GAMERS MANY MOODS

Gamers often go through many moods as they come across a wide variety of games, and it is these moods that cause us to choose what games we will play. RPG games can require many hours of dedicated time to complete yet often we may not have the time to do so. I am all for RPG games that are huge and epic in scope but sometimes I want to play an RPG that is short and easy to learn. Recently the first episode of a four part downloadable RPG game was released that promises to give us some of the qualities found in larger RPG games but with a simplistic gameplay design that is much appreciated. ShadowFlare, originally released to great success in Japan last year, is one such game and was developed by Denyusha Co. and localized for American gamers by Emurasoft, Inc.

A FUN AND SIMPLISTIC GAMEPLAY DESIGN

The game's simple storyline centers on the appearance of demons to our world and the emergence of a mercenary hero who must challenge and destroy them. You are that hero who begins as a mercenary and depending on your play style may eventually become a warrior, wizard/witch or hunter. For instance if you use spells often you may be given the choice of becoming a wizard/witch or a hunter if you use the bow often. You begin your adventure in Remote town where the inhabitants will give you your first quests. Quests will vary as you progress through the many areas and as you visit many of the other towns they will increase in difficulty. For instance, the local commander of Remote town may ask you to defeat all the goblins that have been causing havoc throughout the area while a merchant may give you the quest of bringing an item that has been stolen from him. The quests are always very interesting and well designed especially when you enter into battle with many of the fierce creatures such as the fire bats up to the immense golems and others.

Many interesting features such as the use of mines, an animal companion and a dazzling array of spells will complement you in your travels. You initially have a limited amount of mines that you can use and with items that you acquire along the way you can increase the amount you can carry. Useful for encounters with groups of enemies, a mine can be placed which can dispatch them quickly. While mines may not instantly defeat some of the tougher enemies they will be weakened to a point where you can use other elements to deal with them, such as the impressive lightning and freeze spells. Traveling with you as well is an animal companion, a dog in this episode with hawks appearing in a later episode that will fight along side you and help you complete certain areas you might not have been able to reach yourself. This animal companion will serve as a valuable ally in helping you through many of the dungeons that are filled with hordes of difficult enemies as the game will prove quite challenging as you advance deeper into the episode.

An interesting spell worth mentioning is the teleport spell which you will come to use and love due to its nature of taking you out of danger and into safety. When you are in a dungeon and are almost at the verge of death or your equipment is heavily damaged and in need of repair you can use the spell to teleport to the nearby town. In town you can have the local spirit witch heal you and restore your magical energy for free or pay the local merchant to repair your equipment which will break if not repaired in time. You will often visit the merchant for the ability that they have to identify items. The wise RPG player will collect every piece of armor and weapons that they find along the way and bring them back to the merchant. Items that have a question mark beside them need to be identified by the merchant before their special abilities can be unlocked as this was often the best form of obtaining some valuable armor and weapons as I played through the game.

AN ABSORBING RPG GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE

ShadowFlare exudes simplicity and style within every facet from its simple and engaging gameplay design, storyline, use of mines and animal companions as well as other impressive features. It does this with such charm and grace that needs to be applauded. Even more impressive is that Emurasoft is recruiting players to test pre-release versions of each episode so that gamers can find any bugs or provide suggestions on how to improve aspects of the game, such as in the style of dialogue used. ShadowFlare is the type of game that you can easily pick up and play and absorb yourself in for many hours as you witness many of the stunning gameplay features. The 2D graphics do a fine job in displaying many of the items that your hero wields to the look of villages, dungeons, forests and other areas you will traverse in. Just look at the impressive detail evident within the screenshots and you will see immense detail put into many areas within the game world from richly crafted armor to flaming swords and even more exquisitely detailed enemy designs. An attention to detail and design went into many of the areas which you can see as you view the houses, mechanical contraptions scattered about the areas or the way dungeons were finely crafted in the game.

You will come across many puzzles as you play the game and some are quite interesting such as a dungeon in which you must press certain switches while defeating the enemies guarding them to proceed to the next area. I am glad that the designers chose to implement puzzles throughout the game world so that each area is fun to play in. Episode One can be downloaded from the official website for only $15 or you can download a demo of this game if you are still unsure of its value and try it out yourself. Episode One of ShadowFlare has been very fun and engaging and I eagerly await the next three episodes. ShadowFlare Episode One was released in October and will be followed by the remaining three episodes in the coming months, such as Episode Two coming in December. Expect to see new areas, enemies, animal companions and other surprises as you continue your goal of vanquishing the evil that has entered the world. ShadowFlare is a simple but very fun RPG game that will appeal to all RPG gamers who may not currently be in the mood for a larger and more complex RPG world. ShadowFlare welcomes you to take a break from those games and give it an opportunity to show you what it can do!

Final Grade: A (90%) Just RPG Recommended Game

Official ShadowFlare Website

System Requirements

• Pentium III Intel 450 MHz
• Windows 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP
• 128 MB RAM
• keyboard and mouse
• Internet connection for downloading episodes and multiplayer gaming
• Multiplayer- A maximum of 4 players can play together online