Azure Dreams
Review by Chi Phan
Azure Dreams is a unique rpg from Konami. It's an action rpg
that mixes monster hatching/breeding with a dating game. It's the kind of rpg
that you're suppose to hate and should hate but for some strange reason you may
have a guilty pleasure of liking it just enough.
STORY
Is there a story in this game? The story begins with you, the
player, turning 15. As a 15 year old boy, you can now become a monster tamer and
venture into the monster tower where your father had disappeared a few years ago.
As a monster tamer, your objective is to explore the monster tower and find various
monster eggs and perhap find out what happened to your father. Once you find a
monster egg, you can then sell it for money to support your family or hatch it
and raise it as your own monster known as a familiar. That's about it. There's
basically no story here. No save the world or fight a big bad boss. Just try and
reach the top of the tower. You can date some of the girls in town but that really
has nothing to do with the story. Again, is there a story here?
Score: 2/10
CHARACTERS
Most of the game characters center around the townspeople and
the girls that you, the player, can date or court. There's a good selection and
variety of characters but not much developement of their background. Each girls
do have their own unique characteristics but that is expected since they're a
part of the dating game.
Score: 7/10
GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game is a little better than average. The
world of Azure Dreams consist of sprites in a somewhat 3-D rendered background.
If it weren't for the 3-D background, you think it was a 16 bit game. The colors
in the game are good. The graphics won't stun you but it's adequate.
Score: 7/10
MUSIC
Music? Hmm, let me think. Gimme a sec cause I'm still thinking.
Music? Sorry but the tunes seem to fly by me cause I can't seem to recall any
music. Does that sum it up?
Score: 2/10
GAMEPLAY
This is where the guilty pleasure comes from. There's quite alot
to do here. Let's start with the monster tower.
The monster tower is 30 floor high. Each floor is randomly different everytime
you enter the tower. This helps keep the game fresh since climbing the tower over
and over again can get very boring. You can only carry up to 5 items including
your familiars (monsters) when entering the tower. Everytime you enter the tower
your character level start at 0. Even if you gain levels during your climb to
the top of the tower, once you leave it, your level goes back to 0 again. So how
do you gain an advantage over enemies in the tower? Simple. Throughout the tower's
floors are items scattered about. Items include weapons, shields, and items upgrades.
All you need is to collect one good weapon and shield and use uprades to increase
the strength of your weapon and shield. You can use the same weapon and shield
everytime you enter the tower. That's pretty much sum up the main gameplay of
Azure Dreams.
Now for the familiars (monsters). You'll start off with one main familiar. During
your exploration in the monster tower, you will find a familiar egg. Once you
find an egg, you can hatch it and raise it or sell the egg for money. Each familiar
has it's own unique special abilities or magic. Each familiar has it's own element
such as fire, water, wind, ect. A familiar can gain levels and not have it's level
reset to 0 everytime it enters the tower. This make them very good allies in the
game. You can also fuse two familiars into one to create an even more powerful
familiar. It's a good idea to raise some familiar for your trip to the tower.
Now the dating and improvement of the town can be classify as extras as they don't
effect the overrall gameplay of Azure Dreams. I'll go with improvement of the
town first. As you progress through the game, you are given a choice of whether
you want to improve the town or not. Basically certain members of the townspeople
will ask for donations to help built a certain entertainment center. For example,
a villager may ask you to donate money for a bowling alley. If you agree then
a bowling alley will be built later on. These so called amusement centers are
for you to play mini games in later on. That's all.
Now for the dating. There are numerous girls in town. If you wish, you can try
and court them all. You have to buy gifts for them and answer some of their questions
to win them over. What do you get for courting/dating a girl? Nothing really.
It's just something extra to do.
Since there's no bad guy or the world is in danger, the main gameplay is climbing
to the top of the tower. Once you do, it's game over. There's no boss fight for
you to worry about. Despite the lack of story, Azure Dreams gameplay is very good.
There's lot of stuff to do although most of it is kinda pointless.
Score: 8/10
EXTRAS/REPLAY
As stated before, the extras are dating girls and improving the
town. Both have no real effect to the overrall gameplay or storyline of Azure
Dreams. Once you built the entertainment centers, you can begin playing mini games
in them. What kind of mini games depends on what you build. There's really no
replay value at all.
Score: 7/10
Azure Dream is a love it or hate it kind of game. The gameplay
is fun but an rpg need to have a story to give it a purpose. People play rpgs
cause of the stories not the gameplay. Azure Dream is the kind of game you just
want to try it once to see what it's like and that's it.
Final Score: 5/10
~Chi
