"Burning Rangers" is a title that needs no introduction, as informed
Saturn owners everywhere have been waiting with anticipation for 'the next
big thing' from Sonic Team and Yuji Naka, the creative impetus behind the
classic "Sonic the Hedgehog" series, and the wondrous "NiGHTS." When
"Burning Rangers" was first announced last year, it was a slight
disappointment, as many believed that Sonic Team should've done a new 3D
Sonic game or "NiGHTS 2." The premise sounded hokey (Firefighters putting
out fires and rescuing people) and that combined with no real new Sonic
game already added to early pessimism. As the release drew nearer and more
details leaked out, pessimism changed to optimism as BR looked stunning -
true 3D levels allowing you to go anywhere you want, and it was using a
modified version of the NiGHTS engine, so what could be more perfect?
After all, the biggest complaint among non-NiGHTS fans was that NiGHTS was
'on rails' and thus, wasn't 'true 3D.' Well Yuji Naka and company have
taken away the rails, given you a fully 3D environment, and extreme
intensity in a refreshingly new spin on 3D platformers. But unfortunately,
that was all that went right: What "Burning Rangers" turns out to be is a
valiant attempt by Sonic Team in their first foray into true 3D platform
gaming - sadly, busted control, massive visual glitches, and overall lack
of fun gameplay leave "Burning Rangers" as a decent title, but nowhere
near the greatness of their previous project, "NiGHTS."
"Burning Rangers" sets you up playing either a male or female member of
the Burning Rangers, a futuristic firefighting team armed with cybernetic
powersuits reminiscent of the Knight Sabers' hardsuits in "Bubblegum
Crisis" (which is cool). Your mission - put out the fires that rage in
these various locations and rescue the trapped victims.
The most immediate aspect that rears its ugly head is the clipping
plane in BR. While most of the time you're too busy listening for fires
and tips to notice, the clipping horizon (how far away you can see) is
pretty limited in "Burning Rangers." When you turn your character around
or are looking around the various levels and rooms, you can see massive
clipping occurring - sure it's partially hidden by a 'fading to black'
method and adds some 'mood' to the game (dark, foreboding hallways ready
to explode), but overall, it hurts and annoys more than it helps, as you
can see large chunks of the environment suddenly pop-up or disappear. On
the positive side, Sonic Team has constructed some pretty intense areas -
multi-level 'warehouses' and buildings, futuristic water theme parks, and
even a space station locale with sections of zero gravity. Great ideas
that are unfortunately hampered by the lack of power on the Saturn and/or
perhaps just Sonic Team's lack of programming prowess.
Another aspect that hurts is the lack of music (!) in many sections of
the game - of course you have to pay attention to the constant stream of
voice-over tips (relayed by your squad's leader) on where the victims are
or what to do next, and you have to listen for the potential fire about to
explode and break out, but the lack of a cool musical soundtrack (like
NiGHTS) hurts. For the main BR Theme and for many of the cut-scenes, Sonic
Team has switched to a more 'hip-hop' R&B type format for the music
which is fine, but personally, their previous music was much better (Sonic
CD, NiGHTS).
Most importantly, it is in the most crucial area of a good game that
"Burning Rangers" fails the most: Control and Gameplay. For Control, as
M-kun deftly put it, they put in one of the most horrible aspects ever to
have been implemented: Auto Jump. For those of you who have played
platformers from the classic days, you know just how important it is for
the gamer to have a precise and exacting control over the 'Jump' button -
positioning yourself near ledges, getting ready to execute your
skills-based Jumps, all are part of the fun and gameplay of any good
platformer. Here, if you get too close to a ledge, you _automatically
jump_ (!). Uhm… suffice to say, that can get pretty ugly in extreme
situations with lots of ledges. Also, you get to control the camera angle
via the L and R buttons. Each tap moves the camera around 90 degrees.
While it is done pretty smoothly, the problem is that most of the time you
are constantly flying around looking for victims and just trying to get a
better picture of the area (or just see where you're going). This
translates into constantly using the L/R buttons, which also leads to a
rather 'jerky' or 'choppy' gameplay experience. Analog and digital control
are both solid, but overall your control of the character is very loose
(not good for exacting platformers). There are also slight collision
problems in places, where you can get stuck or accidentally fly in the
wrong direction and these further detract from the game.
You are armed with a 'cyber fire extinguisher' that can be fired with
quick bursts or by holding down the fire button you'll release a larger
burst for more 'damage.' There is also an 'auto-aim' feature, meaning that
you can just let go of the D-pad and just 'fire' and it'll fire towards
the nearest target. Thus during Boss encounters, it's a lot less
challenging. Just run around and stop and fire - most of the time you
don't even have to aim. Further adding to the futility of it all, are the
boss encounters themselves. Similar to many of the bosses in NiGHTS, you
are 'locked' in a small enclosed area and must battle it out against them.
Only here you really realize just how much more fun NiGHTS is - given the
true 3D movement in BR, most of the time you're just trying to 'right
yourself' since the control is problematic. At least in NiGHTS you had
'rails' to guide you, leaving you to only worry about flying in the right
X or Y axis direction.
Finally "Burning Rangers" is just way too short and Not fun. I beat
"Burning Rangers" in about 3 hours my first time through - sure I didn't
get all 'A's (the rank you receive on each mission based on time, victims
saved, etc.), but 3 hours?! Just a tad bit too short for my liking. And
unlike NiGHTS, playing as either the girl or the guy is the same - no new
levels and no new bosses. What you may get for getting all 'A's in each
level remains to be seen. But I have no inclination whatsoever to play
anymore. It's just not fun. People wondered what would happen if "NiGHTS"
didn't have 'rails' (if it was totally 3D movement). Ironically, the one
big thing that Yuji Naka changed (removing the rails) is the Achilles'
Heel of BR. Without the 'rails' "Burning Rangers" quickly loses its focus.
You fly around haphazardly, trying to find your next location or
objective. Many times there's a high chance you get lost or just fly
around getting bored. Without the rails, you lose focus and without focus,
you get mediocrity. There's just no comparison between "Burning Rangers"
and "NiGHTS." "NiGHTS" is one of the greatest games on the Saturn (or any
system), full of beautiful magic and wondrous mellifluent gameplay and
music. It is an experience. "Burning Rangers" is a nice attempt at a 3D
platformer that just falls short in every area when compared to it's
predecessor.
Final Scores (out of a perfect 10):
Graphics: 7.0
=============
+ Solid 3D models for the characters
you control and cool powersuit design.
+ Ambitious level design - great
ideas for the 3D worlds ranging from water theme parks to space
stations.
+ Cool anime movies and cut-scenes, animated well.
-
Massive clipping and pop-up present throughout the game.
- Noticeable
slowdown occurring in many polygon and sprite intensive areas.
- Lack
of true 3D transparencies (ala Sonic R).
- Very limited clipping
horizon that's not hidden well (vs. Sonic R).
Sound/Music: 6.0
=============
+ Excellent voice acting by some
of the top _seiyuu_ in Japan, such as Yuko Miyamura (Asuka
(Evangelion)).
+/- Hip-hop, R&B-ish type music format for intro and
areas. - Lack of music for many areas.
- Flat, forgettable tunes
elsewhere (vs. the magical, cool tunes from NiGHTS).
Gameplay: 7.0
=============
+ Free control of camera in a 3D
environment.
+ Controlling a character in a total 3D world - fly
anywhere, go anywhere.
+ A true intensity similar to "Backdraft" the
movie, where fires can explode and break out at any moment (keeping you
constantly on your toes).
- Busted control: there's this looseness that
adds to the frustration of…
- Auto Jumping. Bad idea. Really bad. Many
times you get too close to a ledge and just jump by accident because of
this.
- 'Jerky' gameplay due to you constantly moving the camera around
(which also only moves in 90 degree increments).
- Shortness of
gameplay. I beat the game in 3 hours the first time through.
- Easy
Bosses.
- Just not fun.
=============
OVERALL: 7.0
=============
"Those looking for
the next NiGHTS will have to wait. 'Burning Rangers' is a let down.
Hopefully NiGHTS 2 or the new Sonic game on the Katana will be better."
