Lady Sia (2001)

Genre: Platformer | Players: 1 | Developer: RFX Interactive

A game from the early days of the Game Boy Advance.
Gameplay:
Players control Sia as she battles some anthropomorphic enemies with her sword and some magic while navigating environments to collect gems and health while rescuing prisoners. A pretty basic platformer with some action elements. Regular enemies are nice to fight, but boss fights can be frustrating as there is almost no feedback to tell when attacks are effective. Just old school blinking characters. Also they sometimes devolve into trial and error as there is no instruction on how some enemies are to be defeated. You are also graded on how well you do and top marks unlock bonus levels.
Controls:
B for attack, A for jump. Hold B for special attack. That's pretty much all you need to know to finish the game. Basic, but functional. Sia gains new abilities as you progress that vary in their usefulness.
Sound:
Decent soundtrack filled with standard game music. There are almost no sound effects for enemy attacks which I thought was weird since Sia at least has sword swipes and energy blast effects. The whole game relied almost entirely on the music.
Graphics:
A hand drawn animation style that is charming and colorful. It is sometimes hard to tell what is part of the game and what is just background which can be a huge problem in a platformer.
Story:
All the continents of the world are invaded by beasts called the T'soas. Sia is ambushed and kidnapped during an alliance meeting with the other kingdoms to discuss how to deal with the enemy. She breaks free and must now drive the enemy from not only her kingdom, but also the others.
Buyer's Guide:
New copies go for around $20, but I have seen used copies go for as low as $2 both in bargain bins and online.

2½ Retro gameplay for better or worse out of 5