these beautiful towns
exist thanks to me - Earthquake!
my level increased
Additional Comments:
One particular genre I've always enjoyed is geographical sims centered around creating and maintaining a complex infrastructure, be it on a world scale, like the Civilization games, or on a city scale, like the Sim City games. I think it's just part of my long fascination with geography, cartography and overall world-building. More outlets to build worlds and drool over maps? Count me in. And so it goes for some time until one day, a friend of mine tells me about this game that combines world-building simulation and side-scrolling action. Hmm, I was a bit apprehensive about the idea as I tried to visualize the two mechanics meshing together rather clumsily, but it sounded intriguing nonetheless. So he let me borrow the game and I went home and popped it into my SNES. My jaw dropped. This was not just some simulation/action hybrid. This was a proud warrior standing tall above a rabble of meek and aspiring titles, all to fall short of ActRaiser's incredible ability to mystify and entrance the player with gameplay never before experienced.
That was me then. Thing is, unlike some of those early games that tricked me with a splendor of "magnificent" graphics or kitschy gimmicks like Donkey Kong Country, that's still me today. Ok, maybe I don't think ActRaiser is the king of kings in video games like I once did, but it still is an incredibly remarkable game that managed to blend two wholly opposing game styles into something that not only worked, but worked well. I will admit, however, that on the basest of levels, neither element is great in its own right (comparing apples to apples), but as a whole, it's more than functional and the various faults or annoyances can easily be overlooked.
Faults? For me, the game's biggest faults lay in the action sequences. While fun, they're a bit too straightforward. I can't quite put my finger on it, but they come across as simple - not in difficulty, but in presentation. Sure, everything that's dished out is brilliant - beautiful music, incredible graphics, and some nice sprite and object usage, but there's this lingering lifelessness that seems to overlap the platforming elements. It's the same sort of feeling I get when I play a Castlevania game - I fully understand why people like these games, but to me, they feel empty, cold or distant. There's something there, or rather, not there, that's keeping me from fully enjoying the experience. Additionally, the controls range from questionable to deplorable. Again, reminiscent of the lack of fluidity found in the Castlevania games, the controls are sluggish and at the worst of times, feel downright unresponsive. This feels most prominent when quickly alternating between left and right movement with the purpose of attacking opponents on either side. And the unresponsiveness really kicks in when attempting to jump and attack - in fact, as many times as I've played this game, I'm still a little uncertain as to how jump attacks are best meant to be executed. But don't think I'm out to find ways in which I can rake this game over the coals. Honestly, for this style of action platformer, the controls aren't that bad. The problem is every once in a while, you'll come across small pockets where you're forced to contend with the more noticeable issues, or should I say, the issues become more noticeable. For instance, I especially found this to be the case in Northwall's Act 2 in regard to some of its narrower vertical sections.
Still, the action sequences accomplish their required goals. They present a worthy case: they are well representative of their respective worlds, fare well in difficulty, and are finished off with a formidable boss - although there are a couple that leave much to be desired such as the pitiful Antlion. But what of the simulation sequences? Uh, hmm.... To be honest, there's very little to complain about, if anything. Other than getting stumped if you let the population stall out far too early, the simulation mode is well made and fun to boot. It's so cool to watch those tiny people face adversity and build a bustling town, despite those giant floating skulls of gold that would love nothing more than to devastate the entire land with their telekinetic seismic powers. Be it in the burning heat of Kasandora, the balmy jungles of Marahna or even the frigid cold of Northwall, these people will stop at nothing to see their lands settled and their communities prosper. Well, almost nothing. You do have to help transform the land, making it suitable for growth, whether it's washing away the sands of Kasandora with rain or melting away the frozen tundra of Northwall with the sun. And with that, my one and only gripe emerges - that little cherub constantly having to state the obvious and request confirmation. Yes, I want to send a ravaging earthquake through these lands. Yes, I want to wash away the desert sand, just like I wanted to the other twenty-three times - are you freaking kidding me!? Why is there no ability to skip over any of this. Sure, I can increase the speed - which is laughable in itself, because seriously, who's going to willingly set their conversation speed to 1? But yea, a speed increase just isn't going to cut it.
So there it is, a game when taken as a cohesive unit, is just simply incredible, but when you break it down to its core parts, there are some grievances that begin to surface. But again, my criticisms are not meant to be taken too seriously. Sure, the controls piss me off in the action sequences, but on the whole, I can easily forgive them, because the bigger picture is simply fascinating. It's easy to sweep the unwanted debris under the rug and just sort of forget about them. Annoying cherub, what? Exactly. Forget about it. The simulation is a total joy and is perfectly intermixed with some eventful action scenes. And add to that an incredible score; heck, not only is the debris out of sight, it's out of mind, by miles.
And speaking of score, I could list the entire soundtrack. It's that good. But I'll just list a few, namely Birth of the People, Northwall, and Peaceful World. Typically, I'm a bigger fan of Sega's chunkier sound engine, but ActRaiser is one of those games that really made the Super Nintendo's sound engine shine. Video game soundtracks had never sounded so awe inspiring, so full of depth and emotion. Somehow, I almost think that there's been very few that have ever managed it since.
Nano-Rant:
Let this be my apology and admission to fraud. I have failed the very core of my mission statement in regards to ActRaiser - to complete these games in full. I must admit that this I have not done. Yea, I beat Tanzra (a joke of a boss if you ask me, although the rest of Death Heim - especially the first two bosses - we're of a different color). But then.... The end - and nothing but. Wait a minute, something's not right.
That's right, the game never looped, thus never allowing me to access Professional Mode. I stared at that end screen for at least twenty minutes; nothing. I strolled over to GameFaqs, just in case I was mistaken on how to access the secondary arcade-style mode. I found nothing that I didn't already know. What pisses me off the most about this is that this is probably the fourth or fifth time I've beaten this game in my lifetime and I still have yet to experience Professional Mode. I know I'm not missing much outside of an upgraded difficulty curve and lack of simulation mode, and based on my side-scrolling control aversion, I should be happy. But it's the principle of the thing. Not so much for Beat All Games, but for the fact that I should have a fully functional game. Argghhhh!!
Rating: 4.5 loaves of bread out of 5
