Finding new weapons and destroying countless barrels and boxes will keep you going, though there are no platforming elements to speak of, or other things to distract from the button-mashing fights. All in all, the game's not a bad time - albeit quite uninspired. Defend the fortress' usually involves taking out a boss or some enemy generators. It's honestly a little annoying to get taken out of what little mission structure the game has like that, and these battles aren't that much fun. You'll be minding your own business when you suddenly get zapped back to whichever character you left guarding the home-front to combat the intruders. Attempting to spice things up are random attacks on the Geo-Fortress. There's plenty of ambiance to destroy as well, but it all gets repetitive rather quickly (especially if you played Neo). As you travel along, enemy battalions will pop up in front of you (sometimes literally), cruisin' for a bruisin'. For the most part you don't need to worry about your allies in combat, as the AI can handle itself - not that you wouldn't appreciate the strategic element, as the combat is pretty simplistic. Centaur Gadfort and the elvish Maebelle will also fight by your side, and others will join your ranks over time. You'll control two different main characters in EXA: Toma is a cocky sword-swinging kid, while Cyrille is a young sorceress shrouded in mystery and accompanied by a weird talking pet. It reminded me a lot of the headquarters in the Suikoden titles, but more focused on functions than followers. The place is a little run-down since its last tenants, though, so it'll take some time before you can utilize all of its features - from warping to leveling up attributes to training simulations. It turns out you inherit the massive stronghold known as the Geo-Fortress as a result, and all its gadget glory. You don't have to wait long to discover the truth yourself, as you snag it within the first hour of gameplay. It's a little more mature than the action in Shining Soul or Shining Tears, but is more simplistic than, say, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance or Marvel: Ultimate Alliance In the game's fiction, the Shining Force itself is actually a legendary sword, and each culture has different lofty takes on what happens if you find it. Gameplay revolves around battling large swarms of enemies with AI buddies in tow. Shining Force EXA follows suit, and I mean in the sense that it's close to its predecessor in a way that makes you wonder if it's truly a sequel. The shift took place in 2005 with Shining Force Neo. Don't worry we'll get through this together. For better or worse, Shining Force is now a different genre, and we'll just have to get used to it. I mean, Sega might as well make a road-building sim titled Streets of Rage, or a crummy pseudo-RPG called Sonic the Hedge. I can't help but look back fondly to the series' tactical RPG roots. If you're anything like me - you lucky devil, you - you find Sega naming an action/RPG Shining Force a bit of an abomination.
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