Shining Force

"A Flawed Classic"

My rating of the game is not a typo. I stand by the rating of 5, even amidst the 8's, 9's, and 10's already given this game. It is considered to be a classic game, but so much has been made about judging a game by its time period, that for once this game, Shining Force, must be judged by an objective standard; namely, is it a fun to play?

The game is a strategy game, divided into chapters with scenarios given for the player to defeat. Superficially, there is a large variety of characters the player has at his disposal, ranging from the obligatory 'main' hero, Max, to healers and several hidden characters. Each character type has advantages and disadvantages; for example, the sky warriors are weak against archers, but can move over any terrain. However, in practice, all the characters have similar movement ranges, and their strengths and weaknesses are merely functions of their attack, defense, and agility ratings. No customization of the characters can take place, and the raising of abilities at the level up is random.

Continuing with the examination of the numbers in the game, the characters level up every one hundred experience points attained, with maximum levels at twenty before being promoted (an event in the game that causes a different character portrait and a rearrangement of statistics), and level ninety-nine afterwards. A character's statistics consist of Hit Points, Magic Points, and the aforementioned Attack, Defense, and Agility numbers. At the highest levels, each character has similar statistics in each category, and the individuality of the characters is lost. This fact, however, is balanced by the quality of the music and sound on the cartridge.

The music on Shining Force is superb, and is memorable years after playing the game. It is one of the best-scored games on the Genesis, rivaled only by the original Shining in the Darkness and Phantasy Star 2. The sound, while good, is not excellent. It gets the job done and fits the situation at hand, with superior marks going to the sounds accompanying battle. The only flaw in the sound is the repetition; the sound capacity of the Sega Genesis did not allow much variation. Unfortunately, the graphics do not measure up to the sound.

Garish, scratchy characters, blocky textures, and clumsy handling of scene changes; no, I'm not talking about every Nintendo 64 game ever made, I'm referring to the graphics on Shining Force. The visuals are cartoon-like, and seem to be geared towards a child mentality, dissuading anyone with a sense of aesthetics from playing the game. The main scenario battlefield, the towns, and the travel screens are all reminiscent of some horrible Atari 2600 cartridge. The only thing that saves the graphics from complete wretchedness is the excellent quality of each battle resolution. Even after many hours, the battle scenes are interesting to watch, with the chance of a critical strike or miss heightening excitement. It is a mystery why the good artwork of these scenes was not used in the rest of the game. Certainly, it was not because the story took up a lot of program space on the cartridge.

The story in this game revolves around the awakening of Dark Dragon and the Shining Force’s attempt to defeat Dark Dragon and its minions. It is a cliched fantasy plot, and is no less tired here. The characters do not change, and they have no personality. It seems as if every character has had a lobotomy, and is only now beginning to be able to form coherent sentences again. The plot twists are laughable in their simplicity, and the language is geared for the soft-headed. With no character development, a trite plot, and no individual personalities, this game is not a role-playing game. It is a tactical game, and nothing else. Which brings me to the question of replay value.

There's a very simple answer to the question of replay value. Unless you are a number freak and have all the time on the world, this game is not re-playable. The plot is straightforward with no side events, and the hidden characters all end up with the same statistics at high levels. A person could raise all the characters in the game to the maximum level; but the same person could also do something more constructive with that time, like thaw out the frozen mammoth with a fireball and a warm rag.

As for the question of renting or buying this game, at this point, Genesis games cannot be rented. Usually, you can buy games for around 5 bucks , but usually they're games like Rescue Rangers or Alex Kidd and his Amazing Short-Shorts. You won't easily find Shining Force. You could buy it used, of course, and if you are a tactical game fan, I would recommend it. Even with all of the quirks and flaws in the game, I did enjoy it, so I would recommend buying it at a reasonable price.

All in all, this is a landmark game, because it brought many people into the role-playing game fold; it is ironic that it is a tactical game. Being a landmark game, however, does not excuse its lack of character development, inane statistics, sub-par graphics, and tired story line. While the sound is excellent, it cannot transform a shoddily-made game into a masterpiece. This is a flawed game, and is, at best, a mediocre classic.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/20/00, Updated 05/09/02