Sorcerer's Kingdom (1992)

This is Sorcerer's Kingdom for the Sega Genesis.  I didn't know what to expect when I saw this cover.  When I popped this bad boy in, I was expecting the theme from Neverending Story to start belting out of my Sega.  Sadly, that's not the case.  Originally developed by NCS. Corp, it was localized by Treco and brought to the states.  At first glance, it may appear to be another dime a dozen RPG for the Sega, but it is a little more than that.  Let's see how this game holds up.

Story- How many times have we seen the screen above in an RPG?  Too many time to count.  You play as our (Insert Name) green haired hero, the son of a hero who has gone missing after searching for a great treasure.  The king has decided to give you a chance to make a name for yourself.  Later in the game, you will find out that the forces of evil have been capturing the Spirits of the world.  In order to save the world, you must destroy the Black Dragon, who we receive absolutely no backstory on.  Yeah, it's not much of a plot, especially for an RPG.  In addition, character development is pretty much nonexistant.  In most RPGs, you become acquainted with your other heroes and learn about their past.  In this game, the pink haired Scout decided to follow you because she wants to save the world or something.  Thin story and virtually no character interaction.  Not a good way to start an RPG.

You play as Joker and his gang of misfits.

Graphics- The graphics are decent for an RPG on the Sega.  There's nothing that really grabs me about this game.  The backgrounds are fairly well made and colorful, but don't stand out from any other RPG coming out at the time.  It's no Secret of Mana, but it doesn't have to be.  Many spell effects, particularly the area effect spells like Firestorm and Spark, are pretty impressive for the time.  There aren't many creatures in this game.  Excluding palette swaps, I don't think there could be more than 25 sprites.  For an RPG, that's pretty lackluster.  Enemies are pretty standard, as well.  Trolls, goblins, skeletons, bubbles.  Nothing new to see here.
Sound- This is probably the strongest aspect of Sorcerer's Kingdom.  It doesn't have the orchestral feel of larger RPGs on the SNES, but it still has some pretty catchy music.  Remember, the Sega didn't have the musical capabilities of the Super Nintendo.  It just didn't have the same hardware.  Below is the main 'boss' theme of the game.    

  Gameplay- Here is where the game really takes a nosedive.  In most conventional RPGs, your party gets to coordinate attacks as a group.  It is up to you to use the party as a whole to overcome the odds.  Sorcerer's Kingdom says, "To hell with all of that.  Let's have it where every enemy can attack you, but only one member of your party can attack a turn.  Yeah, let's go with that!"  I cannot begin to describe how flawed this concept is, but I can certainly try.  Look at this screen below.  Do you see all those goblins?  For

every one attack you get, every one of those little shits gets one.  This is especially difficult in the beginning, where your character is weaker than a toddler.
This game suffers from one of the most ridiculous difficulty curves I've ever seen in a game.  Most RPGs will throw some low level enemies like bubbles and flies to get you easy experience.  In this game, the first enemy in the game will kill you in about three hits.  Bear in mind, that's if you're only fighting one.  I can't tell you how many times I've had to use the RUN option to run away to the inn like a blubbering pussy.  However, as soon as you buy an item as meager as a leather helmet, you're Billy Badass.  Goblins will practically run on your sword after that.  There's not much middle ground in this game. Either you're getting your ass handed to you, or you're dealing it out.

There's some strategy in moving around, but it mainly boils
down to just bashing the hell out of each other.

Because only one person can attack per turn, it is inevitable that your party will become vastly unbalanced.  No matter how hard you try to maintain an even keel, your other fighters will not be as important as our main hero.  In addition, there is a part at the end of the game where you obtain a powerful sword that increases the hero's attack threefold.  This is great for your main character, but it diminishes every other member of the party to role of 'supporting character'.  It gets to the point where members of your party cannot damage the enemies at the end.  I've never seen that in an RPG.
There may be some people that enjoy this style of fighting, but it just isn't very suiting for a team-based RPG.  Sometimes games utilize the same old fighting system for a reason: because it works. I did get used to the system eventually, so it's not a crippling factor.  However, it did make me wish I was playing a bettter RPG like Shining Force.
For as tough as the initial battles are, the Boss battles are generally a joke.  The last boss in particular is a major letdown, both in appearance and difficulty.  He's on the back of the box, by the way.  Really adds to the mystique, doesn't it?  On that downer note, some of the bosses are pretty cool.  I had a lot of fun with the Lich and the Warlock battles.



Final Thoughts- All in all, it's a relatively mediocre RPG.  The graphics are decent and the music can be very good in parts, but the gameplay and story are heavily lacking.  It all boils down to a very forgettable RPG for the Sega.  With a few minor tweaks, it could have been a forgotten gem that was overshadowed by far more popular RPGs.
Rating (out of 5)- **1/2