Arcana

"A hero equipped with a beret and playing cards, but don't jump to conclusions...."

There was a lengthy drought of solid RPG's for the SNES after the magnificence of Final Fantasy II during the system's debut. Drekkhen wasn't hardly of the same calibur as Square's second US Final Fantasy endeavor, and the only things to really satiate the emaciated hunger of hardcore role playing fanatics were several solid adventure titles, notably Nintendo's Zelda III and Actraiser which was released by Enix, the originators of the Dragon Warrior series.

Arcana was a game I spotted in a preview and kept a close eye on. All I had known of HAL was that they made a solid golfing title, Hole in One Golf. The screens looked interesting though, so I kept it in the back of my mind for a while. After waiting for eons for rumors of a new Final Fantasy and being thoroughly dissappointed, I felt it time to invest all the hard earned cash I saved into buying a copy of Arcana, which was not an easy find one year after its initial release.

The game is a true RPG, and will satisfy fans of this genre. The clever and differentiating twist is with all the card based elements that permeate the story and the game's design: the main character Rooks is a descendant of the old Card Masters, who used decks imbued with magical powers, and he is one of the last known practitioners of this ability. He'll form parties consisting of 2 other adventurers and an Elemental Card Spirit, of which you start with Wind and can attain Fire, Water, and Earth. The supporting cast consists of Teefa, a potent mage with her own purpose, Selah, a novice but determined young cleric girl, Darwin, rogue warrior who is a master of the blade, and Axs, the gruff, stout old Dwarf who was a warrior in the time of the Old Kingdom (which makes me ask, is there EVER any YOUNG dwarves that are kinda lighthearted and use magic? Must every dwarf be old, stout, carry an axe, and be the comedic straight man? Nonetheless, he's still my preferred character....being 5'8'' and resembling a Buick, I have to love dwarven warriors.)

GRAPHICS) 8/10. The imagery in this game alternates between drab and stunning, but when it shines, it does so with flourish. First the bad news...the caves, forests, and buildings you tour in the first person all have relatively repetitive looks, akin to the original Golgo 13. While the details on the cave panels and such are fairly sharp, I think they could've thrown in a bit more variety for a game released on the SNES. Outside of this quasi-gripe, the game provides many moments pleasing to the eye. Enemies are all nicely detailed, animated, and typically quite intimidating (even the slimes in this game have a hair raising quiver to them). The heroes are all depicted in realistic proportions (unheard of in an RPG for the time) and look nice. Rooks looks every bit the part the hero even with his Beret. The boss characters show up on appropriately huge cards. There are a few cinema scenes near the end that liven things up and get you pumped for the climactic battle, and the scene of all the land during the games ending is a nice touch. The looks of the game provide a well executed change of pace for this genre.

SOUNDS) 10/10. There are few games I've played that have ever featured such a beautiful and effective musical score. Great usage of a synthesized pan flute and much well done orchestration never fails to set the mood. Times of suspenseful plot development between characters have deep bass tones to mimic your heartbeat, and surprise attacks from boss enemies give you a jolting string riff in the beginning. You'll realize how great the soundtrack to this game is as soon as you get to the title screen. (Use the code to access the sound test to access all the games melodious tracks when you get a chance.) Sound effects hold up to their end of the deal as well: slashing blades, thundering fists, tearing fangs, and deafening lightening attacks resound as you make your way through the differing games many labrynths.

PLAYABILITY) 7/10. One of the games primary weaknesses lies in its glaring omission of the ability to explore the overworld, which is shown at brief times when you enter a new maze to explore. It makes the game feel very localized, jockeying short distances from town to nearby cave or forest on a small one screen world. Having vast worlds to explore is one of the key elements of enjoyment in almost every RPG, and having the option to do so in Arcana would've been a welcome addition. It is somewhat redeemed in the fine interface featured in the battling system; battles feature easily accessible item and magic lists, which makes it easy to handle the numerous enemies you experience. Arcana also provides you with an interesting element in battles; utilitizing the card borders for the enemies and the heroes, the color of said border indicates that characters particular elemental attribute, which you can change on your heroes via the Elemental Spirits to appropriately handle the enemies you e're encountering. Said attribute's typically exist in most RPG's, but its actually integrated into the games unique card-based visual design.

STORY) 7/10. From what I can ascertain, a lot was lost in this games translation from the original Japanese version, a problem that plagued Role Playing games early on. The story is somewhat formulaic, but it never insults your intelligence, and actually has several interesting twists. Rooks is something of a blank slate as characters go...I'm not sure if they intended for him as such, much like Chrono in ChronoTrigger, but it doesn't work so well here. The characters are entertaining, Alan makes for that strong arch-rival character, Axs adds a nice touch of D&D fun, but for the most part they aren't developed nearly as much as you can see they COULD'VE been. Its not the most compelling tale, but it does keep your interest.

TIMELESSNESS) 5/10. Once you complete Arcana's five chapters, you get a decent sense of accomplishment, but the somewhat vague storyline and not quite memorable characters aren't much to make you want to spelunk through its many drab dungeons again. Still, if you're an advocate of old school 8 and 16 bit RPGing, you'll probably be willing to don the Blue Beret on more than one occasion.

OVERALL FUN FACTOR) 8/10. A solid RPG with fantastic intent and respectable execution that is pleasing to the eyes and the ears, Arcana is a very enjoyable diversion from the cookie cutter RPG's of the day. It should be included in the collection of any sword and sorcery fanatic that's checking out used games stores for their trusty SNES. Take a look at a concept for Monsters on Playing Cards that came out years ago and WASN'T profoundly annoying...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/02, Updated 08/07/02