Landstalker -- Making Your Way In An Isometric World.

Landstalker uses an isometric perspective that allows for an entirely different approach to puzzles, combat, and action. An isometric perspective is a roughly three-quarters topdown view over two-dimensional backgrounds designed to mimic a three-dimensional space. Think Zaxxon. Nigel moves through the world with four-way directional movement that was originally tied to the diagonals on the Genesis controller. The game was coded with the Genesis controller in mind of course and it worked perfectly on said controller. It doesn't work so well on the Wii Remote's D-pad. Fortunately it works wonderfully on the Classic Controller's analog stick of all things, but not so well on the Classic Controller's D-pad. Landstalker takes place in a far more 3D space than Zelda's 2D games. As a result the puzzles and the action and the combat reflect this. The developers were smart in animating Nigel's sword slashing in wide arcing swings. Nigel swings around himself. He's not thrusting. You don't have to worry about lining up with an enemy as you would in other action RPGs without the isometric perspective. You do have to worry about the enemy attempting to get behind you though, as most of them will try to do so. The isometric view means that you can often walk around objects such as trees and spikes and walls. The puzzles will often make use of this. So does the action. You'll need to make directional changes mid jump. Later on in the game the jumps tend to become out and over rather than just out. Landstalker is tougher than most action RPGs because of the isometric view. Some people just can't seem to see or think clearly enough in the isometric space. If you're able to move around in the isometric space unabated then you're likely to find a challenging and rewarding action and puzzle element in Landstalker. If not, then Landstalker will clearly give you fits. I for one love the perspective as used in Landstalker. Climax Entertainment really handled the difficult perspective well in my opinion.