Guardian War

Review

by Shawn Sackenheim

Okay, so this is no epic storytelling adventure. I'll be totally honest, the story in Guardian War is so loosly held together that if you thought about it for too long it'd probably fall apart. See, there's this evil force called Azriel and it wants to take over the world. Big surprise. The Goddess, Terra, summons up the best forces she can find, a handful of pint-sized robots that can interchange bodies. And that's about all the direction you get. A few "go here's" and "go there's" along the way. Basically, if you follow the map (not much of a choice otherwise) you'll beat this game.

Fortunately, however, the robots interchangable bodies are unique and challenging to master. There are several types including warriors (in close power), wizards (magical prowess), archers (long distance shots), neptunes (underwater strength), and more that you'll have to learn and equip with the right weapons and spells to become a lethal force against the masses of monsters.

As you roam around these 3D worlds, passing 2D objects and what not, you'll eventually run into gaggles of enemies, at which time you're teammates will pop up and take their positions. Using a turn based system, each of your characters will have a chance to attack, move, retreat, use items, or defend. Depending on the environment, situation, and body you have equipped, you'll be able to move and attack at various ranges. The battlefileds are also filled with various magical patches that hinder or help you and the enemies. Plenty of strategy is required to succeed, especially in the later levels where you'll have to battle over 100 monsters before being able to leave and find a shop.

Guardian War has clearly aged a lot in the graphics. The pop-up on these 3D worlds is evident and all the objects are 2D and always face towards the camera. Still, they feature enough variety and are large enough so as to keep from getting too boring. Hunting down hundreds of enemies, however, can become tiresome after an hour or so.

Then there's the magic spells; the whole reason this game exists. Much like those in Final Fantasy 7, these are huge call spell deals that showcase some of the most mind boggling effects ever seen on the 3DO.

If you're up for a long quest across some creative locales and don't mind the story being replaced by effects (like so many Hollywood movies these days) then give Guardian War the go around. It's become a bit dated but still offers some of the system's best effects and some great strategy as well.