Mystic Defender

"Leave it to Sega to develop a game this wild"

Early in the Sega Genesis days, its launch titles were wild beyond belief. Many of them were of the kill-the-bad-guy-who-stole-your-girl-with-mystical-powers persuasion. Mystic Defender was one of these titles. This game is a lot of fun, but some cheap tricks and tough levels kill its score from a 10 to an 7.

Story: You are Joe Yamato, a powerful wielder of magic. Your quest is to save your girl, Alexandra from the evil clutches of the bad guy, Zao, who is a henchman of the super bad-ass, Zareth (They really like using names that begin with the letter Z in this game, don't they?). Alexandra is being held at Azuchi Castle (you can really see the Japanese influence on this game, can't you?), where Zao is planning to use Alexandra's soul to revive his evil master. This story is ALMOST a carbon copy of the first Genesis game, Altered Beast, except for the fact that you don't get resurrected from the dead. This storyline contains nothing that hasn't been done before, thusly reducing its score.

Graphics: This game has good graphics for its time. The backgrounds are well-detailed, the spell castings are very clear and the enemies are nice and clear. The only problems I have are Joe's vivid use of purple, and that Joe also has no face. Seriously! Joe's face is blank! Other than that, no problems.

Sounds/Music: The music is very good, but the MIDI tracks bring down the score a bit because they get repetitive quickly. The level 2 (or Round 2 music as the game calls it), music can get repetitive very quickly because the level is confusing and it is long. Confusing levels or levels where you die quickly (*cough, Level 4 cough*) can make the music repetitive and annoying. Sounds are very cool. The sounds in a game like this are all up to the individual gamer's speculation as to what the actual sound would sound like. Personally, I know that fire doesn't sound like it does in this game, but magic fire sounds different. How about Psycho Magic, hm? do you know what that sounds like? Nobody does, but you will find out once you play this game.

Gameplay: Extremely simple. You press a button to fire off a tiny burst of magic, or you can charge it to fire a more powerful burst. You press another button to jump and another to switch magic you want to use. You have up to 4 types of magic. Psycho magic is your default magic, and along the way you can get Flame magic, Sonic magic, and the all-powerful Dragon Thunder magic. There are 8 grueling but short rounds that will test your mettle and, surprisingly enough, your skill and smarts.

Fun Factor: This game can be frustrating, but if you have patience, you can easily beat this game in time. The most fun part is getting to blast your enemies away with all sorts of magic.

Sum it up!
Story: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sounds/Music: 9/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Fun Factor: 10/10
Challenge: Above Average (7/10)
Longevity: 1-3 weeks (6/10)
Replay value: Barely any (5/10)
Is this game worth a purchase: If you collect Sega Genesis games, and you have fun doing it.

Final Score (Averaged): 7.1
The Last Word: This game is worth a purchase if you like these kinds of games and you like to kill bad guys who steal your girl.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/04