ActRaiser

"A very unique game in which you play a God"

ActRaiser is a unique game, to say the least. You are the Master, a God-like figure with the power to cause lightning strikes, rain, sunshine, wind or earthquakes, which you use to help your people. The idea is that you travel from town to town, and the people there need your help. Monsters are living in the town, and you need to get rid of them by going down to the surface and fighting them. When you get rid of all the monsters in the land, you can expand the city further or move to the next town. There are Monster Lairs in each town as well, and you destroy these by continuing to build the town until it covers them over. The bigger you make each town, the more experience points and, as a result, energy you get. The game is unique because it has two very different modes: an overhead perspective one, where you build the town, very similar to SimCity, and a side scroller, where you defeat the major enemies of the town, including a boss. As mentioned before, you control the weather, which helps your people by clearing trees, destroying mountains and extinguishing fires. This game is for one player only.

Graphics: 7/10

Colorful, but more like a late NES game. Still, remember that this is a 1991 SNES game.

Sound: 8/10

OK, the music is pretty impressive. The sound effects are lacking, though.

Gameplay: 7/10

An interesting concept. The game is not overly difficult, as there are only six towns. Each town consists of two acts, each with a boss. The menus in the overhead mode are simple and easy to use and understand. As for the side scrolling mode, the control is terrible. Making your character jump is shaky at best, because there's a delayed reaction and it's hard to time. Being able to swing up and down would have been nice as well.

Replay: 6/10

You could play again to build up your towns even more, but the fun evaporates quickly. Otherwise, no reason to play again.

Overall: 7/10

A different path chosen by Enix for this one. It's not an RPG, or an adventure game, so it's hard to fit into any category. Still, it's not a bad game despite some flaws. Some people will get bored with this game quickly, because there's a lot of time spent building towns and killing bats flying in the sky, which can get tedious. On the other hand, some people will love the mix of strategy and action this game offers. It's up to you to decide, so take a look.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99