When the Saturn first was released in America, it didn't do to bad. The games were rocky in graphics, but the system enjoyed it's mild success, selling it's share of machines. That is, until Playstation was released (damn it). The only thing that held Saturn back was a spotty game library, one thing Playstation didn't have. Up until late 95, there were a few key titles and genres missing from the Saturn's game library, most notably RPG's. We poor, deprived Sega fans that were used to great, quality RPG's that came from Sega (that did go without a lot of variety and quantity..nothing like SNES saw) didn't have anything to get for our misunderstood Saturn. But then came Mysteria, a real RPG, of sorts. It was the first to break ground on Saturn I believe, besides the titles Story of Thor, and Shinning Wisdom, which were mediocre games and fun for a play, but they weren't true RPG's..and I forget when they came out. Anyway, I call Mysteria a RPG of sorts because this game was more along the lines of a Shinning force strategy like RPG. But nonetheless, it was still more RPG then strategy. Mysteria was featured in the Saturn's demo disk with the system, only in movie form, so when it finally hit, it carried some excitement from those that sat and watch the nice little demo, and the game did well, or so I take. But soon after it's release, the game was mysteriously pulled from store shelves. Apparently, this was because of some legal trouble brought about by TSR Inc., claiming the game's name, and type of game, bore strong resemblance to one of it's franchises (it's on the tip of my tongue, the name of the franchise by TSR, but I forget..Realms of Mystara I think). Later the game would be re-released with a snazzy new name (or just an unimaginative one). Blazing Heroes it was dubbed, and again took the reign as the first full RPG of Saturn! Sadly, all was forgetton about this game, and it faded into obscurity. That really is sad, because it's a pretty good game, considering it is a 1st generation attempt, and an RPG at that. Look at it this way; Comparing this game, the Saturn's first RPG, to the Playstations first RPG, Beyond the Beyond, tell me which game is mildly better.. (Beyond the Beyond, when thinking about it, was a poor experience. It has play time over Blazing Heroes, but that's it!)?

The story of the game, as it presents itself, has you playing the part of the young prince of Queensland, a big royal kingdom. Your mother, the queen, has been corrupted and manipulated by a vile warlord named Lord Bane. As the queen is now under his control, Lord Bane now has power over your home, and it's up to you to stop him before it's to late, and return order and goodness to Queensland. What you don't know is that Lord Bane is just not some regular warlord, oh no! He is an ancient evil being who has somehow reappeared, and is set to destroy the world. And the only way to stop him is by gather 11 other warriors, to form 12 chosen ones, for only 12 can stop him and his evil army.

The game carries a colorful (and very well endowed, especially Aletha..that's a BIG farie. Lara Croft who?) cast of characters, who you pick up along your trek through the colorful, but rather (extremely?) tiny world in hopes of stopping the evil Lord Bane.

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Graphics - 67%

It's a 1st generation game for the Saturn, and a polygon one at that, and the first attempt at a true RPG...you know, this could spell trouble. So, how great could it be? Actually, the graphics are fair, no to bad really.. Ok, their not great, or very good, and kinda bland, but..fair. For starters, the intro is cool, and it puts you in the mood of the game. It's nicely done, but a downfall to it is after watching the intro, I had gotten the impression of how the game would be. The actual game is different then how the intro paints it, namely how towns are done, and talking to townspeople and such. I wish the game was like the intro (not graphics wise, of course it couldn't be done, but gameplay wise) because it's really neat, and pretty good quality. After the intro, and you start the game, you get to see the real graphics of the game as you are thrust into an in-game like intro. It is an entire 3D world, and by looks of it, is nice and colorful, but very undetailed in many areas. There is some problems here in this relatively one time view and intro. There is close pop-up as the camera zooms in on the castle Queensland. There is some frame rate problems here as well, that being choppy, and you can be expecting the worse from now on. But you must know that this is not the constant view of the game, so maybe there's hope. You are next pushed into a fight, and this will let you ultimately see how the game's graphics are.

So, how does it fair? Well, the good things first. The entire 3D battle areas and world are pretty nice looking. The textures in these areas are just great. They are clean, really nice, and detailed too. The game is on a much closer view then that of which is seen in the Shinning Force 3 default view (over the top too), and the character models are actually not as pixelated as Shinning Force 3, that is when you zoom in this close on Shinning Force 3 (not a good option to have a camera so close that makes the game look bad, as in SF3, luckily it's easily changeable). Throughout the whole game, is it indeed colorful, and it looks like the artists really tried. Plus, many of the spells are very big and cool, taking up a lot of the screen. The game does not do to bad a job of the 3D graphics overall, but there are problems, as with many (maybe all?) 3D games. First, the frame rate through the game is perhaps no higher then 20 or 23 frames per second. It's not bad, just a gripe at times. It is especially bad when you press B button to move the cursor around the battle area and select your characters and move them. But when the characters actually move it is smoother. And remember how I said that the spell effects are pretty nice and big? There is a downfall. When big spells are cast, it turns into that dreaded 3rd person like view from the in game intro. At this time, on certain spells, you may just want to shout 'YIKES!' and cover your eyes from the horror! It goes into 10 FPS, maybe lower. Bad.. Luckily regular attacks don't really suffer from it, nor *little* skill attacks and magical spells. Like I said before, the characters are not to grainy, but they are very unanimated! They have like 3 animations each, and jerky. It just makes the game more sluggish then it already is. Plus, there is a little slow down here and there throughout the game. Other then those problems, it's fair, like I said.

Yet again, the travel world is colorful, the towns are different then any RPG ever and are not to bad in the visual department (yet, oddly 1 dimensional..). There is a nice variety of sights all around the game. The attempt, presentation and delivery of the 3D visuals was a valent effort and did pretty fair, but not the best. You know, it's kinda hard to judge the graphics of this game. There are a few factors going into deciding overall on the graphics of the game. I know Saturn can do great 3D, and this game is certainly not the cream of that crop. Yet, it is a 1st generation game, and in a time when the Saturn's 3D powers were questionable, this game (and many other 1st generation 3D Saturn games) prove that it isn't so bad. Yes, there is one thing the graphics say, that is unpolish and under-worked. Some things look good, while others just look undetailed. But I do give credit where credit is due, and it gets some credit, although it's does have it's draw backs.

Sound - 60%

The sound in the game is very, and I mean VERY low key. There are no voices and an almost complete lack of any sound effects. Only do you hear sound effects when you attack and cast spells, and that is it. That really isn't a bad thing, because you don't really noticed sometimes as you gear around, but it's something they could have worked on. The songs, which I believe are off the CD, are few. But I will give them one thing, the music is good. Nothing memorable, nothing to hum to, but good. I can't talk much about the sound and music..because again, it's low key and almost nothing.

Gameplay - 72%

Ok, graphics and sound don't truly make a game (although they do greatly help), and what is important is if the game is fun. And yes, this game is enjoyable, and I had some fun. The story is kinda bland and unimaginative, not anything great, but it isn't bad. That is, the dialogue in some places is terrible, while mostly everywhere else is good, but not great. The game at first is slow, but after the atrocious 3 fights in the castle without stopping (which irritated me), the game picks up and it will be one of the games that takes up your time of play. Ok, so the game isn't the longest, about 20 hours, and there game world is small, and without many towns of places to visit (but the dungeon mini-game is fun, something to go back to), but it's still good. Towns are a mixed bag. They are viewed in a behind the back view, and only consist of one street that goes up and down, each house at different stopping points on the left and right. They are an interesting sort, but boring, nor are they very big, and talking to people is played down. They could have been better, but I guess for the game they work. Despite the not so perfect graphics and sound, the game makes it. It breaks the boundaries and created perhaps the only true important factor, fun.

Replay Value - N/A

It's a Role Playing game. I think that says enough. One you play it, you may never return to it again, and even more so since nothing about it is spectacular and special. You'll play it one and have fun, it's on thing RPG's do best and consistently.

Overall - 70%

The one thing the game is overall is bland, but still fun to play. For the 1st generation try at an RPG that Blazing Heroes is, it warrants a look at. I know many places charge double the price for RPG's compared to other games it age, and usage, but I think you can find it under $20 somewhere, maybe under 15. For 20 bucks, you can't really go wrong with a fun game that is overall a good experience. Hell, I took a chance on NBA Jam Extreme which was $12, and that proves you can do much, much worse then Blazing Heroes (actually, I kinda liked NBA Jam Extreme, but it is unplayable and ruined to me because of the inability to truly turn on CPU Assistance, and NBA Action 98 blows it away)! I do recommend the game for RPG, Saturn lovers, and Shinning Force lovers too. For the rest, well, you should go elsewhere to get a dose of RPG-goodness that you might have a craving for, unless you can bare the purely average graphics, and story, and gameplay for under 20 bucks. That does it for this review, one of the last of my Saturn's ones. Moving on to Dreamcast as of the American launch. Peace out!
- Nick Spolec/Snake