Lady Sia

"A Killer Sword"

Gunstar Super Heroes. Drill Dozer. Both of the preceding titles share the saddening fortune of being a GBA gem. Joining them is none other than Lady Sia, a true GBA gem that's birth marked the beginning of the plat-forming genre on the GBA. Few have heard about it, even less have played it.

Why do plat-forming stories always have to follow that same old cliché? I'll never really know, but let's find out what makes this game so special. Heroine locked in a cage? Check. Heroine wants revenge? Check. Heroine trying to save country from a legion of fat humanoid rats? Priceless. Lady Sia is a strange title that revolves around the efforts of a half-human half-beast princess by the name of Sia. Angered by the fact that her allies have left her, and driven by her lust for revenge, Sia sets out to correct the wrongs that have been done to her people.

While LS does boast a rather “unique” story, it also offers to its players something to gnaw on while they play the game. From the moment the plot begins, mystery is set into the player. Who would have ever thought that by planting that seed of mystery they'd be able to save their fats hides from the sad reality reality? That being the story is utter garbage, period. I'm not joking with that one either, there's little to no substance whatsoever to actually constitute an interesting plot. Sia is basically thrust into each situation for no reason that I could ever fathom, with each one being more vague than the next. This only gets worse as the game goes on, forcing a player to either just jam on the A button to make it go by, or possibly listen to it for a bit only to find the same fate ten minutes later.

Since LS chooses to follow non-linear plat-forming, you'd probably think that it isn't good at all. Throw that to the wind, because LS does one heck of a job when it comes to merging both addictive plat-forming and strategic button mashing. Stage design is surprisingly top notch; while enemy variety is extremely varied this way things never get old (Although slashing fat rats really can become a guilty pleasure….). Both come together to increase the overall experience.

Wait though, how could button mashing be good? Simply put, you run up to an enemy, whack the heck out of it, and watch them literally make some of the funniest poses I've ever seen. That's why I said it could become a guilty pleasure, merely because you have so much fun killing the enemies that this game offers.

Stage design is what really ties it all in though. Sia was purposely made to be a tad bit slippy in terms of control, making each stage an obstacle course (It's really not that bad, but it does make for a noticeable difference). Whether it be a simple jump or running motion, you have to plan ahead what you are going to do before you actually do it. Guessing game? Hardly, because if you were listening at all to what I was saying before, they did it on purpose. Each stage is designed specifically to take advantage of this feature, making play both challenging and addictive. Will you be able to beat a stage without dieing? Probably not, but that's one of the biggest selling points that this game has to offer. You seriously will die, not once, not twice, but many times before you beat an area.
Graphics are both fluid and vivid, taking advantage of a very anime like appearance to bring things home. Each stage never misses a beat, and character portraits are top notch. There was one little problem, and it stemmed from the fact that perhaps the graphics were too fluid for their own good. Sometimes they do what I like to call a slip, which means that they take a cut and then immediately place themselves back. This kind of chops things up, which is annoying. It can partially be attributed to the fact that the game came out when the GBA was in infancy, so it may have very well be the lack of knowledge about the technology. Who knows, it's still a problem that they should have seen.

Lady Sia was an excellent game, albeit underplayed game. You can most likely pick up a copy for under five dollars, which makes it an extreme bargain. Great level design, good difficutly, and an anime graphical system make this game a true gem. Let fat rats prevail!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/07, Updated 12/22/09

Game Release: Lady Sia (US, 10/15/01)