Iron Gaia: Virus

Griever plays is shocked and amazed by Iron Gaia: Virus:

Gameplay: 10/10

A complete lack of random battles, having to dodge enemies and security cameras, the ability to develop your character however you want, hacking and repair systems and well-balanced enemy encounters make the raw gameplay awesome.

The level design is also unbelievably good; a lot of the game is spent backtracking around different sections of the station and this works on a bunch of different levels, mostly in that it makes the setting seem much more realistic and also makes the game seem a lot less linear.

The fact that you only actually have three hours in which to complete the game brings together all the above factors by forcing you to have a sense of urgency about your actions. It works on the same level that the time-limits in the original Fallout game did, by forcing you to have more accountability for your actions than you would in your traditional role-playing game.

Overall, the gameplay features placed into IG:V are extremely well implemented and because of this it definitely deserves the perfect score present for this section.

Characters/Dialogue: 10/10

This game is absolutely chock-full of quirky, well-developed characters whose personalities make for great viewing; the desolate nature of the Iron Gaia station fits perfectly with the slightly insane characters that inhabit it. In fact, all of the main characters in this game are pretty damn memorable, although this is true for pretty much all of Max’s story-heavy games. The dialogue is just as memorable and well-written, so much so that every scene involving interaction between the inflated egos of the main character (Sigmus) and main antagonist (Dr. Cross) is simply amazing to watch. I didn't need any other reason to keep playing.

Storyline/Setting: 10/10

The storyline continues off from the end of the original Iron Gaia, although it doesn’t follow the story of the same characters. Instead, it picks up the story of Sigmus The Fallen (a character you occasionally saw in the original Iron Gaia) and his attempts to escape from the rapidly descending Iron Gaia station (hence the time-limit imposed on the gameplay). It is hard to go into detail without spoiling some of the more intricate pieces of the storyline, but the game again explores biblical concepts like godhood and angelic divinity, as well as exploring the concepts of evolution and “survival of the fittest”, and both of these are pulled off very well.

Also, Max isn't lying when he says this is a much more mature game than Iron Gaia. Some of the more childish things that occasionally popped up in the original game, such as slightly strange pop-culture references and needless elaboration, are pretty much absent.

Anyway, in short, the storyline is truly engrossing; the plaudits Max gains for his writing are well-deserved yet again.

Graphics/Mapping: 7/10

The graphical choices in this game are a lot better than the ones in the original Iron Gaia. The custom graphics used are really good, especially the character and in-battle graphics belonging to the main character, and everything else is well selected. For instance, most of the chipsets used are from the Chrono Trigger series and they fit really well with the style the game is trying to achieve – they work a lot better than the RTP “future” chipsets present in the original Iron Gaia, although these are sometimes still combined into the game – and everything generally fits together very well.

There are issues with some of the other graphical choices made, though. Monsters are fairly inconsistent with the style the rest of the game is going for and being able to summon a "Heartless" (of Kingdom Hearts fame) isn't all that cute. Some of the battle animations aren't great, either, and it is sometimes difficult to tell what status effect you are inflicted with from the animation alone.

As for the mapping, I was really impressed, especially considering who the developer is. There are rarely any tile-errors or misused chips, there aren’t any needlessly open spaces or lazy uses of winding pathways and the station actually seems more believable in terms of function this time around. This is probably due to Max focusing much harder on one area of the station in this game, whereas Iron Gaia focuses on a much wider scope.

The improvement upon the original Iron Gaia in both these aspects is glaringly obvious, and anyone who has played the original will spot the difference straight away. Also, as I already said, the level design is really good in this game, and none of the mapping or graphical choices manage to take anything away from this.

Music/Sounds: 7/10

Most of the musical choices in this game work really well, suitably achieving the tone needed for a game of this type. That’s really all I am looking for in a game and IG:V achieves it. I actually liked the fact you could choose the battle-music you wanted to use just because it helped take away the annoying repetition some games have when it comes to their battle music choices. Custom sounds, when used, work well, and the sound choices are generally good. I don’t have much to complain about in respect to this section, or much to say.

Overall: 9/10

I’ll be honest; I was blown away by this game. When I started it I expected the game to have the same sort of style as the original Iron Gaia and I got something completely different. The custom systems implemented differentiate this game from all the traditional role-playing games out there (and from the original Iron Gaia itself) and they also set this game aside from most games you’ll ever play in this community... The only “downside” being that you might need to play the original game to fully appreciate it.