Shining Force

"Not the best, but good"

While there is no question this game is a classic; it has MUCH to be desired. I played this game when it first came out, and I still remember my many dislikes and few likes.

Graphics: Very nice for the year it came out. I like the battle scenes and how you really attack the enemy. I like how the characters are drawn as well, especially when you are promoted. Also, the enemies are very well drawn and you can tell what they are. I like the backgrounds and towns as well. Magics, as well, are very well done. Ice, fire and bolt look just like they are supposed to. I’ll give this a 9.
Characters: Here’s where I start to hate this game. There are really only 15 characters I like to use. The rest either are too wimpy or you get them unpromoted WAY too late! There are too many worthless characters in this game. For instance Yogurt is the most worthless character in video game history! I mean 1 HP and 1 MP!!! Give me a break! And Arthur gets decent too late in the game! And, speaking of knights, what’s with all the knights you get!! I wish they would even out the number of each type of character you get. And another thing that annoys me is the fact that after you get 1 character late in the 7th chapter at level 10 promoted, you instantly get 2 UNPROMOTED! Why?? Any character you get after chapter 5 unpromoted, chapter 4 really, should be promoted!! I can’t begin to express my dismay at the lateness you get unpromoted characters. I need their abilities MUCH MUCH earlier! I give this a 4.
Story: I can’t stand chapters! They belong in books, not video games. I was sooo happy that SF2 had no chapters! And then they brought them back in SF3! Fools… Because of the chapters, this game is excruciatingly linear. There’s no going back! Although, one good thing is that the story is pretty dark and deep, but way too predictable. I don’t want to give anything away, but it has very few surprises. If not for the chapters, I would give this an 8, but I am forced to give it a 4.
Music: Very good. I love the fact you can tell if you are attacking or they are by the music. The tunes stay with you after battles and fights. Even the town music is somewhat snappy. Another cool thing is the music matches the mood of the story sometimes, I like it. I give this a 9.
Battles: Not bad at all. I like the battle areas and fighting the enemy in towns, on bridges, and wherever else. The battles are designed to make use of all the characters, whether the fly or go across land quickly. I like how there are surprises and cool things that happen during battles. My favorite is the bridge battle that keeps counting down. Unfortunately, you may have to do cool, even cumbersome, battles over and over to build up wimpy people. I don’t like to do this a lot, but sometimes it is a must. At least we get to see the good battles again and again, but, man those long drawn out ones can eat up a day. I give this an 8.
Secrets: Nothing really useful. They give you bikinis and stupid useless items that you look pretty but have no real use. The secret characters rule, except of course for Yogurt. I wish I could make some characters you have to get be secrets. I give this a 7.
Gameplay: The controls and menus don’t make the most sense sometimes. That’s probably because I’m so used to SF2. I think that game had it right. With SF1 I keep searching for what I want. And not only that, when I want to buy many of 1 item the cursor doesn’t stay. I get too fast and buy wrong items! 75% of the menus and buttons make sense, but the rest are a small pain. I give this a 7.
Replayability: The main reason to replay this game is to get more levels, or find all the secret characters. Or if you miss an item and the darn chapter ends! There aren’t many other reasons. I give this a 6.
Overall I give it a 7. This game is kind of like a rough draft. They had a lot of great ideas, it was just making them work together coherently.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/02, Updated 01/25/02