Alundra, another one of Working Design’s older masterpieces. The Action/RPG comes in a glossy CD case and includes a full color manual and a map of the Village of Inoa. Well, no making of the game CD or Track Collection CD, but it’s a game published by Working Designs so you can bet it’s good.
The story begins with the destruction of Idols that were originally worshipped by the common people. The King felt that he himself was a deity and did not want to receive divided devotion alongside a bunch of statues, so he ordered all Idols to be destroyed. What a jerk. This in turn leads to the darkest time for the people, since without their Idols to watch over them, they began to lose their artistic ability and their ability to create new things. They also started suffering from disturbing dreams. This is where Alundra, our hero, comes in. He is from the Tribe of Elna and has the ability to wonder into the dreams of people and to help solve their problems.
The game is based around the Village of Inoa and of course inside the dreams of the villagers. The characters also have great depth, simply another Working Designs trademark I guess, and there are also several plot twists to keep any player engrossed in the story. In the game, Alundra must battle all sorts of monsters like slimes and zombies and solve many, and I mean many, deep and complex puzzles that will make players rake their brains all over the place. Trust me, some puzzles are difficult but at least seasoned RPG Fans like me have a decent challenge for once. Alundra also uses a vast array of weapons, ranging from a lowly dagger to a skull-crushing morning star and four different types of elemental spells for an added blast. In addition, Alundra can run, jump and use various items to aid him in solving all the tricky but very interesting puzzles in the game.
The graphics used in the game are excellent, from well drawn spites of the characters to the awesome lighting effects for various spells and attacks, to the occasional anime cut-scenes the graphics make this game pretty impressive even though by now this game is almost over 3 years old!
The controls are smooth and responsive, well maybe a bit too responsive, but it gets the job done. The music! Yes, this is one of the few games other than Legend of Mana or most of the Final Fantasy games where I actually replayed the whole game just to listen to the music! My favorite is still the theme in Meia’s dream.
Overall, Alundra is a great game just like all the other games Working Designs has published so far, and I really recommend it for Action/RPG buffs or Zelda fans, since Alundra is a near Zelda clone in the first place.
