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Galerians: ASH is not too bad...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I rented this game a short time ago and found it to be rather entertaining. The box caught my eye with it's anime-like style and the description on the back sounded interesting. So I rent it from Blockbuster and take it home. After loading it up in my ps2 and watching the intro, I realize something.

I have no clue what's going on.

I had no idea there was a game before this (Galerians for the Play Station) and was already at a huge disadvantage from the get-go. Never the less, I treaded onward.

The game play was kind of confusing. The first time I played I died in about 10 minutes, tops, from shorting. Reading the manual is a must, as it explains little things like that to us newbies.

After getting further into it, I got really bored. The 'boss' battles are a lot of fun, and the characters are really interesting, but the game play in-between boss' is repetitive and boring. I got sick and tired of going through the same tedious process every time I wanted to get from one level to another. Most of it is 'Go get a key, crap the key is missing, find key, kill a lot of things, keep running up and down stairs, finally you might be able to open the door, if a boss doesn't stop you first'.

The cut scenes are beautiful, if a little sparse. Most of the time the characters are shown against a plain white background, which is a little discouraging.

I'd say more, but I really can't think of anything else that stands out in my mind. I suppose the ending is a little open, but it covered enough that I wasn't confused.

3 out of 5. Could have been better, but it was still well worth playing.

What happened?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: October 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was a big fan of the original since it was a new face in the survival horror genre and I anticipated a good following chapter. What I have seen from playing it is a stomach wrenching mess. The game has dropped lower than what the first managed to scrape together in all fronts. Sound and music is decent. Voice acting is bad even for a survival horror game. And speaking of the genre, what is this game? Its a tangled mess of different types. Gameplay is dull with an RPGish atmosphere losing all of its formers survival horror. Graphics arent too good on the eyes either. I was hoping for a terrific followup but im sure after this release Rion would wish he was still dead. Give the first a shot but watch out for this one its no masterpiece.

Beautiful

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this game forever since getting the first game. The first was one of the best games I have ever played, a tad short on playing time but an innovative, original story which is severely lacking in today's generic worn-out survival horror genre. I got my copy of Galerians: Ash today, and as soon as the intro started playing I knew that this was worth the wait and more. The graphics are obviously better than its PS1 counterpart, and the story is just as good and has fresh touches. It's not a long game, like the first one, but is a few hours longer. The shortness may turn some people off, but it -is- an action game. The story and characters more than make up for it. The character designs by Sho-u Tajima are top notch, the movies scattered throughout the gameplay are better than the first game's as well. And the best extra is that you can view all the movies you've seen so far during the game via the movie player. If only more games had that feature. This is a slick, seductive and unusual action/survival horror game for the thinking man. It may not appeal to everyone, but do give it a chance. And besides, in what other game can you have a cool-looking protagonist with psychic powers?

Galerians returns, but can it hang with the newcomers?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Our reluctant artificial human with the psychic powers returns from the dead for the awaited sequel to the PSX Galerians game. Although, much like the game's hero, this sequel itself awakes to a changed world. This changed world comes not only from improved standards in gaming, but now other titles using the "power of the mind" element. Yes, Galerians may have had the idea first, and delivered it in an original story that still may be the most interesting; but this will only take it so far.

What's good about the game:
Interesting story.
Bosses are evil computer created children that are psychic powered psychos.
Great looking cut-scenes and characters (very Japanese CG looking)

What's bad about the game:
Psychic powers are your only weapon, and you must use them sparingly.
Missions can become "find this, go here, get that, low on power, run".
No player based elements (e.g. combos, performance-acquired items/features.

--Story--
For those new to the Galerians world, here is a very short rundown of the story:
Rion, the character you play, is an artificial human with psychic power given to him when he was created by the supercomputer Dorthy. Dorthy decides that she will make a race of her own so she can be a god. This race is called the Galerians. Rion slowly realizes that he is more than human as he fights other Galerians that are sent to kill him. Rion will soon learn that Dorthy wants to kill all humans, and he and a girl named lillya are the only ones that can stop her. Together the Rion & Lillya duo seem to destroy Dorthy at the end of the first game.

--Game type & Game play--
This game plays some-what like a survival horror game due to the limited items that need to be rationed and the difficulty of the game itself. Although this type of game can be very challenging and rewarding for those who put in the time, it seems to be at odds with how you would like to play this game. This is almost entirely because every time you use your powers, you get closer and closer to Shorting (overloading), when this happens you either use a rare item to stop it, or you slowly die. This factor of the game may encourage players to use more strategy than powerhouse tactics, however, this will cause players to do so much running and rationing that you just wish you could duke-it-out with your enemies (which is not an option) and forget the whole psychic power ordeal.
Now this may seem to be blown out of proportion if it were not for other very good titles like Midway's Psy-ops, where you are encouraged to unleash your psychic abilities in the most creative or plain-out destuctive ways you can; giving the player a sort of new found freedom in game play. Galerians on the other hand, not only has less powers and less manipulation of those powers, but then throws on the shackles with the whole Shorting element. As far as the controls go, nothing special: attack, roll, shield, lock-on, switch power. If you can avoid attacks enough to point toward an enemy and charge up an attack, you've got the combat system down. Overall the game is better as a movie.

Remarkable

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 13
Date: February 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When I got the game it seemed amazing, but as you get father in the game you can't stop playing it. The graphics on this are really really cool. the is one of the top ten RPGs.So to all you RPG fans out there buy this game.

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