Legend of Oasis was one of the better 32 Bit Action RPGs.
----------Battle System----------
Legend of Oasis is an action-RPG. You don't gain levels or experience by killing each monster, but you do gain "Ranks". The only way to boost a "rank" is by refilling your HP or SP. Yeah, that's pretty freaking weird, but it works and keeps the game balanced as long as you don't abuse it, (it's possible to max out your HP and SP at the start of the game if you have the patience). Each rank boost will either give you 2 Max HP or 5 Max SP.
You'll also gain weapons, you'll start off with a basic knife, then a long sword, bow and magic rod. Each of these weapons can be leveled up by find more powerful versions. Each weapon (excluding your basic knife) can add magic scrolls to their powers. For example, Long Sword can turn into a Flame Sword and with it you can break wood or burn zombies. The magic rod can get a Holy scroll that can kill undead or turn plants into platforms. This all adds to the fun puzzle solving.
Speaking of puzzle solving, this game is full of it, and it's challenging enough to keep you busy but never punishing. You'll be pushing blocks, hitting switches, and a million other things including using your Spirit Summons. To summon a spirit you first have to unlock them through the storyline, but once you have them unlocked you can then shoot a magic ball out of your Armlet. If that magic ball hits "water" for example, then you'll summon the Water spirit or if you hit Fire then you'll summon the Fire Spirit. Each summon will slowly drain your SP if you have them out, and each one has three magic attacks. So between the 6 Spirit summons, their 3 magic abilities, your 4 weapons and 6 magic scrolls, and various other items like Bombs and Keys, there's a TON of options for puzzles.
As difficult as puzzle solving might seem at times, or how annoying the map layout can be, battling is really simple. Boss fights are REALLY simple, that includes the final bosses of the game too. I never died during a boss fight as matter of fact.
----------Characters / Story----------
Story? Characters? There's not much of either, but you're not playing this game for an epic storyline. The basic backstory is Leon (you) is given a Silver Armlet, and with it he is sent on a quest to revive the six Spirits to become the Spirit King.
The story is not exactly this games strong suit, but oh well. The game flows in a typical fashion, you'll start out with an objective, you'll complete it by defeating a boss, you'll be introduced to a new enemy, then you'll go back to town to find your new objective, and then repeat.
----------Graphics----------
While the game is short and the world is tiny, the graphics are atleast good for a 2D game. The cartoony graphics are very colorful and lush. There's a ton of enemies, and the animations are great. There are some 3D elements to the game, for example a couple boss are in 3D, and when you kill a boss they explode into 3D lights. The 3D and 2D never clash or look out of place though, so they made a perfect balance.
There's a cutscene at the start of the game that explains backstory, it's a very condensed half anime styled movie with CGI elements added to it. It's very weird and pixelated, but it's better than nothing. The game ends with a similar styled cutscene, so there's two in all.
----------Sound----------
The music is really freaking good. There's also alot of good sound effects, from Leon screaming from falling into a hole, or enemies grunts, or a boss will laugh at you. Overall, the sound is excellent.
----------World Map----------
The world is similar to Legend of Zelda in a lot of ways, except there's no real world map to look at. Since there's no map, you have to remember every location by yourself, it's annoying but it gives you a challenge. Luckily the world itself is fairly small.
The world is open-ended for the most part, but there's always a few barriers blocking new areas. Once you gain a new summon, weapon or item you'll figure out how to unlock a new area.
----------Time to Complete Game----------
Stats:
Max HP: 234
Max SP: 310
Time: 9H 46M 19S (Wind)
Rank: 67 (Kid)
Kills: 839 (Commoner)
Items: 68% (Sand)
The game only records the time up until the final boss, but he only takes about 2 minutes to kill. The game records your stats and presents them to you at the end (see above). I love it when games do this, it makes being a game much more special (Shadow Hearts for example). The game ends with a CGI/Anime movie, although crudely pixelated but still it's better than nothing. The credits roll with some nice still pictures in the background.