E.G.G. was a short game, but I loved the puzzle solving. The battle
system was kinda weak but Leon didn't have any reach at all, and
monsters take a TON of damage on him. Some boss fights gave me trouble,
and the last dungeon annoyed me because I couldn't exit it, but
otherwise, this was a pretty good game.
----------Battle System----------
Elemental Gimmick Gear is a typical Action RPG Zelda clone. Leon won't
pick up any new weapons or armor within the game but he can find stones
that will boost his Attack, Mind and Defense. For every 3rd stone he
picks up within the skill he will gain a new level, but he can only
gain a maximum of 7 levels within each skill. Since Leon won't gain any
new weapons he will be forced to use the same "punch" move for just
about every monster in the game, the punch is very short, so you have
to get in close range for everything, making the game slightly
difficult.
Leon will eventually gain magic abilities, like
fire, ice, earth and plasma. When he gains these abilities he has to
use stones for each magic attack. For example, if Leon wants to use a
fire magic, then he must use 3 fire stones to pull it off. You gain new
stones by killing monsters that often drop refills.
Leon
doesn't gain levels by traditionally killing monsters but he can find
HP boosts by finding a item that will boost his HP by 25 each time. His
HP will max out at 400, but I couldn't find all the boosts though.
The puzzles are the best thing about the game actually. They're very
similar to Zelda, there's alot of block pulling and pushing, lever
hitting and uh.. that's about it, but there's plenty of challenge in
the game, and I got stuck a few times. Leon will learn new skills and
items over time to use for the puzzles, like he will gain a grapling
hook (Zelda) to get across a ravine, or he will gain the ability to
catch blocks to throw at switches. It's not rocket science.
----------Characters / Story----------
You play as Leon, or better known as Beta. Leon was discovered inside a
deep cavern asleep inside of his "Elemental Gimmick Gear", which is
basically a mech shaped like an Egg. The people the discovered him and
the E.G.G. took the technology and made more E.G.G.s to use as fighting
machines and transportation. Leon is eventually awaken from his long
sleep but he has amnesia, so he most go out on a quest to retrieve his
memories.
Ok, not the most original plot line, and there
really isn't much story in the game. You won't care about Leon or any
of the characters. The gameplay saves the weak storyline.
----------Graphics----------
The graphics are usually bright and colorful 2D, the same thing you
would expect from a Zelda game actually. It doesn't seem consistent
though, the outdoor scenes look awesome, as do the opening town, but
the dungeons look really basic and washed out. There's only 4 or 5 full
blown CGI cutscenes in the game, nothing to impressive but they're
nice. The battles are replaced by cheap looking 3D effect to make this
look more "modern", I wish they would of kept the battles in 2D
personally. Otherwise, I think this was originally a Saturn game, and
compared to Legend of the Oasis, this isn't exactly pushing any
boundaries for the graphics and I think it looks a little worse than
Oasis.
----------Sound----------
There's only 3 voice
overs in the game, there wasn't much dialog in the game, so I'm not
sure why they didn't just give everyone voices. I'm pretty sure the
voices were all voiced by the same across too. The music was ok but it
sounds like I've heard it before. There really isn't much music to the
game, but listening to it over and over again rarely got on my nerves.
----------World Map----------
The world map is an overhead view, similar to Legend of Zelda or Legend
of the Oasis. Everything is in 2D on the map, so it took me a while to
figure out what is and isn't an exit or a blockage. Zelda games are
extremely easy to figure out what is an exit, but this game just gave
you a little light or small path to view. On the map you'll find one
safe town, and a few houses scattered across the game. To enter most
houses you have to exit your E.G.G. to talk to the people within them.
The rest of the map is pretty similar to a Zelda or Metroid game where
you have to wonder around with little direction until you find a new
item that lets you progress into a new area or dungeon.
----------Time to Complete Game----------
13:08
This time doesn't include the boss battle since it doesn't save after
the battle or credits. The most annoying thing about this game was they
lock you inside the last dungeon without a way to escape or use a
teleport. This made me angry because I wasn't done with the game, I
only had 6 levels with each skill, I was missing 3 HP boosts and only 1
energy tank. This made fighting the final boss extremely difficult, but
I ended up beating him after many tries.
