Tengai Makyou: Daishi no Mokushiroku - The Apocalypse IV

"Raijin and his gang of wily cohorts travel throughout their post apocalyptic world in order to stop the demon he unleashed as a child."

Well, for those of you not familiar with the Tengai Makyo series this may seem like one strange-ass game. From VERY creepy and satanic plot twists, to a fat pig lady eating a country to death, to a gay samurai and the main character's psychic girlfriend and finally a gigantic voltron-style robotic geisha made up of japanese food-named war vehicles, most americans would find this import title a BIT odd. As for me I LOVE IT!!! The plot starts out with you as a very young version of the main character Raijin playing with his pals in the woods when they come upon a creepy old house. They explore the house and stumble upon a sarcophagus very deep in the basement. Your younger brother pops open the lid and inside is this thing thats not quite human. Fleeing the house, you notice your brother isnt with you anymore but as soon as you try to go back, the house bursts into flames and a huge 666 is written in the sky in blood. This game is but the latest in a series of Tengai Makyo games which are hugely popular in Japan. First off is graphics. The in town and dungeon graphics are your standard 3/4 view 2D RPG style, but are very bright, colorful and well drawn which kind of juxtapose the game's dark plot with very happy-looking visuals. Battles on the other hand are also 2D, but the enemies are hand drawn animation cels which are huge and animated and take up the whole screen in all their anime-style glory. Also this game is chock full of anime movies, which look great, despite Saturn's often grainy movie quality. Also the game has LOTS of voice that brings the characters to life and personalizes them more along with large, animated pictures of the characters that help tell this incredible story as it unfolds. The game is 2 cds and takes about 32 hours to complete, so it is a little short, but well worht buying. While the non-battle graphics do leave a bit to be desired, the abundance of movies, voice and beautiful battle scenes make this game a treat you wont soon forget. While many people may find the humor or plot strange, the game is good enough that if you can get past those elements, you're bound to enjoy this game a lot.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99