Faxanadu

"An average action/adventure game saved by...bad translations!?"

Faxanadu was a game released by Falcom and Hudson Soft roughly around July of 1989. In this game, you were an unnamed Elf who has just returned home from a journey and is puzzled that the town is in disarray. Naturally, he sets out to save the town, and the entire elf world.

Graphics: 7/10- On the overall, they're not too bad. They're bsaically your typical NES Graphics, with slightly better animation. You'll notice the unnamed protagonist of the story suffers from "Unhandedness", I.E. which hand he stabs with depends on what direction he's facing. Other than that, the backgrounds are pretty average. The merchants also suffer from "Overly blinking" syndrome.

Sound: 8/10- The music is good, but it's ANNOYINGLY upbeat, especially when you consider that you're supposed to be saving the world from a semi-unknown evil. It is peppy, though, and of course it keeps you in a cheery mood, which is good. You'll note the strange sound effects, such as the effect when you get hit.

Control: 6/10- The control is average. The hero has problems making jumps he SHOULD make easily, especially in the early part of the game. He responds decently, though I wish he wouldn't drop like a stone when he swings his sword and connects with an enemy in midair. It'd also be nice if the jumping were a bit more consistent, especially since there doesn't really seem to be any controllable height on the jump.

Story: 5/10- It basically boils down to "Save the world from the Evil Meanie(tm)", but the fact that it's Elves vs Dwarves makes it pretty cool. There's also some mini-plot twists as you advance in the game.

Challenge: 7/10- It's a decently long game, long enough that you'll have to take quite a few passwords along the way in order to beat it. The inconsistent jumping doesn't help, but at least it's not so bad as to make the game impossible.

Replay Value: 4/10- Beat it once, and you're done. End of story basically. I'm not sure whether you can try and beat it at weaker levels, mainly since I'm not sure what the levels DO, other than starting you with more gold.

Overall: 8/10- As mentioned in the synopsis, the translation saves this game. I STILL laugh when I see "This is not enough Golds.", or "The posion is almost gone". Basically, the translations ALONE make this game worth a look. It's a decent action/adventure without them, yet the game just doesn't have that certain charm to it that way.....

Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 01/03/00, Updated 01/03/00

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