Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth

"It's a stinker, alright..."

For as long as I can remember, I have been anticipating this game. After finishing the masterpiece known as Final Fantasy Tactics, I was hungry for more strategy/rpg action, and Hoshigami looked like just the thing I needed.

Sadly, I was wrong.

The game started out looking very promising, but turned out to be a stinker. First of all, the terrible Deity system. It's basically Hoshigami's ''Job System''. You pick a deity you want your character to worship, and as they gain levels under that deity, they will gain special abilities and stat bonus. The problem is, it takes so long to level up the deitys, that you will go totally nuts. I know I did. WAHAHA! I EAT WALRUS!!!

Also, a majority of the game is spent in the ''special'' TOWERS OF TRIAL!*ooooooooooooooh*. What these are, are boring-as-hell 20 level towers that are spread all over the world. ''Gee'', you say. ''That doesn't sound so bad...''. YOU'RE WRONG! There are like 20 of the things, and each one is the exact same, except for the enemies levels, which are higher or lower! It definately seems like the towers were added to pad the games length by 50-75%... UGH. So utterly boring. I'd rather sit there in my room and try to fit my entire hand up my nose.

As for the graphics, they look like they were directly ripped off of FFT. I mean, the main character looks like he was Ramza's lost twin sister or something! As for the spell effects and whatnot, they are nothing spectacular. ''RAR, I USE THE MAGIC FIRE ABILITY!'' and then a little puff of fire appears on the bad guy. Wow, looks tough! Maybe if I kiss the enemy, he will loose 25hp!

The music gets severely annoying, and fast. Same with the sound effects. You'll want to throw the PSX across the room after the 150th time you hear the annoying high pitched ''QWWWWWWWWWWWWWK!'' when you use a Coin spell. It's also hilarious when a character dies, too. It sounds like a cat getting run over, or something. LOL.

To Buy or Rent?: Well, if you can stand levelling up for hours and hours on end, have a mute button on your TV, and don't go nuts when you die on a battle that you've been playing on for the last 45 minutes, then you might like the game. But I strongly suggest that you rent the game before purchasing it. If you can find any places that rent PSX games anymore, that is. :P

Ah, who am I kidding? This game is barely playable. I'd pass on it, if I was you.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/01, Updated 12/28/01