Ranger X

"Anime Meccha Action Sidescroller...Need I say more?"

Here it is, one the best anime action games for the genesis. Ex-ranza! You are Ex-ranza and must defeat evil enemies and stuff...

The gameplay starts out on a desert kind of place. You start with your trusty side-vehicle ex-up. You can use ex-up to attack on a different side, switch different weapons, and travel along faster. Using ex-up takes a little time to master with his jump and homing attack abilities. Since Ex-ranza is a meccha, he has some fairly cool techniques. Besides locking on to Ex-up, he has boosters on his back to he can fly for a limited time. Very usefull and quite unique. He has a standard unlimited bullets machine gun that does minimal damage. He also has more powerfull weapons he carries along. Some unique weapons are a metalical bird that attacks the main targets in the level. There also is a magi-green laser that when fired creates a HUGE and POWERFULL beam energy through the level. Of course you also have limited power. Destroying large targets can boost your power from nothing to full. Smaller enemies just give a little squeeze... Beating a level doesn't take from going point "a" to point "b". It's required that you take out the nessesary targets to complete the level. To find targets you have a radar at the top of the screen. The bosses are huge but are easy to beat, Somewhat dissapointing to me. I wanted a challenge. The levels are actually the most challenging part of the game with lots of targets and enemies to destroy. In later levels instead of getting ex-up by your side you get a plane to switch weapon, except the plane follows you and the only reason to get up in the plane is to switch weapons, still if it is close by it will shoot power full green lasers at enemies. i'm not sure what the name is but I think it is ex-air. I've gotten to about the 7th level so the game is very challenging. I give this game a 10/10 in gameplay.

The graphics for this game are spectacular for a genesis game when it was still "in". Lots of special effects, great backround scenery and lots of other stuff like graphics on bosses. I give it a 9/10

The sound....completely ROCKS! The music is awesome and the specials are also cool. But the music ranges from techno to military to sorta "bond 007" style. Pretty cool.

Replayability is okay if you are a great sidescroller fan. This game might be reaplyable but I don't know yet. All i know for now it's a great game! I give this mark a 7/10

Other comments: I have heard there is a north American version of this game called "ranger-x" I'm not sure if the levels are the same because this one I have "ex-ranza" is import. hmm, ex-ranza, ranger x....names are somwhat backwards? heh heh. This concludes my review.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99