Young Merlin

"Fun for a rainy afternoon, but that's about it"

In a sense, this game is just a ''Link to the Past'' wannabe. Made by Westwood Games and published by Virgin in 1993, this game never really stood a chance of being a contender. The game was just a little bit too short and stupid. But, the graphics were great and there were certain parts that actually made me laugh. If you have an afternoon with nothing to do, and you have played ''The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past'', you may want to give ''Young Merlin'' a shot.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

Simply put, the graphics in this game were great. Even though this was a 1993 release it could stand up to almost any late-generation SNES title. Every sprite and building was beautifully drawn. The only partial eye-sores were the mini goblins, who I think were supposed to look a bit pixilated. Everything visual in this game was just seamless. From the first rushing waters to the later riding mine carts this title used cartoonish graphics to achieve a great end. Kudos to you Westwood.

SOUND: 8/10

Audio for ''Young Merlin'' was a great contributor to the ''young'' feel. The background tracks themselves were nothing special and Merlin never stayed in an area long enough for them to get repetitive. For the most part is all stayed upbeat throughout the game. Even the final boss had a slightly kiddy feel to the fight. All of this aside, the sound effects were also pretty good, with the exception of the kid's annoying yelp upon being attacked. The star weapon and others like it make a fairly good explosive noise. But, much like other titles, the sound in this one will slide past many people's radar.

CONTROL: 7/10

The control works much like any other action-RPG. You navigate Merlin around and use Y for his accessory and B for his weapon. Select changes weapons and accessories, although the accessories can also be changed with L and R. Some parts of this were a little awkward when it was necessary to attack with a weapon and quickly change it out to attack with another. Also, there are a few parts where you must ride a mine cart across seemingly long abandoned tracks, and game response to the control was not as good as it could have been. None of this really detracted from the game itself, though.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10

''Young Merlin'' says it all in the title. This was obviously a game that was geared towards the younger crowd. The problem is that some of the puzzles are a little hard for kids. Mostly this game plays like a kiddy version of ''A Link to the Past''. The life meter is displayed by ever filling and emptying hearts that can be refilled by killing enemies and drinking water out of your magic bottles. Gameplay and plot progression are extremely self explanatory, but sometimes a little bit of wandering was necessary. Basically, like I have been saying all along, it is just a majorly scaled down version of ''A Link to the Past'' (if you haven't played ''Link to the Past'' then you need to do so before playing any other game, especially this one). The game is a little on the short side, but I wouldn't have been interested in playing it anymore anyway. Oh, and by the way for all of you ''Super Ghouls and Ghosts'' fans, yes you do have to fight the final boss with the most useless weapon in the game, conveniently given to you by the girl in trouble.

STORY: 3/10

Not only is the story stupid, but it doesn't make any sense. And I don't mean nonsensical like reading Plato, I mean nonsensical like having a stoner try to explain to you Plato. Basically you are a child version of Merlin who dives into a stream to save a damsel in distress. Soon you find yourself in a different world where things are stupid and childish. Hooray. After this the plot just falls apart and the rest of the game really makes no sense. The funny part is that there is no text for dialogue and characters just mumble, make body movements, and think about pictures.

Recap:

In the end this is not a game really worth spending your time on. It was pretty fun for awhile, but there are much better games out there. I definitely don't want to play this one again, so maybe just rent it if you really want to. Gameplay maxed out at about 6-10 hours (yes, it is that short).

GRAPHICS: 9/10
SOUND: 8/10
CONTROL: 7/10
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
STORY: 3/10

TOTAL: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/03, Updated 10/12/05