Company: Square Soft

Size: 24 Mb

Reviewer: Kathy, 25

Rating: (1 to 10) 7

In Secret of Evermore, you start out as a young movie buff with a crazy 'do who apparently watches every movie known to man with his dog. On your way out of the theatre, your dog chases a cat and the two of you wind up in a seemingly abandoned old laboratory of sorts. When your dog chews on some cords, the two of you are warped into an unknown world, the land of Evermore. This begins a long journey through a wonderful adventure much like the many movies you have watched. The world is filled with four very different areas, each with its own leader and their evil twin. Your quest is to rid the world of the evil twins, and eventually restore peace to their respective lands.

After playing Secret of Mana, I purchased this game assuming it would be as good as (or better) than its predecessor. I was somewhat disappointed. The story line and plot are interesting and different, but soon you will realize that your dog quickly becomes much more powerful than you. (In fact, I switched to the dog in order to beat the final boss.) Unfortunately, the boy and his dog are the extent of your playable characters.

To be fair, though, there are a few interesting attributes to the game:

The magic in SoM uses various blends of alchemy ingredients, which can either be bought or sniffed out by your dog. You are also able to summon the good twins using call beads during a battle. This allows you to use each of their unique magic spells.

You can easily get caught up in the buying/selling/trading going on at the Antiqua marketplace. You can have fun there if you have lots of time on your hands. If you don't, you can easily get frustrated and lose lots of money and good items.

The graphics, music, and sound effects are very well done. I would certainly recommend anyone who likes RPG's rent this game, or borrow a friend's copy and play it through, but if you are looking for a good game to purchase, get Secret of Mana or Lufia 2 (Though not a Squaresoft game, it contains all the wonderful elements that RPGers CRAVE)

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