Shining Force Neo

BCampbell

BCampbell

Staff Member
Registered
Jun 23, 2005
1,939
0
0
In a Volkswagen somewhere in upstate New York
home.nycap.rr.com
If you haven't already read my Shining Force neo review, I ripped on it pretty hard. Well, that's not really fair to say; it's average game, and it got an average score. As I usually do, I then went to Gamerankings to see what other people were saying... and I was shocked -- shocked I tell you!

This site and this one both gave it a 4/10! And I thought I was a hardass! In fact, if you look at GameRankings, most of the ratings for this game are either those 4's or 8's and 9's, a very polarized selection.

Did anyone play this one? What did you think? Overall I didn't think it was bad; the challenge level was up there which was good, but the graphical slowdown was a killer, the lack of options for your party (aside from choosing from a few members) was a letdown, and the action was too repetitive. If it were a budget title, it would be worth looking at, but while it's still $40-$50 I don't think so.
 
I dunno, there jsut wasn't enough there for me. On the graphical front, yeah it was bright but the textures were rough, and the game slowed to a crawl when you had too many enemies on the screen -- even though Sega lauded the "90 enemies on screen at once". You'd think if it was going to be a big part of the game (which it is, it's the only way they really challenge you), they would have done it right. The audio localization was horrible, I don't know who could sit through 30 hours of listening to Max and Meryl's whiny, annoying voices, especially the aneurysm-inducing repetition of the battle phrases. The music wasn't anything great either.

The customization system was awesome, but the only character you had any control over was the main hero. Couple that with weak AI, and it kind of destroys any benefits of a good game system (which this game did have, and is the main reason I gave the gameplay a 7). Add to the top of this the fact that this game is basically a clone of any other hack n slash RPG, and there's not much to say about it, especially at a price of $50.

If you've never played a hack n slash RPG, this would be a good one to try. But there are better and cheaper ones out there, and if you've ever played a game like this it will fail to impress.

What did you like about it, Steve? I thought I remembered you saying that you'd never play a cel-shaded game (unless it was based on a cartoon). So that should automatically be a big strike against SFNeo.
 
I think sega needs to re-release the old series of shinning force i mean those games at their time on the genisis were awesome i remeber renting it and that was the only time i played it and i mean i faked being sick to play it so i didnt have to go to school it was just amazing.
 
At least one of the Genesis Shining Force games was rereleased on the GBA, I'm not sure about the second one.

Shining Force 3 was awesome but nearly impossible to find and on a dead platform (Saturn). It was one of the last games to be released for the saturn, along with Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, and one other game... House of the Dead I think. Unfortunately, we only got the first installment, not the second and third parts, so U.S. gamers never really got to play the whole game. If anything, that game should be rereleased...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom