Shining Force Neo
A shining example of brilliance, or a disappointing show of force?
Tags: Shining Force Neo Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Feb 2nd, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Shining Force Neo (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Role-Playing (Action) | No | ||
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Sega’s Shining Force series has a rich and proud tradition. Dating back to the Sega Genesis system, the series has always been a groundbreaker, one of the first tactical-style RPGs on the market and always willing to experiment with storytelling. Perhaps the series’ finest hour, however, only received limited exposure in the West. Shining Force 3 was a three-part masterpiece that told a story of war on a grand scale with each part offering a different viewpoint on the same, three-sided war. In each part, you played as the leader of a different faction, with that side seeming to be the most sympathetic while the other two sides were villainized in various ways. Only as you played all three of the chapters were those actions that seemed horrific from the outside explained in sympathetic terms that made those actions understandable. It was, especially for its time, an ambitious project that really moved storytelling in an RPG ahead in terms of complexity and sophistication. Unfortunately, Bernie Stolar was the president of Sega of America at the time and he hated RPGs; so only one chapter in the three-chapter epic was ever localized for US consumption – a major disappointment.
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Since then, the Shining Force series has been relatively quiet, with remakes appearing on various handheld systems but without a real sequel ever making it to market. Shining Force Neo changes all that, but don’t expect the game to be your father’s Shining Force game. Most prominently, gone are the grid-based, strategic tactical battles that were the hallmark of the Shining Force series; in its place is a rather straight-forward, action-style battle system that longtime series fans may find annoying. This move marks a break with long-standing tradition in the Shining series. In the past, “Shining and the…” games were always the action RPGs, while “Shining Force” games were the turn-based, tactical-style chapters in the series. Oh well, so much for tradition. Is the resulting game worth the break in tradition, however? That’s a separate question.
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You play through the story primarily as Max, a youth who wants to be a warrior like his father was. Sound familiar? It is. Accompanied by his childhood friend, Meryl, he soon gets his chance as his home town of Greensleeves is soon under siege. Yes, the story has a rather cookie-cutter, generic feel to it, and that problem is not helped by very bad voice acting and general long-winded dialogs in the story segments. Apparently someone felt they were getting paid by the word for this script and localization. If you can get past these annoyances, though, the quirkiness of the whole deal begins to inspire a bit of nostalgia for the days of really, charmingly bad localizations. Who among us doesn’t get a smile on their face at the utterance of phrases like, “You spoony bard!” “This is the way!” and “All your base are belong to us,” hmm? This game is charming in that limited sense, so decide for yourself if it’s for you. The weakest part of the voice work are the repeated-far-too-often battle phrases. If I hear Meryl holler “Hot stuff, coming your way!” even once more before I die, it may actually become the cause of my death.
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Still, the storytelling style is decidedly odd in the modern era of RPGs, taking place in layover screens rather than within the game engine, as has been the case in much of the PS2 era, except for throwback RPGs. So it’s almost as though Sega is attempting to straddle the line, modernizing the series in some ways while still clinging to other, more archaic, traditions. That makes the game seem a bit weird at times, though weird can have its appeal to limited audiences. However, it’s probably too quirky to appeal to large, more mainstream audiences that respond well to Final Fantasy, Grandia, Shadow Hearts, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and other similar mass-market RPGs.
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The battle system is another matter entirely. A simplified, straight-forward action RPG battle system, not only is the combat in Shining Force Neo action-oriented, it’s so basic that there’s really not a lot of strategy to the title at all – it’s almost pure hack-n-slash. What this new system does well is portray massive action-based battles that will truly challenge the button-masher crowd. In fact, be prepared to die. A lot. The game’s engine allows for literally dozens of enemies to be active on the screen at one time, with very minimal ill effects. Frame rate rarely stutters (though it does happen) and I have experienced no freeze-ups, temporary or otherwise. Still, the hack-n-slash action will come as a culture shock to fans of the earlier chapters in this series; in the battle system, the game seems to be aimed at a more mainstream audience than earlier chapters, even while the storytelling style seems to be going more niche. It’s a decidedly bi-polar approach. Still, credit must be given in that, unlike most action-style games, Shining Force Neo is a lengthy campaign, sticking much more closely to its roots in that sense, and is not done in a handful of hours as so many action-oriented game tend to be.
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On the weak side, Max is the only character you get to control in battle directly; there’s not even a way for you to direct the AI of your allies, of which you typically have two. This lack of control sticks to the simplicity of the system but makes for some degree of frustration along the way, especially when those allies fall in battle due to poor CPU-directed battle strategy. Ugh. While they are useful as distractions, therefore, they won’t often make the difference in battle. Heck, there’s not even a two-player co-op mode to ease the pain; it’s all you, my friend, and you alone. And remember, despite the relative ease of the first few hours, Shining Force Neo quickly becomes one of the hardest action RPGs you’ve likely played in quite some time; this is not a game recommended for the easily-frustrated. Death means losing all progress since the last time you saved, too, so keep that in mind; saving often is a must.
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In the end, Shining Force Neo is a game better-suited to a newcomer than to anyone familiar with the series, as the key to enjoying it is coming to the controller with absolutely no expectations of what the game should be like. Those who come in expecting a traditional Shining Force game will be sorely disappointed, while those coming in expecting nothing will at least be able to evaluate the game solely on its own terms. Even so, the game’s overly simplistic battle system, which even as an action-style RPG could use a bit more depth and refinement, will please only the most basic of button-mashers.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Longish campaign and story. + Great, simple system for hack-n-slash button-mashing. |
6.4 |
| What Doesn't | |
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– Battle system too simple; lacks even any AI scripting for companion NPCs. – A lot of dying due to high challenge level. – Confused design: some parts more mainstream, others more niche than before. |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| If you're a fan of hack-n-slash button-mashing in your RPGs, Shining Force Neo offers a load of challenge and a long campaign. But fans of previous, turn-based strategy Shining Force titles are likely to be put off by the wholesale changes to the game. | |
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Tags: Shining Force Neo
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Feb 2nd, 2006 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
