Valis: The Legend of the Fantasm Soldier committed most of its energy to being better than its Mega Drive counterpart, and then just sort-of settled with that. I can't help but think that releasing both within mere months of each other wasn't healthy for Riot, let alone the games. Oh, excuse me, I might be attempting to condense this review a bit. The frequent visits to Vecanti have frazzled most of my remaining nerves. I will say this though, the final PCE CD Valis game left me wanting more.
This retelling of Valis 1 features numerous improvements. For starters, Yuko can turn while crouching, making it much easier to destroy enemies attacking from multiple directions, or slide away from danger (instead of towards is). Speaking of her slide, it does damage now! That's actually pretty cool, even if most of the time I only slid for style points. Compared to the MD version, which broke as easily as a wet toothpick once I got the weapon & spell I wanted, this carries some difficulty. However, I still wouldn't be surprised if series regulars finished it in the first few attempts.
What's here is extremely straightforward. From the streets of Tokyo to Rogles' Lair, Yuko runs left to right or vice-versa, blasting incoming monsters with her sword. Enemy encounters are a little more creative than usual. They're much more likely to attack in numbers and from different angles, demanding players to prioritize threats. Most of these fiends are eliminated in a single shot, but any damage they do isn't easily recovered. Every single attack takes away two blocks of health. The most common healing item is a small heart, and it recovers just two blocks. Yeah, the game is being a little stingy, but attacks are easier to avoid, so I suppose I can see the point. The challenge isn't found in death pits or oversized hurtboxes, but in wearing the player down until they've reached a boss with precious little health remaining.
Another change from the MD version is that respawning enemies are back with a vengeance. They'll reappear the instant an opening becomes available. One example that comes to mind occurs in one of the vertical stages. While climbing pillars, Yuko will spot a spider clung to a ceiling. She jumps up to slay the fiend, but it reappears the instant she tries to jump again and resume her quest. There's no way around these annoyances, so just keep moving and blasting. Each stage only lasts a couple of minutes anyway, which is a good or bad thing depending on one's point-of-view. My point-of-view? It's a little disappointing. I was struck hard by the "that's it?" feeling when I reached Rogles. His castle consists of three hallways and a short elevator. Surely a final boss could do a little more for themselves. This also affects the rest of the game, which never gets a chance to breathe.
While I can't say I was ever truly hurting for power-ups, it's quite odd that getting and keeping my preferred weapon is more difficult than it should be. I like the "S" weapon. It causes a giant sword to fire from Yuko's sword, and then that sword splits into a spread of smaller swords. Very lovely. Valis doesn't like me having the S weapon. During a long fall, several different weapons were placed where I couldn't see what they were, until Yuko had already grabbed them. Just before the anticlimactic encounter with Rogles, five weapon power-ups were arranged in a row. The only catch is that they're so close together that it's impossible to grab the S without also grabbing something else. Yuko has to collect the same letter twice in a row if she wants to increase her weapon power, so this just felt like the game making fun of me. Oh, and losing to a boss causes Yuko's power-level to drop, because of goddamned course.
Valis: The Legend of a Fantasm Soldier is fine. Just plain fine. I'm out of here.
Wait, I forgot. There's one other important thing. Use the wind spell. It creates a shield that practically doubles Yuko's health.
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