Review #477: Galerians

 Drugs, exploding heads, clones, psychic powers.... it's 90s anime alright.

3 discs, 4 hours. Those pre-rendered backgrounds must be heavy, eh!

 Welcome to Galerians, a survival horror game that trades guns for psychic powers and monsters for psychic loons. It's an interesting angle, and makes resource management even more taxing on the player thanks to the constant threat of 'Shorting'. It's also really short, the game's backcover boasts about 50 hours but I got through in under 5!

 It's a bit tough to make heads or tails from the plot, but what you need to know is that you play as Rion, a kid who's been experimented on and developed psychic powers. As you explore the Michelangelo Hospital you'll start regaining your memories and learning about Dorothy, a super computer that grew sentient and wants to replace humanity with her own psychic loons, the Galerians. Now Rion must find Lillia, a girl with a virus implanted on her that can destroy Dorothy. The story is a bit cliched, the dialogue is stilted and the voice acting is horrible, but the setting is very interesting and the whole psychic powers thingie makes it very different from other games of its ilk.

That oughta hurt.

 If you've ever played a Survival Horror before, you know the deal, tank-controls, pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles, having to scavenge the environments for supplies as well as key items to solve puzzles, etc. The most important thing in the game is learning to manage your resources: Energy for your psychic powers is limited, restorative items are limited, inventory space is limited(although key items don't occupy any space) and some monsters respawn. So you'll need to learn when it's best to avoid encounters or kill enemies, or maybe it's better to trade a bit of health, avoiding enemies, and save up your energy.

 But, that's not where resource management ends, below your health is the AP gauge, or Anger points. This gauge fills up constantly, whether you attack, move around or even breathe, the AP gauge is constantly on the rise. Once filled, if you try to attack you'll 'Short'. When you short you lose the ability to run, being force to slowly walk around, and you start losing health at a steady rate, on the flip side, anything that you look at will die(except other Galerians). The only way to heal the Short status is with a Delmetor. It's a really interesting mechanic, because Delmetor occupies inventory space and is limited, but, the Short status can be really convenient when you are swamped with enemies or must fight tough battles. I mean, it's annoying having to play, basically, under a timer, but it's a mechanic that can work in your favor too, which means it's more fun than it sounds(Except when you're about to short and there's no Delmetor around).

The final stage is brimming with supplies, so don't panic if you are short on them after Stage C.

 You've three different psychic powers: Nalcon(Force push?), Red(Fire blast!) and D-Felon(Manipulate gravity) and they are all useful in their own way. Except, maybe, D-Felon, which you obtain very late in the game and it's useless on bosses, so you get to use it very little. Each of them has their own energy gauge, so they each have their own source of ammo. The controls are very clunky, even attacking is clumsier than in other Survival Horror games, first, you have to aim, second, you have to charge with R1(You can't move while charging!) and finally you have to press X to unleash your charge. Some fights can be downright cruel, since you have to run around enemies, wait for an opening and hope that you have enough time to charge before you yourself are attacked with Nalcon. A few areas in the game almost require you to short in order to deal with how tough a few of the ambush battles can get, battles that you can't avoid.

 As for the difficulty, it's very spotty. Resource Management is the biggest obstacles from Stage A to Stage C, but the final Stage, D, gifts you with all sorts of ammo and health items so it's almost impossible for you to lose at that stage, but going from Stage A to Stage C it's very tough managing your Health, Ammo and AP. Bosses too are poorly balanced, the first boss is the easiest of the bunch, but the second one is easily the hardest, being bombarded with projectiles all over the place and a very small window to counter-attack. The next two bosses, while no run in the park, are easier and then the last two bosses are easy as pie.

Some stage, like B, have a single save-room, so you'll be visiting this place often.

 The puzzles on the other hand never get too complicated. Rion, having psychic powers, can 'Sense', by pressing triangles, an get hints on how to open locked doors or where missing items are, so it's hard to not know where to go next. That said, in Stage C there's a puzzle in which you must knock on a door with a very specific timing which is all sorts of obnoxious, since the game is very particular with your timing. Galerians also has a real-time map, which is very useful although not as detailed as it could've. You'll have to consider the Save Spots too, which are very limited, as a matter of fact, Stage B and Stage C have a single save-spot each.

 Alright, so Galerians isn't the best Survival Horror you'll ever play. Even by the genre's standards the controls are clunky, the difficulty is uneven and poorly balanced and the story could've used a bit more thought put into... but when it comes down to it, it's pretty good. The setting is interesting, the AP mechanic is entertaining and fighting with psychic powers, even if sloppy, is fun.
 7.5 out of 10