Magi Nation

"Only the Best."

Magi Nation is a little known game made by a little known company, Interactive Imagination. Although it was likely inspired by Pokemon, Magi Nation gave that dark feeling that Pokemon lacked, but that sure wasn't the only thing it did.

Graphics 10/10

Magi Nation excels in the graphics category. All the maps in the game are very good looking, much better than most other games on GBC. The battle animations are presented in a very cool way. Once you choose your attack, the screen changes and you see awesome pictures of your creatures and the battle animations. Because it is on GBC, however, your monsters (called Dream Creatures) don't have any animation to them, but its not something that affects the gameplay. There aren't any great special effects, but Magi Nation still looks great. Another thing that makes this game unique from other GBC games is not moving on a grid (think Pokemon), instead you move more freely, much like Chrono Trigger. This is an important feature when the map isn't drawn on a grid (which it isn't).

Control 10/10

Well, you can't complain about this. The menu's aren't confusing and there isn't much to worry about the controls in an RPG anyway.

Gameplay

Magi Nation stands away from other RPG's, with a somewhat original battle system, or so you might think at first. If you were to cross Final Fantasy battles with monsters instead of people, this is what you get. Not to complain, though, because these types of battles haven't been used in any other games (as far as I know of). In Magi Nation you use Dream Creatures to battle as well as yourself. Your character alone isn't very strong and can only cast low damaging spells. That's why there are Dream Creatures. When you step into a flash of light you will get into a battle with one, two, three, or four DC's. You have to summon your own DC's and destroy the enemies. After the battle, you may pick up some animite from the creature you killed. This type of DC animite can be used to forge a ring so you can use the DC for yourself. There is another type of animite, which is used for money. My only complaint is the poor Spell system and the bad attempt at type advantages/disadvantages.

Sound/Music 10/10

The music in Magi Nation is amazing, and when you listen to it through headphones - wow! Very good! I have never heard any better music on GBC and the music isn't as annoying as other Gameboy sounds. The sound effects are pretty well done and shouldn't make you want to turn down the volume.

Replay 9/10

The game plus feature allows you to play trough the game with your previous DC's an retain your level so you won't have to level up all over again. This feature almost ensures you will play the game again, but you are practically invincible once you reach level 99, making most of the game slightly tedious. Even so you will want to play the game over, because it's long enough to make you want to experience it all over again.

Rent or Buy?

If you can find it, buy! Magi Nation will give you many hours of play time and then you will want to play it over. Magi Nation is a great game and not playing it should be a crime!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/03, Updated 03/06/03