“If it’s a reward you expect for finding the sword, then prepare to fill your wallets with blood and misery.” These are the words you are greeted with as you begin Guardian Heroes, a remake of classic with the same name, published in 1996 for the Sega Saturn. The game is essentially a 2D sidescroller from the beat em up genre. It is developed by Treasure Co. Ltd. and is available for 800 MS on the XBLA Marketplace.
The backdrop reveals that the human race has been tossed into a feud between the Sky Spirits and the Earth Spirits. Guardian Heroes places you into the game as a warrior of your choice (Samuel Han, Randy M. Green, Ginjirou Ibushi, Nicole Neil and an unlockable Serena Corsair) having just discovered the Undead Sword with your band of friends, which then leads you to resurrect the Undead Hero who swiftly joins you in your quest to rid the world of evil.
The game presents the story through several dialogues in between stages which allow you to make your own choices throughout the game where each of the options leads you through one of several story arcs. There are a whopping total of 7 different endings to Guardian Heroes. The game itself isn’t too long to play through (as far as I have noticed) and can usually last anywhere from an hour to two hours mainly depending on your story choices and combat difficulty. One thing that amazed me about the playthrough timings is the leaderboard. You can find people having beaten the game in times well under 30 mins, which is pretty God-like but definitely achievable. All that combined with the different characters to choose from and an offline/online co-op multiplayer option, you can get a good $10 worth out of it, while not even mentioning the rest of the game modes. Also, playing through several times and completing the various endings provides you various character unlocks through the Arcade Mode.
Besides the generic Story mode, the game offers you a training mode where you can practice with your favourite character and perfect your combos and moves. Another add-on is the PvP multiplayer mode where you can battle it out with up to 11 other players via Xbox Live utilizing any of the characters you may have unlocked. The PvP mode also allows you to customize almost everything from character levels to narrowing down specific moves. Whatever your preference may be, the developers have got you covered. Although this gamemode may sound quite fun, all 12 players combined within a rather small area results in a ton of chaos!
Now moving into the game’s aesthetics, you get to choose between two primary settings: “original” and “remix”. Both of these settings have been beautifully refined without any visual snags. The game’s combat style is pretty sweet too, nothing much too fancy to rival the workings of true brawling games but one that works wonders for the remake of a retro title. A reminder however, the moves and controls change in accordance with the modes so make sure you learn them both! Another intriguing feature within this game is although it may be a 2D sidescroller, you can move in between three different planes of depth as you play and can jump deeper into the level or jump out and closer into the screen. This allows you to engage enemies in more than just a drone of 2D sidescrolling and makes the gameplay that much more interesting and interactive.
Guardian Heroes also contains a seamless leveling up system with an RPG touch to it. Everytime you rank up, you are awarded the usual boosts to your character (like health and mana) and for every level attained, you also get points which you can later spend on attributes such as attack, defense, agility, luck, etc. As far as the overall graphics go, the visuals aren’t much too fancy but are a great tribute to the 1996 classic. The soundtracks, voice overs, SFX and a ton of other goodies packed with the game can also be scanned at one’s wish in the Gallery which are simply added bonuses but are much welcomed.
Overall, the game is perfectly priced at 800 MS points and is a great buy for any nostalgic RPG fans out there. Guardian Heroes (remake) is just as wonderful and timeless as the classic, go check out the game now!
