LandStalker

"Sega's RPG Platformer Rocks!"

I never heard about this game before back in '93 but a cousin brought it over one day and I tried it out. I never knew I would be borrowing this game for almost a month (and I STILL couldn't finish it). It had an innovative mechanic: RPG Platformer. It reminds me of Mario RPG for the SNES since you can jump around to areas. Just this alone makes the game something different to play from your normal RPGs.

You control Nigel, a treasure hunter who sells artifacts for gold (which he deeply loves). One day, during a trade with someone, a Dark Nymph named Friday flies into his backpack and tells him about King Nole's treasures and the area they're at. Nigel is really interested and decides to leave there immediately. This starts the story, along with helping some towns out with there problems and so on.

Gameplay is very solid, you slash your enemies and jump on platforms most of the time, as well as solve some truly difficult puzzles and riddles. You collect Life Stocks, kind of like leveling up, but they're more like HPs. Monsters drop gold most of the time, but sometimes items as well. Equipment is basic, you have your swords, armor, boots, and rings. Swords add to attack power, armor adds to defense, boots vary in effects: One lets you walk on spikes, heals you while you walk, etc. Rings charge up your power bar faster, prevents abnormal status effects, etc.

Difficulty is sort of hard, but after getting use to it, it's not so bad. A small problem I may say though: you can't really tell if a platform is right across from you or it's planted higher in elevation. Hurts the game somewhat, but not a huge problem since its a pass or fail sequence. If you fall, you won't die, but sometimes it's a pain to return back the way you first got there. That's where this would've come in handy: shadows! This would've helped a lot during the game.

Story: (8/10)
Fine, but could be a lot better. Nigel seems to be a money hungry elf and doesn't appeal much as a main character.

Graphics: (9/10)
Landstalker plays nicely on the Genesis, but just thinking if the Genesis had AV Input makes my mouth water. Some graphics could look better.

Gameplay: (10/10)
Feels just like a Zelda and Mario RPG game blended together. A perfect match.

Replay: (8/10)
Always fun to start a new game. Kind of a long game though, 40+ hours at least.

Overall: (9/10)
If you can find this game, get it. It seems to be harder to find these days. Or i guess you can use an emulator, if that floats your boat.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/05