Ash follows on from the final section of Galerians; the initial game on the PSone. After a stereotypically poor Japanese dub, providing more confusion than enlightenment, the game’s plot-heavy introduction continues on to a Matrix-style ‘awakening’. The story isn’t very complex (but clearly draws upon superior works), and is set six years after the first game, in a world where humans are at war with the artificially created and psychic Galerians. Despite having plenty of firepower, the army are unable to fight off the Galerians, and the stronghold inhabited by the humans and the cryogenically frozen Rion are being overtaken. Whatever interest you may have in the plot from reading this synopsis will be sapped if you play the game. Cutscenes occur all too often, and are a mix of laughably bad voice acting, overly-complicated plot, and characters so wooden their acting wouldn’t look out of place on Hollyoaks.

Though the game fails to portray itself in a good light at the start, when you come to actually play it, things aren’t too bad. Though there are only a handful of different enemies, the combat system is intriguing enough. Ignoring the popular method of using guns or swords, Galerians: Ash instead opts for psychic attacks. Rion is, after all, .* Hold down a button to charge, and when the meter is full release to execute an attack. It’s a fairly basic affair. There are a number of different attacks to switch between, each having a different range and effect, but the basic idea is the same: charge an attack, release it on an enemy. There’s also a shield to be had, by holding down the R1 button, but most of the time you’ll either be charging an attack or dodging enemies to remember it or use it.

It’s not so much the actual attacks you can use, but the battling system itself which warrants at least some credit. Being a genetically-engineered super-man, Rion has all sorts of nasty unnatural chemicals flowing in his veins; thankfully some of which affect him propitiously. For example, the level of various drugs in Rion’s body allows him to use his attacks. Much like ammunition for guns in shooting games, the drugs in Rion’s body run out as he uses his psychic powers. To replenish the supply, he injects himself with more of these PPECs, as the game calls them. Very rarely will you run out of a supply for the basic attacks, but some of the more powerful moves picked up later in the game should be used sparingly. Also, using his psychic powers charges an AP meter. When full, he becomes invincible and can automatically destroy any enemies within close range. However, this saps Rion’s health, and if you’ve run out of AP-reducing items, Rion will eventually die.

Character improvement comes in the form of immediate stat upgrades; a much more favourable way than traditional RPG levelling-up. When enemies are defeated, they leave behind small objects. These raise Rion’s basic stats by a small amount - HP, AP, and PPEC levels. It’s a very direct way of Rion improving in proportion to how much he fights, and means each time you fight you really do come out with something to show for it.

Though the system of battling isn’t half bad, and could work well with a bit of polish and decent implementation, it goes to waste somewhat in Galerians: Ash. The few weaknesses there are really come through in the game. Charging attacks is a nuisance, since they can only be used at full charge. If you’re attacked while still charging, or stop charging half way through, it just gets wasted. When there are - and there often are - three or four enemies attacking you all at once, the frustration at being constantly interrupted is immense. In the original Galerians, you could have a half- or quarter-charged attack, and though compromising the attack power, it would still work. Sadly, this feature has been removed.

However, the worst thing of battling is the immense boredom it creates. When battling, it’s always against a group of identical enemies, which spawn over and over again until eventually they’ve all been despatched. With only three attacks at your disposal initially, it’s not hard to imagine how utterly tedious the game becomes. This is only furthered by the sections of the game which aren’t about fighting. For most of the time, it involves aimless wandering along look-alike corridors, solving terrible ‘puzzles’ clearly stolen from games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. “This door is locked. It needs a key to open” is a phrase seen far too often.

Galerians: Ash often confuses itself as to which genre it’s part of. The fighting system indicates a role-playing game, or an adventure game with RPG elements. The general atmosphere created by the (truly awful) music points towards a tense, survival-horror type game, but the level design and boring run-around gameplay suggest otherwise. Regardless of what genre it’s trying to work its way into, the game is blatant rip-off of more popular, dominant franchises.

The graphics aren’t necessarily bad, just complacent. The brown colour palette definitely does nothing for the visuals, but a nice frame-rate and decent effects make up for the lack of imagination. Though - on the whole - lacklustre, the battling effects get the job done, and once or twice something impressive might come along. Character models, too, aren’t bad up-close, though the animation is laughably stiff. It doesn’t do anything to detract from the game but, then again, it’s nothing to be proud of.

As per usual with many third-person games, Galerians: Ash is constantly plagued by camera troubles. Apparently, there are actually different camera modes, but the difference between them is so minute it makes absolutely nil difference. The game also implements a Zelda-style lock on with enemies, which is anything but useful. The camera actually switches to a view below the player, so you can only see a fraction of the screen. Since it’s rarely just one enemy you’re fighting, this means you can’t see the others and often get hit. It gets incredibly frustrating when you have to waste items to replenish health, when it was all down to camera troubles.

And though you should never judge a game on your initial impressions, in the case of Galerians: Ash they’re pretty much spot on. The game starts out at a low, and from there, if anything, it’s a downward spiral. Galerians: Ash is much shorter than the PSone original, and the replay value is absolute zero. Rest assured that, if you’re brave enough to tackle Galerians: Ash, you will most certainly not want to replay the game after completion. The vaguely interesting storyline fails miserably in hiding the undisputed fact that this game is hideously boring. It doesn't fail at everything, and in fact the game itself isn't awful - it's just so very boring. Suspense is attempted through a soundtrack of random clickings and low warblings; the gameplay consists of running back and forth collecting pointless objects, and the only horror you’ll experience is in finding that you’ve wasted £40 on a cure for insomnia. It’s that dull. Galerians: Ash is just one of those many games nobody really cares about, because it's just a wave in the flood of mediocre games today. Whether you’re a fan of the original or not, it's one to avoid.