Dark Arms. ~Beast Buster 1999~
NEOP0045. 16 megs. SNK 1999.
Supports link cable, colour and Monochrome hardware.
Genre. Role Playing Game.
I crave power. Power Lucifer can only imagine!
If you are expecting an RPG, along the lines of Zelda,
or Evolution, or even Final Fantasy. Then forget it! This
is a splatter fest! Pure and simple. Well, perhaps not so
simple, because this game does have more depth than that!
You are the Beast Buster and you have been entrusted
with the task of obtaining some mysterious living weapons
from the shadowy Dark Realm a place filled with
all manner of zombies, ghouls, spectres, vampires, and all
kinds of other un-dead and just plain un-friendly!
Your guide in this realm is the mysterious Master
a shadowy robed skeletal figure, whose motives are not clear!
Now as is ever the way in these games, your first weapon
is a small pistol, which is just about capable of dispatching
some lesser minions! Which is where this game departs from
the norm. The creatures you kill have souls
or at least some kind of life force that you can collect!
Now you need to kill them with catcher weapons,
and you can store the souls that you capture
for later use. You also list any species that
you slay, in a sort of catalogue, which allows you to assign
their life force to a specific task.
Now before too long, you will find an Oum or
egg. This is the egg of a Dark arm
one of the living weapons that you seek! Once you have found
one of these it must be prepared for hatching, and once
it has hatched, it must be grown and Evolved
into a powerful weapon. You can choose to assign different
attributes for these weapons, and the various stages of
the weapons evolution are attained by feeding it the souls
of the dead that you have collected. There is slightly more
to it than that, the weapons are assigned a different element,
depending on what you have been feeding them, and this affects
the weapons effectiveness on various enemies. But
that in a nutshell covers the gist of your quest for the
ultimate Dark Arm.
Now if that sounds a little bit samey, then you will understand
why this game has received mixed reviews! Also you will
understand why anyone expecting a classic RPG, will be disappointed!
That aside, if you can play this with an open mind, and
no preconceived ideas, it is really a rewarding experience!
Developing one of your weapons to the point where it evolves
into a massive energy weapon and a suit of Guyveresq
bio-mechanical armour, is a great feeling! You wont be able
to wait to try it out on some hapless un-dead! The majority
of the weapons have a biological look to them, and most
are somehow joined to your body in a symbiotic relationship.
Tentacles is a bit of a theme, believe it or not!
Now I dont want to give to much more away about the
plot, so I will move on.
The Graphics are excellent, simple, but clear and with a
real classic 16 bit look to them. The gameplay,
although slightly limited, is more than made up for, by
the huge variety of enemies, and the amusing and varied
ways of dispatching them. If you are lucky enough to know
someone else with a copy of DARK ARMS, and you
have a link cable, then there is a very enjoyable two player
battle mode. Sound effects are on the whole of a high standard.
If I have one gripe with Dark Arms it is that
enemies will always reappear, if a room is re-entered. Whilst
this is perhaps an advantage, when you are trying to collect
as many souls as possible for evolving weapons. It can be
slightly annoying when you are low on energy and you re-enter
a room in which you just killed a particularly difficult
enemy. As I said, this is only a gripe, not a real fault,
and it does have its advantages as well, so it is
easily forgivable.
Dark Arms is a game that requires some persistence in order
to find its best points. That said it is worth the effort.
I genuinely recommend that anyone who is a looking for a
new angle on RPGs should give it a serious look!
Graphics. 8/10
Sound. 7.5/10
Gameplay. 7.5/10
Replay Value. 7/10
Overall. 7.5/10. Well worth a look.
Verdict. Not to everyones tastes, but a must for
fans of the genre. Well above average.
-by Metal Slug
"If you're gonna pray, do it now!"