Mystic Formula for PCE CD

Image: MobyGames

Mystic Formula

Anime Mercs

Genre: action - gun

Publisher: Micro Cabin

Year: 1993

System: PCE CD

Gameplay Score: 2

Gameplay Notes:

Decent top-down run-n-gun, but with a couple of crippling problems. The first is an age-old shooter problem, and that is that your gun is a pea shooter. Enemies swarm in from all angles and your narrow shot doesn't cut it. Prepare to weave and dodge tiny enemies while firing in 8 directions without the benefit of a dual stick. The other problem is the charge shot mechanic. Hold down on the button and your shot becomes frequent but short. Pause between shots and your bullet travels the length of the screen. Tapping shots gets old. I would've preferred to ditch the powerup shot, especially since there's barely any difference between a fraction of a second charge vs a full guage. Did I say two problems? I meant three. The third might be more annoying than either of the others. The screen scrolls as you move, but it scrolls slightly slower than you move, so you have to stop to let it catch up to you. Infuriating. One hit kills, swarming enemies, a peashooter, and bad scrolling all add up to a challenging and often frustrating experience. The inclusion of four playable characters is a plus, but they play the same so there's no functional difference between them. I know I've been dogging on this game, but it's actually better than the sum of its parts. It's too difficult to recommend, and isn't on par with similar overhead gunners.

Level Design Score: 3

Level Design Notes:

Terrible enemy placement and patterns. The bats seem to spawn randomly and continuously, so there's rarely a reason to stop and clear the screen before moving forward. The stages are short as well, but they have some fun set pieces and interesting moments, like a change in direction, weird enemy waves, or even an auto-scroller section.

Theme Score: 3

Theme Notes:

Anime cutscenes set the scene, but they're all in Japanese so I have no idea what's going on. The enemies are generic and don't always match the sci-fi/mech designs of the playable characters.

Art Style Score: 2

Art Style Notes:

Some of the sprites are great, but by and large this is a bad looking game. The backgrounds are bland, boring, and unimpressive. They look more like a modern art repeating pattern than drawn tiles.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

Decent music but horrible sound effects that are way too loud and drown out everything else.

Overall Score: 46

Review ID: 11074