FUTURE FIGHTER... AY DASH THIRTY-SEVEN STREGA... anyone who actually
browsed through the demo disc that came with the first generation of
playstations certainly remembers philosoma's cinematic teaser.  quick,
hard to see blips of the game complete with hokey voice-over, it looked
like another attempt to spice up a boring game idea with some cool
(looking) cinemas--yet it maintained an air of mystery.  something about
the preview stuck with me, and i couldn't help but pick it up.
 
in numbers:
 
ORIGINALITY - 9 - i am pleasantly surprised--not only are there many
different shooter styles used throughout the game, they change
constantly!  i was under the impression that the whole of any one board
would be played from, for example, an overhead view.  not so; the
perspective shifts constantly, generally before you've had a chance to
get comfortable with the view.  this keeps you off your balance--which
keeps the gameplay fresh.  it is because of this constant shift that the
patterns of enemy attack are much harder to remember, so you'll have to
rely on pure playing skill to win, instead of reciting the strategy you
used last time through the board.  also note that your ship has a
shield, so you don't lose all your power when you get shot once; in
addition, only the weapon you were using when you were shot down is
returned to its weakest stage.
 
CONTROL - 8 - my single biggest complaint about the control is that, to
switch between any of the four weapon systems your ship carries, you use
a heirarchical scrolling system.  i.e., first vulcan, then laser, then
charge-up, then rear shot.  jumping to charge-up from the vulcan is more
difficult than it needs to be (a small complaint; the vulcan kicks ass
better anyways... ).
 
GRAPHICS - 10 - absolutely stunning.  not even including the cinemas,
the graphics in this game are very, very sharp.  the explosions actually
have some remnants of black garbage that blocks your view, making it
difficult to follow the action when there's tons of carnage going on.
though some will find this highly irritating (myself not excluded, at
times), i think it adds a very nice level of realism.  the frequent use
of brief hi-res intermissions is well-coordinated.
 
ANIMATION - 8 - your ship moves with wonderful fluidity.  enemy ships
can, however, be a little stilted here and there.
 
SOUND FX - 10 - very cool explosions, and the constant communication
from your squadron only helps the "wow, i'm playing a movie" feel.
 
MUSIC - 10 - very ominous stuff, it coordinates well with the sound and
graphics to complete the very theatrical mood the game generates.

in practice:
 
on the M.A.R.C.H. scale (of IGNORE IT, RENT IT, or BUY IT)...
 
PHILOSOMA
SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT
 
BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT
 
if any game will convince you to like the shooting spaceship genre of
video gaming, this is it.  not only does it offer just about every
viewpoint ever seen, it also throws in some neat variations--such as
seeing the action from below your ship in the "overhead" view, or seeing
the front of your ship come rocketing towards you as you use the rear
cannon to fend off bogies behind you.  in addition, the cinemas are far
and away the best i've seen... truly an earth-shaking display of next
generation power (good thing they did away with the william shatner
wanna-be voice-over man from the demo disc preview!).  all in all, this
game combines both great cinema sequences (which suffer from a minimum
of cheese) with extremely high-paced shooting action to become what a
"next generation" game really ought to be... a step forward.