ActRaiser

Article originally written in French by DarkEvil, also responsible for the English translation.
See original here.

& "Geek's choice!"

It's not even necessary to have played the Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy series to know about them, unless you're living under a rock which is itself under another rock. The games released under these licenses have obtained a legendary status in the role playing game genre, particularly Final Fantasy in North America, but we need not forget other games in the same genre often ridiculed at first look by people who don't know better. I've got to admit that role playing games can often fall in overused clichés which only give people even more reason to ridicule them, but there are exceptions, entirely original and interesting games that fall under the RPG genre, this is what ActRaiser offers.

This game published by Enix, now Square Enix, was originally released on the SNES near the end of the 90s in Japan, even before the very popular Final Fantasy IV, better known in North America as Final Fantasy II, first title in the series to be released in 16-bit. The main reason why it's an original game comes from the fact that, instead of being a traditional RPG, it is a mix of genres, also combining some action platformer and city construction elements. As is often the case with a mix, ActRaiser doesn't perfectly execute each of them, the action phase is the best even well-done, the city construction phase is not as good and wouldn't stand as a game of its own. This game's strength really comes from the mix and how it plays out when these various genres are combined.

First, let's talk about the story which is a little unusual for a SNES game and even for a game in general. In the game, you play as God, I really mean the well-known God of the Judeo-Christian religions. He's actually called Master in non-Japanese versions, most probably because of the strict restrictions on religious content (are we afraid of lawsuits?) imposed by Nintendo of America at the time. Still, most people will see clearly through the various subtleties introduced in the game outside of Japan, because it's still pretty obvious. We move around the world on a palace located on a cloud in the sky, a little angel accompanies us through the game, our enemies are demons, the ultimate goal is to free the various nations across the world of an evil control imposed on them for centuries after the "Master" had to rest after his fight with Tanzra, the ultimate demon (God has a right to rest after all, remember this next time you pray and your wishes are not answered, which is probably what's gonna happen).

So we move from one region to the next with the palace. The whole planet seems vacant after the demons' attack. We first have to stop on top of a region where the game then proceeds to an action phase in which we have to vanquish the main demon haunting the location to make it a livable place once more. Each of these regions features two action phases, the first giving us the right to build a nation and the second discovered by the population once they have prospered enough. It progressively becomes more difficult to win these levels filled with monsters and dangerous environments, which is why it's suggested to guide a nation as well as you can before attempting these action phases, because one the overall world population reaches a certain number, we get a level up giving us more energy and magic. To fight, we're armed only with a sword and a magic power chosen before the level in the palace (don't forget that the character is God, armed with a sword, same character known for his immense generosity, the flood and ten commandments including "You shall not murder.") A variety of monsters more or less challenging are waiting for us throughout the levels. It's not necessary to hit them a lot before they go down, most of them only need one or two hits. Spikes and holes are found from time to time, contributing to lowering our health before finding the demon at the end of a level. In general, the layout of the levels is easy to follow, only in later levels is it harder to find the right way, but never, and I mean NEVER, have I lost because of a time over, I even end the levels with an enormous amount of time left (like 100 seconds or more). Most of the alternate paths get you to apples to recover your energy or things like that. The difficulty level (lowered in the North American version compared to the Japanese original, it seems we're not hardcore enough) is not that high, we have three lives to kill the boss, there are checkpoints so that you can start over later in the levels after losing a life, even recovering to full health. As in nearly any games, there's at least one frustrating point, I can remember a level which features bubbles that you need to stand on to get higher. Of course, they pop after a little while. There are also monsters flying towards you whom you have to avoid, while jumping from bubble to bubble, the character also cannot change direction during a jump (it might be realist, so I can't complain too much). This design (with the bubbles getting higher and popping) didn't appear in ActRaiser and is featured in a video game from time to time; I wouldn't refuse torture instead of going through this step, maybe a masochist side of mine, who knows? That said, we don't have the impression of playing the same level twice since they all feature different themes with excellent designs which aren't often frustrating.

Once the action phase is completed, we go to the city construction mode, where directions need to be given to the nations' leaders to help them construct and populate their place. There are still minor demons trying to destroy houses, hence lowering the population. This time, we control our brave sidekick the angel over the region, which can shoot them with his bow. To completely eradicate these monsters, you need to destroy their lairs, which only villagers can seal once they've built a path leading to them. The people will sometime ask for music or warmer clothes, which we find by helping other nations. Now I realize from writing this that it might seem more complex than it actually is by playing. All that needs to be done is to select a square on the overview we have of a region, then the construction is all automated following the path to the square. Few decisions are to be taken, except from choosing one of God's powers from time to time, like using thunder to burn forests blocking a construction path (because God isn't green yet) or using an earthquake to modify the landscape. It's impossible to die or lose during this phase, the worst that could happen is to have to give the order of construction another time if something gets destroyed. This phase seems underdeveloped, but it's still a welcome addition to the action phase and it's nice to get a rest between two fights.

The graphics aren't bad, they're varied in each level and the colors are excellent to give a certain feeling or theme to the levels, particularly the environments. The enemies are detailed enough; funny thing is the main character is less detailed than them. The animations of the main character always seemed to lack fluidity, he looks stiff when hitting with the sword or when he falls on his knees when dying. But even with these little problems, nothing seems out of place in the action phases, also not on the overworld map which even features a nice Mode 7 effect when preparing to enter an action phase, but during the city construction phase, they're not so great. The graphics become really simple and not detailed all that much, but the first SimCity on the SNES didn't feature complex graphics either, displaying a whole city might be too much for this machine and since the view we get of these regions is from a distance, it makes sense that there are less details, so this might be acceptable. The problem arises from the high contrast this gives with the action phases; also we spend a whole lot more time constructing cities than fighting. It's as if this game wanted to put me in this destructive mindset where I find destruction beautiful and construction ugly (like religions with their holy wars if you think about it).

As for the music, ActRaiser is satisfying. Much like the graphics give a unique feeling to each level, the memorable music produce two effects: they complement what we see, they work in synergy with the visual render to produce an even greater feeling, while the other effect is to lead us into battle with the music tracks featuring more rhythm, devilish rhythm. Once again, as for the graphics, the music during the construction phase is boring, but I find it appropriate, it fits with what's going on, it's just that the music track never changes or nearly never, no matter the region, it's an endless loop from Hell (I know, I'm beginning to use a lot of words referring to God and Hell).

The sound effects are not very good, they sound a little bit like those on an 8-bit console and they're nearly never appropriate to represent the actions that produced them. Also, they can get annoying, like the sword hits. Instead of the sword producing a sound each time we press the button, it's the character that says "Ah!" Not the same as the sound produced by some "actresses" in movies reserved for people 18 and up, but an annoying, boring, irritating sound, imagine hearing that 200 times.

Once completed, a more difficult world is unlocked in which we only have to play through the action phases, at least in the American version, the European version features this choice right from the beginning and even an easier difficulty. In the most difficult mode, lives can't be gained back since there are no pauses between levels. The enemies are also more resistant and magic can't be used. Needless to say that if you've completed the game this way, you've probably played too much. Having said this, I'm going to repeat myself by saying that the normal game is not that difficult and can easily be completed in 5 hours if we give much attention to the nations, even less if our main concentration is on the action phases.

In conclusion, ActRaiser could prove to be the most different game you've played, not the best, but still very entertaining. Since it doesn't take too much time, you can complete it, acknowledging the fact that being a short game is also one of its problems. It's available on the Wii Virtual Console in all regions at the regular price of a SNES game, 800 Wii points.

Scores:

Graphics: 81%
Interesting graphics with a good use of colors to give a unique feel to each level, but not enough details on the main characters and ugly for the construction phases

Sounds: 75%
Original music with enough rhythm complementing what we see, sadly boring during construction phases, not talking about the bad quality of sound effects

Gameplay: 91%
The game is very entertaining and interesting, even though the construction phases are a little less entertaining and the game is short

Replayability: 38%
Not really any extras to talk about, just complete the cities to their full potential, which is done quickly enough, and you can also replay through the action phases which get progressively more difficult

Story: 75%
An original story compared to other video games, but still not as interesting as it could've been if it wasn't based on religion, which was never made to entertain after all

Bonus: 75%
A mix of genres like I had never seen, who'd have thought of mixing a platformer with some kind of SimCity, but I'd like for them to be a little more balanced on the level of fun we get from each of them

Total : 78%
I ask of you to please try this game, just to see the possibilities. Now ask for more, since the game hasn't reached its full potential, it's possible right now to make better and more complete mixes yet nobody is risking that. I know this game is considered pure gold by some people; I don't want to say it's bad, I also appreciate it a lot and I'd call myself a fan. I just want to be realist and acknowledge its imperfections; after all it's still a must that I recommend to everyone to at least try