The Epic Final Fantasy Medleys of Marc Papeghin

I tend to get pretty enthusiastic about new covers of classic game music, but there's no overstating the brilliant work of France's Marc Papeghin.

Castlevania's "Iron Blue Intention" Covered by David Cuartas

I can't believe I actually got a video link in my YouTube inbox today that wasn't random spam! And not only that, it's a very cool electric guitar cover of a classic track from Castlevania: Bloodlines! Oh, Internet, sometimes you do care.  :-)

New Dragon Age Trailer Warrants Further... Inquisition! *rimshot*

BioWare just released this spiffy new trailer for the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Let's Get Down to Business!

The "I'll Make a Man Out of You" training montage song has a strange way of popping up all over the internet. It can strike anywhere, at any time. All it takes is a random commenter to say "Let's get down to business" and the thread is instantly derailed -- for good reason, of course! While I can't say I exactly understand why this particular song from 1998's Mulan is such a hit right now, neither would I do anything to change that.

I am as amused as anyone that this song has become something of a pseudo-meme lately, and thought I'd pay tribute by putting a gaming spin on it. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to write new lyrics that parody a certain subset of the "hardcore" Guild Wars 2 community.

The New Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Game Remix Album is Radically Bodacious

The OverClocked ReMix community has done it again. Shell Shocked is a new, collaborative album based around remixes of the 16-bit era's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games Turtles in Time (SNES) and The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis).

Draugen Trailer Surfaces From the Depths

Norway-based Red Thread Games, founded by the creator of The Secret World and The Longest Journey, recently announced development of an intriguing new project, Draugen.

Five Fantastic Tracks by Game Music Performer Lara de Wit

Talented pianist and violinist Lara de Wit has been treating the world to her creative performances of video game music for years. Boasting over 21 million views and 130,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, a cooperative album with violinist Taylor Davis, and live performances at E3, Lara's success is well-earned.

Believing My Justice

I think Re:Birth II / Romancing SaGa Battle Arrange has found a permanent home in my portable music player. Long bus commutes are easily made shorter when Mr. Kenji Ito is on board, bringing his hard rock arrangements of battle themes from the SNES's Romancing SaGa series.

What is a Gamer?

PBS Game/Show's latest episode explores a topic that might seem trivial, but reflects a poignant undercurrent in the gaming world's online subculture.

Ninja Run Through Super Mario Bros. Results in Lowest Possible Score

YouTuber NotEntirelySure recently uploaded video of a run through Nintendo's classic Super Mario Bros., attaining the game's lowest possible score.

Judgment Day!

Though I managed to resist slapping a number on my game reviews for a while, I've also been told that having a numerical score or grade of some kind can be helpful to readers.

The Five Best Things About Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Part 2)

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is by no means a perfect game, or even a good one, but it does have some redeeming features that secure its place in the history of the franchise. I outlined a couple of reasons why in Part 1 of this feature, and today I'll be finishing things off with a few more. But enough talk, have at you!

A sequel that isn't just more of the same

One of the things I love most about the early 8-bit era was its approach to sequels. It wasn't just assumed, right off the bat, that a successful game's follow-up should play just like the first. As early as Donkey Kong Junior, we start to see a distinct lack of cynical assumptions about replicating the gameplay of the originator too rigidly. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link dumped a successful, overhead-view format for a controversial side-view approach. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game adopted a much more enjoyable side-scrolling beat-'em-up format after the first game's alienating platforming and clumsy controls. Final Fantasy II, though it saw no North American release at the time, completely abandoned the concept of player-chosen character classes in favour of a wide-open and dynamic skill system. And of course, there's the infamous case of the English Super Mario Bros 2 -- which, while it was technically an adaptation of the unrelated Doki Doki Panic, was nonetheless how Nintendo chose to frame the next iteration of its flagship brand overseas.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest takes to this attitude as well, playing not much like the first Castlevania title at all. It's still a side-scrolling adventure, but not the standard stage-by-stage progression of intricate platforming, punctuated with boss fights. In fact, there is a noticeable scarcity of platforming-heavy sections, and a precious few bosses in the entire game. While the first game is completely linear, challenging the player to complete as many levels in sequence as possible, Simon's Quest is a slow-cooked experience built on non-linear exploration. For the first time, there are clues to unravel, village folk to talk to, and shops to visit. Finding out the location of the mansion where the next piece of Dracula is kept is as much part of the experience as whipping a skeleton in the face or dodging a fish-man's fireball. You collect magical items that increase your power and unlock progress, in a way resembling The Battle of Olympus, Faxanadu, Zelda II, or any other basic action-RPG. Granted, Castlevania II is a particularly bad action-RPG dependent on broken mechanics, invisible gaps, and impossibly cruel pseudo-puzzles, but in those days the lines between good and bad game design were a little murkier. In today's age of quest logs, on-screen maps, story progress markers, and fast auto-travel, we expect to be spoon-fed every last detail regarding how to succeed in a game. If the player ever asks "What am I supposed to do?" it is considered a failure of game design. However, this wasn't always the case -- the onus used to be on the player to figure that out. Simon's Quest enforced that ideal far too zealously, guilty not of veering down the wrong road but of flooring the gas pedal after downing a six-pack.

I fully accept that Castlevania II is a fundamentally flawed experience beyond repair, but the raw ideas behind it were nothing if not daring. In this modern age, where we can have almost full knowledge of the nuts and bolts of a game before it's even released, and sequels are essentially expansion packs tacked onto their predecessors, it would be nice to have more surprises. In my mind, a good sequel is one that carries on the spirit and atmosphere of the original, but isn't content to merely copy its formula. Castlevania III returned to the straight-up, linear action game style, and it is a better game for it, but if we had three Castlevania games that all did the same old thing, each one would probably seem less special.

The dawn of the real-time day-and-night cycle

A dynamic passing of virtual hours, with environments transitioning from daylight to nighttime and back again, is still not overly common in games today. I think I see it most in RPGs, online or offline, but even then it's considered a cool novelty and not taken for granted. It can be an immersing device to make the world seem more alive -- literally, time is passing and things are happening, with or without your input. Usually, NPCs behave differently at certain times of day, shops might close for the evening, sneaking around is easier in the dark -- or, in the case of most MMORPGs, it could be just for show.

Castlevania II, as far as I'm aware, is one of the earliest examples of a real-time cycle of day and night in a video game. It wasn't a very complex system, but it was one of the game's more interesting features -- maybe even a good one! An unseen timer would tick away as you played, then suddenly a text box would pop up, alerting you that night time had arrived before fading to darkness.

At night, monsters out in the wild were stronger, and even the towns were overrun with ghouls, so townsfolk would stay indoors. The night also had its own music, spookier and more sinister than the daylight themes. One could never quite know exactly how close it was to nighttime, and being caught in the middle of nowhere when things grew dark really increased the tension and element of risk. There was nothing Simon could do but keep fighting, and hope that morning was soon coming. It was a simple gimmick, but a rare mechanic to see at the time -- especially in a side-scrolling, action-based title. There were even three different possible endings, dependent on how many in-game "days" it took you to finish!

There was, apparently, a sci-fi game on the ZX Spectrum in 1985 called Tau Ceti that implemented a day/night cycle. From what I gather, the position of the sun in the sky affected how shadows were displayed on buildings and ships, though it sounds like it had little impact on anything outside of visuals. Castlevania II still takes the prize for having a significant difference in game content between night and day.

A hazy glimpse into Castlevania's  future

After Simon's Quest, Castlevania games return to a more linear style for a long time. RPG-inspired boosts in character power are outright avoided, and although some iterations like Castlevania III and Rondo of Blood have optional routes through stages, hidden levels, and multiple ways to progress through the game, that progress is always in one direction: forward. It isn't until the wildly successful Symphony of the Night on the Playstation that things open up again, and a new trend overtakes Castlevania's format completely.

Guiding Dracula's son Alucard, players defeat enemies for experience and level up, collect weapons and armor, and gain skills and transformations that can uncover new areas at one's own pace. The entire game takes place within Dracula's immense, demon-haunted castle, necessitating the use of a helpful map that is very reminiscent of the one in Super Metroid on the SNES. Due to comparisons between the two series, people start to use the word "Metroidvania" to describe any non-linear platformer focusing on exploration-based gameplay. After SOTN, most Castlevania titles follow this non-linear, action-RPG style of design. However, as we know, this shift isn't a sudden tangent that comes out of the blue. Symphony of the Night and its successors take the bumbling experiments that Simon's Quest brought to the series, and finally makes them work. Grinding monster battles and building your character can happen, but it isn't forced. Progress milestones are hidden, but not so obtuse that one can't find them without a walkthrough. There are more direct nods to Simon's Quest, too, such as a creepy ferryman who takes you across a stretch of water to a new area, and even a late-game quest to retrieve the same divided pieces of Dracula's body that you searched for in Castlevania II.

Towns are gone, but each game hereafter has at least some manner of healing sanctuary room or method of finding/purchasing items. We don't see the night/day cycle return again, but Order of Ecclesia on Nintendo DS does include a central hub town full of villagers, and gets the hero out of the stuffy castle and treading various forests, plains, and the like. It feels the most like a spiritual successor to the ideas that Simon's Quest was trying to communicate, and at one point the heroine Shanoa makes a pretty amusing reference:

I'm not saying Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is solely responsible for the modern style of the series, but to deny it had any influence would be short-sighted. I would be very surprised if the team who put together Symphony of the Night didn't at least say something like "Hey, why don't we think about making a more open game, like Castlevania II was?" Even though the second game might be regarded as a failure, it's reasonable to consider the developers shelving the ideas they originally were shooting for until the series was ready for them and better tech was available.

The Legend of Zelda: More Than One Link to the Past

With The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds making waves on the 3DS, its only fitting that we take a moment to recognize the accomplishments of its direct predecessor. 1991's A Link to the Past was not only one of the SNES's best-selling games, it also marked a watershed moment for the Zelda series, defining many key features and mechanics fans may have come to take for granted. This single game, in many ways, was to the Zelda series what Symphony of the Night was to the Castlevania series, or what Solid was to Metal Gear. A Link to the Past saw the essential spirit and core gameplay elements of Zelda finally solidify, providing a successful model that would inform all iterations to come. There is no overstating how instrumental it was in shaping the modern franchise.

Consider what "Zelda" meant before 1991. All we had were two games: the original The Legend of Zelda and the oddball sequel Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The first was an exploration-based fantasy adventure with an overhead view, which was involving yet limited by primitive technology. The second game was a side-scrolling action-platformer, and a wild departure from the original. The questions of "What is a sequel?" and "What is Zelda?" were still very open.

A Link to the Past was a return to form, taking influence from the original and transforming it into something greater -- much in the same way one might talk about the relationship between Super Mario Bros. 3 and its own original ancestor. Even though A Link to the Past is looked upon favourably by fans, I still feel that the depth and scope of what this game established for the series is rarely appreciated to the extent it deserves. The sheer amount of familiar staples that this one game brought is staggering, and maybe even a little disheartening.

In this article, I hope to expose just how much the series owes to this classic SNES title -- not to belittle later games, but to give credit where it is due.

What's in a Name?

Before A Link to the Past, the Zelda logos looked like this:

     

       

Now, it looks like this:

And it's looked more or less like that, ever since. Although background elements of the logo have adapted over time, such as colour scheme and additional imagery, A Link to the Past marks the first time this distinctive lettering was used -- and it stuck. Every game since has used this large "ZELDA" lettering as its logo.

Tools of the Trade

Have you ever...

• Donned a pair of enchanted boots and dashed through swaths of enemies or a crumbling wall?
• Equipped a strengthening gauntlet which imbued you with the power to lift heavy rocks?
• Dug for buried treasures with a shovel?
• Reached faraway spoils, or crossed gaping ravines, with the use of the grappling Hookshot?
• Won a pair of Flippers from a friendly Zora, allowing you to swim?
• Searched a dungeon desperately for the Big Key, which would let you unlock a special chest and the final boss door?
• Managed a supply of bottles to contain potions, fairies, or bumble bees, etc.?
• Played a magical ocarina?

Then you did it first in A Link to the Past. That's where all of these iconic Zelda items stem from.

Ever taken one of those precious tools and tossed it faithfully into a conspicuous pond for good luck? Did a magical creature or fairy pop out, rewarding you with an upgraded version of that item? Thank A Link to the Past for that upgrade.

Those Who Live by the Sword

    

Link's signature spinning attack was first developed for his SNES incarnation, as was an early prototype for the Hylian shield's Triforce and wing motif.

The Master Sword, probably the most unifying object in modern Zelda outside of the Triforce itself, also originated on the Super Nintendo.

The convention of using your sword to cut through bushes and tall grass in the hopes of uncovering hidden rupees or secret holes also became commonplace in A Link to the Past. How much time have you spent hacking away at local shrubbery? Now you know why.

Foundational Principles

A Link to the Past is the first game in the series to feature this creative idea: two versions of the same world to explore. The land of Hyrule had a "Light World" and a "Dark World," and each was closely related to one another yet oddly different. Navigation, puzzle-solving, and story advancement required deft mastery of the exploitation of relationships between both sides. This back-and-forth "world-hopping" gimmick has been echoed in such games as Ocarina of Time, the Gameboy Oracle games, The Minish Cap, and Twilight Princess. It works, but too much of a good thing quickly starts to feel derivative.

Before the player was given free reign to bounce between both realms at will, one had to complete three introductory dungeons and collect three magical doo-dads, which permitted access to the Master Sword and free realm-hopping ability. Again, it seems Nintendo decided "Why fix what ain't broke?" Off the top of my head, I can roughly recall this structure lifted directly from A Link to the Past and plunked into Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.

It's the Little Things That Matter

Collecting four "Pieces of Heart" to complete an additional notch on your life meter? Thanks, A Link to the Past.

A bustling village named Kakariko? Thanks again, A Link to the Past.

That unmistakable music that plays on the opening menu screens and hidden fairy fountains.



The eerie, droning tune leading up the the final battle with Ganon.

A boss battle in which you must swipe your sword to reflect magical projectiles back at the enemy.

Although the Fire Rod and Ice Rod were converted to elemental arrows for the bow in some games, the concept remains the same: torch or freeze targets from a distance.

Striking a Crystal Switch, causing a gate to open or blocks in the floor to raise and lower: yep, A Link to the Past, yet again.

...And of course, one of the most popular Zelda tropes of all, the chickens. Do not attack chickens if you want to live. Yes, A Link to the Past first taught us this as well.

Edit: Reader TreTrodoToxin4 reminded me in the Reddit comments that A Link to the Past was the first of many games in which Link begins his quest unconscious. That guy's always sleeping in, how could I have missed it!


There may yet be more aspects of this amazing game to which Zelda owes its legacy -- one might reference the rotating, laser-firing Beamos statues, or the Mirror Shield -- but these are minor details. What is clear already, is that A Link to the Past represents an incredibly significant time for these games. Nintendo wasn't just crafting one specific game, they were drawing blueprints that would impact an entire franchise for decades.

This is Breath of Fire 6. Apparently.

I was never a hardcore superfan of Breath of Fire, but I did play around a bit with Capcom's JRPG series over the years, and I enjoyed many aspects of it. It had some novel character ideas and fun mechanics I could appreciate, but nothing that truly hooked me for an extended period. Still, even I am a little offended by the announcement of Breath of Fire 6, which at this point is looking more and more like a superficial attempt to latch a familiar brand name onto an unnecessarily "social" browser/mobile product. Where is the little blue-haired guy named Ryu, who turns into a dragon?

Some recent media has popped up on Capcom's official Japanese page for the game, and I shared my early assessment of it over on Examiner.com. Feel free to take in a few shots of the screens and artwork, and see what I had to say.


Breath of Fire 6 takes a sharp departure from tradition (Examiner.com)

Random Encounters: Recent Highlights in Gaming News

In case you didn't catch the buzz the first time around, here are a few highlights from the gaming news of the past few days:

George Takei guest stars on Co-Optitude

Whether you still think of him as Sulu, or simply the de facto king of the internet, George Takei has certainly made a name for himself with the youngsters. He takes his open-minded class and sense of humour over to Geek & Sundry's gaming series Co-Optitude for a round of Mario Party 4 with Felicia Day. He may be a little inexperienced at the game, but damned if he isn't a good sport.

Earthbound's Onett rendered in stunning 3D

When I first saw 3D designer Christopher Behr's incredible rendering of the town of Onett from the SNES game Earthbound, I assumed I was looking at an actual miniature model town he'd crafted in real life. It's so toy-like, and the lighting is so well done -- it's as if one could reach in a pick up these cute, little figures. Boy oh boy, do I even dare imagine what it might be like to see these scenes animated, or even play a version of the game with graphics like these?

New Japanese Zelda ad is just like old Japanese Zelda ad

As Kotaku's Jason Schreier points out, there is a suspicious familiarity to a Japanese advertisement for 3DS title The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. And that familiarity is... rap! As the game is a sequel of sorts to the SNES's  A Link to the Past, I guess Nintendo thought it would be fun to reference that game's original television commercial as well. I'm glad they did, because that commercial is awesome. I wish more game ads had costumes and monsters and choreographed dancing...

It finally happened: Zelda and Dynasty Warriors had a baby

No, it's not April 1st. This is real. Dynasty Warriors developer Tecmo Koei is teaming up with Nintendo to produce what looks to be a very combat-heavy new concept for everyone's favourite green tunic-wearing hero. Not the worst idea in the world, but I sure found it unexpected. At least he doesn't appear to be fighting in ancient China, and after Solid Snake appeared in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, anything goes!

NES Remix is suddenly a thing

Yesterday, Nintendo announced the existence of a new game for the Wii U eShop. They also announced that it is totally out, right now. NES Remix is a mishmash of bite-sized challenges that present segments of gameplay from several classic NES games, altered with novel quirks or specialized goals.

Dragon's Crown Diary #2

This is the second installment of my Dragon's Crown Diary. Click here for the first installment.


So, perhaps one of the most noticeable things about this game, right off the bat, is the ridiculous character proportions. I get it, this is a highly fantastical world rendered through deliberately larger-than-life caricature -- and it wouldn't be the first video game to star anatomically-questionable figures. It's just hard not to be a little embarrassed at having this game running whilst female friends are in the room, and explaining to them: "Yes, this is the game I am into now." After all, here are a couple of the images that flash at you in the first minutes:

Yeah, that happened.

I mean, it's kind of cool that the axe-wielding Amazon is actually built solid, but was it absolutely necessary to give her a scalemail bikini? I can buy the Sorceress as the sultry, bewitching type, but why does each of her breasts have to be literally the size of her own head? It's as if the usual trope of "scantily clad, abnormally large rack" wasn't quite enough for them -- they had to crank that dial to eleven!! Again, I know this is not a realistic game, and one could argue that the proportions of the male Fighter are equally ridiculous, but not in the same way. His monumental shoulders and titanic suit of armor make him look menacing, and certainly don't warrant him a NSFW warning the way most of the females in the game might. Anyhow, I don't mean to dwell on this topic (TotalBiscuit speaks for about 25 minutes on this topic, and still barely manages to offer a 101 crash course on the issue). Aside from some questionable designs, that's really not what the game is about. It's just something that a new player simply cannot ignore, and it colours one's first experiences of the game significantly.

But enough of that, let's get to the actual game!

It's actually a lot of fun, though naturally the learning curve and story progress can be artificially drawn out if you're with a few friends and you're all trying to learn your characters amidst all the four-player, screen-sharing pandemonium. As with many multiplayer co-op games, I sometimes find it hard to keep track of where my character is on the screen. Is it just me? At least we don't all look like nearly-identical, green, mutant turtles, so that helps.

In some ways, it feels a lot like being a kid again and going head-to-head with waves of baddies. Hurried lines like "No, don't get that food, you don't need it!" buzz about the room. Plenty of weapons, armor, and magical accessories drop from chests, the rank and quality of which we surmise might have been dependent on the quality of our performance in some way, though perhaps not. Some aspects of the game remain a mystery in the beginning, like why there are runes carved into the wall in some places, or which skills are the best investments, though this becomes revealed in due time. Dragon's Crown isn't punishingly difficult from the start, though it does require your attention, and we did have a few desperate scrapes when allies went down during boss encounters.

One thing which I find quite enjoyable, though I probably shouldn't, is waving a little pointing hand around the field using the right stick. Hovering over several and various spots in the environment reveals hidden gold and treasures, which both act as currency in town and count toward your final "score" (experience points) at the end of the stage. You also use the pointer to direct Rannie, a non-combat NPC companion thief, to unlock doors and chests for you by clicking L1. You can also hit L1 on certain key spots to detect passageways to secret chambers, though it's up to you to judge where those might be. This can add an exciting element of discovery to the proceedings, though I would imagine it can be tedious upon repeated excursions into the same dungeons (and probably doesn't sound all that great via text). The degree to which one obsesses over these details is largely optional. You're rewarded for doing it, but not punished for cutting corners when you're feeling impatient.

Balancing equipment drops across a party can be interesting, as no character can equip everything. Each class has their own specific weapons, but armor and accessories are often shared between a couple of characters (for example, boots may be worn by the Elf or Amazon, while gauntlets are for the Fighter and Dwarf). Deciding who could benefit the most from an upgrade, and taking into account defensive and offensive bonuses on gear, promotes constructive teamwork.

Gaining levels accrues skill points, which can be spent on purchasing and upgrading various abilities from any of two pools: a class-specific category, and a common set of skills available to all. As an Elf, I had a number of good options including a powerful charge shot for my bow, increased quiver capacity, a strength upgrade for my melée kicks dependent on the defense rating of my boots, a whirlwind of elemental magic, and a vial of poison which I could equip as a "skill item" to enhance my arrow and dagger attacks with additional periodic damage. New skills, and higher tiers of existing ones, are accessible at higher experience levels.

As for the common skills, there are more generalized features such as health boosts, higher replenishment rates from food, coins counting toward the experience "score" at the stage's completion, and the like. They are less specialized, but very useful for any play style. I suspect many of the survival-based traits really come in handy if playing solo.

Of course, there's more to tell than what I've covered so far, and more depth and attention to detail than what first appears on the surface. Next time, I'll share some of my solo play experiences and expound on more features that become unlocked with further progress.

Dragon's Crown Diary #1: A Prelude of Punches

I've always had a penchant for side-scrolling brawlers, perhaps more than anyone ought to. Having grown up in the heyday of the genre, a younger me was content with the simple "walk right and punch badguys" formula of so many games like Double Dragon, Final Fight, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles. Those games are still fun to pick up every now and then, but even when they were fresh there was a part of me that would have appreciated more spice.

Sure, River City Ransom on NES is the one infamous exception, for introducing character growth and shops run by friendly NPCs. And then there's my guilty pleasure, Dragon View for SNES, which is for all intents and purposes a (kind of bland) RPG that just happens to stage its dungeons and battles within "brawler" confines. Aside from those, almost all of these beat-'em-ups seemed a little too comfortable with the conceit that monotonous, repetitive fighting was a perfectly satisfactory thing to build a genre around. That could be part of the reason these games gradually became much more rare, as other types of genres became more complex. Or, it could be that the addition of deeper combat and expanded gameplay simply caused the genre to disperse and be subsumed by the likes of Diablo, Yakuza, Onimusha, and other fashions of action RPG.

Lately, there has been a bit of a niche resurgence of interest in side-scrolling brawlers, thanks largely to digital rereleases of classics and the rise of indie "retro" gaming in general. Castle Crashers was at the forefront of the movement for the genre, offering accessible hack-and-slash action packaged in zany humour. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was essentially a love letter to River City Ransom, and like Crashers it offered the chance to earn upgrades to character stats, gear, and skills. One of the key factors that unites the genre is the reliance on 2D visuals, an art which Vanillaware and Atlus have demonstrably mastered in their recent offering Dragon's Crown.

Like its spiritual ancestors, Dragon's Crown is a 2D, side-scrolling beat-'em-up. Up to four players can choose any of six character classes to take into battle against hordes of enemies in a chaotic arcade-style melée, with each dungeon usually culminating with a huge boss monster. Enemies, crates and treasure boxes hide gold coins and health-replenishing food. In that sense, at least, it plays similarly to the classic games that inspired it -- but of course, there are further complexities which put more meat on the bone and transform the experience into something more substantial.

From the outset, the six distinct character classes already offer a wide variety of play styles to choose from, and come with recommended difficulty curves. For example, the basic Fighter can both take and dish out a lot of damage and is described as an "easy" class to play, while the tricky sorceress is considered a support role for more experienced gamers. This is no mere matter of "walk right and punch badguys," either. There are elements of crowd control and tanking, item and equipment management, skill specializations to suit your preferred style, experience levels to gain, and tons of hidden secret passages and treasures. The result is a great game that finally succeeds in retaining the familiar feel of a side-scrolling brawler, while gradually piling on layers of depth that might be appropriate for a true action RPG.

When I first sat down to try out the game with some friends, I couldn't help but opt for the lithe and dextrous Elf. Some of her signature abilities include powerful, ranged archery attacks, poisonous venoms to apply to arrows and daggers for damage over time, and a short-range burst of elemental magic. Although she was labelled one of the most difficult character types, I wasn't about to let that stop me.

Accompanied by a beguiling sorceress, a towering amazon, and a hardy dwarf, I left the village tavern ready for a grand adventure. Let's go, little Elf! May your arrows fly swift and true!