Product Info
Title:
Almana no Kiseki
Developer:
Konami
Publisher:
Konami
Genre:
Action
Price:
2980.00
Description:
Many 80s and 90s video games were rip-offs of popular action movies –
Golden Axe was Conan the Barbarian, Contra is basically a combination
of Rambo, Aliens, and Predator. Few were quite as blatant as Almana no
Kiseki (sometimes called Arumana no Kiseki, translated as “The Miracle
of Almana”), though, which hews closely to Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom. It tells the story of an Indian village, whose sacred
stone is stolen by a mysterious force, turning all of its inhabitants to
stone. The only one who can save them is an outsider named Kaito,
who, as one would expect, wears a fedora.
The main draw here is the grappling hook, which is used to get
around the game's sprawling, multi-directionally scrolling stages. In this
way, it seems like the developers were inspired by the whip-swinging of
Indy's adventures, but wanted something to set it apart, both from the
movies and Konami's more popular Castlevania series. Taking a cue from
a concept in Roc'n Rope, an earlier arcade game also from Konami, the
hook is tossed diagonally upwards – if it latches onto something, then
you can climb upward onto higher ground. This actually predates
Capcom's Bionic Commando, though its implementation is a little off.
It's not always clear which pieces of scenery you can climb through and
which ones you can't, due to the odd collision detection. Certain
obstacles also become very difficult thanks to the infinitely spawning
enemies. The hook travels with your character movement, too, which
doesn't make sense. This means that instead of jumping and throwing a
grappling hook to reach a high area, you need to toss it and then jump.
The hero has an assortment of weapons, all limited in use – knives,
a pistol, bolas, bombs (mostly used for blowing open hidden passages),
and an item that destroys everything on the screen at the same time.
However, new weapons are in constant supply, and there are lots of
bonus items to hunt for, including pendants to expand your life gauge.
The boss battles are varied, too, including one where you fight a gigantic
river dragon while riding on a raft. There's also the ubiquitous mine cart
stage, no doubt owing its existence to Temple of Doom.
While the physics are a little dicey, Almana no Kiseki is still pretty
decent. Traversing the levels with the hook is rather fun when you're not
dealing with the numerous hidden traps or irritating enemies. It’s better
than the actual Temple of Doom arcade/NES game, at the least. The
music, by Castlevania's Kinuyo Yamashita, hums along perfectly, too,
with the main tune putting the extra FDS channels to good use. Rough
around the edges, but still one of the better games on the platform.