Mantrid's Journal: Rygar: The game that could've been a Classic

Ugh, don't you just hate it when a game seems like it's just on the virge of getting things right and then screws it all up with a few stupid mistakes? That's Rygar.

The game should be a whole lot better than it is. It starts off well, decent graphics and sound, old school gameplay, a bit of stat building/treasure hunting built in. It's basically a Zelda type game (old Zelda), with more weight placed on Final Fight style fighting. It's got some run and jumping and the fighting itself isn't half bad, featuring combos and blocking. You can collect various power-ups and items. There are save points, but they are quite liberally placed throughout the levels. You also get level maps. The boss battles so far are fairly well done reminding me of old games like Rygar (heh), Mario, and various shooters like Thunder Force III - you know the type - watch for patterns, find the weakness and use your super attacks where necessary. There seems to be a fair amount of exploration.

If this what I got, I'd be happy and would've probably given Rygar 8/10.

*BUT* now comes the bad news:

    Camera angles. Rygar uses a Resident Evil/Onimusha/Devil May Cry type of camera system. The levels aren't static and the camera will often pan around with you in pre-determined ways (like DMC - I never played DMC, but the action and cameras seem to be similar to what I've seen of it). If the pre-determined cameras had been set up better there wouldn't have been a problem. But Rygar features some absolutely bone-headed camera work. I just can't believe how stupid some of the angles are - there are many times where *YOU CANNOT SEE YOUR CHARACTER*. This includes times where you are trying to jump up to higher platforms or even over pits! Now maybe this would've worked if you could at least switch temporarily to a first person view and look around (like in GTA:VC). Nope, no such luck here! Not only does this lead to some very frustrating moments as you grope blindly about, it makes some of the hidden areas seem quite cheap - many of them are hidden only because of the dumb-arse cameras - they in-game Rygar is probably staring straight at the "hidden" area, but you the player, will never see it. Okay knock this sucker down from 80% down to 70%.

Cameras contribute to a control problem as well - often times you'll get a camera in the middle of an area and a resulting view switch as you walk-through. This can be quite jarring, but also adds a gameplay problem. Say you are walking North, up the screen, the camera switches and you are still walking North, but North is now facing down the screen - however you are still pushing up on the controller, so Rygar turns around and heads South again - so you hit the camera point once again and everything flips back. This can easily happen two or three times in a row! It can be quite frustrating. Knock off a couple of points there too.

The other majorly annoying thing is the lack of direction. Often you just plain don't know what to do, and the game isn't sharing any secrets. I'm not going to dock the game to harshly for this, as some people may just enjoy this type of puzzle solving. Personally, when combined with the camera angle problems, it makes playing Rygar a maddening endeavour. If I hadn't received it as a gift (as opposed to buying it on my own nickel from EB), I would've been sorely tempted to return it for a refund.

The whole situation just plain sucks. Here we have this game that should've been great but it is just mired down with it's camera problems. We've had 3D games with workable cameras since Mario 64 or Tomb Raider- what is so hard about getting cameras right? Add to that the control reversing, the opaqueness of gameplay, and the odd slow spot and this game is somewhat hard to recommend. Rygar shows much potential and polish in other areas which makes the problems even more upsetting - truly it could've been a classic gaming experience.

I'm giving it a 6/10 even. I kind of wish this game was on PC so I could hope for a patch. If you are the more patient type and are yearning for some old platform/action gaming action this game could provide some enjoyment. Personally I would rent it first, or at least by from a store that accepts returns. Having said all of this I eagerly await Rygar II - assuming they can correct their mistakes.