Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Rygar: The Legendary Journey

Written by Chris Reiter on June 17, 2002

First Impressions: I suspect Rygar is ancient Greek for Ryan, or as it's known around these parts, Rye Bread.

Easily enough, it's possible that for most anyone to not ever hear the name Rygar before. Rygar was one of Tecmo's first heroes to appear on a number of old platforms, including the Atari Lynx and the Nintendo Entertainment System. And like with what Capcom did by revisiting the former state of their Ghosts 'N Goblins series, Tecmo is reshaping the way Rygar's 2D side scrolling adventures were presented, by introducing the series to a fully massive scaled 3D environment with a few old game tricks to follow side by side with its new ones.

Argus is an island, home to the main character Rygar: the game's hero in question. Following an immediate siege over the island, by destroying anything that gets in their way, an evil queen ruler and her minions have set foot upon Argus, and have bestowed a brush of fire upon Rygar's village. Not only that, but the queen has taken the princess of the land into captivity. Like any hero, being the surviving and adventurous type of fellow, as Rygar you will step forth onto an adventure to save the beautiful damsel in distress, terminate any who stand in your way, to ultimately destroy the dark ruler of all evil.

More important than any other aspect, the gameplay in Rygar places itself upon a significant weapon of various abilities -- the Diskarmor. Attached to Rygar's forearm is a chain and cufflink. The chain is banded to a shield object with spikes at its sides. In succession, this Diskarmor works its way in maneuvers you wouldn't have thought before could be possible for a video game. Ranging from a plethora of mythical creatures (giants, huge caterpillars and snakes, etc.), Rygar will do battle with them all, and with the Diskarmor at his side, the only fun to be had is on his side of the playing field. Using the shield object like a yo-yo, you'll be able to throw it forward and retract, swing it around in 360║ circles, enable it to latch on to high ledges and climb up with the device as a grappling hook, and even grab enemies with it, to spin them around for a quick ride.

Putting the Diskarmor into double time, Rygar will just as well be able to link together combos with hand to hand combat tactics with the amazing round tool. Imagine performing a forward somersault attack on enemy, followed up by a powerful blow to finish them off with the Diskarmor. Such options Rygar will be enabled with, and that's not the half of it. Able to abuse and reshape any environment, Rygar has the power to function with the Diskarmor to crush stone objects such as aged walls, statues, pillars, and floors -- and further reveal hidden pathways within the level or to create a bridge by letting a pillar for instance, place itself over a widespread gap for Rygar to cross.

Where Rygar's travels will take him is inside a mythological world full of everything you might have seen in past movies like Gladiator or Clash of the Titans. Moving along in outdoor areas, a Roman coliseum, a water mounted palace, and even a cave encased with lava, the graphics are being set to outshine and invoke into being one of the best PlayStation 2 titles yet to be seen. Even at its current stage of development, Rygar appears as if its complete with game environments that truly string out such realism in its realistic shadow and lighting effects and great looking enemy models to pave along it all in an adventure that should bring out a fan for the genre in just about anyone.