Welcome to a new edition of Retro Corner Reviews, and this time we will check out what is considered a clone of Zelda called Neutopia. When NEC was a console competitor during the fourth gen, they released a system called the TurboGrafx 16. However, in 1990, NEC failed to get the third party support that Nintendo's NES and their new Super NES received—Similar to Sega it forced NEC to design their in-house games more frequently with Hudson. Despite their efforts, NEC would fail to match Nintendo's and Sega's games in terms of quality and brand name appeal. Even though most of the TurboGrafx’s library didn't compare to the competition, their console still received several gems. In 1990, Hudson released Neutopia, an action adventure game about a knight named Jazeta who goes on a quest to save a kingdom called Neutopia. He also must save Princess Aurora from a powerful demon known as Dirth. The game does play similarly to the first Zelda on the NES with almost the same mechanics. It is like seeing the original NES Zelda in 16-bit visuals for the first time before A Link to the Past got released—That is more than a reason for NEC's clone adventure titles standouts out on the console. However, the question we should be asking is had this adventure clone aged well over time? Gameplay Neutopia plays similar to most action adventure games, and the player has an overworld to explore. However, the overworld is divided into four sections instead of one. Each sphere represents a different environment with the player encountering various enemies that have their own sets of attributes. It was the highlight since each of the four overworlds had varied environments. As the player progresses the enemies get stronger and have different abilities from the previous sphere. When a monster is destroyed, they will also drop items like cherries, gold and sand dials. In each sphere, the player will find many NPCs hidden in caves as they will give hints, heal health, save your progress and present important items. The developers here did a better job compared to Nintendo since the NPCs don't state cryptic nonsense. In fact this gave the player a better sense of direction on where potential secrets were around. The overworlds’ level design would include two dungeons and many hidden caves and stairways to find. The dungeons are designed like a maze and you go through each room solving puzzles, fighting monsters and finding chests. Now, the best tool is the Fire Wand which works like the candle to burn trees and pillars to reveal underground caves. It can work as a weapon to hurt monsters as well and will get stronger as the character's health increases. There are similar tools present as well like the Rainbow Drops that functions like the Ladder to cross small gaps. Typical standard Zelda-ish tools and items to use that you would expect to find in these clones. Surprisingly enough the gameplay did see improvement over the Zelda NES format in a way as some mechanics were tweaked. For starters, you have a better sense of direction as instead of searching for the next dungeon, the compass points to its location. Of course, as I mentioned, it was really great to see the enemies change in their attributes. Unlike the first Zelda, the monsters and bosses throughout the game change rather than having different colors. Another thing that was an improvement for the genre was the need to solve puzzles on the overworlds. By now, we have seen everything this genre has gone through over the years in both 2D and 3D. The point is today these puzzles on the overworld might not be challenging but it was interesting they added this in for the time. The next tweak is adding hints for potential bombable walls in the form of murals and indents. That was always the problem with Zelda’s first title as unless the player had a detailed map you would only make a guess. That leads us to a better teleporting system as the Wings don’t randomly take you across the overworlds. The Wings simply take the player back to the last save spot they recorded their adventure. Last but not least is the Magic Ring as it works similarly to Zelda II’s Spell by turning regular enemies into weaker ones. On top of that, if a player is low on health in a tough spot, this gives them more chances to get to a safe spot for healing. Unfortunately, despite the gameplay having the usual standards for an adventure game, there were many flaws as well. It’s weird you could only stab using the sword in four directions even though the Fire Wand shoots flames in six—If the Fire Wand shoots pillars of fire in six directions then the sword should have a similar mechanic. I also noticed the hit detection was off by a pixel or two when using your blade. An example is when striking an enemy, and Jazeta is slightly above or below their direction, he will miss. I can’t understand why they haven't looked to Willow on the NES since Capcom programmed slashing at an arch for the sword mechanic. That definitely would have fixed the hit detection for the smaller baddies. While Hudson developed some tweaks, the labyrinths were the definition of copying and pasting a previous design. Often, each dungeon looked as if they were recycled which includes the traps and room designs. The issue that plagued the NES Zelda title was most of the rooms were constantly reused. In the first Zelda, the compass would tell where the dungeon boss room was on the map. Yet here the compass points according to the direction rather than displaying it on the map. They could have designed this feature better instead of letting the thing point to the direction of the boss's room. It also felt like the puzzles were getting recycled as opposed to changing throughout the game. Rating: 8.0/10 Graphics/Presentation In most TurboGrafx games, they really don't show the console's power; however, the graphics do present good visuals. The sprite design looks nice compared to other adventure games on the TurboGrafx like Ys Book 1 & II. That is some of the strengths this clone had over the 8-bit adventure titles and most enemies weren’t reused again. Each monster had their unique traits that were even exclusive to the sphere they stayed in. It even played to the strengths of their environments like trolls and fire creatures being in the underground sections and lizard men roaming the grasslands. The areas also have solid animation effects like the water in the rivers moving or the clouds reflecting from the light. For once an adventure game’s environments matched up to their theme areas without simply using a single color for the floor as the only difference. It was definitely a step up over the still textures on the NES to represent water. We move on to the NPCs and don’t expect quality characters with defined personalities as during this time, not many games had the luxury. Like the previous 8-bit generation, the game opens with a scene of Dirth entering the sanctuary and kidnapping Princess Aurora. Unfortunately, that is where the defining story elements ends as we are giving vague backstory dialogue about the world. However, if there is one thing missing from the environments is the lack of storytelling by using props like statues. When using new tech for its time, this should have allowed developers the tools to create a story in most locations. We get none of that here as the designers just straight up copy Nintendo’s formula with no defined places in these locations. Despite the missing storytelling across the world, it still makes me wonder how far the first Zelda would’ve gone on a powerful console. Of course, there are some faults in the spheres’ concepts as a few missing features weren’t used. It’s more so in the Sea Sphere as props like palm trees and seashells partially buried around the scenery. An area like beaches in the Sea Sphere would’ve been great but unfortunately none were designed into the environment. Instead, all that is presented is a generic stone tile with no barnacles on the edge of a platform between the water and the floor. When we look at Zelda: Link’s Awakening on the black and white Game Boy even Nintendo featured such elements easily. That was also a weaker system, so Hudson really has no excuse especially when other developers could design this on the Game Boy. We now come to the soundtrack as the composer dropped the ball by literally doing the bare minimum. The OST played as if each track was using a generic mold from other established games. With the exception of the dungeon, intro and shrine tracks, nothing truly stood out as sounding good. For example, they used a basic tropical tone for sounds of the song for the Sea Sphere. Then a dreary and monotone track was used for the Underground area and a determined sounding song for the Sky Sphere. Most of the OST didn’t capture my imagination but a bland mess of tones that supposedly tries representing the game’s moments. Another thing that really bothered me was the lack of a presentation in the backstory. It was also annoying that Jazeta and the NPCs had no personalities at all. That leads to the plot itself and the developers relied too much on emulating Zelda’s theme. The NPCs always mentioned how Jazeta—the Link of the game—was the descendant of a warrior called Murdoch. Unfortunately, it’s never explained as to who Murdoch was and why his descendants like Jazeta could only stop Dirth. Did he have holy powers bestowed upon him by some god or celestial being? None of that was ever mentioned once, and not even a holy blade is in the game as the reason for defeating this dark being. Of course, there is Dirth who comes off more of a cookie cutter Ganon then a true original demon lord. What was his endgame by kidnapping Princess Aurora and conquering the kingdom? We could only assume he wanted to rule with an iron fist to control the people and marry the princess. Before anyone mentions the first Zelda doing something similar, there is a clear difference between the two. The first entry of Zelda came out on a weaker system during a time when presenting a story was nearly non-existent. While Hudson simply copied as a reliance on a system that almost rivaled the Super NES in tech. We all know how the 16-bit consoles had story driven genres with actual plots thanks to the extra power. They could’ve taken this to the next level for the genre but unfortunately that isn’t what the studio went for. Rating: 8.5/10 Features/Content The game doesn't offer much content, but it does have a few unique features that the player can use. The main mission is about the same length as The Legend of Zelda titles—As I mentioned before it doesn't have any side quests to play through. The developers should have designed several side quests for the player to do. I would expect them to do this further on a 16-bit console that can do more than the 8-bit systems. Even though there wasn’t a second quest mode however, it is understandable why Hudson left this out. The Turbo Cards hold the least amount of data compared to traditional cart formats. Then there is the fact the console allowed for larger sprites which if you think about would have taken the developers more time. However, they could’ve added a hard mode to unlock considering the game is a little too easy. If some of you find it weird for Hudson to design a password system, despite a save function existing there is a reason. The Turbo Cards were small compared to the traditional 4 MB cartridges so a battery pack couldn’t be added. Unfortunately, this forced the developers and a few third parties to rely on a password system more so then previous gens. Eventually, NEC released the Turbo Booster add-on that gave users component video input and to save game data. As you can tell the password is rendered obsolete today due to saving on any file when playing on the Wii, Wii U and PlayStation family systems. Rating: 6.8/10 Final Rating In Neutopia, the story is about a knight named Jazeta that goes on an adventure to save the land and Princess Aurora. The gameplay had some tweaks to the adventure genre like using six directions to attack. A new feature for the compass gives the location of each dungeon. Now, while it’s true, the dungeons’ challenges weren’t different from others at least the level design with each overworld having variety was still there. Even the enemies also varied which adds depth and different challenges to the entirety of the game. Visual speaking, the game does get the job done by presenting an 8-bit style adventure title into 16-bits and being the first to do so. The visuals obviously get better through the fourth generation for this genre as Crusader of Centy and Zelda: A Link to the Past proves that. When it comes to replay value not much is offered either such as a hard mode or side quests. The storytelling also wasn’t there either except for a cookie cutter theme. The previous console generation, this would’ve been acceptable to do because of the limitations—Honestly, nothing was stopping the development team from going the extra mile. In comparison, the game offered more variety in the visuals and gameplay mechanics compared to its predecessor a generation ago. Gameplay: 8.0/10 Graphic/Presentation: 8.5/10 Features/Content: 6.8/10 Final Rating: 8.0/10 Very Good
0 Comments
|
Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
ArchivesCategoriesThe social media icon images and Vector Designs by Vecteezy, Medium and Onextrapixel
For More Please Click Below |