Available on - SNES
Score between 7 and 10 - 7(Average) While I am giving Soul Blazer a 7 its with the asterik that its by todays standards, playing it in the time it was made it was easily an 8(good)so if you are a fan of old school titles think of this as an 8!
You may like Monster Madness if you like - Zelda series, Secret of Mana, Illusion of Gaia or any other 2D Action adventure or Action RPG
Game Concept - Soul Blazer puts you in the shoes of the generic old school hero that you name yourself! The citizens and structures of the world have largely been sealed off by monsters. It is your job as the hero to wage into the wilderness and defeat the demons and destroy their layers, thus releasing the sealed civilians.
Pros
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Music - I really like the tunes the game has to offer. I find even replaying it for the firs time in several years I can hum many of them as if I played it yesterday.
Lots of Weapons and spells - Unlike Zelda where you will get just two or three swords and spells through out any adventure Soul Blazer is going to offer you 8 weapons, 8 spells and 8 pieces of armor many of which have unique qualities.
Freeing the civilians is fun and addicting - The one thing that really makes this game stand out from any other iv ever played, and the one thing that makes me play it frequently is how rewarding it is to release all of the people that monsters have sealed away. As you defeat monsters and destroy their layers you will get a small 2 or 3 second cut scene that shows the town your currently working to restore and what you have effected. Sometimes upon defeating a monster you might release a civilian, sometimes a plant that lets you climb to a new area or sometimes you might release someone and see the building they live in instantly rebuilt. Its incredibly satisfying watching a blank slate become an active town and it breaks up the monotony of fighting monsters extremely well!
A few hidden secrets to find - Soul Blazer may not be chalk full of secrets, but there are a few such as monsters that can only be defeated in early levels after finding specific swords or magic later in the game.
Nice World Map and warp system - So you just found a new sword and you think it might let you kill those enemies back in the first area of the game huh? Well unlike a lot of games like Zelda or Secret of Mana you are not forced to lug your character back to the beginning. Instead you can go to a central base every stage has and warp your character back and forth between the different areas. Not only is this fast and effective, but each base also has 2 extra warp tiles you can find in any area that way you can not only get around the world fast, but individual areas!
Cons
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Monster A.I sucks - This is def a first generation SNES title. Many of the monsters will not try and chase you down and even those that do follow repetitive patterns pretty frequently. Soul Blazer def has some old school A.I design!
Music is repetitive - While the music that is there is quality and catch....it repeats....a lot.
You can not move and attack at the same time - Soul Blazer suffers from Resident Evil syndrome. You will not be allowed at any point to run and swing your sword at the same time, instead you must stand in place and swing it out. You CAN walk with your sword stuck out directly in front of you, but besides this looking extremely fruity(your character even walks like a ballerina!)this does less damage.
Jack of all trades master of none! - The game does not have the deep combat of Secret of Mana or Terranigma, nor does it have the deep puzzles of a Zelda. Soul Blazer is solid all around, but never truly masters anything.
Closing Comments - Soul Blazer stands out from its peers of the 2D area with its innovative world creation system. It is rare to find games of any era, let alone the 2D era where you find a blank/dead world and you get to rebuild it yourself. While the game may not stand out in the game play or puzzle departments as much as its peers, the innovation, creativity and pure fun of releasing the citizens of the world more then make up for average game play. Soul blazer makes you feel a part of its world, it makes you feel like a hero, and thats something rare and something very addicting to find in a game!
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