Out Live for PCE

Image: MobyGames

Out Live

Endless grinding

Genre: rpg - dungeon

Publisher: Sunsoft

Year: 1989

System: PCE

Gameplay Score: 1

Gameplay Notes:

Well, it's a dungeon crawler. Get out your graph paper. I almost bumped this down to a zero for three reasons: First, enemies scale to meet your level, making grinding pointless. You never become powerful enough to simply power your way through a dungeon floor. Second, the most significant progression is made via buying upgrades and items in a shop. Resting also happens only in a shop. However, money is extreemely hard to come by, necessitating a ton of grinding. I did nothing but bring for an hour and was only able to buy myself an improved gun for $1000. The next armor upgrade, which I desperately need, is $3500. Do the math. Third, enemies can attack from all angles, even when you're not moving, and the camera swings around to face them. This is horribly confusing since every direction in every dungeon looks identical, and there's no map. One bad turn, like if you're in a four-way intersection, and you'll be hopelessly disoriented. Arggh Besides those complaints, the combat is repetitive, but the game plays well enough. Movement is smooth and battles don't drag on forever. But enemies hit like a truck, making it extremely difficult to make it to the end of a dungeon. You can survive maybe 5 or 6 battles before dying, so you have to stock up on healing items which again depletes your precious funds.

Level Design Score: 1

Level Design Notes:

No map. NO MAP! Fine, I can use a walkthrough, but holy cow who plays a game like this without a map. It's 99% dead ends and doors to nowhere. There's quite literally nothing to find on the map other than the exit, making it a slog to get from one city/shop to the next.

Theme Score: 2

Theme Notes:

The futuristic, mech-heavy setting has me intrigued, but there's no discernable story. A text crawl at the start attempts to paint the picture but it's never followed up on. But hey, mech enemies.

Art Style Score: 3

Art Style Notes:

I love the cockpit HUD and the mech enemy designs, but the dungeons have zero personality. There is not difference whatever in any environment. Just a jet black tunnel with a soft floor and ceiling effect.

Audio Score: 4

Audio Notes:

Easily the best part of this game. The song is upbeat and enjoyable. I played longer than I had to simply for the song.

Overall Score: 31

Review ID: 8097