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Action titles based on anime are quite common, and for the most part they’re nothing special. Cyborg 009 falls squarely in the middle of the road due to uninspired gameplay and an overall lack of a creative spark. So much could have been done to bring Shotaro Ishinomori’s classic manga to life, but Riot squandered the chance.
Considered one of the most controversial games in history, Night Trap earned the wrath of the U.S. Senate and helped usher in the ratings system. All the notoriety aside though, is it actually a good game? Well… no. Awkward gameplay fails to mesh with grainy video, creating an experience that’s ultimately unsatisfying. The 32X version at least had cleaner video, but this release doesn’t even have that going for it.
Wolf Team should be sued for false representation. Devastator may look like a great action title featuring a massive robot, but in reality it’s just a mediocre action title with repetitive gameplay. Aside from a few sparse effects, virtually all the power of the Sega CD goes to cut scenes and music , as the gameplay itself is nothing a cart couldn’t handle.
While American Sega CD owners were forced-fed FMV titles of all kinds Japanese gamers basked in great titles like Arcus 1-2-3. Telenet served up what was perhaps one of the best RPG sets of the era, a collection of three dungeon crawlers of impressive size and scope. Even with the language barrier, this is one adventure you simply cannot afford to miss.
A shooter on the Sega CD should be a good thing. Games like Android Assault shows that such a thing is possible. Even adding full-motion video doesn’t equate to a lost cause, as Silpheed proves. It’s not always peanut butter and chocolate though, and a game like Novastorm shows more of what could have been than what is.