Actraiser Renaissance

It's not awful, but it just makes me want to play the original SNES version. I'm not big on the anime art and drama stuff they added either. The town part of the game is so much worse with near-constant interruptions for bland story or really basic tutorial information that drags on and on. The original had a few annoying interruptions like this, but it's multitudes worse in this version since they felt the need to add so much more dialogue and unnecessary characters. It's fine I guess, but the original is so much better.

This is a hard game to recommend. It hits most of the mark of the original but just askew somehow. The combat is not interesting but close enough to interesting to be acceptable. The tower defense element is in a similar category. The part that makes it the hardest to recommend are the constant interruptions by the townsfolk and the angel. Constant. It makes it very hard to enjoy this game. All that said, it's a specific nostalgia trip. Pick it up when it's heavily discounted or they release an update addressing the pace of the game related to text popups.

Bon remake. Que de souvenir!!

They kept what was good in the SNES version. They made bosses actual characters with scenes. I was sketchy about anything tower defense but they made it good. I do wish the SP regen in sim mode was a bit better but. This is a remake that kept what was good and improved on all sorts of things. So much immersion. Story. Better controls. New features that added rather than detracted. Just. Yes. Yes. YES. DELICIOUS. 12 out of 10. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! I never give that rating. Most remakes ruin what made the original good in an attempt to remodel it. This heavily respects source material, expands on storytelling. Just. Buy it. If you liked the original and you love story, you'll like this one.

I played the OG over and over when I was younger. I'll always have a soft spot for that, but this was a great experience too. The new story elements were fun, the more advanced town developments and defenses added more flavor to an already great formula that was ahead of its time when it came out and the combat is as fluid and fun as it was then.

There was a decent bug for me in special mode Bloodpool act 1, the boss did not trigger properly because the character kept running into the water and not jumping, it took me several attempts on normal, hard, and divine difficulty to clear because of this. Eventually i got so good at this stage i played it on divine crossing my fingers hoping to face the boss and eventually i did. Big fan of the original, i would say in some regards it is better, the platforming and combat is, but the simulation is not. The real time tower strategy bits are good, but, and this was the big but, there is just WAY too many interuptions. Do something - cutscene - do something 30 seconds later cutscene, and this happens in virtually all areas. The flow is not good. As an overall, i bought it on 60% discount and i liked it enough to get all the achievements. Yuzo Koshiro composed an absolute banger of a soundtrack, and if for some reason you do not like it, the original is there as well. It would have been nice if the OG Super Nintendo / Super Famicom was also included as a nice bonus, but not to take away from that. I would say it is an 8/10. Purchase for sure at a discount, at full price it probably would be a 6/10. Fix the bug with special mode. Hopefully we get Soul Blazer, Illusion of Time/Gaia, and Terranigma some day