Character

Hello!
Character is a game I played a lot of time ago in 2017/2018 but I forgot it until recently, probably because this RPGmaker 2000 game made by Yellow Magic (author of many other games I played, so far I reviewed this one, Iris and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - The jRPG) is just a 10 minutes demo. A prologue of a more complex story, to be precise, anyway there are some aspects I liked a lot, so that's why we're here!

The game starts with us controlling Louis, a member of the Red Eagles, a group of criminals. Together with two other gangsters, Ray and Will, he's going to have a meeting with Alastair, the boss of the Blue Tigers, a rival criminal organization. The situation is tense, but three Red Eagles inside the territory a rival gang should be wary and pay attention to what they say and do, since they're outnumbered...
Anyway, after a short speech, our Louis guns down Alastair shocking both the Blue Tigers and his associates! What's going on? Is truly Louis what he seems? Play and see how this short adventure ends (even if the main page here gives some more info about the plot and you can imagine what's going on!).


Oh he sounds like a Bond villain, too bad he'll soon won't be so pleased of this visit! At all!

Character is a little linear scenario, and no, Louis is clearly not what he seems: in the series of battles against the Blue Tigers you will notice that while his allies Will and Ray have more "mundane" special abilities (knife slice, first aid, trip etc.) Louis has a sort of "unleash hidden power skill" that basically makes him stronger, tougher and able to inflict lots of damage with just his standard attack. However his true nature will be explained at the end og the scenario, but mind two things:
1 - There are no save points and you cannot save before the series of battles with the Blue Tigers so play safe!
2 - The team starts with some consumables (usable both to heal and revive characters), anyway it seems that IF Louis dies it's instant Game Over.
In any case do not worry, the battles won't be too challenging if you know that to do.

Visually there is not muxh to say: the game uses some classic rpgmaker graphics and edits, in order to create a realistic modern setting, one of the aspects that initially attracted me. Mapping is overall pretty good, ok there aren't lots of locations but these are well made and populated, you can also talk with some characters and it's all good aside for a couple of typos.
Music is used VERY sparingly, the game is silent in many parts, including the menu screen, and that's something I did not expect, anyway where it's used music is pretty good. Sounds are instead used well and appropriate, and for the most part these are just doors opening/closing and gunfire.

The story is linear but very intriguing, after this "mini-mission" we learn something more about our protagonist and his skills, because, as you can guess, the real adventure and mission starts at the end of this demo! What a pity.


This game has battles but no option to save to take your precautions! I hated those stun grenade attacks!

Final Verdict
Character seems to be loosely based on the novel Transition by Iain Banks, published in 2009, but I never read it so I cannot say more, even if apparently this has something to do with individuals who have learned how to possess and control bodies from anywhere on the planet. What instead I can confirm is that while this is a really short experience (just including cutscenes and some really classic rpgmaker battles), like A Dust Tale it creates a captivating setting and intriguing plot that made me curious. And sad when the demo ended. Ok, if you read until here you probably know what you can expect from this short demo, and if you're curious I suggest to play it, just do not expect hours of gaming or a fully completed story (that's why there is no rating!). That's it!