" Well now this really depends on you doesn’t it? "

   Title: RPG Maker by Agetec

   Format: RPG for Playstation

   Reviewing Monkey: Simi N.

   The Hype: Make your own RPGs. Share your creations with your friends. Design and script everything in your fantasy world.

      What This Monkey Thought...

   Graphics: The graphics in this game are sub par for the Playstation. Almost more on line with mid to late Super Nintendo game- which is pretty damned sad. Everything is two dimensional, jagged, and simple. The best looking graphics are the enemies, but they don’t move or anything, they just sit there. 2 out of 5

   Sound: The sound also way below standard. There is somewhere around 70 different sound effects you can pick for different occasions in the game, spells, bumping into walls, etc., but they're all pretty damned low quality You're big problem won't be trying to find the sound that best fits the action, but more trying to find the sound that won't annoy the crap out of you. The music is okay, poor quality, but it is less annoying and there is plenty to choose from. 3 out of 5

   Game Play: The game play depends somewhat on how you design it. But for the most part it is simple and fun. The battles are a strange mix between Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. There can be a ton of spells to learn, and you can even give you characters up to sixteen special abilities each that take away a designated number of hit points instead of magic points. Basically this amounts to good ol’ classic RPG fun. 4 out of 5

   Level and Environment Designs: Well now this really depends on you doesn’t it? There are quite a few pre-made environments to choose from, but not all of them will suit your purposes. Therefore you will have to design some of your own. The problem here is that when making a town or dungeon in your own RPG you don’t have enough graphics to choose from. The result being an area with way too many square edges, small gripe, but a worthy one. 3 out of 5

   Multiplayer: There is no multiplayer fool! N/A

   Replayability: As a utility this game has high "replay" value. Anytime you would like to make a new adventure, just pop it in and start creating. Otherwise the replay value all depends on you again, and how fun you make your games. 5 out of 5

   Story/Dramatics: Once again this is dependent entirely upon the creator. But in the sample game the story is cute, simple, and has the added bonus of giving the player hints on how to make his/her RPGs more fun. 4 out of 5

   Usefulness: This game is only useful if you want to make an RPG. And depending on the complexity of the game you ant to make this can have its drawbacks. As a warning let me say that RPGs are very complex games, and a lot of planning and editing go into them. This particular utility is powerful in that it will let you do almost anything you want, but figuring out how to do it can take some time, as can implementing what you’ve learned. It took me around ten hours to make maybe ten minutes of gameplay. But now that I know how it works, I could make the same ten minutes in about one hour. 5 out of 5

   Instructions and Learning Curve: The instructions are vast, for both the RPG maker itself, and for the Anime Maker. It will take you some time to get through the manuals and you will probably want to re-read both of them to make sure you got everything. There is just a ton of stuff to absorb. So wait until you feel a big one coming, take the manual to the bathroom with you, and start readin’ (repeat if necessary - - -it will be). 3 out of 5

   Installation and Real System Requirements: This game requires at the least two memory blocks to save, one for all the character information and levels. And another for all the actions and story components you put in. However, the size of your game does affect how many blocks it will take. An epic could conceivably take up an entire card. 4 out of 5

   The Verdict:

       A fun little game and a powerful tool, say goodbye to your friends because this will take you some time to master and create your own amazing RPG.

   The Good: Make your own RPGs, tons of options, a powerful tool.

   The Bad: Bad sound, outdated graphics, and not enough graphics to choose from.

   The Overall Ugly: If you have ever wanted to make your own RPG here is you chance. This editor is fun to use, and will let you do a lot in you story. But be warned it will take a lot of time to get an entire game created.

   What it's Worth: This game is definitely worth the market price.