That is, for as bad of a first impression as the story and presentation make, they somehow take on a bit of charm after a while. The story keeps going and going, unwaveringly, and in time, you might begin to appreciate it for its single-minded consistency, if not for the many, many laughably ham-fisted lines. And the game's early attempts at humor fall about as flat as its failed attempts to be serious. Max is inadvertently presented as this spoiled goody-two-shoes, the kind of guy who makes you root for the villain. It's the sort of stuff that gives anime its nerdy stigma. The story unfolds mostly through spoken dialogue matched with different character portraits, and neither these drawings, the voice work, nor the dialogue itself is particularly good. The story in Shining Force Neo is pretty predictable and often drags on for much longer than necessary given the straightforward plot, not to mention the straightforward gameplay. During the course of his quest to save the world, Max will meet numerous companions-many of which aren't even human, like Baron, a snooty monocle-wearing werewolf-and together they'll battle many thousands of foes, including swarms of interdimensional insectlike things called the legion.

Basically there's a great evil that's trying to make a comeback, and Max winds up searching for a mysterious masked man who seems to be the cause of a lot of bad things. Together with his childhood friend Meryl, with whom romantic tension is awkwardly established early on, Max ends up fighting off some of the threat, only to discover something far more sinister. He gets his chance fairly early on, as it seems monsters have invaded his homeland, surrounding the town of Greensleeves. The hero of the story is Max, a whiny red-haired teen who aspires to be a great warrior like his father.

Max isn't exactly the coolest character on the block, but on the plus side, you're going to end up getting him killed hundreds of times as you play through Shining Force Neo. It's a long game whose simplistic but satisfying combat can be quite addictive, but mostly for meticulous players who don't get frustrated easily. Shining Force Neo stands out to a certain extent because of its long-winded storytelling and crazily bad voice acting, as well as its chaotic and sometimes very tough battles featuring dozens of enemies onscreen at once.

Instead, Shining Force Neo is a fairly conventional action RPG, similar to games like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Diablo, but imbued with an anime look and feel. That's because this latest game to represent the series that originated about 15 years ago plays nothing like the turn-based, strategic combat sequences that earned the series its recognition. Oddly enough, it may be for the best if you're unfamiliar with Sega's classic Shining Force series of strategy role-playing games before delving into Shining Force Neo.

Shining force neo map