Gargoyle's Quest

"An instant legend."

This is simply one of the most fun games I have ever played on the GB. I can even go as far as saying that it created a new game genre, mixing two already extremely popular genres together seamlessly. The name of this game may not be very imaginative, but the quest your gargoyle sets out on will be one that you'll wish was never ending.

Story: 7
This would get an 8 if the beginning wasn't completely obscure. When you start a new game, your main character, Firebrand, is standing alone in a small stone room, the only other thing in the room being a portal which leads to ''The Realm.'' Apparently Firebrand used to live in ''The Realm,'' and decided to find this little world and sit there doing nothing. This bleedingly painful silence is broken when a few figures step through the portal to tell you about the horrible things happening in ''The Realm,'' and that you must return there and help make things right.

Luckily, after this, the story actually makes sense. It's mostly a save the world type game, but some interesting things happen and the plot is shown in a cool way.

Gameplay: 10
Adventure games are usually identified by having a mixture of action game aspects and RPG game aspects in one. This game leans more toward the RPG genre, making it one of the very few Adventure/RPG games in existence. It's an amazingly fun combination.

This game has an overworld map like an RPG, but when enemies confront you the scene switches to side scrolling action. You're probably saying, ''That reminds me of Zelda II for the NES, which was called an adventure game,'' right now, but Gargoyles Quest takes a step further than Zelda II by having secret items to discover on the world map, as well as characters to talk to. Also, the towns in GC are much more like RPG towns than the towns in Zelda II. In GC, you can not only heal yourself and get information, but you can buy items and save your game with a password (it would have been nice to have battery backup, but oh well).

There are some areas of the world map where you must go through an action sequence to proceed. If you must enter a large tower, cave or castle, chances are there is a boss inside. The action sequences themselves are not just one direction kill everything in your way sequences, either. There are hidden items just like on the world map, plus some action sequences have multiple paths you can take to reach the end.

Leveling up isn't like in RPGs. You gain strength by either finding a special item or doing good deeds for powerful people and gaining more abilities and strength from them.

The aspects of your character you can enhance are your life bar, how high you can jump, how long you can hover in the air with your wings and the amount of attacks you have. All your attacks come out of your mouth. You can switch which attack you wish to use on the fly during action sequences. You start out with only fire breath, but new attacks you learn will do more damage and will be able to be shot more rapidly (only two flame breath shots can be on the screen at once). New attacks may also have special uses, such as being able to blast through certain types of walls. The fact that you will need to use all your attacks in many possible combinations to beat the game instead of just throwing away a weaker attack when you get a stronger one makes things much more interesting.

After defending yourself against enemies on the world map, you win ''Vials'' which are the currency of ''The Realm.'' Some items can be used during action sequences (like healing potions).

''The Realm'' may not be a very creative name for the game world of GC, but once you enter ''The Realm,'' you will not care about the name anymore. It is *extremely* fun to explore. The only thing bad about the game world is the fact that it's quite linear (you can physically go back to conquered places, but there is no reason to at all), but there are so many things to do and so many secrets to find in each ''area'' of ''The Realm,'' it won't bother you much, if at all. Even though most caves are action sequences, some of them are overworld style mazes which you will enjoy exploring.

One strange thing about the game is that the challenge level fluctuates. The hardest places in the game IMO are the very beginning and near the very end. During the middle of the game, it's noticeably not as hard. Why this is is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, this game isn't a cake walk no matter what part of the game you are at and you'll get an enjoyable challenge, but I just find it slightly peculiar.

Graphics: 9
Great graphics for the GB! Firebrand is well detailed and animated, as are other enemies, especially the bosses. The water animation on the overworld map is actually quite nice. It almost makes me wanna sit near the shore of ''The Realm'' and watch the waves crash. Okay maybe I'm going a *bit* too far, but the graphics really are some of the best GB graphics you will ever find...they even rival GBC exclusive game graphics.

Sound/Music: 9
The sound effects are fine, but the sound effect used when text is scrolling gets annoying sometimes. I love the music of this game! Not only do they fit required moods, but they make you wanna keep exploring, especially the overworld theme. Another song I like is the one played when you're in a town. That song gives you a feeling that seems to say, ''You are safe here for now, but you will soon have to venture outside again, so rest well and learn all you can...'' One of the best GB soundtracks ever.

Control: 10
Jumping, hovering and shooting is a breeze in action sequences. To switch attacks during the action you will have to wait until you have a few seconds where you're not being attacked, but that adds a little realism to the game. How hard would it be if you could shoot every attack you had at once?

On the overworld map view, it's your basic RPG style controls...talk, search, access menus. Who could ask for anything more?

Replay Value: 5
Unfortunately, once you've beaten the game there isn't anything else to do, although it is possible to leave a few unturned stones behind, in which case you should definitely play again. What will most likely make you wanna play a second time are the exciting action sequences. You could challenge yourself to beat the sequence with a weaker weapon, for example.

Bottom Line?
This game started its own series because of how great the gameplay was. You're able to explore an intriguing world and blast enemies into smithereens. If you like adventure games or RPGs, you will enjoy this game. If you like adventure games AND RPGs, you'll be instantly addicted! Gargoyles Quest was and still is one of the best portable system games I have ever played, which is why I give it a 9.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/02/01, Updated 07/02/01