Criticom

Description

Criticom is a fighting game released for the SEGA Saturn in 1997 that attempted to break into the fairly crowded field of 1990s-era fighting games. Players find themselves in a dystopian world where several warriors from different galaxies compete for a powerful artifact known as "Relic". Although the premise sounds appealing and attempts to inject some freshness into a genre that was already well established at the time, Criticom unfortunately runs into a few major problems that prevent it from moving into the premier league of fighting games.

Graphically, the game on SATURN sticks to the standard of its time, using three-dimensional character models and arenas. However, the textures are often rough and the characters suffer from polygon flaws, spoiling the overall visual impression. The animations are somewhat wooden and lack the fluidity that players would expect from a fighting game released in these years. In other words, the game doesn't look bad, but alongside other titles of its era, such as Virtua Fighter 2 or Tekken, it falls significantly short.

Unfortunately, gameplay is another area where Criticom fails all the way. The controls are often unintuitive and the combat mechanics aren't polished enough to offer the depth or strategic complexity that fighting gamers are looking for. The game lacks fluidity and reaction times are often frustratingly slow, leading to an unpleasant gameplay experience. Attack combinations are limited and become monotonous over time, greatly affecting the replay value of the game.

The sound design fares slightly better - the combat sounds, background music and character dubbing are passable, but don't stand out in any way. The soundtrack is mediocre at best and fails to distinguish itself enough to make a lasting impression on the player. In other words, Criticom's sound experience doesn't offend, but it doesn't impress either.

The interesting story framework featuring various characters from across the galaxy is certainly original, but the game fails to fully exploit this potential. The story lines of the individual characters are not developed enough and lack the emotional charge to keep the player engaged.

All in all, Criticom is a game that had ambitions to become a significant title in the fighting game genre for the SEGA Saturn, but unfortunately it fell short on a few key fronts. While its graphics and sound aren't downright bad, the unintuitive controls, underdeveloped combat mechanics and superficial story lead to the game failing to engage either hardcore fighting game fans or the wider audience. Criticom thus remains more of an interesting but not entirely successful curiosity in the SEGA Saturn's game library.