Psychic Force 2012

PSYCHIC FORCE 2012
Copyright © Taito / Acclaim
Sega Dreamcast, 1 or 2 players
Fighting
Available now in the USA
$39.95
Where to buy
FAQ

—by Charles McCarter

You may not have heard of it, but PSYCHIC FORCE 2012, one of the new fighting games for the Dreamcast, is one of the few anime-based games that has been ported over for a U.S. release on that system. If they made a video game out of CLAMP's X, it would almost certainly be exactly like PSYCHIC FORCE 2012. In fact, the first time I saw it, I didn't know what it was called and I will always remember it as "X: The Video Game."
One of the most recent crop of fighters for the Sega Dreamcast, PSYCHIC FORCE 2012 is based on the little-known anime of the same name (which was in turn based on a previous video game...) There are ten character to select as you use fists, feet, and psychic powers to battle your way to victory. Each character has a different psi power ranging from some of the more predictable (fire, water) to the more obscure (darkness power, light, sound).
You fight in an enclosure that's almost exactly like the energy fields that appear in X. And you fly around and use your psychic powers and regular old punches and kicks to beat the stuffing out of your opponent. That's pretty much all there is to it.
The game is very nicely made, and looks very beautiful. And special moves and power displays are fun to do and great to watch, so it's a good-looking game. And the music suits the game well, and does not become overly repetitious.
The game play is very simple. There's one button for weak attack (punch), one for strong attack (kick), one for psychic attack, and one for guard. These buttons when used in various combinations combined with the familiar d-pad movements result in a wide variety of special psychic attacks when characters are relatively far apart. However, when the fighting is up close and personal, it's purely punch and kick with a throw added in. So the close-quarters fighting, while important to the game, is not really very complicated to master.
Of course, there are other elements of gameplay as well. The psychic meter is finite, and must be recharged after use. To do this, players hold down two of the buttons, but while the meter recharges, the character is defenseless, so you'd best only try this when you're safe. In addition, the psychic meter increases as your life decreases, so when you're close to death, it is possible to have a psychic meter of nearly 200%. This is important because each special psychic move requires a certain amount of power, and finishing moves often require the psychic meter guage to be 80-90% full.
The characters are individuals, and don't all look like clones of one another with different haircuts and outfits. And while there are, of course, cute girls, there are also old Chinese men, mechanized cyborgs, and even an angel. Again, PSYCHIC FORCE seems to bear more than a passing resemblance to X.
The game itself is not that difficult to beat, even on hard, and the story mode, while entertaining, really isn't that original either. However, when you have a second player to fight with, the game becomes a lot more fun (as is usually the case with these games).
One of the drawbacks of this game is the camera, which will pull back from time to time when characters get rather far apart on the playing field. When this happens, it's really hard to tell what's going on, and about the only recourse is for the two characters to move closer together. Also, at times, the camera doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the action on the screen, so while you're getting pummeled, all you see is a close up of the other character's arm or fist. Hard to figure out an escape plan then.
There are hidden characters in this game as well. Keith and Burn, two of the main characters from the last PSYCHIC FORCE, are available if you defeat the arcade and story mode with all of the characters. In addition, another secret character is available as well.
PSYCHIC FORCE 2012 is a fun game, but certainly not the most original game released for the Dreamcast. While it may be less innovative than SOUL CALIBUR or even POWERSTONE, fans of fighting games will find themselves testing themselves to see whose psychic abilities are supreme.

Rating: 7.25/10