Rygar
Reviewed by Amber
The evil Ligar has stolen the Door of Peace from the land of Argool,
throwing the land into chaos and sending monsters loose upon the
land. The brave hero Rygar must save the land from certain ruin by
rescuing the Indora war gods from the foul monsters who hold them
prisoner, obtain their magical artifacts, and go after the evil Ligar in
his castle in the sky. Or something. Does anyone really care about the
plot in a game like this one anyway? This is one of those classics of
the early NES, and, even though its age is painfully evident these days,
it's still a fun little romp.
Graphics 4 out of 5
The vistas are, for the time, quite well-done. You're not going to
pass any of this off as photography, but the level of detail in all
the graphics was quite remarkable. The colors were tastefully
chosen so that even with the NES's limited palette, nothing looked
particularly out of place. In a couple places, there was an example
of parallax scrolling, which is rare in any NES game, and unheard of
in something this early. I'm not going to make extravagant claims like
the graphics in this game could compete with Super NES, or anything like
that, because of course they couldn't. They're quite nice for the NES
in 1987, though.
Music and Sound 4 out of 5
The music in Rygar is certainly odd, and a lot of it has what seems
to be an inexplicable Russian flavor to it. Still, it's undeniably catchy,
and enjoyable in all of its strange glory. The sound could use a bit
more work, the only sounds I can remember offhand are the whump
of Rygar hitting an enemy, the different whump of an enemy hitting
him, and the tsch! of his jump. Still, that's really all the game needs...
too much sound would just be aural clutter.
Game Challenge 5 out of 5
You bet your Diskarmer it's challenging. You're always under attack
by something or other, and most of the time it's matched well to
your strength level. The bosses are a bit -too- challenging, spitting
out a hail of bullets that seem to something more along the lines of
a lot of health and a Recover spell than any kind of dodging ability.
It's all part of the fun though, and fun it is. It'll take a few tries
your first time through.
Game Play-Fun 4 out of 5
Of course it's fun! It gets a little monotonous at times, especially
the long intervals of killing row after row of enemies in order to
build up your levels, but once you're into the real meat of the game,
hunting, exploring, and battling, you're immersed in this crazy world.
I suppose that had the plot been developed a bit more, this game
could've benefitted from some more RPG-like elements, but as an
action/adventure quest, it's still quite entertaining.
Frustration
One frustrating aspect of this game that I can think of is the extremely
long time it takes to build up levels. It's almost RPGish in that you have
to wander the same area (or just crouch and hit away) almost endlessly
in order to kill enough monsters to build up your HP and attacking power.
I've beaten this game in just under an hour, and of that, I'd guess a good
half hour was spent just running around trying to build myself up. Building
yourself up to the point where you can run up to a boss, take a few hits,
and hack the boss to shreds with sheer brute force seems to be the only
way to defeat some of the bosses in this game, though, as the sheer
amount of bullets they toss out would make dodging a definite challenge
and a half! The final frustration would have to be with the lack of any
sort of password or save ability. Tecmo really dropped the ball on this
one, a quest this vast without any kind of password or save is a bit
taxing-- I hope you don't mind leaving the Nintendo on overnight your
first couple of times through. Of course, once you've mastered the
tricks, the game is much shorter.
Replayability 3 out of 5
The replayability of this one varies. It has that Metroid-like drive
to get through it just a little bit faster, but unlike Metroid, there's
no secret rooms or other secret items to find. You may find a few
hermits off the beaten path, but.. they're hermits, they didn't want
to be found. Anyway, you don't really get anything other than some
useless hints from them. Once you've beaten this game as fast as
humanly possible, there's very little left to do.
Game Value 5 out of 5
I'm not sure if I'd buy it for whatever it was when it was brand
new, but nowadays you should be able to get it affordably.
Overall 4.5 out of 5
I can't help but love Rygar. It's certainly not any kind of RPG, nor is
it going to give Metroid any serious competition in the vastness or
replayability departments, but in its own quirky way, it's a classic.
The two different perspectives are a novelty, but they also add a
unique challenge to the game. All in all, I'd recommend Rygar to anyone
looking for something a bit beyond the usual platformer-- but not too
far beyond.