Rating: 7.6
Happy Price: 7.99
Gameplay
LISA is a 2D side scroller RPG. It's filled with unique characters, sadistic humor, and strange events. The player is forced into difficult choices that permanently alter the state of either the main character or party members. There are also battles that result in death of party members for good, without any warning. This game is for the true masochist.
Battles
Similar to Pokemon, the user is presented with a list of attacks they can choose from. There can be four people in the player's party at a time, but an unknown amount of enemies on screen. Sometimes it's 4v1 or it can be 4v8. At points in the game, it's 1v8. The turn based RPG style alters between parties, so the player's party will attack first, then the opponent. The value of damage for a move is not presented, so it makes it slightly difficult to calculate or get a sense of how powerful an attack is. Also, the opponents health is not visible. It's trial and error for the most part, and the more you play the better sense you will have of the damage an attack yields. Every party character available in the game has a unique move-set, so experimenting with them is fun. Also, party members will die forever in some cases, so the player is forced to use multiple party members. Most of the time its unbalanced, either your party is way too powerful for enemies, or the enemy is way too overpowering. At the same time, the game is labeled the "Painful" RPG. So you should know you are getting into a game that is meant to frustrate.
Soundtrack
It seemed that each battle and each area had a new chiptune that was catchy and addicting. The mood general theme was eerie yet upbeat. It fit perfectly for this post apocalyptic dystopia. It's one of the best soundtracks in any game to date, and was my favorite part of navigating this frustrating world. I couldn't help but enjoy myself when my stuff was getting stolen after deciding to rest at a campfire because I liked the music it was happening too. It felt comedic. Even though I'm done with the game, sometimes the sound of it still ring through my head, and it brings me back to this sadistic game.
Dark Humor
There are so many funny events that go on if you have the stomach for it. This is a mature rated game, and there are people that have serious emotions rise to the surface when playing this game. Walking through a passage way and getting attacked by greasers because my head was bald, was just funny. One of the enemies in that battle was their collective hair, and things like that would cause me to laugh out loud, something that never happens when I play video games. All of the dialogue is text based, so there is no bad voice acting to get in the way. Another instance was dressing up as a woman and whoring myself out, only for the green ranger to seek out my services.
Summary
A very frustrating game, and the only way I got through it was a walkthrough online after hours of getting lost. There is no map or much assistance to the player, but every so often a game like this is refreshing in a day when the player can have too much help. This game is not for everyone, and at times you're not sure if its technically not advanced enough or some of the missing parts to this game were designed that way. Great soundtrack, decent balancing, fun art style, but I wish I had a map.
