Burning Rangers

The Good
If there are any doubts about what the Saturn is capable of then games like this are sufficient to prove that the console had the capacity to compete with competitors.

Burning Rangers was one of the last games ever released for the console in the West. Sega Saturn Magazine followed the development and release religiously and naturally gave it a glowing review upon its release. Having played it through and finishing it several times I can assure you it is outstanding, but it is not without its own foibles.

Burning Rangers takes place in the future putting you in the oversized shoes of Shou Amabane or Tillis (just Tillis); two "Burning Rangers" or "Firefighters with laser guns and jet-packs". At its core the game is a pure action/adventure offering with platforming elements wherein you are tasked with going from A to B, rescuing civilians and putting out fires. The actual fire fighting is simple enough. You simply shoot the flames with your laser either with a single shot or with a charged laser blast for the more intense green, blue or pink flames. There is also simple combat in the game with a few boss fights thrown in for good measure. It's generally quite exciting and well paced, and there is a certain element of randomization that keeps the game feeling fresh.

Characters control with a highly accurate analog configuration. Naturally, the game is compatible with the 3D controller and making precise movements (which is important near the end of the game) isn't overly sensitive. Your character is also equipped with an outstanding jet-pack system that lets them avoid rushing fire, float gracefully over gaps and rapidly dodge left, right, up and down with minimal effort. A couple of touches I especially liked were being able to hang on ledges if you narrowly miss a jump (which, in my opinion, should be mandatory in any platform jumper) and the fact that your character automatically clears small gaps eliminating overly pointless button pressing. They are small things, but nice touches nontheless.

The graphics technology designed by Sonic Team for Burning Rangers is some of the most sophisticated on the console. Environments are rendered with complicated architecture, the camera adequately tracks your character with minimal hang ups and textures are clean, vibrant and varied. Each location in the game is vastly different and full of transparent windows showing off things like beautifully rendered fish tanks and vibrant explosions and fire that casts coloured lighting over everything around your character (and onto your character themselves).

The music in the game is generally quite good. The title track "We are Burning Rangers" is adequate however most of the other music in the game is nothing to write home about. Dialogue is a different story, certain characters are well performed while others don't seem to have put any effort into matching the facial expressions of their avatar on the screen they were watching while recording the lines. More on that later though.

After finishing a mission the game remembers who you have saved and sends you "fan mail" (yes, the Burning Rangers get fan mail) that gives you a bit of an insight into what would otherwise be ancillary characters designed solely as level goals. It's a nice touch actually and although the mail is a little breezy and bereft of content it's nice to see little touches like that personalising your play experience.

The Bad
Burning Rangers has a few niggling problems that don't kill the experience for you but still detract to a certain degree.

While the graphics are outstanding there is a fair bit of clipping going on. Occasionally the camera will swing around and leave you staring into a black room with nothing in it but a few flames burning away. Another camera issue arises when trying to turn and jump backwards. The game will recognise that you're trying to move backwards, but instead of turning you around it activates your jet-pack and just rockets you backwards off of the platform you just ascended. It's not an issue too often, as generally environments are easy to navigate and you do have manual control over your camera. It's worth mentioning nontheless.

I mentioned before the lack of quality voice over work. Characters like Shou and Chris are generally easy enough to listen to but Reed, Big and Tillis are either irritatingly high pitched or off puttingly monotonous. Also, there is a distinct lack of music during gameplay. This could be because of Sonic Team using the DSP for graphical effects or simply to generate atmosphere but music only tends to appear during cutscenes or boss fights.

One last thing is a translation issue that I noticed. Multiple times throughout the game you see Reed's name printed as "Leed". It's just a little instance of Engrish creeping into the game but it's fairly prominent. Also Big's last name is Landman. Big Landman.

The Bottom Line
Burning Rangers is a very impressive technical achievement. The game is replete with stunning graphical effects some thought the Saturn wasn't capable of such as real transparency and coloured lighting. This is no mere tech demo though. Burning Rangers is a really solid gameplay experience with superb analog control, great level design and addicting gameplay that rewards quick reflexes and meticulous searching.

There are a few apparent issues regarding clipping and some audio and translation issues but this does not take any shine off of the amazing graphics, outstanding gameplay and great lastability.

Burning Rangers is an example of how capable the Saturn really was. This, along with games like House of the Dead, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force 3 were an incredible swansong and is a title not to be missed for Saturn owners.