Aztaka is retro in the sense that veterans of Castlevania, Megaman, or any of their ilk will be immediately familiar with the general idea. In broad strokes, gameplay consists of running and jumping across levels, and attacking enemies. Move through levels to either get to the end, or to find an item or ability that allows you to get past a locked door, or some part of an earlier level that was previously inaccessible. Repeat until credits roll.
Uncomplicated doesn’t mean unsophisticated, in this case. Aztaka incorporates a control system which uses both mouse and keyboard, with the former controlling movement and the latter used to attack, cast spells, and manipulate clouds of magical energy. The resulting control system tends more towards an active, “arcadish” feel rather than a more passive RPG experience. Having to actually “cast” spells by clicking on parts of the screen while in combat makes Aztaka’s special abilities feel more like Street Fighter than Final Fantasy, and creates a much more immersive experience.
The backgrounds of Aztaka’s levels are remarkable, as are the graphics overall. It doesn’t clobber you over the head with effects; instead, you’ll be impressed by hand-drawn backgrounds which are really quite pretty, and notably complex and smooth character animations. I actually did a double-take the first time I saw NPC character models in action. The animations are fluid and complex, and one of the most impressive aspects of the game.
MINIMUM
Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium III or AMD Athlon 800MHz Processor
256MB RAM
2GB Hard Disk Space
Nvidia TNT2, GeForce 1, 2 or 3, ATI Radeon 7000, 7200, 7500 or 8500, or Matrox G450 Video Card
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
DirectX 9
MAXIMUM
Windows 7/Vista (32 or 64 bit)
Intel i7 Quad Core 2.8Ghz or AMD equivalent
3GB System RAM (High)
30 GB Hard dDisk Space
nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD4850 Video Card
Direct X 9.0 compatible supporting Dolby Digital Live
DirectX 9.0 - DirectX 11
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