EHRGEIZ God Bless The Ring!

User Rating: 8.5 | Ehrgeiz PS
Well, hello there guys, I'm doing my first review on a game so bear with me throught this and let me know what you think.

Ehrgeiz, German word for ambition, was a revolutionary 3d fighting game developed by Squarsoft for the PS1. It was the first fighting game they had ever developed and showed alot of potential for the future. It's character variations and gameplay were a whole new world of fighting games and as far as I know never really received much popularity.

As far as the gameplay, this game was one of the first and only games where you could move your character all around the stage, freely via analog or directional buttons.
This type of movement enables the player to execute a whole lot of new fighting moves from the ability to run factor. (trips, flips, rolls, ect,). And the ability to move defensivly also adds to the move list. Your character dances as a boxer would do alowing you to dodge and counter. The combos are average wwith not much imagination, but the power moves is really what gets you going.

The graphics aren't exactly top notch, but it's the choice of charcters and character design that makes up for it. With 9 original chacters and 5 characters from their own Final Fantasy seven (Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart, Vincent Valentine, Yuffie Kisagari) it makes for an excitng game.

The soundtrack (Takayuki Nakamura,Motoko Hieda) isn't exactly an epic score either, but it is nontheless appropriate for the fighting, your typical electronic beats and synth bla bla bla. The sound effects could've been a little more thought through as well.

There are also a plethola of various mini games like Infinte Battle where you play through levels battling different characters one after the other, Battle Runner, where you race through a track and can physically attack your opponent, Battle Beach, where you race through an obstacle course, with two versions, Battle Dash, Battle Flag, Battle Panel, where red&blue teams compete to occupy sqares in an 8x8 stage, and finally, The Forsaken Dungeon, where your choice of two characters ((Koji Masuda, Clair Andrews) explore through different levels of a dungeon, battling various enemies, leveling up, and collecting items.

I aquirred this game back in 1999 for $39.99 shipped overseas and still remains to be one of my favorite games to date. The option to play as my favorite FF7 characters is enough to make me a happy gamer, plus the other game ingredients just adds to the fun.