Galerians

"Galerians is like Resident Evil on steroids and D-Felon!"

Galerians is an unusually good rip-off of Resident Evil. Now, I don't say rip-off to make it sound bad, I am only saying this because it borrows many of the same traits. Its story line is quite good, and the game is quite addictive. I think that the best way to sum up this underrated game is to break it up into four categories: the Best things, the Good things, the Bad things, and the Really, Really Bad things.

The Best things: The story was well thought out. It starts out with Rion, the game's protagonist, in a restraining bed in Michelangelo Memorial Hospital (15F). Rion is being injected with PPECs, or Psychic Power Enhancement Chemicals, which give him special powers, both psychokinetic and pyrokinetic. He has no memory whatsoever, and must escape the hospital while finding out bits of his past. He will find that he must battle Dorothy, a huge supercomputer, and her Family Program, which creates Galerians (human-like beings that use magic, basically). I don't want to give too much of it away, in case you haven't played the game yet, though. Another good aspect of this game is the music. It often fits the situation perfectly. Some of it is strongly reminiscent of Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The characters also don't tend to look as blocky and crude as some other similar games. One other thing that gives this game its rightful independence from the Resident Evil series is its creepiness factor. It goes about jarring and scaring players in completely different ways. I also liked the large amount of CG movie clips in this game. It was a good idea to have a Movie Preview option, so players could see movies again, or see how many they had missed. It is probably the most difficult to see them all in the Babylon Hotel, stage 3, but in my opinion, that is the most fun stage to play through.

The Good stuff: Graphics in Galerians are good. They are the usual quality for most action/adventure games like it. Voice acting is average, but it beats the ultimate cheesiness of RE. The only complaint is that in Stages A and B, Lilia's telepathic voice gets REALLY ANNOYING. Next, I liked the attacks, D-Felon being my favorite. The introduction of AP, Delmetor, and Appolinear was a brilliant idea, too.

The Bad Stuff: There isn't much to complain about in this game, except for the fact that until you master their patterns, the bosses can be insanely difficult. Especially Birdman and Rita.

The Really Bad Stuff: Watching that STUPID loading screen in between rooms. The one that says GALERIANS over and over again. After a while, you will get used to it, but in the beginning, it will irritate you to no end. That screen is the entire reason why I gave this game an 8 instead of a 9. The other really bad thing is what happens during your first time through, if you get close to beating it, and run out of Delmetor, because you haven't managed it properly.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/01, Updated 01/25/01