Underrated Game: Shadow Madness

Underrated game: Shadow Madness

   I can't seem to recall how I stumbled onto Shadow Madness, but it was sometime around the ages of 16 or 17. If you've never heard of this obscure game, you're not alone. It was Craveyards attempt at cashing in on the JRPG trend after Legend of Dragoon was a hit.

   Part of the reason why it is so obscure is because some aspects of the game, namely character design and complate lack of difficulty, were terrible. For being an $80 title at release, it was pretty bad.

   So if I'm bashing it so far, why is it underrated, you ask? Because if you're willing to look past all of the cringey characters and sweepingly easy battles, you might unearth its very compelling redeeming qualities: Music, dialogue, and plit/storyline.

   As soon as I started playing it, I noticed how cheesy the characters were. What kept me playing was the music, composed by Brad Spear. Namely the calm haunting tune of the Mountain Pass. I would dare say the music in this game is comparable to the soundtracks of its competitors, Legend of Dragoon and Final Fantasy VIII.

   After awhile, I also became immersed in the plot and the dialogue between characters. These things are so masterfully written, that the fact the character design is so lame doesn't sting much, the further you play into it.

   Let's talk about that difficulty issue though. My guess is that the game was rushed to release before it could be tested. That said, they seemed to overlook the fact that the difficulty wasn't scaled to compensate for character improvement. So the difficulty is the same throughout the entire game, while your characters only get stronger and stronger, until eventually, you're one-hitting everything. The game actually starts out immediately difficult. In fact, you may have to do-over the very beginning a few times to make it to the first save point.

    All things considered, Shadow Madness is worth at least one play-through. One more saving grace is that the final boss fight does not fail to deliver, not in difficulty or in spectacle.