妖精冒険記 (Chronicles of the Fairy)

Chronicles of the Fairy is kind of like a Kirby game.  The protagonist can “fly” indefinitely, levels center around the simple act of reaching a goal, and the game is as easy as a round of dodge ball against a group of senior citizens.  It also features some pretty good 16-bit graphics and decent play control.  If we left it simply at that, Chronicles of the Fairy would be a decent, albeit forgettable game.

Come on, now.  How often can we leave it at just that?

It looks the part, but Chronicles of the Fairy feels unfinished.

Chronicles of the Fairy isn’t really terrible, but it’s underwhelming or mediocre in so many ways that I simply have to shake my head in disappointment.  It looks like it should be good, and feels like it should be good.  But the six levels that take all of twenty minutes to complete are boring and uninspired in design.  The music is annoying, the enemies are all but useless, and lives are far too plentiful.  But what’s really awful is the collision detection on the spikes.  Levels are littered with spikes all over the place, with the main challenge being having to squeeze between them.  The problem with this is, the collision box for the spikes is not too generous.  It leads to many moments where you don’t come that close to the spikes and still take damage for them.  Imagine if real life was like that.  Imagine if, in football, getting to the three yard line was considered good enough for a touchdown.  Raving insanity!  Even if replacement referees apparently liked that idea.

Even if that wasn’t the case, 妖精冒険記 is boring.  The whole experience feels like the demo for what should be a larger game, or perhaps an early beta-build or proof-of-concept, as evidenced by the ball-and-chain swinging enemy who clipped right into a wall and got stuck.  There’s no challenge (even the spikes don’t make much difference when you’re tripping over extra lives every two feet), and no real reason to keep playing once you’re past the opening stage.  Then, just as it looks like the game might grow some teeth and ramp up in difficulty, it’s over.  It’s quite disappointing.  I was interested to check it out because it’s rare when a Japanese-developed XBLIG shows up on the marketplace.  It seemed like it might be exotic.  Instead, I feel like one of those chicks who gets a tramp stamp in Japanese characters that she thinks says “Free Spirit” and only later learns that it says “Insert Umbrella Below.”

妖精冒険記 (Chornicles of the Fairy) was developed by Yuwaka’s Soft

80 Microsoft Points said “maybe Kirbys are the tadpole stage of a fairy.  IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!” in the making of this review.