13 January 2007—Neutopia Review

You've heard the story before. This game is nothing more than a Legend of Zelda rip-off. Bascially, that's a fair assessment and Hudson's entry into the action-adventure genre is guilty as charged. But let's get back to the game and the story...

You are a young warrior named Jazeta. The princess (a.k.a. Zelda) has been kidnapped by the evil Dirth (a.k.a. Ganon) and the king has sent you on a mission to rescue her. Once, Dirth was imprisoned when eight wise men drew on the power of eight medallions. Now you must explore four different worlds, find the eight labyrinths, and discover the medallinos therein.

Overall, the game isn't nearly as difficult as Zelda. While some players may appreciate this fact, it was a disappointment for me. I was particularly unimpressed when I found out that Neutopia does not offer a second quest.

The bottom line is that this is a Zelda clone with beefier graphics. While I've seen some sites claim that it improves on the original, I challenge them to make a sophisticated argument why. The Legend of Zelda is deep and iconic in it's simplicity meets gameplay depth. Neutopia, on the other hand, is an unabashed Zelda clone. Still, it's a competent clone, and although it's much easier than its predecessor, it's still a very good game; in fact it's one of the best adventure games available for the TurboGrafx-16.

Graphics: 8.0

The visuals in this game are very solid, but they retain a blocky sort of sprite-conscious feel and while it's much more colorful and detailed than the real Legend of Zelda, the imagination and level design fail to really take advantage of the TurboGrafx-16 hardware.

Sound 7.0

The sound chip for the TurboGrafx-16 was the biggest stumbling point for game developers. Neutopia's music definitely sounds better in terms of technical quality, but at the same time the music itself is not as inspired as the soundtrack of the real Zelda.

Gameplay: 8.5

Once again, the gameplay it extremely similar to Zelda. You can attack in four directions with you sword as well as a secondary weapon (i.e. magic wand or bombs). What bothers me is that you can obtain the long distance weapon (magic wand) so early in the quest that it makes the rest of the game much easier. The pacing and development is off here.

Overall: 8.0

Yes, everything is more beautiful and colorful, but there are some fundamental shortcomings in terms of inspiration and gameplay. Neutopia was released in the United States three years after The Legend of Zelda, and on superior hardware to boot! Despite the obvious advantages, Hudson Soft chose to imitate rather than innovate. Nevertheless, even as a Zelda-wannabe Neutopia is an excellent adventure game for this console. Just remember to check out the real deal, too.