Below the Cut: Battlemaster (Genesis)

(Source: dammit's secrets)

Battlemaster - Rating(5 RPP)
1) 1 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 2 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 1 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 0 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 0 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

We have here another oddity of time. Most game lists categorize this as either an action adventure, or strategy game, while the box says it has role-playing action. It has a mix of character and troop management, exploration, and inventory that give it a feel similar to RPGs. However, it lacks character advancement, stats, and customization. There are multiple races and classes, each with their own starting missions, and possibly story. You control a main general that has a squad of troops. Once again I didn't play this for very long, but as far as I could tell equipment is the only thing that plays a part in combat. Equipment is varied, and items seemed to range between obvious and obscure uses.

The game consists of separate mission-based areas where the goal is to destroy enough of the enemy forces to conquer the territory. There's an option to purchase equipment from the spoils gained on previous missions, but no option to sell anything. There is a story, although I didn't get very deep into it. I didn't find any NPCs, and there weren't any side quests within the first two missions I played through. In the end, it doesn't play well and there are tons of instant death traps that take memorization to pass.