Dark Arms ~Beast Busters 1999~ review by Torture

When SNK announced Beast Busters for the Neo Geo Pocket, I was somewhat interested in the game, but I was more interested in how SNK would present the game for the NGP. After all, this was originally a gun game, which just would not work on the NGP. When SNK finally revealed some details and screens for the game, I have to say, I was less than impressed. The screens were poor, and the game didn’t sound so interesting at first. After some time, I checked back on the development progress, and I was genuinely impressed by what I saw. The story was fleshed out a bit, and the screens were very good. Just a bit before release, I was very excited to get my hands on it. I also heard, however, that the game was extremely short, which I didn’t like hearing. When I finally got it though, I was definitely not disappointed.

Graphics
Without meaning to sound redundant, Dark Arms looks very good, as do many other NGP titles. The game sprites look very good. The main character looks a bit simple at first, but the design is more than adequate. After progressing into the game a bit, and developing certain arms, the main character’s appearance can change slightly, as some arms are very large, while others provide armor. The enemy characters look very good, and are well designed. The enemies vary considerably in size, and design. Overall, the characters look very good. Even better than the characters are the environments, which are composed of many colors. The game has both day and night, so each location looks different to reflect the time change, which is a nice tough graphically. As with many other NGP games, the still artwork for story development and cutscenes is fabulous, as we’ve come to expect from SNK’s NGP development.

Sound
I like the sound in Dark Arms. Almost right away, I noticed that the music, while still simple, sounded very spooky, which fits in with the mood of the game. Many sound effects, similarly, seem to fit. One of my favorite sound effects is for the tentacle weapons, as it is the sound I expected to hear for something like that. Other sound effects are just adequate, and are the usual portable stuff. On the whole, the sound ranges from average to good, which I like.

Gameplay
Dark Arms is a top-down view action-adventure game, similar to Gauntlet in some ways, but it moves at a different pace. Dark Arms is a slower game, which focuses on weapon development rather than just going around and destroying monsters. You start out with a weapon called a cathcer, a weapon you’ll have all game. The catcher does not kill monsters, but rather captures them. After leaving a level and going back to the Master house, the captured monsters can be used to feed the weapons you have created, using seeds and oums found throughout the game. Once a weapon is fed enough, it can evolve into a more powerful weapon of that type. Certain monsters give weapons one of three affinities: water, fire, or electricity. These strengths affect the amount of damage the weapon can do to monsters, based on a rock, paper scissors scheme. Each trip to the Master house causes the time of day to shift between day and night, and the time of day causes different monsters to show up, so the only way to catch all the monsters is to play through levels at both times. The in game action is very simple, just going around and taking care of the monsters, solving an occasional puzzle, and talking to the villagers. But the game formula is effective and fun, and the monster collection enhances the experience, as it is a good reason to revisit areas of the game you’ve passed.

Overall
Dark arms turned out to be a very fun action game. There aren’t too many action games on the NGP, and even fewer of this type. Being different from other action games like Metal Slug make this game stand out on its own. The game plays very well, and the weapon development and monster collection add to the entire experience. Each weapon requires different strategy, and each situation requires different weapons and approaches. Despite all the good qualities, there are some negatives, as always. First, the game is short. I am happy to report that it isn’t as short as everyone made it out to be, and I think it’s good enough. It may not be long enough for other people, so take that into account before buying it. Also, the game seems a bit random at some points, like when chasing after the small white witches. I was getting frustrated looking for them, especially when they showed up in places I’d already been numerous times. All in all though, it’s a well made game, and was a fun experience that I’ll def initely come back to in the future.