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Galerians came onto US shores a mere some three years ago and shocked Playstation owners with its “psychic survival horror.” Galerians enabled you to use your psychic powers as a deadly weapon and was the product of ASCII (Agetec) and Crave Entertainment. Sammy Studios has replaced Crave as the publisher, while Enterbrain (who still works closely with Agetec) has picked up developer duties. Galerians: Ash is the sequel to Galerians, taking place around six years after the original. The game centers on Rion, the only Galerian not under the control of “Dorothy.” Rion partners up with Lilia to take out the Galerians, headed by Ash.
In Galerians: Ash, Rion has plenty of powers in order to help his achieve his goal. You are initially given three powers to accomplish this. Nalcon power is a shockwave that allows you to “shoot” your enemies. Red Power is a fire-based attack. D-Felon is a telekinesis technique that allows you to pick up an enemy or group of enemies off the ground and slam them. The primary powers aren’t as strong as the ones you gain later, as expected. Later in the game you gain Breakaron and Bustanor, both of which are powerful than your primary powers; use of these powers (or having an enemy attack you) fill a meter on the screen (AP Bar). When your meter fills up you go into a special more where you are practically invisible. Sounds awesome right? Sure, if your health didn’t decrease with it. You are able to slow down the AP Bar with Delmetors, and helps give Ash a good sense of skill.
Enterbrain has used the now given lock-on targeting system. You are able to use the system to form a psychic shield around you that blocks attacks. You are also given a dodge button in order to get around even more attacks. You aren’t forced to think much in battles, since the biggest issue is which power to use and that isn’t very hard. You don’t fight too much during the course of the game, though, so when you do it is rather refreshing.
A minor gripe about Galerians: Ash’s design is a problem many “survival horror” games have wrong with them. The puzzles are standard and make little sense in the game’s world. Puzzles consist mostly of find ___ key, go to ____, and activate ____, which made the Resident Evil series infamous. While that doesn’t make the game’s puzzle horrible, it doesn’t make sense why you’re finding keys when you can move things around with your mind or throw a power blast.
Galerians: Ash is a visually appealing game, but the visuals won’t blow your mind. Enterbrain did an excellent job with the particle and lighting effects and you’ll see then as Rion uses his powers. The game’s atmosphere looks particularly cool thanks to the futuristic nature of it. There is a certain element though that separates it from other futuristic titles. The characters are very fluidly designed with Rion and Ash looking particularly good. The characters are unique and you can tell that Rion and Ash are unstable people. The other characters fill in the story with their own uniqueness. What Galerians: Ash doesn’t have in pure visual bang, it makes up for in its uniqueness. The computer-generated movies do a good job at progressing the story, but they aren’t breathlessly great either. The sound isn’t too noteworthy, either. The soundtrack is standard while the sound effects do a good job at conveying the action, but not much more.
While Galerians: Ash has some shortcomings, it is a very good game. You get a good, powerful storyline, innovative attacks, visual flair, excellent sound effects and a good adventure title to round things up. There are some gripes, and “what ifs” but Galerians: Ash should keep PS2 owners busy for a few weeks. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Feb 19, 2003
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