Review Anachronox review @ GameBanshee

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Anachronox

<a href="http://gamebanshee.com/reviews/software/anachronox1.php">GameBanshee have reviewed Anachronox</a>, what they call "Ion Storm's 2001 cyberpunk RPG". Here's a slice:
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<blockquote>The game is played from the third perspective, using WASD to move and the cursor to interact with the environment. Consistent to its JRPG roots, Anachronox is a mostly linear game - it's hardly small, but there's very little freedom left for the player, short of not choosing to do a side quest. Speaking of side quests, there's a lot of them, and a lot of interesting encounters to be had too - despite its linearity, Anachronox still places a lot of emphasis on exploration. Unfortunately, this is somewhat of a double-edged sword, because the game is surprisingly stingy with giving out equipment (there's only a handful of weapons for each of the characters), and missing a piece could make the next leg of the journey much more difficult.
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The side quests are usually interesting, though they as a rule involve a lot of running around; in addition, since Sly, as all good PIs, carries a camera with him, you'll often be tasked with photographing various objects or aliens. Unlike some more recent games, in Anachronox the "quest giver" is almost never obvious, so you'll be spending a lot of time talking to virtually everyone. Thankfully, most of the characters have something interesting to say and some are outright funny. This humor permeates the whole game, giving it its own unique charm and is probably the game's greatest strength. When you're not talking or wandering around, you'll be using one of your characters "world skills", which are implemented as easy minigames, to gather information or complete a task. Boots can pick locks and other characters will bring their own expertise into the mix (the most interesting, by far, will be the Yammer skill - Grumpos will incessantly talk to the "victim" about all sorts of unrelated things, which is often hilariously funny).
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Character development is very streamlined, which is a bit disappointing. While there are a number of different stats, you can't choose which to improve [...]</blockquote>
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Apparently the game offers a "console RPG experience" on the PC. Just in case you ever wanted to find out what a console RPG is like I guess.

 

[GeneralSamov]

Why 7 years after release?

 

[Gragt]

Better late then never I gess.

 

[ghostdog]

The brilliant humor in this game is the best thing I've seen since the lucasarts adventures and makes the game far more than just "a console rpg experience".

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Is this a good game? Is it worthwhile finding and playing? I've always been interested.

 

[DraQ]

Is this a good game?

Not just 'good'. It's fucking brilliant, the only letdowns being extreme linearity (minus solo missions), jRPGish mechanics and copious minigames (if you aren't arcade-inclined). The humour in game is Douglas Adams grade, but, despite the amount of humour, the game has some really good story to tell and doesn't become one huge, tiresome lolfest like, for example, MDK2.

 

[Barrow_Bug]

Hmmm, hard copies available? Is this an Ebay kinda thang?

 

[Gragt]

It's good though some issues prevent it from being great. It is still worth finding and playing, just be aware that the game is very long (not a bad thing in itself but some parts can drag a bit), on rails with little choices available (though you can make some decisions that have minor effects in the future and at some point you can choose one out of three characters to have a solo adventure, to see the other two you'll need to reload or start a new game up to that point), and the original release is very buggy (patches, especially unofficial ones fixes most of these but even then you have some bugs left).

So in short, if you do not mind JRPG or want to see one done the western way, check it out.

I have some issues with the review, for exemple calling the combat real-time seems a bit weird as it is turned-based though the enemy might get his turn before you if you take too long, but the combat "pauses" when you enter one of the menu (attack, skills, inventory, etc.). The graphics may be old but I was amazed when I played the game for the first time last year how good they still look, I do not know what to make of the reviewer's claim that walking through a corridor can cause a mild headache because of the date graphics.

 

[Lightknight]

So in short, if you do not mind JRPG or want to see one done the western way, check it out.

Except it doesnt have much in common with JRPG. Or any RPG whatsoever. Ist basically an adventure game, akin to Space Quest at its best, with tacked on combat mechanics. If only all that combat was skippable or optional, or at least it was 3 times faster, the adventure part would be much more enjoyable.

 

[Gragt]

It's a matter of conventions, people call that kind of game jrpg so I do the same to avoid confusion even if jrpg have indeed not much in common with rpg in general.