"Shining Force dished out CD style."

Yes, it was destined to happen. After the success of Shining Force and Shining Force II on the Mega Drive, Sega had to release a Mega CD version.

Both Mega Drive Shining Force games took up a huge amount of memory, for those days at least, so what could Sega do with a 600MB CD?

Shining Force CD is most certainly a huge RPG. It follows the trend of the Mega Drive games, but is bigger than both of them. Shining Force CD was actually based on the two Game Gear Shining Force games, one of which was released in the USA. So you actually get two games in one…

As with most RPGs, this game is very dependant on Stats. Stats for pretty much everything, speed, strength, you get the idea. The numbers never get to the all high of Final Fantasy, but they serve their purpose perfectly. Taking an overhead viewpoint, most of the game is not dominated by problem solving and character interaction as you may think. Actually, they have pretty much scrapped the towns, and made Shining Force CD a war game. All you have for towns are very Shining in the Darkness like. You can buy items, equip weapons, but that is pretty much it. A shame really, as the lack of towns slightly spoils the whole Shining Force experience. Luckily though, Sega put the towns back into Shining Force III.

Graphically, Shining Force CD is identical to the Mega Drive outings. A nice intro has been placed here, with voice acting, in pretty much the same style as Final Fight CD. It is all in-game pictures and sprites that just nicely scroll on and off screen, no FMV here.

The music is real nice, stored on the CD. This is where the game feels quite different from the Mega Drive titles. All the music is very opera like, and goes perfectly well with the game. This is one of the good points of Shining Force CD.

The whole game is based on two main sections of story, both of which can be selected from the start of the game. A word of warning though, as you WILL need a Mega CD Memory Card to play this game, as each file will take up 99 in your memory. Once you have finished the first two sections, more open revealing more sections to the story. This is where the game lasts in length. It will certainly fill the gap in any Shining Force fan while they wait for Sega to decide if they are ever going to make Shining Force IV.

GRAPHICS: 7/10. The graphics are good, just not great. The Mega Drive can do better…

SOUND: 9/10. This game has awesome music and sound. The tunes will ring in your ears for hours.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10. The battles are just as fantastic as ever, but where are those towns?

OVERALL: 8/10. Shining Force fans will love it. Its a great game, it just needed those towns.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/02, Updated 09/19/02