SCND Genesis: Legends Review

The SCND Genesis: Legends is a “RTS-fighting” game created by Ifunga Ndana based on the web comic SCND Genesis. I think the game is worth a try although you may or may not like it, depending on your tastes. I thought it was pretty good.

When you start it up and see the menu for the first time, you notice some things. The first thing you may notice is the fact that the music is shockingly beautiful, magnificent and memorable, and is quite hard to describe without you hearing it for yourself. The second thing you will notice is that there are three modes, Story Mode, Quick Match mode and LAN (multiplayer) match mode. I haven’t tried the LAN mode (like usual when I do these reviews) but I have tried the other two which I will get to in a moment. The last thing you will notice is that there is achievements (and a good number of them too, which I happen to love!)

I first started with the story mode, hoping it would help draw me into the game and teach me the ropes. Nope, there is no tutorial (but to the game’s credit, there is a list of controls to help you out a bit). Judging by the amount of battles (I haven’t beaten the game yet) it doesn’t seem too short although it doesn’t seem long enough. I don’t even know if that makes sense. The story mode kicks off with a cutscene. I noticed a good thing and a couple bad things here. The story is quite unique and intriguing (not humorous at all like Honest Hearts!) although I do not wish to give anything away.



Now for the problems here. First of all, the text and dialogue contains no punctuation and there are a few spelling and grammatical errors which lend to a sense of lack of polish, and as well, the text itself seems to come up on the screen and then flash and come back up again which seems like a glitch and doesn’t help the game’s case, although I wouldn’t call the overall game glitch. It is quite stable.

Once the game starts, it can be quite fun, although hard. I lost every time I played, mainly due to the fact that your enemies seem to spam attacks a lot of the time (or maybe because the AI is really good!) although maybe that is just an excuse to keep my manliness intact. Like I said before, there is no real tutorial so you have to figure it out on your own. The game is a bit like a combo of RTS games and fighting games, which is quite unique and helps it stand out.

The controls are quite simple and help ease the beginner in, which kind of counters the lack of a tutorial. The graphics are crisp yet cartoony and have a neat hand drawn feel to them. The HUD is nice and stylish but functional. The main annoyance with the sound has to be the fact that the sound effects are quite repetitive – I swear there is like four or five sound effects used in the game. I love the fact that the characters are balanced though, no real unfair fights, just noobs like me.

Then I moved on the Quick Match mode, which just lets you play right away without the story or anything and you can choose your map, your character and your opponent. The problem here is that since most of the characters are unlocked to start with (about 12) and most of the maps are unlocked to start with as well (about 12 again) it kind of hampers the sense of progression. The number of moves and combat styles is staggering and I am sure they will keep you busy. The gameplay is nearly identical in this mode and not much is to be said.

I think the game is worth a try although you may or may not enjoy it. It really is personal taste. I thought it was… okay. Not as awesome as the other games I have reviewed although I would recommend trying it as it is alright. It is free, remember!

Link: http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-scnd-genesis-legends