ys episodes should consider it a must-buy.

Mitsubachi Gakuen

~ MITSUBACHI GAKUEN ~

Hudson Soft

CD-ROM

1990

Mitsubachi Gakuen opens with a catchy, upbeat pop vocal and goes on to follow a gaggle of idol wannabes through four comic-style adventures, one for each season of the year. Elements common to each tale are weird-looking individuals, poor chip music, and silliness in spades. Occasional "quizzes" reveal themselves to be easily passed guessing games; puzzles are typically simplistic in nature and hardly obstructive at all. Misstep your way to a Game Over and you'll simply be shot back to the last save point so that you can give the trouble spot another try.

Springtime's story sees you explore the intriguing labyrinth that is the local high school before having you head for a mountain tower in pursuit of some no-good hooded fool. The stone structure contains challenges necessitating the usage of the girls' respective talents (which can be determined via a glance at the provided profile pages).

Summer means gallivanting with the girls at the beach and putting up with the goofy antics of a "musclebound" buffoon. You can play at the shore for only so long before you have to journey through the woods to a house where crazies reside. Conundrums here are solved via complex means--dark areas demand the flicking on of a flashlight, for instance.

Autumn starts off in RPG style, but the Dragon Quest aping comes to an early and abrupt halt for the sake of band get-togethers and jaunts around town. The chapter concludes with a concert; unfortunately, the girls deliver a rather poor performance.

A Christmastime ski trip is on the agenda for winter. Following another lame "rock" session, the aspiring idols go about solving a mystery and thwarting the maleficent schemes of a Santa-impersonating scoundrel. Trials in this episode can actually prove troublesome.

This obviously isn't the sort of material that many PC Engine players are actively looking for, and it will likely prove unbearably corny for most people. But the game really doesn't pretend to take itself seriously; it goes about its silly business with a light atmosphere and a great sense of humor. Each story moves along at a very fast pace and is fairly long relative to many standalone Duo comics, so there's value here for those who can derive amusement from the subject matter.

The Local Girls of Hawaii

~ THE LOCAL GIRLS OF HAWAII ~

Excite Software

CD-ROM

1993

Chances are that if you're hunting for these Excite Software "girls on the beach" titles, your goal is either to add some not-easy-to-come-by trinkets to your collection or to acquire every "US release" that you can, and actual high-quality content isn't factoring into your objectives. Regardless of what your motivation is, the opportunity to leaf through photos of skin-baring sunbathers probably doesn't seem like it will be an unpleasant byproduct of your quest. But as if being a downright stupid slide show masquerading as a game weren't deplorable enough, Local Girls goes about its seemingly simple task in laughably inept fashion. After a bumbling lensman had produced off-center shots of seemingly random body parts, the "designers" apparently figured spatterings of color and blocky deformations were their best bets for salvaging the image wrecks they were left with (...or maybe they were just incompetent too).

Even when embellishment-free shots portraying a recognizable human are actually delivered, the human in question is often either caught in a terribly awkward position or assuming a ridiculously melodramatic "pose." The post-shoot additions of various creatures and stage pieces make the whole production come off as comical.

Block out all the misapplied adornments and focus solely on (what you can make out of) the females, and you'll likely conclude that the ladies here aren't exactly incredibly attractive eye-catchers anyway.

Filthy images shellacked with distortion and portraying randomly juxtaposed objects will provide little titillation for even the most crazed and desperate perv, who won't appreciate the black blotches that obscure all the "best parts" anyway.

The Manhole

~ THE MANHOLE ~

Cyan / Sunsoft / Sun Electronics / Activision

CD-ROM

1991

The Manhole packaging utilizes cover space to pledge that children will be entertained by what the game has to offer, a declaration that may as well be taken as notice to those of us beyond our prepubescent years that thrills are not in store here. Indeed, there's nothing thrilling about the title's point-and-click-and-watch play style (as there's never any risk of anything horrible happening) or its simplistic manner of presentation (as its "action" wasn't even deemed worthy of receiving full-screen treatment). It doesn't hide the fact that it takes its cue from famous works of children's literature (including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the Chronicles of Narnia) and perhaps takes its acts of homage too far, ending up a mere exhibition of mimicry in some places. At its best, it's an odd and intriguing one-strange-thing-after-another little adventure, delivering successions of wacky happenings like some sort of kindergartner-targeted Yellow Submarine.

Again, nothing that occurs is particularly exciting; this is a bizarre but utterly hazardless realm, and your hosts are peculiar but hospitable, even the grumpy, little-kid-averse walrus.

Still, after spending a few minutes coming to terms with Manhole's complete amiableness and toddler-level simplicity (traits that make it seem so out of place as a PC Engine release), I found myself compulsively clicking on anything and everything that came into view, suddenly determined to find every brief animated sequence, odd sound effect, and weird trinket to play with that the silly game contains.

Unfortunately, while it initially seems like you have many options as far as where you can go and what you can do (climb a beanstalk, take a boat ride, warp via an apparently magical fire hydrant, etc.), you'll discover in short order that all paths ultimately converge, abruptly leaving you with nothing more to see or do. In the end, it's the brevity with which The Manhole plays out, not its style or simplicity, that really leaves it devoid of value.

Of course, the ubiquitous caveat regarding the game is that it's meant for kids, not for an over-the-hill, mean-spirited bum like me. You know, I really wonder what the hell kind of kid people believe Manhole can be some sort of great success with. Children generally can't sit still through the sort of slow-paced, pointless nonsense that this title delivers; they tend to prefer fast-paced, pointless nonsense. When I was little and in need of a new LCD handheld or 2600 game to conquer, the element I considered a requisite above all others was action--so did my buds when they were hunting for a new game, and so do most other kids. The Manhole actually seems more suitable for an easily amused old fellow with a bit of leisure time to burn than it does for a restless little runt.

Doraemon Nobita no Dorabian Night CD

~ DORAEMON NOBITA NO DORABIAN NIGHT CD ~

Hudson Soft

Super CD-ROM

1992

As I've detailed the particulars of my disappointing experience with the Dorabian Night HuCard in the piece I posted about it, suffice it to say here I feel DN is stocked with great concepts that are ultimately let down by unexciting gameplay. Having identified gameplay as the element Hudson was least likely to have tinkered with in producing this CD revamp, I found the disc unalluring. A new, crudely drawn opening sequence introducing DN's geeky good-guy assemblage failed to generate the slightest bit of enthusiasm in me; a cinematic redo of the HuCard's procession-commencing sketch also wasn't up to the task.

Fast-forwarding a bit (like, all the way through the game), yet another inconsequential cinema is implemented as a cap to the festivities.

How fancy. But most of the "changes" here involve not the storytelling segments but the in-game visuals. Environments were brushed up to appear more refined and, in some instances, more colorful. Some of the alterations Hudson made were so minor that one wonders why they even bothered, and I question the prudence of some of their color swaps. Still, this version looks better--sharper and more polished--than its HuCard forerunner.

Thing is, there really wasn't anything wrong with Dorabian Night's graphics to begin with (aside from some rough-hewn sprites, which were not redrawn for this release). Heck, the HuCard's introductory skit actually was amusing as it was; never would I have yearned for a "cinematic" do-up of it. And while the new ending is nice, the thought of watching it again is not nearly enticing enough to make me want to re-endure the monotonous "adventure." In other words, these modifications and additions mean very little to me. I still find Dorabian Night to be an utter bore.

Now, a new red book soundtrack is something that might've made a difference (to a degree). I've never been a fan of boring Bonk III, but the CD version's lively soundtrack at least gets me a little more interested in the sleepily slow action. Unfortunately, aside from employing vocal numbers for the title screen and credit scroll, lazy Hudson chose to stick with the card's tunes. These are not awful tracks, but they're too breezy and unassertive to add any excitement to a game in dire need of some sort of boost.

Fans of the HuCard version might want to acquire this CD, as they may enjoy spotting the graphical alterations and get a kick out of the new cinemas and "funny" voice work. Me, well, I've been let down yet again, left shaking my head and feeling that Hudson threw away a second chance to do justice to the fine concepts they'd come up with for the original project. Hell, they even rendered the intermediary time-warp scenes less wacky and impressive.

Well done, guys.