Phantasy Star Adventure

"It's like Zork, only shorter."

Exactly. It's like Zork, only shorter. And it's also like those Dungeons & Dragons games, but weaker. Sorta. Phantasy Star Adventure is a basically a point and click game similar to Seasons of Sakura or Return To Zork. You read some text the game throws at you, you choose all the options such as Look and Use, talk to the people in the ''room'', Move to the next ''room'', then repeat the process. You're required to do some thinking to progress in this game, but not so much that it'll strain your mind like the Zork series, The Legend of Kyrandia series, and the Quest For Glory series. As a matter of fact, the first time I played this game, I finished it in a few hours.

[Gameplay] There's not much to say about this part. It's not an action game, sports game, or any other type of game that requires slick movements with the controller. Just choose and option and press a button. But if you can't even do that in a regular RPG...

[Story] You're a person who is visiting your friend Dr. Miller on the third planet of the Algol solar system, Dezolis. He has a great invention that he wishes to show you. But a nearby laboratory hears about it and they take it by force since Miller is reluctant to sell it. Not only that, they decide to kidnap Miller as well. So the whole game consists of you rescuing Doctor Miller and his strength enhancing device. Then you go into a little generic story where the leader of the lab uses the device for eViL and then you have to stop him. The story doesn't involve you like the other games in the Phantasy Star series do, like Phantasy Star III and IV (yes, Phantasy Star III rocks). But I guess quality of this kind is to be expected from the early 90's.

[Eyecandy/Earcandy] Not much to go for here. The graphics are slightly more vibrant than the ones of Phantasy Star on the Master System. The sounds are okay, but there aren't any tunes that like to force themselves into your head and never leave, reverberating and making you hum tunes for the rest of your life. At least there's SOME sound in the game, so you don't go out of your mind.

[Replayability] Probably none, since I wouldn't want to play through this game again. =P

That's it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/01, Updated 02/13/03