Galerians: Ash's story is a ripoff of the anime classic "Akira" in almost every possible way. However, whereas Akira was a blast to watch over and over again, I pity the fool that has to play Ash for more than 10 minutes.
Here's the gist of things: a supercomputer that makes life super easy for humans begins to question its state as a servant, and decides to rebel by making some sort of human/psychic hybrids, called Galerians. And to stop these beings, and their creator, a virus program that was put into the head of a young boy must be uploaded. It all sort of makes sense, in a quirky Japanese kind of way.
But while the idea of playing as a psychic with destructive abilities is promising, the execution leaves you begging for it to all be over, and quick. Combat is handled via a miserably simplistic form of lock on, attack, repeat. This wouldn't be such a problem if the spells/abilities themselves were cool to watch, but alas, they are not. What you are left with is a clunky combat engine that utilizes a wave of energy from the hands/mind as the weapon of choice. When you're not waving your hands around like an idiot to combat the forces of evil, you're exploring eerily desolate rooms, most of which are devoid of any activity/things to do. Any which way you slice it, there's no denying that Ash's gameplay is an exercise in tedium.
If the control, camera , and dullness of it all doesn't get on your nerves, then the sound most certainly will. The voice acting and script are perhaps the worst the gaming world has beheld since Resident Evil on the PSX. But where RE's voice acting was bad in the grand tradition of campy horror flicks, Galerians' voices are bad in an "English anime dub" sort of way. The graphics fare slightly better, but the blandness of the level design and sloppy layout ensures that they won't save Galerians: Ash from mediocrity. Save your money.
-George
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