An old cIassic that has aged a lot

User Rating: 5 | Phantasy Star SMS
Originally released in 1988 by SEGA for the Master System, this game is pretty old by now, and for its time it was really good and really long, but as a guy who played it for the first time in 2011, it isn't all that good. Not that there aren't aspects of it that I don't like. The design on many of the enemies are really awesome. The first time you run into a Centaur, a Golem or a Mammoth, you will probably be struck with awe. I also quite like that the HP of the enemies are given in numbers and that you can see the HP of creatures when you encounter it for the first time - even with most bosses.

The main problem with the game is the dungeons. In the dungeons you go into first person perspective and go through what looks more like hallways than caves - with brick patterns on the wall. Except from variation in colour, all the dungeons have the same design and they are basically just labyrinths without maps, so you navigate through them with trial an error and to explore a dungeons and avoid randomly walking around you either need to have very good memory, make your own map or read a walkthrough to get through them. If you don't use a walkthrough there is an exploration element to it, and it is the least satisfying kind of exploration ever.

Another issue is that the dungeons often have doors, and they often need a key. This made sense in the start, when you weren't supposed to access certain dungeons, but once you've gotten the key - that works on all the doors that aren't locked with magic, it just becomes unnecessary. Particularly since you can't just press B and the door will be unlocked. Instead you have to press A to enter the meny, scroll down to items and go to that menu, then scroll down to "dugn key" and select it, then select use. Alright, it only takes like ten seconds, but opening a door in a game should not take ten times longer than it does in real life.

You have to go through the same procedure to board vehicle once you get them, and even to get off said vehicles. It is simply unnecessary. Also unnecessary is that when you beat an enemy you don't just get a speech bubbles saying how much EXP and "Mesetas" you got. Instead it says how much EXP you got, then it says that the enemy had a chest and then ask you whether or not to open it, and if you choose to open it, it tells you how much money you got and if the chest had an item.

The worst part is that whether or not you want to open the chest is actually a legitimate question. You see, whenever you beat an enemy and choose to open the quest there is a small chance that it will either throw a spear (damaging one party member) or explode (damaging all party members). So in some dungeons the chests that the enemies drop deal way more damage than the enemies themselves.

Sadly it is not like the turn-based battle system is very good either. You have a couple of spells for three out of the four characters, but considering how long it is between places where you can restore mana, it is only on some (not even all) of the bosses that the strategy "have everyone use attack and if needed use heal between battles" isn't the best one.

The world is a weird mix between fantasy and sci-fi. While it takes place in the future and there are three different planets (the normal one, the warm one and the cold one), the main character is a girl in a pink dress and eventually her party will also include a talking cat and a mage. Her weapons range from short sword to light sabre and the healing items are Cola and Burger. The enemies range from robocop to Sfinx. That said, the world designs are probably the best part of the game. After some time the whole world is open and there are several items left which you need to defeat the antagonist and you basically explore the land to find them, which is actually pretty neat.

The story is not particularly deep. It is told through cut-scenes that consists of non-moving pictures with text. At the beginning Alis' brother dies saying he tried to kill Lassic, and does you will have to do that for him. There is nearly no info explaining why no one likes Lassic. I really don't know how he hurt the people on the three planets (except killing Alis' brother in self defence), but considering that he had a giant dark fortress floating in the sky, I guess he has to be evil. Apart from "you have to kill Lassic" there are nearly no plot twists.

Apart from the exploration aspect, there is really no reason to play this game. The gameplay is lame, the graphics and music are good for its time, but pretty mediocre today and the story is really nothing special. While I do understand how people could enjoy the game, particularly back in the day, I would not recommend this title.