Alliance Alive Hd Review

[Carlito Roby]

Reallymy biggest gripe with the game is that I played it on PS4. The graphics do not hold up to the scrutiny of a TV. But when I used Remote Play to stream it onto my phone, the art style finally popped to life. If you have the choice, I would recommending playing this on a smaller screen. The remaster is also available on Switch; I would imagine this is a title for Handheld Mode.

Different protagonists are steadily introduced, their stories criss-crossing into each other, until they all finally unite. They discover that their world is actually one region of an even larger world. It has been separated into disparate chunks by a force known as the Great Barrier. Our alliance (get it?) of heroes embark on a quest to unite the world, so they can stay alive (get it?) against the daemon threat.

Hopefully developer Cattle Call can use this remaster as a springboard to create something tailor-made for consoles. Despite its flaws, everything that The Alliance Alive HD Remastered does well is done astoundingly. It breaks out of the JRPG mold in many small ways, and it deserves to be praised for that.

The Alliance Alive appears to have a lot going for it at a glance. It combines tried-and-true JRPG mechanics with chibified characters to call forth the classics of yesteryear. It's got a catchy name. It seems to have all its ducks in a row. Unfortunately, developer Cattle Call simply doesn't seem to have tweaked the formula it tested out with previous release The Legend of Legacy enough just yet. The resulting The Alliance Alive is a serviceable adventure that ends up just a bit lacking, in both narrative and gameplay departments. This is an RPG that wouldn't have felt out of place back in the '90s as a PlayStation release, but unfortunately that won't elevate it to cult status here in 2018. Gather your alliance together and see if you should journey into the Rain Realm and read on!

The Alliance Alive places you in a world that's been split up into various different realms following a harrowing Human vs. Daemon war. The Rain Realm, for instance, has never seen a blue sky, as protagonist Azura has wished to see for her entire life. Childhood friend Galil joins her on a quest to see the blue sky, and the game kicks off by essentially letting you wander the map as you switch off between groups. Characters that vary from Daemons to signimancers (this world's version of a mage, essentially) eventually join up to figure out what's going on in the divided world (the Dark Current, natch) and reunite the various worlds.

It's your job to navigate The Alliance Alive after it opens up and gives you more of an opportunity to explore the world. Once you're freed up from the more linear opening moments and asked to travel around the traditional RPG overworld to find your next destination, things get a little muddy. It can be difficult to figure out where you're supposed to go, which normally would simply encourage exploration, but in this case it just becomes frustrating, especially when you start running into incredibly difficult enemies that mean you're probably in the wrong place.

That's where things start to fall apart. Traveling across the overworld is fun if you have an idea of where you need to go next, but otherwise it devolves into the nightmare of hoping you saved before a chain of enemies attacks you because you couldn't run fast enough. When your party has all fallen, you'll have to start from your last complete save or at the main menu, which can be ridiculously frustrating.

Combat is the most action you'll see in the game, so that can be a problem. You don't earn levels or gain experience points, and instead your characters level up your attacks, equipping two weapons at a time or forgoing them entirely. You have to partake in the random battles you might normally be tempted to skip for this, because if you don't you'll be woefully underequipped for the next set of encounters. The turn-based combat of The Alliance Alive is a lot different than what you might be used to, though it doesn't exactly shine for its different mechanical decisions.

As your attacks become stronger and level up throughout the course of the game, you'll find that you'll perform Final Strikes, or attacks that do a devastating amount of damage while breaking your weapon, more often than not. This necessitates the equipping of two weapons if you want to be ready for your next fight, especially since you can't just give your character a new one in the middle of combat. This forces you to think with an even more strategic slant than usual when it comes to turn-based games, and it can be frustrating to deal with despite its interesting nature.

Healing and utilizing the points you receive from being victorious is also a strange setup, as you don't need specialized items to revive allies if their HP reaches zero like a Revive or a Phoenix Down. Enemies can even attack your fallen allies to reduce their maximum HP before you leave battle. Your max health will remain that way until you sleep at an inn or similar spot where you can bring everyone back to their max HP count. That's why it can be a real killer if you find yourself in a tight spot. While I appreciate this intriguing change to typical RPG battle mechanics, I also find it tedious and frustrating when trying to make real progress.

There's a real balance problem when it comes to battles as well, as you might find that you're in the middle of a difficult chain in an area where you're just starting out, with river monsters popping out to grab you and then breezing through in later areas where you'd expect toughness. This makes playing through The Alliance Alive more of a slog than anything else, especially when the narrative just isn't strong enough to propel you through the fifth time of restarting the game because you got caught in a battle chain without any recourse since your weapons broke or you didn't have enough luck to pull you through. Because of that, the game feels more like a bunch of random battles strewn together loosely connected by the occasional travels to town and bits of dialogue, and that alone does not an RPG make.

The Alliance Alive is a great-looking game with an interesting premise and intriguing battle mechanics, but in the end it falters from its combat decisions. There's a lot of content to wade through here, but many players, including those who typically yearn for a throwback, will find that the game is frustrating and difficult to get through thanks to its numerous battles and requirements to get through them. It's got potential, and it's a decent narrative to wade through on your way to work or for an hour or so at a time, but it seems as though it still needed some more time in the oven.

This review is based on a Nintendo 3DS download code provided by the publisher. The Alliance Alive is available for purchase on Nintendo 3DS with both digital and physical editions on March 27, 2018.

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!

What is published in NATO Review does not constitute the official position or policy of NATO or member governments.

NATO Review seeks to inform and promote debate on security issues. The views expressed by authors are their own.

NATO is in urgent need of revitalisation. Its credibility is at stake. Shortfalls in Allied capabilities have been brought into sharp focus by the US-led operations in Afghanistan and the lack of a clear role for NATO is raising serious questions about its continued relevance. This crisis of confidence is exacerbated by a transatlantic rift manifest in several areas. Unless the November meeting of Allied leaders in Prague, originally billed as the "enlargement summit", is truly turned into a "transformation summit", NATO will have outlived its utility and will fade away. Steps were taken to pave the way for such transformation at the recent meetings of Allied foreign and defence ministers. It remains to be seen whether rhetoric will translate into action. Is the United States truly committed to NATO as a military alliance, or is it merely regarded as a useful political instrument? And will the European Allies demonstrate their commitment to closing the capabilities gap?

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 realised our worst fears. A threshold was crossed when suicide hijackers turned civilian aircraft into weapons of mass disruption and deliberately targeted a densely populated area. The response of the Allies was swift and resolute. The very next day, they invoked Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, NATO's founding charter, declaring that the attack against the United States was an attack against all Allies. This meant that, under the provisions of Article 51 of the UN Charter, the Allies could take action against those behind the attack. The pledge to support the United States came with no geographical limits: de facto, NATO became a global alliance.

The significance of the Allied solidarity expressed on 12 September 2001 is undeniable. Since then, however, NATO has failed to match words with deeds. While individual Allies are contributing to the US-led operations in Afghanistan, NATO has been unable to offer much more than political support. Nor has the US Administration asked for much more, implying that they do not need, or do not wish to use, NATO.

Worse still, some US officials - influenced by a flawed perception of NATO's performance in the Kosovo air campaign, which they denounce as "war fighting by committee" - believe that NATO is not capable of acting effectively in such a crisis. Others deny that NATO has any relevance for future crises and, when asked about NATO's purpose, answer flatly: "Keep the illusion alive." A third group appears to think that, over time, closer cooperation between Russia and the United States will result in bilateral decision-making, leaving European Allies out of the loop.

Should such perceptions become the prevailing view in Washington, this would almost inevitably mean NATO's demise. The European Allies cannot afford this to happen. Europe still faces risks, which are increasingly of a global nature. But Europe does not have the global capabilities required to meet global challenges and therefore remains dependent on the United States, and NATO, for its security and stability.

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