LAST BATTLE

All is not well with the world. War has devastated the lands, and an evil
power has set up an empire where good people are treated like slaves.

Enter the mighty hero Aarzak and his two companions Max and Alyssa. Aarzak
went to battle, using the most elite and secret of the martial arts, JET
KWON DO. He defeated the Duke, master of TAE KUNG FU and protector of the
empress Sophia. The land was freed (sound familiar?).

Gromm, Gross, and Garokk, the three strongest generals of Duke's armies,
escaped and plotted to get back into power. One day they staged an attack
on the capital city and took Alyssa captive.

Impressed with this display of power, Aarzak treks to the Ultimate Savage
Land to defect and see if he can join the forces of Garokk.

Just kidding, just kidding!!!


This is LAST BATTLE, a game for Sega Genesis. It's an action/martial arts
oriented game, where you take up the role of Aarzak and take the fight to
the forces of Gromm, Gross and Garokk in the Ultimate Savage Land.

LAST BATTLE is divided into four main chapters; each chapter being divided
into seven to ten areas. While mostly
a chop-socky, kick-and-punch sort of game, there is some planning involved
also in determining what path to take through each chapter and which area
to move through next.

There is not much variety of martial arts moves in LAST BATTLE. You punch,
you kick, you jump up, and kneel. You may punch or kick while jumping or
kneeling. While most foes go down to just about any attack, some foes are
a little tricky, and should be taken out with a specific strike; i.e. The
soldiers with three-prong spears have a longer reach and are very difficult
to take out with a kicking technique; a punch, preferably a kneeling punch,
is your best bet against them.

Keep an eye on your power gauge. When it passes the necessary white marks,
you obtain a special Power Up. During Power Up, Aarzak sheds his upper body
garment as his chest and arms expand with muscle. Your attacks are also a
bit different, and far more efficient than before. Finally, you take less
damage from enemy attacks; your life gauge decreases less.

At the end of certain areas, Aarzak meets up with various allies and foes
in the game. They will talk briefly with you and give you a minor hint on
what to do next. Even when the person you meet is an enemy, the enemy often
will suddenly become your ally. Duke will try to stop you from getting to
Sophia, for example, but if you beat him, both of them will help you, for
Alyssa is Sophia's daughter. The head pirate, Dare-Devil, will defend his
ship against you; beat him and he'll take you across the sea.

LAST BATTLE has few unique features that distinguish it from other action
martial arts games, such as Kung-Fu Master or Double Dragon, but it does
have a couple of them. One of them is the occassional increases in defense
strength, and in the maximum value Aarzak's power gauge can reach.

The most original feature of the game is the labyrinth area you will find
in each chapter. In a labyrinth, the time limit set to finish the area is
suspended; you may take all the time you want to finish. You must evade or
strike away rocks, axes, arrows, and even cabbages that occassionally fall
or shoot at you. Enter the rooms, and you can regain some lost life energy.
If you finish, your life gauge will be restored completely, and you may
exit the labyrinth. Some labyrinths may not be entered immediately; e.g.
you must defeat Duke to get into the labyrinth in chapter 2, and you must
defeat Gross (who, by the way, just HAPPENS to be Aarzak's amnesiac older
brother!) to get into the labyrinth in chapter 4, which contains what you
need to earn the right to do battle with Garokk.

What makes LAST BATTLE a good game? For starters, it has the graphics and
three-dimensional effect that Genesis does to such perfection in so many of
its games. The animation, while not necessarily top-notch, is excellent,
and the sound, while also less than outstanding, is very good. The number
of total areas which you must fight your way through makes LAST BATTLE a
fairly long game so it will provide you with hours of entertainment while
you are learning it, and at least a half-hour's worth when you can defeat
Garokk and win the game. The closing sequence is not very exciting but the
graphics are good and the music is pleasant to listen to.

The biggest problem with LAST BATTLE is simply this: it's an older game,
in fact, one of the oldest games that is available for Genesis. As such, it
it is not as jam-packed with features as the newer games like Mickey Mouse.
LAST BATTLE is much better than such games as Altered Beast, Ka-ge-ki and
Mystic Defender but barely holds its own with Budokan and cannot compare
with such top Genesis hits as Shadow Dancer, Revenge of Shinobi, Strider,
and Golden Axe.

Overall, LAST BATTLE should prove to be an exciting, satisfying game for
fans of martial-arts oriented action games, and if you can obtain the game
secondhand or used, there isn't any reason not to include it in your game
library. However, there are too many superior games out for the Genesis by
now to select LAST BATTLE over them. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give
LAST BATTLE a 7; above average, for it is a competent game, but still on
the low side because of the newer and better games available.


LAST BATTLE is produced by Sega of America, Inc.