Anguna Review by
Another World
Monsters have struck again, leaving our hero tattered and abandoned in an ominous forbidden tomb. You must rise with sword in hand and strike swiftly, for your mission has only begun. The Dragon, leader of all monsters, must fall this day.
Nathan Tolbert has spent 3 years of his free time working progressively to hone his GameBoy Advance developmental skills through the product that is Anguna: Warriors of Virtue. He describes the homebrew game as being “a short but exciting action-adventure game, reminiscent of the original Legend of Zelda.” Personally I can see the influence of such games as Lagoon (SNES), Zelda a Link to the Past (SNES), and Radia Senki - Reimei Hen (NES).
The survival of room to room monster abolishing dungeon searches makes up the core of the game play. Enemy movement patterns are random but attack on fixed access points. Bats always move on diagonals, and Hobgoblin sentries move with right angled turns for example. What sounds predictable actually is quite challenging as fast pattern changes keep you on your toes. Each monster is made up of brightly colored, handsomely rendered sprites by Chris Hildenbrand. The backgrounds, monsters and other aspects that Hildenbrand has brought to the game look professional and definitely enhance the mood.
During exploration a handful of fun to wield items aid the hero through the large over-world and the 5 challenging dungeons. Item placement and usage has been thought out, forcing you to gain items before advancing past certain spots. This causes you to explore and fight rather than just hack and slash your way through various obstacles. The items themselves have obviously been borrowed from the Zelda series. A bow and arrow, a lantern, red health potions, boots of flight, a power ring, and dynamite (bombs) will all seem very familiar. The addition of the bear trap will have you second guessing enemy movements as proper trap placement for monster devastation should put a smile on any adventure's face. The items all work well and have no obvious bugs or problematic implantation into standard game play.
The game itself keeps track of your movements with an accessible overview style map. The pause menu also includes an inventory screen and a defeated monster database. The database is enhanced by creatively drawn monster renditions from Hildenbrand. A changing musical score accompanies each major area of the game, although always the same it somehow never gets old. Controls are tight and responsive, both diagonal movements and quick sword slashes work with no problems. Some minor glitches such as rare misplaced sprites and collision detection between the main character and the surrounding environment do exist. Thankfully Tolbert is actively participating in debugging discussions and updates of his product.
With all the good fun that comes out of playing this game, it does at times feel as though it is missing some vital aspects to really pull it together. A few towns, some people to talk to, a handful of side quests, and perhaps weapon and armor upgrades would have really put this game on the next level. Tolbert has stated that he has no plans to add any additional material to the game and that after the long development cycle he is looking forward to moving onto other projects. Perhaps wishful thinking simply comes from the fact that this game is such a treat to play and by the end it will have you looking for more.