I am going to state this from the very beginning – I am too biased to review this game objectively. I’m old, you see. In fact, it’s probably safe to say that I’m older than you are. I’m not old in the way your parents are old, but I did own an Atari 2600 and an NES when they were new. And if you really want to know… as a young kid, even before either of these systems were available, I owned (brand new, mind you) a Pong machine, which is what we called it since we had no frame of reference for terms like “platforms” or “consoles”. You…you DO remember Pong…don’t you?

I’m old. And while many of you were still in elementary school (and some of you still watching Barney and peeing in your diapers) some of us were playing games like the original Zelda and Crystalis for the NES; or A Link to the Past and The Secret of Mana for the SNES. To us, these things aren’t “retro”, they’re a part of our heritage. And now, having played Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, I feel like a breach in the time-space continuum has sucked me in and I’m fifteen years younger again.

And if you're at all like me and you used to enjoy the hell out of playing the games I mentioned above, then this game will be a like a time capsule reopened. A memory that’s become hazy in all the current technological advancements, yet one that’s not forgotten entirely. And it will happen the minute you start playing.

Right away you’ll recognize the simple graphics; the corny story; the hokey music; and the basic gameplay – jump, slash, jump-slash up and jump-slash down. You’ll instantly be familiar with the conventions we came to expect – swords with elemental magic; things such as honey and herbs to replenish your heath; forests and grasslands and mountains and caves – all the conventions of terrain we took for granted.

You’ll remember all the leveling up. And there’s a lot of leveling up you’ll have to do here too. As always, you’ll start off weak, spend a while killing monsters and before you know it enemies that once took you four hits to kill will now only take you two. There are also treasure chests to find and people to help and side missions to take… Again, all this is standard stuff you’ve already done a million times in other games. But like a Wang Chung LP that’s sitting on a remote shelf in your closet, it’s nice to dust it off now and then and spin it on your turntable…you…you DO know what a turntable is…don’t you?

Anyway, I opened this review by stating that I am too biased to critique this game objectively and it’s true. I’m having too much fun remembering how much fun I used to have playing games like it years ago to be able to tell you whether this game is good on its own merits. Nevertheless, I’ll give it a try…

Though the graphics are simple, they’re actually not that bad. You won’t think you’re playing Resident Evil 4 or anything, but they get the job done in the way Baldur’s Gate did. The sound is, again, quite simple but thankfully never annoying. The voice acting (yes, there’s voice acting…can you believe it?) isn’t bad and at times it’s quite good. The sound effects are basic, but again, never annoying. The music, however, at times stands out as a true homage to the style of music from the past. For example, when purchasing items at shops, there’s a real smarmy smooth-jazzness to it that reminds me of the original Pilotwings for the SNES.

The action can be actually quite good, though. If you liked Baldur’s Gate or X-Men Legends, you’d probably get a kick out of this game too. As I said, the controls are pretty basic; however this turns out to be an advantage since the game will toss a ton of enemies at you. And whacking them all at the same time can get quite frenetic. The gameplay doesn’t vary a whole lot, but if you don’t mind the repetitiveness, then you’ll probably have some fun. (Again – think of Baldur’s Gate or X-Men.)

Another game that reminded me of the older games recently was Tales of Symphonia. And though it was mainly because of its aesthetics and design, the complexity of the story and fighting mechanics definitely set it apart as more of a hybrid of old and new. Ys, on the other hand, is straight-up old school. Sure, there’s a ton of voice acting; the technical quality of the music is fine by today’s standards and you don’t have to enter a password to start up the last level you played after turning the game off (…if you don’t get that last reference then you definitely ARE younger than me), but the overall feel of the game leans so much toward videogames of yesterday that it ends up being nothing at all like Tales.

When all is said and done, though Ys never truly stands out as a great game on its own, it has enough appeal for those who long to revisit the games of old and maybe just enough appeal to satisfy those who don’t. However, I wouldn’t recommend getting this INSTEAD of other, better games out there (RE 4, Mercenaries, etc.) but as an addition to an already solid collection, Ys is well worth owning.