SHINESS
From Naruto to Ninja Gaiden: noughties nostalgia in a nutshell
The action kicks off with two vaguely pirate-y cat-men piloting an airship – your first clue, perhaps, that this isn’t going to be the tonal kick-up-thebackside the cliché-ridden RPG genre needs. Indeed, within moments of pressing the start button, our heroes crash-land in a kingdom plagued by magical imbalances. An RPG Cliché Event Horizon is triggered, dooming us all to a lifetime of fighting bats in caves and naming our firstborn things like ‘Kain’ or ‘Cid’. But while Shiness’ plot might be about as original as the Klimt painting in your gran’s spare room, this indie effort still manages to push the genre forward in its own small way, blending game styles to provide a punchy, streamlined alternative to the bloat of 100-hour mainstream RPGs.
Particularly slick is the way overworld exploration smoothly transitions into one-on-one battles. Once you’ve been spotted by an enemy (or, preferably, when you deliver a pre-emptive strike), you’re immediately enclosed in a circular arena with your new playmate. The combat is deceptively simple, consisting of a few punch and kick attacks, plus a roll, but RPG elements are introduced via the ability to assign support functions to the rest of your party.
There are hidden depths, too. Certain attacks work best at certain ranges, while the arena itself changes colour as it cycles through the elements, amplifying magic attacks when they’re in sync with their surroundings. Your performance is scored at the end of each round, like in fighting games such as Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden, and S ranks bag you rarer loot, which can be used to forge powerful equipment.
BRAWL FOR ONE
Comparisons to such games are unkind at best, however. While hack-and-slashers empower you to carve a swathe through huge armies, Shiness has to remain true to its RPG core, meaning it has a vested interest in ensuring your enemy gets its licks in too. To retain balance, dodges are stodgy and parry windows stingy. You can never just get stuck in like you’d want to, and that can feel frustrating. Overworld puzzles, too, often fail to tax or delight. You can only take three of your five members along with you at any time, and this often leaves level design feeling hamstrung, as it’s unable to explore each character’s powers as ingeniously as it might.
A patchwork offering sewn together from various influences from the early 21st century, Shiness is a nostalgia trip. It inherits much of the clumsy design and storytelling that plagued noughties-era RPGs, yet it’s peppered with modern concessions that ensure it doesn’t drag on or overload with padding like the genre can at its unchecked worst. The result is a charmingly clunky yarn that doesn’t wow, but has more to offer than clichés alone.
VERDICT
Draws intelligently from numerous influences, yet fails to craft an identity of its own. A snack-sized RPG that’s a serviceable side-quest to tackle between epics. Alex Dale