Xenogears hits PSN this week!

Photo_159
Sunday, February 20, 2011

If for some reason you never got a chance to play Squaresoft’s epic RPG Xenogears - you can download it later this week from the PlayStation Store!
xenogears box art
For those of you not familiar with the original Xenogears the game should hold up incredibly well due to its use of beautiful 16 bit character sprites composited in stellar harmony with “cell shady” three dimensional backgrounds.

The narrative of the game starts out just how you would assume, a young lad with amnesia is ousted from his village to start a grand adventure, but don’t let that old cliche get you down.

Xenogears offers one of the more complex and philosophical stories I have ever experienced in a video game. (Specifically, the game delves into ideas and concepts discussed by Lacan, Nietzsche, Jung, and Freud.)

Exploration and combat is similar to traditional Final Fantasy games but Xenogears adds a turn based battle mechanic that is really satisfying. After selecting “Attack” you then have to punch in a combo for the specific attack you want to execute.

As the game progresses the combo mechanic becomes more impressive as combos get longer and become more visually stunning. Each character gets their own set of combos so expanding your party and changing things up is always exciting.

I should also mention that eventually you start battling in giant robots called "Gears." Each charcter gets there own "Gear" and you can switch out and upgrade parts to make the robots stronger or more fuel efficent.

The menu interface for Xenogears is well composed and makes it fun to keep track of gear for your characters as well as their gundam style robots.

If you like RPGs, philosophy, big robots, or 2D sprites then Xenogears is definitely worth checking out.

You can find the Xenogears later this week when you log into the PlayStation Store. Select “Games” and then choose “PS one Classics for PS3/PSP.”

(Learn more on playstation.blog)

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Comments (8)
Lance_darnell
February 20, 2011

It is about damn time that this game became available! Six dollars well spent.

Jamespic4
February 20, 2011

Ugh. I hate this game. I also hate Xenosaga...and Xenophobe even more, which is an old NES game that has nothing to do with anything.

Great music in Xenogears, though! It appeared on the Jukebox, back in the day, at least five times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFbVhFlqt3k

Photo_159
February 21, 2011

I never played Xenosaga or Xenophobe... but I did play Xenogears at least 2 times through maybe three?.... Man that game is long. I could see why you might not like it James. The story gets ridiculous!

I wish someone was still making sprites like this!

230340423
February 21, 2011

It's a good thing I'm finally picking up a PSP this week, then. I've actually never played the Xeno-games.

Jamespic4
February 21, 2011

You nailed the exact reason I don't like Xenogears: inscrutable nonsense -- which is weird 'cause I was really into Neon Genesis Evangelion when this came out. I haven't seen that show in years. It's probably best left to my memory. I probably wouldn't have the patience for its bullshit anymore.

Alexemmy
February 21, 2011

@James - I HATE XENOPHOBE TOO! It was one of the random shitty NES games we owned and it made no sense to me as a kid. I'd keep trying to play it because we didn't have very many games, and I never understood what the hell I was supposed to do.

I played Xenogears pretty far back when it came out but never beat it. I might pick it up when I replace my PSP, but I have no interest in playing a long RPG on a console. I need my PSP back for all these old PS1 games.

Robsavillo
February 21, 2011

I had no idea Xenogears/saga/phobe were related.... I've only played Xenosaga, and I hated it, too. Way too much narrative and very little game at all. Seems like it just should have been an anime TV series.

Alexemmy
February 21, 2011

@Rob - Xenophobe isn't related to gears or saga, James just brought it up as a joke and I happened to absolutely hate that game as well. So many wasted afternoons as a child trying to figure out that stupid game.

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