Castaway: 3D-Isometric RPG Action

Developer: Likwid Games

Publisher: Armor Games

Format: PC (Browser/Adobe Flash)

Ah, the first Castaway, the 3D-isometric RPG of the bunch. Right after you wake up and get moving, the game automatically gets a move on. First, a green “Eye-Guy” looking like it just jumped out of Final Fantasy becomes your first pet/companion. Then, you save a village from beetles. The game kind of just takes care of itself from there.

The village acts as a hub-world, like Peach’s Castle does in Super Mario 64. Its where you’re going to go between areas, and works like a point and click adventure game in a sense. You’ve got all the buildings you need: The Inn, for saving the game or resting back health, for a price. The Blacksmith, for buying all your weapons and armors. The General Store, for buying or selling everything else. The Nursery, for hatching eggs and raising pets. The Mercenaries Guild, for all your quests requiring brawn to complete. And lastly, your Mage Guild, for all magic related quests.

The combat in this game is a simple balance that makes it feel turn based but not enough to where people who don’t like that are also happy. When engaged in combat, you, your companion, and your foe attack each other automatically as if you’re on a timer. You do have other abilities though: Skills and Magic. Both have this sort of hotkey system for usage, having different bars for Magic and Skill. Skills would include an extra slash, thrust, or even a shield bash for a stunning effect. Magic spells are like fire, lightning, sneak, and so on. The magic in this game runs on orbs you gain from enemies. Every time you use a skill, it requires a recharge time afterwards. Every time you use a spell, it first requires you have the orb specific to that spell, then a recharge time afterwards. You can do these at anytime you’re not stunned. If needed, you can run up to an enemy, hit it with your normal attack, and then hit it with all your skills and spells to wipe it out.

Each area is different, be it a marsh, beach, Iceland, forest, or even volcano. Each have different enemies to fight. Many enemies really stick to a few areas, and you don’t really see them anywhere else. They only fight automatically, like on the timer, and don’t really use many spells or skills. There are two types of enemies: Passive and aggressive. They’re pretty much what they sound like.

The armor and weapon selection is pretty lacking, I’ll admit. You get most from the Blacksmith, and that’s only a hand full. There are a few extra swords you can get by completing some mage quests. They’re basically fire and ice elemental swords, that have a chance to do elemental damage, but aren’t as strong as it’d need to be if it wants to stay used. You need the strongest equipment that you can get, forcing you to sell or throw away old gear. That’s the problem: you have to get rid of the unique elemental swords. You have about eight item slots, and equipped items still take up slots. You need as many slots as necessary to bring back loot to sell to get the best upgrades, so extra cool stuff you don’t need isn’t going be with you. Worst part about this game: There’s no storage area for all your loot and gear. It breaks my heart to throw away unique items. It kills the collector inside me.

The music is fitting, but plays throughout all the stages and doesn’t fit too well in all of them. The art-style plays as a somewhat realistic but still pixelated. Too put it simply, its “simply complex” with the way it’s stylized. Both of these together, plus the animations and all that jazz, give the atmosphere of a journey. Oh, and a journey it is. Going from the village to each area, you only have one goal that lets you progress in the game: Activate the Elemental Generators. Each area has one, all the way at the end. Not only do you have to face all the monsters getting to this generator, you also have to backtrack out of the area to get back to the village. Luckily there’s the rare Castaway Feather that allows you to transport back to the village at anytime. The real reason that the generators allow progression is because they unlock new areas.

So all in all, the first Castaway isn’t bad, quite good in fact. Its original, got those recognizable enemies, and is the one to start it all. And I'll admit, I have a huge bias for this game due to how much time I dumped into this game and how much of that time I enjoyed. Ladies and gentlemen, the original Castaway.

Play Castaway here:

http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/castaway/

#castaway #gamereview