Syvalion
The way of the dragonGenre: shooter - horizontal
Publisher: Toshiba EMI
Year: 1992
System: SFC
Gameplay Score: 2
Gameplay Notes:
Plays like Atomic Robo Kid, where the screen only scrolls when you move. It's not an autoimmune like most shooters. Your ship can go in eight directions and is a long dragon that elongates as you move. The faster you move the longer you become. This causes your hitbox to become enormous and enemies. Literally spawn out of nowhere and often spawn right inside of your sprite and wreck you. Were it not for this? The game would be compelling but it absolutely destroys the game. Actually it's that combined with an extremely short time limit which forces you to move quickly, but the gameplay and enemy spawning it do the opposite. You want to take it slow and let enemies spawn in so you can kill them without being swarmed. But doing so will ensure that you run out of time before you finish the level. Your only weapon is to shoot flames - you are a dragon after all - and doing so depletes a fire meter. The lower the meter, the shorter your flame. So you often have to limit or even stop firing to allow the meter to replenish. Hitting enemies can be difficult because again you only move in eight directions and your shot is a wall of flame in front of you. So to hit enemies who aren't exactly one of the eight directions around you. You have to fire straight ahead and then move down or up so the flame crosses over their sprite. The game has a lot of potential but it's wasted on some strange gameplay decisions.
Level Design Score: 2
Level Design Notes:
The levels are all tight, cave-like corridors which snake around in all directions. Again, it feels similar to Atomic Robo Kid. The levels themselves are interesting, but the designed enemy waves are terrible as they spawn in all around you or that set locations and you might be in that location. So the enemies will spawn in directly on you and just destroy and hits you multiple times because you have no iframes. The levels feature a lot of environmental hazards which look like enemies because they're brightly colored. It took me awhile to figure out that you can't damage them and can't even influence them in any way.
Theme Score: 4
Theme Notes:
I've always liked the dragon themed shooters. It's nice to have a break from spaceship shooting alien ships.
Art Style Score: 3
Art Style Notes:
Your character is interesting to look at but other enemies are blah. The levels themselves are also uninteresting. They're mostly just rock formations.
Audio Score: 2
Audio Notes:
The music doesn't seem to fit the theme and it doesn't react at all to what's happening on screen. For example, there isn't a boss theme so the song that was playing throughout the level just continues right into the boss and even after he's killed. So there's no fanfare or anything to break up the playing of that levels theme. Sound effects are okay but you mostly just hear your flame shot as a long steady fire sound.
Overall Score: 44
Review ID: 1916
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