Radical Dreamers

"The unknown sequel to one of the greatest games of all time."

Radical Dreamers is the second game in the acclaimed Chrono series, between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. It is the true sequel to Chrono Trigger. It was only released in Japan, therefore many US gamers have never heard of it. And until recently, unless you knew Japanese, it wasn\'t possible to play through RD and understand the story. But, fans of the series don\'t worry. The ROM has recently been translated into English. When I heard that the sequel to my favorite game of all time had been translated into English, I just had to try it out.

Gameplay:

Radical Dreamers is a text-based RPG. It\'s kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure book. Three are only still pictures on the screen, no motion. After walking down a hall or coming to a door, you\'ll be presented with several options. For example: 1) Open the door. 2) Continue down the hall. 3) Go back. This makes the gameplay very simple, as all you have to do is choose the option that you want. But, the text can sometimes get repetitive when you retrace your steps and have to read the same thing again. You also have to choose wisely, since you can\'t always go back and pick another option. The controls are obviously very simple also; you only need to use 1 button and the directional pad throughout the entire game.

Story:

The events of Radical Dreamers take place sometime after Chrono Trigger. It\'s basically a shortened version of part of Chrono Cross, and will seem very familiar to anyone who\'s played CC. The three main characters are Serge (you), the lovely thief Kid, and the mysterious Magil (Magus from Chrono Trigger). These three make up a group of thieves called Radical Dreamers. At the beginning of the game, your group enters Lynx\'s mansion. The group\'s goal is to get the mysterious Frozen Flame, but Kid also wants revenge on Lynx for killing one of her family members in the past. Once in the mansion, the game consists of venturing through the halls and exploring the rooms, trying to find keys to where the Frozen Flame might be. The game has an overall dark theme, since you are going through a mansion at night. There are multiple outcomes, depending on the storyline you choose at the beginning of the game. The game has a very solid story and actually made me care about the characters, which is definitely a good thing.

Graphics/Sound:

Well, it\'s a text-based game, so it can\'t get a great score in the graphics department. The pictures it does have are good; however, and they do a great job of expressing what\'s happening in the story. The enemy designs and characters are very detailed.

Chrono Cross fans will recognize most of the songs used in this game. That\'s because many of the songs in Chrono Cross were actually used in Radical Dreamers first. Most of the music has an overall dark tone, to fit with the theme of the game. The songs fit with the different areas and situations very well.

Replay:

Radical Dreamers has a high replay value, simply because of the fact that you can play through it multiple times, and have different outcomes depending on what story you choose. It\'s also a very short game, taking less than five hours to complete. This makes it worth playing through multiple times, besides being able to get multiple endings.

Bottom Line:

The only way to play Radical Dreamers in English is to get the translated ROM. For any fans of the Chrono series, it\'s definitely worth playing, just to get more of a background on the story and events that happen in Chrono Cross. It could be a bit frustrating if you don\'t like reading, but since it only takes a few hours to complete, that shouldn\'t be a big problem. I\'d recommend it to anyone who likes the Chrono series; it\'s definitely worth a look.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/03