Subterrania

"Unique, but hard, shooter..."

One night, I went to FuncoLand to find some Sega Genesis games. I just happened to find Sub-Terrania for rather cheap. It's a rather interesting game. This review will grade the various aspects of the game.

Story:
Aliens have begun war with humans. Prisoners are beginning to feel effects of this terrible war. In this game, you must save a group of people from the POW camp in each level and find parts of the underwater SUB module. This story rather sticks out, though it's not totally original. Nonetheless, it makes this shooter unique from other shooters on the Genesis.

Grade: 84 / B (7/10) Good

Game Play:
In Sub-Terrania, you have to fly through underground areas to complete missions by saving groups of people and finding the SUB Module and then going back to your starting point. One thing really unique about this shooter is that you can move in any direction instead of one direction as in most shooters. What makes this game really difficult is that you have to fight the law of gravity and conserve fuel at the same time. However, there are fuel pods scattered around each level that you can use to fill up when you run out of fuel, but occasionally you don't have enough time to get to them; therefore, if you run out of fuel, your ship will fall onto the wall and explode. One thing that helps the game play is that some levels have metal bars where you can position your ship at the end in order to navigate without using gas. This really helps when fighting major enemies. Throughout the game, there are weapon upgrades scattered about. Another hard aspect in this game is that aiming at some enemies is rather difficult because you have to keep on fighting gravity while trying to focus on the enemy. Also, reading the mission reports before starting a mission reduces the difficulty a little bit. Overall, this shooter has very unique game play, but the high difficulty level brings the rating down somewhat.

Grade: 78 / C+ (6/10) Satisfactory

Graphics:
The graphics in Sub-Terrania are top notch for the Sega Genesis. The video footage in the introduction looks pretty good, though a little grainy. The enemies are very detailed. The graphics of the walls look almost real. The backgrounds look pretty detailed too. On the whole, the graphics are excellent considering that the Genesis can only display 64 colors out of 512.

Grade: 90 / A (9/10) Excellent

Sound Effects:
The sound effects are nicely done for the most part. The explosions sound pretty realistic, though they could be a little louder. The shooting sounds and the ship engine's sounds were also done pretty well too.

Grade: 87 / B+ (8/10) Very Good

Music:
Now, here's where this game really shines! Jesper Kyd brings us an excellent Sega Genesis soundtrack. The music in this game is some of the best Genesis music I've ever heard. Sub-Terranea has some terrific funky, pounding techno and ambient-techno music. The music in this game pushes the Genesis' primitive sound system beyond its limitations in that the music is loud, full, and has a lot of bass. I love the music so much that I even made a CD of it to listen to it full-blast while driving. Crystal Space I and Enemy Mines I are my most favorite tunes in the sound test menu. The sound quality is great. Overall, the quality of the music in Sub-Terrania surpasses the music found in most Genesis games.

Grade: 96 / A+ (10/10) Virtually Perfect

Replayability:
The replay value of this game isn't very high due to the great challenge.

Grade: 73 / C (5/10) Moderate

Overall:

Story = 84 x .15 = 12.60
Gameplay = 78 x .40 = 31.20
Graphics = 90 x .10 = 9.00
Sound Effects = 87 x .10 = 8.70
Music = 96 x .15 = 14.40
Replayability = 73 x .10 = 7.30

TOTALS = 83 / B

=7/10 Good

Sub-Terrania is a great shooter with unique game play and storyline, though not the most original. The difficulty brings the rating of this game down some. The music was the best part of the game and will get you JAMMIN' everytime you turn it on (assuming you like techno). The graphics are a treat to the eyes. The replayability isn't the greatest though due to the high difficulty level of this game. Overall, Sub-Terrania is a rather solid shooter. Any shooter fan should grab this game and give it a try.

Rent or Buy? Buy. You can find this game for about $3 dollars at FuncoLand (also called GameStop).

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/01, Updated 08/30/01