Neutopia
Reviewed by Michael LoCascio
It's only natural for people to attempt to emulate those who
have reached the pinnacle of success. NEC probably took a
look at Nintendo's incredibly popular NES and realized that
they could learn a thing or two from the masters of gaming.
Their fledgling Turbografx-16 machine was conspicuously low
on role-playing games at the time, so who could blame NEC
for trying to recreate one of the best adventure titles ever
created for their new system. However, there's a certain
point at which 'emulating' degenerates into 'copying',
and NEC really pushed the borderline with Neutopia.
To put it bluntly, Neutopia is little more than a rip-off of
Nintendo's original The Legend of Zelda. The two games look
the same, feel the same, and play the same. Sure there are a
few differences: the hero's name in Neutopia is Jazeta
rather than Link. Instead of Princess Zelda being kidnapped
by an evildoer named Gannon, Princess Aurora is abducted by
the villainous Dirth. And while Zelda requires you to find
eight pieces of the Triforce (each of which can be found in
a dungeon), Neutopia demands that you acquire eight
medallions (each of which can be found in a dungeon). Pretty
significant differences, huh?
Most every aspect of Neutopia's game play has been lifted
from The Legend of Zelda. In case you've never had the
pleasure of playing that classic cart, the action is viewed
from an angled, overhead perspective, and the adventure
takes you through two different principal locations: an
overworld and an underworld. The overworld is a bright,
colorful place where you'll be able to conduct limitless
exploration as you search for items, shops, and of course,
the entryways to the underworld. Upon penetrating one of
these entrances, you will find yourself in a dark, elaborate
labyrinth that you'll need to make your way through before
obtaining one of the medallions. Each medallion, of course,
is guarded by an enormous, dangerous boss creature.
Jazeta controls in the exact same manner as Link did in The
Legend of Zelda. One button is perennially used to swing
Jazeta's sword, while various other items that you stumble
upon during your adventure (such as bombs) can be assigned
to the second button. The control pad can be used to make
Jazeta walk in any of four different directions (much like
Link, Jazeta cannot move diagonally). The controls are
incredibly easy to master, although Jazeta's limited
maneuverability can prove to be a minor source of
frustration when the action begins to pick up.
Reminiscent of a certain NES game that I've already
mentioned numerous times, the action in Neutopia takes place
one screen at a time. When you move Jazeta to the edge of
the screen, the action will pause for a split second as the
screen scrolls over to give you a look at the next area that
you can explore. The dungeons are made up of numerous
rectangular rooms, and you'll need to tackle each room one
at a time. There will be plenty of locked doors that will
require the use of a key to open, as well as shutters that
will only let you pass after you've completed a certain task
(be it killing all of the enemies in a room or moving a
particular block in the correct direction). You'll also be
able to obtain a map in each dungeon that will display the
layout of the labyrinth you're in, as well as a compass that
will guide you to the boss. By the way - does any of this
sound familiar?
As you might expect, the one department in which Neutopia is
drastically different from The Legend of Zelda is graphics.
This is a much more colorful game than Zelda, and the
enemies here are far more detailed than the beasts that Link
had to contend with. Despite the attention to detail,
however, the characters are a bit small (with the notable
exception of the bosses, of course), and none of the visuals
are exceedingly impressive considering that this is a 16-bit
game. Jazeta himself is a short, chubby, bearded fellow -
not exactly your prototypical knight in shining armor (then
again, who would have thought that some silly little child
in green pajamas would become one of the most well-known
heroes in video game history?).
The music in Neutopia basically alternates between being
loud and upbeat (during the overworld scenes) and sinister
and low key (while you're making your way through the
dungeons). It's certainly easy on the ears, but there's
nothing particularly noteworthy or surprising here. There
certainly aren't any tracks that are nearly as memorable as
the now-famous overworld theme in The Legend of Zelda.
To be fair, Neutopia is a longer, larger game than the title
which it is patterned after. While The Legend of Zelda
contained only a single gigantic overworld, Neutopia is made
up of four different worlds for you to explore.
Unfortunately, Jazeta has an easier task ahead of him than
Link did, as the enemies in Neutopia are largely pushovers.
You won't have to deal with any enemies in this game that
are half as irritating as the Darknuts that gave so many
players fits in Zelda.
To be blunt once again: Neutopia is a heck of a lot of fun
to play. Yes, it's almost an exact carbon-copy of The Legend
of Zelda - but hey, Zelda was one of the best games of all
time. NEC may have shamelessly reproduced another company's
game for their system - but they pulled it off perfectly.
Whether or not you should purchase this game entirely comes
down to whether or not you enjoyed the original Zelda. If
The Legend of Zelda was one of your favorite NES games, then
chances are you'll love what NEC did with it. Just remember,
though, you're not going to find anything new here.
Overall: 8 out of 10
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