Set some time in the 22nd century, society has been brought to the brink of collapse by endless corruption, economic failure and political strife.įrom the ashes of a succession of failed governments and broken nations rises the World Economic Consortium, commonly referred to as the WEC. Almost every box, barrel, or power generator can be blown to smithereens with a few well-placed shots, and it was even possible to knock certain items off tables and other surfaces it’s not a true physics system by any means, but it seemed incredibly cool at the time.Īs with so many of Origin’s games, the storyline and supporting fiction would be as important to creating an engaging experience as fancy graphics and explosions. While these versions do include a scrolling playfield, the lower screen resolution result in blurry, heavily aliased images that can’t hold a candle to the relative majesty of the PC version.Ĭomplimenting the state-of-the-art visuals was a level of interactivity and destruction in it’s level environments that was unprecedented at the time. In an interview with Retro Gamer Magazine (116), Zurovec himself concedes that the team had to remove scrolling from the game because no PC was capable of delivering a smooth enough framerate at such a high resolution.Īny doubts regarding this trade-off quickly evaporate when you compare the relative ugliness of the PS1 and Saturn ports. Unfortunately, this decision came with one major drawback. The fidelity offered by this many pixels meant that game’s visuals could be rendered in very high detail, creating a sense of realism unlike anything else at the time. If you've got the time to learn, and the desire to destroy, Crusader contains more than enough action and explosions to satisfy.One of the most advanced aspects of the game was the decision to target a screen resolution of resolution of 640×480 with 256 colours. That reason alone is why Crusader didn't end up in my circular file. In the end, the game's control problems can be overcome by those patient enough to master them. Even more impressive is the game's sound, which delivers a thumping techno soundtrack crisply enough to bring a tear to the eye of any rave fanatic. Although the acting often leaves a lot to be desired, each of these distractions look absolutely great. On the positive side, the Saturn does a fantastic job of delivering the cutscenes. The end result looked a lot like a drunken Barney Fife finally given a chance to cut loose on Mayberry's criminal element. Aside from his lemming-like attraction to water, my Silencer also spent most of the game walking with an unsteady gait as I tried desperately to keep him facing the right direction while simultaneously drilling guards. I just never could seem to turn in time before getting waxed). And perhaps more importantly, controlling Silencer as he jaunts around the bases can be irritating at best (in my saved games there's about 400 red suited - and dead - heroes at the bottom of a pond. Graphics are grainy and dull when compared to the slick and shiny renderings of the original. Unfortunately, not all the power of this destructive experience has made it through the translation from PC to the Saturn. No more running around inside a Rubbermaid house firing powerful weapons with abandon - squeezing off a volley of shots here shatters glass, blows up chemical tanks, and turns a previously helpful computer terminal into an oddly shaped ashtray. And this is Crusader's greatest strength - just about every item on screen can be destroyed. Crusader is displayed in a surprisingly intuitive three-quarters view (as seen in Populous or Syndicate), and is filled with loads of lovely items that explode into tiny, tiny pieces with a spray from Silencer's always handy weapon. Infiltrating one of the Economic Consortium's (our hero's old boss) largest scientific bases, the Crusader (aka the Silencer), must run from level to level grabbing keycards, killing guards, and avoiding traps - all while keeping a positive mental attitude (actually I just made that last bit up - players in a really bad mood will probably experience more success during the game). Crusader tells the story of a trained killer whose conscience has finally driven him to join the same group of rebels he once capped for a living. Origin's newest Saturn release, Crusader: No Remorse, falls somewhere in between these two categories.įor you console purists out there, here's a little background info. Unfortunately, for every addictive port that hits the shelves (Command & Conquer, Myst, and Sim City 2000 to name a few), there's an equal number of games that just don't retain some aspect of the original makeup that made it so great in the first place. A lot of games have been making the move from PC to console lately, and for the most part, that's a good thing.
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