Newer isn’t necessarily better when it comes to video games. A Solitaired.com survey found that 87% of Americans would play their childhood classics if they had the cart or console. Despite the primitive visuals, the pixels of the 8- and 16-bit era are brimming with a distinct mix of magic and nostalgia.
It is an iconic style that has spawned several modern versions of the retro look. Few publishers have mastered this aesthetic like Square Enix. The company behind Final Fantasy has found success touching that nerve with people like Octopath Traveler and Triangle strategy. the latest release, live aliveis a bit different because it’s a revamped version of a game that was never released outside of Japan.
For the first time, American players can experience a missing chapter from director Takashi Tokita’s oeuvre. He is one of the minds behind pioneering role-playing games such as Chrono trigger and Final Fantasy IV and live alive is in the middle of that pantheon.
A treat from the past
But to appreciate the project, players must set their moods on the constraints of time. When they look at live alive from that lens, the project is amazing. It takes place over eight historical eras and the era has its own play style and story. Players can choose to tackle the eras in any order.
Prehistory is told without words when a caveman named Pogo tries to save his love from being part of a human sacrifice. Imperial China focuses on a martial arts master looking for a successor. The Middle Ages take the curious on Oersted’s journey to defeat the Lord of the Dark, while Edo Japan puts players in the shoes of Oboromaru, a ninja on a rescue mission.
The Wild West chapter features an outlaw named Sundown who reluctantly protects a town from bandits. The one set in Present Day follows Masaru Takahara, a street fighter who wants to test his skills as the Near Future segment goes wild with giant robots and Akira, a protagonist with psychic powers. The Distant Future stars a brave robot named Cube who must rescue his starship crew from a saboteur.
Different gameplay
The gameplay associated with each of the eight stories is aligned with the storyline. Present Day is modeled after a fighting game where Masaru fights enemies and has the ability to copy and learn their attacks. The beautifully executed western unfolds in two phases, where Sundown must gather resources and delegate tasks to the townsfolk while battling the Crazy Gang. The near future doesn’t have a lot of fights, but it has a suspense Alien-inspired storyline in which the robot must investigate what is going on on the ship while dodging a creature that has escaped from the cargo hold.
When my teen met me live alive in the 1990s, the eclectic array of styles and ideas would have been stunning. It’s not nearly as impressive in the modern era, but the core ideas still hold up thanks to the clever mix of polygons and other camera techniques that work seamlessly with the charming 16-bit sprites.
Where it stands out
live alive chapters with more conventional Japanese role-playing game tropes are still good. The combat system takes positioning into account as players try to outsmart enemies on a grid of different attack types. Moving too much will give their opponents a chance to counter-attack, so there’s plenty of depth, risk, and reward for turn-based combat. Nevertheless, JRPG really shines when it offers more unconventional gameplay twists.
In the Edo Japan section, players can approach the mission through stealth or heavy combat, with appropriate rewards at each end. This chapter has the most elaborate set pieces as the shinobi ventures through a castle full of samurai and monsters. In the Imperial China era, the Earthen Heart style master must choose from three successors, and players must train the star apprentice for the conflicts to come. Being a master, he doesn’t reach any levels, but his students, who are novices, do.
Although these stories seem separate, the director, Tokita, tries to summarize them in the Dominion of Hate. That’s the ninth installment of the saga, and it brings together heroes from the past. This is when all the hard work players have put into leveling up and collecting rare gear pays off.
Each protagonist has different strengths and weaknesses, and the great thing about this section is that players can build their own team of four units to take on the big bad guy at the center of the game. live alive.
Narrative, it’s not as cohesive or coherent as other chapters, but it works well enough for two reasons. The first is that it gives players more time to spend with characters that have sparked their interest, and players can empower characters with dungeons and treasures unique to them. The second is that teammate mixing and matching offers more depth as players form the right squad to take on a universal evil.
While some aspects may not be as impressive in 2022 as they were in 1994, live alive has the story and gameplay that translates over time and confirms the game’s status as a lost classic. It’s a project that is both retro and fresh for a new generation of fans.
live alive
3 stars out of 4
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Review: Teen – Bay Area News Group/Tribune News Service
0 Comments