Review of Anima: Beyond Fantasy

Anima: Beyond Fantasy is a steam punk fantasy anime-style RPG published in Spain and translated into English. I had a chance to try it this weekend. Let me first say that I am not an anime fan. In fact, I barely consider anime to be an art form. Thankfully, Anima's only obvious nod to anime in-game is the look and feel of the characters and the world, and perhaps some of the pre-generated character back story as well. So even if you're an anti-anime fan, the game is still accessible.

Mechanics: 7/10: Anima operates under a non-percentile d-100 system, which is certainly not the simplest of base systems. But if you're familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, then the character classes and their abilities are all more specialized forms of the hero classes you already know. There were two particular elements I liked about the mechanics. The first was the fact that, in combat, if an enemy attacks you and misses, you immediately get a counter attack. Also, if at any time a target takes combat damage, they cannot declare any "active" actions on their next turn (active actions include pretty much moving, fighting, most skills and most spells). This makes combat much more fluid and interesting, less predictable.

The second element I liked had to do with spellcasting. Anima uses a form of spell points, with each spell in your repertoire costing a certain amount. The twist is that each spellcaster can only spend a certain amount of points per turn. So, if the cost for a spell is higher than what you can spend per turn, or if you want to "beef up" a spell with more power, you'll have to take the time to gather the necessary power. This mechanic worked out seamlessly once I got used to it, and it means that spellcasters have to spend more time strategizing their next moves rather than relying on fireball after fireball.

Game Story and Logic: 5/10: I was not impressed with the game's internal story or logic. Part of this may have to do with the fact that it's heavily influenced by anime, and I don't get most things about anime, especially the plot and the logic. In the first place, the basic premise of the game was rather vague, and since we launched into the game without much preamble as to who we were or what we were supposed to be doing, I can only conclude that the game's storyline is just rather vague and not very relevant.

Ease of Play: 6/10: Mainly because I find a d-100 system not the most intuitive system to try and play in, and also because Anima uses a special combat chart to determine damage dealt in combat. The chart, in combination with the d-100 system, makes doing combat math a real headache and tends to bog everything down.

Overall Rating: 6/10: Anima gets kudos for trying its hand at making a few unique mechanics, and translating a role-playing game from Spanish and yet preserving its playability can't have been easy. But overall, it's a fairly standard and generic fantasy RPG, all the elements of which you could get with an easier game system elsewhere.