Rygar: short but semi-sweet
leveled up 3 times, adding more power with each upgrade. Different combo strings can be found throughout the game by destroying objects in the environment as you progress, which makes it easier to acquire as opposed to using points to buy certain moves. Therein lies one of the problems I had with Rygar: as you continue on, upgrading your diskarmor and finding more combos to unleash, you'll find there aren't a lot of enemies in the game. You'll mostly be scouring the landscape looking for pillars, rocks, or pieces of the background to destroy and find hidden goodies. Sometimes you can go a good 15 minutes or so without seeing a single enemy, which is frustrating since the combat is fun and very satisfying when you do actually get to partake in it. And since there isn't a whole lot of fighting to be had, Rygar is a pretty easy game, clocking in at just under 9 hours, and that's only because I decided to destroy every object the game would alow me to. The difficulty does, however, ramp up significantly during the last hour or so, where you'll have to go through about five boss fights in a row without very much in way of heath potions or the like. I really wish the rest of the game had the same feel as the final stages, though, because you feel like a total badass once you finally get to dispatch more than 2 enemies at a time. The game uses a set camera which switches to the best vantage point as you move from area to area, and for the most part, isn't problematic at all. A few times during heavy platforming sections, I did fall to my doom because the depth perception was a bit off due to the camera angle, but overall it's nothing to complain about. Towards the end, i noticed similarities to God of War and Ninja Gaiden in terms of level design and overall feel, which made me wonder how much the current crop of action games owes to this title. Overall, If any game begs to have a sequel made, this is it. The epic action that could have taken place falls short of greatness, due only to the fact you have the tools to run with, but are seldom given the chance to use them. Being that it's at a bargain bin price, however, I highly recommend picking this up and setting a weekend aside to blow through it. Replay value is very low, since once you beat the game, you've pretty much done everything there is to do. There's a few extras that are unlocked upon completion, such as a higher difficulty mode and another mode that replaces your diskarmor with a pizza. Why, I don't know. But if you're looking to get a quick fix of action mixed with exploration and platforming, Rygar is a solid bet. Hopefully there will be a sequel that adds the much needed depth and lasting appeal this franchise deserves.