Zadoc
02-22-2007, 11:53 AM
For years I have heard wonderful things about Yuji Naka's final Saturn effort, Burning Rangers. Online reviews and articles were good. Because it was one of the last Saturn games to be released (limited supply), and because of the hype surrounding it (high demand), the price for this game is on the high end.
So, I spent the money for it a while back. Having had other gaming priorities at the time, I didn't spend a lot of time with it. I played past the first level and walked away feeling that this game is as good as everyone says it is.
And so today, I spent several hours with it. After a while, I really began to loathe what I once thought were innovative controls. I find myself being unable to shoot enemies, hit fire with my laser, or move out of the way of explosions.
Seriously, what is up with the Sonic the Hedgehog style health system? For those who haven't played it, instead if rings you collect energy crystals. As long as you have one when you get hit, you'll be fine; when you get hit you drop them and have a chance to pick a few back up... EXACTALLY like Sonic. However, you also need to use up a few of these things to perform key tasks, like rescuing fire victims. As such, it's nonsense that you lose them all each time you get hit. You don't even get an award for collection over 100 of the things.
Finally, it has a password save system. Are you joking? This was made in 1998, not 1988. The Saturn has internal memory! What, were they out of time?
So, at the point where I was in the Zero Gravity level and I am carrying the kid around, I turned the Saturn off in disgust. I am not even sure if I want to keep this game. It might be more useful to me as a nice trade towards Dragon Force.
So, I spent the money for it a while back. Having had other gaming priorities at the time, I didn't spend a lot of time with it. I played past the first level and walked away feeling that this game is as good as everyone says it is.
And so today, I spent several hours with it. After a while, I really began to loathe what I once thought were innovative controls. I find myself being unable to shoot enemies, hit fire with my laser, or move out of the way of explosions.
Seriously, what is up with the Sonic the Hedgehog style health system? For those who haven't played it, instead if rings you collect energy crystals. As long as you have one when you get hit, you'll be fine; when you get hit you drop them and have a chance to pick a few back up... EXACTALLY like Sonic. However, you also need to use up a few of these things to perform key tasks, like rescuing fire victims. As such, it's nonsense that you lose them all each time you get hit. You don't even get an award for collection over 100 of the things.
Finally, it has a password save system. Are you joking? This was made in 1998, not 1988. The Saturn has internal memory! What, were they out of time?
So, at the point where I was in the Zero Gravity level and I am carrying the kid around, I turned the Saturn off in disgust. I am not even sure if I want to keep this game. It might be more useful to me as a nice trade towards Dragon Force.