User Reviews (1 - 11 of 20)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Despite its flaws, I always look back on this with a smile.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Hybrid Heaven is really one of those games the likes of which you will probably never see again. It is, essentially, one of the many failed attempts of blending various genres of games; it's really a hit or miss depending on which specific genres you choose to mix. Needless to say, you've never seen another wrestling/3rd person action/RPG game. But despite the many flaws obstructing this game from glory (or many positive reviews, for that matter), I still have a special place in my heart for it.

What makes it good is the fact that its overall experience stays with you and is quite memorable. The storyline in itself is worthy of praise. You start the game as Mr. Diaz, working for an organization aiming to replace the president with a clone. They have started the process by replacing one of the president's bodyguards, and left you in charge of supplying him with weapons for the next phase of the operation. But for some reason unknown to you, you shoot the replacement instead. This obviously generates a problem with your employers, and you go on the run inside the group's extensive underground facilities. As the story progresses, you find out that neither your identity nor your employers' is what it seems, and before long you are caught in the middle of an interstellar war.

Sound intriguing? It really is a decent story, and not nearly as confusing as some people might lead you to believe. If you're a fan of stories like those found in Deus Ex or the X-Files TV show, you'll easily warm up to Hybrid Heaven's alien conspiracy plot. It's really worth playing through the game's problems just to advance the storyline, which features the classic "commanders" set of villains which are part of the main cast, and naturally they fall one by one as you progress through the game. I found it nice that each and every one of the main boss characters had their own storylines fleshed out throughout their "level", in a very similar fashion to Skies of Arcadia or the like. The underground locales grow more and more extravagant as you progress deeper and deeper into the earth's crust. At one point in the game I believe you are as low as you can go, and the surrounding area really makes you feel as if you're far, far away from home. Ever see the movie "The Core"? Then you can get a feeling for the constant descending motion as you go farther and farther into the game.

The combat in the game is a very mixed bag. On one hand it's a very interesting combination of turn-based strategy and wrestling combos, but on the other it's placed very awkwardly into the game, often seeming pointless and repetetive. You will only ever encounter one enemy at a time, and when you do the surrounding room will become the battlefield. In battle, you can move around the field as you wish while your battle gauge builds up. Once it has, you can move in and attack, at which point a menu will pop up. At first, you'll have only a few options, but as you level up you can build your gauge to include many follow-up moves as part of a combo (toward the end I could execute 6 punch/kick attacks in a row). You can punch, kick, use an item, guard, or execute a throwdown move. The combo system works here in that you can kick an enemy 5 times and then finish with a scissor hold. The throwdown moves are certainly modeled from WWF throws and holds, and seem a little out of place in an underground sci-fi facility; you don't expect mutants to know how to perform a full nelson, suplex or head drop, but here it is.

The final aspect of the game is the exploration phase, which covers a fair amount of the gameplay. This, too, is a mixed bag, as it often seems boring and nothing more than a means to get to the next storyline moment. You control the character from a 3rd-person perspective, and essentially you have 2 goals in life: shoot electronic sensing devices, and jump/climb/sideshift over boxes. The shooting apsect of the game is rather weak, and aside from one exception, there is no need for it other than to disable sensors so you can pass. The terrain rarely uses more than flat walkways, so there is little need for climbing or sideshifting either. Not much to talk about here.

Finally, the pacing of the game is sporatic at best. There are time that feel rushed, and then there are sections that have endless repetitiveness. A few locations in particular come to mind when I mention the word "repetitive"; you will have your fare share of mindless boredom when traveling through some parts of the facilties, fighting the same 3-minute battle as many as 9 times before finally being able to progress to the next area.

Those things being said, for the most part the battles are fun and engaging. The boss fights, in particular, are a joy to play, as are the cutscenes afterwards. This game has a fair share of memorable moments contained within it, and the rest of the game is worth the play-through to experience them. The end is perfectly crafted, and leaves you with a warm, satisfied feeling, almost as if the game's problems made the ending all that more the rewarding.

Because of the mental patience and effort you must go through to see this game to the end, you probably won't want to play it again for at least a year or two after you finish it. But it is certainly worth experiencing, even once. You owe it to yourself to experience this story. Recommended, if you can find it for a low price.

long and confusing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

youre this dude who travels all about this underground world and battles weird monsters.when you get into a room with them.the combat mode is very strange.you must pick and choose each minute aspect of every strike you perform.whenever you get nailed with a move you learn it.you can customize your guys fighting style.sounds gresat right?WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!youve got like 10 million stats to keep track of,the game gives you no real indication of whats wrong when it is.theres no clear cut way to go.the instructions are really vague.its all a good idea but,it failed miserably.i wonder if stalin programmed it?

A GAMERS HEAVEN

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO, IS LOOK AT THE REVIEWS LISTED FOR THIS GAME. MOST ARE POSITIVE,.RIGHT? MAJORITY RULES. I FOUND THE GAME QUITE FUN, AND IN MY OPINION, THE VARIOUS MOVES ARE GREAT FUN TO USE. IT MAY SEEM LIKE AT SOME POINT THE GAME IS TOO EASY, BUT STICK IT OUT IT GETS REAL CHALLENGING AT THE END..HOWEVER, YOUR BRAIN IN NOT NECESSARY TO COMPLETE THIS GAME (EXCEPT TO READ) SO JUST GO WITH IT..THE ENDING IS COOOOOOOOOL..WORTH IT IN THE LONG RUN..I LOVE THE ENDING..PLAY IT JUST FOR THAT ALONE..AND, THE PRICE ON AMAZON CANT BE BEAT..REPLAY VALUE PRETTY GOOD AS WELL..

"...Kill that man..."

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Hybrid heaven lives up to it's name in more ways than one! Not exactly an RPG, and not exactly a fighter, and not really an all out action title either...but more a fusion of all three! A strange yet very X-File'ish story plot to the game takes you underneath the city...with the standard alien/human hybrid conspiracy...that even involves the president! The awesome opening cut scenes are amazing for the N64, with really good Japanese anime style art. So as you go along you really don't know who you are yourself, as the game/plot builds. You're armed with a stunner like pistol to start, mostly used to take out security tripwires and drones. Now the fighting scenes is what really makes this game unique. Instead of an all out button smasher(which isn't a bad thing either), you get a onscreen multiple choice selection of how to attack your enemy...though many have complained about how this attributes to the rather slow pace of the game, this is actually what makes this game unique and deep, and most importantly fun to play. The sounds are very atmoshpheric, and the music is well done throughout. Another shining point has to be the clean graphics, plus the character animations are done very well. Gameplay is fun, and the controls are perfect, utilizing the analog stick. Overall this a title that all RPG fans, and fighting fans that like bit of edge to their games, should own...but one last thing is that you should own a memory pack!

Roleplaying Wrestling moves galore.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Your trying to stop alien clones from taking over the world. yattta .. yatta.

There are 2 modes. Adventure\Explore where you go through the complex looking for the ones responsible. And the other is battle mode.

Battle mode is where it gets all my stars. I love the selection of moves you learn. The indepth way to accuratly take out your foe is impressive. Every type of kick and punch, also up to 4(or was it 5) combos. Holding moves(front and back). Reversals, and lying down moves.

This is a fight feast galore. With rping stats. Many attributes to level up(arm,legs,etc). In fact every move you use will level up and be stronger.

Good game, good story, nice sound effects. People that bad mouth this game, either didn't give it enough time. Or just can't handle something orginal. Or maybe the people that like this game are of a mold of a different gamer?

Bottomline: There is no game out there with more moves then this.
And with that, If you like fighting games and don't mind the rp syle battle mode then its difintely deserves to be in your game libary. I don't find the battle mode constricting or reduce the fun in anyway.

Great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: August 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I like the diffrence in ths game. It is my N64 best game, I would suggest buyiing it.

Overall Great Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: September 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a pretty fun game, everyone seems to tear this game apart and give it low scores. But, I enjoy this game.

I had only one complaint, but I'll tell you later.

It's a action/rpg hybrid. You walk around the undergrounds of New York City and when you encounter an enemy, you switch to a battle sequence. The battles are turn-based, much like an RPG. The cool thing is the battles are fully interactive and you can build up you legs, arms and so on...

The story line is pretty cool and also more adult that most N64 games.

The graphics are great, the people actually look like people. The Expansion Pak really pushes the graphics to rival even the Dreamcast.
But, here is my complaint, not about the game, just the expanision pak itself:
*Unless the game is built specificly for the expansion pak (like Donkey Kong or Zelda MM)it's pointless to use since the framrate drops to the point of unplayability.
That's the problem with this game.

With the Expansion Pak it has two resolutions: wide screen and full screen. The framerate in full screen is unbearable and totally unplayable. Wide screen is actually quite playable but still suffers from being choppy.
Why can't companies just do something like reduce the detail or something to help the framerate instead of pushing the N64 to its limits of unplayability. I payed [...]for the expansion pak that Nintendo claims to do wonders on the graphics (which it does) but mess up the framerate and makes the game super choppy and thus worthless to use.

So play it on standard, and the graphics's and framrate are just fine.

But other than that it's a damn fine game.

yeahbaby

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS AWESOME ITS LIKE GOLDEN EYE BUT WITH OUT MULTIPLAYER THE STORY LINE IS'NT HELPFUL BUT THE GRAPHICS PAY FOR THAT

Perfect for RPG fans!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game has awesome graphics. The story is very confusing because when you think you've figured out the story, they throw something else at you! All and all RPG fans will love it. Remember your Controller Pak.

Hybrid Heaven - an RPG that made a unique and daring blend.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: April 04, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is a rather unique type of RPG. Much of the story plot is sparse, but easy to follow. The labyrinth that the main character has to go through is a hugh, multi-leveled UFO. The battle engine (which seems to be what the game is mostly about) goes about combat in a very leisurely, and lengthy manner. Part of the time, you are constantly dancing with the opponent while waiting for your strength meter to recharge. Then, when either you or your opponent engage an attack, a menu pops up, permitting you to choose your move. There is also a unique offense/defense level on different body parts. Say you take too many blows to your left leg. Suddenly, that leg will be too weak to do kicks with. It will also be an easy spot for the enemy to deliver painful blows to. In fact, you and your opponent generally have six different areas that can take damage. Legs, arms, torso and head. And, in the process of combat, you will gain new maneuvers and strengthen different areas of yourself, depending on the usage of the maneuver. Say you constantly use right uppercuts. That arm will gain strength. Though, by gaining all these maneuvers, you tend to make the menu of moves run on forever. You can also use weapons you find along the way to combat with. Sadly, once you get past the combat engine, labyrinth and story plot ideas, the game starts feeling like a wide open field with all the players missing. Much of the time, you will be running through large hallways, shooting at the occasional defense bots, trying to locate the key writing machines and opening doors and chests of several sorts. And, the rooms where your hand-to-hand battles take place in, are usually against biologically engineered monsters who seem to use remotely operated transporters to enter with. There doesn't seem to be much offered in the way of brain teasers. Basically, you are either running through nearly empty hallways, fighting an enemy via hand-to-hand or watching a movie sequence. This game is not for everyone. Try renting it first. And, if you like it, buy it. I'd also recommend obtaining a dedicated memory card for this game...as it likes eating up 56 pages to save a game.

Review Page: 1 2 Next 

Actions