The Granstream Saga

"Good, but not great"

If you know who Adol from the Y's series is, I can swear the main character Eon in this game looks very much like him, and exactly like him when you get your second set of armor.

Graphics: 8 Very Good
Normally I'm not a fan of 3D rendered graphics, but this time it's totally different. The anime-style portraits and cinemas are also pretty cool. In the normal game, though, the characters are faceless!!! I mean, it's a Playstation game, the no-face attribute is in the past.

Sound/Music: 6 Above Average
Several of the songs in this game are cool, and the battle music is cool. Sound effects are pretty cool. Voice acting was dubbed [American voices for an anime] for the cutscenes, they were average at most; that's quite a record for dubbed voices.

Controls: 7 Good
The controls are good. Menus operate okay. The battle controls are cool, along with the way the weapons are used; swords have medium speed and power, daggers are fast but weak, and axes are strong but slow. You can also dash during battles, very cool!

Story: 8 Very Good
This game sports a good an original story. You are this red-haired dude named Eon. The continents of the world are airborne, but they are falling down slightly with each day. The gems which were used to take off useless chunks of land are shattered into pieces, but you have a cool wrist-scepter which restores broken items. There are a lot of twists and turns, too, but I won't spoil 'em. It all starts with you helping you father clean out your basement. You find some junk metal, your scepter reacts, and you get a sudden surge of power. Then this knight comes to life and attacks you. Your scepter reacts again and your clothes transform into armor. Added to that is a sword and a shield. After duking it out with the knight, you go onward to find a lost little boy. After returning him to HIS father in town, they give you an herb dish. Yum. And that's just the start. The first twist in the story comes abruptly.

Challenge: 6 Above Average
The dungeons are linear, but then the puzzles are pretty tricky. There are only four levels, which might make you think it's not enough. True, but the levels are big. The lack of bosses or number of levels bumps the fun factor down a little bit.

Overall: 7 Good
The Granstream Saga sports some nice elements of a game, despite minor flaws.

Pluses:
=Battle system
=Interesting story
=Cool effects

Minuses:
=Not enough levels or bosses
=The no-face characteristic of the past

Buy? Rent? Throw Away? Or what...
It's up to you. If you like the way I described this game, buy. If it doesn't strike your fancy, maybe save up your money.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/03