Golden Sun Retrospect Review

Golden Sun Retrospect Review

By Tokidok

Golden Sun Dark Dawn was released on November 29^th 2010 to avid excitement and exaggerated expectations from fans the world over. With this in mind I decided to push father time back into his wheel chair and re-enter the realm where Camelot's elemental experience began. This being the original Golden Sun, released in 2001 for the Gameboy Advance.

Conforming with the formula of most console Role-Playing Games, you take on the persona of silent protagonist Isaac, a boy who gets thrust into the thick of a plot to unleash alchemy on the world and in turn destroy it, which he must stop. Along the way he teams up with Garet, Ivan and Mia, each with their own history and reasons for joining the quest. While on the surface Golden Sun screams cliché like my next line, it's the journey, not the destination, which is what truly engrosses the player and urges them to move the storyline forward. Fraught with danger, suspense and excitement I would rate Golden Suns narrative among the best of the hand-held, if not, the collective Role-Playing genre.

The best story in the world, however, would not make up for horrid game. Fortunately Golden Sun delivers in spades a simple, yet engrossing battle and upgrades system. Each of the characters is aligned with one of the four elements of the alchemic world. These elements being earth, fire, wind and water. These alignments are where they derive their magic or abilities from, this is to be called psynergy. While Camelot have, like most any RPG's, inserted the tried and true level-up system, they also have a peculiar addition, the Djinn.

Djinn are monsters that join our heroes throughout their quest. They are found all over the Golden Sun world, each of whom are, like the 4 main characters, fused with one of the four elements. The characters use these Djinn to power themselves (stat’s and new psynergies) up in the element of which the Djinn are derived. The long standing staples of an RPG are still present in terms of customisation of weapons, armour and accessories. It sounds much more complicated than it really is, with Camelot providing easy to follow tutorials for the simple play-through, but also allowing the strategic minded player to explore the many options which are presented

To compare the visuals of Golden Sun to any other hand-held at the time of release would be like comparing your plain old household pet to my shimmering unicorn, it's so far-fetched that you would be quickly put back in your place quicker than my pay cheque at my local bar. Camelot had really outdone themselves with 2d beauty which has, even now, rarely been matched in terms of battle effects. Towns and dungeons are both very high quality in terms of artwork, ranging from the shy little town of Vale to the town of tree's, Kolima.. While the outer world may leave some players wanting, the sheer scope of the map is enough to amaze.

The music in this game was a real shining light throughout the whole play-through, with the narrative and the music being used in tandem to engross the player. Motoi Sakuraba has created music which could be the staple of a series, much like Final Fantasy's orchestral tunes, slightly different, yet oh so similarly effective. A nice addition to the dialogue was the input of sound which can only be described as “simlish”. That being, higher or lower pitched mumbles which add intonation for whom is talking at that point. The audio throughout Golden Sun adds, and in most ways, creates the feeling of an epic, engrossing adventure that is not to be missed.

Camelot have even appealed to the competitive nature of those who choose to play Golden Sun. the multiplayer option allows two players to link up, with the use of a Gameboy Advance link cable, and pit one team of heroes against the other. This feature is absent in many RPG's and it adds a certain personal aspectfor the player and their own game.

Golden Sun is not overly long, and is not drastically short. Being roughly around 30 hours per playthrough it is long enough to hold the players attention but not too long as to drag on, in fact coming to the end of my play-through I began to wish it hadn’t. I was left wanting more, so much in fact that I found it hard not to restart a new game just to find what I had missed out on my first time through.

Like all games, while not many, there are some downsides which could be expanded on. The after game events, which are prevalent in many RPG's are bare. Very bare, in fact there is one dungeon of puzzles and a super boss. There are also the slow frame rates and pixelated images which plague the battle scenes when a lot of graphics are being used at once, although minor it is a detraction from the spectacle you are being treated to. These would be my only detraction from an otherwise great game which has pushed the boundaries of what is possible with the hardware at the time.

To be honest Golden Sun still holds up very strongly against many of the hand-held RPG's in today's “advanced” gaming generation. In retrospect, Camelot made a game which was ahead of it's time in terms of development quality and overall playability for a hand-held. In my humble opinion I believe this is a must have for any RPG lover who is looking for a new universe to dive into.

Scores

Story:8

Gameplay: 8

Visuals:8
Audio:9

Multiplayer:7

Overall: 8/10

Golden Sun is a must have for an RPG hand-held fanatic and a fine pick-up for the casual gamer.