Review of The Griffon Legend by Syn9

Written by Josiah Tobin (July, 2005)
 

Well, where to start...

I suppose this is a somewhat anticipated title, 
even more so as it is developed almost entirely 
by Syn9, known most for his extremely impressive 
3d demos. While this particular game is indeed 2d, 
Syn9 certainly doesn't let that stop him. The moment 
you encounter the first boss, a strange nearly 
cactus-like dragon-- bringing back memories of 
Zelda 3's Moldorm yet somehow being completely 
different as it bobbles and sways dangerously to 
and fro-- you catch a glimpse of just what the 
game is capable of.

The Griffon Legend makes extensive use of a 
chain-like style of animating large monsters 
(the 'proper' title I'm not sure of, though 
I've come to know it as bio-animation), linking 
many smaller sprites together to form massive, 
rather fearsome bosses and mini-bosses. Without 
revealing too much, I will say that if you think 
you've seen it all after the first boss, you are 
most definately quite wrong.

However, despite such impressive techniques, 
the rest of the game's graphics are at times 
somewhat... confusing. While some of the tilework 
certainly shows the skill of Syn9's capable 
hands (though there are some that seem a bit 
thrown together), it often becomes far too 
busy-- more than once I found myself wondering 
just why I couldn't leave the screen when it 
looked very much like I should be able to, or 
pausing for a moment to 'decipher' a room. 
Sometimes there is almost no difference in 
appearance between a 'high' floor and a 'low' 
floor, making it seem like there is simply an 
invisible barrier between the two.


The game's sprites do the job fairly well; 
while being nothing too flashy they certainly 
aren't dull either. Everything that isn't done 
through the chain-style of animating mentioned 
earlier is well enough animated; standard 
four-frame walk cycles and usually as many 
attack frames. Your character attacks by leaping 
forward and doing a mid-air flip with his blade 
out, effectively lunging at the enemy in a 
whirling ball of feathers and steel.

While I'm on the topic of characters, I might 
as well elaborate. There really isn't that 
much character development or even any other 
griffons or friendly characters in the game 
apart from the one you play, but to be honest 
that's really not a problem. I have a feeling 
the focus of the game is to be a fun experience, 
not to have an overly deep or compelling plot 
and characters. The only hints of a story you 
receive are in the intro and outro of the 
game, but they are sufficient to let you know 
what's going on. Both are fairly well-written, 
and while I did spot an error or two, they get 
their point across quite well, especially the 
ending.

There's nothing bland or drawn-out, really-- 
the moment you start a new game you are 
presented with the short intro text and are 
then immediately plunged into the game without 
further dialogue or hinderances, and left alone 
to battle your way past your foes, the Dragons. 
While some spots may seem a bit difficult, I 
never had too much of a problem after a few tries. 
Apart from a couple screens that are devoid of 
opposition, the action never really stops, so you 
can be assured it's far from a boring experience. 
However, such an approach does have its flaws. 
There were a couple rooms that seemed a bit 
crowded, reminding me slightly of some of the more... 
chaotic rooms of the later dungeons in the original 
Zelda for the NES. Of course, it's a small 
complaint really, hindering the game only 
slightly and occasionally.

I cannot comment on the music, as my computer's 
sound is currently not working all too well, so 
I can't say much about that aspect. However, I 
quite enjoyed the game without it, and if it's at 
least half-decent then I'm sure it will only 
enhance the experience.


Now, moving back to the more technical aspecs-- 
the actual mechanics of the game: For the most 
part it's simple. Below your character is a 
set of three (two at first, actually) bars: 
Health, Attack, and Magic. The 'attack' meter 
fully depletes itself each time you attack, 
and slowly charges back up again immediately 
afterwards. (it recharges faster as you gain 
levels) The higher it is, the more powerful the 
attack. The same applies to the magic meter, 
except for spells. The spells themselves are 
executed flawlessly; after beating the first 
boss you receive a crystal-- now, I'm not exactly 
sure of the usage, but 'using' this crystal 
(used just like a spell, which I'll get to in 
a moment) in either different areas or around 
different enemies (as I said, not sure exactly) 
causes you to 'find' spells. There are four 
spells in total, each of them quite useful. 
Be sure to discover them all! To cast a spell, 
you simply access the submenu (pausing the game) 
and choose your spell. You then choose your 
target (play is still frozen at this point, 
likely so the action doesn't get too chaotic) 
and select it to cast the spell, at which point 
the game resumes. Each spell has a meter that 
charges up after each use; you may only use the 
spell when this meter is full. This, coupled 
with the more general magic/attack meters, adds 
a good dose of strategy.

The game has its more subtle touches are well: 
when all its fellows are killed off, a single 
enemy can and will attempt to run from you and 
hide feebly in some protected corner of the map, 
only resorting to a futile final brawl when you 
approach to finish it off. Indeed, for the most 
part the enemy AI is quite well done, with the 
exception of some bosses-- as long as they do 
not posess ranged attacks you can usually 'trap' 
them by getting them up against an obstacle and 
hiding on the other side, repeatedly pummelling 
them with spells until they succumb. However, 
given the difficulty of the later bosses and 
mini-bosses, this often seems to be more of a 
blessing than anything.

As one final gripe before I conclude this review, 
I'd like to address the load time at the start 
of the game. The moment you open the .exe, you 
are presented with a small dialogue box in the 
center of the screen with a green bar inching 
its way across; I say 'inching' because it truly 
does seem to take an overly long time for such a 
game. Perhaps it's the .OGG soundtrack I never 
got to hear, or the sound effects, or even perhaps 
the initialization of the subtle graphical effects 
like the ambient fog or transparent flame that 
some of the stronger foes occasionally belch. 
Regardless, it is a bit of an annoyance, though 
thankfully it is the only load time in the entire 
game, and the rest of the experience is seamless. 

While not being the longest game around (somewhat 
of a mini-rpg really, I beat it in roughly a couple 
hours), it offers a good chunk of some classic 
gameplay without any needless droning cutscenes 
or overly flashy bits. Of course, it's not the 
most polished game, lacking enemy death animations 
even for the larger baddies and bosses (which can 
look a bit odd at times, suddenly seeing them 
wink out of existence without any transition 
whatsoever) and posessing a fair share of bugs-- 
nothing too serious, though-- but it all has 
some sort of charming appeal. Maybe it's just me: 
perhaps it's the use of the wonderful chain-like 
animation, or the fact that the main character 
is a sword-wielding, tail-bearing griffon knight, 
or the direct and to-the-point gameplay... But 
regardless of personal opinions and preferences, 
I can see this becoming a fairly popular little 
game among the community. Despite its flaws, 
Syn9 has created quite a fun and entertaining 
experience.


Graphics: 6/10
Sound / Music: 6/10 (didn't get a chance to hear either) 
Gameplay / Fun Factor: 8/10  

Overall rating:
7/10