The story is probably the lone saving point of Ziria if there is one. While there isn’t very much plot in the game and what is there is extremely cliché, the plot is just weird enough that its fairly enjoyable if you’ve decided to put up with the gameplay. The lead character Ziria goes around from country to country solving episodic supernatural arcs while fighting the evil 13 leaders of an evil religious demon cult set to invade Zipang (the Japanese parody world where the game takes place). The pacing and writing are a bit like Dragon Quest I or Final Fantasy I, meaning they’re enjoyable in an old-school retro sense but not really by modern standards.

In fact that basically sums up the entire game of Ziria. While this review might sound very harsh on the title, it’s only because it’s judging the game by modern RPG standards. If you compare the X360 version of Ziria to the original, besides the long unskippable attack animations that bosses tend to have, the X360 version would come out ahead in every category. If you’re up for a retro gaming experience, Ziria is worth playing and a solid RPG that really has nothing special going for it. But if you want something modern and exciting Ziria will fail on every level. Tengai Makyou Ziria is an ok game, but it’s sure not the RPG that MS needs on the system.


Not really. The game doesn’t hold your hand at all and you’re just dropped onto the world map with tons of areas to explore. If you use a FAQ for the original title you’ll be ok, but otherwise no.

• Music is catchy but the loops are fairly short and it gets repetitive
  
• No load times!
  
• Some of the weird characters are great
  
• Text font is nice
  
• 60FPS!

• Graphics look like a launch-era PS2 RPG in high resolution (maybe Dreamcast launch-era?)
  
• Pacing is slow and the story is fairly non-existent
  
• There is no gameplay balance
  
• The dungeons are beyond horrible
  
• Battle system is very basic and the attack animations just take far too long