Brain Lord

"I'm sorry, Enix. I cannot deny my dislike for this game."

Intro
Knee-deep in my incredulity. That I was. Very much deep in it when I saw the ''the end'' screen after playing this game a bit. After what seemed to be (or what should have been in my heart) about the first fourth of the game, it turns out I was actually complete. But... But...! Everyone in my eighth grade classes that role played said this was an outstanding game! One that shouldn't be missed! One that stands out with Soul Blazer and Illusion of Gaia as a great Enix achievement! I slapped down 20 hard earned dollars (plus tax, since I live in Washington) at Game Nutz, thinking I was well in the process of purchasing a rare classic that would be yet another honor to own in my SNES RPG library; One that I might cherish along with the rest. Okay, enough purple prose, time to get down to the point. It sucked! Well, okay, so it just missed the mediocre point, but it was still below mediocre in my book and, therefore, sucks. Why, Enix? Why would you temporarily leave the US hanging with a piece of rat crap like this? Thankfully, they gave us Star Ocean: The Second Story upon returning, so at least they put right their wrong and then some.

Good vs. Evil of Speed Racer Proportions
In Brainlord, you play as a man who is given the job of preventing an evil entity called The Demon Lord from entering the world. Feh, who hasn't been given a job like that? I'm sure if you polled a large group of game heroes, most of them have been commissioned with a task to kill some evil creature/magician/being that is supposed to prophetically rise up and take over the world, or die trying. Anyway, back to our hero... He must muster up all he can to stop this thing. Kind of a drab storyline, if you ask me. I usually expect something a bit more interesting out of Enix. As depicted before, this is your basic story where you have, ''Mwhahahahaha! I'm evil! Therefore, I will conquer the world.'' ...And then you have, ''Yeah, well I'm good, therefore I will stop you. You will not win because I will stop you, therefore I will win and you will lose! Hahaha!'' This causes the villain to retort with, ''We shall see about that!'' Then, he should utter a sinister laugh and stupidly reveal his plan. Okay, I'm getting a bit carried away.

Brainiac!
So, why do they call this Brain Lord? Well, there are tons of puzzles laid out around each dungeon that are supposed to be largely thought provoking. Hmm... Am I smelling Alundra forerunner? Okay, so Alundra was actually good, but I think you get the picture. The puzzles in this range beyond just push blocks. You have many different puzzles that involve using particular logical information or even fast motion. Some of the ''puzzles'' in this game were nothing more than dark rooms that you had to feel your way through or areas with crumbling floors which you had to take the right direction (that was actually quite an intelligent one, but I hated the dark room). In short, the puzzles were just average. I think they needed to make some more intelligent ones.

Game On
This is a basic 2D action/RPG. The layout may remind you a bit of Zelda. You can run around using the various weapons you have. You are also given the ability to jump. As you run around, you fight enemies and kill them for gold. Using the gold, you can then buy better equipment. How do I feel about the layout? Eh... It doesn't matter much to me. It's okay, I guess. I mean, it works with the theme of the game. It only makes sense to have a 2D over-head view for an action/adventure game like this. For the most part, I think they needed to spice up the battle system. It felt like a severely dummied down version of a Zelda game. They could've done something like maybe combos or even make the fighting a bit faster paced. Instead, they left it a dull, dry, ordinary battle system. Alundra almost suffered the same fate, but there were a few small things in there that saved the battle system just a bit. Now, this is not to say the battle system is totally bad. It is decent, given what was offered, but I still feel it could've been so much better.

Um... Magic?
The only magic you get are in the form of Helpers, which are a bit like the Familiars in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. That's about all I'll say there...

Weapons
If it's one thing I can appreciate about almost any game, it's a nice collection of weapons. I didn't expect this to be something like Vagrant Story or Dark Cloud with the weapons. Either way, I still found the diverse usage of weapons quite sufficient. Axes, boomerangs, swords, maces... This game has quite a large collection, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Given the time this game came out, I would say this is quite a solid weapon system, one redeeming quality that saves this game from 3 status.

Graphics
The graphics are a weakness in this game. I guess we can begin with the tiles! Tiles are not necessarily a bad thing for 16-bit games. The tiles in this game, though, are just terrible! Was this created from professionals or amateurs? The tiles seem so simplistic and dull that they too drain life from this pile of whatever... Then you have a major double-sided blade here. The colors are beautiful, but the designs are just blah! Each character seems devoid of decent detail or design. I'm not expecting something major out of the detail. But look at earlier games that Enix has given us. Hell, look at Illusion of Gaia. The graphics on that are gorgeous! I'm not saying to emulate it exactly, but at least put some effort close to that into it!

Sounds
The sounds aren't anything too special. The music left a null impact on me and the sound effects just didn't really ''do it'' for me. With most RPG's, you expect the music to blend with the mood. A peaceful mood for a peaceful times, tragic for deaths, sinister for villains... This one just seems so dry. I mean, they almost capture the mood, but they did't seem to capture it just right. I yawn just thinking about the music. As far as sound effects go, they aren't too bad. They seem to fit with their given sections just right.

Final Word
I guess I've come to expect too much out of Enix. Then again, when you make as many great titles as Enix has, you do come to expect quite a bit. I was hoping this game would be a lot better than it was. I came to expect an epic struggle of good and evil (maybe not epic, but an interesting one nonetheless), awesome/addictive gameplay, and that usual brand of Enix originality that comes with many of their games. Instead, I got a game that feels like someone downloaded RPG Tsukuru 2000, grabbed the English Runtime Program, figured out how to make an action-based battle system, then programmed a sub-par game complete with dull storyline, forgettable soundtrack, and a very short game length. That's right. This game was pretty short. I remember one of my friends telling me that a magazine said it was quite a long game. HAH! This... long? I think not! I was very disappointed to hear that the fourth boss was the final one. I hoped against all hope that maybe another villain would show his face and then I could continue playing. It surely didn't turn out that way. Rather, I was stuck with a short, run-of-the-mill action/adventure/RPG.

Enix really could've picked up a lot of cool points with this game. A touch up to the battle system would've turned a lot around. I think the biggest factor into making this game great would've been a much longer all around game length. What few dungeons this game have just didn't suffice. A small graphical change also probably would've given this a better chance at success. As you can see, there are three flaws that keep this game from gaining the prestige it could've had. Why was everyone so hyped about this game in eighth grade? I'm sure they had their reasons, but all together, I see nothing here to hold my interest beyond one play. I've played this game through once, it's all I'll ever need. Well, that's $15 well wasted, considering I deem this game worth only $5 of the $20 I spent.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Nothing remarkable 5/10
Sounds: Same here 6/10
Controls: Work easy enough 8/10
Plot/Storyline: This really didn't seem like much of a story to me 4/10
Gameplay: Honestly, I felt a bit let down with how short this game was. I expect a survival/horror game to be short, but not an RPG. I also didn't find anything to exiting about the gameplay as a whole. It really didn't strike me as extremely fun. I guess that's just me, though. 5/10
All Together: 4/10

Perks
*Solid weapon system
*Interesting magic system

Downers
*Way too short
*Battle system needs spice
*Dull soundtrack
*Dull graphics
*Unoriginal storyline

Recommendations
Honestly, if you really like action/RPG's, then you should still try this one. Actually, I still do recommend that you at least give this one a try. I didn't like it that much, but that doesn't mean you won't. While this game does have its fun moments, all in all, it really felt like Enix just through a bunch of crap together to get a game out fast. Personally, if you want some games like this that I thought were excellent, try out the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Oracle of Seasons, Alundra, and Illusion of Gaia.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 05/14/01, Updated 11/25/01