ZeiramZone

"Battle Arena Toshinden meets Final Fight"

INTRO: Remember a Japanese live action movie called ''Zeiram'' that was released in 1991?

EVERYONE: ???

MITORA:Oh, you don't remember? Well, it's a very popular Japanese movie that spawned a Japanese Anime called ''Iria: Zeiram the Animation'' and spawned another sequel.Even though there might not be a ''Zeiram 3'' in a long time, this game cures all my Zeiram cravings.

STORYLINE: Very faithful to the movies and anime. You play as a bounty huntress from Myce named Iria. For years, she was tracking down a mavolent biological weapon called ''Zeiram'', which was causing mass carnage through out the galaxy. Armed with weapons, gadgets, chic armor and a computer comrade named ''BOB'', Iria tracks the menace down and is ready to whoop Zeiram when the time comes.

There are also some other characters you can play as in the fighting mode, but I dunno the stories behind the creatures.

CHARACTERS: Here, it gets very interesting. Iria is pretty cute and is based on the live action Iria (played by Japanese movie actress Moiriyama Yuko) and it seems that Iria is strangely similar to Samus Aran from the ''Metroid'' games, only that she does not wear that heavy of armor.

The monster designs are pretty cool too. Zeiram somethimes resembles a samurai warrior with a humanoid snake creature living in it's forehead to a robotic doggy-looking warrior without a face (mabye except for two golden eyes). The other monster designs are equally as outlandish as well, ranging from bunny monsters to fat monsters with many faces.

Very different from what you usually see in these genres of games.

GRAPHICS: Rather nice (if polygonal) graphics and SFX in this game. The movements of the characters seem to be rather fast and fluid, and even though there are camera angles, at least it is not overly distruptive. So, good job Banpresto!

PLAY CONTROL: It's the usual in both the fighting game and fighter adventure games. Kinda like a strange mixture between ''Battle Arena Toshinden'' meets ''Final Fight''. Some moves are hard to perform, but with enough practice, you will do just fine!

FUN: Rather fun indeed. Being a big fan of ''Zeiram'', this is quite a tasty treat. Yum!

CHALLENGE: VARIES.It all just depends on who you play as. Just choose wisely when it comes to which character you want to play as.

OVERALL: If there are planning to import Fighter/Adventure games for the PSX, or if you are a big ''Zeiram'' fan, this game will hopefully not be a dissapointment.

WOULD MITORA PURCHASE THIS GAME: Worth every piece of money Mitora makes!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/31/01, Updated 05/31/01