Time Stalkers

"One of the best Sleeper Hits Ive ever played. But not without faults."

First of all I need to say one thing. Normally when I do reviews for all kinds of sites and things, I bash, criticize and demote the games. Lately, Ive been trying to stop and this game has helped me to do so. Basically waht I'm trying to say is this: This is the best RPG Ive played since the FF series. There are very few things to criticize and bash here, but not none.

Graphics - I recently got a Dreamcast and I expected the graphics to be below par a la N64. I was taken back in surprise. Though there are some bad looking games *cough* Gauntlet Legends *cough* this game rivals and beats out many, many PS2 games. There are no incredible cut-scenes or anything like that, but the in-game graphics are simply good. In the while that I have played it I have experienced:

- No slowdown
- Good Graphics
- Great VMU animations
- Delicate character artwork
- Dark colors and sometimes hard to see
- and more.

Overall the Graphics get a

9/10

Control - Boo! Get off the stage! Controls being this game down from 9 to 8 IMHO. These are some of the views I've collected from looking carefully and examining this game.

- Frustrating Camera angels that cannot be changed
- Odd menus
- Frustrating Battle Mechanics

So in control, this game desrves a

3/10

Gameplay - Almost Perfect. So close to being perfect. One! One! thing is worng with the gameplay, but sadly, it weighs down the whole game. The Leveling Up system. When you are in a dungeon, the leveling up system rules. Every 100 exp. you gain a level and get points to add to your attributes. But when you leave the dungeon YOU GO BACK TO LEVEL ONE! That stinks so bad. After all that work, *BOOM* back to level one. Here are some other things I have examined.

- Great Storyline
- Extremely Fun VMU games
- Fun monster capture system
- Large environments
- Sad leveling system

Overall, gameplay gets a

7/10

Sound - Not much to say. Its fine, not great, but its average. No in-game voices. Average

5/10

Extras - Alone the VMU games are great. So far Ive only played two. Dungeon VI and Moonlighter. In these games you get to either do jobs to earn tokens, or you can go through dungeons battling monsters to earn tokens. Both ways it is pretty fun and interesting. Also, as an added note, the VMU artwork is awesome. For the games and the in-game art work, its good.

8/10

Rent or Buy: Buy. Hands-down. This game is really fun. Buy it.

Overall - 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/04