1999 Konami - Konami - N64
Hybrid Heaven is one of the few games for the Nintendo 64 that I actually liked. You are a member of a government agency (the secret service I believe), and things are going wrong. People are acting weird. Unfortunately, you can't beat evil to the punch; the game begins with you being abducted and replaced with an alien clone.
Your goal in the game is to escape from your underground prison, then to prevent the aliens from conquering the world.
This is by no means an entertaining plot. It is a cheesy sci-fi movie plot. Not cheesy in the good sense like Star Trek, but cheesy in the bad sense like Plan 9 From Outer Space. I'm not one to dock points for a lack of originality, but it has to at least be mentioned.
To get the meaningless tripe out of the way, the graphics are pretty good. Nothing is too blocky, but nothing is very smooth at all. The sound effects and music are, well, sub-average. I can't say I liked them at all. They're not memorable in the least.
The gameplay is very original. Outside of battle, you run around in a Tomb Raider-like fashion, jumping over platforms and solving puzzles. When you meet an enemy, you go into battle mode.
The battle mode is a little slow, but easily the greatest thing about this game. You face your opponent at all times in a sort of 'duel'. When you get the chance, you attack. You can punch, kick, or throw the enemy, and the number of attacks you get is astounding. The best way to describe this is a slower-paced wrestling game engine was changed around a bit. You get different moves depending on your distance and position in relation to the enemy, and the moves are all very cool. There are all sorts of bodyslams and wrestling holds that, put simply, impressed me quite a bit. Besides being original (for an RPG), they were well-designed and entertaining.
Hybrid Heaven does have its flaws. The overall pace of the game is pretty slow, there is a serious lack of medicinal items, and the lack of random battles gets annoying in the beginning, because it leads you to believe you don't have to 'level up'.
All in all, this is a solid game and a good buy for anyone looking for a slightly flawed alternative to the regular RPG.
7/10
//Paragon
