Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II

"Just the thought of Fabio portraying my character is...ugh..."

Seeking to work off the success of Wizards and Warriors, Ironsword in brought to the Nintendo Entertainment System with a new look and a slightly different gaming format. Taking the role of Kuros yet again, your mission throughout the game is to find all of the pieces of the Ironsword and defeat the evil wizard yet again. There are some minor changes to the game and how you’re allowed to proceed now, in which your goal isn’t to simply run from one stage to the next, but rather have the help of guardian creatures that will grant you access to other realms! The addition of new weapons, armor and spells throughout the game really shows that some smaller improvements were made, but the only thing that I can honestly say that is wrong with this entire picture is that Fabio is the cover model of Kuros. If you can get past this scary and honestly disturbing sight, then you’ll find that the stages and the action have been increased in size and difficulty, almost to the point of insanity and veteran platform gamers only need apply to this exceptionally well done title!

The game play that you find in Ironsword is nothing that you haven’t played in the previous title of Wizards and Warriors in which you roam from stage to stage while collecting items that will allow your progress into the next realm. While the premise of the game seems unchanged, the overall goal of the game is not only to find different items that each of the four realm guardians require, but also to keep yourself alive while you’re adventuring! The addition of gold and items that you can buy in shops is nothing short of genius and really follows up on the original by allowing you to have more interactions with the key characters of the game. Challenge and difficulty that you’ll find here in Ironsword is only compared to your ability to get through the stages while taking as little damage as you possibly can. Ironsword isn’t a beginner friendly type of game, in which you have to keep moving and you have to learn how to attack as well as get to high up places in the game in order to proceed at certain points. When you place all of these things together, you’ll find that this is one of the more challenging platform games that you can find for the NES and it really does help to evolve the series from the simple run and jump title that Wizards and Warriors was!

Control of Kuros is the same as it always has been, in which you move from side to side and between the different ledges and the use of your items is nothing compared to the overly difficult selection process that was a part of Wizards and Warriors. Attacking your enemies though still hasn’t changed in which you are more or less running into them and slightly swinging your sword around, hoping not to take damage in the process! Something that would have been nice is a little more movement with your attacking and the way that you take out your enemies. The stiff NES control pad does have a tendency to make the different jumps and attacking the different enemies something of a chore in the later stages when precision and timing is crucial. If you’re played several different action games such as this, then you really should have no trouble just diving into the game, but if you haven’t ever played the title before you better be ready to do plenty of practicing and have some true patience.

Visually, the game hasn’t changed at all since the first game other than the fact that the game offers you some different locations and you’ll see the differences between them. Going through the different realms as you do, you’ll find that each location offers up different visuals and detail depending on where you are and the colorization of the game follows that same formula. If you’re in the Fire Realm, then everything has a reddish volcanic look to it that gives you the theme and the mood of that particular area! The enemy designs are a little twitchy in some respects, and you may find that you’re seeing the same attacker several times before you move onto a new area to find different looking enemies. Animation in the title is also set to a limited capacity and you may find that the game doesn’t have the same engaging element of special effects and speed that the original game did.

The audio here is strictly average fare in which you have very little to listen to and what there is to listen to isn’t all that inspiring. The different stages all have a different tone to them, but when you compare it to other action games, you’ll find that there isn’t much here that makes an impact or is all that memorable. Sound effects throughout the game tend to fall to the wayside as well, with the NES showing that simplicity and lack of flare in the special audio effects is the way to go! However, you may tend to find that the lack of anything new or different and exciting is something of a downfall throughout the game. Through many of the different stages, the lack of action music and real audio effects tends to make the game drag on and with the length of the game that you’re facing, this can be quite a disappointment.

Ironsword isn’t a bad game and it does tend to follow up on the original with a little more game play options and different realms, smaller side quests and otherwise. However, you may find that the length of the game truly exceeds anything that is worth taking three or four days out of your time to play through, especially with the way that games are being released these days! The stiff control and the lack of music simply adds to this factor, but the different visuals negate those minor disappointments. If you can get past Fabio on the front of the cart, and really get into the game, you’ll find that the story merely continues on and it’s just another stepping stone in a larger genre.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/01, Updated 12/27/01