Alundra Review

NNGGGHH! Accurately describes the noise I emitted when I read that the PSVita was now compatible with PSOne games and that Alundra was among the first batch of ports. Back when my only source of income was pocket money and the fiver I received every holiday from my grandmother (The same amount still because the bitch doesn’t understand inflation), I rented the shit out of both Alundra and Alundra 2. I really have no idea why I didn’t catch on that buying the game worked out far cheaper than renting each one 3-4 times but I was young and I’m pretty sure a very slow mental developer.

As the Vita doesn’t ‘yet’ have the ability to download PSOne games directly from the store you must first download them to a Ps3 system and then move them over using the content manager. All in all the process adds another five minutes but I sat cross-legged two feet away from the screen like a six year old and watched that progress bar fill. When that eternity passed I clicked play…

THAT HEALTH WARNING!
THAT PLAYSTATION LOGO!
THAT PLEASURED MOAN INDUCING PLAYSTATION LOGO MUSIC!

It was all too much! I went weak at the knees and had my brother make me a cup of tea. The Vita, just like its predecessor allows for the user to put the game in sleep mode which comes in handy if like me you find the nostalgia trip to be just overpowering or maybe you have like, social constraints, girlfriends, drugs or whatever the cool kids get up to nowadays.

With tea drunk and Mcvitie masticated I tried again. Alundra is a classic 90’s “…the fuck?” tale, you begin your adventure on the deck of a ship as a young man called Alundra (like the title) who can jump into people’s dreams and fight the nightmares that plague them. During the voyage to Inoa, a village Alundra’s dreams told him to visit the ship sinks supposedly along with the grunting crewmembers. However lucky ‘Lundra finds himself washed ashore where he is taken in by the paternal sword smith Jess. Soon after your arrival on the island the inhabitants of the viliage begin to suffer from horrendous nightmares and it is up to you and your shit kicking dream powers to sort it out.

Jumping, puzzles, loadsa weapons and dungeons are the name of the game in Alundra. It’s easy to see why so many critics compare it to the Legend of Zelda series considering its time of release and the abundant similarities, but just like not every First-person-RPG is a copy of Morrowind, Alundra is defiantly its own game and a good one at that, taking only the best elements of what makes the Zelda franchise so amazing. The dungeons always contain new mechanics usually revolving round a new weapon you find inside, the promise of a new toy that will allow me to advance and mercilessly murder mundane monsters is a feature that still makes me giddy when I play the newer Zeldas.

Despite the game being developed in Japan the English translation is really impressive, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be confused… you’ll be more confused but that’s just because of the bullshit overarching story line, the dialogue is top notch and generally avoids clichés, a rarity in 90’s RPGs. The speech fits the games settings well and characters felt incredibly personalised considering their multitude. I actually spoke to people even if I didn’t have to, mostly in an attempt to get a grasp on what the fuck was going on but also because they said interesting things like “Yo brah! Let’s go shank up some dream ghosts and shit.” (Ghetto localised version only)

I have no idea how I completed it as a child, most likely sheer persistence and determination because It is a seriously tough game to beat! The jumping puzzles (Fuck jumping puzzles.) are hard even with the responsive controls, I found myself wishing they were worse so I could blame something other than the retarded meat fists I call hands. There is also a slight issue with the graphics and fixed camera angle making it difficult to discern different heights and distances. These ‘puzzles’ really slowed me down but I still clocked around 60 hours in a week and a half (Don’t worry I disgust myself enough for the both of us). For £3.99 I struggle to find a reason not to buy it so go on, the future (past) is upon us, we can play finally play PS1 games on the Vita. Go and buy all the nostalgia your bitter heart needs to make you feel like that little kid again.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.