Advance Guardian Heroes

"A great addition to the GBA library.."

I missed out on the Saturn days because I went the route of Sony's machine. Thus, I missed A LOT of great games that never made it past that machine. One of the games I missed playing was Guardian Heroes. I have heard a lot of hype and praise surrounding this game and I was ecstatic when I heard a GBA version of Guardian Heroes was coming out. This GBA version is a BRAND NEW GAME AND NOT A PORT. Finally, the game was released and I got my hands on it. I was impressed.

****GRAPHICS****
The graphics are great, considering the intensity of the action sometimes. The characters are well done, although there isn't a whole hell of a lot of variety in the enemies. Despite that, the graphics are definitely good. I enjoyed the backgrounds, which ranged from a forest to a cave to even the sky (a level where you ride on a rocket through the sky). One problem is a little bit of slowdown during the most intense moments of the game, but they are few and far between in my cases, so they deteriorate nothing from the game.

*****SOUNDS & MUSIC*****
This is probably the weakest part of the game, though it has its redeeming moments. The music is nothing to write home about to your mother, but there are a few great tracks in there.

*****STORY*****
I don't play these types of games for the "engrossing" story. With that said, AGH's story is a bit above average, if you can understand it considering the horrible translation. Some person named Zur appears out of nowhere, enlists the heroes of before as servants of the gods and revives Kanon, a main baddie from the Saturn game. Zur wants the souls of the heroes extracted, while Kanon is trying to revitalize his previous Magic Kingdom and rule the world once again. The remaining soldiers form a resistance against Kanon, but the powerful mage is decimating the soldiers. As a last resort, they decide to summon the power of the Soul Sword and ask for its help. Of course, some random decides to be the body to host the soul and your journey begins.

The story in the manual helps you to understand the story a lot, as well as the prologue before the title screen, so I suggest watching/reading them if you want help to understand it.

*****GAMEPLAY*****
Ah, the bread and butter of the game. The layout of the stages and the game is similar to that of Final Fight, in that the stages sidescroll while you beat the living crap out of everything that comes your way. The combat is a bit on the "hack-n-slash" side of things, although doing just that won't work all the time. One button is designated to physical attacks, and pressing a directional button with the button will yield a different attack. You also have magic attacks, with some characters having as many as 5 different ones. You can also block by putting up a barrier, and if you time it just right, you can counter.

During each stage, you can collect gems that you can use after each stage to increase some of your stats, which adds a bit of an RPGish element to the game. You can also use these gems to make a donation to unlock some hidden characters, although they can get a bit steep as you unlock more and more.

*****REPLAYABILITY & DIFFICULTY*****
There are 21 characters or so in the game, with only 3 being playable from the start. This can add a few hours to the game as they can be unlocked in two different ways. The game can be challenging at times, and sometimes frustrating. Playing it on EASY does not deplete your MP bar, so magic and blocking can be done infinitely (thus making it easy). Normal is a bit difficult at first, but with enough practice, you should be fine. There are 3 more difficulties, being Hard, Very Hard and Endless (Endless needs to be unlocked).

*****CONCLUSION*****
If you are a fan of the original game, get this game. If you're looking for a great game that can last for hours or days (it can get rather addicting), get this game. If you're looking for the best beat-em-up on the GBA, then this game is it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/18/04, Updated 09/20/04