Developer: Visual Concepts Publisher: ASC Games Release: 11/30/97 Genre: Action
Many genres in the 32-bit era went through a terrible birthing process, for lack of a better term. While platformers, shooters, and action games were near perfect in 2d translating that into 3d was a different beast. Many action games were released in that 5 year period but for the most part the majority suffered from crippling flaws that ruin the action. One such game that still holds up today is One, a little known gem from Visual Concepts before Sega would snap them up. Although One has its share of problems it is one of the few that were able to overcome them and remains enjoyable today provided you can stomach a some frustration.
You wake up on the floor of an apartment building with no idea who you are. The only clue to your identity is a bar code on your neck. Worse, your arm has been replaced with a high tech prosthetic and the police are after you with guns blazing. It is in this action heavy environment that One begins. It hits the ground running and only lets up for brief periods and uses its premise as a suitable excuse to tear shit up.
The main focus of the gameplay is rage. Your “life bar” refills and expands as it builds and your attack power increases accordingly. Rage builds up by destroying enemies in rapid succession, breaking objects in the environment and collecting the occasional power-up. It is a simple idea that they implement beautifully. While you may become Superman all it takes is a few too many hits to bring you back to Earth. A better analogy, it is like going from He-Man to Adam in a few seconds.
While your arm cannon is enough to take out most foes melee attacks are just as effective. There are a few secondary weapons such as homing missiles and bombs but they are rare and not worth mentioning. They handle Rage well as there are always barrels, crates and other destructible objects lying around. It does not slow the action down too much and serves as a welcome breather when necessary. What does however is the presence of platforming, which has its own issues I will get to.
If Contra III is an action movie in game form One is the equivalent of a 3d summer blockbuster. Once the game starts it does not let up as you are go from one set piece to the next. Seeing a helicopter pepper the hallway as you make a mad dash to escape is simply awesome and ends in a battle against said vehicle. The rooftop chase sequence is heightened by the radio chatter from enemies as you show them why you are angry. The monorails and train of later levels evoke many a cinema classic. I have to give the designers credit, the scenario design for such an early 3d action is exceptional. Even the boss battles are cool even though one or two are unintuitive.
When it works and is firing on all cylinders One is exceptional. But that is the problem; when it all works. The main problems stem from the camera. For the most part the camera is static and offers the best view available and works. But that 20% of the time where you want or need to manipulate it, no dice. This is problematic for the abundance of platforming segments in most levels. This is also where most of the cheap deaths occur. One can be a challenging game at times and does not benefit from the artificial difficulty from the camera.
Toward the second half of the game the platforming ratchets up heavily and is positively nightmarish in conjunction with the camera problems. The fifth level especially is near unplayable due to the camera problems. The strict time limit to destroy the cores that dot the level does not help either. I seriously doubt many will have the fortitude to see it through to the end. Which is god damn shame because when One is firing on all cylinders it is fantastic.
From the over the top lighting effects to the massive bosses One was a technical marvel in 1997. Titles such as Colony Wars and Crash Bandicoot 2 were pushing the envelope of lighting effects that year. One crushes those two games in that regard. The frame rate stays high for the most part with little slowdown. Most importantly the screen tearing that plagues many PlayStation games is absent. The asynchronous loading does its job and masks load times. You have to remember, in the early years of CD gaming load times were a bitch. Considering everything else the game has going for it is a miracle that it works. For such an understated release One is amazing technically.
In Closing
One is a good game with a few rough spots. If the camera and control issues were better One could have been one of the PlayStation’s best action games. As it is it has to settle for being just plain good.
