Story: 2.5/5 for content, 4/5 for... randomness
Characters: 2/5 for content, 5/5 for creativity
Gameplay: 4.5/5 - fun, simple, and smoothly-flowing with occasional challenges
Music: 4.5/5 - nice retro sound [Hey, it was the state of the art in 1992!]
Graphics: 5/5 - 2D, but brightly-colored and well-drawn
Price: 10/5 -
99 cents at the iTunes App Store!!!Overall Rating: 4.5/5
It's fun!Edit: After playing Shining Force for a bit again, I have to correct myself - that technically isn't a nautilus. I guess it's more of an amobea... jellyfish... thingy. I first played Shining Force when I was about seven or eight, and enjoyed it greatly - though I didn't exactly grasp too much of the plot. A description of what I remembered would probably be along the lines of 'There's this guy who washed up on a beach and can't remember anything, and then there's an army he leads around, and you fight a three-headed evil dragon at the end. And also, there's a werewolf!'
( On the one hand, that's a fairly accurate description. On the other hand, I seriously needed Ritalin if the ONLY unusual thing I noticed was the werewolf. )TL;DR: It's not great if you're looking for characterization, world-building, or an A.I. that didn't repeat 1st grade seventeen times, but I like it anyway.
If you want a fun, cracky, and brightly-colored strategy game with which to while away some time, play Shining Force.
If you want an actual quality game for $0.99 without in-app purchases to jack up the effective price, play Shining Force.
If you want to use a talking rhinoceros in steampunk armor and an ice-casting floating nautilus to beat up your enemies, I honestly don't think you have any choice other than Shining Force.