Chapter One is the short first intallment of the Mardek series created by Psuedowolf in 2007. It's a brilliant start to the series establishing the setting and the atmosphere which the later game would be taking. It also serves as my baseline for judging other Flash RPG.
Synopsis (Spoilers, duh)
The game starts off with out two main character, Mardek and Deugan, in a castle fighting to save a princess from an evil dragon. This area serves as the tutorial for the game teaching the player (You) how to play. It's revealed that this was all imaginary and that Mardek and Deugan are just children fantizing about being heroes. From there the two of them head home and the real plot of this chapter starts. That night while the two sleep a star falls from the sky landing just west of Soothwood. The two boys being naturally curious take it upon themselves to head to where the star fell in the spirit of adventure. Once at the crash site they find that it's an alien ship and that the alien inside is dead. This is when with a flash of light a strange being appears and posses Mardek's body. This being is known as Rohoph and it represent light. Little is revealed about Rohoph at this point except that he is being chased by other like him and that he's going to remain inside of Mardek for quite some time.
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Physical Qualities (10 / 10)
This game look great, though the character art has a lot to be desired that atmosphere of the game goes great with the setting. This is only added upon by the sound which I will say without reservations is likely the best game sound for a non-music flash game that I've ever heard. In all the game has the feel and the execution of a good 8-biit game with a kickass soundtrack to help it along. The only problem with the feel is with the menus they can be a big laggy at times which does take away from the experience. For all of that though this game gets a 10 out of 10 for it's physical qualities.
Gameplay (7 / 10)
It plays just like you'd expect an RPG to play. It utilizes an active turn based system with learnable traits and skills. The controls don't feel laggy or sluggish which is great and the active combat system is always a plus to see in RPG's. The story of this chapter is decent, leaving the player with a lot of question for further installments to answer. The real issue with this chapter is how short it is easily being accomplished in less than an hour even with doing all of the side quest. Because of this the gameplay will only receive a 7 out of 10 being that as good as it is, it isn't very long at all and it definantly leave more to be desired in the story aspect.
Replayaiblity (5 / 10)
As with most RPG's the main reason for the player to redo this one is for the percentage of completion. Even then there isn't a whole lot to do. For the average person they'll play this twice, the first time to learn about the game, the second when they realize that the saves transer over and they want a lovely 100% raiting by the third chapter.
Hack Power (1 /10)
It might be mean to say but the hack power (at the time of writing this) is weak and has a lot to be added. With the games system being utilized for all three chapters there are a lot of possibilities (like weapon hacking) that could be used.
Overall Rating ( 7 / 10)
This series is great serving as a baseline for all others of it's kind. Though this chapter is just a short prelude the the series it's still a great little flash RPG and is worth checking out. Is it flawless? No, but it definantely makes up for it's errors with it's sheer character. Take a look, find out for yourself.
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