Looking for info on Psychic Storm and Fray

[Joe Redifer]

I have a friend who lives in another state and is offering to sell me the following games:

-Psychic Storm - $25

-Fray: In Magical Adventure - $50

I know they are in good condition.  But what I am wondering is if there are any opinions about these two games or if there are any screenshots anywhere that anyone knows of.  I am always interested in expanding my PCE collection, but I don't want to add any duds or pay too much.  Speaking of which, are those prices decent?

[Keranu]

Hmm, I don't know how much those games are usually suppose to cost, but $25 seems incredibly cheap since I think I've seen it go for around $60-90 and I have no idea how much Fray is suppose to cost, so I don't know if it's supposed to cost that much.

I haven't played Fray, but I hear it's really fun. Psychic Storm is a pretty sweet shooter in my opinion. You get to chose from four different heroes that save the planet or whatever and your ship will transform into something big and powerful after you collect so many of the items it requires. It's been some years since I've played it, but some other cool things to note is that it's two players and it has multiple paths to chose from, along with supporting some decent graphics and music.

[nat]

Psychic Storm is an awesome game. Great graphics, very colorful, good parallax scrolling (multiple layers). Big sprites. No slowdown to speak of, minimal/non-noticeable flicker. Unfortunately I have no way to screen capture any in-game shots for you. I can't think of a vertical shooter for the TG that has better graphics, actually, but I haven't played them all.

The game is lots of fun. All onscreen text is in English despite it being a Japanese release. I've heard of it referred to as being "standard shooter fare" for the TG, but I beg to differ. There is something fresh about the game. The ability to mutate your ship is something I haven't seen in other shooters. The difficulty curve is a good one. The game starts off easy enough and progressively gets tougher. After you reach a certain point you get to pick what "direction" you want to go as far as what level to play next. You get to pick a ship and pilot before each stage, there are four to choose from. Repeated trial and error will reveal which ships work for which levels. The levels are split into two stages. The first you fly high above your target. In the second stage you fly in low over the object whether it be planet, asteroid field, or giant alien space creature. Every level is significantly different from any other. The CD audio ranges from "good" to "excellent". There are no bad tracks that I've encountered yet, and a few really good ones. Sound FX are what you might expect but pack a bit more of a punch than some other shooters for the system. I like.

Highly recommended. Overall, I give this game an 'A'. For comparison, the Thunder series would be an 'A+'. And that's mostly due to the EXTREMELY good soundtracks in those games.

$25 is a decent price for a domestic seller. I got my copy in the Japan market for around $10 US but that's probably not an option for you.

[Keranu]

Looks like UNIVERSO PC ENGINE has reviews for them, which have some decent screenshots.

Fray

Psychic Storm

[runinruder]

I like Psychic Storm, mainly for a couple of really good music tracks.  The game is very easy and somewhat slow; compared to some other verts for the system, there really isn't all that much to shoot at.  Sapphire, Spriggan, Nexzr, Sylphia, Blazing Lazers, Cyber Core and Soldier Blade all have much more action.  It used to be available frequently for less than twenty bucks, but I don't know how much it goes for now (I bought mine years ago).

Fray is fun, but don't go into it expecting much of an RPG/adventure game, as it's more of a cute action game with RPG and shooter elements thrown in.  $40-50 is what I always see it go for (I think I paid about $50 for mine), so the price is right.

[rolins]

@Joe Redifer

Go check out VGDen. There's reviews and some screenshots of both games.

I've never played Fray, but Psychic Storm is cool, good visuals and music. It's a decent shooter, but so easy that you'll finsih it in a day. The gameplay is rather slowpace if you ask me, probably why its so easy.

-Edit:

@Runinruder

Psychic Storm is slow for you too. I guess I'm not the only one who noticed.

[SignOfZeta]

I really love Fray. Definitely not a dud. Its kind of like...an action RPG that sort of plays like Ikari Warriors or something...something. Its funny, and cute, and all that. $50 seems like a lot though. I've had my copy for years, so I don't know what its "worth" or anything, but considering how many great PCE games are on eBay for $8 these days I would think it would fetch far less cash.

[Odonadon]

My review of Psychic Storm at Turbo2k has a lot of screenshots as well.

http://turbo2k.net/reviews/psychic_storm.html

OD

[Kaminari]

Xak Gaiden: Fray CD is a neat little ARPG. But beyond the hype, I remember a game with some slowdowns and collision bugs in later stages which seriously hampered the gameplay.

[sunteam_paul]

Don't expect to be blow away by Psychic Storm - it's no Spriggan or Soldier Blade. But it is a decent shooter with some lovely graphics in places and nice music, and is certainly worth picking up. The parallax scrolling on the asteroid field is very pretty (and the music on that stage is cool as well).

[nat]

Don't expect to be blow away by Psychic Storm - it's no Spriggan or Soldier Blade. But it is a decent shooter with some lovely graphics in places and nice music, and is certainly worth picking up. The parallax scrolling on the asteroid field is very pretty (and the music on that stage is cool as well).

IMHO, Psychic Storm blows anything the Gunhed/Soldier series has to offer to the moon and back. Don't get me wrong, that series is one of my favorite shooter series for the Turbo. Gameplay-wise, they are similar, but I like the unique elements (such as the mutating ship) in Psychic Storm over the more standard fare of the Star Soldier games. But that's more my own opinion than anything else... Graphically, however, Psychic Storm clearly bests anything that series has to offer. The game *does* have a slower pace than those other titles, especially in the beginning, but it does pick up a bit.

I also find it interesting you use Soldier Blade as the comparison rather than one of the other titles. To me, Soldier Blade is clearly the "weakest link" in that series. But to each his own! 

[Bonknuts]

I'd say Solder Blade is the strongest of the three (Gunhed/soldier series) - from a technical aspect. As far as fun factor or such - that's a matter of opinion. Psyhic Storm is a mixed bag on its graphics - some are great and other parts are average (for it's time). Don't get me wrong - I love Psychic Storm, but it's not leaps and bounds ahead of Gunhed/soldier series.

[runinruder]

I agree with Bonknuts on Psychic Storm's graphics.  People here seem crazy about them, but they're incredibly simplistic and uninspired in some parts.

As for Soldier Blade vs. Psychic Storm...

Soldier Blade receives more praise because its focus is on quality action while Psychic Storm relies on a gimmick.  Without the transformation element, PS would be a slow, easy shooter that no one ever cared about.  And when it comes down to it, the transformation element doesn't do all that much except make an already-easy shooter even easier.  Soldier Blade is faster paced and while it isn't the toughest shooter out there, it's definitely more challenging than PS.  I'd say it's much more fun to dismantle Soldier Blade's bosses than to whip Psychic Storm's end-of-level clods. 

The only thing Psychic Storm really has going for it aside from the gimmick is good music, but lots of other PCE shooters have good music.  I will say that the music during Psychic Storm's last level is awesome.  That tune always gets me pumped up even if the action is mediocre.

[Buster D]

Hmm, Psychic Storm seemed to get mostly average reviews, but the comments here have intrigued me.

Found it on Yahoo Japan auctions with a BIN of 400 yen (about$3.50).  The seller indicated that it might be a "kusoge" (crappy/shitty game), but I'm sure it'll be worth at least what I paid for it 

[TR0N]

I really love Fray. Definitely not a dud. Its kind of like...an action RPG that sort of plays like Ikari Warriors or something...something. Its funny, and cute, and all that. $50 seems like a lot though. I've had my copy for years, so I don't know what its "worth" or anything, but considering how many great PCE games are on eBay for $8 these days I would think it would fetch far less cash.

I was about to link that myself as well.

Fray is pretty good for a, action rpg plus it doesn't take much to figure it... out how to play it either.