Dark Savior

"The saturn had some good RPGs, this is proof"

One of the reasons I even bought a Saturn was for its great RPGs, Dark Savior was one of the 2 original games I bought, and I still go back to it after all this time.

The story is pretty simple, you are a bounty hunter named Garian, you have a bird partner named Jack, and you are on a cargo ship with 2 of your teammates making sure that a monster named Bilan (who you spent a great deal of time catching) makes it to the prison island and gets excuted once and for all. Of course Bilan escapes and wreaks havoc on the ship, and it is up to you to make sure that Bilan gets excuted once and for all (did I mention that Bilan can take control of any living thing?)

Dark Savior is actually an Adventure, similar to Landstalker (actually the game was made by the same team that made the great Genesis game). You control Garian from a 3/4 perspective (you can look around the playing field and adjust the camera distance to your liking). You jump, run, and use your sword to solve puzzles and kill enemies. Your bird companion Jack can refill your health, give you hints, or raise your level (for a price). Battles are quite different though, when fighting a major foe (there are minor enemies that you kill in normal play) the screen closes in and you fight your opponent on a 1 on 1 best 2 of 3 match. If you weaken your opponent down enough you can capture him and make him your slave to fight battles for you. Although the battles are an original idea, you may find yourself wondering what the people were thinking when they put this in.

Graphics are quite nice to look at, but dont expect any great anime-type cinemas, though there are cutscenes within the games engine that explain the story. Music is one of the games best qualities, and is backed up with great clear usage of voices, its just a shame that the voices are rare in the game.

Replay value is one of the worst things in an RPG, once you beat the game what will keep you playing again? Dark Savior uses a Parallel system, depending what you do in the prelude will effect what will happen the rest of the game (and yes, it is possible to play the game machine). Of course, game events wont change, and the locations will be the same, but different things will happen. There may be a route you cant go to in one parallel, but in a different one it will be open.

Dark Savior is a piece of excellent work, and no one who has a saturn should be without it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99