Neutopia II

Developer: Hudson Soft     Publisher: Hudson Soft     Released: 1992     Genre: Action Rpg

Neutopia was a breath of fresh air for Turbo Grafx fans looking for an RPG of some sort early on. Granted its RPG elements were slight but still. While the game was a blatant Zelda clone it was enjoyable despite being so derivative. Neutopia II does little to shed that status and while decent the novelty of having a title like Zelda is long gone. In its place is a game that hits the basics and nothing more. The game is still entertaining for what it is but you can’t help but expected more from it.

The land of Neutopia has enjoyed a brief era of peace after the defeat of Dirth. But it isn’t long before Dirth returns to terrorize the world once again. The hero Jazeta sets out to stop Dirth but disappears, leaving the world hopeless. Now it is up to his son to follow in his footsteps, find his dad and overcome this evil. Neutopia II has a little more story than its predecessor as there are more NPCs and such. But it is still mostly fluff in the end. You are here for the gameplay, not a riveting story.

Neutopia II is an iterative sequel that does not stray from the foundation laid down by its predecessor. The first improvement is eight-way movement. The ability to walk in any direction is freeing and enriches the general gameplay greatly. Unfortunately the maps and enemy movement still follow the four-way grid of the first system making it hard to consistently line up attacks or dodge hits. Some items like the Rainbow Drop require precision to use which can be frustrating at times. But on the whole the new movement system is a positive even if its implementation is not perfect.

Pretty much all of the items from the original return in addition to a few new ones. There is a boomerang which functions as you would expect. The twist is that you must catch it or you lose it and have to buy another. The cool fire staff is joined by wind and lightning staves. Just as before as your maximum health increases their effects evolve and become more devastating. My personal favorite is the flail. This long distance weapon covers nearly the entire screen and can spin after each swing. The catch is that it costs ten gold per swing. Money is not an issue in this game but its use still has to be tempered.

Neutopia split its overworld into four distinct districts. Neutopia II instead features one big map. There are still unique regions but they are not separated by temples. The world has towns to buy supplies and people to offer hints or expository dialogue. To an extent you have the freedom to explore as you see fit. But you still need to complete all dungeons in a set order as each subsequent dungeon will either require an item from the previous to access or continue. Neutopia II does not offer the same level of incentive to explore its map as in similar titles. The vast majority (I mean vast) of hidden rooms you find are people telling you the obvious. There are few upgrades and you will be none the worse for ignoring them.

In the same way the game’s mechanics have not evolved the dungeon design is still more of the same. Neutopia never used dungeon specific items for puzzle solving. Instead puzzles fell in two categories: block pushing and clearing the screen to move on. That remains the same here. The layouts have become more complex but nearly every room boils down to the same thing in all eight of Neutopia II’s dungeons. It becomes extremely tedious as they grow in size: the Twin Towers are an excessive slog. I do appreciate that in every dungeon there are multiple paths to the boss. I just wish the developers did something to spice them up aside from changing the color palette and enemies.

In Conclusion

If you liked Neutopia then you will like Neutopia II. The two games are near identical so you know what to expect. The improvements are slight and it is a solid adventure. But I can’t help being disappointed that they did not try and do more. Whether it is worth playing depends on how much you enjoyed the original and if you want more of that. At this point you are spoiled for choice if you want a Zelda like adventure with the likes of Okami, Blossom Tales, and Hyper Lifter Drifter available dirt cheap.