Dear God, please watch over me and bless my writing so I can turn in a really kickass review of ActRaiser, and also give me a gamer girlfriend and a copy of Shadow the Hedgehog for the Nintendo Gamecube because mine has a scratched up disc and won't load Mad Matrix. Amen.
I feel like only a few years ago nobody knew about this game, but by now I probably don't even need to explain ActRaiser's main hook to you. As every other review on this page points out, the blend of action-platformer and city builder should not go together, but Quintet was able to take these two radically different genres and blend them so well that ActRaiser never for a moment feels like it lacks cohesion.
The gameplay loop is also very focused despite juggling two totally divergent gameplay styles. The player assumes the role of The Master, one part gladiator and one part community planner. Each location opens with an action stage where The Master is tasked with cleansing the land of its demonic presence. Once the area boss and its minions are defeated, the player can begin building a new human settlement. Laying down roads, performing miracles, and closing demonic portals helps your civilization develop and grants The master additional HP and SP. After a certain point in a settlement's progress, you'll hop into another action stage, fully liberate the land, and then move on to the next location.
The action stages play great. Some really solid and at times challenging platforming, great boss encounters, and excellent level design make these every bit as engrossing as the city building that breaks them up. Performing well in stages provides additional benefits to building your city, which in turn levels up the player for subsequent action stages. It's a really satisfying way to tie the two gameplay styles together and reward the player for excelling in both.
City building is nowhere near as complicated as other city builders of the time, cutting out a significant amount of micromanagement, though it never becomes a totally brainless affair. If anything, this speeds up the rate at which your city develops while giving the player tasks that can be completed quickly. This helps the game maintain a fairly snappy pace, and it never feels like you go too long between action stages, or vise versa. It's this more concise system of city building that makes ActRaiser work.
It's unfortunate that the recent return of ActRaiser screwed up this formula so badly, but then that was also true of its direct sequel (which I'll get to soon.) If you really sit down and break the games systems apart it's not hard to see why it works, but whether through over thinking or just plain buffoonery, nobody has been able to replicate it since. Thankfully, ActRaiser is pretty easy to play today, and it's not like it's hard to figure out SNES emulation (but that would be stealing and stealing is wrong and if you do it you're going to get a visit from The Master and you are NOT going to like it.) If you're looking for a good platformer or a good city builder, you can't go wrong here.
I feel like only a few years ago nobody knew about this game, but by now I probably don't even need to explain ActRaiser's main hook to you. As every other review on this page points out, the blend of action-platformer and city builder should not go together, but Quintet was able to take these two radically different genres and blend them so well that ActRaiser never for a moment feels like it lacks cohesion.
The gameplay loop is also very focused despite juggling two totally divergent gameplay styles. The player assumes the role of The Master, one part gladiator and one part community planner. Each location opens with an action stage where The Master is tasked with cleansing the land of its demonic presence. Once the area boss and its minions are defeated, the player can begin building a new human settlement. Laying down roads, performing miracles, and closing demonic portals helps your civilization develop and grants The master additional HP and SP. After a certain point in a settlement's progress, you'll hop into another action stage, fully liberate the land, and then move on to the next location.
The action stages play great. Some really solid and at times challenging platforming, great boss encounters, and excellent level design make these every bit as engrossing as the city building that breaks them up. Performing well in stages provides additional benefits to building your city, which in turn levels up the player for subsequent action stages. It's a really satisfying way to tie the two gameplay styles together and reward the player for excelling in both.
City building is nowhere near as complicated as other city builders of the time, cutting out a significant amount of micromanagement, though it never becomes a totally brainless affair. If anything, this speeds up the rate at which your city develops while giving the player tasks that can be completed quickly. This helps the game maintain a fairly snappy pace, and it never feels like you go too long between action stages, or vise versa. It's this more concise system of city building that makes ActRaiser work.
It's unfortunate that the recent return of ActRaiser screwed up this formula so badly, but then that was also true of its direct sequel (which I'll get to soon.) If you really sit down and break the games systems apart it's not hard to see why it works, but whether through over thinking or just plain buffoonery, nobody has been able to replicate it since. Thankfully, ActRaiser is pretty easy to play today, and it's not like it's hard to figure out SNES emulation (but that would be stealing and stealing is wrong and if you do it you're going to get a visit from The Master and you are NOT going to like it.) If you're looking for a good platformer or a good city builder, you can't go wrong here.
2 Comments
It's very good and I think you'll like it. One of the rare times an oft hyped up "hidden gem" actually lives up to its reputation.
FallenGrace
1 year ago