User Rating: 9.8 | Space Channel 5 Part 2 PS2
By jwflynt | Review Date:
Okay, I will admit it, I am a Space Channel 5 freak. I’ve played the original game on the Dreamcast through a million times. When people talk about the Dreamcast failing, I laugh and remember this game as being worth the cost of the system. Gamespot ruled it as “total style, no substance.” Now don’t get me wrong, I really trust the Gamespot crew, and from “Let’s Gamespot!” I know they’re uniquely cool. But they’re “skateboarding cool.” (Thus the undeserved praise for endless clone skateboarding games) They aren’t “I’m going to act like a goober and let it loose” cool like I am. I think if you look at the video Gamespotting where Greg Kasavin goes to a videogame premier party it’s proof positive. ( ;) I love ya Greg!) I think it’s also the reason this game hasn’t been reviewed after more than 2 weeks out. The original Space Channel 5 was infinitely replayable because it was a short, sweet hour-long music video. Everytime I picked it up, I knew I was going to have fun for an hour. (Adults like short games, take note!) This Special Edition Space Channel 5 makes a great thing even better. The Special Edition has two disks. One for the Original Space Channel, and another for its sequel, Space Channel 5 Part two. I’ll start with the original. I do not believe I’ve seen a successful port to a next-gen console work out ever. Ever. Look at the mess that is Sega Smash Pack one. The control and sound were so mangled, the game wasn’t playable. Even titles like Final Fantasy Anthology have problems, because of lazy emulation. So let me say when I bought Space Channel 5 for 20 bucks, and it was ported by a company I’d never heard of, Agetec, I was expecting severe disappointment. Boy was I wrong. In my opinion, Space Channel 5 is the best update to a dead console game ever. The control is dead on, and the sound is much, much, much better! I’d never truly heard the SC5 soundtrack until I heard it in PS2 surround sound. It’s basically an easy music video with a near impossible final boss. The soundtrack is GREAT! It’s kind of like Charlie’s Angel meets 70’s Bond. The music is by far the best asset of the game. The challenge in the game comes from trying to get closer and closer to perfect. (Try to challenge yourself to make glowing before Chapter 4, it’s tough!) The graphics are a bit dated, yes. But no game in history has made their heroine more alluring than Ulala. It’s the catlike way she moves, and her fabulous voice. SC5 has style in spades. Now here’s the part where I have to figure out some of the changes from the original. The good? A quantum leap in sound quality, and Agetech adding extra levels. They even improved the save system. Increasing the “glowing” level from 90% to 95% is good, because it makes maintaining the glow more challenging, and also my “Race to glowing before Chapter 4” even harder. This game is 20 bucks! And they took this time! I say Agetec is up there with Capcom and Square in my mind as quality developers now. But some of their changes are strange. I understand rerecording the lines instructing you to press X instead of A (different controllers). But in random places they’ve recorded new lines. They aren’t better or worse, except for the fact they’ve changed the chapter intros from “Ulala’s Swinging Report Show!” to “Lala…(incomprehensible blather.) I’ll be an optimist and say Agetec wants to give SC5 vets a bit of a new experience. One last quick note, the biggest challenge in the Dreamcast version was using a badly designed directional controller. On the PS2, the directional controller is FAR improved, but the X and O button buttons are a bit longer and it slows response time. Marginally. But overall it’s a positive change. As for SC5 Part 2? It’s better than I ever dreamed! It’s basically a RPG with dancing. This game is wicked hard. It took me over an hour of retrys to beat the first level boss. The really juicy part? The unlockables are just brilliant. I may have beaten level one, but I get to figure out how to unlock the 7 secrets there. I am in heaven. The graphics are even more alluring in regards to Ulala. Basically, you get to master SC5 part 1, and then take on the RPG quest of SC5 part 2! It will take me a long time to unlock it all. And I was foolishly thinking I could beat it tonight. I wish Michael Jackson was not a character in both games. I wasted 20 bucks watching Bad Boys 2 with a date, and Holywood Homicide solo. There is NO REASON IN THE WORLD not to buy this game for 20$. If you’re the kind of guy that sits in a corner at parties because you don’t like to dance, this game isn’t for you. If you like to have fun, and don’t mind putting yourself out there, this is a freakin party. One last word, bravo Agetec!

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