Working Designs, you owe me 20 bucks for a new controller... (Alundra (PS))

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Product:	Alundra (PS)
Date:	07/02/01 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice graphics, promising storyline

Disadvantages: : Way too damn hard, impossible puzzles, unspectacular soundtrack...

This game got rave reviews from every magazine, and this brings up an extremely interesting question. Why? People were comparing this to Landstalker, which though I've never played I have heard many great things about. And I really wanted a good action RPG, as the last great one was Secret of Mana. So I tried it, and ugh....

You control a young boy named Alundra who has the ability to travel into dreams. On the way somewhere, a ship you're on gets wrecked by a supernatural being named Melzas, and you get washed up on shore, where you're saved from certain death by a kindly blacksmith named Jess and taken in by him to live in his village.

But the village is not as normal as it first appears. Lately, the village has been under trouble, as people are dying after having traumatic nightmares induced by the main villain, the very same Melzas who destroyed the ship. What Melzas does is manipulate dreams so that the person’s worst fear is realized. The person does not wake up, and dies either if his fear completely overtakes him or if he actually dies in his own dream.

But luckily, here comes Alundra to save the day. Alundra decides to enter the dreams of the victims as they emerge, and stop the source of the illness before the victims succumb. However, if the victim dies while Alundra is in the nightmare, Alundra will die as well.

Why is Melzas running around playing Freddy Kreuger and making a general nuisance of himself? (Melzas is not some wimpy runt but in fact one bad-ass villain, though my description suggests otherwise.) Alundra will find out as he alternates between seeking out Melzas in the real world and correcting the carnage Melzas has wreaked in the real world. Such begins Alundra.

Graphics:
The graphics are rather plain, but are not a weakness at all. In fact, sometimes the graphics can be quite pleasing. In the real world, however, there is a rather noticeable lack of variety. For example,
the caves rely a little too much on one or two dark colors. In fact, the colors throughout the game are rather monotonous, and the enemies while pretty good looking, aren’t really that impressive or colorful.

But this is made up for with the dream worlds. These are very very pretty, for lack of better words, and capture atmosphere extremely well. While the enemies don’t look much better here, the colors are definitely more varied, and what results are beautiful environments that unfortunately you’re going to have a long, LONG time to get used to

So like Suikoden, the graphics aren't flashy, but they use 2-D really well to provide a colorful environment. No complaints, and in fact, a possible plus.

Music:
In a word, unspectacular. Nothing to turn the volume down about, but nothing great either. I really can't think of any more sentences to describe the music. It's just not that memorable. You won’t be rushing out to get the soundtrack. I can’t say more than this.

Gameplay:
ARGH! This is where things go oh so wrong. What an annoying game! People who gush over this game say that they appreciated the challenge. Yet Alundra takes this a little too far. Talk about the hardest damn dungeons ever invented. Each dungeon has about 15 puzzles, each of which requires ESP to figure out. You'll spend much of your time wandering around searching everything hoping something happens. The clues are so ambiguous you’ll cry. Hell, sometimes there are no clues! YAY! Good luck.

And I can't describe the level of annoyance you feel when you get killed by hard enemies that appear out of nowhere, or miss a jump and have to start way back somewhere in the dungeon. The words that came out of my mouth made the South Park movie seem like Disney. And Sony should pay for new controllers cause you'll have broken one (or three) when you throw it against the wall in sheer disgust. (OK th
at didn't happen, but I was thinking about it PLENTY of times). You will need a strategy guide to beat this game, and even then, expect to get annoyed often. My friend said he beat the game without a strategy guide, and right after that he said, "I only used a guide on the hard dungeons", which was kind of stupid. If you did beat the game without one, good job. I won't be kicking myself that I wasn't able to.

Oh yeah, the gameplay involves slashing and magic and stuff. You buy and find weapons, armor, and items just like in normal RPGs, and magic is gained by finding scrolls of each elemental. There are also other special items you’ll need to find (like the great Zelda for the NES) to proceed through the game. But through the middle of the game, you just won't care. I sure as hell didn't. (How I ended up beating the game is beyond me)

Story:
It's too bad the game sucked so much because it really had a promising story. The characters are likable, and some actually get quite a bit of development. The concept was original, there were a few plot twists to boot, and some of the deaths caused by Melzas are extremely sad and get you very emotional. It's such a shame a great story like this had to be wasted on this inferior product. A big shame...

Overall:
I personally do NOT recommend this game. Maybe if you're especially good at cheesy action RPGs which mistake impossible for challenging, want to find an excuse to break your controller (or a wall), or waste hours of your life being irritated out of your mind, by all means, get this game. If you absolutely need a challenge, or consider yourself an expert in these type of games, you might actually like this garbage. It DOES have a good storyline. Even then, rent it first, and ONLY if you fulfill the previous two conditions.

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