DREAMCAST
Published by Sega.
Reviewed by Ben of GameCritics.com
on 9/1/00
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Discussion Forum
First
Impressions:
Climax
Entertainment is probably best known as the developer of the isometric
adventure game, Landstalker for the Sega Genesis. Though the game
had a cult following (and continues to have one to this day), I
wasn't one of its big fans. The game was OK, but I still can't understand
how people can talk about it as if it was a classic. I guess Genesis
owners were so deprived of action RPGs that any solid entry into
the genre was greatly appreciated. But that's neither here nor there.
The fact is that regardless of Landstalker's merit, the game represents
the pinnacle of Climax's development career, which hasn't produced
a decent game since then (or hardly any games at all for matter).
This might have something to do with the original Landstalker team
leaving Climax to form Matrix Software, the developers of the acclaimed
PlayStation adventure game, Alundra.
Whatever the case, it's clear Climax desperately wants to capitalize
on the notoriety Landstalker brought them -- with or without the
guys who were responsible for it. We can assume this because their
only other notable game, the Saturn release of Dark Savior, failed
to make any kind of impression on the gaming world. Though their
new Dreamcast RPG, Time Stalkers, is a quasi spin-off of the popular
Genesis game, I don't think nearly as many people will remember
it as they did Landstalker (and that's an understatement, in case
you couldn't tell).
While it's an obvious marketing ploy to generate interest among
gamers, it should be mentioned that the only connection between
Time Stalkers and Landstalker (besides the name) is the ability
to play as the character, Nigel (a treasure hunter) along with his
pal, Friday (a Sprite). Otherwise, Time Stalkers is a completely
different game -- a more traditional RPG rather than an Adventure/RPG.
By using the word "traditional," I don't mean to imply that Time
Stalkers doesn't try anything new. There are actually several interesting
ideas and possibilities floating around in this game. I like the
idea of not being able to accumulate gold by simply fighting monsters.
Instead, you literally have to work for your money by embarking
on numerous quests (assigned by a goofy-looking rabbit named Noiman
no less), and you can even fall into debt (quite easily in fact).
I also appreciated the many variables that affect your characters'
performance in battle -- like the hunger, vitality and life meters.
Equally promising is the ability to capture the monsters you encounter
in battle to raise and train them (via VMU) to form a custom-built
fighting force! I also thought there was some potential in controlling
many different individual characters, and experiencing their unique
adventures and involvement in the larger scheme of things.
I liked all of these ideas, which is not to say I liked to game
itself. Make no mistake about it -- Time Stalkers isn't a very good
game. For all of its attempts at RPG innovation, this game looks
ugly, plays badly and is all over the place in its focus. It saddens
me to say so, too -- because I was genuinely looking forward to
playing this game when I got a hold of it.
Graphics:
I
don't think I've ever seen a Dreamcast game look so bad. Though
clear and colorful, the character models and environments sport
appallingly low polygon counts, and the textures are bland and
repetitive. At a lower resolution, Time Stalkers probably could
have been a PlayStation or Nintendo 64 release. The overall visual
design is very poor. The 3-D worlds can't seem to decide between
off-the-wall cartoony or full-blown realism. Worse yet, the people
and creatures who inhabit these worlds don't interact with their
surroundings very well. When they walk or run, it doesn't even
look like their feet touch the ground. They all move like robots
and their faces are always stuck in the same cross-eyed, expressionless
stare. The main character, Sword (yet another insensitive RPG
lead named after a common noun) looks like the offspring of Count
Dracula and Princess Zelda, and he has these obscenely enormous
hands and feet. He just looks silly, as does everything else in
Time Stalkers. Had the game simply looked cooler, I might have
enjoyed myself more.
Sound/Music:
If
there's one thing I enjoyed while playing Time Stalkers, it's
the music. Though the sound in general wasn't too impressive,
the game has some very well orchestrated music to play along to
-- most of which is upbeat and does a good job of keeping the
atmosphere light and the energy level high. The developers definitely
earned some props for the solid job they did in handling this
department.
Gameplay:
What
ultimately kills Time Stalkers is the nonsensical way in which
the game is put together. The whole set-up, in which Sword finds
himself stuck in a community comprised of tiny regions from different
time periods, is bewildering enough, and it serves as an illustration
of how the game plays. For instance, characters can only take
a very limited number of items with them into a dungeon, so any
items you can't take with you must be put into storage. Once you
level-up, you character can carry more things, but since you've
already been forced to store most of your stuff before you entered,
you're left with whatever you find in the dungeon! If you find
yourself needing some heal fruit and you haven't been able to
find any in the dungeon, you're just plain out-of-luck. And that's
not the half of it. After completing a dungeon, characters go
back to the same level at which they started. So in effect, all
the fighting and level increasing goes for nothing in this game
-- truly a first for RPGs! This is especially frustrating when
you consider how annoying the battles are. It's nice that Time
Stalkers avoids the "random attack" issue by letting you pick
your own fights, but what's the point when every single battle
lets the monsters have the first attack? No matter how quickly
you make your decisions in battle, the enemy always gets first
licks -- and that's not taking into account the number of misses
you're likely to come up with. It just doesn't make any sense,
and it certainly isn't very fun.
The game's big gimmick -- randomly-generated dungeons -- isn't
very special at all, much less good enough to carry the game by
itself. Yes, the dungeons are all different every time to enter
them, and yes, you do have to go back to the same dungeons quite
a bit to complete various quests, and the dungeons change every
time -- but big deal! The dungeons aren't very complex; in fact,
they are very easy to navigate and impossible to get lost in.
There are hidden traps scattered here and there, but nothing to
get excited about.
Enjoyment:
I
could go on about the needlessly complicated process that goes
with the VMU monster raising game. I could go into detail about
the other parts of the game that aren't described either in the
game or the instruction manual. In fact, I was surprised at how
often the manual points you to the Time Stalkers Web site for
further reference when in fact, the Web site doesn't have any
more information than the manual itself. I mean, I hate games
that make me depend on the manual for help. If you're going to
make me read the manual, don't tell me you didn't have enough
room to include everything about the game in it, and that I have
to go to the damn Web site for more info -- especially for a game
that's really not worth my time to begin with!
I was never really sure as to what was going on while I was playing
Time Stalkers, and it wasn't that far into the game before I found
myself not caring. I guess there's a good game somewhere underneath
this mess, but Climax didn't bother searching for it, so I won't
either.
Multiplayer:
N/A
Overall
Impression:
Dreamcast
doesn't have many RPGs right now -- Time Stalkers is one of them.
Even with the sparse selection of RPGs, Dreamcast owners can do
better than this confused effort. Try the Evolution series, or
better yet wait for Grandia II or Skies Of Arcadia. Landstalker
fans might get a kick out of playing as their beloved Nigel, but
everyone else should play Time Stalkers at their own risk.
Marketing
Efforts Towards Women:
There's
a scene at the beginning of Time Stalkers that made me want to
puke. We see the main character, Sword, reflecting about some
kind of discussion he had with his girlfriend. In a flashback,
he's about to leave her behind, and she's crying. We never completely
understand what he says to her then, but it's pretty clear that
he couldn't care less about her feelings. He just walks away and
never looks back. Is anyone else out there getting a fed up with
these stupid relationships in videogames? Why do the female characters
in these games put up with such insensitive jerks for boyfriends?
And then the games go on to treat these guys like great heroes!
Is anyone out there buying into this crap?
My reaction to that one scene might imply that Time Stalkers features
an emotionally-involved story. It doesn't. On top of that, the
characters are paper thin and interact with each other as interestingly
as my butt does with the chair in which I'm sitting.
Playable and supporting female characters are present in Time
Stalkers, however. Although the majority of the game's people
are guys, a couple of girls join your party later in the game.
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