Energy

~ ENERGY ~
NCS/Masaya / Quasar Soft
HuCard
1989

For those not already acquainted with this infamous game, it's a side-scrolling action/"quest" affair sort of along the lines of Shape Shifter and Night Creatures. There are no proper levels, but you have to beat bosses, talk to certain people, and solve minor-league puzzles in order to obtain items that'll grant you access to new areas. I'm sure the designers would have us believe it takes place in a "post-apocalyptic" setting, but for the most part, you'll simply be running and shooting your way through a bunch of caves.

And the game is famously awful. The graphics are like horrible NES visuals, and I mean that quite literally.

The abysmal opening "cinema" can't be skipped, and the ending blows.

The action proceeds one screen at a time a la the very first Zelda game, which isn't exactly suitable pacing for an adventure of this ilk, and the "scrolling" is very slow. The quest is quite short, but you'll have to do plenty of dull backtracking. The controls are unresponsive in the most fundamental ways: sometimes, you'll have to press a button multiple times just to get a freakin' dialogue window to advance or leave the screen. And even after some bosses have been killed, shots will continue to come anyway... from the voids they've left behind.

It's just a thoroughly buggy and shoddy affair, and to make matters more irritating, there's no way to continue or save (that I know of, at least), so it's back to the beginning after a single death.

Of course, being that the game is utterly abominable, I enjoy it (somewhat). Basically, I liked the challenge of figuring out where to go and what to do next. The soundtrack is actually kind of decent--even almost good at times. And Energy does have its charm in places: find a girl alone on a ledge, and the music will change from action-game fare to a fun little number as she dances and, in the process, heals you.

A thrifty buddy of mine got this game for $1... plus $12 EMS. Don't do that. In fact, you probably shouldn't purchase or play it at all. But if you do, try to get past the horrifying opening moments, and see if you can make some progress with it. It's not a quality product; in fact, they did a HORRIBLE job with it, and it's shoddy as hell. But it can still be kinda fun.