Live A Live

"This game is complete, it even has a Hulk Hogan reject!"

Here is an original game from Squaresoft... That's actually several RPGs in one! Each is a story set in it's own time period. You must play through them all to unlock another featuring a knight. Play through that one and then you get to build a team out of all the characters picking one as the lead. Sounds fun? It is!

GAMEPLAY:

Now the gameplay is the most important part, and it's full of it! The battle system looks like a checkers game, and on each turn, you move and finish the turn by executing an action. It's simple, you don't have "fight" or "magic" but all of the moves the character can do are all in a list. They don't take any sort of energy or MP, but some take some turns to charge up before use. You must pay attention to the enemy's attack area or you'll feel some pain! It takes some getting used to, but I never felt bored while fighting some enemies. And as a bonus, after each fight, you're completely healed. This leaves all the items for battle use, which makes sense.

STORY:

The stories actually had some great thought put into them. In one part of the game, you play as the evil one you're trying to defeat, and you don't even know it until the very end of that section! I won't forget that anytime soon. If you don't want to fight the final enemy, be it! The game lets you play AS the evil dude and you fight to destroy all the heroes. The game's story simply changes to fit. Although it is more fun to fight as the heroes.

GRAPHICS:

This game has some nicely drawn character images and backgrounds. In map mode where you walk around, its the standard 16 by 16 pixel cell arrangement. Some of the characters look funny, like the Hulk Hogan reject you see in the wrestling champion section! And don't forget that creepy evil CPU demon you fight. Apart from all that, it looks like Square's other SNES RPGs.

SOUND:

The sounds in the game are alright. They don't want to make you rip your ears off or anything. The music is awesome, it's got some great tracks in it. I hardly felt like turning the volume so no worries here.

REPLAY:

Well, you could play the game again if you really want but there's no extra features unlocked for clearing it.

Overall, in any way you can, play this game! Even if you don't like RPG normally, give this one a shot. Its another one of those great Japanese games that were never released here.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/06