1999 seems to be remake year for the people in Elf Corporation (A remake of Dokyusei I is slated for release late August 1999) and this time, we're blessed with a remake of the RPG classic Wordsworth, originally released for the PC-98 platform (the PC-98 was the most popular PC in the eighties and early nineties in Japan).

"Glittering of the light cast shadow, the more the Light below, the more the Shadow deepens. God placed a stone on the border to prevent conflict and engraved holy words on it. The stone, guardian of eternity and truth, the sentinel of peace, was named Words Worth. A long time has passed and washed away the legend and something broke Words Worth into pieces. From that time on, Light and Shadow struggle to engross the truth engraved on the stone. When this conflict came to an end, Words Worth will quietly tell us the truth."

In this conflict between the light and dark, you play as the prince of the dark kingdom, a young man that would much rather go catch bugs than go fight 'those evil people from the overworld that destroyed Words Worth' and your father is quite happy to oblige...but then comes your childhood friend and fiance, Sharon.

Sharon has become a fighter to fight the Forces of Light and confides that she's 'attracted to strong men' and urges you to become strong if you wish to marry her. But there is no way your father would approve of such actions...what to do?

While the story in this game may not be the most original that ever came about, it more than makes up for that with its huge cast of characters and strong personality that each one has. Each and every character is well suited to their role and always keeps their actions in character. In fact, I'd venture as to say that the no name Soldiers that are featured in this game (Soldier Of Darkness A, B, etc) feel more alive than characters that are featured in most RPGs. This strong characterization and a strong cast of supporting characters gives this RPG a real atmosphere around it.

For example, we have the comic duo Catora (The Skeleton with a heart) and Stallion (The Horse with a burning desire to mate) that argue with each other constantly while remaining true to each other. Then there is Hyde, another friend of yours that is ashamed of the fact that he is a weak coward. Such characters make this game worth playing and leave you to wonder how each one will develop as the game progresses.

The dialogue is well thought out and written, with almost each character having his or her own manner of speech. Every single line of speech is spoken in this game (except your own) and the Seiyuu quality is excellent. There are also many humorous passages in the game as well, which are sure to crack you up every once in a while.

Another thing of note is the character designs from the famous designer Rin-Sin, who also did the designs for many other Elf Hits, such as the Dokyusei series and the Dragon Knight series. Her designs, as well as being beautiful in themselves (16 bit color! YAY!), go very well with each character's voice and style, which gives that feeling that its the character just fits perfectly. There are well over 100 CG's in this game and the Review Event feature in the Omake section makes sure you can see them again once you've cleared the game. One thing you should note is that a good deal of these CGs are etchi, and while there is little actual sex in the game (only a few scenes come to mind), there is definitely CGs that are of sexual nature so if you don't think you can't handle it, well...you've been warned.

The battle engine (the entire System Engine for that matter) is done entirely in 3-D so in order for you to play, you really should have a good 3D Card, such as the Voodoo 2/3 or the TNT/TNT2. While it IS possible for you play in software mode, this really takes away from the enjoyment from the game so it's not recommended. The game is viewed in the first person perspective, a la Might and Magic and the Ultima Underground series. However, it plays more like an action RPG, with you basically slashing (You're not a magic user) your way through the game. While this is a bit repetitive, I found it quite fun to do and have spent countless hours leveling up for the next boss. While none of the other characters actually join your party, you will meet them countless times over your long journey which gives the feeling that they're actually there fighting with you.

You are limited to three types of weapons during this game. They are the Single Hand Sword, the Two-Hand Sword (Look Ma, no shield!), and the Bow. While they each do their jobs decently, with each type having its strengths and weaknesses, (such as the two-hand sword's trade of speed and defensive power for damage, and the bow's sacrifice of power and speed with LONG reload times for a ranged attack) I can't help but feel that they could've added more variety to the weapons. For instance, the enemies use a spear, so why can't you? Heck some of them shoot their fingernails at you...at least that's what it looked like.

All the enemies you will fight are 3D rendered and, while none of them are texture mapped, they are still well designed and look smooth all around (none of the blocky characters as in FFVII). The only complaint I have against them is that while they do have more than 1 method of attack, they still tend to attack in rather predictable patterns and they also respawn whenever you go through a door. While this doesn't take away from the fun you'll get out of the game, I've found it to be a bit annoying.

However, this 3D engine is not good at everything. While the engine is great for the underground dungeons that 85% of the game takes place in, it does horrible in the woods and only average in the towns. The rendering in the woods is especially horrible and if it wasn't for the auto map feature you can access at any time in the game, you'll be lost in there for ages. Good thing you have teleportation devices to skip the woods once you've cleared them!

The music in the game is quite catchy but not particularly great, since it's done all in MIDI. Be sure to have a good wavetable or you won't be able to appreciate the good tracks, especially the opening one, which I thought was particularly good. There are still a number of nice tracks in the game, about a dozen of them in fact. Midi lovers are sure to appreciate the huge number of tracks in the game (about 50).

The control for this game can be handled in a few ways. One is the complete mouse approach. While this does make it easy for you, with its intuitive interface on the screen, I have found it less than optimal for quick movements. Instead, I used the keyboard. The people are Elf Corp. graciously made the entire number pad (on the right) to have almost every single command that is used in the game, and I've found this much easier to use.

Overall, this is one of the most entertaining RPGs that I've played this year, and with its 5 possible endings and beautiful graphics, it is sure to be a great hit when it is ported to the Saturn as its last RPG sometime in the year 2000. If you have JWin and are looking for a good PC RPG to play besides the Ys Eternal series and the Studio E.go! games, be sure to pick this one up! Lets just hope the 3D engine somehow manages to stay intact when the Saturn Version comes out. But, even if isn't, since Elf has expanded on the game itself in every single port from PC to Console, perhaps we'll get an extra few characters and Endings as compensation. We'll have to wait and see what the future brings us!

Flames? Corrections? E-mail me :P