Better the second time around by Shadowrun20XX on September 5, 2008
Most of us know about Enix, the maker of the famous Dragon Quest/Warrior games. They made other great RPG games, including Brain Lord.
Brain Lord is a unique RPG game because of the puzzles and obstacles which you have to face in this game. Not even Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, which by the way were also made by Enix, had puzzles as hard as the ones in Brain Lord!
By the way, if you want to enjoy the game, do not use a walkthrough for it or the fun will be spoiled. That's the main reason why many people hate this game!
Let's start the review!
I give this game a score of 7 points because of the following reasons:
Graphics (5/10): Not too great and not too bad. The hero looks like the Hunchback of Notre Dame (not really but you get the point)! The sprites of the NPCs aren't great, either! And the only hot girls in this game are Kashian and Ferris! The other female NPCs look like 80-year-old witches!
The monsters, including the bosses, are well-designed, unlike the hero, but still needed improvement.
The background, the houses, the trees, the buildings, ..., they all look like the ones that are in the other RPG games made by Enix, like 7th Saga, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, ...
Plot (6/10): If I remember correctly, the hero is looking for a certain dragon. That same dragon is the one who controls the Dark World. At the end, it starts losing control over it and an evil demon is released ... something like that.
Not a bad plot, but it's too short to deserve a point higher than 6.
Music (9/10): Some of the best SNES music are in this game!
My personal favorites are the one where you're on the way to the Tower of (Light?) and the one where you're on the way to Toronto.
Sound Effects (4/10): Don't even ask! I remember when you hit an enemy with your weapon, the sound of a bird chirping is heard instead of a slash sound!
Gameplay (8/10): Awesome gameplay! So why 8? Because the game is too short!
Nonetheless, the gameplay is wonderful because the puzzles are interesting and often hard to solve. The obstacles are like those that you see in action/side-scrolling games which is cool because this is an RPG!
The puzzles and obstacles may be somehow repetitive, though. And some are very frustrating (like the dark chambers in the Platinum Shrine) but, at the same time, interesting.
In this game, you don't level up! Good for the impatient players! Ok, ok, so you do have to level up the fairies and fight to earn some money for better equipment, but that doesn't take you a long time!
Oh yeah, I forgot! You can learn magic just like in every RPG game. And there's no MP to waste by using magic! But you do have to charge up to do a magic spell!
Besides magic spells (yes, lots of repetition) you have fairies to help you. One raises your attack power, one heals you, one raises your defense, one casts fireballs, ... But you can only use two at a time!
The game looks great, isn't it? But ... it's too short!
They talk about a village east of Toronto, but you never get there! They could have made the game longer by letting us go there! Entropy is a magic spell mentioned but you never get it (am I right?) Lots of things are missing which makes this game very short.
Replay (4/10): It may be a great game to play and beat, but is it worth playing again after beating it? I say ''no!''
since there is nothing to unlock (like the bonus area in Dragon Quest III)
You do want to try to get all the treasures, if you didn't get them all on your first try, but that will be the only reason to replay this game.
Overall (7/10): Yes, 7/10! The game is worth playing but it's damn too short!
