Ghost Lion

"I really wanted to like this game, but..."

This review is a story of unrequited love. Hahaha!! That sounds disgustingly cheesy! But I first saw this game previewed way back when in an early issue of Nintendo Power and it was about that time I was in the mood for another good RPG. And the idea of a Ghost Lion was/is very intriguing. But this game left me a little disappointed.

Graphics: 6

The enemies during battles look okay, but overall the graphics aren't that special. From a game from the creators of ''Shadowgate'' and ''Uninvited'', I expected a bit more detail. The overworld and town maps are very simple.

Challenge: 8

I do rate this game very high on challenge because it's terribly hard. Even simple battles are tough and last a long time. I even played the game with the occasional aid of a walkthru and it was STILL tough.

Music/Sound: 5

The town and overworld musics are moderately catchy and keep my score from being lower but the battle music will make you want to pull your hair out! The battle music is about 4 seconds of audio looped ad infinitum and ad nausea.

Play Control: 7

I base RPG play controls on how easy it is to navigate through the menus since that's the only action that really takes place here. Those menus are okay. It's frustrating having EVERY item you carry one menu instead of separated by items, weapons, etc.

Story/Idea: 7

I really like the story IDEA, but the execution was not too good. It just seemed so formulaic. Couldn't they have thought of some better town names than Bread or Brooms? Those are the same names as some of your items, which is kind of confusing. Also, to increase your level, you have to find Shards, of which there only a fixed number in the game. So the reward of fighting battles is just money, not strength or power. This doesn't make sense. In Final Fantasy, for example, it is possible to strengthen your fighters as much as you want before even seeing the first big enemy. I missed that here. And certainly a game that is as hard and takes as long as this one to finish could have a better ending. A MUCH better ending. An ending that didn't suck.

Replay: 4

If you make it through this one, you probably won't come back. Unless you use a Game Genie to blaze through it.

Overall: 6

Would have been better if...
1.) The battle music was not insanity audiblized.
2.) The graphics were better across the board.
3.) The ending was more than a nice picture on the screen.

Fortunately, I didn't pay more than I paid for it to try this game out. It took me a while to find it and I don't remember it being staggeringly popular. That means not many people bought it when it was released. Only now, after years of searching, do I see why.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/04/02, Updated 11/04/02