Review:
Ehrgeiz
is a 3D fighting game made with a joint effort from Squaresoft and DreamFactory,
a subdivision of Namco. The game features free 3D movement inside of closed-in
3D environments which vary in elevation and some featuring interactive
objects. Ehrgeiz's free-roaming 3D engine
borrows concepts from wrestling games and Dream Factory's own Tobal
series, giving the game a unique look and feel among 3D fighters at the time.
Godhand... the forgotten
Mishima.
The
gameplay engine is rather simple, which is a good thing in some ways but
may also be a bad thing to the gamers looking for a bit more technicality in
their 3D fighter. Basically, there's a high attack, mid attack, low attack,
special attack, a targeting button, and a jump button. There are also combined
button commands for other special move variations. The system works pretty
well and has some oomph, but lacks lasting appeal.
Graphically, Ehrgeiz was a
good looking PS1 game. Character models and environments where on the blocky
side (though were considerably better rendered than some other well known
PS1 character models); but the frame-rate, resolution, and textures at the time were actually
impressive for the time. Most importantly, the game had style and didn't
look like anything else out there when it launched.
Bustaaah Wolf!!!
Ehrgeiz was a decent arcade
fighting game, but felt like it was missing something... thus, the Playstation
version was a much more complete game, adding new characters, tweaked gameplay, and also
included an interesting Quest/RPG Mode (similar to Tobal 1 & 2's). The RPG mode
features a "Hack and Slash" style action-RPG which begins in a dungeon
in a parallel universe, and later moves to a nearby inn. The player can explore
the town and enter the dungeon, which contains randomly generated maps, in
search of artifacts and power-ups... it's pretty addicting the first time
through, though it lacks a real story. The mini game mode is also entertaining for
a while, including track & field events, as well as aversion of the
board game Othello. The extra modes add a lot of personality and replayability
to the home version.
Ehrgeiz was a unique, and in my opinion, a particularly immersive fighting game from Square. The free-roaming
aspect of the game isn't exactly as "free" as
it sounds, since all the arenas are quite closed in. Still, the various arenas do the gameplay justice,
and it's pretty cool fighting on multiple elevations.
No, Ehrgeiz didn't
have the greatest gameplay we've ever seen in a 3D fighting game (or
even come close); but the
cool characters, the extra long intro, and the sweet bonus modes in the
home version really did make up for it.
The fact that Final Fantasy VII characters were playable definitely added
some hype to the game. For
any sort of FF VII fan, it was surely epic at the time to see FFVII's
well-known characters cross-over into a fighting game. The Ehrgeiz exclusive characters aren't
half bad, but could've been a lot better at the same time. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG
.
), Square Electronic Arts
(
),
Square Enix (PSN)
PS1), July 9th 2008 (
