Once again, Sonic Team has delivered another gem of a Saturn game-
another reason us few remaining Saturn owners should stand up and beam
with pride. The game is stunning and utterly intense, with impressive
audio, revolutionary gameplay, a gripping atmosphere and plenty of hidden
goodies- enough to warrant quite a few replays. But best of all- it's just
ooooozing with Sonic Team goodness, all full of familiar ideas and
concepts with out ever threatening to be a rehash.
Lets begin with one of the games most interesting aspects- control. The
game is all about futuristic firefighters with jetpacks- and it lets you
do everything that you could do with one of those jetpacks. You leap and
jump like a pro, pulling off numerous spiffy acrobatic tricks with no more
than one or two button taps. Much like in NiGHTS, where all it takes to do
a trick is the tapping of the L and R buttons, you can reach most anywhere
in Burning Rangers with a couple of jumps and a good sense of direction.
Even more skilled is the "B.Roll" maneuver that the game teaches you
from the very start. Simply put- the game allows you to Ninja-flip out of
the way of an impending explosion by pressing down on the D-pad. This may
not sound like much but it is a really cool feature- when you're running
down this hallway trying to save a room fulla kids from burning up when
the familiar whistling-hiss of an explosion emanates from the wall to your
left. With one swift motion your fire fighter flips back out of the way,
mere milliseconds before he'd be roasted by the 3,000-degree flames
bursting out of where you just stood. How cool is that?
Another too-sweet feature is the heavy use of "Voice Directed
Navigation"; something that many people feared would just be subtitled in
the U.S. version. But nay- it's here in all its vocal glory. It adds a
whole extra layer of flavor onto an already tasty game and yes, all you
cynics, is very much necessary. You have a navigator who watches over you
all the time and can give you directions at the simple touch of the X or Z
button. The directions are simple and usually accurate (ok, so every now
and then Kris leads you into a wall- but it's a tough job, deal with it!)
The voices are also effective in portraying your group attack on the fire-
constantly you hear updates from other members of the BR team as to their
progress or lack thereof- a truly unique feature.
The greatest feature by far, however, has to be the Randomizing feature
gained after you finish the game. From then on, all the items in all the
levels are randomized- items usually aren't in the same place twice. The
survivors, evil robots, keys and crystals all show up in different spots.
It's sweet and it was a feature missing from games like NiGHTS that could
benefit from a little randomization now and then. Also, if you happen to
play a level you find really enjoying or challenging, our Saviors Sonic
Team allow a pass word feature so you can play it over and over until your
eyes and thumbs bleed with joy.
Now, to be honest, the game has a couple of issues. For one, the 3D is
not as good as it could be. The 3D worlds in Sonic Jam, NiGHTS and Panzer
Saga all looked better. It's not that the graphics are bad, but they
certainly aren't a strong point and, well, underwater the graphics are
really bad. Also, some may complain about the relative silence in the
game- there isn't any music during the levels except for the occasional
events (power outage, special survivors) and bosses. The boss music,
however, is outstanding. There is an intensity in every song that really
keeps you moving- and most songs are broken up into 3 or 4 parts that pick
up in fervor as you continue to skillfully pound on the boss. Well, mostly
skillfully. The sad part is that most of these bosses (save the last) are
absolute pushovers that can be blasted to flinders without a second
thought. Even the last boss isn't too hard (but if he whoops you the first
or second time, you shouldn't feel so bad)
All of this, however, culminates in to one very important thing-
immersion. Yuji Naka is a beast- he knows exactly how to grip a player and
exactly what buttons to push. Just like in NiGHTS, you can't casually sit
down and play this game. You're all up in it from the moment your Ranger
feet hit the floor. You are constantly looking over your shoulder for that
survivor you missed or that fuel tank about to explode. You race and rush
from place to place trying to get things done before that damn limit meter
goes off and sets the whole room up into roaring flames. You're running,
jumping and blasting fires like a pro in no time- and you search for every
last survivor not because you have to- because you want to. Trust me- it's
that good.
