Beyond Oasis

"The Ride of Your 16-bit Life!"

It was a tragedy that many of the Genesis's best games received less attention than they really deserved. Beyond Oasis (BO) is one such example. It was a great game that served its player pure, untainted fun. That's all. No pretentious gaming gimmicks. No cheap twist on tired and played out genres. BO was simply a game that could be played and enjoyed. Now, on with the review...

Overall: 7

What this game does, it does well. Great graphics. Great animation. Excellent control. Fun gameplay. It's quality dips, however, in the the areas of sound, longevity, difficulty, and replay. Its a great game, nonetheless.

Graphics: 9

The game is set on an overhead view of the main character. It is not directly overhead and more like the view Nintendo's original Zelda. Like Zelda, it is intuitive and any player will get the feel of this game within the first few minutes. There is a nice looking into to the game and a nice ending cinemas (keep in mind, this is 16-bit).

The graphics are amazingly crisp and clear. I was especially impressed by the color and animation in this game. The enemies look great and the main character has some fluid attacks that come out really smoothly. The only problem with the graphics is also a recurring problem throughout the game: limit. I'll get to this in a moment

Story: 3

The story is stupid. Its too convoluted to go into details, yet is so mundane and boring and full of loopholes that I won't even bother explaining it. If you want story, read a book.

Sound: 5

I really didn't like the sound in this game too much. The music is more of background music and really does nothing to enhance the mood of the game and does seem really dull. There were some memorable moments, but overall I think much was missing.

Control: 10

Control in this game is excellent. I think the game designers deserve special recognition for brilliantly mapping out all Ali's (main character) moves to only three buttons. It works well and the button layout gives the game an almost action intensive feel.

Gameplay: 7

In BO, you wield a magical armlet that endows you with the powers of four different elements (when you acquire them each by traversing their individual dungeons). These elements are used both offensively and to solve various puzzles. There are a number of things you can do with each element and their techniques are unique and fit well within the game. Besides these elements, Ali is also able to equip an array of weapons and items. Each weapon, with the exception of Ali's main dagger, has a limited life and will disappear after a certain number of uses. Ali's main dagger can perform a lot of moves and ends up being a player's main weapon until he or she discovers some infinite weapons.

The game is an action RPG with some platforming elements scattered about. The puzzles are typical fare and not very challenging.

The good part about BO is that its pretty fun and the game keeps the player highly entertained. There are also a number of secret weapons and items that allow for some nice treasure hunting when not furthering the story (what little there is). Each dungeon is nicely designed and not too tedious that one would be frustrated or disgusted.

The problem with BO is, as mentioned earlier, limit. its just too limited. Let me put it this way: I beat the game with probably a 80-90% completion rate in only 5 hours. That is just not acceptable. Moreover, a player is left imagining how much better BO would be if more was implemented. Personally, I kept thinking how cool it would be if there were more elements to control and maybe some fun sidequests to explore and enjoy. Also, I think BO could have benefited from more RPG elements like towns, shops, armor, and statistics.

Replay: 5

No replay value here, unless you want to try to find everything and beat your score (which is given at the end of the game).

Value: 8

Not a classic, but compared to the crap that's out there today (Super Mario Sunshine and Metal Gear Solid 2 [YES, I SAID CRAP!]), it worth a nice place in your library.

Sorry for such a dry review. Finals are over and I'm still doing work for school. Oh well. That's what videogames are for...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02