Elemental Master - Megadrive
If you talk about influential game companies I don't think many would include Technosoft in that bracket, but I would. They didn't release a massive amount of games, and those which they did make weren't Mario or Sonic levels of popular at the time either. Yes they definitely established themselves during their peak on the Megadrive, but they didn't stick around for too long after as well. But they very much remind me of a band like the Pixies or Therapy? though, in that if you were around at the time to ride their wave of games, their unique style & their sound especially really blew you away. Elemental Master came towards the end of their time with the Megadrive, and despite being a big fan of some of their earlier games (Thunderforce 3 & Devil Crash especially), I never purchased this. One of those weird things really, as by rights I should have.
Playing the game now, and it's definitely got that feel of "we'll do our best to make a good game, but we're getting a bit bored of developing for this system". Everything it does is decent-to-good, but there's a definite dip in quality with some of the areas from the previous games they made. In particular with the music. It's still a really good soundtrack, but these chaps made some utter belters and some of the best on the system in their earlier games. Whilst EM's still do an admirable job, they don't take things to that other level like Technosoft's earlier entries do, which is disappointing.
Like everything else, gameplay itself is generally quite good, just a bit lacking, and everything feels a little bit by the numbers. Typical Technosoft tropes show their face, such as stage selection & an emphasis on having to shoot in various directions to make it through the game. The action overall is fairly solid, and the level design interesting enough without being anything spectacular. But this game's big draw is simply in it's concept & what's in the package - dark fantasy, shooter action, Technosoft presentation & music, manga style cut-scenes, etc. It ticks nearly every box of what I'd love to see in such a game, and it's outer shell give you that to some degree.
But at it's core it just doesn't execute them all that well either sadly, and the package as a whole just isn't that much fun. There's plenty of niggly things to annoy, but by far and away my biggest gripe with the game, is that it doesn't make it clear enough when you've been hit. Apart from a little yellow flash, there's no real "feel" of getting hit, and it's not uncommon for it to bypass you all together. That stacks with two other major gripes too - namely the fact that it can be tricky to see some enemies sometimes, and that when you do take a hit you're vulnerable to another one almost straight away (unlike other games where you get a second or two to refocus). When all that combines, you can easily look at your energy bar one minute to see it full, to look at it again the next minute and see you've taken several hit, totally unawares of them or where they came from. It feels really skanky, and puts a real crimp in learning the game.
You also only get one life (albeit with an energy bar), and when you continue it's from the start of the stage too. All together this feels unbalanced & off. Throw in the fact that the play area feels quite restrictive, and also that the the bosses aren't particularly challenging either, and the whole thing just starts to feel like a bit of a letdown. The weapons are OK, but nothing spectacular, the enemies I'd describe exactly the same, and whilst there's no doubt that there is some definite fun & quality to be had out of the game, it ultimately leaves you feeling a bit short changed.
This is a game I absolutely want to love. Conceptually it's got everything which I want out of such games. Sadly, it doesn't quite deliver them well enough to cut it as well as it should have. Still enough to be worth playing mind, but personally I'm just a bit gutted.
