3/14/2006: Saturn: Burning Rangers, Cyber Speedway, Pro Pinball

[VideoGameCritic]

Let your opinions be known.

[chrisbid1]

i thought pro pinball looked great, but the controls were terrible, there was a noticeable lag in the time you pressed a button and when the flipper did its job

[J.M. Vargas]

'Burning Rangers' was Sonic Team's last (and very rushed) attempt to do something with the Saturn hardware before moving on to making Dreamcast games (i.e. 'Sonic Adventure'), and it shows.  You criticize the poor graphics of the game (and rightly so) but didn't mention that there are floating platforms and/or floors (particularly against the first boss) that are just wireframes without any textures or solid look to them.  Because the game is kind-of set in the future the developers get away with such blatant unfinished code, but I think more should be made out of this in your review.  You should have also mentioned that this was released in early 1998 and was one of the last Saturn games released in the States (along with 'Panzer Dragoon Saga,' 'House of the Dead' and 'Shining Force III') except for the odd release of 'Magic Knight Rayearth' by Working Designs late the same year.

[J.M. Vargas]

One more thing about 'Burning Rangers.'  When it was previewed on game magazines at the time of its release Sonic Team programmers made it a point to say that this game was using a modified version of the 'NiGHTS... Intro Dreams' Saturn engine.  I think this is an interesting fact that should also be mentioned in your review.  OK, I'm done now.

[Segaguy]

Ah, I've been interested in Cyber Speedway for a while...too bad it isn't very good.

[Cafeman1]

Not much to say, I agree overall with the reviews. Cyber Speedway is very disappointing once you sit down with it, and the music doesn't fit at all. Eck. Play Wipeout instead.

 

Burning Rangers is an awesome game despite the visuals which crack the screen in two at times. I had been hoping for a more heroic tone and less fruity tone which is what we were given, but oh well.  I can't say I ever played a game quite like BR; I wish Sega would do an update to it, along with NiGHTS.  I love the bosses and the different types of fires.  The thing that bothered me the most, back in the day, was how anti-climactic it was to rescue each person. They say the stupidest things.  But you can find members of Sonic Team to rescue!

[emoney]

Burning rangers would look amazing if released on a current gen system. Sega should keep going with the current trend of compilation discs and realease some choice saturn games with cleaned up visuals. The saturn had several games that tried so hard to push the system to the limits and it did great but the limitations could not be denied. As you play these games it makes you happy and sad, happy that the saturn is playing such an ambitious game, yet sad the vision couldnt be completley acheived.