Xak: The Art of Visual Stage for SFC

Image: MobyGames

Xak: The Art of Visual Stage

LagoonYs

Genre: adventure - overhead

Publisher: Sunsoft

Year: 1993

System: SFC

Gameplay Score: 2

Gameplay Notes:

What a weird game. It plays like a very early adventure title, like one that released in 1988 (post Zelda) rather than in 1993, a full two to three years after Zelda 3. My guess is that it's a port. In any case, it looks and plays like Ys 1 & 2, or Lagoon. Movement is way too fast for both you and enemies. And the hit detection is atrocious! Your weapon's reach is also bad, so the trick is to position yourself below and just to the left of center to the enemy you're attacking. Visually this makes no sense because your weapon has a wide arch the moves from left-to-right, so you would think that the hitbox covers that full area. Instead, it's only at the tip of your sword and again, just to the right. Attacking to the left, right, or down are not advisable as the hit boxes are even weirder and harder to find. Oh, and the enemies get too many i-frames after taking damage and don't stop moving, so you have to attack, back away, attack, back away, and so on. Naturally, you get no i-frames after taking damage, but oddly, the enemy who hit you does! It's the weirdest thing ever. Suffice it to say, enemies can absolutely body you. Only play this with save states so you can avoid getting killed every few minutes by a lowly slime. There's a leveling system that requires an insane amount of grinding. It's honestly not the worst thing ever, but man is it rough around the edges.

Level Design Score: 2

Level Design Notes:

Classic Zelda design, but with terrible visual cues as to where to head. Instead, the game just stops you with a text wall when you try to go to an area that you're not ready for. It's poorly designed, in my book.

Theme Score: 3

Theme Notes:

Typical "chosen one with a famous dead father" narrative. The NPCs give the game some welcome character.

Art Style Score: 2

Art Style Notes:

A step below Lagoon and a country mile below Zelda and comparable topdown adverntures. The only thing that looks "good" are the avatar profile pictures of the NPCs. These look like those in the Shining series.

Audio Score: 2

Audio Notes:

Much of the music is fast-paced, which gets annoying while grinding in the same area for a long time. I like that the tracks are long, but their composition isn't great.

Overall Score: 41

Review ID: 1954