Name: Psychic Force 2012 (68.57% in 7 votes)
Type: FTG
Platform: WINDOWS
Company: Taito
Release date: 1995
Reviewed by: KurenaiJiku
Psychic Force 2012 is a complex game of strategy, power and Anime characters. The game is based on Anime-like characteristics and practically flaunts a Dragon Ball Z-type of fighting. For one thing it's a whole new style of gameplay and it works too. Two characters are incased in a psychic shield or arena, and they duke it out flying 360 directions (not spherically) throwing fireballs and the what not.
Unlike most conventional fighters, you require energy or as called "Psy" to cast your powers or moves. The unique thing about this is that if you drain hp, your maximum amount of "Psy" increases; you can charge this up by the way by holding down all the buttons. Unique thing, is that there are only 3 buttons; guard, light and strong. By pressing light or strong at long distance, your character throws an energy projectile depending on which. If you hold guard, obviously your character will guard, but if you roll the joystick/directions in a full 360 your character will cast a almost impenatrable defensive barrier. And of course by moving the directions/joystick in a particular manner and pressing the correct attack button, your character will do a variety of moves. Each with it's definitive strengths and weaknesses.
PF 2012 first appeared in the arcade and then was ported to the Dreamcast with a multitude of functions and game modes. Unbalanced translated it to the PC and they did quite a job. Although the game lacks expected PC game options like graphics/game tweaking, the game runs perfect on a Celeron. This port boasts incredibly beautiful graphics as none of the textures are washed out, runs at 640 by 480 24 bit color, incredible low poly models, and all at a smooth 30 and up frame rate. Sound is also done extremely well at a considerably high "khz" rate.
Aside from all the technical aspects of the game, there are 10 main characters and 3 secret characters from the previous installment of the game series. They really do have all their differences and play styles and should satisfy every type of gamer; from the typical Anime school girl character to the musty and muscular tough guy. One feature that I would have liked to see, is a training mode (like in the first game) where one could practice their combos and see how much damage they did. However, one could comprimise by just selecting the easiest mode and playing the game. Speaking of the game, there are only two modes; story and arcade. The story mode I can't seem to access because my keyboard doesn't read 3 button presses at the same time which is required to access it. Arcade mode is just about the same as any fighting game, go through the characters one by one and beat the heck out of them. The lack of modes however, would have been remedied by the addition of a multiplayer feature over a communications line of some sort. Very rarely do people play two player games on a PC at the same time as it's cramped, and people's schedules usually don't show such prowess.
All and all, I would highly recommend this game to anybody who's looking for an Anime game to boot around for years and years, and perhaps their lifetime. I know I'll be going back to this game when I'm much older and we're into VR gaming. If you've got a Dreamcast, then get the Dreamcast version as it has tons more features, functions and goodies for everybody to play with. But if you're out on a limb, get the PC version to quench your thirst of Anime combat.
Graphics (technical) - 5/5
Graphics (creative) - 4.5/5
Sound (technical) - 5/5
Sound (creative) - 5/5
Technical Gameplay - 4.5/5
Fun Factor - 5/5
Diversity of Features - 2.5/5
Story - 3.5/5
Overall Value - 4.5/5
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