Summary
Will you save the world or the girl, Maken?
The Good
"Maken Shao" is a remake of the Dreamcast game
Maken X. Although the games are almost identical graphically and story-wise, the reduced difficulty level and some enhancements make me prefer this remake over the original.
"Maken Shao" was made by Atlus, the creators of the
Megaten universe. In spite of being primarily an action game, it also belongs to this universe and is currently the only Megaten game that is not an RPG. Of all Megaten games, only two of the
Persona sub-series,two
DemiKids games, and both version of "Maken" were released outside of Japan. The core of Megaten universe and its most important series,
Shin Megami Tensei, were never officially translated.
Why does "Maken" belong to Megaten universe? It is not hard to notice the graphical resemblance of the characters to those of Persona games, particularly
Innocent Sin and
Eternal Punishment. But of course, that alone doesn't make "Maken" a Megaten game. There is only one element that is common to all Megaten games and that unites them all: the ability to communicate with your enemies and to make them serve you in some way. You can't negotiate with regular enemies in "Maken", but nearly all important characters you meet can be controlled by you and used as playable characters. You take possession of their bodies by "brainjacking" them, using image points you gather when fighting enemies. Every body has a fixed cost of image points, not unlike the consumption of magnetite by demons in other Megaten games. You can brainjack both allies by accepting the quests they offer, or important enemies by defeating them. Every character has his (or her) own strengths and weaknesses. Some are slow powerhouses, others have low hit points, but can attack quickly, etc. Characters also fight with their own unique weapons, perform their own moves and special attacks, and so on. Brainjacking is closely related to demon summoning of Megaten RPGs.
Another typical aspect is the modern-futuristic setting. Although most Megaten RPGs are set exclusively in Japan, while "Maken" is "spread" all over the world, the resemblance of the setting is undeniable. Very important is one of the main creative ideas of "Maken", that is directly linked to Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, and
Devil Summoner series: behind the actions of certain people (especially evil ones) stand supernatural, cosmic forces. The idea of possession by an evil force is typical for many Japanese games, but it is nowhere as clearly expressed and plays as important a role as on Megaten games. Commander Gotou and ambassador Thorman in "Shin Megami Tensei", the Phantom Society of Devil Summoner series, the Joker of Persona, and the Hakkes of "Maken" are closely connected.
In its content "Maken" is even more similar to the mainstream Megaten series "Shin Megami Tensei" than Persona or Devil Summoner series. Just like Tokyo of the first "Shin Megami Tensei", the Earth of "Maken X" is on the verge of a terrible disaster. Like Fu Shou Lee says in his speech addressed to Maken: wars, terrorism, pestilence, pollution - the world is moving towards an inevitable catastrophe. This concern for the modern world is typical for many Japanese games (see for example
D2). There is of course a lot of naivety here - an attempt to give a satisfying explanation to all the troubles that are happening now. The analysis of modern politics also leaves a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, the situations and the characters of "Maken" are very convincingly chosen. The sight of particularly evil human beings often makes us think: "They are not human. There is some demonic force behind this cruelty and madness". Well, that's exactly what is going on in "Maken". While traveling all around the world, you'll encounter terror and crime everywhere; and those who cause it are weak human beings that are possessed by a mysterious force and turned into
Hakke - demonic creatures whose sole desire is to destroy the world and to build a new one on its ruins. You'll meet an Indian TV star who is using his influence on people to brainwash their minds; a head of international mafia whose only grief is the inability to have children; a woman whose love was used for evil purposes and who tries to revive the Nazi cult; an Arab oil sheikh who has killed his brothers to obtain the fortune; a Pope who encourages suicide (a typically "Megatenian" negative view of Christianity), and other very interesting figures. Most Hakkes have real historical prototypes. As it is always the case with Megaten, a huge amount of creativity and research went into this game.
The game shows the Hakkes primarily as weak people, who gave up to their greed and were therefore used as tools by Mr. Meteor - a God who grew tired of his creatures. The eight Hakkes are incarnations of human vanity and their will of self-destruction; at the same time they are symbols of a non-human, hostile elements, that are manifested in the cosmic super-being Mr. Meteor. Opposed to the Hakkes are the sinister
Fukenshi, whose function is to maintain order in the world. The Fukenshi are in a certain way as fanatical as are the Hakkes, and also seem inhuman (an expressive detail - one could become a member of Fukenshi only by mutilating oneself). A Megaten fan will easily recognize in Fukenshi and Hakkes the forces of
Law and
Chaos, respectively. In the middle of the giant struggle between the minions of Law and Chaos stands the girl Kei Sagami and the hero - an artificial life form, an almost-human spirit called
Maken.
What makes "Maken" particularly similar to "Shin Megami Tensei", and so different from most other games, is the ability to choose your own path. Throughout the game, you'll have to make moral decisions that will influence the game's ending. Kei herself will ask you some very thought-provoking questions ("Wouldn't it be better if the world were only populated by a handful of chosen people?" "Is personal happiness above everything else?"). In the beginning of the game, you'll automatically accept the quest of Fu Shou Lee, the leader of Fukenshi. At that time, you are convinced there can be no other way. But when you meet other Fukenshi and Hakkes, Kei starts having doubts about the path she has chosen, and from now on everything is in the hands of the hero, the Maken. The choices are even more vast here than in "Shin Megami Tensei". You can completely side with the forces of Law (the Fukenshi) and do only what they tell you, focusing all your efforts on destroying Mr. Meteor. You can immediately decline the quests of Fukenshi and attack them. If you do this continuously, the Hakkes will ask you to join them in the middle of the game. From there on, you can refuse their offer and exterminate them too (choosing the Neutral path), or accept their offer and become the follower of Chaos, ultimately destroying Fu Shou Lee himself. But those are not the only decisions you are able to make. You can for example ignore the battle between Fukenshi and Hakkes and dedicate yourself entirely to Kei. This is the path of Sacrifice, which I chose when playing the game. Depending on your choices, you'll reach one of the game's seven possible endings.
The gameplay of "Maken" is a sharp contrast to the rest of Megaten. "Maken" is a pure action game that goes in its style back to side-scrolling platformers. There are a couple of levels that involve mild puzzle-solving, jumping, and even stealth (like in the jungle level), but for the most part, "Maken" is a fighting game. As such, its most interesting aspect is the ability to control various characters with various statistics. The fights themselves are very fast-paced, dynamic, and furious. "Maken" is not at all a "hack-and-slash" game. If you just repeatedly attack enemies, you'll die very soon. Your characters can perform a variety of attacks, a special attack that consumes an extra gauge, as well as many other moves: you can side-step, jump backwards, lock on your enemy and then circle around him or jump to the side, deflect projectiles back onto your enemies, and guard against their attacks. All those actions are necessary in order to fight effectively - even with the reduced difficulty level of this remake, on beginner level, you'll be toast in a matter of seconds if you forget about guarding or side-stepping and go totally offensive. The enemies are demonically-looking, but less animal-like and mythological than in other Megaten games. Most of them belong to the Sangokai organization that was once part of Fukenshi, and look like deformed humans.
Graphically, "Maken Shao" is not really outstanding, but the character design is quite original and undeniably "Megatenian", and the levels are atmospheric and interesting. The variety of levels is a nice contrast to "Shin Megami Tensei" with its similarly-looking dungeons.
What is new in "Maken Shao" compared to the original "Maken X"?
The most important improvement is the reduction of the original's insanely high difficulty level. A beginner level is now available, and there are now save points within the levels. The inability to save your game in any other place but between the levels was the main reason for the unplayability of the original.
Extended information about game characters, locations, and a lot of other stuff is now available. You can access this information through a menu that appears when you are between levels. This is a cool addition that helps you to keep track of the story and the characters.
The strange black-white photos that were used instead of cut scenes in "Maken X" are now replaced by real cut scenes made with in-game graphics. The cut scenes that already looked that way in the original are turned into CG movies.
You can actually carry the items you find now. It was so annoying to find a health capsule and to eat it automatically, despite having full health in "Maken X". Here, you can carry one item with you. So if you have full hit points and are about to leave an area and to meet a boss, without the possibility to come back, you can always take a healing item with you - provided you find one, of course.
The PAL version has spoken Japanese with English subtitles, which is always a plus.
The biggest change is the addition of RPG elements. In "Maken X", characters don't grow. They remain the same until the end. The only thing you can do is to discard weaker characters and to recruit (brainjack) stronger ones. In "Maken Shao", characters learn new moves gradually, depending on their synchronization level, that can be raised by fighting more enemies. You can visit all previous levels with any character you have brainjacked so far, and to train him to reach the maximum synchronization level, and to receive an extra attack (that was available automatically in the original).
The Bad
The graphics are the only thing that suffered in this remake compared to the original. They look blocky, the textures of the levels are not detailed enough, and the animation of the playable characters (particularly the jumping) is very clumsy. This is probably one of the major reasons for the game's low popularity. The other reason is of course the thought-provoking content. Most gamers apparently prefer games that make their brains blunt instead of sharpening them.
The levels are too straightforward, there is next to no exploration involved (except checking out some areas for healing items and such). There are a bit too many battles where you are trapped and have to exterminate all the enemies in order to unlock the doors that suddenly close on you.
The translation is pretty bad. Some names are ridiculously mistranslated (Hakke Youthfu who is supposed to be Yusuf, or the Chinese president Leung who is called Ryu in the game). The voices are much too low compared to the volume of sound effects and music, and there is no possibility to adjust it.
I found the picture of Law and Chaos forces more convincing in "Shin Megami Tensei" than here. In SMT, the followers of Law were at least as repelling as those of Chaos. Chaos people were not as demonic and as repulsive as are the Hakkes of "Maken". As a result, it was really difficult to choose your path in SMT. In "Maken", however, there is too much of a "good vs. evil" flavor in the battle between Fukenshi and Hakke. Although the Fukenshi also look demonic, they don't demonstrate the same fanaticism as the followers of Law in SMT. Nearly all human vices are transferred to the Hakkes. For example, Hakke Ray, the Pope who preaches the end of the world and encourages suicide, is in fact more similar to a Law than to a Chaos follower, but nevertheless belongs to the Chaos party.
The analysis of modern politics in the game is a product of a typically Japanese naive approach (see Metal Gear Solid 2) and is not very convincing. There are a lot of inconsistencies and amateurish, superficial views: the predicted war between USA and China seems to appear out of nowhere, the growing tension between USA and Europe is ignored, there is next to no attention paid to the problem of Islamic terror, etc.
The Bottom Line
"Maken Shao" is a great game that is both entertaining as an action game, and thought-provoking as a philosophical oeuvre in the vein of Megaten tradition. Megaten fans should not overlook it, and it also offers an excellent opportunity for action-oriented players to get acquainted with the great series.
