Diablo fans rejoice. Its brother is here. Record of Lodoss War, a Diablo Copycat made by Crave Entertainment, is an addicting action/RPG game made for SEGA Dreamcast. Throughout the game, you explore tons of dungeons, fight over one hundred monsters, and use dozens of weapons, armor, and spells.
Swords and Sorcery
Record of Lodoss War revolves around a red-haired dude, that doesn't know who the hell he is, and instead of embarking on a quest to find himself, his job is to...................save the world. That's actually pretty damn cool, though as it beats some ideas of other games. By the way, fans of the Japanese anime series should be informed that while you will encounter familiar allies such as Freedom Knight Parn and Deedlit the High Elf to fight alongside you, this game does not at all relate to the story of the cartoon. In fact, it is a completely different story altogether in a completely different time period. Don't be fooled though; the story is deep, involved, and full of plot twists and interesting events.
Lodoss Detail
For a dreamcast game, Lodoss War's graphics aren't all that great. While color and environments are fully detailed, characters are puny and backgrounds are quite boring. Monsters have a high rate of detail, but look blocky and become repetitive after a while. However, in this game, when you equip any piece of weapon or armor, the redhead dude actually looks like he has it equip (it also means that if you don't equip him with anything, he's naked. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww). All in all, these graphics are good, but are more made for a 32-bit system.
Get Ready for this Record
Well, sound is really weak in this game. What's unique about this game is that there is only ONE SONG. That's right. ONE SONG. When you're ready to hack and slash some enemies, this battle song will play until all enemies are eliminated. This is the ONLY REAL SONG IN THIS GAME. Sound effects are pretty good, but the voice acting is mostly grunts and roars, so expect to be reading lots of text. For dreamcast, you don't get too much out of the sound.
Let the Wars Begin
The controls and gameplay for this game breaks down to hack and slash enemies with weapons, find items, open doors, and explore the overworld. For Diablo fans: think of playing Diablo, on the PC, on the dreamcast. However, that does not mean that is isn't a little complicated. When casting spells, you actually have to charge the spell, and that may require a few sequence of button combinations. Swinging your weapons is somewhat slow and saggy and you often find yourself taking hits you shouldn't. Item usage is done through an item bar on your screen. You select items with the D-pad and use them with the triangle button, which is actually really easy. Even though these controls may feel comfortable for most players, they seem more complicated than they need to be.
Overall
Lodoss War has a deep story line and can be really addictive, but does have some problems that can't be overlooked by some people. Rent this game before you buy it, cause while I may have liked it, some people may not.
--Master of Puppets
Graphics: 5.0
Sound: 3.0
Gameplay: 7.0
Satisfaction: 9.0
Overall: 6.0
