Guardian Legend (NES) [Review by Ace]

[Ace Mercury]

Guardian Legend (Nintendo Entertainment System)
(JP: Gaurdic Gaiden)
Created by Compile
Produced by Irem

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In a nutshell:
Zelda, Metroid, and Raiden (or any good top-down shooter) all mixed into one.

Story:
Naju, some sort of Death Star-like thingie, is on a crash course to your planet (Earth, if I'm not mistaken). Thus, you, the Guardian of Earth, must go out to Naju and blow it up by setting off its convenient self-destruct mechanism left behind by its well-meaning, but dead creators. Armed with your spiffy transforming battle-suit, you're one Guardian with a mission: destroy Naju and save the Earth.

The story is a bit weak; it's more background than anything, like the story behind the original Metroid.

Gameplay:
Remember earlier when I said it's like Metroid, Zelda, and Raiden? Well, I meant it.

Half the game is like a fusion of Zelda and Metroid. There's a top-down view of the game area, and you move about from screen to screen (and area to area on your map) exploring and generally killing things in your way. You're armed with a standard pulse cannon (a la Metroid) as your primary weapon, but you find fifteen other selectable weapons along the way (e.g. plasma shots, grenades). You also upgrade your shield level (so you can take more hits without dying) and your maximum weapon energy levels (which you use to power your equipable weapons). There are messages left in various places around Naju, that are very reminicent of Zelda I, which you need to access keys. Every now and then you fight a mini-boss, which leaves behind another handy-dandy item if you defeat it.

But, you must wonder, how is it like Raiden? Well, the other half of the game is a top-down shooter, and a damn good one too. This sucker can beat SNES games hands-down if it weren't for some heavy flicker. It's fast-paced, which is surprising for an NES game, and there is no noticable slow-down, which is surprising for even an SNES game. The game pumps out a remarkable amount of sprites on the screen (for an NES). You use the same shields from the explorer mode, so it's not one of those "one hit and you're dead" shooters (the kind I like )

You'd think that combining those two game modes (explorer and shooter) would just result in basically two halves not quite equalling a good whole game, but Compile does a good job of blending the two modes together quite well. For example, the equipment and weapons obtained in explorer mode are ported right into shooter mode. So, let's say you pick up a cool homing shot while wandering around; you can use that weapon to blast baddies in flight too. Or maybe that level was too hard; you can go around and find items (e.g. extra shields) to help. Very cool concept.

You start off in shooter mode and make your way into Naju, wherein the explorer mode starts. You obtain keys (and other powerups) by jumping into shooter mode by entering 'corridors'. An easy to read map will tell you where the corridors are; the rest is up to you. Power-ups for recharging shields and weapons are relatively plentiful; they're usually around if you need them.

Sound:
It's what you'd expect from the NES; if those synth tones are your thing, well, you're in luck. The music is serviceable, and pretty catchy at times; I never found it annoying. If you know about Overclocked Remix, there are acually a few remixes of the music from avid fans.

Graphics:
NES-style sprite graphics; the art is a bit dated, which is understandable. When action gets intense in shooter mode, the tiles do flicker quite a bit, which is a tad annoying. It pumps out an impressive number of sprites (enemy bullets, enemies, background tiles) with no slow down though.

Control:
All you need is to use the D-pad to move, A and B to shoot. Select is used to bring up the menu to switch your equipped weapon, check out the map, and view your stats. The movement is fluid and responsive, standard eight-way movement in both modes, so you'll be going where you want to go.

If you've played top-down shooters and Zelda before, you should be familiar with the controls.

Overview:
I stumbled upon Guardian Legend because I was bitten by the shooter bug (specifically, by Space Megaforce, also by Compile). After the first level, I didn't expect that I'd be getting Metroid/Zelda gameplay, but it worked out pretty well. Personally, I'm in awe of how they managed to fit all of those sprites with such speed at full frame rate during some levels; I want to learn how to program like that.

The game takes about five or ten hours to finish, depending on your wanderlust. It uses the password system (a la Metroid) to resume your game should you require sleep.

All in all, a good game for n00b and consumate gamer alike. If I were to give this a score out of twelve, this game would be a solid ten, at least. This game can definately compete with the other classics of days past.

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What's Great:
</font>

• Fast-paced, no slow down despite being graphic heavy</font>
• Shooter and explorer modes mix to make things interesting; the game doesn't suffer from having a split personality, but rather benefits</font>
• Pretty good weapon selection</font>
• The lead (read: you) is female! Remarkable.</font>
• Responsive control</font>
• Easy to describe ("it's, uh, like Zelda and Metroid half the time, and a top-down shooter the other half" "oh-h-h")</font>

What's Not:
</font>

• Heavy flicker during intense points in shooter mode (especially boss battles)</font>
• No real story development, if that's your thing</font>
• Uses dated 80's technology... if you're that shallow </font>
• You need to perform a specific action to open some corridors; if you didn't find any info, you're stuck until you do (or you look it up in a walkthrough)</font>
• Not nearly as long as a Zelda or Metroid</font>

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So, that's my first review. Any comments about my writing style? Areas of improvement? If you've played the game before, is there anything I left out, etc.

Wow, Reviews has never been this active. And good job-Can't believe I missed it when we had our NES but I was about 5 and 6.