ABS Project

Intro

"ABS Project" was developed by AznChipmunk for the Ghostlight Demo Day event. Though more importantly to me is that AznChipmunk was also the developer for "~ABS". "~ABS" was another attempt by AznChipmunk at making an active battle system work in RPG Maker 2003 and was a massive failure in my opinion since combat boiled down to attrition. Sadly, this issue plagues "ABS Project" as well, but I suppose I should talk about the story. Or at least what little we get in this demo.

Story

Story wise we learn that we've been invited to a tournament in Osaka and need to take a train to get there. Along the way will need to deal with wolves and shape shifting lambs that turn into lions. Or you can simply just walk past all of those obstacles and run into an unavoidable boss that demands to put your skills to the test before you can board the train for Osaka. Can you take this challenger down and prove yourself worthy of taking part in the tournament?

Well if you do prove yourself worthy you'll either be elated or disappointed that the game ends once you've boarded the train. So you don't actually get to participate in the tournament where you can really showcase your skills or lack of them.

Gameplay

The game starts out by offering you the chance to choose between playing as a male or female character and choosing a preferred weapon type. Unfortunately the only available choice is the female sword wielder which the game refers to as a samurai. Oddly enough this disappoints me on two fronts. For starters I had being presented with options that aren't really options. If I wanted to deal with that kind of frustration I could go play "Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories" on the PS1. My other issue is that the term female samurai doesn't make any sense. It would be like talking about a female bachelor.

I imagine I'm one of the few that would actually care about such a minor detail, but just grinds my gears. Which I imagine some would argue is quite odd considering how awful my spelling and grammar can be in some of these reviews.

At any rate once we get past selecting the only character we can play as were thrust into a battle with a ninja. A ninja that will gleefully walk into our attacks and allow us to run away. Unfortunately the ninja is one of the few characters you can actually pull this strategy off with in my experience since most of the other enemies attack so quickly that the game basically just boils down to who can kill who first as you take turns trying to kill each other.

And I suppose this is the inherit problem with melee weapons in these types of games. They really need to be able to hit from further out while the enemy is still forced to close the gap in order to make avoiding damage even possible. This is why I really I wanted to play as a character that could chuck some ninja stars in this game. It would make it possible to try and avoid damage at least.

Though the game also manages to make battle more annoying then it needs to be in my opinion by allowing the character to slip in and out of battle mode based on there being threats nearby. The problem is the range for battle mode is pretty small so it's pretty easy to slip in and out of it repeatedly while fighting a single enemy.



A better option in my opinion would have tied being in battle mode to maps where fights take place. That way the player doesn't have to see a constant flash as they move in and out of combat range in an attempt to perform hit and run tactics. Albeit those hit and run tactics will most likely fail as previously mentioned.

Graphics

Graphically the game is mostly alright, but still manages to throw me for a loop since most enemies transform into other creatures when attacking. Admittedly the game mentions this at the start of the game, but it doesn't make seeing a lamb turn into a lion an less awkward in my opinion.



Sound

The sound effects and music are serviceable. And that's about all I have to say about them since the game doesn't include any tracks that are so good or so well placed that you'll actually notice them. About the only other thing I can say about them is that at least some of the tracks are most definitely not from the RTP since I got hit with copyright claims on my Let's Play for the demo about two of them.

Conclusion

At the end of the day "ABS Project" is just another example of how difficult it is to create a functional active battle system in RPG Maker 2003. Some would even argue this task is basically impossible to carry out, but that the attempt should be admired. I on the other hand am of the opinion that putting a lot of effort into a combat system that is going to be less enjoyable then the default combat system for RPG Maker 2003 is a waste of time and effort. As such, I recommend staying away from this game unless you like taking turns hitting each other in a game that shouldn't feel like you and the enemy are taking turns. About the only bright side this project has over "~ABS" is that enemies don't magically lock up when you swing your weapon.