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Reviewed by Downtown Jimmy
Feb.10th 2003

Introduction:Crimson Sea is a sci-fi action adventure game that blends role playing elements with a shooters action. The story is set in the solar system of Theophilus, you must help Sho and his band of misfit squad mates defeats the evil that threatens the world. Crimson Sea has plenty of action rolled up into a stylistic sci-fi drama, with gives the best of two gaming worlds.

The Game:Crimson Sea borders on two bridges in the game. The game is half RPG and half Action Shooter. Let’s explore both parts so you can get a feeling for the game.

Role-Playing elements: The RPG elements are clearly showcased as soon as see the lead character Sho, Sho comes right out of any anime book, freaky hair, and rebellious type with a mysterious past. The game is sets up its story line with a number of cut scenes using the in game engine. During your adventure you will meet a number of other animie inspired characters that join your group and fight to defeat the evilness that threatens the world. The plot slowly unravels and you learn more about the mysterious circumstances surround your character and the main plot. The game adds a bit of drama within the game between the lead ‘sho’ and the vixen commander ‘live-d’ with reminds me of the classic Final Fantasy games. The story in the game is at times weak, but it held my attention.

Typical features like the ability to buy weapons, items and magic (neo-psionics) is also incorporated into Crimson Sea. During mid mission segways you can run around and talk to the staff and team mates located on board your space station. The weapon system is reminiscent of a role playing game, where as the weapons and magic powers gain experience points and levels.

The weapon system is very original in its delivery. Each barrel (gun) in the game duals as an energy blade and during combat you can freely go between both weapons. Each gun has its own set of attributes for range, blade and gun attacks. These weapons can be modified as well by adding other parts to them making each weapon customizable and more powerful. This way you can customize the weapons to your playing style and enemies you’re facing.

The Action: The action in Crimson Sea usually comes in the form of missions that are available from your floating HQ in space. In the majority of the missions you will be confronted with hundreds of enemies, and I mean hundreds at once literarily. Each mission has its own set of objectives and pleasantly each mission is uniquely diverse from each other. This helps kill the repetition of the normal pace of an RPG.

At times your g-squad will be going in blazing or they will send you in do the dirty world yourself. With the high numbers of enemies flying at you at once, at times you can feel like this it’s the end, but with Sho he manages to work through the hordes of evil. The gun-blade is impressive weapon and it’s a rush in a split second switching from mode to mode while attacking. There are number of different ranged and close combat options that become important when facing a variety of different enemies.

The evilness this time around comes in the form of mutons. These mutons are weirded out space aliens which go from nasty looking cockroaches to humanoid freaky burnt dudes (vips). The variety of enemies is huge which keep you on your toes, since they very in form and attack methods. Most of the mutons are easy to destroy with a few hits, with the exception of the boss characters. Sho is hooked up with a radar system that vibrates when the mutons are in close range. This is helpful when things are getting hectic.

Overall the game play is very solid, but it does have some issues. Mainly I found that the controls don’t flow with the game as well as they attended. The majority of the time while walking around and or fighting the game feels very jerky. The character kind of moves and feels like an updated space harrier.

Graphics & Sound:Crimson Sea graphics are impressive at times, and dull at others. The character models are done very well and go from action to cut scene without a loosing any quality. They are top notch and are the best part about the graphics in the game. Running at a good frame rate Crimson Sea also impresses when it throws a few hundred enemies on the screen at once. Not once did I find the game to slow down or stutter.

The weakest side of the graphics comes with the dull environments and dark palette that are in the game. The textures in the game and enemies at times seem very bland and not up the level the should be when you look at some of the backgrounds and character models. This is minimal in the game, but its there enough that you will notice the lower quality in the environments.

The music in the game fits perfectly; it’s a combination of orcristrated futuristic sounding themes, to more industrial techno grooves. The weakest side of the sound aspect is in some of the voice acting, it could be the script, but nerveless the voice overs are weak and un-emotional, typical to the RPG genre.

Lowdown:Overall Crimson Sea is an enjoyable experience and it’s quite innovative in how they blended the RPG and action seamlessly. The game is rather short, but makes up it in the different variety in missions. At times Crimson Sea can be an awesome rush with an intriguing story and fast paced action, and at others it can seems tedious and predictable. Crimson Sea is worth the buck to pick up, but the game isn’t for everyone. I would say rent it, check it out. It has some great elements and it's one of most innovate titles of 2002.

Gameplay: 7, Graphics/Sound: 8, Innovation: 8, Mojo: 7. Final: 7

FEATURES:

  • Fight for your life as you are surrounded by the hoardes! A new and improved "Group Control Engine" puts more than 1,000 enemies in your sights at once!
  • "Liquid" aliens change shape as they attack! Watch as these enemies of unknown origin morph before your very eyes!
  • Complete immersion in battle! A special sonar enemy detection system and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound bring excitement from all angles!





Crimson Sea
 
Publisher
KOEI
 
Developer
KOEI
 
Genre
Action RPG
 
Released
Dec. 2002
 
ESRB
Teen

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