Guardian's Crusade

"Join the purple warrior and his pink baby on a quest."

Guardian's Crusade can be summed up in one word: Kiddy. That's probably your first impression of the game, heck, it was my first impression as well. But Guardian's Crusade is a little more than that- a unique story and a cool monster companion named Baby.

Story--
So let's set on the story first. I did say it was unique, because it is- for an RPG. But a story like this can be easily found in a Saturday morning cartoon. You're the hero. The silent, knight type. You set off on an errand for the mayor of your town and meet a baby monster. Then things unfold. I won't spoil much, but then again, you can easily suspect what's going to happen as the story progresses. There's no character development, and the main trio- you, Baby, and your fairy - you never get any feelings for. I really started to lose interest because of the lack of story and character development.. but before I knew it, it was over. The game. Beaten in 15 hours. Sigh..

Gameplay--
Battles are okay. You only get two characters to use, Knight and Baby, and periodically your fairy helps you. But as you go along, you get to use things that are called ''Living Toys''. When you use them, they come out and attack each turn for around 3-4 turns. They have as much life as you, and attack for the same damage as you do. Also, in order to get into battles, you have to run into the monsters(which strangely resemble something you might learn about in health class. =P) The monsters get faster as the game goes on, and get more annoying.

In a Wind Waker-esque type element, you'll have to do a lot of sailing. If you got annoyed at Wind Waker, you'll probably get annoyed at this too. Then again, even if you didn't get annoyed at Wind Waker, you'll probably still get annoyed at this too. There are still random battles, and it's a pain to go where you need to go.

Graphics--
Graphics are pretty good, but like I said, very kiddy. FMV's are scarce, only used in important scenes, and even so it is still rare.

Control--
Control? Ugh. Terrible. I always used to think that this was a lame category to have in a review for an RPG, but this must be stated: Never use analog with this game. For some reason it always seems to stick when you press ''down'', and will usually stay like that for a minute or two. Use the directional pad and you'll have a much easier time.

So, what can I say? It's under 20 hours with a unique-but kiddy story, and easy in challenge. If you're bored and you can find this game for under 14.99, you might as well buy it. If not, don't waste your time or money.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/03