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As the sequel to the so-bad-it-was-good Playstation game Psychic Force, I wasn’t expecting much outta this one. And, lo and behold, that’s exactly what I got. Before I get too annoyed, let’s get to it…

Visuals:: Actually, the game doesn’t look half bad. All of the characters are well modeled and animated, and are in high-res. The designs themselves are pretty good, as well, with a very distinct anime style to them. From the hulking cyborg Gates, to the cute Wendy and the funky monk-lookin’ dude Genshin, each of the baker’s dozen of fighters is all-around pretty cool. All in all, it’s a pretty well-rounded, if not hefty, roster.

The same can’t really be said for the backgrounds, though. They’re pretty muddy-looking, and aren’t terribly detailed. You have the usual suspects – a cityscape, a fiery stage, etc. – but none of them look very exceptional. With so much attention obviously paid to the characters, it seems these flat, lifeless backgrounds were somewhat neglected. For what it’s worth, the endings are pretty cool, I guess.

Audio:: There are some pretty generic-sounding fighting game music and sound effects going on here. Basically, they don’t get on your nerves too much, but you wouldn’t want to buy the soundtrack, either.

The voice work is pretty good, though. As opposed to the PSX Psychic Force (in which all of the characters had hilariously bad English dubs), all of the dialogue is in its original Japanese form. Since it seems that Japan has the market cornered on talented voice actors, this is definitely a good thing. Even the subtitles are pretty well done.

Gameplay/Control:: Here’s where the other shoe falls. You see, this is about as close as we’re gonna get to a Dragon Ball game over here. And, if you have ever played any of the Dragon Ball abominations, you know that this is most definitely not a compliment. Basically, the gist of the game is to chuck projectile attacks back and forth until someone loses. Sure, there are some short-range attacks, but only the computer is stupid enough to let anyone get close enough to use them. Also, the fighters are relegated to floating around in a transparent box, and although the game is presented in 3-D, the gameplay is 2-D all the way.

The control itself is broken into strong and weak attacks, along with the expected guard and dash commands. Depending on your vicinity to an enemy, the strong and weak attacks will execute either hand-to-hand or projectile techniques. However, with just two buttons, you wouldn’t expect there to be much depth. And, you’d be right. There are very, very few combos in the game, resulting in gameplay more shallow than the gene pool these days. It basically comes down to whoever can throw fireballs faster wins. Whee!

There are a couple of control features that keep it from being a complete disaster, though. First, you can allocate some of your psychic meter to erect a forcefield around your character, which blocks attacks that a normal guard may not. You can also try to take a break from the action and “charge” for a bit, thereby regaining some of your psychic gauge. In a somewhat innovative move, Taito has also made the life and special attack (psychic) meters into one gauge. So, as your life meter gets depleted, your psychic meter increases in size, in effect keeping the losing player in the game. That feature alone impressed me, and I’m surprised that we haven’t seen more of that type of thing in fighting games.

Extras:: Not much. I don’t know of any unlockable characters or stages, so that kinda hurts the replay value. There are a few different modes on hand. You have the standard arcade mode, as well as a story mode, which is about as easy to follow as the one in Dead or Alive 2. There is also a training mode, but there isn’t much to it. There is, however, a two-player versus the computer mode (kinda like Street Fighter Alpha 3) that is somewhat interesting.

Overall:: This, my friends, is a textbook example of an average game. The visuals are okay, but not great, and the same goes for the sound. And, the gameplay is shallow in the extreme. Sure, you can pick it up for a bargain price, but still, only Dragon Ball nuts and Dreamcast completists need apply.