The Immortal

"All right, be honest. Do you really think you'd go crawling through a dungeon to save your teacher?"

It is my belief that as of late the face of gaming has dramatically changed. Less emphasis is put on mad skills when one plays a video game, and more time of the game’s development is put into pleasing aesthetics and realism factors. However, in turn, the “skill” required to play games Is not that of this day and age’s ancestors. A Playstation 2 title may boast dazzling eye candy and other favorable environmental effects, where a game from the old NES era would’ve simply gained its achievement by being an excellent game to play. Part of that excellence comes from the fact that beating a game back then meant a whole lot more. It was harder to really finish a game, because gaming back then required a sort of skill that needed to be mastered, much like any other craft or hobby. A perfect example of this is Immortal, a game released also on the Sega Genesis. Immortal, while not at all a particularly dazzling title nor an aesthetically revolutionizing title, was simply fun, yet undyingly (no pun intended) frustrating and difficult. However, this frustration managed to be an assistance to Immortal rather than the detriment it would be viewed as in today’s gaming standard.

The story, which manages to provide a rather bland backdrop for Immortal’s core gameplay, is a basic one, but it is one that can keep its gamer held tight, when combined with the aggravating gameplay that is Immortal’s true focus. You are crawling through a dungeon, hoping to rescue your wizard teacher. He has been captured and is being held many levels below in this dungeon, which is the setting for the entire game. However, it seems that another had already entered to attempt this feat, but he was never seen again. This story will not exactly stop there, but alas, reviews aren’t meant to spoil the game, are they? Granted, the story isn’t anything of epic proportions, but theatrical tales weren’t exactly what stood out in the forefront of games at the time of Immortal’s release.

The real area of Immortal that will bring you your most pleasure is the sheer exploration of the gameplay. One of the things that Immortal will pride itself off of, as you can already pick up I’m certain, is its extremely high challenge. Walk across hot pipes? You’ll be burned to a crisp, one of your precious lives gone. Get attacked by a bat? You’d better kill it off quickly, because he’ll suck your life out of you quicker than you can say “I’m dead.” This, in some ways, is more real than those “real life imitations” that cloak most of today’s games. If you’re shot, you will just lose some health. Nothing a healing item or ration couldn’t fix, right? Here, if you step the wrong way, you may find yourself facing down death, and trust me, death usually wins.
Aside from this rather different approach to the game, Immortal isn’t a really out of this world gameplay experience. You make your way through the levels of the dungeon, resting at straw beds provided at key spots and finding items to assist, or possibly kill, you. You have a dagger that provides a lot of your physical attacking, as well as some magic power, namely fireballs that you can use. You’re a wizard in training, are you not? However, the battles of Immortal aren’t what are the hard part in most instances. The puzzle solving and the task of having to avoid the game’s countless hidden executioners is what you’ll be spending most of your time getting frustrated over.

Immortal’s controls could be most fittingly described as simply unforgiving. The slightest wrong move could send you plummeting. This is probably effected by the fact that there are all manner of death traps and other little nooks and crannies, just waiting to take your precious life, but the controls certainly don’t assist you in avoiding them. If you’re creeping along a corridor with spikes on both sides, you won’t find yourself easily avoiding the spikes. If you come to a curve, and you press down on a direction just a hair too much, you’ll find yourself cascading into the spikes, and there goes one of your three lives. Bah, you have two more right? Don’t’ count on them lasting very long. The most precautious of gamers, no matter how long or how much they’ve played video games, will find themselves dying. A lot. And that’s because very little move and every slight tapping of any button on the NES controller will react to the maximum extent. Those games that have sluggish controls could learn a thing or two from Immortal, as it finds itself epitomizing what “responsive” controls are.

As I stressed in the beginning, some of these NES, and other old school consoles, put a lot more effort into their gameplay facets rather than their graphical and audio capabilities. This is not to be misunderstood as to say that these are bad aspects of Immortal, or most of these other classics, in any way. Immortal’s graphics, while not exactly ground breaking like a Donkey Kong Country or a Final Fantasy VII are quite pleasing to the beholder, and they do their job well. The entire game seems to be enveloped in a veil of shadow, but this is a dark, dreary dungeon, isn’t it? While you won’t see amazing character detail, all of the characters are easily decipherable when you have a chance to look at them. A lot of the time though, you’ll be reacting so quickly that you won’t have time to notice these minute details. Other graphical effects such as fire, while not the amazing particle effects that greet the next generation of gaming, do their job well. But, as previously mentioned, the key here is the gameplay and the skill required to master it, and not the graphics that’ll leave you dazzling at them so much that it would distract you from the task at hand.

The audio, also, isn’t the focal point of the game, and it really isn’t as pleasing as the visuals are anyway. A lot of the music is fresh, as it seems that most of the new areas of the dungeon will bring new tunes with them, but none of these are particularly good. What did you expect, an orchestral masterpiece? The quality of the music isn’t exactly horrid for the NES’ hardware capabilities though, as the stereotypical bleeps and blips aren’t exactly what the music is. Although not something you’ll be humming to yourself along the course of your day, the music does set the mood quite adequately. Perhaps it should be viewed as a more miniscule facet that adds to the atmosphere rather than something that should be listened to and enjoyed.

Sound effects aren’t anything special, but they really aren’t needed. Generic sounds of death will greet you when you topple enemies, and the little sounds that accompany menus aren’t overly aggravating. That’s really all the purpose for the sound effects. The other effects, such as you entering and leaving rooms, aren’t of any great quality if they’re even attempted in the first place. Again, these aren’t something that should be dwelled upon, and if you’re playing the game, you’ll be much more concentrated on staying alive as opposed to marveling at jaw dropping audio and video.

And yet, even with the unforgiving controls, the substandard sounds, and the insane difficulty, Immortal manages to be extremely fun. However, I warn it is for the patient. If you’re expecting to progress through the game at a steady rate and continue the plot in a timely fashion, think again. You’ll find yourself working on one level more often than not for days, even weeks at a time. However, despite this, if you have the desire and the want to master it, Immortal can provide quite the lasting appeal. As a second time through presents nothing new, the first time must last a while, and believe me, it does. Defeating Immortal’s many levels is a testament to your “mad skills”, but even the most advanced gamers will find themselves kicking the bucket quite a bit. But there’s always that determination to reach the next level, should you choose not to let Immortal frustrate you too much, and when you finally make it past that last death trap and get the password that allows you to start at the next level after you die again, you’ll get this awesome sense of accomplishment flowing over you like a cool, gentle breeze or a slow, soothing river. It won’t be a sort of, “Whew. I’m finally out of there”, but rather more of a, “I’ve finally climbed that mountain. Let’s see what’s next.”. Immortal may take you months to fully finish, but if you have the patience required to stay with it, the continuation of it, be it as slow as it is, still keeps you playing and enjoying Immortal.

Now that you know all of Immortal’s many aspects and areas of excellence, as well as its flaws and detrimental facets, there’s only one thing left I can advise you to do. Dig up or go rebuy yourself an old NES. Then, you must find Immortal. Get a couple extra controllers to replace the broken ones, grab a soda, and begin a game that will undoubtedly take you significant time to complete. Although they are some of my most fun times as well, I urge you to tear yourself away from your Metal Gear Solids, your Final Fantasy X’s, and your Halos for a minute. I urge you to give Immortal a whirl, and recall what exactly it was that games used to be. Regain your mad skills.
FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/02, Updated 07/05/02