Ashguine Story II (MSX, 1987) WIP
Graphics-9 Sound-8/9*/10** Control-6 Challenge-8 Story-7
Level Design-6? Frustration-9 Fun-5.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6?
*w/ FM (MSX Music)
**w/ Homebrew FM patch (MSX Music+MSX Audio)
+ Smooth scrolling, Firebird-like gameplay except without the auto-scrolling and more maze-like levels, great art direction, great intro cutscene, impressive FM music, large and detailed sprites and very good use of colour, save feature (F1 during demo to load), level up system?, can block projectiles with the shield (by standing still and not attacking), drone power up (spinning sphere which you can ram enemies with manually), pretty detailed backstory, connection features between Ashguine 2 and 3 (You can find a crystals in Ashguine 2 which will allow you to open any number of doors in Ashguine 3 (Another crystal you can find in Ashguine 2 powers up the control sphere to its maximum power level in Ashguine 3); In Ashguine 3 you can find item(s) which allow you to transfer your life, power and speed to Ashguine story 2), speed and power upgrades,
+/- Maze levels with locked doors and multiple floors, pretty easy to farm power ups (power up containers respawn power ups periodically and you seem to have a lot of time to wait around), gore (your sword becomes bloody as you hit enemies though it disappears quickly), can't block melee attacks?, shoot the sphere and swing your sword with the same button, level timer (fairly long),
- Loose scrolling, can't turn around nor attack down or to the sides with the main attack, unlocked doors don't stay unlocked, need to kill all enemies in certain rooms to be able to use a door or elevator (slows the pace down considerably in some rooms), several enemies take too many hits to kill, very fast text in the intro,
Level Design-6? Frustration-9 Fun-5.5 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6?
*w/ FM (MSX Music)
**w/ Homebrew FM patch (MSX Music+MSX Audio)
+ Smooth scrolling, Firebird-like gameplay except without the auto-scrolling and more maze-like levels, great art direction, great intro cutscene, impressive FM music, large and detailed sprites and very good use of colour, save feature (F1 during demo to load), level up system?, can block projectiles with the shield (by standing still and not attacking), drone power up (spinning sphere which you can ram enemies with manually), pretty detailed backstory, connection features between Ashguine 2 and 3 (You can find a crystals in Ashguine 2 which will allow you to open any number of doors in Ashguine 3 (Another crystal you can find in Ashguine 2 powers up the control sphere to its maximum power level in Ashguine 3); In Ashguine 3 you can find item(s) which allow you to transfer your life, power and speed to Ashguine story 2), speed and power upgrades,
+/- Maze levels with locked doors and multiple floors, pretty easy to farm power ups (power up containers respawn power ups periodically and you seem to have a lot of time to wait around), gore (your sword becomes bloody as you hit enemies though it disappears quickly), can't block melee attacks?, shoot the sphere and swing your sword with the same button, level timer (fairly long),
- Loose scrolling, can't turn around nor attack down or to the sides with the main attack, unlocked doors don't stay unlocked, need to kill all enemies in certain rooms to be able to use a door or elevator (slows the pace down considerably in some rooms), several enemies take too many hits to kill, very fast text in the intro,