ActRaiser

The Good
The thematic material of Actraiser is a big factor in its success. You play the "Master," a deity of some sort embellished with a lot of Judeo-Christian trappings. Playing "god" always has at least some sort of charm for most gamers (:-P), but here it's also used as a vehicle for a fun action platforming aspect in addition to the rote simulation gameplay. Not content to just alter the landscape or blast baddies with lightning from on high, here God comes down in the form of a warrior to lay out some divine judgments in the form of gratuitous sword-based smitings. That's fun. :-)

Each aspect in isolation is fairly mundane, however. The simulation part of the game is simple. You have many of the standard Populous tools at your disposal to alter the landscape, guide development, etc., you also have a little cherub to guide around, shooting arrows and the like at monsters that regularly appear at marked (and occasionally hidden) spawn points.

Standard god-game rules apply in the overhead view strategic or sim mode of the game--you oversee your population of worshippers, help them grow, guide their development, and protect them from danger, foes, and other obstacles. The essential strategic aim of this portion is to find and seal all the monster spawning locations. As you do this however, Actraiser does introduce its unique components--with each new sealed monster lair, a scripted event comes into play that takes on more unique character. Your followers may have lost a child in the desert, may have a problem with their crops, may mention a strange pyramid off in the distance, may have become ill with the plague, etc. These incidents are tied to each specific area and form a sort of plot in addition to the standard God-game strategy aspect. This addition is nicely diverting, if not very in-depth. The plot twists are fairly cliche and expected, but they also connect you to the little sprites running around their houses on the screen in a significant way. Another nice addition are the unique overworld monsters and their attacks. A red demon can fry up your crops, a giant bat can abduct a Defender-esque chain of citizens from their domicile, and a big scary skull does, well, what you'd expect a big scary skull to do. :-)

To even begin with the simulation mode, however, you have to battle your way through a monster-filled platformer level. :-) This is where the game truly shines. The monsters and the player have well-drawn, colorful sprites, the bosses look appropriately large and hideous, and the controls are just shy of spot-on. The sound and music design are beyond excellent for the epoch, considering this was a very early game for the SNES Along with Super Castlevania IV, this is really a standard-setter for the platform. Special moves are present in the form of "magic" attacks, maximized by your followers uncovering power-ups for you in the sim mode, but most of the time you won't need any of the special attacks to win. This is, however, a nice tie-in to the sim aspect of the game, and does make exploring with your followers more worthwhile.

Tied together, these less-than-perfect games work excellently. Just when you get sick of moving your bare-assed little cherubic avatar around, mindlessly shooting endless monsters with little arrows and listening to your followers whine incessantly, you get back to the visceral action of a sword-brandishing platformer! Conversely, once you're sick of hurling the controller around after falling into pit after pit in Northwall during the platform aspect, you get back to the nice, relatively friendly world of the simulation. With the two being nicely tied together by scripted events in the simulation segments, there isn't a jarring break and the game is still allowed to nicely change gears on you. It keeps the tedium at a minimum.

The Bad
The tedium is -absolutely- still there, however. Particularly in the sim aspect. Shooting the same monsters again and again as they infinitely respawn is a chore. Removing arbitrary geographic obstacles again and again to open up development is not exactly a demanding task--more like virtual housekeeping. Once you've got the idea of sealing all monster lairs as the goal, a lot of the mystery and fun of the sim aspect disappears as the player is just thinking "where is the lair, and what's in my way?" This leads to a lot of disinterest and feelings of inevitability in the more routine aspects of the God-game, which is definitely something to be avoided in any game of this type. The "puzzles" in the game are extremely simplistic and require little to no creatively to solve.

As for the platformer, while it's generally a very tight and entertaining game in its own right, the actual play mechanics and level design (apart from the art) are not top notch. Lots of enemies and obstacles do not provide an elegant and strategic plan of attack--mostly you just hack and slash, dodge projectiles, and jump over pits. Not too innovative for the time of release by any means. Your strategic options for platform combat are more limited than in Metriod, and that's a shame. There are few surprises other than in the visuals, and odds are if it's moving, you can just swing your sword at it until it dies.

The Bottom Line
Overall this is an odd experience, because the sum of the platformer and sim aspects is far greater than the worth of those individual parts. I wouldn't play either on its own, but when combined the two come together in an entertaining way. Tending your hapless followers through dangers and risks and inhospitable geography into a thriving city-state is rewarding, and when you do reach that insurmountable obstacle you come down in warrior form and kick some demon ass. It's a good vehicle for the mechanics, and despite some flaws in each style of gameplay, they -do- wind up forming a satisfying whole when put together.

The Good
In terms of gameplay, Actraiser successfully combines traditional side-scrolling action with a fresh approach to the God-game genre. Just as one begins to grow tired of herding and caring for worshippers in the overworld portion of the game, Enix directs the player to action sequences where it's necessary for 'God' to take mortal form to deal with a unique threat. It's a smart combination the keeps things interesting throughout the entire game.

Graphics are, overall, generally above average, with intelligent use of scaling and rotation in the side-scrolling sequences. Sprites are very clean and colorful, but animation is oftentimes simply adequate if not less-so, especially in the overworld. However the action scenes serve as a visual breath of fresh air and outweigh any great negativity that can be said about the game's looks. It's almost as if two completely separate art teams worked on a particular gameplay type.

In terms of sound, effects consist mainly of high quality samples. The soundtrack is also very good--at times I would leave the game running while taking a break from play, simply to hear it in the background.

The Bad
The overworld portions of the game often feel very scripted. Past PC-based games of this type are conversely mostly open ended. However it's understandable to a point due to Actraiser's linear story progression, but the game could've benefitted from a bit more freedom; optional side-quests in particular.

The controls in the action sequences feel somewhat stiff in comparison to other 2-d action games, a good example being the Castlevania series. While it gets the job done, Actraiser could have benefitted from giving the player more diverse methods of control other than slash, jump/slash, duck/slash, spell.

The Bottom Line
Actraiser is a hybrid game that successfully combines two established genres into one fully featured product. By assuming the role of a deity, players can exert god-like powers over the land to encourage worship while protecting one's followers from the forces of evil. And when earthquakes and lightning fail to keep the peace, one can bring the sword to the enemy by taking control of a mortal avatar of god. One part 'God-game', one part 'Action/Adventure', Actraiser is all good.

The Good
Everything except the steep difficulty on Hard Mode. It should have been called Impossible Mode.

The Bad
(See above)

The Bottom Line
The first true great action-RPG, ActRaiser put you in the role of the Master, a godlike warrior who had to save the world froma devil named Tanzra. You set your blade to all sorts of mythical beasties in the side scrolling levels and built a world in the top-down strategy stages. A great game.