Back to Stone

The trusty old Game Boy Advance is nearing the end of its life. After almost six years, the system has seen its share of great titles and has passed the torch to the DS. However, trends from years past tell us that the end of a system’s life often see the release of many low-budget but innovative and original titles. Supporting that trend, we have Back To Stone, an interesting adventure with a unique storyline, beautiful art style, good play mechanics, and unfortunately, more than its share of flaws.

After winning the war against humanity, the demons keep some humans alive to use as guinea pigs in black magic experiments. As one of these test subjects, the nameless main character is infused with demonic essence, robbing him of his humanity while granting him super strength and the ability to turn flesh into stone. After breaking out of the demon’s prison, the hero travels across the land, getting his revenge one dead demon at a time. The game’s dark fantasy story begins strongly, and then is largely forgotten for the rest of the game. Had more been made of the story, interest in the events of the levels could have been increased throughout; as is, I began losing interest in my objectives by the third or fourth level. Also, the developers would have done well to have run the game’s script through a spell check before committing it to software form; the game begins in what it calls a “dongeon” and spelling errors continue through the remainder of the game.

So with the focus off the storyline, what are we left with? An isometric action game centered around block-pushing puzzles. When you kill a demon, it turns to a block of stone (hence the game’s title). Every area you travel through is full of puzzles that require you to use these blocks to weigh down switches, crash through enemies, and provide you with a jumping-off point to reach higher locations. Unfortunately, as well-implemented as this aspect is, block-pushing has been done ad nauseum in action/adventure games. Every block you push will remind you of the countless blocks you’ve pushed before, in this and in other games, and it’s not long before they begin to run together.

Visually, the game pushes the GBA to its limits. The art style is inspired, the environments are beautiful, and everything animates smoothly. Special effects, like explosions or the demonic transformation your character undergoes when his life meter reaches 50 percent, are impressive and plentiful. Lots of different demon breeds, with truly original and frightening appearances, add variety to the title, as do the different areas you travel through. Although they are somewhat clichéd fantasy locales (forest area, snowy area, caverns, etc.), each is gorgeously depicted and unique enough to set itself apart.

The game’s boss encounters deserve special mention. Each is a gigantic, multi-sectioned monster that poses a true challenge. The back of the game’s box describes the bosses as “unbeatable” and, while that’s not quite accurate, they do represent a difficulty level not often seen outside of Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry. The game is challenging in general, but the bosses are impressively hard.

This brings us to Back To Stone’s most serious flaw. In most games, if a boss whips you soundly, you’d just load up your last save and try again, right? Not here. Progress in the game is saved by way of a 10-digit password, which includes numbers and case-sensitive letters. To say that this is outdated is understatement, but this is especially unforgivable on a handheld system. When playing on the go, you may need to quit at a moment’s notice, and without any way to save, you may lose all of your recent progress — even more if you’ve been without a pen and paper with which to record your passwords. The GBA doesn’t even have a sleep mode like the DS and PSP, which would at least allow indefinite interruption of play. This lack of a save function breaks this game.

This is a difficult game to assign a rating to. On the one hand, the world could use more original, innovative, beautiful action/adventure titles, especially on a system in need of a graceful exit. On the other hand, it’s brutally hard, relies on clichéd game mechanics, and is nearly ruined by its ridiculous password system. In the end, I’m going to have to agree with the back of the box: while it may not be for everyone, the hardest of the hardcore will find a worthwhile adventure. Just keep a pen and paper nearby.

Gameplay: 6.8
The action and block puzzles are both well done, but neither is original enough to keep most people’s attention for long.

Graphics: 8.3
A stunning example of what the GBA can do. Both technically and artistically top-of-the-line.

Sound: 6.3
Nothing especially great, but serviceable fantasy-epic music and appropriate sound effects.

Difficulty: Hard
This game is hard enough based on legitimate difficulty. The broken save system makes matters much, much worse.

Concept: 6.5
The story is somewhat original; the gameplay is not. “Killing stuff” and “pushing blocks around” have been done before often.

Overall: 6.8
A certain type of person will fall in love with this game; others will hate it completely. The good and the bad cancel each other out to a certain degree. Overall, though, an interesting-enough game worthy of a try.