| Graphics: |    2.5 |
| SFX: | 2 |
| Music: | 3.5 |
| Gameplay: | 4 |
| Challenge: | 4 |
| Replay: | 3 |
| Overall: | 2.5 |
| Genre: | Strategy |
| Reading ability: | Required |
| Company: | Tokuma Shoten Intermedia |
Background:
Legend of the Galactic Heroes is by far my most favorite anime, the second being Bubblegum Crisis. It's a massive, epic space opera that makes Star Wars seem like a short story. Unfortunately, considering what usually sells here on this side of the Pacific and due to its initial simple and plain looking animation quality (which later improves), this anime title will probably never see distribution outside of Japan. It is a very intelligent series, and it is highly involving and addictive. In fact, during my visit to Japan in summer of '98 I was compelled to buy the video games based off of the series for the Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, and Sony Playstation; knowing full well that my poor Japanese reading skills would hinder my ability to effectively play these games.
The Game:
Like its title implies, the game is a battle tactics simulation. The focus of the game is not on the actual space battles, but the strategy behind them. It's sort of similar to games like Nobunaga's Ambition and other battle strategy games by Koei. At the beginning of the game, you get to choose between Yang Wenli of the Free Planets Alliance and Reinhard von Lohengramm of the Galactic Empire. This game requires quite a bit of kanji knowledge; there is no furigana to help you out. Because of this, and the level of vocabulary this game uses, I'm not able to understand most of what is going on.
The Good:
The game's presentation is rather dated and primitive, and it could've been a lot better...even for a first gen title. The game's strongpoint has to be its strategy element. The music is basically synthesized classical music, which is unfortunately a bit repetitive, yet it doesn't get too tiring. Ravel's Bolero during the introductory sequence is a nice touch. It scores well in the music category just because of its use of classical music, which the show is well known for.
The Bad:
It's unfortunate that this game was not developed later on during the Super Famicom's lifetime, because it does not make very good use of its amazing graphics capabilities and the Super Nintendo's sound chip like other first-gen SFC games like Area 88. It's also unfortunate that the game stays to the show's storyline. When you play as Yang, for the first several battles you just watch your comrades' fleets get annihilated due to Paeta's and the other admiral's stubbornness. It would be nice if the game tries not so much to remain faithful to the original storyline, because it's not very fun to be forced to just watch your side lose without having any control over it.
Overall:
Regardless of my lack of strong Japanese reading skills, this game is a little disappointing. Then again, perhaps I'm a bit spoiled after seeing the gameplay of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes games on the 32-bit game systems. If you are a LOGH fan without much Japanese reading ability and are looking for a LOGH game that you can pick up fairly easily, I'd recommend the one for the Sony Playstation. It's a really astonishing game. Plus, it's a bit easier to obtain than this older, more obscure SFC game, even without any Japanese language skills.
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