Developer: Face Publisher: Face Release: 12/07/90 Genre: Platformer
Platforming fans had a rough go of it on the Turbo Grafx. While SNES and Genesis owners were spoiled for choice in the US the pickings were slim for NEC fans. But the truth is in Japan the situation was not much better. There are gems here and there but for the most part the furry action genre is not the system’s strong suit. Fushigi no Yume no Alice is a disappointing game with an interesting premise. Sloppy controls and off the charts difficulty ruin this one.
Alice is a simple country girl who loves fairy stories. One night while she was sleeping, she had a very strange dream. A white rabbit appeared, and begged for Alice’s help; the dream world has been conquered by Mammon, and only Alice can restore peace and save the inhabitants of dream world! Despite the story and familiar characters Fushigi no Yume no Alice is not an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. It borrows the characters but tells its own “story”. I say story loosely because outside of its premise and two lines of dialogue after rescuing dream world inhabitants it is non-existent.
Alice is armed with a sonic scream as her only means of attack. The scream travels the length of the screen but you can only launch one at a time. You can charge it for a louder yell, but the difference is negligible. If you charge too long Alice runs out of breath and remains immobile and defenseless while recovering. Oddly enough her most powerful attack is bouncing on heads. However the hit detection makes landing this one consistently tricky.
After every major boss battle Alice gains a new tome of magic. Each grants a different spell with different effects. You start with red magic which makes hidden items visible. Blue is the most useful as it greatly increases your jumping prowess. The green spell is essentially your smart bomb. It summons a switch that once stepped on causes an earthquake that damages all enemies. The silver spell grants temporary invincibility which is indispensable in the final stages. But it costs two points of magic to cast. You do not get to use the final gold spell long. This summons a Djinn that assists you briefly. It has the heftiest cost at three magic points. Unfortunately as useful as magic is, it is not available during boss battles. This is an odd choice as it is not game breaking and you can use all the help you can get.
The first thing you will notice with Fushigi no Yume is the controls. Alice is a slippery character and slides around a bit after every movement. This makes platforming tricky and frustrating. A significant portion of the game calls on your platforming skills with elaborate setups the control can barely accommodate. The slippery control also makes you less likely to want to explore each of the levels as you will want to get it over with as soon as possible. Unfortunately you need to explore as the health and magic extensions are near mandatory to complete the game. Normally it is fun to explore for secrets. But in this game it is a chore that you will want to engage with as little as possible.
The other disappointing aspect is the repetition. There are five worlds with multiple levels. But both the first and third forest worlds look near identical. There are new enemies but the motif and layouts are far too similar. The final two worlds, the palace and nightmare are longer than they need to be as well. Even worse, the bosses begin to repeat after a mere two levels! Don’t get me wrong I like the bosses as they are challenging but fun. But that fast? This is not a long game so the fact that it runs out of ideas so quickly despite its dream like premise is disappointing.
Despite Fushigi no Yume’s cute exterior the game is incredibly difficult. The game starts off moderate at first but ramps up fast as the levels become more populated with enemies. The shout attack is woefully underpowered and inadequate in most situations. Stomping on enemies is better but the inconsistent hit detection means there is a 50/50 chance you will take damage. You are better off avoiding combat in most cases. It is a tall order to reach the bosses with a decent amount of health. Despite that their patterns are easy to recognize and they are fun despite being repetitive. The difficulty spikes so hard in the last two levels it is almost comical. Someone definitely did not want you to reach the game’s conclusion. It is so brief I can see why.
In Closing
Fushigi no Yume no Alice is a decent enough action game. But it lacks the polish to make it great. With tighter controls and some measure of balance in its difficulty it could have been good. As is the game is a frustrating mess. You are better off buying Son Son II or the various Valis titles for your action platforming kicks.
