Review: Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore
destructoid.comIt’s dangerous to base an entire game, movie, book, or anything on a single joke – especially a referential joke. Yet the developers of Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore did exactly that.
The Phillips CD-i Legend of Zelda titles are many things, including a rare besmirchment on the brand and a laughing stock, but they’re rarely referred to as quality games. For some reason, Seedy Eye Software (oh, I just got that pun) chose those three games of questionable quality as inspiration. In particular, Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is billed as a spiritual successor to Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.
But if they were aiming for “so bad it’s good” with Arzette, they’ve missed the mark entirely. Arzette is just plain good.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (Switch [reviewed], Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, PC)
Developer: Seedy Eye Software
Publisher: Limited Run Games
Released: February 14, 2024
MSRP: $19.99
The early steps into the world of optical media were, perhaps, the most awkward period of video games. While it was sometimes harnessed for good rather than evil with games that resembled the period’s normal fair with extra voices and cutscenes, others tried to stuff them full of terrible live-action cutscenes and FMV sequences barely resembling gameplay.
Nintendo nearly entered this market but bailed out at the last minute, leaving Sony, their first partner for an SNES CD-ROM attachment, scorned, and Phillips, the potential successor, with a license to make a few games with Nintendo’s properties. The result was Hotel Mario and three titles based on The Legend of Zelda.
You’ve probably heard of them since their internet fame propelled them to prominence. Both Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon had animated cutscenes that combined straight-to-video animation with nightmare fuel. Characters were questionably voiced and scripted, the transitions were strange, and while the animation had too-detailed movement, it had fewer frames than you’d
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