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Title: Actraiser
Release Date: 12/16/90
Developer: Quintet
Publisher: Enix Corporation
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| I swear I had like three of these out at a time from the library... |
Story
In the game, you play as a loving deity named "The Master" who rules over the earth from his floating citadel in the sky. By the time the game begins, the Master had suffered a defeat at the hands of the evil demon, Tanzra, and the Master was forced to enter a deep, thousand year sleep in order to heal. Thus, once he awakens, he realizes that he must rid the earth of Tanzra's monsters and then eventually defeat the evil demon king himself. One of the things that I find interesting is that you don't play as The Master, but instead as two different instruments of his will, a Warrior's statue brought to life in order to slay some demons, and a little Cherub who talks to the people of the world for you.
Gameplay
The game is then split into two game-play types: one where you play as the statue and embark on hack-and-slash side-scrolling levels, and God-Sim portions of the game where you help rebuild the human civilizations. Each "level" of the game plays thusly: you enter a new region of the world map, which has been eradicated of human life thanks to the demons of Tanzra. The master descends with his citadel in an amazing display of Mode 7, and sends out his statue-warrior to clear out a foothold in this region. This is one hack-and-slash level that ends with a boss fight against an elite demon. Then, you must rebuild the civilization from two people. This is the god-sim portion of the game. You care for your people, perform miracles to help promote their growth or remove obstacles to their growth, and you stop demons from encroaching on their burgeoning civilization. Finally, at some point, the area will be brought into some sort of turmoil, which can only be solved by Mr. Statue going back in and slaying the boss creature of this region. This plays out, on repeat, across six different regions.
The game was developed by Quintet, a Japanese development house who would go on to later craft the epic trilogy of Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma (though honestly this feels very connected, thematically, to those three games as well). Historically, they enjoyed a very nice relationship with Enix, the publishers famous for the Dragon Warrior series. After the days of the SNES, Quintet kind of dropped off the map. Very sad as they were clearly a gifted and innovative development house.
Them tasty licks
The music is absolutely fantastic as it was composed by the esteemed Yuzu Koshiro, the composer of the Ys series as well as Streets of Rage. Here are the best tracks from this beast of an OST.
The Nitty-Gritty: Statue Man
The game-play in the Warrior's portion of the game is equal parts hack-and-slash and platforming. Each level is littered with little traps and enemies. Most enemies can be banished with a simple swipe of the sword, while others take a bit more punishment. At the start of the game, your Warrior only has a bit of health, so you must really plan your course and jumps rather carefully, as you have only a brief period of invulnerability after you get hit, so you can wrack up damage rather quickly. Sometimes, the platforming controls can be a bit wonky. The Warrior statue has a tendency to be a bit sail-y in his jumps, and it can be hard to turn him around once he is committed to a jump, leading to some frustrating deaths. I would say, out of all the gameplay, the platforming has a tendency to be too frustrating. There is one boss later that is hair-pullingly punishing because it is centered on the platforming. The jumps of the Warrior are just not pin point enough to make the player's movements as exact as you need for the game, and there are many times where you will accidentally jump into a situation that costs you health.
Thankfully, the Warrior doesn't have a huge "jump" backwards after he gets hit, like you do in a Mega Man or Castlevania game, so that is a small blessing.
One thing I do like is the limitations of the Warrior's weapon, and the effect this has on the game-play. The Warrior, aside from some magic you receive later, is only equipped with a sword, which has some reach but overall means you really have to engage with the enemies in the game. While you can swing the sword rather fast, the player's life is scaled just enough so that you just can't run in and try to tank through bosses. You really have to study patterns and figure out when it is best to strike. In the case of the first boss, the Centaur, you really have to just stick to the lower right corner and hide out, so he doesn't catch you with his charge attack, and then strike when he himself backs up. In the case of Act 1's first boss, the Minotaurus (original I know), you have to wait until he throws his axe to land a decent blow.
Plus you fight him in a Space dungeon!
The game does a good job of balancing the difficulty. It is difficult yet it provides a balanced learning curve. The levels aren't terribly long, so you never feel aggravated if you Game Over a platforming segment. The game is also generous with checkpoints throughout levels, ie. if you die on a Boss, you generally start right at the boss.
The Nitty Gritty: God Sim
As for the God-Sim portions of the game, the game-play is fun if a bit repetitive. You start each area with literally one man and one woman, and you have to shelter them through generations as they rebuild their land (I have to say it is a cool idea for a game to literally take place over aeons and aeons, as it gives the game an impressive amount of scope). You get to chose what direction the cities and towns develop in, and as the villagers repopulate the land, you must help protect them from the Monsters that seek to wreak havoc on their burgeoning village.
As I said, these segments take up the most time in your game, so I hope you enjoy building worlds. As far as Sims go, this one is relatively simple (Populous this is not): the interface is simple to comprehend and the game isn't overly punishing if you develop your city incorrectly. The actual game-play, though, can be rather tedious. If your civilization is expanding, your ability to create miracles or guide your people is suspended, so you have to wait for the people's "turn" to finish. At the same time, you have to be constantly shooting and hunting down monsters, as they are a CONSTANT menace. This can be rather annoying, especially if you are trying to zoom through these segments. But as for a Sim game, this is really a simple Sim done right in my opinion; it is not overly long, and the game-play, with the hack-and-slash portions done in between, is rather fun in small doses.
I also enjoy how these two styles of gameplay complement each other. The Master's strength is based off the power of his believers, so the more believers you have, the more health your statue has in the combat segments. As well, your new magical abilities have to be "found" in the world by your believers, or gifted to you by them.
I will say that this is a game that is really well realized. The developer clearly had a distinct vision in mind, and they truly did a great job of making this vision a reality. One of the things I enjoy are all the hints and religious symbols peppered in the background of levels. Each world is influenced by a different ancient culture, the first being a very Greek influenced world, and the monsters you encounter and the dungeons you explore certainly reflect the religious ideology of that ancient civilization. The architecture is filled with pillars and vaulted ceilings, while there are animal statues and pagan alters strewn about the dungeons. Even the bosses of this world, the Centaur and the Minotaur, are each Greek monsters in origin. Meanwhile, the characters you control, the Cherubic Angel and the Warriors statue, and even the floating citadel which the Master resides in have a very classic Christian feel to them, adding a few more layers to the symbols within the game. It tickles the fancy of the Social Studies teacher inside me.
Worst Boss
The dragon fight in Aitos is one of the most annoying boss fights in the game. He darts about the arena, which consists of a series of small platforms, and is only vulnerable at his head. He does have a set pattern of movement, but he moves so quickly that at first this can seem totally at random. He also moves so quickly that your magic attacks are only a minor benefit. Since the fight takes place on the rocks in the middle of a water fall, the boss will knock you off these rocks and kill you instantly on a frequent basis. Very annoying.
Worst Part of the God Sim Portions
There is one enemy that is just a big red skull. Screw those things. First off, they are super creepy, and when they spawn, they will often just sit there motionless and stare at you (the player). You will start pelting them with your little cherub arrows, which will do what seems like no damage (they take 12 hits to kill). Creepy. What's worse is when they activate. They are super aggressive to your cherub, and make it a point to try to take your little guy out of commission. Next, if left alone, they will start to cause earthquakes which utterly fucks your civilization. The later worlds start spawning these guys like crazy, and your map can enter a world of hurt very quickly if you aren't constantly watching your civilization.
Final Stage
The final stage is an epic boss rush of all the Act bosses, followed by the final showdown with two forms of Tanzra. There is no real "stage" to speak of except for this awesome screen that you are met with once you begin the stage, highlighting the bosses that you must fight.
The key to this section is preparation. You need to go in fully leveled up and with all seven of your Magic Scrolls unlocked so you can use magic throughout. While Magic works well on most all of the bosses, it should be conserved as once you use it, you can not use it again until you Game Over.
Tanzra himself is not terribly difficult. His difficulty comes in because he has such a huge lifebar (it extends across the entire screen), two forms, and his fight comes at the end of the gauntlet where you have already most likely depleted all your magic and lives. The game does give you the beam sword perk, though, which you might remember from the waterfall dragon fight. It is useful as ever, and cuts ribbons out of his first form.
The second form, though, is much more menacing and durable. Not only is its lifebar huge, but its weak spot is only vulnerable after he completes his attack pattern. The pattern, though, is rather simple after you run through it a couple of times, you just have to have the patience to possibly repeat the boss rush a couple times over to learn it.
Once you beat the big bad guy, all is good in the valley. You take a tour of each of your lands once again, and hear of their productivity and receive their thanks for vanquishing the demon hordes. Eventually, your Master notices that no one is visiting the temples anymore, and realize that the humans only pray and therefore believe in you during times of need. Feeling that his work is done, the Master once again goes into hibernation, knowing that he will awaken only when he is needed once more.
ADS and Commercials
As far as commercials, all I could find was a short Japanese tv spot.
Honestly, games like this are the reason that I still enjoy this blog. They are fun, well designed (even if they have some kinks that need to be ironed out), and above all, imaginative. The music is a blast, I enjoy the graphical style (it is like a DragonLance cover come to life), and overall, it was a joy to complete. High recommendation with this one.
As for collecting, it is slowly creeping up in price. I originally paid $20 for mine, but now it is up around $40. Still, I think this is a necessary game in any collection.
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