No Storyline? Too Easy? Read This!!!

by Mark Gross

Are you sick of those annoying RPG's that are look great in the advertisements, but play like garbage once you've bought them and lost the receipt forever and ever? Are you sick of working your way through problems that a two-year old could figure out? Not mention your two year old _pet dog_ could figure out? Well, Capcom's got the solution for you! Two of them, actually!

Yes, you heard me - Capcom. May I bring your attention to two games of note: "Mega Man Legends", and more recently, "The Misadventures of Tron Bonne". While carrying a name that probably reminds you of the old NES games - the ones that have spawned about (I've lost count) sequels. Rather, these merely rip off the Mega Man face, turning it into something that is, believe it or not, quite possibly BETTER than the original (Although Mega Man 1&2 will always be some stiff competition).

Storyline? Both feature good and bad characters with real personalities that gradually emerge through the game. The storylines gradually emerges from one of innocence to one of ultimate danger, and best of all, there are no mental problems involved! Ever! No bishonen bad guys either! And both have plenty of minor characters to come back and talk to later on for more events and discoveries, many which can develop skills and ideas of their own with the proper prompting for you. The speech in MTBonne (Not unlike Brave Fencer Musashi) can be halted by occasionally tapping a controller button.

The graphics for both are functional, with any cutscenes done in the same polygon format that the entire games are done in. No 'Legend of Dragoon' gap between the cutscenes and what you actually have to play through! The polygons won't win any awards for beauty and elegance, but they're eminently practical for what they need to do - Telling you where you are, and what you need to move, shoot, lift, cross, destroy, steal, or get around.

Challenge? Plenty of it. If getting lost in the underground mazes of MMLegends isn't bad enough, the mazes are constantly being opened up, requiring various tools to do so. And then there's MTBonne, which gives you the option of regular combat exploration, puzzles with &%$! boxes that you need to figure out how to steal as efficiently as possible, and more combat where you actually have to combine strategy into your shooting to steal more stuff! Lots of bragging rights for those who can earn 'em! Your kid brother/sister will burst into tears before S/HE ever completes everything! Unfortunately, the game is also designed so that it's not absolutely necessary to complete everything, so you'll have to resort to a good hard kick whenever you want to use your PSX.

What's that? It's not an RPG? Too much action? Don't bitch at me about that! Tell me what it _doesn't_ have. It's got more storyline and better developed characters than a good number of other so-called RPG's. The action is just a bonus. So don't delay! Quit your bitching and go pick one of these "RPG's" up instead!