Reviews VideoGame / Live A Live

A Sadly Overlooked, But Amazing Game

Live A Live gives the player seven different scenarios to play through, each with their own protagonist, story and events. There's also an 8th scenario, which is unlocked later and the final chapter, bringing everything together.

The scenarios are differently long, though most can be done within an hour. The stories are decent, though due to the shortness of each scenario, pretty quick to predict what will happen.

The best part is the 8th scenario and final chapter, where things become really interesting and each scenario begins to have little things that all connect them to the origin of the game's scenarios.

And there's definite replay value. The Kung Fu scenario plays out slightly differently, depending on who will become the inheritor; the Ninja chapter can be done by preventing all deaths or going on a killing spree and they all have their own rewards, too. The game has a total of 4 Endings, but which could done in one 'playthrough' by using three separate savefiles, at least. And since the game gives one several slots, this is quite easy to accomplish.

Unfortunately, the game is pretty easy to overlook. It was never officially released outside of Japan and even then was overall forgotten by the spiritual successor: Chrono Trigger. And much as I like Chrono Trigger, I feel like Live A Live was better in certain aspects. This game still holds up well today, and it would be a great game, if it got a remake and was redone with today's capable mechanics. Though this is unlikely to happen.