(((This is kinda old))
Because some of the reviews I've seen for games on gamefaq's are BS.
Not to say I "love" this game. It has it's faults. It certainly doesn't deserve a score of 1 or 2 out of 10, though.
Anywho here's some excerpts from the 2 reviews there.
Entry 1: Epidemic for the PSX.
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| While Doom had 2D characters on a rotating axis, and Epidemic has 3D characters, both are blocky and remind one of the graphics on mid 90's computers. |
Yes, a mid-90's game have graphics you'd expect from a mid 90's computer. By that note Halo looks like a freaking X-box game.
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Also, character mouth movements copy that of the Japanese language that they were originally made for. |
This is true, and it's actually kinda funny to watch.
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Even the game's cut scene graphics are not that good (especially in comparison to FFVIII cut scene graphics). |
Two things. A) There's a certain higher standard of production quality one would expect from Square than of a company most people never heard of.
B) You just compared the graphics of a game released in '96 to one released in '99.
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Taking all this into account I give Epidemic a 3/10 on graphics. |
s**t, NES games must have a 2/10 maximum score with this guy.
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There is not much I can say about a game's sound. I usually don't pay very much attention to it unless I really love the game (and I didn't like Epidemic at all). Even so, I will again compare Epidemic to Doom in the music category. While the music is clearly not a soundtrack you would want to buy, I think that the music is suited to the settings. The dreary settings had a kind of ominous music while the office buildings had more of an upbeat/action music. In fact, I could almost swear that they ripped some of the music straight from Doom. On my last note on the music, I would also like to point out that the music, while suited to the settings in no way enhanced them or made me get into the game anymore then I was. Most sound effects do their job. Lasers sound like lasers and your machine guns sound like machine guns. The only annoying thing though is the fact that every time that you walk you have to hear your machine stomp along. I didn't really find it that annoying...but some of you might. So, I give Epidemic a 5/10 on the sound.
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I... sorta agree with him here. Dunno about the Doom comparisons as I never played the original Doom, though.
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Simply put, I did not like Epidemic’s story line. The reason is b/c I just never got into it. I feel that the major reason that I never got into it was b/c I felt that it was all corny and unoriginal. There were times when I just felt that the game’s delivery of the storyline could not possibly get any cornier. Also, it is extremely unoriginal. The game puts the hero’s love in danger and the hero must rescue her from death…very used. The human race is on the brink of extinction and is being oppressed by a tyrannical dictator…also very used. Even though it’s used, I’ll admit it still works in some games…just not in this one. |
Can't expect all robot games to have a deep, complicated story. For every Xenogears or Front Missions you'll get your Armored Cores and Omega Boosts.
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I did not find this game fun or interesting at all. The game was so uninnovative that it was a turn off. For example, you have three basic weapons to choose from: lasers, machine guns, and missiles…extremely original (not)!!! |
Upgradable lasers which have some strategic use, at least as a semi-infinite weapon to use (emphasis on "semi"- infinite), machineguns, and up to 8 different missiles. 7 if you count one being a mine. Or did you not know how to switch missiles? Sure there isn't much missile variety but, jeez...
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| It had none of the fun that Doom carried w/ it (killing massive amounts of enemies) mainly b/c all of your enemies are robots and instead of having this dying animation, they just explode. |
Yes. The robots. They explode when dead. They don't fall down and die like demons. They just explode. Right.
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After you actually put the game into your PlayStation the abomination that is terrible English voice acting will creep into your ears; bleeding is a possibility. |
Actually, the voice acting in this game is... bleh. I've heard worse. Not even Resident Evil. That was funny bad. I mean Machinehead was *bad*.
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The problem is a combination between crappy controls and not even being able to see what you are supposed to be shooting at. You will first notice this by walking down a hallway while the end of the hallway is black, so then all of a sudden these laser beams start slamming into you and you can't actually see where they are coming from. So you have to keep going forward until the laser turret actually appears onto your screen, all while being continuously shot.
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Okay, I may have not beaten the game, but I never really had this particular problem. I mean, I've been shot by unseen enemies. And then I turned around. And considering the AI the major reason enemies would fire upon him from out of sight is if he passed them. Seriously, the AI is pretty dim.
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Then you have to hold down the L1 and R1, and L2 and R2 buttons together to look up and down. Then you have to press the left and right directions on the d-pad to try and position your aim on the turret. |
If you're decent, and under normal conditions, this shouldn't take too long. Using 2 buttons at once is kinda annoying but it's not impossible.
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Finally, you have to wait for your missile to actually lock onto the turret before you can destroy it. |
If you're decent you wouldn't be wasting missiles on turrets. Or wait until they locked on a stationary target, instead of opting to use lasers or machineguns.
Seriously, there's different playstyles and there's playing like you want the game to beat you.
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This isn't the only situation where problems like this arise. With security cameras it's the same thing but you won't actually know there is even a security camera there until you've already walked right in front of it and it goes off. |
Yes, I've been caught by security cameras before. But, you know what, if you are *constantly* setting them off, you must really suck. I mean, it's not hard to be on the look out for cameras. They aren't that hard to spot. Also, there's a massive delay between being in the camera's view and the alarm sounding (at least it seems that way). I've played the game for several hours so far and set off the alarms twice. The first time was one thing, but the second time, well, I just destroyed the camera. No battle with the controls or losing half my health aiming at the thing. I just destroyed it.
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Then you have a bunch of little security robots swarming you while you attempt to maneuver into the proper position to destroy the camera. And you can't even run away because security robots will swarm all over the entire level until you destroy the camera that triggered the alarm. |
Eventually.
Really it would be far quicker to destroy the camera.
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If you manage to get past these parts without being blown to pieces you still have to monotonous chore of keycard hunting and weird puzzle solving. You will run around the level and walk into a room with a whole bunch of weird designs with absolutely no idea what you are supposed to do with them. So you basically have to solve a weird puzzle, get a keycard, open a door and then solve another weird puzzle to get another keycard to open another door. The worst part of it all is when you spent an hour on a level and get utterly destroyed by the end-level boss. If you die you have to do everything all over again, yes, everything. |
s**t, A CHALLENGE!
This isn't as bad as it sounds. Annoying, yes, but not as bad as it sounds. This isn't a shoe-in for "Until We Win" here.
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and the useless map on the HUD, that rotates all over the place every time you move which causes much confusion. |
Yeah, the rotating map was annoying.
I turned the rotation off in the option menu, though. Became far more useful.
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The only decent sounding weapon is the rechargeable laser, in spite of this fact however, it's the most useless weapon. |
Weakest, you mean. It's not the "most useless", though. As I mentioned earlier, it's semi infinite. It saves on ammo.
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The replay value in Epidemic is pretty bad, especially since you can only save in between levels. |
No replay value I could agree with. But are you complaining that you can only save in between levels? And are you saying the replay value is bad, partially because of the saving system?
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So you can spend an hour on a level just to die, and then you have to do every thing all over again. This will happen several times on the first level, |
I got lost on the first level, that much I'll admit. But die? Maybe on a bad day, but I didn't die until, like, level 4 or something.
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Epidemic is simply a showcase of how not to make a first person shooter and is not recommended in any way, shape, or form. |
No, that would be Kileak: The DNA Operative. Epidemic is that game's sequel.
So, in short, this game is actually pretty decent. Worth a try if you're bored enough. Certainly not a game that should get a 1 or 2 out of 10. At worst, a 4 or 5. But not a 1 or 2.
The reviews are full of BS and BS. Full of inability to play the game and failure to understand the concept of proper weapon management.
And at least it's loads better than Kileak, although that's not saying much.
