Crusader: No Remorse - Review

Author: Nanaki_Xii Date: May 13 2005 - 15:54 Score: 60 points

I remember seeing this game in the stores when it was released. My fingers gently crept over the back as I stared at the beautiful pictures that lay on the back, I remember thinking "Are games supposed to look this good?" I ran with the box, over to my dad, and begged him for my wallet, his eyes averted to the rating. I never got the game. For good reasons, Crusader has been considered a extremely violent game, not in that you could mow every single enemy down with the result of their blood pooling on the floor, but because you could slaughter innocent factory workers, and destroy the surrounding environment with reckless abandon. Crusader was a generic action shooter, but after playing it for awhile - 7 years after I first lay eyes on it - I found it to be a fun entertaining joy ride.

Look at the release date, look at the screenshots. You cannot deny it's simply gorgeous for it's age. This was back in the day when pixelation was still a major eyesore. Every piece of machinery you fill with bullets explode with a grand pyromania display. Everything is well animated and detailed, even watching the sparkly lights as you teleport to another killing ground is amazing. Everything is animated with life-like similarities, this is only flawed by the "hexagon" type grid movement the game contains. Simply gorgeous, if you're looking for pretty people dying with pretty affects, you won't be disappointed.

Sound is another plus for this game. A well composed techno/rock soundtrack fits perfectly with the destruction that ensues. Enemies wail and scream as they fall, civilians cower in fear, explosions rock the building and create a slow rumbling, and the pretty gun affects have an equally pretty boom. Not only is sound a great supplement, it's a necessary asset to your arsenal. Certain objects are difficult to see in the environment, especially the loathed camera-automatic-weapon combos that hide in the most clever corners. Listening carefully will give away the slow buzz the camera makes as it rotates, so you can remove it as quickly as possible. The only annoyances that I suffered was with the soundtrack, it does get very stale, and you'll be switching it off half-way through your massacre.

Probably the least fascinating aspect of Crusader is it's game play. Although it isn't bad, or even average, if only the developers had added a more refined and interesting experience this game could've made history. As you start out, you're armed with a single weapon, killing various guards and bots will drop ammo, and sometimes - rarely - other weapons. Crusader is a pure shooter, nearly everything you see can be destroyed, barrels, generators, phones, chairs, desks, it does provide a fun diversion if you want to take a break from the average guard. But that's where it draws short, you do this through the whole game, shoot to kill. You'll be hearing enemies scream at every corner, civilians moan and beg each second. Despite that, you will have a nice variety of enemies to indiscriminately mutilate. If you're looking for a big-gun-go-bang experience, you can't find anything better, or more fun.

Even if what I've said sounds a little negative, don't pass up Crusader, truly revolutionary in it's own way, yet never recognized as it should have been. It's a short fun ride that'll take you to some of the most brutal gunplay you might've ever experience in a video game, but it certainly won't satiate the thinking

	Title / Type	Submitter	Date
	Review	GDJ	Jun 05 2006
	Review	Nanaki_Xii	May 13 2005

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