Actraiser is a game that I had always heard of, but never played until recently. It's also available from the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console. I was expecting a castlevania style game and to an extent, that's true. There are really three aspects to the game - on one hand, you're a god over a world which was previously inhabited by those nasty monsters, on another, you take on mortal form to go down and kick the ass of said monsters, then there is the third, and my personal favourite - you go around as a naked baby firing arrows at the monsters to stop them from terrorising and carting away your livestock... erm, I mean people ;). All cupid references aside, this is a cracking little gem of a game with much more depth to it than I was expecting. In a similar way to how Zelda crossed the genres of action and RPG, this does a similar blend with Platform Adventures, Strategy Games and RPGs, and has a fairly equal blend of all three genres.
Therein lies the main problem with this game for me. It's quite a jack of all trades game - it's not really a strategy game and it doesn't really have the depth to be an RPG (I won't even mention how boring and repetitive the Platform Adventure part of it is). The gothic music and worshipping tone of your underlings are almost enough to make this game enjoyable on its own, but they simply aren't answered with castlevania's gameplay, or indeed, Sim City's. It is a valiant effort though, and the game definitely deserves a serious consideration. If you like RPGs where you don't get stuck in certain points for very long, then this is the game for you, but prepare to get bogged down with tough platform adventure levels.
Review supplied by SNES Reviews Webmaster and many thanks for it! :)
Graphics
8/10
There's not much wrong here - the graphics are excellent and the use of mode 7 when preparing for an action level is bliss!
Difficulty
7/10
The platform adventure parts of the game are very difficult (more reliant on memory rather then reflexes), but essentially boil down to learning off a level, then using magic on the boss.
Sound
10/10
Gothic music reaking of melodrama - perfect music for the game, and really infitting with its theme.
Playability
7/10
I really enjoyed the Sim City/RPG blend in the game - not so much the platform adventure part - I found it very samey and repetitive.
Timescale
Enjoyment Factor------------------->
1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
1 Year
71%
This is what people have said about this game/review:
Posted by: Superfamiking on March 8, 2008, 8:13 pm Stunning game, ahead of it's time!
Get the Jap version as it's much tougher (US/Pal releases had the difficulty toned down)
90%
Posted by: kasper81 on November 5, 2009, 6:50 am I liked it overall, but the strategy part was a bit repetitive and slow.
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Actraiser is a game that I had always heard of, but never played until recently. It's also available from the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console. I was expecting a castlevania style game and to an extent, that's true. There are really three aspects to the game - on one hand, you're a god over a world which was previously inhabited by those nasty monsters, on another, you take on mortal form to go down and kick the ass of said monsters, then there is the third, and my personal favourite - you go around as a naked baby firing arrows at the monsters to stop them from terrorising and carting away your livestock... erm, I mean people ;). All cupid references aside, this is a cracking little gem of a game with much more depth to it than I was expecting. In a similar way to how Zelda crossed the genres of action and RPG, this does a similar blend with Platform Adventures, Strategy Games and RPGs, and has a fairly equal blend of all three genres.
Therein lies the main problem with this game for me. It's quite a jack of all trades game - it's not really a strategy game and it doesn't really have the depth to be an RPG (I won't even mention how boring and repetitive the Platform Adventure part of it is). The gothic music and worshipping tone of your underlings are almost enough to make this game enjoyable on its own, but they simply aren't answered with castlevania's gameplay, or indeed, Sim City's. It is a valiant effort though, and the game definitely deserves a serious consideration. If you like RPGs where you don't get stuck in certain points for very long, then this is the game for you, but prepare to get bogged down with tough platform adventure levels. 
