Cosmic Fantasy 4 Chapter 2

~ COSMIC FANTASY 4 CHAPTER 2 ~

Telenet

Super CD-ROM

1994

This one plays a lot like the first chapter. The battle system is more refined and equipping your characters calls for more strategy here. And that's where the comparison will end because there simply is no comparison between the atrocious Chapter 1 and this very good follow-up. CF4C2 redeems the series.

It can easily be viewed as a direct sequel to Cosmic Fantasy 2, as it focuses on Van and Rim and a few of their old pals. You'll visit plenty of familiar places and encounter friends and foes of yore as Van deals with everything that happened to him in CF2 while trying to fight the good fight against a new threat. It's a really emotional story told through a lot of excellent cinemas.

It doesn't get bogged down in the emotions, though; unlike Chapter 1, this game retains the hilarity that made previous Cosmic Fantasy games so charming.

Outside of the cinematic elements, CF4C2 succeeds thanks to enormous dungeons, with plenty of secret passageways to discover and treasure chests to find. These labyrinths were designed extremely well and aren't plagued by the BS that made the mazes in Chapter 1 so tedious. One warning, however: the first third or so of the adventure is basically a string of fetch quests. Get past that early stretch and you'll start experiencing the awesome cinemas and dungeons I've been lauding.

If you like the story and characters in Cosmic Fantasy 2, then you've got to get this great game. Hell, skip CF4 Chapter 1. But get this.