Reviews | Arcade
Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga Episode III
By Alex Kierkegaard / July 29, 2006
The third Rastan game plays very differently from the previous two -- so much so that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it doesn't really belong in the series. For whereas the previous games were depicted on a single plane, featuring a combination of hacking and platforming action, this one is a classic weapons brawler, similar to Sega's Golden Axe (1989) and its sequels.
The differences between side-scrollers viewed on a single plane and brawlers (which always adopt a pseudo-3D viewpoint) are enormous. The former focus on precise, almost surgical, movements and rote memorization, while the latter mainly involve lots of button mashing (there's skill-based gameplay to be found here too, in the better examples of the genre, but the limitations imposed by the awkward viewpoint do not allow them to rise above a certain, rather low, level of technical play). That is why I say Warrior Blade doesn't play like a Rastan game; in fact, it's painfully obvious this was conceived as a Golden Axe rip-off, with the Rastan name tacked on to the title simply because it was at hand.
What careless treatment the legacy of the classic Rastan Saga (1987) has endured at the hands of Taito's clueless bosses (it had to be the bosses, you understand; they are always responsible for everything). First we got the trainwreck that was Rastan Saga II (1988), and then this: a sequel that is not even a sequel. And to this day there is still nothing that plays quite like the original. Oh well, at least we still have that, don't we?
Lamentations aside, this Rastan is not that bad. It's a lesser game than Golden Axe, but it still manages to rise above it in a few areas. The first one is the obvious one: based on the same dual screen hardware used to power Darius II (1989), Warrior Blade delivers a huge playing field, ideally suited to the two-player action brawlers are best known for. The cabinet housing the dual screens and the plush controls is a gorgeously red-painted beast (see here), of the kind that compels you to drop a coin even if you have no interest in the game, just to see what it feels like to play it. There would be no objection from me if all similar games used giant cabinets like this.
But there's another, much more important area where Warrior Blade really poops all over Golden Axe: the number and variety of stages on offer. Locations include a village and a forest, a swamp, a ruined castle and a palace, and a long, winding staircase leading to a confrontation at the top of a forlorn tower. No two stages look alike here, and it's plain that much thought and effort has gone into designing all of them.
In fact, what attracts onlookers besides the imposing cabinet are three unique stages, which see the characters (there are two others to chose from, apart from Rastan) riding horses or dragons, or sliding down the side of a steep mountain. The horse-riding part in particular is the best such scene I've seen in a 2D game: Mounted bandits attack you with bows and swords, coming dramatically off their horses when you hit them, while everyone is occasionally forced to jump over fallen logs barring the road. It's spectacular stuff, with giant sprites filling both screens and the scrolling speed never slowing down.
The other two such stages are also well-done. It's true that all of them are ridiculously easy, but they control beautifully, and the speed and smoothness at which they fly by is refreshing. If only they were longer and more challenging, and if there were more of them, this would have been a much better game. As it stands, they are little more than distractions; enjoyable bonus rounds, though the only bonus you get for finishing them is permission to move on.
The enemies meanwhile range from regular soldiers armed with swords and shields, to giant armored lizards, to mages who fling blue balls of lightning at you, to even a couple of screen-filling bosses (don't get your hopes up: they fill roughly one of the two screens). There is just simply a huge number of different enemies here -- none of that "same guy with three color variations" stuff you see in most other brawlers. As with the stages, the variety requirement is generously fulfilled, but there is something missing in both cases...
It all just feels somewhat lifeless and bland. The artwork is competent enough, but done with little grace and style, and you can see no artist has enjoyed himself working on this. The look of the game is simply not appealing, though it has an appropriate, gritty edge conjuring images of the first Conan film, which is undoubtedly what the designers were going for. Too bad that film didn't look very good in the first place.
Amidst the blandness there are a handful of moments when you are confronted with unexpected, dazzling sights: the glimmering purple sea in the background during the boss fight in the Harbor Village; or the dark-skinned wizard waiting inside the derelict pirate ship, who transforms into a green carapaced monster with spiked tentacles while the deck collapses under your feet. If only these moments were the norm, and not simply exceptions.
The fighting seems stilted too, at least until you figure out that Rastan is not the best character to pick. He is the most powerful of the three, but he is so awkwardly animated that it will take you a long while to get used to controlling him. Picking the hireling Dewey instead will make you feel as if you are playing a different game. He is expertly animated, slashing foes with whirlwind speed, jumping in the air and landing deadly kicks, and darting about the screen as fast as you require. Rastan moves as if he suffers from ankylosis in comparison (he is not nearly as bad as the quadriplegic impostor from the previous game though). Dewey's disadvantage is his short reach, but, honestly, you are better off trying to work around this than going with Rastan. And then there's Sophia, the token Amazon-like character. She's the weakest of the three, but her whip has the longest reach.
Warrior Blade follows a non-linear structure. There is a short stage at the beginning; then you get to take on four areas in whichever order you prefer, and then there are a few more stages proceeding in linear fashion. which I won't talk about so as not to spoil the game for you. This element of choice is fun mostly because it's different, but also because it makes you experiment and decide on the best order in which to tackle the stages.
Incidentally, there is a "role-playing" element involved. When you complete each area you gain an artifact which confers a specific benefit, though you'd find it hard to notice their effects. Same thing goes for the various items you pick up my smashing objects during the stages. And then there's a green-robed wizard who appears at certain points and tags along -- a henchman, perhaps -- casting a variety of helpful spells whenever he feels like it (though he can be goaded into action with a good kick in the butt), causing your enemies to fall asleep, turning them to stone or into frogs. I'd say that together with the horse-riding section this guy is my favorite aspect of the game. He makes me feel... less lonely, when I am playing alone.
One of the advantages of playing Warrior Blade in an arcade setting is that it's hard to make out the music. Masahiko Takaki did the honors, and Naoto Yagishita is specially thanked in the credits, but the soundtrack here bears no resemblance to the memorable score of the original Rastan, which they both helped create. It consists of series of bleeps and amateurish tunes; throwaway music more suited to be looped endlessly in some Japanese 24-hour convenience store, than played in an arcade game which tries to follow on the footsteps of Golden Axe. The overall suckiness of it is greatly puzzling, considering the people who were behind it.
In the end, I find amusing how expertly this game walks a tightrope between success and failure. The main character is the least useful and satisfying to play as, but the other two are pretty decent; the stages are many and varied, but they feel arbitrary and disconnected; the tentacled monster at the end of the pirate ship stage may by striking, but is beaten in seconds, and all the other bosses are imaginatively conceived, but they don't put up much of a fight. The game presents you with a fair challenge overall, but even that looses its attraction once you realize you can simply run past the enemies right to the end of most stages.
With the first two games the Rastan series went straight from excellence to abject failure; with Warrior Blade, a game belonging to a different genre altogether, it finally settled into happy mediocrity.
