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Ranma 1/2: Battle Renaissance
Review by GlucoseJoe
Er, Ranma and company, from the comic and
anime series Ranma 1/2, are in 3D now. Uh-oh. It's a
semi-Tekken-fest, with left-right punches and kicks, and air
juggling too. Maybe too much air juggling. Some characters can
obliterate you with a couple of juggle combos, or the same move
repeated a bunch of times. Ranma, Akane, Shampoo, Ryoga, Genma,
Happosai, Kuno, and Ryu Kumon (who I haven't heard of yet in the
series) are on an island that Kuno's family is building a resort
on. Little do they know that a demon is there, and they're not
making her happy by busting up her island. Each character has
their own storyline, and they all interact with many little
scenes between matches. There is some horrible CG in here, too.
Makes me wish they just did a nice 2D fighter instead, with
traditional animation...
Graphics: Um, it's good for a
first-generation PS game. Unfortunately, it's not good for a game
that came out in 1996. The Jusenkyo characters change forms when
it rains on the mediocre-looking stages, and, well, there's not
much else to say...And that CG needs to go, baby.
Sound: It
sounds like they got the anime voice actors (but I could be
wrong...girl Ranma doesn't sound 100% right, but maybe Megumi
Hayashibara had a cold that day), and of course, since it's a
Japanese game, that means well-done voice acting. The music is
happy, bouncy, typical anime-game tuneage.
Control: Could be a
lot worse, but could also be a lot better. Pretty simple combos,
some done in a Mortal Kombat-like "Dial-up" button
pressing sequence. The moves are all right, but some contact
points need to be repaired.
Funfactor: If you love the
characters, you'll probably like this game and wish somebody
picked it up for U.S. release. Viz could have supplied their fine
cast of voice actors for the abundant speech, and maybe the
company that brought it here could have tightened it up into a
better game? But we'll never know, now will we? Sigh...
Replayability? Fans of the series: yes. Serious fighting fans?
Well, until the novelty wears off. Here's to looking towards a 2D
Ranma fighter that's animated as well as Street Fighter 3: Third
Strike...GlucoseJoe
Reviewer's Score: 6 / 10
