Astal is another one of those undiscovered gems that one ought to look into.
The story begins with the creation of a world from a single jewel. The Goddess Antowas not only created the earth, sky, and water, but she also created two humans: a girl from a green jewel named Leda, and a boy from a red jewel named Astal. Leda was to help things live in the world, where Altas' job was to protect her. One night while Antowas was sleeping the evil Jerodo created his own warrior Geist to try and take over the planet. Geist kidnaps Leda, but Altas tears the planet apart to save her. Because of this Antowas banished Altas to the moon. However, Geist was still free and kidnaps her once more. So it is up to Altas to stop him.
Astal plays like a typical platformer. You walk/run, jump, and destroy enemies. You take out enemies by grabbing them and throwing them, smashing them, or blowing them away with a gust of wind. You will come across a variety of enemies as well as a few interesting bosses, which aren't too difficult to beat. But the rest of the game provides a good level of challenge and you are bound to die a few times since you can only take three hits and there is only one continue. Early on in your journey you rescue a bird which helps you out on your adventure. You can control the bird yourself or have a second player do it. You have a couple of commands for the bird, but in order to do this you have to defeat glowing enemies which will fill up a purple meter. You have a choice to either have the bird attack by ricocheting across the screen or have the bird look for health items. The biggest problem to be had with the gameplay is that it is a short game, which can be beaten in less than an hour.
The graphics in this game are outstanding. The game is simply total eye candy for the players, or even passing viewers. The game features a unique art style that is visually vibrant, colorful, and has a sort of Manga-inspired look to it. The game sports good level design and the levels themselves are very unique looking and have a sense of depth with things coming from the background and foreground. The sprites are hand drawn and animate really well. The game also features some nicely drawn cutscenes. The music is also brilliant, complete with calm synthesizers that you would expect from fantasy games and wailing guitars. The game's cutscenes also contain voice acting (all by one female actress whom you may know as Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, and also, unfortunately, Omochao) and it is relatively decent for the most part.
To sum things up:
PROS:
-Fantastic graphics with a fantastic art style
-Great music
-Good classic platforming gameplay
CONS:
-Too short
Altas truly is an unknown gem that ought to be rediscovered. It has gotten good reception but was overshadowed by the rise of 3-D technology. For those looking into getting a Sega Saturn and are a fan of platformers should give this game a go.