Golden Sun for Gameboy Advance

Those longing for a Final Fantasy style role-playing game for the Gameboy Advance have been rewarded for their patience with Golden Sun. Camelot, creator of the Shining Force series, has spearheaded the RPG movement on Gameboy Advance with Golden Sun, a memorable and highly enjoyable adventure. Golden Sun is a throwback to the old days of role-playing games on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. The graphics are two-dimensional yet very detailed, and the presentation will bring back fond memories for veterans of classic RPGs. GS is presented in a birds-eye view over the characters while traveling on the world map and inside of towns, and in a ¾ behind-character view in battle sequences. The traditional Attack/Defend/Magic/Flee commands are available in battles, but the system becomes deeper when the Djinn summons come into play. Characters can equip Pokémon-style creatures called “Djinn” which have abilities that are similar to the powerful summon spells in Final Fantasy games. When they are stationary, the Djinn enhance a character’s rank and statistics, but when used in battle their benefits disappear until the Djinn recover. It is important to balance the active use of Djinn in battle and their passive benefits for effective combat. The magic system is based on the standard practice of allotting a number of energy points to a character for use in spells.

Unlike most games, however, the characters in GS slowly recover their magic energy as they walk, not requiring the use of a potion to recover points. The recoverable energy makes the magic spells in GS much more prominent in common battles and breaks the RPG-cliché of endlessly attacking monsters with weapons to save up magic points for the big boss battle at the end of a dungeon. Spells are also used in the world map as psychic powers which can move and manipulate faraway objects.

The dungeons and puzzles in GS are incredibly intuitive and fun to solve, giving a feeling of satisfaction and wonder that seems to be missing from most modern RPGs. The solid game design combined with the exciting, fast-paced battles make GS a game that continuously involves the player without relying on repetition.

GS has only two slight flaws, one being the first hour or so which is much slower than the rest of the game. Be assured, however, that when the pace in GS picks up after the long dialogue sessions in the beginning, the game lifts off from there and becomes infinitely more fun and interesting. The second flaw is GS’ abundance of Yes/No questions which have no effect on how the game’s plot unravels, regardless of your answers. Camelot should have given the main hero some of his own lines and/or given the player the ability to alter the plot based on the answers to the questions. But, despite the feeling of the tacked-on player interaction in the dialogue sequences, Golden Sun’s story is interesting and compelling.

Golden Sun has the best graphics of any Gameboy Advance title to date. The colors are rich and vibrant and the 2D artwork is heavily detailed and stylized. Particle effects in battle and a pseudo-3D world map push the GBA hardware to its limits while still retaining the classic look of an old RPG.

In battle the creatures are easily distinguishable and the animations for magical attacks are impressive to see. The game is bright compared to the early GBA titles, but a light accessory is still useful for viewing the text. Window colors and brightness levels are adjustable as well.

Camelot, in a valiant effort to overcome the Gameboy Advance’s weak audio output capabilities, has composed memorable music for Golden Sun. While the music and sound effects retain the fuzziness associated with the GBA’s 8-bit audio output, their high quality composition shines through and delivers in spades. After hearing mixed results from various developers on the GBA’s audio, GS is a refreshing change of pace.

It is easy to recommend Golden Sun to just about anyone. It combines the best elements of classic role-playing adventure games with its fun puzzles, fast and exciting battles, good storyline, high quality audiovisuals and solid presentation. If you can wade your way through the long dialogue sessions in the beginning, Golden Sun opens itself up to be an unforgettable experience.

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