Developer: Wolf Team Publisher: Renovation Release: 11/91 Genre: Action
Renovation were one of the Sega Genesis’ best early supporters with a range of titles spanning every genre. Some like the Valis series managed to achieve some level of popularity. Others like Gaiares and Arcus Odyssey are cool hidden gems. And then there are the ones like Traysia that are best left forgotten. El Viento falls somewhere in the middle and has flown under the radar. Like most of the games they published it’s a bit rough around the edges but still a solid effort, at least until its climax.
The setting is pretty unique, 1920s America. A religious cult led by Vincente Demarcoto (Al Capone in Japan!) plans to resurrect the God Hastur. Annet, a sorceress and descendent of Hastur plans to stop him with a little help from fellow adventurer Earnest Evans.
El Viento is the second game in a loose trilogy of titles that includes the awful Earnest Evans. I say loose because the connection between titles is extremely thin. Earnest Evans shows up in one cutscene here to give you a pat on the head and likewise heroine Annet is present in one level in his game. Both games are action platformers that have their flaws but El Viento is far better than that game. I cannot state that enough.
The best way to describe El Viento is that it lives up to its namesake. El Viento means Wind in Spanish and the game is extremely fast. Annet moves quickly and her boomerangs have heat seeking properties. She can also perform a peculiar crouching run that is actually useful despite how goofy it looks. There are no items aside from health but you do have access to magic. You begin with a simple fireball but earn new spells at set points, eventually up to six. Magic has to be charged with later spells requiring a longer build up limiting their use. Generally it isn’t worth using more than the wave spell but the game has select situations designed for specific spells, almost to justify their presence. While I do not mind it I do feel the integration of magic could have been better.
In many ways El Viento reminds me of Indiana Jones. It starts out very grounded as you fight gangsters in the streets of New York. But it also dips its toes into the supernatural as you perform magic and also fight demons. Now that I think about it is very much like Shadow Hearts: From the New World in that regard. The levels are incredibly varied. One minute you are exploring South American ruins and the next you’ll end up in a Detroit car factory. Even within the same level there is a great deal of variety. Stage three begins in Chicago then descends into the sewers before ending in a cave with ice dragons and a gelatinous boss. It all sounds weird but is probably the game’s greatest strength.
What ultimately hurts El Viento is its lack of polish. The difficulty is all over the place and swings wildly. Initially the pacing is great. Life restoring power-ups are in abundance if you are willing to explore. They start to become scarce in short order, right around the time the challenge ramps up. One level can be an absolute nightmare but is then followed up with a stage so easy to clear like the blimp that it is hard to believe it is near the end. Conversely boss battles start out difficult and only become worse. There is no balance and it hurts the game’s pacing significantly. It is hard to appreciate the at times strong level design when confronted by frequent unavoidable cheap hits.
The absolute apex of this is the final level. Right from the start there are infinitely respawning bats that hound you until death. The entire stage is full of these critters to the point of absurdity. There is almost no respite and the level is so long it is exasperating. Honestly it is so annoying it almost soured me on the game entirely. That’s how bad it is. While it sounds pretty damning El Viento is entertaining enough that I stuck with it. But I would be lying if I wasn’t disappointed that it didn’t live up to its initial promise.
In Closing
El Viento is one of the better action games from early in the Genesis’ life. But it is also rough in spots and unpolished. El Viento is not the first action game I would go for but still worth checking out. Just keep your expectations in check.
