Marvelous: Mouhitotsu no Takarajima
The Lost Vikings Kids EditionGenre: adventure - overhead
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1996
System: SFC
Gameplay Score: 3
Gameplay Notes:
Marvelous looks and feels like a Zelda game (they use the same game engine, after all) but it plays more like a point-and-click adventure. The game features no combat - instead it's a series of fetch quests and light puzzles, with a heavy emphasis on "light". Ultimately, the game feels novel, but uninteresting. Movement feels great but interacting with the environment is strange, as you have to open a point-and-click overlay and move a reticle over whatever you wish to inspect. You control a team of three characters and switch between then using R. You can move around independently or call them together using X so they will follow you.
Level Design Score: 3
Level Design Notes:
The game follows a chapter-based structure, with your party visiting an area and having an overall goal, with a number of smaller tasks to complete along the way. It's very linear and highly structured. It's fine, but not terribly engaging.
Theme Score: 2
Theme Notes:
It's basically The Magic Schoolbus. You're a group of students on a field trip with a ginger teacher who drops you somewhere, breaks up the class into groups of 3, and gives you each a menial task to complete. There's not much point in interacting with the NPCs, and their dialogue isn't particularly interesting. There's also some plotline with intelligent monkeys looking for 3 worthy humans to entust with their magical macguffin, but I didn't play long enough or care enough to see where that was going.
Art Style Score: 4
Art Style Notes:
Looks fantastic, althoguh there's a lot of performance dips (i.e. slowdown) and the modeern day aesthetic isn't all that interesting.
Audio Score: 3
Audio Notes:
Meh soundtrack
Overall Score: 61
Review ID: 1749
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