Alundra 2

"A warrior isnt neasured by his kills but by his heart..."

Intertwined in the story are a young renegade swordsman,a young princess,sinister overlords,wicked sorcerors,bloody-thirsty pirates and other monsters.

Over two hours of in game-game cinematics.

Fight over forty monster types such as skeletons,piranhas,sabertooth tigers and dive-bombing ravens,and over ten mega-bosses.

Climb,swim,jump,fight and slide through over twenty map locations including volcanoes,sunkenships and underground caverns.

Hundreds of action-based puzzles with collectible puzzle pieces.

What can i say,Alundra 2 is a notch up from its predecessor.The game is basically like Legend of Zelda+Secret of Mana with the storyline of an epic Final Fantasy game.When i started the game,i really know that it is a notch up from its predecessor.Instead of an anime intro like a standard role-playing game,it has a fully visualized and well rendered introduction as well as a cool theme soundtrack.The makers of the game must have known what they were doing in the from the beginning.The main character is now not just a kid who-happens-to-drop-by-accidentally-into-a-plot-to-take-over-the-world but a rookie who is actually on an adventure of a lifetime.The characters are also more interesting and each has his or her or its own personality.And unlike the dark and moody storyline of the previous Alundra,its actually for fun and cheerful as well as interesting with all the new puzzles the game designers cooked up and the tons of secrets to find.There are also more monsters to fight and each requires different method of combat in order to destroy it.Though the main storyline is quite linear,there are many sub-plots contained in the game and could take up to a week to find them all and another week or more just to complete all the sub-plots contained in the game.Also where the previous Alundra main character only has a charge attack and some magic,the new main character in Alundra 2 has the ability to learn new weapon techniques from certain characters in the course of the game as well as different kinds of magic which can be quite destructive in nature or restorative in function.The 3D effect has also been tweaked so now you can choose the way you view the main character whom is controlled by you as he goes from danger to danger in his most perilous adventure yet.Overall i think this game has the potential one of the greatest titles in this genre of the video game world since Secret of Mana.

Playability
With the simple control design the game designers came up with,you`ll practically be an invincible swordsman in the early part of the game.If you still cannot get the hang of controlling the main character as he traverses through multiple dangerous dungeon,i recommend you take up sewing instead.Magic use has been simplified greatly that the only difficult thing about it is finding all the magic spells in the game.Items now also play an integral part of the game as you cannot pass through a wall or enter a house without a certain item.

Replay
You think you have seen everything.You think you have heard everything.You think you have found all the items as well as all the sword techniques that exists in the game.Not a channce!Although the game is quite linear in appearances,it actually has multiple side-plots apart from the main storyline that cannot help but enrich the game further. There are clues on how to find the sub-plots in the game itself and often so obvious that it is plain sight.But surprisingly,some of the most experienced players can miss some of them and thus lose the oppurtunity to get more cash or better weapons and even better sword techniques.This game is definitely worth playing again and again till all that the game offers a player has been found.

Graphics
When you say Alundra 2,i would say that it has some of the most beautifully well done graphics i have ever seen.The colors used must have been the cause of many sleepless nights for the game designers but the effect created by the use of so many colors was actually worth all those nights.The game looks and feels realistic and in fact you can actually sense when the colors change to reflect the town or dungeon your main character is in.Its so good that combined with its soundtrack can actually affect the player`s mood.Definitely one of the best colored game in the history of the video game industry.The standard Alundra 3D effects have been given a boost and now Alundra 2 boasts some of the best viewpoints from which to control a main character in this genre of game and in some cases such viewpoints are critical in solving the many puzzles Alundra 2 has to offer.

Sound
If the theme song played during the introduction sequence can be considered an opening number,get ready for more.The game has beautifully orchestrated soundtracks which sounds even better than those from the Final Fantasy series.Each music express its own mood and atmosphere.The soundtracks are also placed at key places and when triggered gives that key place a sense of foreboding or assurance depending on the place.The quality of each soundtrack is almost CD quality and beautifully written to meld into the overall storyline of the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/00, Updated 04/04/00