Bastard!! (PlayStation)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.1 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Greg Kasavin
• Reviewed on: 05/06/1997
• Updated on: 04/28/2000
• Released on: 12/28/1996
• Originally published on GameSpot: Bastard!! (PlayStation) Review

It's a safe bet that Bastard!!, based on the manga by Jump Comics, won't be made available in the United States anytime soon - or anytime at all - except as an import. Set in a future where technology is all but extinct, Bastard!! relates the tale of the chaotic, hedonistic warlock Dark Schneider (or DS for short) in his quest to slap some sense into his former companions. It's mature stuff, chock-full of violence and tear-away clothing, and it's now the premise of a PlayStation role-playing game. With its hideous 3-D engine and screens upon screens of non-interactive Japanese text, Bastard!! doesn't exactly scream mass appeal.

The story unfolds through an attractive animated sequence that fails to establish any sense of plot or character. Bastard!! assumes you are already familiar with the setting, and if you're not you'll have a difficult time getting up to speed. After trucking through several pages of Japanese text, you find yourself staring at a gnarly landscape that is insultingly bad compared to the PlayStation norm. Unrealistic movement and a bogged-down frame rate (that falls to 10 FPS at times), coupled with drab texture maps and an overall lack of anything interesting to look at, make this one of the most unpleasant 3-D engines the PlayStation's ever had the misfortune of hosting. Fortunately, when you're not being tortured by the 3-D, you'll be treated to scanned static images both from the pages of the graphic novels and some original art. There's next to no animation to be found in the game proper - just about every character you'll encounter in the game is represented only by his shouting mug shot. So between the 3-D and the stills, you're left with a strange mix of visuals that's obtrusive at first, but somehow grows on you after a while.

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