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Deserves to stay Backstage.

Dark Gaia plays and reviews Backstage by Legion

I'll start off by saying that I am a massive fan of horror games and practically jump onto every new one I find with unmatched enthusiasm. As such a huge fan of horror games, I have an interest in RM horror games as well (I have even made my own) so I decided to play Backstage, a game which has been hyped as a "true horror classic".

I'm sorry, but I don't see what the fuss has been about. The game looks mediocre and inconsistent, the atmosphere is weak, the game itself unscary, and the gameplay quite buggy.

There's a decent story to Backstage which I'll admit I did enjoy. In short, you play a confused man named Tom Keller who stops into a conveniance store one night to buy cigarettes and becomes consumed by a teriible alternate reality filled with monsters and forgotten memories from his own past. It's very Silent Hill, and I like that.
As Tom, you must make your way through the nightmare and discover the secrets that it holds, but this is no easy task.

That would be because the game is so hard to play. There are puzzles, but only a few and nothing to get you stuck on, the main problem with the gameplay is the custom battle system which Legion made for this game. How it works is that the outcome of combat is immediately decided by the weapon you're holding and where the enemy has attacked you from. It's a good concept and could have worked out well, but it just happens far too quickly and seems to random for you to understand what you are doing wrong. Many times I held a powerful weapon and attacked enemies from behind only to find myself quickly put on the ground in a pool of my own blood.
You also don't get to choose what weapon you are using, but this isn't as much of a gripe as the overall gameplay.
The survival horror concept is there, but it just seems tacked on and not fully realized.

The environments you explore are mapped decently. They resemble the locations they are supposed to quite well, and are set out so that they are quite fun to explore. However, the mapping does have it's shortcomings. For one, the mapping styles used are far too inconsistant. For example, you can be exploring a building mapped entirely in RTP then leave to emerge in a map made of Mack tiles. Sometimes the two are mixed together and this is simply horrible mapping. The RTP stands out like a sore thumb and it detracts from the atmosphere. Other graphics, such as the characters and enemies however, are done well and the enemies are suitably disturbing (as they should be).

Finally, the sound in Backstage is mediocre at best. It's a mix of music taken from games such as Silent Hill mixed with many custom industrial, metal type tracks and some authentic heavy metal MP3s.
Some of the tracks are chosen well and fit the situation, but most of them seem out of place and take from the atmosphere. For example, exploring the later areas of the game could be a lot scarier except that a heacy metal track is playing.
The game just never really establishes a scary atmosphere, and what it does establish falls apart quickly.

So, as you can tell, I didn't really enjoy Backstage as much as I could have. The game in my opinion has good concepts and a good story, but fails to realize that potential in execution.
If you are very bored and need something to do, then Backstage is a decent game to play, but if it's a horror experience you're going for, you're much better off with The Longing Ribbon or Ravenwood Horror.

Posts

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Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Ouch, harsh criticism from someone who can't spell "definitely", "Max McGee", "convenience store", "terrible", or "Keller".

I can't wait to play your games and see what I can learn from the master. I just know it won't be how to spell. : )

-MM

P.S. Sorry for the snarky comments, I'm in a bad mood all the time these days because of work. I will say this, though; there is ABSOLUTELY NO METAL in Backstage. Sadly. : (
i actually loved this game, although im fairly new to thee types of games, i think i can still give a good opinion on this game.
first of all, i think that games are not all about how well the game is mapped and how baddly RTP tiles stand out (bullshit reason if you ask me) the game is actually quite fun to play and stood out from other games like ravenwood horror and the longing ribbon.
i loved the idea of short battle scenes, (one thing that pissed my off from traditional RPG games is that treacherously long battle scene that hits you from no where). i also loved the origionality in the story line, its had me thinking for a many hours at night about the story and what would unfold next.

i think this game deserves a 4/5 but some better comments

p.s. i think that my chemical romance song was TOTTALLY out of place.. but it did make me luagh!
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Retract my dickish May, 2009 comments now that I've seen how a mean review actually looks.

Poopit. You should submit a review. If you even still post on this site.

Anyway this review was harsh (and not imho all that fair) but the score wasn't completely damning. In hindsight it reminds me of a game informer review where the score is disproportionately high compared to the content. Seriously, it's not uncommon to see that magazine give a score a 7.5 out of ten and then describe the game being reviewed as "the worst thing ever".
Well, in all fairness I'm quite a harsh reviewer. Consequently I enjoyed the game's story and I did enjoy playing it from start to finish but I have rather high standards. I'm also a hypocrite as my game One Night uses the exact same battle system I criticised.

I should have given a FEW more points.
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