As if by surprise, without warning and to see who went crazy, Square enix He launched Actraiser Renaissance, a remake of Actraiser for SNES that, here between us, we did not see coming even in our wildest dreams. Why? That is an easy question to answer.
Actraiser It was a SNES game that was entertaining, but, at least in North America, it wasn’t that popular. If you are over 34 years old, surely you saw it in a video game magazine or, failing that, for sale in a store, but, since you did not know what it was about, you did not dare to ask your parents about the expense .
However, Actraiser Renaissance bring back that game of Squaresoft from the 16-bit era. As it does? Does he manage to do it well and clear your doubts about whether it is how you imagined it? This and other doubts will be cleared in this review.
How to play Actraiser Renaissance?
During the 90’s, Squaresoft produced and published a good number of RPG and adventure game offerings. It was very common to associate this company with proposals such as Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana or Romancing Saga, but, it was not so common to see them with horizontal platform titles and strategy elements.
That’s where it appears Actraiser, a title that clearly begins as a platform proposal and suddenly becomes a strategy game in which you must build settlements and help people who see you as a ‘deity’.
This double layer of play turns out to be entertaining since in the platform section the experience is very direct and evolving over time, while the strategy feels deep and very well planned. Sure, offering such a game seems simple, however, at the beginning it is horrible and very heavy.
Let’s say the first problem of Actraiser Renaissance It is based on the fact that it feels rough, unattractive, without much to propose despite the fact that the presentation is striking, however, with a couple of hours everything improves drastically thanks to the fact that you manage to overcome the learning curve.
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For all that an angel accompanies you
As we mentioned it to you, Actraiser Renaissance It has a strategic section that depends a lot on the actions you take with an angel who accompanies you. During the first hour of play, you learn what you must lead to a people seeking your blessing and thus grow.
For that, you choose cadres on the ground in which these people settle and generate some resources. Initially, your angel flies over this area and takes down flying demons that can scourge people who are seeking your comfort through prayers.
Then, as the story progresses, all those faithful get ready to fight against demons and defend that town that you help to develop. Let’s say it turns into a kind of tower defense experience that is very entertaining because you have to know where to place barricades on the map or launch attacks from the sky.
This angel is a key piece, since, by controlling certain elements, he can end the threat that is approaching the settlements or, failing that, he also helps the town expand a little, opening roads that they could not have been able to. build by your own hand.
Actraiser Renaissance is slow to start
A problem that I found when playing Actraiser Renaissance is that I wanted to abandon it at game time because the proposal did not seem attractive at all since the tutorials did not stop and that was frustrating. Perhaps if the game were more agile to explain its mechanics, it would not be necessary to suffer so much.
But, as time went by, the gaming experience improved a lot. You realize that the action moments of this remake of Square enix It was worth it and that the challenge behind the strategic section can be really entertaining. Now, it would be worth explaining why maybe you wanted to quit this game so soon.
Actraiser Renaissance it presents some very basic problems in its presentation and performance. For example, when being programmed in Unity, you are going to find that in the aspect of platforms it fails a lot. The backgrounds, at the beginning, are deplorably animated with outdated techniques and that everything feels like an archaic sequence.
The performance on PS5 through backward compatibility was good, but not perfect, however, it is scary to learn that on PS4 and Nintendo Switch we see drops of frames per second so regularly when it should not be. Once again, the mobile engine is the problem that at the programming level is not so easy to overcome.
Music and presentation in general
It is worth noting that Actraiser Renaissance it sounds pretty good and it gives you the options to listen to the game with its original soundtrack as well as with a new one. If you’re really nostalgic, go ahead, you’re going to hear it all on SNES synths. Also, you will notice that the composition was very solid despite the limitations of the time.
Then, on the more recent side, you will also find that the music feels much more modern, with the correct arrangements and being true to the original work. To that we must add that this is a key element of the game since it is part of its nostalgic identity.
Visually, we do have a severe jump that leaves you open-mouthed in more than one section. Actraiser looked ‘more or less good’ for the time, but it wasn’t that extraordinary, whereas Actraiser Renaissance it has a series of animations that are far from portraying what is the final product of the game and a really beautiful character design.
But, all these points should be reason enough for you to buy yourself. Actraiser Renaissance…
Should you buy Actraiser Renaissance?
It may sound repetitive, but surely you only met Actraiser because you saw it in a window in a department store, but you never bought it because you didn’t know anything about the game. Now, if you played it, you surely liked it for its combination of strategy and platform game.
Actraiser Renaissance It is a very worthy remake that is far from perfect. It starts out really slow and its tutorials are really heavy. You expect more speed in a title from the 16-bit era, but this is not the case here. If you can handle the start, you are going to find a very entertaining game with platform elements and tower defense strategy.
The price of Actraiser Renaissance It is more or less attractive and although it is not a title that you should buy at this time, if your nostalgic heart asks for it, do not hesitate to give it to them, because you will not regret it.
We play Actraiser Renaissance from PS4 to PS5 via backward compatibility with a code provided by a Square Enix representative in the region.
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