3RRSS Astal

Now here's an odd gem of a game. As you know, for every big name
video game star (Sonic and Mario) there are loads of washed up crappy
characters that just don't sell games. However, there are also those
that just don't have the name appeal, but have all the style and
charisma to really shine. One such example is Astal for the Sega
Saturn. To my knowledge the little guy has only appeared in this one
game, and that is a real shame. Even though the game isn't perfect it
still is a fun Saturn game. So let's check up on how this lost Sega gem
turned out.

Astal's story starts with a goddess who created the Earth out of
jewels. She created two people: Leda, a nice and peaceful girl, and
Astal, a rash and hot tempered boy who loved Leda. One day Leda fell
into harm's way due to the evil Jerado, a nasty demon who tried to
capture Leda. In his rage Astal destroyed all in his path to free her. But
when the goddess had heard that Astal had damaged the Earth she
banished him to the moon. But all is not well on Earth. With Astal gone
Leda is soon captured by Jerado, and so Astal must begin his journey
to save her. This story is told through a rather long winded anime cut
scene before the title screen, and yes, I like it. It's mythical and
different from other games in the genre, yet it still revolves around
rescuing the girl. There are actually a few plot twists at the end of the
game, and I liked them, but of course some of the ending is rather
obvious. Overall though, Astal is simple and cute---a nice story of a boy
finding love.

Astal is much like the old platform games of yesteryear. Hop and bop
your way to the end of the level without getting killed. But what set's
the little guy apart from others? He has a few attacks. First, he can
suck in air and blow out cold air to kill enemies. Second, he can ground
pound which causes enemies on the ceiling to fall. He can also punch
and jump on enemies, as well as throw them. So a nice little set of
moves. Astal is also joined by a bird that he frees from Jerado's
henchmen. The bird can bring him food to heal him, kill all the bad guys
onscreen, or alert Astal of incoming danger. Very easy and nice to
figure out.

Astal, himself, has a very unique character design. He is a short boy
with long red hair, huge eyes, and jewels and chains on his arms. He
also has very long and skinny legs. The game has a very anime-esque
theme going on. This however was not represented at all with the
American box art. An ugly drawing of a fat weird little boy with a
snickering ugly demon behind him does not sell a game.

When Astal kills an enemy, they become a crystal. The more crystals
he collects, the more he can send out his bird friend to get healing
items. These items come in the shapes of fruits. The levels themselves
are pretty straightforward and not too hard for the most part. There
are a few later levels that call for timed jumping over death pits, so
those can get hard. Also, there are boss fights on about every third
level. In total there are 16 levels, and the game can be defeated in less
than an hour. After every boss fight there is a small anime cut scene of
still pictures.

Graphically, this game is wonderful, but again, that's my 2D bias
shining through. The levels are all varied: from snow levels, to lava
levels, to cave levels, to cloud levels and back. And everything is
colorful and really great. Cool 2d lighting effects, and even 2d
reflection in the snow level. The enemies are all very weird, and look
like diamond demons I suppose. Bosses are huge and range from flying
eyeball bats and giant plants to even more outlandish creatures. There
are some other cool effects, like in the cave it gets dark at certain
times and all you can see are Astal's eyes and the gems on his hands.
It is nice little touches like these that make the game great. But most
importantly everything looks for the most part cute. It's all very
relaxing.

Speaking of relaxing, the soundtrack is very smooth. It's full of chill
music, nothing too hardcore, yet it still seems a little moody. The
second level has the best music, in my opinion. There are voices in the
game. Astal speaks in English in the cut scenes, and Japanese
everywhere else. The bird chirps, and some of the enemies also talk.
There isn't much dialogue, but what's there is nice. What's great is
that you can listen to the music in the options mode, so that is a plus.

Unfortunately, Astal is a short game. As I said, it only takes less than
one hour to beat this game. And once you win you are treated to a
little anime cut scene, and some nice closing credits. There are some
codes you can use in the game to do various things though. There are
invincibility, sudden death, and level select codes that you can press
to get those rewards. Playing with invincibility is fun, if you just wanna
speed thorough the game to see all the levels and take in the
atmosphere. Also of note is that there are no save files on the game,
every time you play you start back at level one (just like all the old
games) And while the game is short, sometimes you just wanna play
one certain level to see the beautiful artistic hand drawn 2D sprites
looking fantastic. Thank goodness for the level select code then.

But in the end, Astal never seemed to catch on with the public.
Visually, the game is unique and appealing; the game has a very
Japanese style to it. So if you're a fan of good 2D graphics and want a
fun and easy game to play on your Saturn then look no further. Astal
may not give you the most replay value, but it is a very worthwhile
game to purchase because in the end, it's all about the fun---and Astal
delivers.

Review By: Orochi Sonic