Crimson Sea

"Dynasty Warriors in Space? Thank you, Ma'am"

Koei must have found a new niche, seeing as how for the past three or so years they’ve been making steady progress in tweaking the engine of their popular Dynasty Warriors
(Sangoku Musou for you Japanese players) series, and are starting to branch it out into new titles. Crimson Sea is a shining example of this. *note that the ending numbers are
not averages*

*Story/Characters*
Take in mind that this game is not an RPG, so don’t expect ultra-hyper deep plotlines and uber character development. The story is a tad bit predictable, but the
amount of background information that went into the individual planets (which you must all protect from a mutant menace, from the amount of the game that I have played), and the characters that play out this space opera. The standard archetypes are there: Heroic main, docile (to a point) female lead, comic relief, and so on, but their actions within the game (along with an astounding job by the game’s voice actors) aren’t overblown
(somewhat-they love to use their hands when they talk) and their personalities are believable. *8*

*Graphics*
Insane. Probably one of the better looking Xbox games to date, and a good show of how far the programmers have come since the first generation of software. There’s
nary a blocky edge in sight (in some stages you’ll wish you hop into the screen and walk around, they seem so organic and lifelike) and everything is hyper textured, especially the main characters and NPCs-they even surpass the character models seen in titles like Metroid Prime and Final Fantasy X! Character animations and attacks are fluid (if not a little overblown-see the Story section) and there is no real sight of clipping and popup. I
can only wonder what the third generation can bring.*10*

*Gameplay*
This is iffy, since the gameplay has both its extremely good, and its irritatingly poor parts. For the good, controls are simple, like in Dynasty Warriors-head to a target and shoot or slice (there are lock on and strafing features included in the controls as well-something the DW series could take advantage of later on.) You are rewarded for making combination attacks, and the game gives you almost dozens of ways to do so (and there’s a training arena as well.) For FPS junkies, holding down both triggers initiates a “free fire” mode that lets you aim all over the place-not particularly useful since you have
lock-on, but it’s nice to have nonetheless.

There is also the notion of having independent acting party members as well. Although this feature can be a hindrance in other games, here the AI is pretty smart and
they’ll back you up nicely, and you can reposition them if they’re still in the way.

Now for the bad: THE CAMERA. Frankly, the camera in this game sucks. Although it’s fine when you’re not walking directly forwards and not fighting, but onceyou have to start strafing, prepare to lose your target if you move too quickly a LOT. Lock-on and body lock (use the Left trigger for this) helps to alleviate this, but it still
bugs me some and I wish it had been taken care of in preproduction. As for other gripes, the hero’s jumping game is a joke, since he’s a bit of featherweight and virtually any strike to his person while he’s in the air makes him drop like a rock. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if it weren’t for the fact that you fight a LOT of enemies in some missions-over 1000 at times-and it’s painfully easy to get mobbed. Plus the “dash” feature
was made solely with strafing in mind-fine for that, but annoying when you’re stuck in a maze full of sharp corners and pits, and you’re battling the goofy camera at the same
time. *6*

*Sound*
Appropriate, Sci-Fish explosions and animal noises, nothing to celebrate about there, but as for the music, the sound selection in this game is AMAZING. A combination
of soothing John Williams-styled orchestral elements and classic Sci-Fi rock, the music (make sure to turn it up and pop on the Dolby, kiddies!) will get you into the game,
surprisingly even moreso than the concept of being able to do 700 hit combos (yes, it’s possible) on hordes of alien bugs. *9*

*Overall*
This will be an amazing sleeper hit (why it has so little advertising and hype, I’ll never know), and is the perfect title to flash at your fanboy friends to shut them up. Just bear with the Godawful camera and you’ll have a solid Crimson Sea experience! *8*

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02