Burai II

~ BURAI II ~

Riverhill Soft

Super CD-ROM

1992

The one thing that really interested me about this game when I first played it ages ago was the colorful, action-packed combat. While the first Burai's battles are ultra primitive, the ones here feature large, animated enemies; loud, flashy party-demolishing attack spells; cool music; and backdrops that may not look great but certainly represent a step up from black nothingness. Even with all of the animation and effects, the fights proceed fairly quickly, as opposed to other graphical combat "show scenes" like those in sloggy Monster Maker. And early on, you can avoid overworld fights altogether simply by staying away from the areas where monsters reside (like forests and deserts).

Whether you engage in combat or not, your overworld treks will be more enjoyable than they were in the previous game. The playfield in this one isn't scrunched, thank goodness. And while they don't exactly rank among the PCE's best, Burai II's field graphics annihilate its predecessor's. You'll revisit many locations from the first game, but you might not even recognize them at first because they look so much better here.

The cinemas are interesting in that they have more of a "hand-drawn" look to them than most of the anime-style material in PCE RPGs.

They look somewhat simplistic at times, but they're neat as a one-time sort of thing, and there are plenty of them, especially towards the end. The conclusion, which has sort of a Final Fantasy X vibe for a bit, is pretty cool.

This is a sequel that revisits its roots in many ways and usually improves on the way things were. Your old party members return, but they're a much more balanced lot now. They still have to take care of personal business before gradually coming together, but the game is split into episodes that are longer and larger in scope than the previous chapter's mini-quests. You'll still be assailed by mini-bosses, and there are still numerous secrets to stumble upon. The event scenes feature cinema-style art as opposed to the abstract drawings in the first Burai, and there's more overt humor this time around, a lot of which involves the furry duo, who engage in such antics as dancing and putting on concerts to raise cash.

Burai II is certainly a successful effort, but there are a few not-so-positive things to note about it. After you've assembled a seven- or eight-character party, random battles can take an extremely long time. Aside from selecting actions for all those characters and watching their magic-spell light shows, you'll have to take care of enemies who can withstand lots of hits and perform attacks that do damage to each of your party members, one at a time.

Still, I've seen worse, and this problem really plagues only a couple of episodes. In fact, the last area of all is packed with enemies who go down quickly. But while it isn't much of a challenge, that last area can take quite a long time to get through, and it doesn't allow you to save your game as you proceed. It's a cool final stretch, with lots of cinemas and bosses, and it provides plenty of healing spots, but you'll have to set aside a lot of time to play through it, and there's always that chance that you might screw up at some point.

And I should warn prospective buyers that the game occasionally freezes at the end of battles. Luckily, the old "tapping trick" has worked every single time this has happened to me. So just give your system a few taps or tosses, and everything should get back on track. B2 has never completely crashed on me.