“You are the leader of a group of warrior and sorcerers, fighting to save your homeland from an ancient evil! Choose your party from over 25 characters you’ll meet while travelling through the worlds of Rune. Real-time action meets Role-Playing strategy in Shining Force!”
  – from the Shining Force box.

Following the success of Shining in the Darkness in 1991, Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intention was released and eagerly purchased by fans of the former. The games have their similarities, but on the whole the style of Shining Force’s gameplay is very different than it’s predecessor. This was one of the first (although not the first) console games to utilise it’s now classic tactical overhead turn-based battle system. Many purists do not consider Shining Force to be an RPG, due to it’s strategic nature, I consider it a Strategy or Tactical RPG.

In Shining Force you don’t just control one, two or even three characters – your army includes 12 members, out of a possible 30 to recruit during the game. While the story is far from unique (the evil guy – in this case, Dark Dragon – is coming back to take over the world, and it’s your job to stop him), the graphics are sweet and the sound is catchy. Various comedy moments in the game make this an absolute classic that’s not to be missed.

Shining Force is now available on the Sega Smash Pack for Dreamcast, and Smash Pack 2 for PC. Though the original game is hard to find and expensive these days, you should have no problems getting it for the Dreamcast or PC in the USA!