ActRaiser 2

The Game

You may have noticed in the game info up top that the sequel to the platformer/god game hybrid only seems to include the platformer genre. (Quick side note, yes these games are hack & slash platformers, action platformers, but I can't get into the weeds of including a genre's children. If you jump around platforms it will be considered a platformer)

Is this lack of genre a mistake on my part? Surely this hugely anticipated sequel to a game that was critically acclaimed for its new and interesting use of mixed genres wouldn't drop an entire part of the game and become a one trick pony, generic platformer? Well, unfortunately for everyone involved, that is exactly what happened. ActRaiser 2 is a hack & slash platformer and nothing else.

Developed and published by the exact same people as ActRaiser, with 3 years between the first game's Japanese release in 1990, they had so much time to build on both aspects of the game and create a genuinely deep city builder and polished platformer, but instead Enix stepped in and told them to scrap it entirely, apparently they thought a Western audience only wanted fast paced action and would dislike the slower town building part, despite several Western publications reviewing those exact parts highly. Thanks Enix, man, you used to be cool.

Gameplay

The "action" section of ActRaiser has had a massive overhaul in the sequel as it takes centre stage for this game, and not only did they remove a really interesting part of the game, but they absolutely butchered this part of the game as well. Yes, ActRaiser was simple, there wasn't much new and interesting within each of the genres, but it was fun and it worked. ActRaiser 2 has gone "bigger, harder, prettier and better" with this, and while it certainly is better looking (we'll get to that in a moment) it is far from better.

Firstly the controls are horrible, you now have this jump and dive mechanic where your angel wings come out and you swoop forwards out of a jump, it looks cool, but it's so stupidly hard to control, and it's not like you can just ignore it because it's needed to make some jumps, and the accuracy needed is unreal. Imagine the cape in Super Mario World, but, you know, shit.

The game is insanely unforgiving too, but not in that "just one more try" way of Super Ghouls n Ghosts, it's just frustrating, infuriating, and horrible, to the point that this is the first game in the list so far that I have just simply given up on. I didn't complete it, I didn't even get much further than the first couple of levels, I got to a stage where I literally could not work out how to progress, I checked online and I think it's just timing one of these dives right, and then a load of badly controlled platforming, with enemies that knock you back into things that cause you damage. I just got angry, and disappointed that the game I loved so much had been brought to this, so I put the controller down and walked away. Maybe that means I'm not qualified to give a verdict, I probably should complete games before I rate them fairly, but this is my project, and if a game causes me to give up and walk away I will be rating it with that in mind.

Graphics

This is one aspect where the sequel did turn it up to 11, the graphics are beautiful. The sprites are much bigger, much more detailed, the levels look great (based on screenshots I've looked at because I only saw the first couple). Gorgeous backgrounds, great looking bosses, lovely details like spider webs, clouds and fog, it could be considered to be one of the best looking games on the SNES, and this makes me doubly angry. If a game that looks this good played as well as the first, and had the city builder stuff included it could've been an all time classic, a franchise that continued to this day. Now, besides a remake of the first game, the series has died. Quintet did start development of an N64 sequel, but it never saw the light of day.

Sound and Music

Again, as is typical of Enix games, the sound is brilliant, the effects are just meatier and better than in the first game, there is certainly improvement there as with the graphics, and the soundtrack is once again put together by Yuzo Koshiro, another fantastic soundtrack, 15 tracks at 22 minutes, so again not just short looped tracks. You can listen to it here.

The People

After a quick cross check, all the big names from ActRaiser also worked on ActRaiser 2 so there isn't really much to say. I fully blame Enix for the failings of this game, and not these guys, although whoever was in charge of the controls should sleep with a warm pillow on both sides for eternity.

Box art

North American release, 1993.

European release, 1994.

Oh come on! Is there even a comparison here? Look at that European artwork! The art is so sick, the protagonist, some screaming demon thing, and a dragon looking thing. The only thing that lets it down is Ubisoft's Times New Roman looking ass under that amazing artwork! Wait, why is Ubisoft there anyway? Turns out they took over publishing for Europe as Enix didn't have an established base over there so they licensed it out to them. Back when there was a space between Ubi and Soft, which just looks so cursed now.

Anyway, back to the box art, the US art is just boring, and if it wasn't for the promise/warning of "100% pure action and excitement" next to the art you could easily think the town building aspect was front and centre based on this box. The European one would have instantly interested me back in the day, the American one, unless I'd played the original, I wouldn't have given a second look to.

Then when it comes to the back of the box, my opinion switches. The US one has 4 nice screenshots, big, bold and front and centre, and a lot more text, although most of the text is actually talking about ActRaiser, and how great it was, so it's still really fucking weird that they completely changed it and still went with that for their description! "Hey remember that game that you loved and so did we, this one's even better because the graphics are great, just ignore that 50% of the game is missing please." No bullet points here sadly.

The back of the European box also has 4 screenshots, but one of them is the world map which again is so misleading! Looking at that top screenshot you'd for sure think the city building stuff was there, so misleading to anyone that played the original. Again no bullet points, just a lot of languages, and that classic ELSPA age rating tick box thing that I feel a huge amount of nostalgia for.

Overall I give this box a rating of - Misleading. Each box has its own way of slightly misleading the customer, with such a huge change from the original it really should be more obvious.

The Press

GamePro:

Fudgy controls don't stop ActRaiser 2 from topping its predecessor with more elaborate graphics and some of the most gruesome side-scrolling enemies ever.

4.5/5

Electronic Gaming Monthly:

From the opening music, reminiscent of the original ActRaiser, you just know this game is going to be special, and ActRaiser 2 didn't disappoint. Everything in this game is exceptional - from the hauntingly beautiful music to the graphics - this is a game you'd be proud to add to any collection.

35/40

Computer and Video Games:

ActRaiser 2 does a fine job at pretending to be a coin-op. Pounding action and arty graphics make this challenge one that you've got to complete. Although the flying addition is fiddly, it soon becomes a real asset giving the game that edge of combat creativeness. Unfortunately, the special powers are never practical because you have to charge them up each time. There's also a fair bit of slow down, but nothing distracting. Fans of the original may not like the lack of strategic depth, but it hasn't disappointed me.

86/100

Game Players:

The sequel to one of the first SNES games is as good as the first. The "Sim Village" aspects of the original are missing, but demon-infested action stages are top notch.

85/100

Edge:

Many people will undoubtedly be impressed with the sound and the graphical content but underneath it all lies a fairly simple, albeit difficult game to play. It's a real shame, isn't it? Potentially one of the biggest games of the year reduced to just a simple platform hack 'em up.

5/10

GamesMaster:

Yet again, we're battered mercilessly about the pancreas with the widely-documented 'sequel effect'. This theory postulates that, with ample compensation for statistically disastrous a priori knowledge, then the sum of a sequel shall, as a whole, always equal less than then, erm, the original's, um... Look, it's crap, okay?

41/100

The top 4 reviews rated it really highly, which made me think I missed something, although they all seemed to only mention the graphics and sound. Edge and GamesMaster brought back my faith that no, it's the reviewers that are wrong.