Rygar: The Legendary Adventure
- November 26, 2002 00:00 AM PST
The NES veteran gets retooled and updated for the PlayStation 2. Is Rygar�s adventure truly legendary?
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure manages to balance old-school gameplay elements with fancy new ones for a whole new generation to enjoy. The game�s length, dialogue, and uneven difficulty are this legend�s only blemishes.
Update Complete
The arcades is where Rygar first made its 1986 debut as a side-scrolling action title, but it was on the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System that the game truly evolved into a noteworthy adventure. Rygar was addictive but also notorious for having no save function, forcing gamers to leave the system on for days at a time in order to complete the monstrous enterprise.
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure does indeed allow you to save progress to your PS2 memory card, so you can breathe a sigh of relief. What�s remained the same are the expansive environments that require extensive exploration. All kinds of visual clues abound to hint at new locales just beyond your reach, at least until you acquire the appropriate abilities. Rygar�s levels strike a good balance of indoor puzzle-solving and outdoor investigation.
From the Heavens
Rygar�s production values are topnotch with sharp graphics and luxurious orchestral music. Every boss has cool optical features, and the in-game cut-scenes show off impressive character models. The audio holds up its end of the bargain with background music piped in from either the clouds of Olympus or the bowels of Hades depending on current surroundings. The only sore spots are the stiff voice-acting and the quality of the written dialogue, which mar an otherwise dramatic story.
Relatively Legendary
The challenge the game throws out at you is decidedly inconsistent. The learning curve comes from figuring out the initial �how�s� and �why�s� of various obstacles, so it becomes easier and easier to figure out things like sliding under objects, upgrading Diskarmor, or opening pressure trigger doors as the game progresses. The number of hours you spend with Rygar are dependant upon how quickly you pick these sorts of things up, which makes for a game that you either walk away from in frustration or beat in a few days.
Still, if you�re looking for an old-fashioned, strenuous PS2 adventure that bears a closer resemblance to Zelda than Onimusha, Rygar: The Legendary Adventure has a unique assortment of riches to offer.
