Playstation Quick Reviews

Dozens of Games at a Glance

A - B - C - D - E - F
G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T
U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Air Combat: Game Type: Arcade-Style Fight Sim; Rating: 20/100; Yawn. Highly repetitive, graphically unimpressive.
Alien Trilogy: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 70/100; A decent Doom clone with better graphics. Doesn't play as well, though. The exaggerated walking motion makes me sick, but it can be turned off.
Aquanaut's Holiday: Game Type: 3D Exploration; Rating: 40/100; The controls take a bit to pick up. There's no action or mission to accomplish, you just roam around in your sub and explore. Decent graphics.
Arc the Lad (Japanese): Game Type: RPG; Rating: 80/100; Best compared to Shining Force with the added innovation of being able to throw items and bombs. 2D graphics throughout. Playable but short.
Assault Rigs: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 70/100; 3D tank shooting. I love the Tron-esque graphics style. Now if only it had decent gameplay...
Battle Arena Toshinden: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 90/100; A shallow Street-Fighter clone with limited 3D movement. Beautiful, bright graphics. For me this game is irrevocably tied to Playstation ownership, and besides, it's fun to play.
Battle Arena Toshinden 2: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 80/100; Although the graphic engine seems improved over the original the graphics themselves have suffered, and the game isn't as playable. Only one of the new characters is likable (Tracy, duh).
Beyond the Beyond: Game Type: RPG; Rating: 60/100; A traditional RPG with dark, unimpressive graphics and unbearably long and uninteresting cinemas. Not worthy of the Playstation.
Blockids: Game Type: 3D Ball and Paddle; Rating: 30/100; Breakout with an adjustable camera. Decent graphics, but the game gets awfully dull around Stage 40.
Bomberman World (Japanese): Game Type: Isometric-View Action; Rating: 70/100; A decent version of the classic party game, except that the characters are all rendered and everything is in a confusing isometric perspective. Utterly hideous graphically. The music is awesome but aside from that you'd be better off with the SNES or Saturn versions.
Braindead 13: Game Type: Response Animation; Rating: 10/100; A Dragon's Lair-style game with poor animation and awful response detection. Not worth a rental.
Bubble Bobble: Game Type: 2D platform; Rating: 30/100; Why's this game regarded as a classic, anyway? Because it's old? The floaty jumps and frustrating gameplay make me wonder... Includes Rainbow Islands, which is no better.
Bust-A-Move 2: Game Type: Puzzle; Rating: 90/100; Ah, now this is more like it. As far as I'm concerned this is Bub and Bob's main game, not Bubble Bobble. Crosses pool with a color-matching puzzle game. (Just try it.) Kawaii characters and beautiful backgrounds should get your girlfriend to play, too.
Bust A Move - Dance and Rhythm Action (Japanese): Game Type: Pattern Repetition; Rating: 80/100; The U.S. release is known as Bust A Groove. Sort of a cross between Parappa the Rapper and a fighting game. The goal is to outdance your opponent by repeating increasingly complex button sequences on the controller. Awesome graphics and decent music.
Carnage Heart: Game Type: War Sim; Rating: 80/100; Although everything takes place within a simple war simulation the emphasis is on designing and programming your mechs. You have no direct control over your robotic troops; you write control software by piecing together flowcharts. You can have your designs work with or against those of friends in an arena.
Cool Boarders: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 50/100; Needs more emphasis on stunts to distinguish it from the many other racing games on the PS. As it is you're just racing downhill against the clock (alone), which can't compare to Wipeout or Ridge Racer.
Crash Bandicoot: Game Type: 3D Platform; Rating: 90/100; Okay, so it's Donkey Kong Country in 3D. I don't care. The gameplay is solid, the graphics are awesome, and the main character is way cool.
Criticom: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 70/100; A visually stunning Virtua Fighter clone starring an all-robot cast. Even with the humanoid characters the moves can be a bit awkward, but doubly so with the more unusual designs. It has its fans, though, so you might want to try it.
Cyberbots: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 70/100; I guess some fighters are better off unreleased in the U.S... This is a decent game except that mechs the size of small buildings simply can't look graceful doing hurricane kicks. Beautiful background graphics - entire buildings will collapse behind you as you fight; that's probably the game's best feature though. Capcom's worst fighter ever (but of course even Capcom's worst annihilates some other companies' best).
Cybersled: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 50/100; This was enjoyable in the arcade but only as a 2-player vs. game, and at home the graphics on the split-screen mode may induce vomiting. Oh, that it had link cable support...
Cyberspeed: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 40/100; Yuck! Racing on rails... the concept just doesn't work. There are 8 tracks but they're really tiny.
D: Game Type: Graphic Adventure; Rating: 70/100; Like Myst but with FMV clips when walking between locations. Very cool, creepy atmosphere, but it's over too soon and it has zero replay value.
Darkstalkers: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 80/100; A Street Fighter clone from the makers of Street Fighter. The attacks are too unpredictable and the characters too strange for my taste, but the graphics and animation are stellar and the gameplay is decent. Worth a try.
Defcon 5: Game Type: First-Person Shooting/Strategy; Rating: 30/100; Your goal is to single-handedly prevent the takeover of a military base. Use the turrets to shoot down the invaders' ships and if they get inside, shoot them down yourself. Too many subgames and poor control make this one frustrating.
Descent: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 60/100; Disorienting! Might be fun once you get the hang of it, but I never did. A Doom-style game where you can fly up or down as well. You'll get lost easily in the 3D mazes, even with a map. At least the controls are highly configurable.
Destruction Derby: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 70/100; Okay, I admit it, my testosterone levels are dangerously low. I just can't get into this game. Smash cars together. Is that all? It doesn't help that your car becomes harder to control as it takes more damage.
Dezaemon Plus: Game Type: Game Design; Rating: 50/100; Design your own overhead-view shooter, with your own music, graphics, and enemy behavior. A port of the Super Famicom game with virtually no improvements. Should still eat up many of your weekends if you like this sort of thing. Import only.
Discworld: Game Type: Graphic Adventure; Rating: 50/100; A King's Quest style game which supposedly has a sense of humor. If you like this sort of game you'll like this. I don't.
Doom: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 95/100; More graphically advanced 3D maze games have since come out, but none match the length or gameplay of the original and best.
Dracula X: Game Type: 2D Platform; Rating: 70/100; I liked Metroid at first. So did everyone else. I liked this at first. So will everyone else. I hated Metroid after a while, and I hate this too. The graphics, sound, and special effects are all marvelous, but I prefer the arcade approach to Castlevania, where each creature doesn't need to be hit five times to kill it. A cool game but the playability doesn't last.
Dragon Ball Z: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 10/100; Poorly executed 2D fighting in front of a 3D background. Not even on par with the SNES DBZ games.
ESPN Extreme Games: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 80/100; Unimpressive digitized 2D sprites with very nice 3D courses. Pure action, pretty fast-paced too. Punch opponents out of the running.
Final Fantasy VII (Japanese): Game Type: RPG; Rating: 80/100; The characters communicate just enough with their expressions and actions to tell you the storyline would be incredible if you could only read it. The graphics are beautiful, and the subgames are actually cool. Gameplay hasn't changed much from the other FF games, and if you've played the demo disc you get the idea.
Final Fantasy VII: Game Type: RPG; Rating: 80/100; There are severe problems with navigation in towns and dungeons due to awkward camera angles, and if not for that FF7 would have gotten a higher rating. I highly recommend it nonetheless (like you wouldn't buy it if I didn't). The story really did turn out to be beautiful (although the translation is sometimes weak, and there are even a couple misspellings). The U.S. version even has a couple new Weapon monsters that didn't appear in the Japanese version. The new Materia powerup system is cool, the graphics throughout are incredible, and Tifa is a goddess.
Fire Pro Wrestling: Game Type: 3D Wrestling; Rating: 50/100; Looks like it could be fun if the control scheme made any sense. If you don't read Japanese you won't be able to figure it out without the instructions, I guarantee it.
Gex: Game Type: 2D Platfrom; Rating: 80/100; Donkey Kong Country with a lizard. It's been done, and in more graphically impressive ways, but Gex is still pretty playable.
Grid Runner: Game Type: Overhead View Action; Rating: 70/100; One of the bigger disappointments of 1996 for me. It's a solid concept; a cool variation on Tag. But I'd been hoping for four players and much better graphics. Utterly lame as a one player game but it's okay with an opponent.
Hi Octane: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 20/100; Bleah. Poor control, zero gameplay, and bad popup. Steer clear.
Horned Owl: Game Type: Aim and Shoot; Rating: 90/100; A cool anime intro, awesome 3D scenery which you fly through a la Steel Gunner, and light gun support. The 2D sprites used for enemies repeat a lot but that's my only gripe.
In the Hunt: Game Type: 2D Side-View Shooter; Rating: 70/100; A submarine shooter with decent graphics and gameplay. Unfortunately the weapons are unimpressive and the game is too easy and way too short.
Iron and Blood: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 20/100; Average graphics, lame sound and pathetic gameplay. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
Jumping Flash: Game Type: First-Person Shooter; Rating: 70/100; Sorta like Doom but your robotic rabbit can jump on enemies' heads. Exploring the levels the first time through is fun but after that the game wears a little thin. Needs a strafe button and is way too short.
Jumping Flash 2: Game Type: First-Person Shooter; Rating: 70/100; Basically the first game with new levels. The bosses are cool but are too easy to beat. Again, too short.
Kileak - The DNA Imperative: Game Type: First-Person Shooter; Rating: 30/100; A Doom clone with too many puzzles and boring gameplay.
King's Field: Game Type: First-Person Adventure; Rating: 80/100; A cross between Doom and a swords-and-sorcery RPG. Fairly playable with lots of beautiful scenes to explore.
King's Field 2: Game Type: First-Person Adventure; Rating: 80/100; More of the same from the first, basically, but with darker graphics (if that's possible) and an excellent storyline.
King of Fighters '95: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 90/100; An excellent Street Fighter clone with a large cast of characters. Adds a much-needed single-character mode to the arcade's team mode. Needs better controller configuration and the load times are too long. The Saturn version's better.
Krazy Ivan: Game Type: First-Person Shooter; Rating: 30/100; A mind-numbingly boring mech shooter. The graphics are too dark and the popup is awful. Regardless of the area the scenery is nothing but barren hills. The link mode is no fun at all. Avoid.
Kyuiin: Game Type: 2D Side-View Shooter; Rating: 10/100; Disgustingly cute atmosphere, poor graphics, and hideous gameplay. Not worthy of rental, let alone import.
Loaded: Game Type: Top-View Action; Rating: 50/100; A 2 player simultaneous Gauntlet clone. Visually impressive at first but after a while the dark corridors and buckets of blood wear thin, as does the gameplay.
Lode Runner - The Legend Returns: Game Type: 2D Platform; Rating: 50/100; Classic Lode Runner with a few neat upgrades, complete with a level editor. This version is not of the highest quality, but it's playable if you like this sort of game. Good animation, sound effects, and music.
Mortal Kombat 3: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 50/100; A decent translation of a not-so-decent arcade game. The usual problems arise when Shang Tsung attempts to morph.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 80/100; I have long despised the Mortal Kombat series but I have to give this one a nod. A gigantic cast of characters from all three MK games, and the bosses like Goro are now playable. Some of the older characters don't match the graphic style of the newer ones, but that's a minor gripe.
Motor Toon Grand Prix: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 90/100; The Japanese Motor Toon Grand Prix 2 was released here as MTGP1. It's somewhat similar to Wipeout but the pace isn't quite as fast. Graphically very impressive with some beautiful courses. Hidden goodies extend the replay value even further. Worthy of purchase.
Need for Speed: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 80/100; More realistic than Wipeout or even Ridge Racer, and not quite as playable in my book. Still worth a try, though, and the link mode is a blast.
Off-World Interceptor Extreme: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 30/100; Graphically unimpressive, thoroughly unenjoyable. And is it a coincidence that its acronym spells OWIE?
OverBlood: Game Type: Mystery; Rating: 70/100; An clone of Resident Evil, except that the backgrounds are rendered in realtime. Extremely lengthy, with puzzles you might actually be able to figure out. If you can't read Japanese I don't recommend importing it, but get the American version as soon as it comes out if you liked Resident.
Panzer General: Game Type: War Simulation; Rating: 50/100; A graphically unimpressive and hopelessly dry WWII-era simulation. I keep hearing how deep it is and that it's a great game, but I can't bring myself to read that manual.
Philosoma: Game Type: Shooter (Multi-Perspective); Rating: 60/100; A shooter with overhead, side-view, and chase plane perspectives. The overhead and side-view sequences are fairly playable but the 3D areas definitely are not. Needs a better weapon system, too.
PO'ed: Game Type: First-Person Shooter; Rating: 50/100; Graphically unimpressive and not as playable as Doom. And you're being attacked by giant butts?!
Primal Rage: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 40/100; A small character selection, poor gameplay, and on top of the basic flaws the game has always had, the Playstation version adds long load times.
Rage Racer: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 90/100; The third game in the Ridge Racer series features even more car customization options but not much new in the way of gameplay. Still only three highly similar (but very pretty) tracks.
Raiden Project: Game Type: 2D Overhead-View Shooter; Rating: 95/100; An excellent port of the semi-cool Raiden and its awesome sequel. Stellar gameplay, great graphics, and loads of setup options. Buy this game if you like shooters in the least!
Rayman: Game Type: 2D Platform; Rating: 80/100; A Mario-esque platformer with bright, cartoony graphics and passable gameplay. Another one you can probably get your girlfriend to play.
Resident Evil: Game Type: Mystery; Rating: 70/100; Amazing graphics and a deliciously dark, brooding atmosphere. You are trapped in an abandoned mansion and must figure out a series of obstacles to escape, all while blasting the heads off zombies. The awful voice acting nearly ruins the game, however, and once you beat it there's no replay value.
Revelations - Persona: Game Type: RPG; Rating: 70/100; The idea of communicating with and controlling enemies is interesting but a hodgepodge of movement modes and poor battle and character graphics weaken this game considerably. The Japanese story was obviously good but the translation could be a lot better.
Rise 2 - Resurrection: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 20/100; Prerended sprite-fighter hell. Lots of characters, none of which has the least depth. Bland backgrounds, boring gameplay. As bad as the first.
Return Fire: Game Type: Overhead-View Action; Rating: 80/100; Boring as a one player game, but fantastic with two. Take control of a chopper, missile launcher, tank, or hummer, each of which has its own strengths and control style. Use your vehicle of choice to blast past your opponent and his turret drones to find his flag and get it back to your base.
Revolution X: Game Type: Aim and Shoot; Rating: 10/100; Might have almost been fun if it supported a light gun, but with crosshairs RevoX is mind-numbingly boring. You can spend 10 minutes stuck on the same scene, killing the same guys over and over again. Awful graphics to boot.
Ridge Racer: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 90/100; A highly playable arcade-style racer. Nice graphics with a zippy framerate. Unfortunately there's only one main track, although this is quite large and scenic, and extensions can be added onto it.
Ridge Racer Revolution: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 90/100; Basically Ridge Racer with a new track and a rearview mirror in the in-car perspective. No graphic or gameplay improvements. Still a good game, though.
Robo Pit: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 50/100; Although building your own robot by choosing arms, body, and legs is a nice draw, the different parts amount to no more than slightly different weapon types. Since the game itself is a merely passable Cyber Sled-like arena battle, it gets boring quick.
Robotron X: Game Type: Overhead-View Action; Rating: 80/100; Fails to meet the standard set by Tempest X3. (Different company, same idea.) The framerate is awful and gameplay suffers as a result. Nice music, though. Still a good game but I'd get the original Robotron on Williams' Arcade Classics first.
Rockman 8: Game Type: 2D Platform; Rating: 90/100; Soon to be released as Mega Man 8 in the U.S. One of the better games in the series, with great animation, colorful graphics, cool music, and gameplay that's awesome even for a Mega Man game.
Samurai Shodown III: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 20/100; An awful port of a great game. Countless frames of animation are missing and the speed is unbearably sluggish. Wait for the Saturn version, as I'm told that's arcade-perfect. (This review is for the Japanese version, slight improvements were made to the U.S. port.)
Seinfeld: Game Type: Sitcom; Rating: 95/100; While other comedies are content to regurgitate each others' scripts, Seinfeld continually came up with bizarre, original humor. Witty commentary on just how rotten humanity can be. The show will be missed.
Shockwave Assault: Game Type: 3D Shooter; Rating: 40/100; Although the Playstation version offers some graphic improvements over the 3DO game it's still not much to look at. Not too playable, either, with cheap shots galore.
SimCity 2000: Game Type: Simulation; Rating: 60/100; Although SimCity is an excellent time killer the Playstation version is too sluggish in its operation. The added virtual drivethru mode is poorly implemented and utterly unnecessary. Still recommended if your PC is slow.
Skeleton Warriors: Game Type: 2D Platform; Rating: 50/100; Donkey Kong Country with swords. Features some cool moves and would have been fast-paced if not for the ridiculous requirement that you kill a certain number of creatures every couple screens.
Soul Edge: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 90/100; Toshinden has competition. Graphically impressive but falls short of Tekken 2 in gameplay and framerate. This home version features different (in appearance) weapons, 6 for each character. Awesome intro.
Space Griffon: Game Type: First-Person Adventure; Rating: 40/100; Drive around in a giant mech, blast critters, and solve puzzles. Might have been decent if the pace weren't so sluggish.
Star Gladiator: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 80/100; Capcom's first 3D fighter features graphics every bit as good as Soul Edge but lackluster character designs and gameplay.
Street Fighter Alpha: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 90/100; Rock-solid gameplay and graphics but a small character roster and very few backgrounds. You want the sequel instead.
Street Fighter Alpha 2: Game Type: 2D Fighting; Rating: 95/100; An arcade-perfect port of the quintessential fighter. Lots of characters, beautiful artwork and animation, incredible gameplay, and Sakura.
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo: Game Type: Puzzle; Rating: 80/100; Cutesy game featuring characters from Capcom fighters. A clone of Puyo Puyo except that detonators of the same color are needed to destroy pieces. Passable gameplay, great presentation.
Tekken: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 90/100; 10 playable bosses (which are admittedly largely derivative of the 8 main characters) will keep players busy for quite some time trying to master everyone. The gameplay is shallow but extremely enjoyable and addictive.
Tekken 2: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 95/100; With a huge character roster, a rendered intro and ending for each and every character, cool new moves like the counters, and a lightning fast pace, you simply won't have time to see everything this game has to offer. A truly epic game.
Tempest X 3: Game Type: 3D Shooter; Rating: 90/100; Hampered by an awkward perspective but still highly addictive. The most intense audiovisual experience you will ever get from your Playstation. Offers improved graphics and framerate over the Jag version.
Tetris Plus: Game Type: Puzzle; Rating: 60/100; Classic Tetris doesn't exactly tax the Playstation's power, but it's a decent version except that the blocks are so tiny. A versus mode and a mode where you must build a path to the exit for a man in the block bin help a bit.
Time Crisis: Game Type: Light Gun Shooting; Rating: 80/100; The home version doesn't look nearly as good as the arcade thanks to low resolution and God-awful color pallette. The game is extremely unforgiving in its hit detection; it continually requires you to pick off extremely distant enemies and won't count the shot if you miss by a single pixel. Decent but it doesn't blast Virtua Cop off its pedestal.
Tobal No. 1: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 92/100; The unique freedom to move in 3 dimensions makes the control a little tough to get used to, but once you and an opponent get the hang of it you will have some truly wild matches. Deep, addictive gameplay and great graphics.
Tokyo Highway Battle: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 85/100; Slightly more realistic than Ridge Racer and a bit more sluggishly paced until you upgrade your car for more speed. Not quite as playable but still a fun ride.
Twisted Metal: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 70/100; Friends tell me hunting down an opponent in split-screen mode is fun, but the amusement eludes me when I try it myself, partly thanks to the poor control. Give me Doom or Faceball 2000 over this any day.
Twisted Metal 2: Game Type: First-Person Shooting; Rating: 80/100; Again, the issue of the sluggish control is my main problem. Even I can't deny that the gigantic stages are cool, though. In Paris you can knock down the Eiffel Tower to form a bridge across the rooftops of nearby buildings. Tres bien.
Vadims: Game Type: Puzzle; Rating: 50/100; An intriguing Tetris clone where you must form diamonds from little half- diamond blocks. Avoids the cutesy atmosphere of most puzzle games but winds up being rather bland. Heavy on the strategy but not very addictive. Import only.
Viewpoint: Game Type: Isometric-View Shooter; Rating: 50/100; Although visually pleasing the awkward perspective makes control difficult, and the extreme difficulty level adds to the frustration. The game doesn't even move smoothly, with occasional slowdowns and speedups.
Vs.: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 70/100; Although I think many people gave Versus harsher reviews than it deserves, in part because of the unusual moves (people say they look stiff but I think the animation is beautiful), I can't enjoy it as much as Tobal because of the limited movelists and unconventional control. The game is quite pretty, though, with wild character designs, fast framerates, and fully polygonal stages (most of them). Give it a try before you dismiss it; just because it's unconventional doesn't mean it's bad.
Wipeout: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 95/100; The ultimate adrenaline rush from a racing game. Hyperfast hovercrafts whip around the corners, launching missiles and laying mines to slow each other down. Great animation, graphics, sound effects, and music.
Wipeout XL: Game Type: 3D Racing; Rating: 95/100; Although not as much of an improvement gameplaywise as I'd hoped, I guess Wipeout would be hard to improve upon. WOXL does offer 8 tracks, an even faster pace, lightsourcing, new weapons, and some new special effects. Buy it!
Williams - Arcade's Greatest Hits: Game Type: Compilation; Rating: 90/100; Emulated versions of 6 classic arcade games - Defender, Defender II, Joust, Robotron (yes!), Sinistar, and Bubbles. Any one of the above could bring you many sleepless nights.
Worms: Game Type: Puzzle; Rating: 90/100; Anyone who remembers Artillery Duel should check this one out. You control a team of four Lemmings-esque worms to try and wipe out the teams of up to 16 human or computer opponents. Lots of different weapons add to the strategy. Multiplayer gaming to rival Bomberman.
X-Com UFO Defense: Game Type: War Simulation; Rating: 70/100; Position your planes and troops all over the globe to intercept alien invaders. When a confrontation occurs, battle it out in real-time. Simulation buffs will love it, but others should stay away, as it's really hard to get started.
Zeiram Zone (Japanese): Game Type: Depth Movement Brawling; Rating: 50/100; A beautiful heroine uses Street Fighter special moves against hapless thugs in this polygonal brawler. The framerate could be better, and the gameplay more polished.
Zero Divide: Game Type: 3D Fighting; Rating: 50/100; 3D brawling with mechs. The graphics impress but the gameplay does not.
Zoop: Game Type: Puzzle; Rating: 80/100; A bizarre puzzle game that plays passably but isn't very addictive. Worst of all, some of the backgrounds are actually designed to distract the eye from the game itself. The Playstation's exclusive techno soundtrack rocks hard, though.