RVG Forum

Doom is probably the greatest first person shooter ever made and most certainly kicked off the never-ending FPS trend we have today. It was so popular when it was first released on the PC that it even spawned a film starring The Rock. You control a marine who seems to have seemingly been sent to hell. You must try to escape by making your way through each maze type level and finding the exit. Along the way you meet zombie soldiers, mutant hogs, demons and the horned spawn of Satan himself. Thankfully you are armed with a pistol and can collect more ammo for it as you go along as well being able to upgrade to other weapons including a shotgun, chain gun and the legendary BFG (I will let you work out what that stands for!). After the amazingly good Atari Jaguar version, decent considering the hardware conversions to the SNES and 32X and of course the PC original I was expecting great things out of a Saturn version. Real shame it’s a bit crap then, a perfect example of a great game ruined by one major flaw. Saturn Doom has a terrible frame rate that results in jerky movement and unresponsive control. I still to this day wonder just how they managed to cripple this game so badly, its still Doom of course so a few people might still like it. The only consolation is that I hear the Japanese version is MUCH better!

After the shoddy port that was Doom for the Sega Saturn ID Software returned with Hexen, the sequel to the PC only game Heretic. Gameplay wise it is incredibly similar in many ways to Doom, it’s a FPS with dark overtones. The biggest original feature in Hexen is the choice of character class. Players may choose to play as a fighter, cleric, or mage and each character has unique weapons and physical characteristics. The Fighter relies mainly on close quarter martial attacks, weapons and is both tougher and faster than the other characters. The Mage uses an assortment of long-range spells, whose reach is counterbalanced by the fact that he is the most fragile and slowest moving of the people on offer. The Cleric as you may have already guessed is the all-rounder with very balanced skills. Certain items are used differently by each character too, depending on their individual skills. The game also has portals that must be used to go back and forth between levels in order to complete some objectives. Graphically the game is beautiful, if a bit dark at times, with some beautifully designed levels. There is also some really atmospheric sound to accompany this challenging game. Hexen is far superior to Doom on the Saturn and is, for me, one of the systems finest first person shooters along side another ID game Quake and the superb Egyptian themed Exhumed.

A series of bizarre murders have occurred on the outskirts of Raccoon City with signs of cannibalism on the victims. The city Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.) are assigned to investigate the murders. S.T.A.R.S. is divided into two teams called Alpha and Bravo. Bravo team is sent first, but after contact with them is lost, Alpha team is sent to investigate their disappearance. The player has a choice between either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine as the main character. Jill has more firepower and the ability to pick locks as well as an inventory large enough to hold up to eight items. Chris meanwhile has limited firepower but is more durable in terms of taking damage from enemies, he has a smaller inventory that can hold up to six items. This Saturn version, the only game in the series to appear on the machine, has several advantages over its PS1 rival. There are new enemies, new character designs and an unlockable battle mode too. Graphically it’s slightly weaker but still holds up very well with some lovely use of textures. The sound is very atmospheric and helps set the scene of this survival horror. As impressive as the game is for the time it really hasn’t aged well. The controls are clunky, the camera is annoying and it plays really slow. If you are a fan of the series then you will probably want to pick this game up to experience the origins of the franchise but everyone else out there will probably just find Resident Evil an ultimately frustrating experience.