A certain uninspired will took over me when I decided to buy this game from the VC. I saw it was made by Enix, and being the utter fan boy that I am, I picked it up in hopes for a good time. I got the good time, but also something much more. I got ActRaiser.
Game Play
This game starts out like a typical platformer, running and jumping, slicing and the mandatory boss fight at the end of the stage. When you beat the boss of the first level though, the game takes a dramatic twist, you enter sim city mode. Yeah, I'm not kidding here either. You actually play as god in this game and it's your duty to extinguish the evil from the land and make the new race of man not reliant on your divine power. So you send your villagers to do things while you watch over them. This whole time though, you play as an Angel and you have to defend them against beast man cannot tame. It's rather simple, but at the same time, the little environmental powers they give you add to the experience. After a while, I never thought the Sim City Segments were out of place and I learned them down to a wire where I could actually do the part in about 10 minutes and get more action. The action stages are pretty varied as well, going to common themes like a desert and jungle to fight off huge monsters. Each of the worlds has it's own unique little get up that separates it from the rest. Such as the amazon world has many traps, the desert world has quicksand and the ice world requires you to climb up a tree for some weird reason. It is pretty fun, nothing that you should call home about since the game would go under the radar without the next thing.
Sound
"Here be me doth monster, thou ACTRAISER!!!" "You cannot destroy me, for I am thou ACTRAISER!!!" "Humble humans, you may now live in peace...thanks to ACTRAISER!!!" were some of the various phrases that you could hear from me while I was playing this game. The music is so hard core in the stages that you just want to stand up and punch a hippie for not being more like ActRaiser. Every little sound fits perfectly, it's really an incredible soundtrack that you will be humming for weeks. Possibly in Jail if you actually think your the ACTRAISER!!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qvcjyxpIs0I&feature=related
Presentation & Style
Aww man, ActRaiser is such a pimp. If he doesn't like something, he goes down and beats it with a sword. It looks as though you are a Norse god, since ActRaiser's helmet has little wings on it, and we all know the Norse make the best gods. The graphics for the time are nothing to be wowed by, since it came out pretty early in the SNES's time line, but it has some cool effects that'll make you get pumped. The cool thing about the Sim part of the game is that people will make offerings to you, and you can use them however pointless they may be. The bosses of each of the worlds look as though the gods those people are currently worshipping. So your pretty much going around killing what people believe in. This is why if ActRaiser were any food from McDonald's, he would be the Double Quarter Pounder, the most manly, and also it physically imposes itself over the other hamburgers they may have to offer.
Re playability
I can see myself coming back to it after a few years. The game is kind of like Megaman X in that it feels as though you must kill everything again for them to be truly dead. I didn't get the maximum god points for all the towns, so I feel also like going back to get more power and imposing it. Plus killing gods and then making people worship you is just plain awesome.
Overall
This game is about 10 hours and it costs around 8 (If I recall correctly). Any game that is longer than it costs and it fun throughout is a definite buy for me. Seriously, there is so much to like in this game that it won't feel like a waste. Well until next time, you keep on imposing your will ActRaiser.
9/10
