Unblade Senki (17.9Mb)
Unblade Senki is another (but not just another!) Japanese platform game. Straight to the point, it plays excellently and has cute and colorful graphics as well. It also mixes fantasy with science fiction and is a wonderful game to play. It starts off cheerfully and the plot gradually darkens as you gain technological prowess and encounter more technological advances. It’s altogether a most splendid side scrolling platform game.
You play as a frog with an indestructible umbrella on a mission, to rescue a princess from a castle. (A giant battleship has attacked the island where the Princess lives). The story is in Japanese, so that will have to suffice!
There’s a great assortment of platform elements. You can collect power-up items to destroy floors or walls, or replenish health; 'bombs' that help you jump higher, bombs that annihilate enemies (and you, if you don’t get far enough out of the way quickly enough!), and even the occasional invincibility spell or two to help you get through a tricky section in a level. There are 7 full levels to get through to complete the game. There are many dangerous enemies, and there's a boss battle at the end of each stage.
Using some of the controls might take some practice. Use L/R ‘Arrow’ keys to move; down ‘Arrow’ key to crouch - and set bombs (in conjunction with the ‘Z’ key) once you have some; up ‘Arrow’ key to look up; ‘X’ key to jump (hold for higher jump); and ‘Z’ key to attack/operate umbrella. Also use the ‘Z’ key to prepare items and move or jump if necessary to collect the item. Once you have items you can use them by pressing the ‘down ‘arrow’ key + the ‘Z’ key. With practice you can use the ‘X’ key + the up ‘Arrow’ key + hold the ‘Z’ key to perform running floating jumps, which you will need to do to complete the tutorial stage of the first level. The ‘X’ key + the down ‘Arrow’ key performs a rapid descent. You can attack and destroy larger colored blocks (2 hits needed) and bomb the smallest stone blocks. Attacks can be carried out using the ‘Arrow’ keys in conjunction with the ‘Z’ key to perform directional attacks (+ hold the 'Z' key to act as a shield). You can also attack while jumping. The ‘Z’ key also advances (Japanese) dialogues. Use the 'Spacebar' to pause the game. The ‘F2’ key restarts a level and the ‘Esc’ key quits. (You might wish to print the instructions listed here, until you get used to the control system).
You’ll need to press the ‘Z’ key a fair number of times to get past the story and into the game proper. Progress is saved as you complete each stage. Once you get to the load/level select screen, press the ‘Z’ key on the first selection, then you’ll see a stage select screen with pink square blocks. Move left to the first block and press the ‘Z’ key to start the tutorial. Once you have completed the tutorial, or if you think you can skip the tutorial (though completing the tutorial gives you extra lives), move right to the third block and press the ‘Z’ key to start stage 1 (the second block returns to the main menu). Further stages are unlocked as you complete stages.
The config file has a small spanner icon next to it, and the game can be set here to run windowed or full-screen and music levels adjusted. The save config button is the left-most (first) button on the right-hand side. The game exe is the other file of similar size to the config file.
It plays in XP, Vista and Win 7. Vista users may need to use ‘run as administrator’ with the game exe file.
The game really does play well and has a unique feel to the game play, which I find really enjoyable and great fun to play. It is well worth mastering the controls. The game can also be played with a gamepad/multi-button joystick. It’s fun and exciting and has a really good amount of replay value!
I’ve had to research the gameplay and controls by trial and error through playing the game, as other reviews haven’t explained these, and the manual, and ingame info boards are in Japanese! Translating the manual was little help, appearing as it does in broken and stilted English! Having got to know the game personally and enjoyed playing very much, I unreservedly give it my heartiest recommendation!
I’ve also given a third party download link, as the original (vector.co.jp) listing isn’t now available. I have an alternative Vector link though (which took some finding!), provided this is maintained by Vector. Thankfully there’s still download sources; seeing as it’s such a good game! Excellent and very well worth adding to your games collection!
Download v1.04 HERE ---- (Look for the long green download button with message in English for download page. On the download page, the download link is the first Japanese underlined text link nearest the top of the page) - If unsure use Google translate to get the pages translated - it shows up as ‘Anne Wing Blades’ but downloads as Unblade!
V1.03 from third party site HERE
