Galerians: Ash Preview

The original Galerians was a stylish and disturbing three-disc RPG that came out for the PlayStation in early 2000. The game blended the standard elements of role-playing games with the disturbing imagery of survival horror games in the vein of Resident Evil. You were put in the role of Rion, a 14-year-old boy who wakes up in a hospital shortly after having been part of an experiment that gave him psychic powers but robbed him of his memory. The main thrust of the game focused on restoring Rion's memory while stopping a genocidal computer named Dorothy and staying alive. While it looked like things were going to be fine and dandy at the end of Galerians--well, relatively speaking, anyway--that's not exactly how things panned out. Galerians: Ash picks up the tale at the end of the original game, and, sadly, it isn't hours and hours of peaceful living and contentment. What you'll find instead is trippy and twisted RPG that builds on its predecessor.

As mentioned, the game's story picks where the previous game left off. The first level actually has you replay the last boss fight from Galerians, and it wastes no time in presenting Rion with an even deadlier batch of foes to face off against. It seems Dorothy, in all her genocidal glory, managed to fire up a new batch of galerians, the artificial humans programmed to annihilate humanity, and send them off to do her bidding before she bought the farm. Rion is tapped to stop Dorothy's minions due to the fact that his psychic powers are the only force capable of dealing with them. Fortunately, he won't be going it completely alone this time, thanks to the presence of some familiar faces from the first game who will be around to lend a hand.

The gameplay in Galerians: Ash is straightforward, offering the standard RPG mix of exploration, puzzle solving, and combat. The actual mechanics of fighting in the game are one of its most unique, and somewhat disturbing, features. While Rion possesses a powerful assortment of psychic abilities, there's a catch to using them. Rion's psychic powers are all tied to the types of drugs he takes. As in the previous Galerians game, you'll have to take drugs to use specific mental powers. To complicate matters a bit, every time you take drugs to use your powers, Rion's level of mental strain will increase. If the strain on Rion's mind hits the red zone, life will become decidedly unpleasant as you struggle to deal with the bad trip, which damages Rion until it wears off or you take the right medications. On the plus side, during such an episode, Rion's mind will be firing off bolts of energy that will turn nearby enemies into oatmeal. The series' control has been refined quite a bit since the original, making the whole process of juggling drugs and managing Rion's mental strain a much more user-friendly process.

The game's overall presentation looks as though it's going to be solid, with a stylized look and strong sound. The game's graphics feature a unique look that stays true to the series' style, although it doesn't push the limits of what the PlayStation 2 hardware can do. The environments range from wide-open spaces to cramped corridors and rooms, and they all feature a high amount of detail. The rooms where you'll have boss fights offer some especially interesting design elements and architecture. The game's character models are fairly well detailed, and Rion and company look solid overall, although their animation is a bit underwhelming. In addition to the real-time game engine, you'll be treated to some nice bits of eye candy and some truly disturbing imagery thanks to well-done cutscenes that are used to move the story along. The game's audio is coming along pretty well. The voice acting is a decent enough, although you'll find some poor emoting in spots. Fortunately, the ambient sound and in-game tunes are solid and do a fine job of setting the tone.

Judging from what we've played so far, Galerians: Ash seems like it will be a solid enough follow-up to the original. While the graphics aren't cutting-edge, the game's story and improved gameplay look quite promising. Fans of the original game or gamers looking for something different will want to keep an eye out for Galerians: Ash when it ships early next year for the PlayStation 2.