The in-game graphics of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete are, unfortunately, the game’s weakest aspect. They show their Sega CD roots well, and although the 16-bit RPG sprites are cute in their own way, they don’t quite match up to today’s standards. The same could be said for the colors, since the palette hasn’t changed much from the washed-out Genesis palette. Don’t expect graphical splendor in this game. It’s not ugly, it’s simply passable. The FMVs, however, are gorgeously animated, with some of the best video game cel work ever done. It’s anime at its finest.

It doesn’t hurt that the voice acting is of the highest caliber I’ve ever seen on a PlayStation game as well. You don’t want to throw your controller at the babbling idiots within five minutes of hearing them, like many recent voice-acting attempts. The music is very nice, with more upbeat tunes then you’ll find in most games, although they sound 16-bit as well. The sound effects are rather generic, so you really won’t notice them.

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete has gameplay in spades. Sure, it’s not the longest RPG you’ll ever play, but it’s one of the most heart-wrenching, simply because everyone seems so... real. The characterization is excellent, helped immensely by Working Designs’ great translations, and when bad things happen to the various characters, you genuinely feel for them. And the RPG battle scenes, old-school though they are, have me spending hours just leveling my characters because it’s so fun. The movement and attack system is something rather unique to the Lunar series, and it only takes a battle or two to get used to. The variety of characters that join your party, from goofball mages to serious sword-swingers, really adds to the gameplay experience. And the story will engross you from beginning to end. Alex’s quest to become a Dragonmaster will become part of your life for the time that you play this game. If you’re looking for gameplay, this game will NOT disappoint. And then there’s the semi-naughty “Bromides,” which are pictures of the various female characters in the game in varying stages of disarray...

In traditional Working Designs style, the difficulty is tweaked from every other version of the game. Although the “normal” battles throughout the dungeons (there are no battles on the overworld map, which is something both unique and sorely needed, since overworld battles serve no purpose other than to fill time between towns) have static difficulties, the boss difficulty varies on Alex’s level. The stronger he is, the stronger the boss is. This makes for strategic gaming as you can’t simply level ad infinitum and have the boss be a pushover. Strategy must be used. Some of the dungeon battles are real killers as well, but any RPG has some toughies. Since you can see the enemies on the map, you can try to avoid the tough ones. Overall, this game’s difficulty is just about right -- not too easy, not too hard.

The control scheme in Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is silky smooth, although it takes a few minutes to get used to the rather unorthodox menu system. Within an hour, though, it’s second nature. Analog is supported, with reasonable usefulness, although some of the small doorways make digital almost necessary. The Dual Shock support is excellent when it’s used (usually only with spells). And then there are the scads of stuff you get other than the game -- a cloth map, a hardback, full-color instruction book and basic hint guide, a “Making Of” CD (which happens to have a remake of the Atari classic Warlords hidden on it), and a soundtrack CD. Working Designs pumped a lot of effort into this game, and it shows. For RPG fans, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is a must-buy.