Crimson Sea

"Great fun with a few flaws"

If you like Shin Sangoku Musou 2 (Dynasty Warriors 3) then Kurenai no Umi (Crimson Sea) is a game that you might want to look at.

STORY: 8
The story starts out with the main character Sho who is chosen by Live-D (the sexy IAG leader) to get rid of the alien race know as the Mutons. Sho who is a Vipa (special human/monster race) has the power to harness sound. Sho soon find out that he must collect waveforms to increase his power so that he can save the world. Sho becomes the leader of G-Squad the bottom of the barrell bunch of people of the IAG. They go out on missions finding out more about the waveforms and Sho`s secret past and the real reason why he was chosen for it.
I would say that the overall story is great. It even throws in a little bit of a love story. But the voice acting is not so great. Think Biohazard and you will know what I mean. So I would say if you don`t mind so cheese with that order than you should have no problem with the story.

GAMEPLAY: 9
This game has great action that makes it so much fun to play. One thing that I really like is the fact that you can build Exp for your weapons and Waveforms. You can also buy and equip weapons that can either be upgrades or completely new. During the action you can customize the formation of your team and heal yourself or other via a selection screen. Comes in handy in the later levels when there are just to many enemies for one life bar to take.

CONTROL: 7
This is what hurts Crimson Sea. The camera angle is to loose at times. I wish it was more fixed to Sho because the action get so insane at times that you don`t want the camera in the wrong position. Now for the actual controls. I would say that after about ten min you will get used to everything and most will be fine with them. The Left Analog moves Sho, X fires his gun, Y is for his blade, A is for jump, B is either a dash when Sho is moving or a 180 turn when Sho is not moving. The L trigger is a shift-movement which comes in handy in big areas but not so great for small areas. The R trigger is for a lock on or if you hold it down a first person laser sight (which I have found no us for).

GRAPHICS: 8
Everything is very detailed and nice looking. Nothing ever pops up in the background and I have not noticed any slowdown even with all the enemies on the screen. All the characters are very detailed as are the monsters. Which is amazing considering how many there are on the screen at one time. When the enemies appear on the screen they are not just one enemy or one size at a time but many different type at the same time.

SOUND: 8
I thought that the music is great along with the sound effects but the voice acting sometimes gets annoying. When you hear the little girl speak you will know what I mean. Dolby support is great and adds to the game as a whole.

OVERALL: 8
I would say that this game is great fun with a few flaws that may turn some people away from a good game. If you can rent it in the states then I might suggest that if you are not sure about this game but in my opinion it is worth a purchase. It has good length and lots of great action that the action fan will love.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/02, Updated 12/18/02