Live A Live Reviews
Check out Live A Live Review Scores from trusted Critics below. With 29 reviews on CriticDB, Live A Live has a score of:
Charming and original turn-based RPG Live A Live makes its way to PlayStation and PC. With astonishing storytelling and a superb soundtrack, it is a gem worth playing.
Read Full Review
LIVE A LIVE is a gorgeous 2D-HD experience that combines modern with classic pixel visuals. With multiple chapters to select featuring their own story and characters, along with a variety of genres, there is so much here to keep you busy, this is a must-play RPG!
Read Full Review
Last year saw the remake of Live A Live launch on Nintendo Switch, some 27 years after its original 1994 launch on the Super Famicom. This marks the first time the title has been made available outside of Japan, and now that it's coming to PS5 and PS4, we're happy to report that Live A Live is still a unique and ground-breaking experience.
Read Full Review
An excellent remaster of an excellent game, Live A Live influence can be spotted in many titles to this day, and most people may have never even heard of it. After 30 years, consumers can finally enjoy one of the most unique and compelling JRPGS from the SNES area.
Read Full Review
Live A Live presents an interesting take on the JRPG genre, with seven separate stories to complete across wildly different genres. The premise deserves a lot of credit, as does its confident execution. However, some chapters are much better than others, and the combat isn’t quite strong enough to work as Live A Live’s central mechanic.
Read Full Review
Quibbles aside, This HD-2D is the best way to enjoy Live A Live, and has come a long way from the original SNES version - it feels like how the game would’ve been made had the means existed at the time. Both the English and Japanese voice talents lift the characterization and emotional impact of the game, and the narratives – while perhaps a little cliched – are a breath of fresh air with their unique approach to storytelling, design and play choices. That modern JRPGs can still take cues from this classic is testament to how timeless it is.
Read Full Review
It’s hard to believe now, but most of Square’s games didn’t make it out of Japan in the mid-1990s, and titles we consider classics now, like Live A Live, only drew attention due to fan translations. Now, it’s finally getting an official release with the Nintendo Switch remake, and the big question we have is if the wait was worth it.
Read Full Review
While the game has problems typical of many JRPGs, it also has iconic qualities - a subversive, resonant plot that overturns expectations of how a typical heroic journey progresses, and presents us with fallible protagonists who encounter and experience human loss in different ways. This is a refreshing take on a genre usually populated with idealistic heroes and ultimately happy endings, featuring a memorable battle system and killer soundtrack.
Read Full Review
If you’re a fan of quirky JRPGs, consider Live A Live a must-have. Each and every one of the stories offered up here is distinctive and interesting, keeping your attention held like a vice. Along with a fantastic combat system, and numerous improvements to the presentation of the overall package, we’re overjoyed that this title is finally available in the west. Only the occasional frustration brings it down a little, but they’re very much worth pushing through.
Read Full Review
Live A Live is an RPG that was reborn with new life and vigor, and it shows. It’s a solid RPG that weaves all sorts of unique mechanics, stories and genres into one package that is very special indeed.
Read Full Review
If you demand really intricate combat systems and character progression, Live A Live won’t satisfy you. If you demand dozens of hours of storytelling across an epic saga, Live A Live won’t satisfy you. But if you want to play an RPG that takes you on a concise roller coaster ride of extremely varied and exciting experiences, then you absolutely need to play Live A Live on Nintendo Switch. The English localization has problems, but this is nonetheless an important piece of gaming history that has gone underappreciated till now. This HD-2D remaster is the chance for Live A Live...
Read Full Review
Live A Live is an absolute masterpiece, so much so that even the one chapter that frustrated me was still enjoyable once everything came together.
Read Full Review
Live A Live takes too long to settle into its RPG groove, making it a missed opportunity on too many fronts.
Read Full Review
It’s not often gamers get the opportunity to experience a title that was never released in their region, and in Australia in particular there were several RPG’s in the 90’s that didn’t make their way down under for one reason or another. Live A Live is a particularly curious case, as it released on the Super Famicom (or Super Nintendo) exclusively in Japan in 1994. Directed by Takashi Tokita, known for his work on Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV, Live A Live has, somewhat randomly...
Read Full Review
The 1994 original has some unfortunate flaws, that this remake doesn’t try to fix, but in terms of graphics, soundtrack, and sheer invention this is one of the best Japanese role-players of any era.
Read Full Review
I went into Live A Live expecting the time-capsule experience of unearthing a long-lost Super Nintendo RPG from Takashi Tokita, one of the creators of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV – two of the best games ever made. Even with Live A Live’s design roots stretching back to 1994, little about it feels classic. The colorful pixelated characters scream of that era, but most of the game is inventive, modern, and delightfully goofy (and sometimes shockingly profane).
Read Full Review
Although it is more than 25 years old, Live A Live delights with charming narratives, solid gameplay, and a well-remastered presentation.
Read Full Review
While component tales and battles can be hit-and-miss, this elderly Squaresoft anthology is a wonderful testament to its genre's flexibility and range.
Read Full Review
Live A Live is fascinating for JRPG fans of all varieties. For those who grew up in the 16-bit gaming era, it's a time capsule into a bygone age of video games. For those who just want a good JRPG, this is that, too. For those who want a collection of different stories, each with their own characters, aesthetic, and vision, Live A Live serves that function well. Finally, North American audiences will get a chance to experience this game that feels truly timeless.
Read Full Review
Live A Live is a beautiful remake of an overlooked classic that should not be missed by JRPG fans.
Read Full Review
“Live A Live is a high-effort remake from the presentation side, though the base game remains an uneven RPG experience.”
Read Full Review
A stunning adventure unlike anything you've played before.
Read Full Review
In the 90s, Live A Live was outshone by its peers and missed a Western release. This excellent 2D-HD remake is a chance to set the record straight.
Read Full Review
I implore anyone who enjoyed JRPGs of the 90s, especially the ones by Square itself, to give Live A Live a try. It's filled to the brim with variety, humor, and interesting narratives. It may not be perfect or surpass your childhood favorites, but fans of the genre will find a place in their hearts for it nonetheless.
Read Full Review
Good games should have a focused vision. They need a running theme, a thesis statement that binds everything together. The more branching out you do, the more potential trouble you invite. Live A Live flies in the face of this wisdom. The protagonists seemingly have nothing to do with one another. And yet, there’s some genuine merit to this buffet-style premise. In the case of this game, more is mostly better.
Read Full Review
As an experiment, even almost three decades later, Live A Live mostly succeeds. Because it’s unconventional at heart, it’s going to be a bit polarizing (especially at 50 bucks), just as it was back when it was released. Still, the juice is worth the squeeze if you’re a particular type of person who likes oddities, and stories that go for broke.
Read Full Review
Live A Live is hands down one of the most interesting games I've experienced in a while. A neat little package made up of completely disparate elements, it shouldn’t work but it does. Add in some truly clever gameplay mechanics, the gorgeous HD-2D visuals and phenomenal soundtrack, and you have a game I would urge any JRPG fan to play.
Read Full Review
Experience the lives of 8 distinct characters from the dawn of man to the distant future in this remake of a wonderful Super NES RPG.
Read Full Review
For years, Live A Live stood alongside the likes of Mother 3 as one of those lost legends of localization. Spoken of reverently by those in the know, but out of the grasps of the average player. Released by Square in 1994, smack dab in between Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, the game was every bit as ambitious as the better-known 16-bit JRPGs, but for whatever reason, it was never brought Westward. The game has built a bit of a cult audience via fan translations, influencing the likes of Undertale creator Toby Fox, but now Square Enix is bringing...
Read Full Review