Broken Gauntlet

Broken Gauntlet is one of the few relatively rare Tactics/Strategy RPGs made with the RPG Maker software that is actually playable, in the sense that it can be played start to finish without a game-breaking bug appearing. However, aside from the tactical battle system the game has little to offer.

Story (2/5) - The story of Broken Gauntlet can be summarized very easily: There really isn't one. The game opens immediately in some kind of fort, and you find out that you recently completed your training. You are then sent to talk to another character who immediately joins your party, and she too has also just completed her training. You then must dispatch all monsters on the island, travel to the next island, meet an occasional new character and hear a little bit of plot, dispatch the monsters there, etc.

Graphics (3/5) - The game uses pretty basic and generic-looking sprites. If I remember correctly, the second character's initial sprite in the base was not the same she had in battle and in all following scenes, so it broke the consistency a little bit. During battles, many animations would not appear near the targeted enemy. Regular enemy attacks had no animations, and simply displayed a number or the "Miss" and "Evade" phrases. Environments were sparsely decorated, which is understandable for a Tactical RPG, but the occasional plant would have been nice.

Audio (3/5) - The title screen's music was somber and serious, and betrayed the comedic, almost satirical nature of the game itself. Other music was used more appropriately, but the battle theme quickly became annoying after a few battles, and would have been nice if it changed for boss battles or different environments. The soundtrack itself is some somewhat common premium themes, but they're not the default RTP and suited the game itself.

Gameplay (3/5) - The battle system functioned well, but there was a surprising lack of a tutorial considering how drastically different the gameplay is compared to traditional RPGs. The first few battles went smoothly enough, but the addition of an overpowered party member for the first boss fight felt unnecessary as the boss could have simply been weaker, instead of turning into a one-on-one battle between the temporary party member and the boss. After a while, the battles seemed to just drag on, and I found myself wishing there was a fast-forward button. If there was, I wasn't able to find it. But as far as functionality goes, this game is entirely playable.

Overall (3/5) - Broken Gauntlet serves as a very good example of what can be done with scripting and eventing in the newer RPG Maker software. As a tech demo or scripting showcase, it does very well. As a game, it falls short in many aspects, especially the story, which in most cases is what differentiates an RPG from any other genre. You won't find anything revolutionary here, but if the system were to be improved and expanded upon, then there is the potential for some more diversity in the future of RPG Maker games.