good atmosphere...for a while

much like other survival horror games such as the silent hill series, this game relies very much on its atmosphere of tension and horror to keep the gamer's interest going throughout its duration, keeping you on your toes as to what terrors will meet you around the corner. and this set-up works, but only for so long.

this is a game, as I said prior, that will leave you on your toes. in it, you play an fbi agent on the trail of a serial killer, with some bloodthirsty psychos impeding your progress, which you'll need to dispatch with (mostly) melee weaponry from a first person perspective. the reason behind the psychotic state of these people is left a mystery until toward the end. along the way, you'll also come across murder scenes, which you'll need your forensic equipment to solve and find clues to continue on your journey. as you go on, the 'crazies' become crazier and even more physically malformed, and the protagonist's own sanity even comes into question.

sound like a winning formula? well, it is...at first. the game starts off so well, striking a nice balance between pure tension, unrelentingly disturbing horror, and classic "BOO!" cheap-scare tactics, with particularly intense fights with your cuckoo enemies, the tension heightened by the claustrophobically limited space in which you'll often have to manoeuver, the short range of your weapons and the darkness that enshrouds your urban decay surroundings.

but here's the problem (I know you've all been waiting with bated breaths of anticipation for this, right...RIGHT?) - it gets monotonous FAST. the beautifully horrible environment that you traverse through becomes less fascinating as you go on when you realize that everything looks the SAME. it slowly turns from terror to pure boredom. also not helping is the overzealous use of darkness for atmosphere. yes, it does create tension during key moments, but it also makes it terribly confusing to figure out where the hell you currently are, let alone know where to go from your current position. along with terror dissipating into boredom, it also leads to frustration. combat also gets monotonous. they start off intense, but the enemies and the strategies you use against them hardly change. once you become a pro at disposing the game's wackos, you'll have no problem at all making it through the latter portions of the game. this kind of predictability really hampers the experience.

and the forensic scenes...what wasted potential! the game practically does all the work for you. what could have been interesting albeit gruesome puzzle-solving ala silent hill's creative head-scratchers (on higher difficulties anyway) turns out to be something that you'd find on a sub-edutainment title. literally, move over the bodies until an icon pops up telling you what button to press; press the button, and you'll pull out some fancy gizmo collecting fingerprint data or whatever, repeat as many times as necessary and you're on your way. when people say that games these days pander to idiots, they should use this game's forensic sections as positive proof for this phenomenon.

so yes, this game is a great idea, that starts off as something that's going to live up to its awesome premise, but much like the mental status of your character and the minions you fight against, it slowly spirals downward into an irreversible decay. only the storyline, to find out what will happen to the protagonist, to find the serial killer, and to find out what the hell's going on with these crazy folks that want to kill you, will keep you going once the monotony settles in.

hopefully the sequel, bloodshot, will fix most of its predecessor's more glaring problems and deliver a product that truly lives up to its potential, and not just at the beginning, either, but ALL the way through.

*snooze*

it has an incredibly charming graphic style. I'll give it that. everything else, though?

the music is incredibly annoying, despite the praise offered to it. yes, it's quirky, offbeat, pretty catchy, all that jazz, but that alone doesn't save it from grating the ears. well, if it says anything, I'd rather hear this than some generic gangsta rap soundtrack, but that's the most praise I can give it.

the controls are functional, and simple. this makes the game very easy to get into. the problem is, whereas most games of this type go on its "easy to play, hard to master" slogan, the overall gameplay is as simple as the controls. tilting the screen and moving your various locorocos through very same-y levels (differing mostly in color schemes) is very easy and pretty boring. you can increase the challenge by trying to collect all of the items in each level but this is not rewarding in the slightest, and usually results in frustration than anything.

a game that earns some points for style, and none for substance.

a review of SONIC CD ONLY

apparently gamepro doesn't have the sega cd available in the "retro section" yet, much less sonic cd itself. so, not caring about the other games on this compilation, I will instead focus on reviewing sonic cd, the highlight of the collection, and beloved to sega cd owners everywhere, instead.

first, what differentiates this entry from the genesis games? what gives it its "cd" edge? that comes in the form of a few fmv footage (intro and ending, to be specific), and cd-quality music. the fmv is pretty neat (well, better than what you'd find in the purely fmv games that were available for the sega cd, certainly), though nothing to write home about. the music just sucks though. BOTH the u.s. version's AND the japanese/euro version's alike. don't believe the hype that tells you how awesome the japanese soundtrack is, unless you like really annoying j-pop. the u.s. soundtrack is just as bad, but instead of bad j-pop, it's bad lounge music instead. screw this, give me the genesis sonics' more primitive, yet far more satisfying tunes.

so, besides the unremarkable cd-exlusive features, how's the game? I must say, thankfully, that it fares much better here. the gameplay features your typical sonic gameplay, rings, loops, time limits, annoying obstacles and enemies, and of course, the classic sonic sense of speed. the twist here is the "time travel" mechanic, where you travel through time by running through sign posts that read either "past" or "future," maintain a good sense of speed long enough, and you will end up in an alternate version of the level. the color scheme, music, and small level design details will all change, for better or worse. to get the good ending, you must finish each level in a "good future" scenario, along with finding and completing all the bonus stages, along with locating these mechanical devices well-hidden in the level and destroying them (whew!). I never found this to be particularly worth the effort, as it takes a lot away from what sonic's always been fun for: just dashing through the levels at high speed, and dodging danger in the process. pure, and simple, just how I like it.

level designs are slightly more restrictive because of this time travel mechanic, meaning you're not afforded as many opportunities to just spin dash to your heart's content. MANY obstacles will meet your way to make damned sure you don't travel through time easily, which either helps or hinders the gameplay, depending on whether or not you care to get the good ending or not.

to close the review, this is a very good sonic game. I slightly prefer the genesis titles (sonic the hedgehog 1 notwithstanding), but you can't go wrong by picking this game up, whether it be a sega cd original or this gamecube compilation (also available for the ps2 in PAL and japan).

an intriguing, if rather overrated, gaming experience

this game has developed something of a cult following in recent years, these people acting as though this game is some sort of god (hopefully not one of judeo-christian orientation), but truthfully, it's a very good game held up by an incredible presentation and brought down by overly simplistic gameplay. but that's what you get when a game that goes a bit beyond the norms of gaming conventions in one way or another becomes largely overlooked by the general gaming public.

the game is an on-rails shooter involving your character traveling through cyberspace, blasting away viruses, and repeating this process till the game ends. first of all, yes this game is a visceral experience unlike any other (well, except for maybe other tetsuya mizuguchi games). the trippy, vibrant, flashing colors and unique approach to music (every shot fired emulates an electronic percussion beat, surprisingly staying in synch with the rest of the music, no matter how haphazard you may fire). it's a sensory overload that is sure to kill an epileptic or two that dare take on this game. the problem? take away the aesthetics and you'd have what is basically yet another generic on-rails shooter. as you move forward, you aim, and fire at your pushovers for opponents. it's not a very difficult game at all, and shouldn't take you long to blow through the whole thing. ultimately it's the style that carries the game, and does a pretty good job at that, lifting this game from mediocre and disposable to an enjoyable game.

while it's not quite as good as it's been cracked up to be by its extremely devoted fanbase, it's definitely something that should be played and experienced at least once.

a quality title overlooked by the mainstream

this could be considered the first ever "first person puncher" as throughout most of the game you engage in bare-fisted melee combat in the first-person perspective. these aren't simple hand slaps, either. you fight like you do in any good fighting game, attacking your enemies with a variety of moves, blocking your opponent's attacks, and using the occasional special move when the situation becomes too hot to handle. this is all handled seamlessly in the first person perspective, something never attempted before and would have resulted in disaster if put into lesser hands. but the developers accomplish this daring experiment with effortless gusto. i'm highly impressed. this isn't all fistcuffs though, as there are guns you will acquire. these will prove to be ineffective later on though once you come across seemingly invincible foes, until you lay a good beating with your superhuman fists of might.

this is also great as an experience as well. the first person perspective never leaves you throughout the story, a la half-life. you're in the character's shoes through everything, from fist-fights to drinking soda and even to frequent bouts of profuse vomiting. there are plenty of great suspense sequences as well, which i will not spoil for you, which aids the atmosphere.

speaking of atmosphere, you will experience hallucinations in this game, putting you in a desert-like setting among others. this helps to break the monotony of the level design. that's right, all is not well in what is otherwise a quality game unified by a focused sense of creativity and concept: the level designs are terrible.

for much of the time you walk through gray corridors, some going on for long stretches of time, and this puts a dent in the experience. not too big of a dent though, as everything else is so well-done that this is a forgiveable flaw. it's too bad this game sold like crap, as a next-gen sequel expanding on this game's fundamentals, improving on many aspects, and fixing its flaws would have been more than welcome in my book. get this game if you can still find it.