Breath of Fire

"Is this Breath of Fire burnt out? Or can it keep on breathing?"

First, I'd like to say that this has been one of the most entertaining games that I've bought for the Game Boy Advance thus far (up there with Super Mario World 2!), and it's kept my attention for a long while!

Now, on to the skin and bones of this review:

Graphics: The graphics on this game won't exactly blow you away, but they are definitely better than average. Some people say that the monsters don't look ''scary'', but personally, I thought they were great. It was refreshing to get something other than the traditional orgres, dragons, and serpents as monsters in an RPG. I liked how the world map/town maps would be affected by the in-game time. If it was night-time, people wouldn't be out in the streets, and the lights in the house would be on, and it would be dark, etc. I thought this added a bit more realism to the game, and I liked the use of it.
..........Graphics Score: 9

Next, we're going to take a look at the controls!

Controls: The controls on this game are beautifully orchestrated. There's only one little slip up in them that's worth complaining about. When hunting on the world map with Bo, sometimes the bow won't fire when you want it to. This is hardly a significant problem, but it does kind of bring down the quality of the hunting aspect just a bit. Now mind you, that problem isn't all that big, and it doesn't really happen often, but when it does, it picks the worst time to do so, or so it seems. Other than the aforementioned problem, the control scheme is perfect! I don't think the little hunting mishap is worth bringing down the whole control score one point, so I won't reflect it in the scoring, but do keep it in mind.
..........Controls Score: 10

Now, on to the story!

Story: Admittedly, this is where most RPG games falter, but fortunately, Breath Of Fire wasn't a victim of ''bad story syndrome''. It had a great story line, and I'll outline it for you here: A young warrior from the White Dragon Tribe, an almost completely extinct tribe, must race against time to collect the elusive Goddess Keys before Zog, the leader of the Dark Dragon Tribe, finds them. The 7 keys are the key to the Goddess Tyr, who will grant whoever possesses the keys their every wish. Can the hero and his rag-tag companions find them before the Dark Dragon Tribe does?

Now I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's the way the game tells the story, and the little events that happen in-between that carry the story and really got me into it. It's little things like those little events that I can't explain, and you'll have to play the game to understand what I'm talking about. All in all, it's not some thousand page novel's plot, but it's an above average plot, in my opinion.
..........Story Score: 9

Now, for one (two, really) final topic(s)!

Gameplay: The gameplay, in my opinion, was absolutely great! The battle system rivals many of our most current RPG games, and the attacks are varied, and nearly everyone has their own unique perk or attack. There is a total of 8 characters that you can acquire, but you can only use 4 at a time in battle. Thankfully, this is remedied by allowing you to swap 1 character with another per turn during battle. The way they did that was well thought out, as to not allow cheap tactics.

Another great feature I liked was the hunting feature. Based on the time of day it is, certain animals will come out, and if you have the correct character (Bo), you can hunt by shooting them with a bow and arrow. When you defeat one, you get an item, which usually acts as a low-quality healing item, or in some cases, a fairly rare healing item.
..........I'm going to hold off on the scoring until I write the next topic.

The home stretch!

Overall Thoughts and Opinions:
As a whole, I think this game is one of the best I've ever played. I remember playing it on the SNES with just as fond memories. It's amazing how much you can forget over the span of just 5-6 years about a game! I forgot many little plot twists and everything... So even if you've played the game on the SNES before, you'll still enjoy playing it!
..........Gameplay and Overall Thoughts Score: 10

The FINAL score of Breath Of Fire for the Game Boy Advance is....... 9!

I only gave this game a 9 because a few problems with it. In some areas the story drags a bit, but it usually picks up quickly again shortly after that. And some minor control problems as stated above. Overall, this game is a very solid game, and will give you hours of fun! I highly recommend it!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/04/02, Updated 03/04/02