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Illumnis Saga Side Story - Heavenly Dreamers vs. Stewie
Illumnis Saga Side Story - Heavenly Dreamers And that's all you need to know.
Jude the Rat
Download: 163 KB
V.S.
Stewie
Play Time: hours and 20 minutes
Review # 1 for Stewie And that's all you need to know.
Them's Fightin' Words
    What we have here is what some would calla typical newbie game. It's nothing outragiously horrible, yet there's nothing really to be happy about.
Graphics
    I have always been one to enjoy colorful things. That being said, this game is way to bright. Graphics have a tendancy to blend into eachother, and at times its difficult to tell the hero from the scenery. The game is littered with yellow on tan, grey with bright blue, and large blocks of flat, drab, solid color.

Ignoring the occasional bad color choice, the graphics are above the usual lot we see from games of this nature. Characters and enemies show a good deal of detail, and the ambient "junk" lying around all the houses is a pleasent touch. Unfortunatly doorways to the outside world are rather vauge, and take a keen eye to spot.

While it has a nice, saturday morning cartoon look to it, I can say the graphics are mediocre at best. And judging by the quality of the hand-drawn backdrops, it is very discouraging indeed
 
Storyline
    You play as Jude, a young mouse adventurer trying to get his licence to do so. That's it. There's something about the sun not being around, and a giant tourch, but other than Jude's grandfather mentioning it during the initial moments nothing comes of it.  
Gameplay
    One of the most irritating aspects of this game is the inability to save. Anywhere. At all. If this game were any longer I would condemn it just for that, but I'll let it slide for now, and here's why:  
  Battle
    Battle's are a little unique. Each hero you find hits in a different way. One clobbers for good damage, one hits with multiple light hits, and another hits everything, tho not very hard. This is a rather interesting idea, but strikes me more of a happy accident than anything.

My biggest beef with battle is that the items that list what they do, often don't do it. the item that says it heals 50% of your health, sets it to 50% reguardless of what it was before, and the item that claims "party healing" actually targets the things you are fighting! Such simple mistakes drag down an otherwise average experience.

Another bit is that the "Boss battle" took far to long, for reasons I'll state after the map bit...
 
  Map Design
    Maps are iffy. While the majority are laid out well, there is a single map that is literally no more than a line in the dirt. All the maps are small and compact, with the end and beging of the one dungeon in plain sight of eachother. The town map is empty and uninteresting. That being said, the house and guild maps are well enough.  
  Balance
    This game falls into the same trap that has claimed the lives of so many before it. The battles are lopsided horribly in the player's favor. No you won't get through them one-hitting the first thing you see, but the enemies are painfully slow, often taking three or four hits before retaliating.

And no battle shows this more than the boss. The boss hits for mombo damage, and surely would kill your entire party...if it could ever land an attack. The hero's dodge rate, and the enemie's aim stat, coincide to ensure that the entire party will take just about eight hits combined throught the fight. And since the boss has high Def and even higher HP, it's gonna be a long, long fight.
 
Music
    Oh, what's to be said about the engine's default music that hasn't been said a million times before? You'll here Darkmoon, Baby Elephant, and pretty much every other song in this thing. Whoo-pie.  
Enjoyment
    with the exeption of the final boss battle, this game did not get on my nerves even once, which for what it is is kinda suprising. I personally see a lot of potential in this game, but I'm not sure if the creator has the initiative to back it up. The fact that you start with enough money to buy the best equipment many times over kinda lowers said enjoyment, however. After all, its more fun to earn it :P  
Final Blows
    It's very short, and very ambitious, but the creator flatly informs the player that he/she/it is incapable of following through anything.
He says he turns math into magic, but I think it's really just the glare from the calculator...

He says he turns math into magic, but I think it's really just the glare from the calculator...
Final Scores
Graphics: 5.5/10.0
The game's strongpoint, forgiving a few eyesores.
Storyline: 2/10.0
Apperently none of our business.
Gameplay: 5.5/10.0
Lopsided and short, but a little interesting.
Music: 1/10.0
If you've heard it once....
Enjoyment: 4/10.0
Something about this game is intruiging, but not enough to carry it.
Overall Grade: C-
Final Thoughts
    A nobel effort, but ultimatly unsatisfying.  


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