Play:
Galerians makes use of the infamous Resident Evil control scheme, and it uses prerendered backgrounds. It takes a half-second or so to load the different camera angles, and it's not hard to get thrown into another view by an enemy and loose your character completely. Sometimes it's better just to run away. Yep, typical RE1 type problems. However, the basic battle strategy is different because you have to power up every attack. Establishing a safe window to power up is essential, be it by getting distance between Rion and the enemy, taking advantage of the enemy's attack pattern, or sneaking up on them. Rion is at a distinct disadvantage against pairs or groups of enemies. His normal attacks are single target, and the targeting system chooses its subject automatically, making it near impossible to get the other enemies before they break your rhythm.

Good things about the play mechanics in Galerians - the meter juggling. There are three meters that must be regulated by the drugs Rion collects - one that counts down hit points to Game Over, one that counts down psychic powers to being amunitionless, and one that adds up anger to shorting. Ahh, shorting - this is the best thing about Galerians combat - a condition in which Rion loses all control of his psychic powers and gains the ability to pulverize almost any opponent in the game. As a gruesome bonus, he routinely explodes enemy heads like overripe melons while in short. Shorts are things to save and take full advantage of, but they must be closely monitored, because a short can kill Rion just as surely as it kills the baddies. Oddly, the short meter fills as Rion walks around rather than in combat, and tends to max out when no enemies are nearby. Fortunately, shorts are triggered by attempts to use psychic attacks, so they can be saved up for the next encounter.

Audio/Visual:
Graphically and aurally, Galerians is sparse, sterile and bleak, as well it should be, but the graphics have considerably more variety than the sound. It favors shades of grey and brown and varies from sharp-edged, lifeless, futuristic decor to seedy, rundown buildings that could exist today. All of them are nicely rendered but sparse on detail, and occasionally the camera angles have aesthetics rather than playability in mind. The in-game character models are decent as far as in-game models go, but the FMV models could've been much better. Their seam points are obvious, their movements are stiff, and they have a lack of anatomical detail characteristic of CG that's older than these actually are. But their basic designs are really cool, and the appeal of the cinematography compensates for some of that.

There is little to say about the sound. It's usually there, but only barely - a few snatches of a tune on continuous loop, or some sort of background noise. Nothing very stimulating, but good for the subtle creep-out factor. The intro, however, is very nice. I can't think of anything good to say about the acting, it's just your typical crappy dub. It makes me pine for the original cast, and knowing how good some of the Japanese actors involved in Galerians are, it only makes the dub sound worse.

Galerians is one of those games that immerses the player in ambience. It presents the player a mod/art deco-styled world to explore, full of objects both mundane and mysterious to puzzle over. It makes you wonder, how did this frightening future come to exist? How does Michelangelo City fit into the rest of the world? Unfortunately, Galerians' scope is rather narrow, and reveals secrets on a need-to-know basis. The only facts it tells are tied into the mystery of the hero's identity. It doesn't need anything else - that's plenty on it's own.