It is interesting to look back on the import coverage of old video game magazines. I can admit to spending a lot of time looking at the ads in the back of EGM and Gamefan showing off what looked like cool Japanese games that would never come to the US. Fausseté Amour was one of those titles. All I had to go on were a few scant screenshots but it looked like the coolest thing in the world. It would be many long years before I would buy it. That’s years of built up anticipation but even with that in mind the game is average at best.
The gameplay in Fausseté Amour is a mélange of ideas cribbed from various titles. As in Ghosts ‘N Goblins main heroine Coruk loses her armor when hit, with another equaling death. Her extendable baton doubles as a weapon and means of transportation. Your main attack is like Simon Belmont’s whip except faster. Like Castlevania IV you can attack in nearly every direction. You have three magic spells (red star, blue wave, and green balls) that honestly are useless. The baton can grapple most surfaces allowing you to climb or swing around. It’s kind of similar to Bionic Commando although it isn’t as well executed as that game. The mainly female cast and fantasy world were definitely inspired by Valis. In fact you could easily mistake this for a game in that series!
At first Fausseté Amour looks like the perfect synthesis of Valis and Bionic Commando. In some ways it does bear that out. But it totally botches the execution of such a dope premise. The controls aren’t very tight which is surprising as this is a two button game. Pressing jump twice will extend your baton to latch onto a surface. You can pull yourself up, swing to build momentum, or launch into an invincible flip attack. None of these actions are intuitive and latching onto surfaces can be frustrating. This ruins what should have been the best level in the game. And I really don’t like having to jump in order to use magic. That being said you can get used to the controls although they are less than ideal.
Fausseté Amour has interesting mechanics but does very little with any of them. Most levels are incredibly straightforward as you collect three crystals in order to face the end level boss. There are very few branching paths and what little platforming there is is brain dead simple. It picks up considerably in the last two levels; honestly even with the blind leaps and troublesome swing mechanics these stages show what could have been if the game weren’t so focused on titillation.
Aside from being boring there is an almost complete lack of any challenge in Fausseté Amour. Although you can only sustain two hits that poses little threat. Extra armor is spaced within a few feet of each other at every turn. The game literally tosses extra lives in your path. With very little exploration I had almost nine lives by the time I hit the third stage. It picks up somewhat in the fifth stage but that is due to the wonky swinging mechanics. Aside from the occasional tricky boss battle few will have any trouble breezing through the game.
I’m keeping it PG-13 here but it gets much more risque.
The presentation is both impressive and disappointing. The game has a rich color palette which gives it a vibrant look few games from that era matched. The game excels at tossing around large, well animated sprites with the creative bosses being the game’s visual highlight. Many of the backgrounds are flush with detail which makes it all the more disappointing that there is no scrolling whatsoever.
It is clear the bulk of the game’s budget went into its cutscenes. I wish I could say they are well animated but they aren’t. There is only the barest minimum of animation in these cutscenes. The real reason the game is peppered with so many is to squeeze in as much fan service as possible. The camera tends to focus on Coruk’s behind while all of the female bosses assume submissive poses once defeated. There is also a bit of nudity here and there, most prominently when Coruk dies. Upon death her clothes shatter and she falls naked to the ground. I’m not a prude but it is a bit gratuitous and serves no purpose in the game.
In Closing
I wanted to like Fausseté Amour but I just can’t. There are some good ideas buried under lackluster execution. There are better games in the genre to spend your money on, like the entire Valis series. Considering this runs about two or three hundred dollars used it is easy to avoid. Find your thrills elsewhere.
