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| CORBIE'S BLOG <- REVIEWS <- CONTACT |
| Popful Mail Publisher: Working Designs Release Date: June 1995 Genre: Action RPG     |
 If you were to go by just the screenshots you see of Popful Mail, you wouldn't think this game was an RPG. And although the game features some outstanding platforming and side-scrolling action, the game still has many of the same features you'd find in an action-rpg, they're just neatly packaged into a platformer for some reason. As odd as this all sounds, it all comes together quite remarkably, and makes for not only a great arcade style experience, but also will appeal to rpg fans due to the leveling up, purchasing special items, and following a storyline full of quests. The game follows the story of a lonely but very business-like female bounty huunter named Popful Mail. Having had little luck in scoring the huge bounty on Nuttcracker's head, she opts instead to go after an evil magician named Muttonhead for a bounty almost as large. As she goes about her business tracking him down, she begins meeting a handful of other people who are looking for him as well. Mail must traverse the many different areas of the game in order to track this magician down and collect her just rewards. Graphically, the game is pretty solid, especially considering it's a 16-bit title. Most areas in the game feature not only a great amount of detail in the foregrounds, but also feature several layers of paralax scrolling in the background to give off a nice and accurate feeling of depth. Even the characters and enemies in the game all animate well. The Sega CD may not have as many onscreen colors as the other 16-bit systems, but Popful Mail is a solid example of what developers can do, even with this slight limitation. For those wondering about the anime sequences, you can rest easy as they're done extremely well also, although it might have been nice to see more of them. All in all, Popful Mail doesn't dissapoint in the visual department. Of all the Working Design Sega CD game soundtracks, this one is still my favorite. Very upbeat and melodic tracks abound throughout the game and the voice acting in this game is among the best I've ever heard in a video game. And believe me, you'll get an earful of it as this game features almost 3 hours of spoken dialogue. If ever there was a game that took full advange of the Sega CD system's optical media format, it's Popful Mail. How the developers of this game were able to squeeze in this much audio into one CD is a feat in and of itself. Although this game is a hybrid of sorts, the play control in the game is spectacular. The platforming potions of the game are executed with silky smoothness normally reserved for higher end side-scrollers and the controller response is spot-on. Even the many boss battles of the game are well done and extremely challenging. That being said, every boss has some sort of weakness or pattern that you can figure out in order to beat them. It's worth mentioning that Popful Mail is not an easy game by a longshot, in fact, later on in the game it gets downright tough. It's mostly just areas that require a little trial and error and nothing that should cause players too much frustration. In the end, Popful Mail is really the perfect game for the Sega CD format. You get some gorgeous visuals, beautiful CD-quality sound complete with a ton of voiced dialogue, and an extremely long quest to keep even the most veteran RPG player busy for 30+ hours. If you're looking for a solid action rpg and don't mind a nice platforming twist, then look no further as Popful Mail is one of the best games you can buy for the Sega CD system and in truth, is almost reason enough to own one by itself. |
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