Gemfire (1992, SNES/SFC Gameplay 2021)
2Gemfire is a Tactical/Strategy RPG, and released in 1992 for the SNES/SFC. The game was produced and Published by KOEI.
STORY: 18/20
7 gems adorn a Royal Crown, each is a sealed gem from a wizard that locked away a part of a dragon in each. The crown started to corrupt the King so the Princess removed the gems from the crown and accidently released the dragon. The Princess was imprisoned for her betrayal and the dragon was kept captive. Now the King looks to control all regions by using the dragon as leverage, refuse and risk the dragon's wrath. The country needs a hero, that hero is you, your turn to command an army and remove the tyrannical King from his throne for good.
GRAPHICS: 7/20
The cutscenes and character graphics are quite nicely done, I was certainly impressed with that aspect of the game, but then I got into battle and well.. my jaw nearly hit the floor, it looks so bad.. I thought I was playing a NES game for a second. attacks and spells look like they use 3 frame animations or something, they look real bad. The Region map graphics don't look too bad considering and the little cutscenes that pop during turns are okay also. That's all I can say really about this without saying how unimpressed I was, but such is the way with KOEI games by all accounts.
SOUND: 10/20
Well, at least the game has some okay music tracks, (of what there is), but that's about it, all the sound effects sound like they belong on the NES or something, another category that really disappoints me to be fair. The sounds for skills and attacks sound dreadful, I know.. it's an old game but still.. i've heard NES games with better sound effects and music.
GAMEPLAY: 8/20
Oh man, take control of units, command them to do whatever the game offers you in the menu, do slow as hell battles, go through command menus that don't tell you what they to do.
SYSTEMS: 14/20
The game's a strategy/tactical game, so expect every type of system available for that genre in this game, especially cos it's KOEI. Menu driven and no direction is what they like to give their players and that's exactly what you get. You most certainly will need an instruction manual or guide for this game, that's for sure. Some of the systems available are cultivation, food for giving to citizens, distributing food to your army, recruiting, learning culture, become allies with neighbouring towns, loot other towns, invade other towns, and such, it's all in this game. The learning curve for everything in this game is quite high so expect boredom on a high level if this is not your type of genre, and the slow moving of options makes this nearly unbearable.
OVER ALL: 57/100
If this type of game is your thing, and you have the patience of a mountain then go ahead and try it but personally, I would NOT recommend this game.. there's better Tactical/Strategy games on the SNES/SFC. The most enjoyable aspect of this game is the cutscenes at the beginning of the game that's setting the story.
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