The Sword of Hope II (Virtual Console)

Once upon an Amiga, role-playing games were very different affairs, with players choosing to move up, down, left, and right through static images of their surroundings and simple text used to describe exactly what was going on in each scene.

Sword of Hope II, originally released back in 1996 for the Game Boy, adhered to this blueprint, throwing the now-popular turn-based RPG battling in for good measure.

A Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console release for the title allows us to go back to this Japanese classic. As it turns out, it isn't as cumbersome as we expected.

Dragonforce

Prince Theo catches wind of an evil presence in a nearby temple, and decides to scout it out. His suspicions prove accurate, but unfortunately he's too late to stop the evil presence from emerging and wreaking havoc.

It's your job to hunt down the nasty creature and kill it before it does too much damage.

Sword of Hope II initially feels a bit too retro for its own good, with turn-based fighting that spells out each and every move to you in full sentences, and exploration that you simply couldn't get away with in a modern day release.

It's slow to get going, too, with very linear progression and battles that consist of hitting A over and over again to perform default attacks against incredibly weak enemies.

Stick with it, however, and you'll find an experience that is oddly enticing. It may not be a looker, with an interface comprising more words and menus than most players will be comfortable with, but there's a certain charm to it all.

Hopeful

Part of this is down to the story, which is both corny and entertaining at the same time.

You actually begin to care about Theo and his party. The tiny static box images that they appear in do a great job of making you feel like you really are galavanting around a make-believe world, despite being crudely drawn.

It's a careful balance of the good and the bad, with the good prevailing. We constantly found ourselves annoyed by the visuals, the menus, and the general layout of the game, yet we nevertheless wanted to strive onwards and see where the adventure would take us.

Sword of Hope II is retro RPG fodder for fanatics of the genre, but those who aren't so much into exploration and turn-based battling shouldn't write it off - there's plenty here to keep everybody occupied.