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Greetings once again fellow Saturn-ites. I’ve been recently experimenting with new shooters, sims, and now it’s time for action-RPGs. That’s right, it’s Princess Crown time, and this game is what defines a great action-RPG. Like most imports, language is not a thing to worry about, but it certainly takes the fun out of the storyline. And I’ve heard Princess Crown has one of the funniest storylines around. Oh well, on to the game!!!

Premise:
You are a young princess and a direct descendant of a mighty queen who was the last to slay a great demon. However, you are ordered to be pooped up in your castle, but of course like the adventurous girl you are, you escape and decide to do a little exploring... Of course, with my Japanese being very poor, I can’t explain much more than this bit of info.

Graphics: 10/10
I rarely give any game a score of 10 in any category, but the graphics in this game really blew me away. Imagine character sprites as large as those in Street Fighter Alpha, combined with the animation quality of Street Fighter 3 (maybe not quite that quality, but it’s damn close), then on top of that having some of the most beautiful artwork ever seen by gamers, and that is what is in Princess Crown. I hear the programmers used some special technique to enhance the animation while keeping the smooth overall look. Big props to Atlus/Sega for this!!! My only but small complaint: where are the cutscenes?

Music: 8/10
It’s mostly PCM except for some minor scenes with Redbook audio. Still, the PCM is orchestrated very well, and it certainly fits the theme of the game. It’s not immediately memorable, but the music isn’t that bad either. As all PCM music goes, I’m still waiting for something to break the great PCM quality of SF Alpha 2 and the PCM segments of Albert Odyssey (which I both thought were both the most excellent modulated music around!).

Sound: 6.5/10
We all know the Saturn’s weakness with sound, and some of the voices and sounds can be muffled (though not too bad). What is unfortunate though is that they are too few sounds in the first place!!! If this was a pure RPG, the sound may not be such a large factor, but this is an action game too! I think you need more noises going around.

Control: 9/10
The controls are very responsive and not hard to learn. You don’t get a barrage of control options like in Guardian Heroes, all you really need here is your three main buttons abc. This is good news for those RPGers who hate fighting-game-type controls. It’s all very simple here. So thumbs up here.

Gameplay: 9/10
Even at the start of the game there is a pretty nifty main screen. You control a little girl, and your grandmama is sitting on her chair, telling you to get her the book on the ground so she can tell you a story of a brave princess. There is a cat you can throw to her which lets you change options, or simply just give her the book to load or start a new game. Similar to Shining Force I, but I just thought that was very neat so I had to mention it.

The game is formulated in two segments: Exploring towns, and then the area in between towns. Each segment is still presented in the horizontal 2-D mode. When exploring towns, you have your usual batch of people to talk to, inns/shops to go in, and game saving places (which is usually the inn again). A handy automap appears for you if you happen to lose your sense of direction (it can happen). Nothing too groundbreaking. It is somewhat similar to the town layout in the classic Adventure of Link, where if you actually want to go into a shop, you stand in front of it’s door and press up.

Then, when you’re bored of collecting information, you can always travel to the next town to find some more adventure there. The in between section is where you fight and gain experience. And the fight scenes are where the fun really lies in this game! Alright, here you bust out your huge sword, though it’s not quite as large as that Cloud character’s sword in FF7--but hey you’re like only five feet tall or something! Any way, battle is somewhat like street fighter, except you have the options of using power ups (hmmm... mushrooms to power you up; is this borrowed from something I’ve played before???). Well, the fight is slightly slower paced than your street fighters, and it’s definitely not as move intensive, but what the game designers got right is that it is VERY fun to fight. You can combo by connecting button presses (much like Virtua Fighter), and the slashes that come out are very reminiscent of Samurai Showdown’s Ukyo--cool! And of course, you have your characteristic screen flash when you connect that fatal final blow.

Overall 9/10
I was initially expecting the game to be similar to the Actraiser action scenes or Guardian Heroes, but Princess Crown goes beyond that. In fact, I can’t really think off the top of my head of any RPG that involves such a street-fighter-type combat engine, so maybe Princess Crown is a first here. I’m on the verge of completing the game, and I can estimate maybe 60 hours spent already. It’s slightly short, yes, but I hear after you complete the game you can play as different characters, so probably it’s all worth it. Again, I need to stress that language is not a big deal to actually play and get through the game. If it is, there is actually a text at the game FAQ site where you can look up tidbits on the game and correct storyline to please your senses. I think the role of playing a young and CULTURED princess is also very unique, as lately we’ve been seeing really sloppy bimbos with wonderbras and two guns taking lead game roles. I always feel much more at home with realistic and unexploitive women taking lead roles, so Princess Crown does a worthy follow-up in the tradition of Alis and Phantasy Star. In essence, this one of the most beautiful, if not the MOST BEAUTIFUL looking game I’ve ever seen. Yes, I really enjoyed Princess Crown. There are a few gripes here and there, and maybe even the overly cutesy name detracts from the game. But this is perhaps the best action RPG I’ve ever played. BUY THIS GAME!

-Phil Shen, your import maniac
pshen@uclink4.berkeley.edu

Next review (and this one will take me a LONG while):
Super Robot Wars F