Mercenary: Episode 1

First, a bit about me...this is the SECOND review I've posted. I am playing selected completed games in order of being posted on this site.

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Mercenary: Episode 1 is a short, maybe 2-3 hours? game entirely set in a forest, and featuring battles with creatures roaming the maps. The game was technically fine, apart from a minor cosmetic issue where creatures might initiate battles halfway through moving onto a tile and, after dying, complete their movement. I simply didn't find this game particularly engaging.

STORY
The story is interesting, but I felt that it gave the bare essentials of what's going on and didn't really appeal to the imagination. Why is there a war anyway? I'm not sure it's consistent either: your three mercenaries are helping a squad of soldiers, which undermines the point of General Balton needing to hiring mercenaries in the first place. Perhaps these issues will be addressed in sequels (if any are planned).

There is some light humour here and there, which is nice.

GAMEPLAY
After the intro I felt as if I had been thrown straight into the middle of a game that had been going for a while, which might faze a newcomer to RPGs.

The maps seem fairly large, which means a little more travelling than I usually enjoy.

I liked Mona's ability to Observe an enemy, which added to the story elements.

Gameplay was mainly based on having the player completely explore the forest maps. After a while this became somewhat tedious, especially as the maps were large and dark and some backtracking was required.

SUMMARY
This game gets 3/5 from me, which I think is fair - in theatre/film reviews this is "Good".