Brigandine

"Well-made rpg from Atlus with minor flaws"

Brigandine, a great tactical rpg with some minor flaws. It is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics. At the start of the game, you choose up to five different countries to play as. Each country located at a specific spot on the continent with their own pros and cons.

Gameplay: Brigandine is a very challenging game. You may set the difficulty right at the start of the game. Playing for your first time through, I recommend Easy. Depending on which country you decide to play as, the difficulty differs. Some countries are harder than others because some require more thinking. Some countries' sides are surrounded by water so you have less to defend and etc.

Story: Oh man... The story is probably the worst part of the game. A man named Cador influences a person named, Zemekis to overthrow Almekia(castle). Zemekis and Cador destroy Almekia and create their own unit called, Esgares Empire. They plan to take over the continent with force. Now with the Esgares Empire on the loose, surrounding countries must defend themselves and prepare for war.

Audio/Video: The graphics are pretty good. The game is made up of nicely drawn sprites. You can even see color in their hair and armor. When you attack or get attacked in battle, it shifts into a 3-D polygonal battle. You fight in 3-D; after you finished attacking/defending, the game shifts back to the sprites. It is annoying at times but you can even turn the 3-D battle thingy off. Very cool.

Replayability: Simply, amazing. You can set the difficulty either on Easy, Medium, or Hard. Even play as 5 different countries! With many troops, monsters, and items to play with, it makes Brigandine such a fun game. Once you've beaten the game once, you'll be dying to try out the other countries.

To buy or to rent? I'd strongly recommend you to rent this rpg game first. It might be appealing to some of you rpg players but for others, this just might not be your game. Remember, this is an tactical rpg. It is mostly based on battles. Unlike most rpgs from Squaresoft, where it's huge on character development and storyline. If you like Front Mission 3, Final Fantasy Tactics, Kartia, or Ogre Battle this an rpg you'll really enjoy!

Overall: I give Brigandine a 7/10. Although the game doesn't really need a well developed storyline, it should've been more in-depth. It was too plain and somewhat stupid. The graphics are pretty good. Although, the sprites are a little deformed. If you like tactical games, this is game you wanna check out!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/01, Updated 03/29/01