EGG: Elemental Gimmick Gear

Moby ID: 9348

Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 77% (based on 9 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 5 ratings with 1 reviews)

Not a hidden gem, but a piece of shiny metal nevertheless.

The Good
The hand-drawn backgrounds. The small touches like the sparks that your E.G.G. emits when you're low on HP. The E.G.G. is a fearsome weapon while it's spinning, however, spinning also depletes the protagonist's HP when used, which gives the game some balance.
The boss battles are a bit different. I love how the graphics change to 3D during these battles and how organic they feel due to the arena's similarity in style to the 2D backgrounds. I think this is very unique for an Action RPG and it adds suspense to these battles. The armordress battle in space is, arguably, the highlight of the boss fights in the game.
The music fits the game, though the piano they used in the music sounds like it's taken from a MIDI soundbank.

The Bad
Unfortunately, in the beginning of the game it can be unclear where the players should go and what they need to progress further. For example, players need to find skill roms so that the protagonist can throw or simply pull objects, which is very illogical. It took me a long while to figure out where to get the first skill rom to throw small objects because the obstacle that's in your way which you must destroy is one of a kind and easy to overlook and, unfortunately, none of the NPCs were giving me any clues on where to go and what to search for at that point in the game. It does get more straightforward later on.
Instead of offering a big in-game world, the game focuses on 4 dungeons, with most of the action being in the first one, so backtracking will be a common element here.
The opening FMV is beautiful, however, the later videos have inconsistent quality. For example, later on during the game we have a video that mixes CGI with poor quality in-game footage of the area the player was in. It would make more sense just to switch back and forth from the FMV to the game instead of using that footage.
A few of the puzzles that involve spinning within a limited time can be frustratingly hard as players have no time to waste to complete them. Luckily, the developers were kind enough to offer switches to allow us to access these areas without spinning through them again, but they could have simplified them a bit or made the E.G.G. take less time to start spinning.

The Bottom Line
There's a lot to like about E.G.G., I mean, the game certainly looks unique and has a very strong emphasis on puzzle solving using its mechanics and power-ups.
The apocalyptic setting of the game as well as the moral of the whole story was lovely, even if the translation didn't make any sense at times.
I must admit that the FMV showing how the sleeper and his E.G.G. was found was more memorable to me than any of the NPCs that were given a personality, which could just be something lost in translation or poor planning. The game has a few nice additions such as a racing game, raising robotic monsters that can act naughtily towards you but will also reward you with capsules which boost your stats, I was glad to have the option to teleport to previously visited areas using flower buds, but, overall, I found myself admiring the overall presentation much more than the gameplay itself.
I can recommend this game to people looking for a similar experience to Alundra or to those who want to experience a unique looking game which won't necessarily be memorable for them in terms of gameplay. With that mindset and a bit of patience in the beginning, you will surely find something to justify a satisfying playthrough.

Dreamcast · by Deleted (15788) · 2021

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Alsy, Riemann80, Patrick Bregger, Wizo.