|
|
|
|
-Falcom/Hudson Soft (2005) -Played on a Sanyo 8200
Angrily shove monsters to discover the mysteries of Y’s. My Thoughts: I had always been interested in the Y’s series but never got around actually to playing any of the games. I saw that Y’s Book 1 was available on the phone so I thought this would be a good starting point to begin my adventure in the world of Y’s. For those that don’t know, Y’s, at least the first one, is an action RPG where a young, red-haired lad named Adol is quested to find the six tomes of Y’s to repel the evil infesting the land. Adol begins the game with nothing but a small sack of gold. He enters the town of Minea and is advised to buy a sword and a shield before venturing into the countryside. Adol will definitely want to invest in a sword. The first time I left the town I thought Adol already had a sword; he didn’t. The first wolf I encountered made short work of young Adol. Once Adol has a sword he can begin his glorious killing.
As Adol fights more monsters he’ll gain experience and collect more gold. Adol gains experience fairly quickly, which is good, because the monsters get tough in hurry. Like any other RPG I had to run around and fight to gain experience so Adol’s level could reach that magic number where I would deal more damage than the monsters. For some reason, level twenty is the highest Adol can reach so no running around for hours making him a ninety-nine level death dealer. As Adol combats monsters and finds his way through dungeon mazes he needs to find certain items to proceed to the next area or return something lost to its rightful owner. However, many of the hints of what to do next were so vague I found myself running around and trying every possible thing I could to find what I needed. The game is very linear, but the least they could do is give you better hints. Fortunately, you can save the game at anytime.
For being an old game on a phone the graphics are very good, clean, and look like they fall between NES and SNES quality. Character’s Adol meets in towns or lone standing homes are represented in an anime-styled still. The sound is decent and you can choose between music or sound effects… but not both at once. Ah, the limitations of wireless phones. Y’s Book 1 is a very enjoyable game. It has good presentation, surprisingly excellently handled combat system and control, and will take more then a few hours to beat. Just make sure that you know you’ll be spending much time figuring out what to do next. With Y’s Book 1 done so well let’s hope that we see some of the other Y’s adventures make their way to the phone format.
-Shawn
|
|
Y’s Book 1: The
Vanished Omens
Summary:
The combat is
brilliant in its simplicity. I’m sure the combat in the original required a
button press to swing the sword at thine enemies but for the mobile version, all
you need to do is hold down the directional button and run towards the monster.
The fighting will take care of itself. In a way the two will basically be in a
shoving match with only one emerging victorious. This would be overly simplistic
on a console game and would be sure to kill its sales and credibility, but on a
phone it works beautifully. Adol will most likely take damage during the
scuffle, but what else is great is that his health will slowly regenerate over
time. If Adol is really low on health he just needs to find a place to hide in
until he feels better.
The bosses are
tough and it is important to be at a high enough level and to upgrade Adol’s
equipment as soon as he can afford it. Because of the full-on thrusting combat
some bosses are literally impossible to beat without finding the right piece of
equipment or being at a high enough level. 
Score: