Fans of Sega's dormant Shining franchise take heed! It had made its long-awaited return in 32-Bit glory with Shining the Holy Ark. Available exclusively on the Saturn, this entry offers the same first-person stylings of the very first game in the series Shining in the Darkness, down to the icon-based menu system. Players will trek along through dank dungeons, populated towns, and winding castles meeting your foes face-to-face. Combat leaps out at random while exploring these locales, shifting the game to a traditional turn-by-turn scenario as opposed to Doom-like instantaneous action.
SHA follows a ragtag squad of mercenaries, joined by a supernatural twist of fate and tasked with protecting their world from an onslaught of demonic power. Basic fantasy fare indeed, and yet a light emphasis on character development constructed via story scenes allows adequate motivation for players to engage with the adventure.
Battles are livened up considerably with the addition of pixies: Companions scattered through the game's world to assist with demolishing enemies. It will be key to discover and utilize the proper pixies, deploying Leprechauns, for example, to thrash at foes that emerge from beneath the earth. They are essential! SHA's highlight above all else is its flashy presentation. Party members and townsfolk are pre-rendered sprites, highly detailed and capable of emotive expressions. The same holds true for enemies, which likewise emit elaborate animations and unleash eye-catching spells. These graphics, albeit occaisionally blocky, allow for visual distinctiveness as compared to humdrum polygons. We found ourselves pleasantly surprised by the spellbinding fun in this unassuming package, a fantastic dungeon-crawler all-around.
Printed in Issue #45, March-April 1998
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