The Crow: City of Angels (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Acclaim's 1997 3D beat 'em up for the Sony PlayStation, The Crow: City of Angels.

Played through on difficulty level 1.

As Biff Tannen would likely say if he ever had a PlayStation and this game, I quote, "I. Hate. MANURE!"

As much as I've always tried to like this game - the beat 'em up genre suffered a pretty harsh drought on 32-bit systems compared to the glut that appeared on 16-bit consoles - I can't find it within myself to be terribly forgiving with this one.

Before even considering the game itself though, why would anyone make a game out of this movie? The Crow was awesome, sure. It's sequel? Well, there's a good reason why it's largely forgotten. It a lame cash-in that you'll forget within five minutes of finishing it. So, what happens? Acclaim, of course. They step in with a sack with dollar signs on it to obtain the rights and subsequently unleash an unholy tempest of ass on the poor gamin public.

Let me start on the most positive note that I can. Check out 1:00:05. Ashe picks up a dominatrix, by the boobs, and flings her across the room. It's ridiculously awesome. Moving along...

For what it's worth, this was done by Grey Matter. Yes, the same developer as did stuff for the NES. It was based on the same engine that they developed Perfect Weapon with (released the year before). Because you created a broken mess of a game once, you might as well reuse the same pieces an hope for a better result, right? Well, that somehow happened to The Crow: City of Angels. It's difficult to imagine how anyone thought anything good could come from this.

It's downright ugly to begin with. The 3D models look alright for its age when they're very close to the screen, but 90% of the time you can't tell what direction your facing because the camera angles are constantly putting you so far from the action that everything becomes tiny, unrecognizable blobs at this resolution (350x240, iirc? Pretty standard for PS1). the prerendered CG backdrops are extremely garish (which I usually like), but they are entirely too dark and they look like they absolutely tortured with terrible compression routines. This was the PS1 for crying out loud - why is there so much dithering? Super Mario RPG and Donkey Kong Country looked substantially better eunning on 16-bit systems' cartridges! Finally, the camera angles seem purposely designed to block your view of EVERYTHING that can kill you. Sometimes you'll enter a room only to be staring at a wall, and out of nowhere you'll explode and get a game over - all because the enemies were placed outside of the framed shot, and because whether you can see them or not, they will attack mercilessly.

That is why I'm playing on easy. I was originally going to go on normal, but I got tired of the game over screen from explosions taking me out without warning. No matter how good your reflexes, you'll have no chance to anticipate and possibly avoid damage like this unless you've memorized the enemy placements. The lower difficulty does at least allow you to survive some hits as long as you are blocking.

The music is alright - certainly the best part of the game, and the voice acting is completely laughable. Flowers for the dead, señor?

And the final nail in the coffin, so to speak: the controls are a broken mess, and would be bad enough already if not compounded by the visuals. But, when you wildly mash at buttons just to miss your target when the attack actually works... well, as you can imagine, it's not fun. There is a subtle rhythm to it and you can eventually learn the timing, but unless you manage to line up your character with your target consistently (quite a feat in itself), you'll usually just whiff the attacks and get your head caved in.

I always to try to find some redeeming quality in games, no matter how poorly made they might be, but this goes beyond my tolerance. It's certainly amusing to watch, but I wouldn't seek it out. I only played it because i was determined to find good in it, and as I'm sure you've been able to tell, I utterly failed. Like this game.
_____
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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