Hybrid Heaven

"Rarely a game like this comes along that is so vague and unique, that only a select few will like it, let alone buy it"

Rarely a game like this comes along that is so vague and unique, that only a select few will like it, let alone buy it. This game is definitely not for everyone and I strongly recommend that you rent this game before you consider buying it, or you may be mad at the money you spent.

Aliens have invaded Earth and are cloning themselves to look like humans, in an attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, and eventually the world. If you are still interested at this point, then, please, read on..

This conspiracy takes the game through a massive underground adventure in the bowels of New York City. The president has been kidnapped and a clone is running in his place. In a bioengineering plant, some mutant test subjects have been released by a man named Diaz (who you act through the first eighth of the game,) or at least someone that looks like Diaz because you're in his body.
Once you meet up with some aliens...ya, aliens? This really threw the game for me! Well, they somehow give you back your old body and send you on one of the longest and most boring adventures you'll ever go on.

After finally making it back to the surface and eliminating the alien invasion, after roughly 20 hours of game play, you should congratulate yourself because you just played through possible the most ridiculous games ever to come out for the Nintendo 64.

This game is ridiculous because it's not the plot that will throw you it's how the fighting is conducted.

Think of this as a mix between wrestling and martial arts with a ring in feature. The ring in feature allows the player to stop the fight to choose which moves he now wants to perform on his opponent. Likewise your opponent can stop the game and decide to attack you, leaving you only with little maneuvers to do to counter it. When you enter a battle you have an energy meter that constantly grows and the more full it is the more devastating your blows are. You need to get full energy then get close to your opponent, or grapple him, then ring in and perform a move.

The moves, however, are lame. High kick, middle kick, low kick, jab, uppercut, pile driver and head but are some of the many moves you can use against your opponents. Even before you can do those move you have to have encountered an enemy that has used the moves on you, then you learn them. This required you to get hurt, and possible die, on purpose. You can link moves together to form combo's, this can really turn a fight around. The only problem is that the enemies can do them too, and with devastating effects.

The enemies are hilarious. Some are giant pigs that squeal and some are men in suits. That's all the normal ones, the rest are a bunch of mutant freaks that you can perform knee busters and head buts on. However there are items that aid you in your quest to save humanity, they are pointless.

You can get some that are okay, like the ion shot which shoots hot metal at a enemy taking serious damage. Then there's ones like the poison shot, which poisons the enemy, but poison never really takes that much damage. Offence and defense enhancers and drainer can be used to boost you offence and defense and drain your opponents offense or defense. You can't see much of these affects in the damage that is given or received, which makes me wonder if they even do anything.

You gain experience from each bout and you can level, I'm guessing, up to level 99. You offence of your legs, arms, torso and head as well as their defenses can be improved by attacking and receiving damage to a particular part of your body. This can aid in the physical growth of your character, that you really need, especially near the end of the game.

There is a 2-player fight mode that allows you to take your character and the moves he knows to fight another player with a memory card. After you've selected your character and ring you can rumble. I would be prepared to lose a friend if you invited him over to fight in this horrible fighting game, he may think your weird.

Mini game incude a game where you can fight a string of matches starting from the easiest enemy to that hardest boss all in sequence. The other game is that the game picks five random matches for you to fight, one after another. The game itself is tedious enough that why would anyone want to put themselves through this, unless your one of the select few that gets a kick out of this game.

I, personally found this game redundant with the constant fighting of the same enemies, that seemed at times to regenerate. The fighting system that is really, really stupid. And the aliens, and the complete load of the story. While the games only hit is possible its graphics, it's safe to say that this is one of those games that few will play and enjoy.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/05