pretty underwhelming. the kinda youthful, angry creative spirit of the computer game originals gets toned down in favour of more polished presentation and cinematics making it more palatable for the console game market. I don't think this is as much of a compromise compared to the translation situation, though.

Working Designs' CD translation is shameless about cutting down the text and shows that all this American studio really cared about were the cool cutscenes, which you won't be seeing a lot of. both it and the Mega Drive version suffer from garbled English scripts; the CD script renders the quest incoherent and pares things down to "go from point A to B", and both are way too liberal with names and places which makes figuring out the historical context and relevance of where you are a very tedious puzzle.
I understand that they couldn't say something like Christianity outright, but what's up Working Designs inventing a name given to the final boss and mangling other names like Hiram, Rama and Bacchus? I think there's some more foul play going on in both translations, but I'd need to confirm.

so what about the actual gameplay (on PC Engine, anyway)? it's basically a simpler Ys III. there's a cool visual indicator for the dice rolling but everything else is simple side scrolling early ARPG stuff. unfortunately the programming and design are played so fast and loose that it spoils most of the fun. there's busted hitboxes on both sides, poor level balance, no choices to make in building up your character, poor dungeon designs, it feels more like button mashing than a fun test of skill. I could go on.

the MD version has smoother action, a wonky but fuller English script and some really cool FM music (it's a Telenet game so you can expect cool music either way) that I feel makes it the better game over the CD. maybe you could watch the CD version alongside your MD playthrough to get the "full" experience? it'd make the story way more coherent.
if you can read Japanese, then just play the computer versions. the story is what I imagine most people are here for.

it's a game with a lot of cool ideas brought down by the poor quality of everything else. I especially like the concept of a foreign globetrotting protagonist being made to participate in a bunch of abstract rituals in an attempt to bring about world peace and enlightenment.

most horror games put on the facade of "disempowering the player" but from resident evil to clock tower to penumbra/amnesia to alien isolation or whatever this game might remind you of, it's never actually true.

but in Enemy Zero, you really are fucked from start to finish. end paragraph

anyone who's uttered any variation of "difficulty in video games" should play this. no fast forwarding or save states. make your own maps. normal difficulty. report back within the hour

Takeshi's Punishment.
inscrutable game.
most hostile thing I've touched with no exaggeration.

I have a theory that this started out as a poorly coded action game engine made by like one guy that later had the Sherlock Holmes character wrapped around it, and the devs decided to treat it like the joke it is once they realised how terrible and misguided the development plan was halfway through.

the titular detective has been (d?)evolved into jump kicking his way across the anarchic UK slaughtering everyone in the streets for meagre cash and breaking into people's homes, interrogating them for such inane dialogue as "are you satisfied with our current society?" "do you know how to use the controller?" "keys are valuable!" and "the game is Sherlock Holmes, of course!". this information is essential because it builds up your "reasoning" stat which must be raised to 100% to access the final stage, one .4 percentage increase at a time.
I should add that you interrogate people by kicking them to death.
(jump)kicking is the only thing Holmes can do in this game without outside help.
several other RPG/adventure systems are present here, all solely to make sure you get yourself into possibly unwinnable situations (the one easily accessible continue code in this game will start you out in the streets with half your cash and no HP; sounds like standard RPG fare but this is an action game with no invincibility states. the only way back home to Watson the healer is a very expensive train ticket.)

speaking of codes: the manual will feed you misleading information to impede your progress, such as "controller 2 is not used in this game". actually, controller 2 is your only method of saving progress and finishing the game. this is a single player game. I haven't even gotten into the vaguely hinted pixel hunting.

I'll revisit this review when I finish the game- without a guide. few games, even those touted as being hardcore or hostile or leaving everything up to the player to suss out, could ever hope to be as obstinate and impenetrable as this.
the worst part is that the non sequitur dialogue, chintzy presentation and absurd game design will pull you back in for more, definitely. I haven't been able to get this game out of my head for a week so I had to write this out. I'm barely even scratching the surface here.

THIS is the definitive private detective experience. everything is left in your hands and no one wants any of your shit. well, maybe they don't want you dead, but you get the idea

excellent. intelligent design and writing with lovely music and character designs.

coming right off the development of what were just choice-driven adventure games, this is an amazing attempt from Enix to distill open ended 80s computer roleplaying down into a simpler format. I think it's no exaggeration to say that this game is a big part of why the video game industry today is obsessed with games that have (at least on the surface) large scopes and open ended gameplay.

this game is now characterised as being a basic grindfest, but the truth is that it allows for different approaches to completing objectives without necessitating constant grinding. the game will slowly provide you with new tools such as status effect spells and navigational assistance, then leave it up to you to figure out the best strategies that utilise them. case in point: I completed all but the very last objective at level 13, making maps and taking notes of hints without sticking my nose in walkthroughs and going through other people's motions. I even rescued the princess at just level 10! dragon quest is an adventure, not a checklist.

I really can't understand where people are coming from when they say the game needs guides, has hours upon hours of constant grinding, lacks any real strategy, etc... I think that's a failure on their part and nothing to do with the game.

it's a smart first entry that understands what makes itself fun. unfortunately, the game has received less than ideal translation and porting treatments that simply cheapen the experience. if you want the ideal way to experience DQ1 then play it on NES with this excellent retranslation patch, much care and love has gone into it: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4275/