Galerians: Ash
- January 23, 2003 00:00 AM PST
I'm a psychic, you're a psychic, she's a psychic, he's a psychic, wouldn't you like to be a psychic, too?
Played-out "destroy the living genocidal computer" mumbo jumbo pilots this moody, slightly disturbing yet ass-numbingly boring sequel that pits pill-popping psychic terror teens against one another for the fate of mankind or some such other hoodoo. Six years have passed since the first game and as the returning protagonist, Rion, you use psychic martial arts against a new breed of deadly Galerians�artificially created mental mutants with bad attitudes. Injecting yourself with various pharmaceuticals boosts your powers, but overuse them, and you'll turn into a walking A-bomb, creaming everything in your path until imminent self-destruction occurs. By winning boss battles, you'll earn tablets that level up your paranormal skills.
Scanners
To its credit, Galerians: Ash has some keen effects work, killer psychic combat sequences, and compelling RPG elements. But while putting the psychokinetic kibosh on telepathic geeks is fun, the endless wandering and backtracking hell is a straight-up drag. Most of the game has you literally going up and down flights of stairs and in and out of the same rooms over and over again, making you feel like you�re stuck in some sort of interminably repetitious Skinner box nightmare. Necessary keys and other items are almost impossible to find, and combined with the meandering pace, this cheap and annoying way to pad-out the gameplay is enough to induce Tourette�s syndrome in the most patient gamer.
Long Live the New Flesh
Graphically lackadaisical, the environments don�t measure up to the special effects, although the sound design shows some muscle. You'll also deal with some typically spastic camera problems and a temperamentally clunky targeting system. The concept alone is worth a rental, but your hard-earned $50 would be better spent elsewhere.
