Soul Blazer

"One of SNES' early classics"

Back in the early 90's, the SNES was at it's prime. The system was enjoying major success and was getting tons of AAA titles. The RPG genre was no exception. Enix was the king of rpg's at the time, and we were still geting some great stuff from them here on this side of the pond. Games like Actraiser, EVO, and Paladin's Quest were king. But one of the first games they released, was Soul Blazer. Soul Blazer was an action RPG along the lines of Zelda. It was very similar to the Dark Cloud series on PS2. If you like DC or it's fantastic sequl, you'll love Soul Blazer.

Gameplay - 10

This is where this title shines. The game is, as I stated, an action-RPG. You travel through a plethora of areas, from grassy valleys to undersea cities to a scientist's laboratory. As you travel to these areas, you will have ot enter dungeons and find monster bases, which, when destroyed (by killing all the monsters) will release people or objects in the area, like in Dark Cloud. There is a large variety of weapons, armor, and magic at your disposel, as well as many interresting items. One this Soul Blazer does very well in is variety. This game never gets bland. The story is actually very well writen, which is a rarity in action-RPGs.

Graphics - 9

For one of the earlier SNES games, this one actually looks pretty good. The game is very colorful, yet still moody. The effects are very nice as well. There is a tad bit of slowdown when many enemies are on screen, but this is not big deal. Most older games were like this anyways.

Sound - 10

I have to give sound a 10 for one reason: This game has some of the bes music of any game ever. It's right up there with Lagoon and FF2. The music in every area is different and really is moody. Good stuff. As far as sound, tose of you who played Actraiser will recognize it. Alos of the effects used are from Actraiser. They sound pretty good seeing as this is a SNES game.

Overall/Replay - 9

Well, most SNES games have one great quality: Replay. You can alway play through them every few years and they still stand up. This game, along with the other two in the series, Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, are very good. I highly recomend this one.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/21/03, Updated 03/21/03