Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Crusader: No Remorse PS1 review

I recently came across Crusader: No Remorse for PS1 and bought it because it was only a few bucks. I was going to get the Saturn port because it has a sweet big saturn case, but it was more expensive, and I could get a sharper picture from the PS1 version through an HDMI cable.

I've played Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret on my PC years back, so I'll just list some of the differences in this port from about 5 minutes of playing it:

- The game's resolution is 320x240 instead of the original's 640x480, so there is a lot less detail in everything.
- There are 5 setups for mapping the buttons to the controller. It really makes me wish there were at least two more buttons on the dualshock controller. It would have been a lot better if the game just let me assign buttons to commands myself instead of giving these premade setups.
- You can set the game to absolute movement instead of relative, which makes it so that you don't have to rotate your little man to change the direction he's facing.
- You run all the time and you cannot walk. Your weapon is always readied.
- You can roll forward.
- The automatic pistols have been removed from the game and you start with the first machine gun.
- According to the manual, there is no lasor pistol and no riot gun.
- There is a new weapon, the "Massdriver", which uses ammunition and energy.
- The shotgun does not fire more rapidly when you crouch.
- The HUD is more in the style of No Regret's HUD.
- The sprites are mirrored instead of having animations for facing left.
- When you hold down a shift button, and then left or right to roll or strafe, your little guy will keep strafing or rolling nonstop if you have the shift button pressed but stop pressing left or right.
- Some floors that used to be able to fall apart due to explosions are now solid floors.
- The music doesn't loop properly. And it seems to select a random track each time it is paused and then unpaused. It can play the final stage's music and the option screen's music during the first stage.
- Walls can be changed to transparent so you can see your little guy when you're behind them.
- Moving doesn't feel as precise as in the original version. It feels like the little guy slides around a bit.
- Because you cannot unready your weapon, there is no animation for the Silencer standing still with his arms at his sides. When you enter a health booth, he will not move to face outwards as his health recovers.
- You can see blood splatters from enemies as you shoot them.
- Robots are much more difficult to control because they can only walk in four directions now.

Note: I haven't played the original in years and I'm going by memory of what it was like.