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Dark Genesis vs. Harlock
Dark Genesis
Sam
Download: 270 KB
V.S.
Harlock
Review # 1 for Harlock
Them's Fightin' Words
    Hmm... well what's there to say about this game? Its basically just your standard OHR game, but it might have become more had it actually taken off. As it stands, theres only 5 minutes of gameplay. The game begins with a scene of the town of Fanalia burning to the ground, and a son saying to his father that he doesn't know how much longer "the troops" will hold out. His father goes on to say, much to the son's implied chagrin, that they need the son's older brother, Ryo, there to help fight. Suddenly cut to Ryo, a lazy warrior who watches too much TV (anachronism?). He gets a letter one day from his dad saying more or less, "Please come help us fight."... Strangely enough, Ryo forgets the location of Fanalia, and has to stop in the game's only other town, Karitan, for directions. Here is where I had some hope for the game. It offered two, instead of one, directions to go! You could either go north to the Toga Shrines, and then on to Finalia, or you could go to a town named Kurth in the east... Both unfortunately, are small maps with broken doors, and silent NPCs... Just to be fair, though, Toga Shrine is a small map with broken doors, silent NPCs, and really cool music.

Thats all there is for plot, but the other aspects of the game bear examination as well... I'm a little confused about the graphics. Its not that they're bad per se... In fact, the whole shape, and the way the characters move is rather good... but it seems like the creator didn't realize you could have more than one palette. The main character uses 4 colors, and thus has no features and no detail... All the enemies are one color only... and the NPCs all look like the character but with one of the 4 colors switched... I think maybe the potential for good graphics is here, if only he used more than one palette. Music is all ripped... the battle music consists of: FFVII Battle Theme, Laguna Battle Theme, Evangelion TV Theme (??), and one other I know I've heard before, but can't place. The music is suiting however, throughout the whole game, with the sole exception of the Evangelion theme used for battle music.

Gameplay-wise, something good might one day come of this. The battles were mundane and soulless, but at least they were short. And in the game's only playable town, theres a mini-game that involves catching pigs... the downside is that the script there is flawed and pigs don't disappear after they're caught... hence, stand in one spot with spacebar held down, and rack up the points. Theres also a battle arena, and with a little tweaking, it might even be fun. The game is paced well enough so that you feel jolted when the let-down of the broken doors in Toga Shrine and Kurth comes. You were kind of actually looking forward to what was coming next, to see if what happened in the burning town of Finalia would make or break the game. Who knows? Overall... given time, this might be a good game one day. Keep at it.
Final Scores
Graphics: 3/10.0
Use more than one palette, and these could be nice graphics.
Storyline: 1/10.0
No information is really given... Nothing is concluded, or really led into, only one character is named, etc. Work on this...
Gameplay: 4/10.0
Monotonous, but short. Well paced for the five minutes you get to play it.
Music: 4/10.0
Ripped, but fitting.
Overall Grade: F+
Final Thoughts
    Experience and practice should see a better version of this one in the future.  



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