El Viento (MD, 1991)
Graphics-7 Sound-7 Control-6.5 Challenge-8
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+ Some innovative gameplay (regenerating MP bar, crouching dash move, magic attacks (some interesting ones like the water attack), rotating platforms, exploding barrels that damage enemies, twirling wall obstacles with a bomb trigger at the end of them (see Ranger X for example), enemies as platforms, the blob boss), nice anime cutscenes with decent writing for its time and genre, some hidden items, unusual art style, somewhat comical sprite work at times, hidden stage 0 (unlocked in the MIJET hack – hold A+B+C while pressing start to begin a new game, very hard though), fast paced overall, slow motion code, ride a dolphin, good variation overall, some bosses with multiple forms/patterns, shows enemy HP, midget pirates and giant octopuses, basic level up system (increases the health bar), rate of fire and homing boomerang upgrades (v-shaped power up and the crystals respectively - not explained by the manual)
+/- Female protagonist, limited continues (just three), borrows some elements from Strider (bosses as moving platforms), dash move doesn’t affect jump momentum, the exploding barrels and oil tanks don’t damage Annet/Annette, you can sort of glitch your way onto platforms without having jumped high enough to reach over their ledges, unconventional magic selection system (need to charge your magic meter longer to select higher level spells, can’t stop it at a certain spell for tactical purposes or to charge that spell more to do more damage, the meter doesn’t regenerate while holding the button down so you need to time it right to select a certain spell) – clunky when you want quick access to a certain spell (they could’ve made it so that you could change spells in the pause menu or with the attack button while holding down the magic button instead provided you had enough MP for the spell you wanted to use), need to shoot one of the HP items to pick it up,
- Glitchy hit detection at times (around stairs (can’t walk down stairs properly, jump sometimes doesn’t register while moving upwards on a staircase), the edges of some platforms, rotating platforms, the gates opened by switches), no checkpoints, almost no invincibility time after taking a hit, uneven difficulty curve (first boss is pretty tough, very short and easy car factory and airship stages), some boss fights are just button mashers (the tank’s first two forms, final boss), charged spells are wasted if you move through a door, can’t jump down through platforms which can be jumped up through (usually for no challenge purpose), overly tight scrolling when jumping, objects and small sprites sometimes blend in with the backgrounds, no difficulty options, trial & error (some leaps of faith (can’t look up/down), bosses, falling bridge, sewer segment), slowdown, some dead space and dead ends, loud (and sometimes annoying) sfx compared to the music, unavoidable hits (giant octopuses, rats, the bats in the final stage), glitchy level 5 spell (keeps targeting destroyed targets (airship) or targeting enemies on the other side of walls), tedious final stage,
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-9 Fun-6.5 Originality-6
Overall Score-6.5
+ Some innovative gameplay (regenerating MP bar, crouching dash move, magic attacks (some interesting ones like the water attack), rotating platforms, exploding barrels that damage enemies, twirling wall obstacles with a bomb trigger at the end of them (see Ranger X for example), enemies as platforms, the blob boss), nice anime cutscenes with decent writing for its time and genre, some hidden items, unusual art style, somewhat comical sprite work at times, hidden stage 0 (unlocked in the MIJET hack – hold A+B+C while pressing start to begin a new game, very hard though), fast paced overall, slow motion code, ride a dolphin, good variation overall, some bosses with multiple forms/patterns, shows enemy HP, midget pirates and giant octopuses, basic level up system (increases the health bar), rate of fire and homing boomerang upgrades (v-shaped power up and the crystals respectively - not explained by the manual)
+/- Female protagonist, limited continues (just three), borrows some elements from Strider (bosses as moving platforms), dash move doesn’t affect jump momentum, the exploding barrels and oil tanks don’t damage Annet/Annette, you can sort of glitch your way onto platforms without having jumped high enough to reach over their ledges, unconventional magic selection system (need to charge your magic meter longer to select higher level spells, can’t stop it at a certain spell for tactical purposes or to charge that spell more to do more damage, the meter doesn’t regenerate while holding the button down so you need to time it right to select a certain spell) – clunky when you want quick access to a certain spell (they could’ve made it so that you could change spells in the pause menu or with the attack button while holding down the magic button instead provided you had enough MP for the spell you wanted to use), need to shoot one of the HP items to pick it up,
- Glitchy hit detection at times (around stairs (can’t walk down stairs properly, jump sometimes doesn’t register while moving upwards on a staircase), the edges of some platforms, rotating platforms, the gates opened by switches), no checkpoints, almost no invincibility time after taking a hit, uneven difficulty curve (first boss is pretty tough, very short and easy car factory and airship stages), some boss fights are just button mashers (the tank’s first two forms, final boss), charged spells are wasted if you move through a door, can’t jump down through platforms which can be jumped up through (usually for no challenge purpose), overly tight scrolling when jumping, objects and small sprites sometimes blend in with the backgrounds, no difficulty options, trial & error (some leaps of faith (can’t look up/down), bosses, falling bridge, sewer segment), slowdown, some dead space and dead ends, loud (and sometimes annoying) sfx compared to the music, unavoidable hits (giant octopuses, rats, the bats in the final stage), glitchy level 5 spell (keeps targeting destroyed targets (airship) or targeting enemies on the other side of walls), tedious final stage,
