Introduction

The OutCast Rebellion is the third entry in the OutCast series and the first to feature a new pair of siblings as the main characters. But does this change in cast represent a bright new future for the series or is this game just as flawed as previous entries?

Is This Game a Remake?

Redwall10 describes this game as a remake of the original game, but I dispute this for a multitude of reasons. As I mentioned previously this game features a new pair of siblings as the star characters. And while the game does have a similar plot the stakes have also been lowered rather significantly in my opinion going from our young heroes trying to save their fellow villagers from the bonds of slavery to saving your father and his night club.

But what really prevents this game from being a remake or even a reboot to the franchise is that it clearly mentions Chris during one of the cut scenes and establishes that this game and the events that occur within it take place well after the original two games.

Grammar, Spelling, and Word Usage

If there is one aspect of RedWall10's games that he could stand to improve it would be his English. Yes, I realize that RedWall10's first language isn't English, but it doesn't change the fact that the spelling, grammar, and word usage in this game is horrible. Thankfully the game balances this issue out a little bit by being unintentionally hilarious at times. A few good examples of this is when one of the villains states that she will "inter dos" herself and that she is "soaps" to stop you. Another good example is when another female NPC complains about how the world is filled with hate and "violins" and how it doesn't solve anything.

While I'll try not to hold these issue against the game to much. I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider this a problem that should be addressed. Unintentional laughs aside RedWall10's continued refusals to either refine his spelling and grammar or seek help from others for his projects is really beginning to bug me. It especially gets under my skin when he openly admits that he doesn't give two shits about this issue. Even if your making games for fun, if your going to put them out there for others to play then you should put your best foot forward so that your fans or potential fans will enjoy themselves and promote your work for its quality rather then people drawing attention to it for its numerous failings.

Prologue

A prologue can be an effective story telling tool when used correctly. Unfortunately, RedWall10 fails to do so. The puprose of a prologue is to setup background information that the player needs in order to understand the plot or help to establish the current situation and the setting. The information provided in the prologue of this game is largely redundant. This is because the game doesn't start out where the prologue ends, but instead has Sethos and his sister trying to get to their father's night club on the day he was shot and kidnapped.

Another minor issue with the prologue is that it refers to the main characters as being named Seth and Taine, but when it comes to the actual game they are referred to as Sethos and Tafne. It just boggles my mind that RedWall10 could get the names of his own characters consistently wrong over the course of an entire game.

Best Story Moment

The best scene in this game is watching Mr. Smith describe why he joined the police force since it helps to establish him as a character, but what truly defines this moment is Mr. Smith declaring that all of the other races are the natural enemies of black people. This scene helps to cement the human nature of the heroes since even they can't escape the constraints of racism in its entirety. Of course, this moment is also undermined by all of the spelling and grammar errors that riddled the dialogue.

Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things the game is rather flawed in my opinion. So, to save on time I'm going to list the major problems, minor problems, and positive aspects of this game in that order. So faster your seat belts since here is my list of major problems with this game:

1) Magic damage in this game appears to be set so there is no reason to either improve your magical attack power or improve your magic defense. The only counter you have to magic is to raise your HP stat, but even that isn't a guarantee since a few of the regular enemies hit for such massive damage with magic they are guaranteed to take you out if they use it.

2) After Sethos acquires the legendary holy sword the game sends you back to the starting town, but it also strips you of all of your levels and any upgraded equipment you had purchased or found over the course of the game.

3) The legendary holy sword actually makes Sethos a less effective fighter since it only allows him to attack once per a turn instead of allowing him to chain attacks like he could do before.

Well, with the major problems out of the way its time to list the minor problems in my opinion:

1) The game is to grind heavy in my opinion. Since the only effective counter to magic damage in this game is to raise your HP you'll need to grind out enough levels to build up your HP and ATK stats sufficiently to defeat the bosses in this game. The fact that you'll need to grind like this twice only adds to my frustration with the amount of grinding you'll need to do.

2) The only shop in this game to feature different equipment is the last one and all of the items it carries are inferior to the two shops that came before it.

3) It's impossible to change Bastet's equipment for some reason.

And with that list out of the way its time to list off a few good things about this game from my perspective:

1) The game features a random encounter system and turn-based combat.

2) The balance between the bosses and the player's party isn't to bad as long as you go into boss fights with characters that are all level 9 and above and put a decent amount of points into HP.

3) The game gives you total control over the stat placement for your characters.

Graphical

Graphically speaking the game is rather mixed in my opinion. While the mapping for the various areas isn't that bad a lot of the building placements and interiors are shamelessly recycled at times. On the plus side the game does feature a decent amount of enemy variety, but all of the encounters in this game feature you facing off against multiple copies of the same enemy. The only exception to this rule are the early boss fights.

Sound

In terms of background music the game is rather solid. The various selections for this game tend to fit the situation and help to give this game a unique feel since they aren't your standard RTP songs.

Notable Bugs

Well, despite the name of this section the game only contains one major bug. If you talk to the cop behind the desk that is on your left when you enter the second police station after you've taken out the corrupt cops it will cause the game to lock up as it tries to reactivate the cut scene just before the fight with the corrupt officers.

Conclusion

The OutCast Rebellion is a rather mixed project in my opinion. The game has to many things wrong with it to be great or even good, but it doesn't contain enough bad elements to be considered subpar. Even so I wouldn't really recommend this title to anyone since it can be difficult to follow because of all of the spelling errors, grammar issues, and incorrect word choices.