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El Viento
Developer: Wolfteam
Release date: 1991
Platform: Sega Genesis
Genre: Action-Platformer
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Telenet Japan had a small number of subsidiary studios, and the finest of these was Wolfteam, which was part of Telenet throughout the '80s and '90s on an on/off basis. Known mainly to me as the arm of Telenet that actually possessed some notable degree of design competence, Wolfteam would eventually splinter as a result of Telenet's collaboration with Namco to create the first game in the Tales series, Tales of Phantasia. Half of Wolfteam stayed on with namco and became the core of Namco's Tales team, the other half left and founded Tri-Ace studios, and Telenet was left holding the bag. While Wolfteam was still in one piece, however, it did produce some fine games for the Sega Genesis, such as Sol-Deace. What I'm looking at however, is their entry into the action-platformer lineup on the SG, El Viento.
El Viento is the second game in the Earnest Evans universe, and the only good one of the three- the first was ambitious but heavily flawed, and the third was released in a state one could generously describe as "beta". Thankfully, El Viento requires no familiarity with the first game. It's 1928, and bad things are afoot in the good ol' US of A. The cult of Hastur has finally got enough of its act together to try to actually summon The Unspeakable One into the world. After getting a genuine sorceress on their side for the ritual, and hiring on Al Capone's (yes, I know they call him Vincente DeMarco in the English version) organization as muscle to keep curious folks from getting too curious, the stage is being set for the end. Annet Myer, Peruvian sorceress who has gone from damsel-in-distress to full-on action heroine, however, is more than rarin' and ready to go to fight all of them at once, however, even if they have already gotten a hold of some monstrous allies.
One thing that players will immediately notice if they've been playing any action game but Sonic is how mobile Annet is. She jumps high, moves fairly quickly normally, and even has a sustained dash that makes her in all likelihood the second-speediest character on the Sega Genesis. Using Annet's enormous speed is absolutely required in some sections of the game, so it is, thankfully, non-awkward to use. Annet's primary attacks are a set of razor boomerangs, and she can only have a certain number on-screen at a time, though this can be upgraded with powerups. She can also acquire items that temporarily give them homing. Her secondary attacks, however, are where things get most interesting. Annet's magic relies on a regenerating MP bar- so while she has theoretically unlimited special attacks, she is still restricted in some ways. Annet will pick up six kinds of magic throughout the game, and activating the later magics requires Annet to charge up first. Whenever she picks up a new magic, however, her MP bar increases, so she may use her lesser magics more often than before. Most importantly, however, is that her magics are not all about extra damage, but rather about expanding her attack options, as each magic is basically a new, though limited shot type. Exploiting the properties of her magics is also necessary for completing the game- the fact that there are no attacks you can gain that are or feel superfluous is always a sign of good design.
Score has an actual function- while Annet only has one fairly durable life, score milestones still serve an important purpose, in that they extend her life meter permanently. There is every reason to score hunt- there are some sections of the game where every ounce of life you can muster is important. While the game's bosses are generally challenging, it is often the levels that will have the most negative effect on one's life- Annet has practically no invincibility frames on hits, so being swarmed, as it often the case in the last level, can quickly drain Annet's reserves. While the game is not easy, there are some segments that can be absolutely obnoxious unless executed nearly perfectly, such as most of the final level. Generally, however, the game does not go out of its way to be frustrating to the player- the controls are top-notch.
While the game is hampered in a few ways by its palette choices, there is little to complain about as far as the art direction goes, though a couple of sprites do end up rather pixellated by necessity. The animations are very smooth, most especially Annet's, who manages to outdo pretty much all of her contemporaries in that regard. The story itself is told in Ninja Gaiden-style intermissions, and maintains a consistent art quality throughout, and Annet's character design itself does manage to stand out as something distinct. Of special note, however, is the soundtrack, another fine set of work put together by Motoi Sakuraba, who would later go on to do the soundtracks for the Star Ocean series, the Tales series, Golden Sun, and the Valkyrie Profile games.
Of special note, however, are the game's enemy choices. While Hastur is mentioned, there also are a fair number of enemies and bosses drawn from the works of H.P. Lovecraft- among other things, one of the bosses is a mi-go, and one will encounter Deep Ones, Byakhee, and even a cameo by Cthulu roaming around.
El Viento is ultimately a game worth playing, though its rough spots can be
really rough at times.
Screenshots:
Posted: Tue Nov 6, '12, 8:45 pm 
I can see how Castlevania would overshadow the release of Valis 1 in a big way. 