Retro Game Friday: Shogun Empires

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a really unheard of title. It’s Real Time Conflict: Shogun Empires!

Plot Synopsis:  Two brothers are locked in bloody combat in feudal Japan.

Plot: That was the best plot synopsis I could come up with, sorry. The plot is so thin that it’s pretty much not there to begin with. Not that the gameplay is much better…

Gameplay: This is an RTS, which is almost never done right on anything other than the PC. This game shows it, although not because it was difficult to win, but because it was so freaking boring. You could, and should, use only units of archers to absolutely dominate any battle. Everything else was pretty much blown away if you just overwhelmed them with a shit ton of archers.  Seriously though it’s such flimsy gameplay that they could as well have thrown in the entire works of Shakespeare and still no one would’ve cared enough about this game to give it more than an hour or two of play. Although that might just be insulting to the Bard.

Art: The art is terrible, and even the cover art is incredibly dated. I mean seriously, those CG models are freaking terrible.

Music: I don’t remember a whit of it, sorry.

Overall: Never play this game unless you have no other choice of any other activities. Which should never happen as even sleeping is a better use of time then playing this piece of garbage. Just stay far, far, away from this.

Retro Game Friday: Klanoa

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m back with a classic game that is often not remembered. It’s Klanoa: Door to Phantomile!

Plot Synopsis:

The story begins with the legend of the land of Phantomile, a mysterious place that is fueled by the very dreams people have at night. As a result, no one can clearly remember the dreams they have had, even if they occurred recently. However, a young cat-like boy named Klonoa who lives in the town of Breezegale with his grandfather has been having dreams about a mysterious dark airship crashing into a nearby mountain, and can recall every detail of it. One day, a mysterious ship does indeed crash into the mountain, and Klonoa and his friend, a “ring spirit” named Huepow, decide to investigate. After fighting several small, round creatures called Moos, they reach the top of the mountain, only to find two mysterious creatures…

Plot: This doesn’t have a gripping plot, full of intrigue and action. Nope it’s more of a game for younger kids. I won’t say it’s got a terrible story, but it’s definitely not the strongest plot ever.

Gameplay: The gameplay is mostly 2D Platforming. I say mostly because you could interact with your environment which was in 3D. They termed it 2.5D at the time, and I suppose that term works now. Klanoa’s main form of attack is his Wind Bullet ability which lets him toss enemies around or use them to toss himself around. It’s all based off concepts tied to the wind, which was to me at the time pretty interesting. Frankly I’m kind of itching to see if I can find a ROM of it, but I doubt I have the time to indulge in that wish.

Characters: The characters are okay, and while not very deep they aren’t super flat like any character from a Twilight novel.

Art: The art has aged poorly due to the use of 3D. If they had kept it purely 2D it probably would’ve aged much better.

Music: I don’t remember any of it, sorry.

Overall: Give this a spin if you get the chance, it’s pretty good.

For those who like: Platformers, Interesting Gameplay Mechanics, A Main Character That isn’t a Plumber.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

 

Retro Game Friday: Baten Kaitos

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game that was pretty underrated back in the day! It’s Baten Kaitos!

Plot Synopsis:  The plot in the story revolves around a world made up of islands floating in the sky. According to the story, an evil god named Malpercio invaded the world and sucked the oceans dry, leaving the islands floating around in the sky. He was defeated by 5 spiritual heroes, who sealed the evil god in the form of 5 “End Magnus.” By the time of the events in the story, everyone living in the sky has grown wings. Enter Kalas, the ill-mannered, selfish one-winged unlikely hero of the story. He awakes in a hospital in a pastoral village on Sadal Suud Frontier.

Plot: The plot is pretty good from what I can remember, it wasn’t quite up to Tales quality, but it was pretty darn close. That’s not too surprising considering that the developers went on to create Xenoblade and Xenoblade Chronicles.

Characters: I enjoyed the characters quite a bit, Xelha probably was my favorite, but Kalas wasn’t too annoying.  The rest of the cast was pretty good from what I remember.

Gameplay: It was a pretty standard RPG, except for the card system used in battle. It was pretty interesting, and even more interestingly was the way to earn money, which was from taking pictures of enemies mostly. It’d take a few minutes after battle to develop and if the quality was poor it’d sell for much less than a properly taken photo.

Art: It’s aged pretty poorly, but that’s the problem with 3D games.

Music: Excellent from what little I remember of it.

Overall: If you’ve never played this game, you really ought to try it out.

For those who like: JRPGs, Card Games, Good Plots, Fun Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.