User Rating: 7.8 | Black/Matrix Cross PS
If you can read Japanese (or can tie someone down next to you that does). I mean really read Japanese, Kanji and all. Then this is a must import game. Black Matrix is one of the hardest Tactics style RPG games to come out in a long time. First debuting on the ill-fated Sega Saturn, and later ported to the PS, it takes place in a dark world where there the Demons and the Angels are facing off. Before your part of the story starts, the Demons have already won and have completely enslaved all the Angels. Very indepth story that will make you want to keep playing even through some of the hardest parts of the game. Graphics for its day and age are pretty solid. They are better in the world navigation than in battles, and somewhat repetitive. Not the best on the PSX, but for a Tactics RTS, pretty high end. Sound is one of it's week points. When you first hear the death sound it is creepy and pretty cool. After hearing the same creepy death sound over a thousand times, not so cool anymore. The musical score does not really have much strength or variety to mention. Overall, pretty bland audibly. The game has a lot of replay value. You have at least 4 different primary characters available to you at the start. Each with minor variations in story. You are graded on each battle and if you are a perfectionist, this feature alone will more than double your game time. Overall solid game that really helped to re-invigorate the genre. Too bad there aren't more games with this kind of depth and difficulty.
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