Golden Sun

The Good
For starters, great...everything about this game.

The storyline is pretty original, and really is easy to get into. Everything works out like it should, and you'll meet tons of unique characters which really help define the world itself.

The main quest is easy to follow, but there's some sides you can do as well. For instance, there's a roadblock you get through, and see that there's a bunch of stupid and basically just out-of-place trees. You use Ivan's special ability to mind read, and find out that they're people!!! One of the girls is about to fall in the water, and you need to use an aquired ability to rescue her from certain doom. Come back once everyone is a human again, and they recognize you and give a nice reward! Simple things like that really, really do make games more fun and involving.

The RPG rules and standards hold well in the game, giving you adequate time to beef up characters and buy better equipment. I especially liked the original idea of weapons having unique abilities that come out every so-often. Say if I used a Bandit Sword, on occasion i'd do a move called Rapid Smash which does a ton of more damage.

Another cool thing is the Djinni! There's 6 of each type of Djinni, which are Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. Using them in battle can either boost your stats, lower your enemies stats, damage the enemy, or remove/alter your status. The coolest part is when you use more than one of the same type, which unleashes a fury of that specific element! On a side note, you can also mix-match the different used Djinni powers to create fusions, which ultimately is a trial-and-error process of finding the right one. And the visuals while doing any of these, or using "psynergy" which is a form of magic, are absolutely splendid to behold. Tons of them to discover by altering your equipment and Djinni placement. Try it out! Music and sound effects are ear-pleasing, and you'll never feel anything repeat. Just overall a great experience.

The Bad
This part will be pretty small, because there's not much to complain about. Well, like some RPG's, the main character NEVER talks, not a word. Sometimes he'll shake his head or jump or emote in some fashion, but all you can really do is make decisions.

Another small, yet large in my eyes negative is that the game is WAY too short. This game seems to be over before you actually are able to fully get into it.

The Bottom Line
An awesome RPG for the Gameboy Advance which you will spend hours playing, and then playing some more after you beat it because the replay value is extremely high. Definite Buy.

The Good
Golden Sun has everything good about this game. The gameplay and story is just like a movie, and it draws you in much like a great movie, novel, or RPG (which this is.) The graphics are some of the best on the GBA, despite this being one of the earliest GBA releases, and the battle animation will leave you awe-struck. The in-game music does NOT grate on you like many handheld games, but actually enhances the game and also sounds like a movie (soundtrack) and the sound effects are brilliant.

The Bad
Probably the only thing wrong about this game is that it confuses you many times on what exactly to do, but hey, it's supposed to make you use your head! So nothing's really wrong with it. That's right! Flawless!

The Bottom Line
Golden Sun is one of those games you absolutely must have if you own a GBA. It's also one of those rare and wonderful games that sell systems. It's a deep, highly satisfying role-playing game that ranks as one of the Top 5 RPG's of all-time, and if it's not among your collection, then you're missing out, BIG TIME.

The Good
I have very fond memories of playing Final Fantasy Legends I-III on family road trips years and years back. FFL III in particular gave you great flexibility in developing your characters how you wanted. Playing Golden Sun, I had pleasant flashbacks to the FFLs of yore. Golden Sun is every bit as much fun as those older games, and a whole lot prettier to boot. You're placed in the cliched RPG plot in the shoes of a young man (default Isaac, but you can change it to Assmaster or some such if you wish) with extraordinary powers. And those powers are what makes Golden Sun stand above the rest. You must use them not only to do battle with the thousands and thousands of monsters roaming the land, but also to interact with the game world in a variety of ways. See that little sprout by the ledge? If you have the growth power, you can make it spring up into a vine, thus creating a very efficient little rope ladder, opening up new areas in the game world to explore. In order to achieve these powers, you must amass a collection of Djinni (think Pokemon with less personality). Each one confers one of four elemental powers (earth, water, fire and wind), augmenting your characters and giving them new Psynergy (magic). By combining different Djinni on a character, you change the types of spells and powers he or she can wield. This is a nice touch to the typical magic system, which is usually the weakest part of electronic RPGs. You are forced to make tough decisions when determining which powers your characters will wield.
The graphics are Super Nintendo-quality, with nice spell effects and impressive character animation. Your little guys (and gals) emote in ways that previous GB RPGs couldn't manage. Finally, the challenge level begins to ramp up quite nicely later on in the game. You are actually forced to use strategic thinking in some of the later boss battles, which is a good thing - most RPGs seem to be designed to please the least common denominator.

The Bad
Unfortunately, the package is not completely free of flaws. Worst of them is the insane amount of low-level monsters you have to hack through to navigate even the smallest of mazes. I would rather see slightly less combat with higher experience point awards. Be prepared to spend a lot of time ridding the land of moronic entry-level baddies. Combat graphics, strangely enough, are not nearly on par with those of the isometric view. Some monsters, especially the big ones, are chunky and ugly.
Dialog is excruciating, as you would expect. I found myself rapidly pushing buttons to wade through several inane NPC conversations that I was forced to overhear, despite their apparent complete lack of relevance to my quest. This smacks of self-indulgent programming, and does not make for enjoyable gaming.

The Bottom Line
It's a Game Boy RPG done right. Think Final Fantasy Legend plus a lot more environmental interaction.