Naturally anyone who's played the game can recall the various elements which Capcom carefully incorporated into the game which left one on the edge of their seat. While Galerians does not hold any particularly heart shocking moments, it drives captivation and appeal through its eerie, gripping storyline stands as the hook which creates the mood spanning the 3 disc saga. The overall execution in which the story's sequences unfold certainly have been inspired by a number of the well-acclaimed anime titles on the market.

The story unfolds within a surgical room in Michelangelo Hospital with two doctors performing experiments upon a 14-year old boy named Rion. Due to a series of drugs which our main character is injected with, his memory runs blank. Confined to a restraining bed, Rion uses his telekinetic abilities to free himself. Within his mind, he hears the voice of Lilia, who periodically communicates with him telepathically. Using his 'sense' ability to acquire helpful clues that aid in restoring his memory, Rion seeks out to find Lilia and investigate how he ended up in such a predicament...despite the odds that are against him.

Galerians provides two methods of attack which Rion utilizes throughout the duration of the game. By injecting PPEC (psychic power enhancement chemicals), respectively Nalcon or Red allows you to emit a powerful shockwave or ignite objects into flames. Rion can also take PPEC's orally which will increate his psychic ability or raise his AP (anger points) to full. Each time Rion uses his psychic powers, his AP will increase. Should the bar become full, he basically goes beserk much like Bruce Banner whenever he got a paper cut. To counteract the effects, you need to swallow a Delmetor capsule, thus returning his anger points back to zero. During my initial impressions with the game, I found this be quite an innovative feature, which unfortunately becomes quite tedious, and frustrating. As I discovered, the gauge increased regardless of what actions I took, be it walking, running...basically lurking around the hospital contemplating the purpose of my existence. Delmetor pills aren't necessarily in abundance either, which is where the arc of strategy comes in to add to the suspense...or at least, that's the pitch of the game! It didn't take long for me to become somewhat frustrated as I wanted the anger points simply to stop increasing...I wish that it would only increase by using your powers, but it doesn't. I died within the first few minutes only to realize that my primary challenge would be to keep those points down at all costs. This detracted from my overall enjoyment as games like this should feature solid puzzle elements, as seen in Resident Evil. While there are a few sprinkled within the game, they're only exceptionally difficult and it does little for replay value or the sheer fun factor of indulging the game itself.

Gameplay gripes aside, Galerians boasts a solid graphic engine, suspenseful musical themes which really help to set the mood and a control scheme that can easily be compared to Resident Evil. Initially when I first played the game, I was practically ready to search for weapons and start shooting zombies (ok, not really, but it was certainly cool envisioning such). I'd have to say that I wasn't on the best terms when it came to control, primarily struggling to move Rion throughout the various rooms and such, which isn't something that you want to be doing when you encountering deadly enemies. It would help if the camera angles actually made transitions much as it does doing regular gameplay, which unfortunately locks into a standard angle when encountering bosses, not fun.

While Galerians seeks to make a stalwart effort at being full of entertainment and suspense, the elements addressed earlier clearly prevent it from truly being considered anything but. While it can easily envelope a gamer due to its solid graphic engine and musical excellence, the control and fun factor can avert the attention span after a short period of time. Perhaps if the game possessed more gameplay aspects which expanded Rion's arsenal of offensive attacks, and was more challenging would it truly come across as the must-have game. A rental at best should it peak your curiosity, but at the very least should you be expecting the game to run on the same vein as with Resident Evil may come away being somewhat disappointed.

· · · Bahn