Released in 1990, Actraiser was one of the earliest but by far one of the best games for the SNES. It combined 2 different game play styles into 1 game perfectly. You start off the game waking up from a deep sleep where you are told that the world has been overrun by demons and monsters and that you need to reclaim the world from them. You then go down into the world to fight off those demons. Once you have beaten the first of 2 levels per area in the world then the game switches from a side-scrolling fighting style into a top down city building style. The city building is very basic but still enjoyable as there are monsters to defeat in that mode as well. These 2 modes are switched back and forth multiple times over the course of the game which keeps each mode fresh and enjoyable.

Graphics 9/10 – this game is beautiful, especially for 1990 but even if it were made a few years later I would still consider it one of the nicest looking SNES games ever made.

The side scrolling part first – the level design is amazing. Every single level is unique and vividly made. There is no wasted space on any of these levels. If there is a background it is well filled in but not to the point where it feels cluttered but natural. The character you use to fight with is also really well done. Looks very clean. The animation is quick but looks good. The controls are mostly good to use. It takes a bit of getting used to in relation to jumping because if you make a big jump you seem to really fly to the side that you jumped towards more than you would expect. That is not a big deal though. The enemies are also really well done. Each level and area of the world have unique monsters for them. There is very little repetition in monsters design which really helps this game stay fresh and enjoyable.

The top town city building part now – while not as nicely drawn as the side-scrolling portion you should not expect it to be. It is a higher up view do detail should be less common. You spent most of your time as an angel that shoots arrows at monsters that fly around. There are only 4 types of monsters (or demons) in the over world view which feels like it is a bit small. Even 1 or 2 more would have felt a bit more rounded out. There were levels involving a fair bit of fire and ice respectively so a monster unique to those areas using those elements against you would have been nice. Getting frozen or taking a bit of extra immolation damage would have been neat. That is a minor complaint though.

The city building itself is pretty basic but the building and city designs vary from area to area enough that it is interesting to see how the building deigns will progress. There are also the occasional hidden items hidden among the world that you can find which adds a bit of fun to the over world. There is another element this game has which I had never seen before. The world contains obstacles (trees, rocks, swamp, desert, ocean) that you must use your “god-like” powers to remove. You can call down lightning to get rid of trees or rocks that are in the way, sunshine to dry up the swamp, rain to clear away a desert or an earthquake to fill in an ocean and allow you to reach an island area that would otherwise be inaccessible. There is also an occasion to use wind though it feels a bit lame and otherwise would not be in the game. The animations for these powers is repetitive but the fact that they were included adds a fun look to the game that would otherwise be really boring without. Overall though the graphics were extremely well done. Small improvements could have been made but they are very minor.

Sound 10/10 – I do not think I have given a 10 for sound before but this game deserves it! For the most part the music does not sound like you are playing a video game at all. It sounds more like an orchestra playing the music than the normal 8 or 16 bit sounds that a lot of other games were stuck with. I think the only track that does not sound like orchestra is the regular over world theme. That one sounds a bit artificial. The rest though are absolutely stellar tracks that really build the theme and feel of this game beyond what it otherwise would have been.

Even the sounds in the side-scrolling portion of the gameplay worked so well. You can tell that the developers put a lot of time into the music and the sound of the game. There are certain tracks in certain levels where the action matches the sound perfectly. It is hard to describe without a video track to go along with the review but if you have played the game you can probably think of a couple of those spots. Overall I can not say enough good stuff about the music for this game. In my opinion it is up there with the best of the best from Final Fantasy and other games like that which are known for their music being top notch.

Addictiveness 10/10 – I do not know how many times I have played this game through but it is a lot. This was another game I had when I was growing up and I beat it so many times it nearly became second nature to me. Except Northwall. That area was always more of a challenge than the rest.

Still, the mixed gameplay styles and the varied level designs and music all combine for a very enjoyable gaming experience. I never got tired of playing this game. I could sit down and start playing this game again and lose an hour without even noticing. And this is not a maybe sort of thing. I know I will sit down sometime in the next 3 months and play this game again. It is that much fun in my opinion.

Story 8/10 – I personally love the story of this game. You are basically God of the world that you can see. For some reason the Devil and his minions attacked you a while ago and did you enough harm that you retreated back to heaven and took some time away to rest and rejuvenate and come back when you were ready. In that time the world was divided into six areas for the 6 minions that helped the Devil defeat you. Your job becomes going into each area to defeat those minions and build up the population of people back up to what it used to be. You are able to interact with the people (in limited ways) and there is some back and forth story going on with them. Things happen to people and you choose whether or not to help them. I have never chose not to because I know what the reward of helping is so I do not know if not helping makes you miss out or not. Still, there are lots of extras and hidden items that you can get by helping the people out or directing them to things. It is not the best story for a game ever but it does give a good reason for both sides of the gameplay in the game so I think it does a great job in that way.

Depth 7/10 – this rating was tough for me. The game has a lot going on in its favor. There are 12 side-scrolling levels and 6 city building areas to “beat”. Once you know what you are doing this does not take that long to do. However, I think the interesting part is the interconnection between some of the areas. An item you get in one area becomes useful in another area of the game. It is pretty obvious what you need to do in most cases but I do like the extra effort put in there.

Overall the game does not take too long to beat but because you are free to go through the game in whatever order you want it does allow for some interesting variety if you care to attempt it.

Difficulty 7/10 – Actraiser is far from a hard game to play but it is not simple either. The most difficult part is definitely the side-scrolling levels. Like most side-scrollers there are pits, spikes and water/lava etc to fall into and die instantly. While this is not a huge problem there are definitely areas of the game where this is a regular possibility. That is where most of the difficulty comes from. Most of the regular enemies are pretty easy to dispatch once you learn their mechanics.

The bosses are also not the most difficult ever designed. However, there are a few that can cause trouble because of the level design associated with them. The first boss of Bloodpool is tough because he is pretty tough to hit a lot of the time and moving back and forth between the platforms on either side can result in death if you miss the jump or get hit during it. There is also the flying snake boss in the first Atos level (I believe). You basically stand on a platform as wide as you are and fight a snake that is flying around. There are other similarly sized platforms around that you can jump to as well but the risk of falling is pretty high. Most of the rest of the bosses that I can think of just require you to be cautious while fighting them until you learn their fight pattern.

Overall 8.5/10 – this might be one of the highest ratings I have given so far (when I factored each area equally) and it is deserved. This game is fantastic. A few more story elements would have been welcomed. Maybe more challenging story elements would have made it more interesting. The city building could have been a tiny bit more varied or complex and that would have made that portion of the game more fun. The difficulty was spot on in my opinion. Hard enough that you were not able to walk through a level without any danger to your life but also not so difficult that you wanted to throw the controller because you died 10 seconds into the level.

I think this game did just about everything right. The graphics were stunning, the music was unreal and the gameplay was addictive. And remember, this was 1990, not 1995. Very few SNES games at this time were this well made. I highly recommend this game to anyone who wants to try out an absolute gem on the SNES that is not always given the credit it deserves.

geeogree : Last night I finished Actraiser 2 snes.....was slow but fantastic game.....great story.....

I love this game.
I probably beat it and played it  as many times through as you did, if not more.
Another spot on review though.

One thing you missed.
There is the challenge mode that skips the building part and makes the game into purely an action platformer, much like the 2nd Actraiser (although I like this one a lot better) after you beat the game. I feel like that might bump the difficulty to 8 or 9 if you play that mode. :3

Vanelan : fair enough about that mode. I didn't even consider bringing it up because I play through the normal game and ignore that mode. I honestly don't know if I've ever played it. Now I need to beat the game to try it out.

geeogree : Its hidden on the main screen.
I believe you press select and it shows the "professional" mode.

Vanelan : I'll do that after. I've already started playing the game again and I want to finish it first. I'll probably be ready to do that later tonight