OUR RATING: 8.2 GREAT About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 9 Visuals: 8 Audio: 7 Value: 8 Quality: 8

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 8.2 SUGGESTION: N/A

The Shining series is one of Sega's high quality role playing games. Dating back to the 16-bit days of the Sega Genesis, the Shining series consisted of different games that featured different gameplay mechanics. Shining Force focused on tactical strategy, and Shining Soul was a more action-oriented game worthy of the name 'dungeon-crawler.'

Shining Force is noteworthy for being one of the first games to make use of a tactical strategy battle system'a turn-based battle system in which your party members, or army units, can move from space to space engaging in a war on the opponent. It is said that games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Ogre Battle are based upon this system. The series currently consists with three games, two being on the Genesis and Shining Force 3 on the Saturn.

Resurrection of the Dark Dragon is Sega's GBA remake of the Genesis classic being published by Atlus. The game includes an array of new options, a few new characters, improved audio and visuals, and a slew of other new elements to make gamers unfortunate enough to play the first experience how great this masterpiece still is.

The game begins with a bored child talking to a woman with a book. This is where the game tells you to start the game and where all your information is kept. As she reads the story of the Shining Force, the game begins.

You're put in the footsteps of a young warrior named Max, who you'll be able to rename, in the village of Guardiana. Under the care of a monk named Varios, Max learns how to hone his skills with a sword'a talent he's always had. The whereabouts of Max's birth are unknown at the time, but he ended up in Guardiana by being washed ashore at the local beach. Since the accident, he's been suffering from amnesia and doesn't know about his past. Meanwhile, at the king's palace, a dark mage named Darksol interrogates the king asking him about the Gate of the Ancients. With this knowledge, Max sets off on a journey to calm the disturbance at the gate and perhaps find the secrets about his past along the way.

Though you can actively control Max throughout the non-battle gameplay in the game, Shining Force doesn't really have much of an exploring factor like most other role-playing games do. To progress through the game, you're going to have to communicate with other people around you and hope to gain some friends. Like most RPG's, you can't travel alone. So out of the people you talk to, some will hope to join your cause and bring peace back to the world. Then if you want to continue progressing through the game, you'll have to fight your way out of every situation.

As you leave town to work on the king's assignment, before your first battle, you'll meet the first of three new characters in the game. The wizard called Mawlock likes to speak with rhyme to our hero, and he says something about cards. Cards play a big factor to the game later on.