BATTLE SYSTEM INTERACTION ORIGINALITY STORY MUSIC & SOUND VISUALS CHALLENGE Variable COMPLETION TIME 30-60 Hours OVERALL 3.0/5.0 Rating definitions

   A decade before Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon, Sega remade the first two Shining Force Gaiden games, both of which appeared on the Game Gear (the second having come to America with the subtitle The Sword of Hajya), for the Sega CD, adding additional battles and entitling the collection Shining Force CD. Though not perfect, the compilation proves to be one of the strongest RPGs for the system, and maybe the best tactical RPG of its time, as well.

   Battles are where the collection really shines. Though the games more or less feature straightforward tactical battles, they still work out surprisingly well. Characters and enemies presumably take their turns from fastest to slowest, with either occasionally getting extra turns if their speed is high enough. Each of your characters can move around when they reach their turns, and attack, cast magic, use items, search around for the occasional hidden treasure, or just stay put. Performing any action nets a character experience, with a hundred points needed to level up. Once your characters reach level ten, you can promote them to an upper class, with their level reset to one, and unpromoted characters only able to advance to level twenty.

Jaha gives new meaning to the term "pothead"

   Many battles in the game actually require a bit of strategy, with careful placement of your characters (with your battle party having a maximum of twelve members) and cautious analysis of theirs and the enemy's stats being necessary for easy victory. Fortunately, you never waste time even on losing battles, as the hero can cast Egress to return to camp, and though his death ends the battle, you still return to your camp with your experience intact albeit with half of your money lost. The only real flaws are that you must center area-affecting spells on an enemy or ally for them to work, and the absence of any sort of turn order meter. Nonetheless, battles never get dull or boring.

   One aspect where Shining Force CD could've been better, though, is interaction. While town interfaces are far simpler than in the main Shining Forces, shopping and managing your items and characters is still needlessly irritating, with endless dialogue and confirmation. It'd also have been nice if you could resurrect all dead characters at once instead of one at a time. You can see how weapons affect your stats before buying them, though descriptions for items and indications of if you could use weapons and accessories to cast magic in battle would've been welcome, as well. Overall, interaction could've certainly been friendlier.

   Aside from the mentioned simpler town interfaces, moreover, the collection is more or less the same tactical Shining Force experience as the previous installments, despite having two extra "Books" in addition to the Gaidens, the second being accessible with an item found in Book Two.

   The story of the games really isn't much to write home about, either. In Book One, a new Shining Force must battle the Kingdom of Cypress to save their queen, and in Book Two, another Force must stop the evil Iom Empire from reviving a dark god. Though characters from both Books eventually intertwine and there are some links to the original Shining Force, there's no real attempt at character development, a few naming inconsistencies, and even rehashed plot concepts. Ultimately, the story throughout the collection would've benefited from more depth.

Battle in a fort

   One place where the collection does shine, however, is its music. What it lacks in quantity, it easily makes up for in quality. All the music is beautifully orchestrated, with several remixes of a central theme, always a must in an RPG soundtrack. Some of the mini-jingles, such as those which play when you revive a character or find treasure on a map, as well as some of the sound effects, are a bit primitive, but the aural quality of Shining Force CD is still spectacular.

   Another high point is the visuals. They're pretty much the same as they were in Shining Force II, with nicely-colored environments and sprites that manage to flesh out their character designs, at least in their default classes. The shots where your characters and the enemy go at it are the best part of the visuals, with both containing nice animation and making defensive gestures when blocking attacks. Some of the sprites that represent your characters in these particular shots are recolored, but otherwise, there isn't much to complain about on the visual side of the game.

   Finally, the difficulty of all the Books is adjustable, though even the easiest modes contain some tough battles, and depending upon the challenge, the whole collection can take anywhere from thirty to sixty hours to finish.

   In the end, Shining Force CD is a worthwhile tactical RPG compilation, and ranks among the diverse series' strongest titles, not to mention best Sega CD games. Despite its faults, it's certainly better than many of the more recent Shining games as well as many of today's tactical RPGs, and might just be worth a look if you can find it.