Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins

• Release Date: March 28, 2000
• Genre: Role-Playing
• Style: Third-Person 3D Action RPG
• Similar Games: The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo Entertainment System), Shining Wisdom (Sega Saturn), Alundra (PlayStation), Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16), Dungeon Explorer (Sega CD), Landstalker (Sega Genesis), Dungeon Explorer (TurboGrafx-16), Golden Axe Warrior (Sega Master System), The Granstream Saga (PlayStation), Magic Knight Rayearth (Sega Saturn), Lady Stalker: Apocalypse Engine (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), Magic Knight Rayearth (Game Boy), Golden Axe Warrior (Sega Master System), Gemstone Warrior (Commodore 64/128)

Game Description

Within a treacherous climate of ambition and greed, Varuna's semi-deposed princess seeks the services of a warrior. The king's been replaced by a wooden puppet, and now the only way to set things right is to hack-and-slash your way though hordes of clockwork enemies, pirates, and other nasty creatures dreamed up by the dastardly Mephisto. Players switch off between the ex-pirate hunter, Flint, and the princess Alexia as they hack through multiple 3D dungeons and levels, to square off against bosses in a side-scrolling combat mode reminiscent of the major battles in Sword of Vermilion.

Exploration rewards you with special items and ultimately the ability to invoke special elemental powers, like the ability to float in the air, freeze enemies, drop rocks on their heads, or light up the lives of those around you with the fire elemental ring. Other items will heal you, tell which way to go, and boost your attack strength.

Told through frequent real-time cinema sequences, Alundra 2 focuses on a lighter storyline than Alundra did, so expect a few double takes, sight gags, and other humorous moments. The graphics are consistent across the cut-scene sequences and in the game itself, with an intentionally simplistic cartoon look that allows the game to move quickly as you explore the dungeons. So, when the time comes to make your point, stick it to your enemies with the giant sword! Alundra 2 offers adventure for fans of overhead-action role-playing.

Roots & Influences

The overhead-action RPG genre has been around for a while now, starting with early PC gems like SSI's Gemstone Warrior. Nintendo's Zelda brought even more attention to the genre as its success led to the spawning of the two blatant clones, Golden Axe Warrior and Neutopia. These games all focused on quick action and reflexes, with equal demands on your noggin by making you solve mind-bending puzzles before working your way to a boss. Alundra kept to that formula in a big way, and Alundra 2 carries the tradition to the third dimension.

Review: Overall

Alundra was known for two things: mind bending puzzles and a storyline weighted down with pathos. But this time around, since Activision did the port rather than Working Designs, Alundra 2 relies more on humor, a cartoonish cast, and less complex puzzles to fit well into the rather small action role-playing genre on the PlayStation.

Assume the role of an errant swordsman Flint as he battles the pirates he's been hunting for years. However, the government suddenly allied with the pirates, declared him a wanted criminal, and placed a large bounty on his head. Flint attracts the attention of the realm's princess after the king is replaced with a wooden puppet, and the two set about restoring the throne, freeing a legendary warrior, and performing other tasks (like scouting the toilets of the realm). For a story not far removed from a Saturday morning cartoon, it is rather entertaining.

Explore a polygonal world with a free camera like in Grandia. And while easy to use, you will find yourself frequently shifting the camera to keep your character in view in such cramped quarters. Since things obstructing the camera aren't removed from view, you'll find yourself staring at close-ups of background elements like grassy knolls, bricks, and metal. On the other hoof, the graphics are rendered in a clean anime style. The characters all look smooth and animate nicely, although talking animations are reminiscent of South Park. The in-game graphics are also used in the cut-scenes and Contrail managed some rather impressive transparency and lighting effects with minimum interruption. Things speed along nicely giving Alundra 2 some of the most cohesive and detailed building and land textures I've seen on a PlayStation game.

Adventure by exploring a variety of areas from the main overhead map, the first few acting more like tutorials than strict dungeons by dropping you navigation clues with all the subtly of an atomic bomb. Areas are packed with secrets you will be able to see but won't be able to access until later, so after you've obtained new powers and items, revisiting areas is a given. The enemy population tends to be on the sparse side, but given how hard they hit you, even on medium difficulty level, less is a blessing. Your character has a large arsenal of moves to help him though these areas so the action is rarely dull. Battles require you to tackle a variety of switch throwing, jumping, and visual puzzles.

The game also likes to challenge you with a rather unique boss every few levels or so. While the first forces you to hop fireballs and his large posterior, a cat creature employs a completely different combat perspective, along with vastly different patterns. And boss fights can be brutal until you get the patterns down, so players need to stay alert or they'll be continuing from their last save points, which are few and far between. Thankfully, the programmers must have realized that reliving numerous cut-scenes isn't desirable to most, so you can cancel cut-scenes by pressing start.

But what's a role-playing game without the proper musical score? Alundra 2 manages to keep its music well paced and in step with the theme of a given area. For example, inside a mechanical beast, you will hear a clockwork beat, and in a forest, you'll hear a soothing spring anthem. However, great sound doesn't stop with the music. Most of the cut scenes feature surprisingly well-acted voice acting, and while run of the mill offerings for an action RPG, the sound effects get the job done.

So, if you're feeling a little dashing, a little daring, and possibly courageous and caring, look to Alundra 2 for some stories to share with your faithful and friendly. But if you're a devout fan of Alundra however, you may want to tread lightly as Alundra 2 shares little in common.

Review: Enjoyment

Depending on your patience threshold, Alundra 2 may either be very rewarding or very irritating, because boss fights are stacked against you, even on the standard difficulty setting. Nevertheless, if you can tough out the pattern learning, you will find an enjoyable game.

Review: Graphics

Alundra 2 employs some very nice texture mapping to dress up the polygonal world, with characters intentionally simplistic to fit in well with the overall artistic style.

Review: Sound

How many games can you remember that offer good voice acting? Give Activision credit for casting some decent actors here. Even if the musical scores aren't terribly memorable, they do fit the mood well.

Review: Replay Value

There's a lot of exploration to do as you uncover new abilities so "completionists" will probably want to give the game at least one more play through.

Review: Documentation

The manual fills you in on the background story, offers translation notes, and explains how to play the game.

Production Credits