Hihou Densetsu: Chris no Bouken (The Legendary Treasure: Chris's Adventure - sometimes spelled as Kris) is a sidescrolling action game by Arc Co. In the game you control the titular Chris to search for the legendary treasure, meet some friends, and maybe learn something about herself and others (I guess). What follows are 7 or so competently-executed, if not extraordinary, 16bit platforming fun!
Chris is armed with a knife that has some pretty lousy range; enemies or tombstones can drop gem power-ups that you can mix-and-match for different weapon combos: a projectile, a slash attack, and a boomerang.
Of the three of these, the projectile is really the only one worth your time, as you lose valuable reach with the slash attack, and the boomerangs are pretty weak and don't travel all that far. With the throwing-knife in hand, the game resembles something of a poor-man's Ghouls n' Ghosts. You jump from platform to platform, anticipating and memorizing the set spawn points of enemies and reacting accordingly. At the end of each stage a boss awaits you - most of them aren't very threatening and jamming a few dozen knifes in their faces will usually do the trick.
The game is not free of frustration. Some of the level design is mediocre and by-the-books. One egregious example is a simple stairway segment copy-and-pasted 3 or so times with no environmental obstacles. If it wasn't exciting the first time, why would the third time be any different? The time limit, usually vaunted as extremely strict, will catch new players off-guard. However, once you realize that you have no time to just stop and stare at the surroundings, the time limit is pretty fair. One level, in a golden temple, is an annoying and uneventful slog spent pressing switches. It concludes with a boss that has a completely random attack - there's no way to judge whether or not you can dodge it. This aggravation is compounded when your inevitable death makes you repeat this slow slog through an uninteresting level just to get back to the boss. While a few stages offer up some fun moments, the game overall is quite average in design - some good levels, some bad, some impressive bosses, some lame, and so on.
A special mention must be made of the cutscenes. They are awful. Awfully-drawn, to be specific. Half the fun is watching Chris and co.'s proportions magically change from scene to scene. The second-rate artist they got scratch out the scenes adds some unintentional comedy - watch as Chris's legs suddenly become as thick as telephone poles, or see how eyes and noses appear where they aren't supposed to be. At least they got a half-decent artist to do the cover art... Content-wise, they tell some boring and stupid story about Atlantis, Chris searching for her father's whereabouts, a boy who contributes nothing to the plot, and an archaeologist who might be a Nazi or something. It's like a bargain-bin anime Indiana Jones. The musical score, by Katsuhiro Hayashi, is excellent, shifting between upbeat and funky to mellow and somber.
I enjoyed my time with Hihou Densetsu, but I am not sure if I would call it a hidden gem, underrated, or a cult-classic-in-waiting. It is certainly inoffensive and you can do so much worse on the system (see: Telenet games) It was a game that I played alternating between bouts of enjoyment and tedious compulsion.
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emperorIng360
Average game with equal moments fun and frustration. Quality swings back and forth, but there is some enjoyment to be had.
2016年1月24日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済みAmazonで購入
