I can't claim any knowledge of the anime subgenre known as isekai, but that doesn't mean a piece of my soul didn't vanish into nothingness the one time I tried a Sword Art Online game for the Playstation Vita. The concept of a virtual reality MMO that kills its players is what sold me. I didn't expect to be introduced to the main character's twenty-dozen girlfriends, wives, husbands, adopted children, etc. not even ten minutes into the actual game. Sure, it's human nature to make the best of a bad situation, but becoming "Mr. Two Swords: The most important and desirable man" just sounds like escapist drek. Yeah, I'm being unfair to a series that may or may not deserve it. These are the avenues I have to take in order to avoid being trapped with the dreaded blinking cursor on an empty page for hours.
For real though, I've always imagined isekai as being transported to some distant world that's completely divorced from reality. Picture a mundane life turned upside down and inside out until you're gazillions of light years away in another dimension conversing with aliens in a language that can only be spoken by folding your tongue 13 times. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I want escapist drek that appeals to me. If it turned out that the afterlife was actually a planet out in the middle of nowhere, and I was the only human there, then it'd probably kick ass. Then again, I might feel differently after an eternity spent there, but that's a bridge that has to be crossed before- Oh, right! I'm supposed to be talking about Valis for the Sega Genesis... I think?
Valia: "Welcome to the Fantasy World. Rogles has broken Yin & Yang. Go kill him."
Yuko: "This is bullshit. Fuck you."
Valia: "Oh yeah? Eat this bikini armor laser."
Yuko: "...!"
What you've just seen is an accurate summation of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier's intro. Jokes aside, one of the key aspects to the series is its presentation. All of the cutscenes in this entry look good. The remainder of the audiovisual experience is fine. A couple of stages suffer from an especially repetitive song, but most players should survive it. Backdrops, enemies, and bosses also look okay. However, I've got this feeling that Valis 3 - which actually released on the Genesis before this port - looked and sounded much better. Perhaps my memory is faulty. Whatever the case, I can't really file this as a complaint. It's more of an observation used to pad out the portion of the review that I'm not 100% invested in.
The game itself is what you'd expect from an action-platformer. Yuko runs from left to right slicing up fiends with a sword while hopping or sliding over deadly pits. From the outset, it's clear that the properties of the sword itself are practically an afterthought. Hitting a baddie with it is made a tad more complicated than it should be. Blame it on the iffy hitboxes, which are a semi-common occurrence throughout the adventure. Thankfully, crystals situated in the air contain a variety of power-ups, including the first projectile weapon.
Projectiles are your main means of dealing damage in Valis. Each weapon you can acquire can be powered up a couple extra times, increasing its strength or coverage. There's no strategy in choosing one projectile over the other. In fact, you should think of each new one you find as an upgrade. The sole exception is the homing arrow. Avoid it unless you're trying to make the game harder. Follow this simple rule and you'll have no trouble destroying all that dares to cross your path. Well, you'll likely have no trouble regardless, because 95% of this game is incredibly easy. Enemies don't respawn and are unlikely to make a dent in Yuko's beefy health meter before she nonchalantly slays them. I can't say I've ever considered the viability of a "pacifist run", but you'd probably have to bump into every single monster at least a couple of times to create the resemblance of a life-threatening situation.
One of the admirable quirks of this series is the slide. A single tap of the A button causes Yuko to slide across the- well, she can slide across anything she wants apparently. What gives this technique its flavor is that the heroine completely ignores gravity while sliding. Indeed, you're better off sliding across holes instead of trying to leap over them. Slides also offer a much-appreciated boost of speed. Running tends to be a dreary way of getting around, especially in the forest stage after you've already slaughtered everything and just want to grab a couple missed power-ups. Sliding is also useful for the boss battles. I doubt it'll ever mean the difference between life or death, but it has to be worth some style points.
If you ever find yourself struggling with Valis, then say no more, because I already know why. The boss of the forest stage is Reiko, Yuko's classmate. She's something of a special case because of her full-screen attack. This can't be dodged and takes away an inexplicable 46% of Yuko's health. No wait. If TV Tropes is a reputable source, then it's actually 48%. Point is, Reiko has this absurd move and isn't afraid to spam it. This is where I mention the singular purpose of this game's spell system. The "Flame Ring" spell gifts the heroine a couple seconds of invulnerability. Fire it up, get close, and mash that attack button. Your MP and especially HP should survive the battle. This spell is useful against the final boss as well, so don't forget about it. Do forget about every other spell though.
Ultimately, Valis manages to skirt just outside of the bad realm. Like I've mentioned multiple times in the past, if you've got a piece of interactive entertainment with questionable mechanics, balance issues, lackadaisical level-design, and a host of other faults, then consider keeping the difficulty as low as possible. I might treat it like Valis and let it slide with a rating of in-offensive. In my eyes, a heavily flawed video game will always benefit from being ridiculously easy to finish. Perhaps the lack of difficulty should be considered a flaw, but that's just not how I function. If I'm being challenged and that challenge is coming from the game's suckage, then that's no good.
*Now that I think about it, in that Vita Sword Art Online game, I actually played the role of Mr. Two Swords' friend. Whatever. Nobody cares.
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