Review: Skies of Arcadia Legends
SEGA Overworks is best known for making the Shinobi games here in the United States, but are also the creators of the highly touted and revered Sakura Taisen series in Japan, now they are bringing their hit Skies of Arcadia to the Gamecube with some new bell and whistles. But will this game get off the ground, or crash to the ground in flames?
Story:
Meet Vyse he is a Blue Sky Pirate, Blue Sky Pirates are kind of like the Robin Hoods of the sky, one day he and his friend Aika, one day an odd ship with a mysterious Girl from a far off country named Fina crash lands near to where they live, upon rescuing her they decide to help Fina get home, but could their mission to get her home be far more difficult, and have a far larger impact on their world then they can possibly imagine?
Graphics:
Graphically Skies of Arcadia is beautiful, at the time of its release on the Gamecube this was one of the best looking RPGs on the market, and it definitely still holds up. Skies of Arcadia was the first game to actually have each characters show their facial expressions to reflect their emotions. Each level looks unique and is as beautiful as they did on the Dreamcast, If not tweaked to look even better. Since this is a remake of a Dreamcast game I was sort of hoping that they might consider using cell shading to achieve the desired look, which was too look like a Anime, but even so the game is still beautiful to look at and the fact that they did not cell shade th game does not detract at all from the look.
Music:
Another great soundtrack from the people at SEGA helps to suck you in to the high flying action of being a sky pirate. The sounds are excellent and dead on as well. Though the voice acting left a little bit to be desired, but was otherwise acceptable and does not detract too much from the game.
Game play: Skies of Arcadia plays like most any other 3rd person role playing game you have ever played before. Control is very responsive and feels excellent. Much of the environment is interactive and can be controlled or used, and most importantly the controls lend them selves to exploration. the airship controls like you would imagine an airship flying like, and your characters control like they should, but where the gameplay separates it's self is in the Airship Battles, that is right you get to do ship vs. ship battles, this takes some getting used to, but once mastered proves very satisfactory, and oddly this is still the only game to use this feature. If there is one gripe it is that they still have too many random battles, something I had hoped that they would fix since the Dreamcast version, because it can become tiresome after a while.
Design:
In most other games airships are nice features, but in Skies of Arcadia airships are the primary mode of transportation in Skies of Arcadia, you absolutely can not get very far with out it, and the use of airships help to make the world as massive as it is always seem to be fresh and new, and what is more there are many nooks and crannies that can be found in the sky to enrich your pocket book. Each stage and level is unique and the story is vast and winding, and the sky it's self is massive, gorgeous, and mysterious, with its own complexities and nuances. What really makes this game different from the Dreamcast original is that there are some new enemies, levels, and extra characters, as well as new and revamped mini games, and quests.
you can find this special edition of Skies of Arcadia Legends on the Gamecube for about $20 at most retailers, this is a game that deserves to be played and is in my mind one of the best role playing games in recent history. Skies of Arcadia Legends is a must own for Gamecube owners!
Graphics
10/10
Game play
9/10
Sound
9/10
Fun factor
10/10
Tilt
10/10
Average score
9.6
Skies of Arcadia Legends:
Pros:
Good Music
Great Graphics
Amazing Design
Lovable characters
Deep Story
Fun use of airships
Cool Extras
Cons:
Airship battles take some getting used to
Still too many random encounters