Developer: Windward_Birds
Publisher: Windward_Birds
Platforms: PC
Tested on: PC
The Adventure of Magical Girl – Review
Sometimes it’s fun to get thrown back in the good ol’ days. Those times we would get close to the oversized TV screen to watch some pixelated images on the screen, with the wired controller all twisted. Of course, these days there are a lot of improvements, even for retro/pixelated games. Lush colors, more details and the combination of old and new elements graphically are all elements that can give a game that bit more extra. With ‘The Adventure of Magical Girl’, you might think you’re buying a fun journey back to the past, but less is true.
Story
You’re thrown into the game rather bluntly and unexpectedly. You take charge of a young girl with an appetite, as she is teleported to a certain location (reason still unknown and remains rather vague) and decides to follow her nose and get to the delicious food somewhere instead of going to safety. Of course, totally unexpected (not), it’s a trap by someone who means you harm, or so it seems at least. Getting away from it, the story starts but it won’t make much sense. Even more, a lot of the conversations are very childlike and it doesn’t help at all to get immersed into this game. Bad puns, shallow responses and predictable events are all over the place. Even more, some sentences are badly formed and make no sense at all whatsoever.
Graphics
If you like old-school games where pixels reign the scene, you’re in for a treat. The graphics are a combination of a top-down 2D pixelated world while there are anime-drawn characters popping up whenever you’re in a conversation with important characters. Fighting happens in a sideway view, which might make you think of the first Final Fantasy games. You’ll be thrown into a colorful world where you encounter a variety of monsters, each with their representing sprite. The battlefield is in a similar design, although more details are visible. It is a nice change of pace in combination with the overview. The menu is rather simple and although it has the standard options, it would have been nice if this was in line with the rest of the game.
Sound
Music wise, you can expect some nice tunes coming out of your speakers. It gives the game a nice touch as it’ll take you back to the good old days. Towns have a different track, plunging you in more subtle tones while battles will pump your energy with more suspenseful music. There are a few sound effects here and there which can be marked as generic but give it that little bit more extra. The conversations aren’t voice acted but it’s not something that is missed.
Gameplay
The Adventure of Magical Girl is an adventure RPG where you have to run around for some unknown reason. Why you’re even on this mission is vague and it even seems to be the sequel of another game, which wasn’t clear at all but was mentioned on the Steam page. No reference to this whatsoever, it just feels like you’re in this weird world. There aren’t any side missions, meaning that the game is linear. You just have to follow the main quest line and fight monsters while you’re at it. This gives you experience for leveling up, which gives you new spells and attacks now and then.
Character development isn’t even present, the only thing you can do is change equipment so that you can smash monsters faster. The difficulty level is fluctuating even in the same area as some opponents are easy to defeat while the next type of monster might practically eat you alive. Balance is really missing. Armor has to be bought from the shops you find around towns and might be the most exciting part of the game as the rest is dull and boring.
Changing the controls is an achievement on its own as everything is generically named and you have to guess which button is what on a controller and what action is linked. At the start of the game, you can get some explanation about some of the mechanics of the game and some choices the developers made were mind-blowing. For example, NPCs who run around can’t talk, so practically more than three quarter of the town people, and a lot of the houses aren’t even accessible. In a way, it might not be a bad thing that you can’t talk to everyone as most of the conversations are short, useless, utter garbage or a combination. One of the good parts of the game is that you dash all the time, meaning you can finish this game sooner than later.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a fun RPG that might sweep you of your feet, it might be best to skip this title. The story is boring and the conversations are really childlike. It’s utter chaos and if you found this title somewhere, you might not even realize it’s the second title of a series. In terms of graphics however, you’ll be thrown back to the good old days with a splash of color while the sound helps with this aspect. The gameplay itself is rather dull too as there isn’t much development or depth for that matter. If you have some spare cash, and you simply want to grind a bit without any context, then this might be fun for a little while. Nonetheless, we advise you to look at similar options with decent content.
The Adventure of Magical Girl - Review,
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