EarthBound

"Video Games as an Art Form"

Pick up any old RPG off the shelf. I can tell you a few things that are most likely true about it. First off, the main character uses a sword. His main squeeze, whoever that may be, uses a staff and healing magic. There'll be dragons. There'll be some kind of interesting but complicated power-gaining gimmick in addition to levelling up. And, in many recent RPGs, everything is so customizable that your characters wind up being personality-free cookie cutters of each other. If it was made after a certain time in game development, you'll be able to mash the attack button over and over and never worry that you might not win, except for a few boss fights.

None of these things are true of Earthbound.

Besides these gameplay conventions, you'll find that there are a million story conventions that dictate every RPG, no matter how futuristic or medieval. You won't find these things in Earthbound either. What you *will* find is the most original RPG of all time.

Although I suppose it's not fair to really call Earthbound "original." Earthbound, you see, is a fun game. But it is also the artistic statement of Ape studios, combining a barrage of awful cliches, pop culture references, bizarre dialogue, unimaginable strageness and just plain random inanity into a self-mocking seamless whole that spins you around ten times and dares you to walk a straight line, and does it with a cheeky smile.

GAMEPLAY - 8/10

Often-maligned, sometimes adored, Earthbound's gameplay is infamous and interesting. I can't really think of a different game in which a hippie attacked my party by brushing his teeth so brightly that they blinded me. But strangeness and humor aside, Earthbound has a surprisingly well-balanced and challenging system of combat. It's classical RPG, much like Dragon Warrior, but beyond the basic familiar setup, nothing is the same.

Each of your heroes has their own unique, individual powers, from Paula's gamble of a Pray ability to Jeff's spying and launching of wacky-go-lucky gadgets. In fact, I can't think of a single game (besides maybe Final Fantasy IV) wherein each of your characters is so unique and uniquely useful. Some characters share powers, to some extent, but each character has their own unique potential to be developed. Ness, for example, is a wellspring of stamina and physical attack strength, starting the game with few psychic powers and a limited capacity for their use. He grows, however, into a double threat of insane attack power and nearly bottomless reserves of raw psychic energy. Paula, the leading lady, is the sort of classic "black mage" in one sense, dishing out lots of PSI-related damage while suffering from few hit points and weak physical attacks. By the end of the game she is capable of dishing out massive damage as this game's glass cannon, and her physical attack powers grow as well until she is a firestorm of destruction. Jeff, your third character, the nerdy scientist's son, has the highest IQ of any of the characters. Ironically, however, he is unable to use any psychic powers at all. He can, however, fix up broken down old machines and use them in combat. His arsenal of wacky gadgets ranges from a machine that coats enemies in slimy goo to a pair of massive bazookas. The almighty Multi Bottle Rocket is the single strongest attack in the whole game. Jeff is the most limited character, starting out pathetically weak and near useless, but will grow to be the biggest (and most limited) powerhouse in the game. Poo, the final character, is a sort of well-balanced character with a wide array of healing, damaging and restricting powers. His psychic abilities are the most well developed, but by the end of the game he has the fewest PP, meaning you'll have to carefully decide which capacities he can serve in. If you don't seek out his hidden equipment, Poo is fragile and somewhat weak. If you can find all of his special equipment (no mean feat) he becomes a decent physical attacker as well, making him by far the most versatile. His PSI Starstorm Omega, besides being the most visually impressive attack in the game, is also the most powerful multi-target attack in the game.

Although your old friends, strength, defense, speed and magic are here, there's some new stats, most amusingly Guts. Guts affects your character's ability to get critical hits and may even save your life if you get pulverized. Earthbound's stats are interesting and level-ups are seemingly random, with each character growing faster or slower in different areas. This may seem like standard, stock RPG stuff, but in Earthbound it makes a real difference because Earthbound is far more difficult than your standard RPG fare. Not since Final Fantasy V has an RPG provided this much challenge. You remember the old days when you'd be crawling through a dungeon on your last legs, rationing out the last of your special powers to healing, triumphing only because of your planning and strategizing? Those days are back with Earthbound. The choices you make about what to do with your limited inventory slots and ability points can mean the difference between victory and defeat, and the bosses are truly difficult.

In all of these ways and more Earthbound's gameplay triumphs. They've even done something I haven't seen any other game do: They've allocated the L button as a general talk/act/check button. That's right. This game can be played almost entirely with one hand, leaving the other free to snack, hold a telephone or what have you. Now -that- is convenient!

Earthbound's gameplay has a few rough spots, however. Going through menu after menu to sell or buy items can be obnoxious, and some of the puzzles are absolutely unintuitive. Ape studios, triumphs again, by allowing you to buy hints whenever you like, but this feature would hardly have been necessary if the game were a little more coherent. Then again, coherence would have really ruined this game, so it's sort of a Catch 22. In any event, despite some necessary patience and frustration, this game is absolutely great and is generaly a blast to play if you're a fan of RPGs.

PLOT - 7/10

The plot of Earthbound is not going to grab you by the short hairs and pull you into a world of mystery and wonder. You're not going to be weeping for your characters when they fall in combat. You're not going to get really excited, stand up and pump your fist when you slaughter the big bad guys. But you're going to find yourself far more interested than you might think at first rub.

Like all good stories, the action starts low, rises to complication and terminates by resolving the loose ends. The plot is fairly shallow, but it's not so much the plot itself that warrants a decent score as it is the dialogue, characters and progression of events. You'll grow fairly attached to Ness, at least, and he dosen't even speak.

I don't want to give too much away, so I won't, but suffice to say that the quirky dialogue will elicit a chuckle from you every now and then. And it's the only game in which a kindly crime boss grants you the financial clout to free a parody of the Blues Brothers from the captivity of a man named Poochyfud. Although the writers seem strangely obsessed with people wetting themselves (although this dosen't actually -happen-, it just gets mentioned all the time) and other juvenile forms of humor, they also reveal the depth of their writing prowess with subtle, clever jokes and things that were doubtlessly in-jokes or dares. You get the definite feeling that the designers had fun writing this game, and that spirit of fun carries into the play experience. Don't take it too seriously, and this game will keep you interested and occasionally laughing. Plus, it's all sort of surreal and quirky, and makes some interesting social statements.

GRAPHICS - 9/10

As you'll see when you first start, the graphics really aren't that great. They're sort of cartoony and strangely drawn. However, far from detracting from the experience, these graphics serve to enhance the play experience. These graphics set the mood perfectly and let you know from the start not to take this game all that seriously.

And, like a minimalist using the barest of tools and materials to make a masterpiece, this game's graphics grow and grow on you until you love them. I'm amazed at what they did with almost nothing for attack animations sometimes, like the psychadelic affects of Starstorm Omega and Rockin' Omega. The animations all get a lot across with minimal effort, and that's a triumph all on its own.

Again, this game is just as much a social statement and a work of art as it is a game. The graphics of Earthbound make a unique, ironic statement all their own.

MUSIC - 8/10

Honestly, this is a mixed bag. Some of the music is really interesting and fantastic, and it all gets its point across. A lot of it is hummable, but some of it is definitively not. Looked at from the perspective of a game player, the music is pretty good, but some of it is almost painful due to the high scratching and beeping involved. Looked at from the perspective of an artist, however, the music for the game is perfect. Again, like the quirky graphics, the quirky music supports the overall point of the game's artistic statement.

SOUND EFFECTS - 7/10

The sound effects are very similar to the music. Personally, I love them, although many have found them to be annoying. More scratches, beeps and rumbles here. But from a minimalist perspective, I'm again amazed at what this game has done and what the sound says.

OVERALL - 8/10

Earthbound is not the most perfect game in the history of games. It is, however, a tour de force of artistic statement and originality (sort of) in video games. If you're tired of vapid sword-swinging adventures and want to give your brain a trip, come along with the psychic children, explore the hallucinations of Moonside and Magicant, repair grievous wounds with cheeseburgers, and save the world a slightly different way. Earthboud awaits.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/05/06