Azure Dreams

"112 hours of gameplay!"

To me, this game is fantastic. I can sympathise with the people that have played this game and labelled it as 'boring' 'monotonous' and 'repetitive' but at the same time argue and agree that this is one of the most addictive games I have ever played. As you journey further and further into the game you are compelled to keep playing until you have completed it. Believe it or not but my save file registers a staggering 112 hours of gaming. That amazingly beats my Final Fantasy 7 (70 hours) and Final 6 (60 hours). I bought this game shortly after completing Suikoden and seeing that Azure Dreams was by the same company (Konami) I decided to give it a go.

Here's the low down on the 4 main elements of the game

Graphics 7
Graphically the game falls short slightly. To look at they are fairly pixelated and have that all too familiar 'sprite' feel to it that really shouldnt be happening on the PSOne format. The FMV sequences are refreshing to watch as often the player is left with a lot of dialogue and story that is displayed through text but here we see some excellent motion videos.

Sound 6
I am scoring so low because of the lack of music. The game seems to consist of 1 melody that is almost quite literally mixed in different parts of the game. This can become quite annoying and leave you wanting more. Obviously there are a few other tracks but the 'core of the score' consists of really 1 track that has been remixed 3 or 4 times over. This is a very important negative factor along with the mediocre graphics as this game is really repetitive in what you have actually got to do and so it all adds to the player's frustration leading them to give-up and ultimately dislike the game.

Story 8
The story is one of the strong points of the game. The main 'jist' of it is as follows. A town named Monsbaiya exists in the middle of the desert and the centre point of this town is the huge tower that rises miles above. In this tower are many hidden treasures and delights but most importantly, there lurks monsters and monster eggs. If a person obtains one of these eggs they can raise it and train it to become a very strong guardian and protector. The heroin of the story is a boy named Koh. His father has been lost since he was an infant as one day he went into the tower and never came back out, thus Koh's burning desire to go to the tower to follow in his father footsteps and to ultimately find out what happened to him.
To me I felt that this was quite an original concept and was one of the factors that kept me hooked to the game.

Gameplay 8
I felt the gameplay was also a strong point. The game is literally split up into two pursuits. The first and main core of the game is the tower. Trying to work your way up the tower as effectively as possible to obtain greater items and stronger/rarer monsters eggs. The second pursuit is the actual town you live in. As the story progresses you will earn money from your tower visits and you can use this money (and the circumstances of the sub-characters in the game) to build things such as a racetrack, a public swimming pool and even a casino. As you work through the game Koh slowly transforms the town he lives in. By doing things like this, you also earn the love and respect of various women around the town. In all, there are 7 women for you to charm and 16 buildings to build.

Overall 8/10
This game is excellent once you have fully got to grips with it. The further you go into the game the stronger the character becomes, more monsters are trained and are at your disposal which means each tower visit is potentially different. I found this game so addictive that I just couldn't put it down and it was such a good feeling of accomplishment when I finally beat it.
My final word to you is this, from the beginning this game will feel very alien to you as it did to me and you will probably want to put it down and forget you'd even heard of it but if you stick with it, you will soon see that it is a thoroughly enjoyable game with lots to do and plenty to explore!

If you're in the mood for something different the give Azure Dreams a go, you might just like it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/22/02, Updated 12/22/02