What appears to be a cheesy game for little kids is actually quite entertaining

User Rating: 8.6 | Knight and Baby PS
By flyingmanatee | Review Date:
Back in 1999 when my brother picked out Guardians Crusade for his birthday present I told him he was a moron and that he wasted his money. I even made fun of him for the game’s pink disc. In all reality Guardians Crusade did look like a lame children’s game. What it turned out to be was a fun 20 hour game that I've played through 3 times since I bought it. You play as a knight whom you get to name. You also have a fairy companion who does most of the talking in the game. He starts out with a small task that leads him to a strange pink pig-like creature that you can also name. This starts you out on your real adventure. If you want to know the whole plot, I suggest that you play this oddly entertaining RPG.
The fighting is like that of classic Final Fantasy games: you on one side, the baddies on the other. The main character and his porcine dragon baby are the only characters you will ever get to fight with, but you have a plethora of living toys to aid you. The living toys are hidden through out the world in chests, but you also get a fair number of them for talking to the right people at the right time. Living toys are one of the main reasons that this game kept the very simple fighting entertaining. Some toys attack your enemies, others can put our opponents to sleep, and there are toys that will heal your party or defend you. These toys can be very valuable in battle so it is worth searching every town and talking to all the people in order to collect them all.
The graphics in Guardians Crusade were nothing spectacular in 1999 and nor are they now, but they work for this game. This IS a PS1 game after all. You will look the same throughout 90% of the game, but as I played through it didn’t bother me all that much. Most of the monsters are as well done as your character, but there were a few that looked like they were made in about 3 minutes. The sounds on the other hand are well done. Even though the music is kind of cheesy it changes often enough in the different locations you travel to that you won’t find yourself having nightmares about the soundtrack. The music goes along great with the overall feel and style of the game. There is no voice acting in Guardians Crusade, but having no voice acting is a lot better than having poor voice acting. Reading all the conversations is not as tedious as it may sound.
Another thing that I enjoyed about Guardians Crusade is that you are able to travel freely throughout the world by land, sea, and air depending on how far you are in the game. You weren’t set on a completely strict path throughout the whole game. It’s nice to have the freedom to explore and search places. You never feel rushed to stop what you are doing. It can be pretty fun to go through the whole of each city talking to the townspeople and searching for living toys. I was a little disappointed though when a few people said things that sounded like side quests, but they end up leading to nothing.
Overall Guardians crusade is worth a look and even if the cartoon-like graphics turn you off initially. I think you’ll find Guardians Crusade to be a very entertaining RPG with a story that keeps you moving and keeps you focused on the plot. At the same time it allows you to take your time in completing each part of the story so that even novice players can enjoy and beat this game. This is definitely an overlooked game that deserves some credit for being what games are about: fun.

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