Trinity MUGEN

Other STUFF => Phoenix Magnion's Reviews. => Topic started by: UHMEEEEBA on November 04, 2009, 12:19:55 AM

Title: Astyanax
Post by: UHMEEEEBA on November 04, 2009, 12:19:55 AM
I shall henceforth be taking over Magnion's old job, that is when I'm actually not lazy and feel like reviewing something.

Intro: This is a bit of a weird tale here, so there was this Arcade game done by Jaleco called The Astyanax, which got an NES game... not really a port in that it has a completely different plot and gameplay style. Really it doesn't affect the ratings any but I thought I'd mention it.

Gameplay: Astyanax is a platformer, you go around and kill things with whichever weapon you happen to have, which you can occasionally find better versions of in the stage. Albeit all the weapons consist of things to bash skulls in with. Further the weapons have a power gauge that goes down to zero each time you use a weapon which means it'll be more powerful if you wait a bit to attack again. While this COULD be a good concept the fact that enemies only go far enough back when you hit them that they'll be in your face again before your gauge goes back up really just means you'll be bashing most enemies with a bunch of weak hits just to keep them out of your face, like chairs.

Astyanax has three magical attacks, two of which are full screen attacks, the third of which stops time. They're useful but not really as central to the game as they could have been.

Despite this, there's very little here that makes Astyanax stand out, the magic system would be done better in later games and the actually platforming segments are pretty bland and can be best described as "WALK FIVE FEET FIGHT A SKELLETON AND REPEAT".
5 out of 30

BUT DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT! WATCH SOME GAMEPLAY FOOTAGE OF THE FIRST LEVEL AND SEE WHAT YOU THINK.



Not the best footage you'll find but it should give you an idea.

Music: Tolerable for the era but nothing really memorable, a bit repetitive in some parts.
10 out of 15

Translation: The text in the obscenely long dialogue scenes is translated well enough.
5 out of 5

Length: The game is actually pretty short, doesn't help that the level structure is totally weird. Some levels will only have 1 section while others don't and there really is no consistency, save for when you DO reach the end of a level you fight a giant boss.
8 out of 15

Plot: So you play a high school student named Astyanax (who the fuck names their kid that?) sent to another world by a fairy named Cutie (who the fuck names their kid that?) to rescue Princess Rosebud (who the fuck names their kid that?) from the evil Wizard Blackhorn (who the fuck names their kid that?) ... for some reason. The game never really says.

So yeah the plot boils down to: ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TO RESCUE THE PRINCESS?
1 out of 10

Rehash Factor: This game is quite different from the game that supposedly inspired it. That aside the game likes to reuse its own material to ludicrous degrees. In addition to simple enemy palette swaps later in the game you'll actually go up against boss palette swaps. I can understand reusing bosses but if you're going to do that just accept it and don't throw a new coat of paint on the boss and expect people to think it's new.
9 out of 10

Difficulty: Actually pretty difficult, given it was inspired by an Arcade game (which are deliberately designed to be difficult to encourage revenue from continues) this is not totally unexpected. Though with the way the game likes shoving eyeball enemies in your face near pits some of this difficulty may not be deserved...
15 out of 15

Total: 53/100 = 53 %

If you felt the need to play old NES platformers go play something else.

Positive: I suppose it's challenging? I dunno.

Negative: I half expected Princess Rosebud to really be a sled it was a bit of a letdown she wasn't.