Archview #13: T.R.A.G : Mission of Mercy

 Welcome to a double Review Special, part 1: T.R.A.G

 T.R.A.G is a criminally underrated PS1 action game. It never seems to be mentioned anywhere. No Top 10s, no "Obscure PS1 games", no nothing. EVER. And it's a shame, 'cause it's surprisingly good.
 The game plays like Classic Resident Evil, characters move like tanks, you've got fixed camera angles on pre-rendered backgrounds. There's also lots of information logs, items(mostly keys) that are needed to open various objects. There's also a limited quantity of healing items, and the game never heals you, so you have to keep that in mind, albet enemies tend to be quite generous with health packs(These can't be stocked though). Unlike Resident Evil, however, you play as four different characters, each character can be swapped on the fly, and each one has a different weapon and fights quite differently from each other. Unlike REvil, however, combat is quite fast. You've got backsteps and special moves, using the D-Pad.

 The game looks pretty good. Characters and enemies are a bit on the simple side, but they look good, specially for a PS1 game. The music variety is a bit small, but it works for the game, voice acting on the other hand..... To be fair, back in the day, voice acting wasn't common, and it wasn't good, at least the dialogue is cheesy, so it kinda, kinda meshes well with the bad voice acting. One thing I loved is the amount of details, like different descriptions depending on which character is doing the examination, and the amount of alternate CG cutscenes and lines depending on which character you are using!.
 The game is a tad too short though. It's a shame, since it has many great ideas, like the initial sequence, where Alex and Michelle break up and each one handles a different area. You can switch characters and proceed at your own leisure, it'd have been nice to have more moments like that. Also, you can choose which character handles which area, so you get different CG cutscenes and dialogues, and a different latter consequence, but alas, the game is too short, and it's a one time deal.

 After finishing the game, two different endings by the way, you unlock different colors, and depending on certain conditions, different weapons and costumes(In some cases, like Alex and Rachel, it changes their moveset) for each character, plus, having Alex and Michelle take the paths they didn't last time, so there is some degree of replayability. My final complaints lie on the fixed camera angles, like other games of it's ilk, sometime it can make it hard to see what you are fighting, specially when the camera angle changes and on the controls. Tank-like controls probably wasn't the best way to go with this kind of game, and movement sometimes is a bit cumbersome, but it doesn't get in the way of the game.
 So, in conclussion, T.R.A.G: Mission of Mercy is a great game, and everyone who hasn't played, nay, hasn't even heard of it should get shot.
 It's a 7 out of 10.