Review of The Rise of Magus
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Overall Score
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Graphics
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Sound
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Gameplay
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Story
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Interface
The Rise of Magus Review
By Aceed on
24 May 2009
Pros: Great, well-written story, fun gameplay, and it's Chrono Trigger goddamnit!
Cons: "Enter" triggering the "Skip story?" prompt, and yes being the standard choice had me one or two times, and... No, can't come up with any more cons.
Wait, this is made in Gamemaker?
EDIT: Goddamnit, after inputting new values in the "Rating" thing, after it being reset about 6 times trying to make a title in less than 50 letters, I missed out on "Overall", and for some reasons you can't edit ratings. Way to go yoyogames. Anyways, overall rating s'posed to be 5.
WARNING - While I'll avoid going too in-depth about spoilers during this review, I'll discuss elements that you might want to discover on your own in the game. If you're yet to play this epic piece of fan work, it's entirely up to you whether or not to read the following post.
Graphics: You got the regular sprite and tile sets from Chrono Trigger and used them with braveur. This could very well have been graphics especially designed for a platforming action-RPG.
Audio: It's Chrono Trigger music. Who in their right minds could complain?
Story: This is what got me the most. Don't fret - the game itself was also great - but I enjoyed the story above all. It was to my own knowledge almost 100% canon, and very well-written at that. You added elements of your own like the origin of Slash, but since nothing else is officially told your story doesn't stand out.
The only collision I'd see would be the inclusion of Melchior in 600 AD., but seeing as he played a huge role on gameplay and more or less one on story that fits with the actual story as well, and that you handled him in the way you did (not going too in-depth on spoilers)... we could just call it very minor Retcon.
Gameplay: Innovative, fun caster action platforming RPG. What more is there to say? Except maybe that the enemy AI was impressive, especially for a Gamemaker production. The last boss was tough, and I played it on Normal!
End commentary: Your skill and dedication to story writing should very well be able to put you on the team for the next sequel, if one ever comes to exist. Your skill and dedication in Gameplay programming could one day take you to riches in some cool Indie production on Steam or XBLA or whatever. This game was awesome and I'd love to see more from you if you've got the interest.
