Galerians: Ash

Galerians: Ash
Developer(s)	Polygon Magic[1]
Publisher(s)	JP Enterbrain WW Sammy Studios
Designer(s)	Shou Tajima
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	JP April 25, 2002[2] AU 2002 NA 20030203February 3, 2003 EU 20030411April 11, 2003
Genre(s)	Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	DVD-ROM

Galerians: Ash (ガレリアンズ：アッシュ, Garerianzu: Asshu) is a survival horror video game developed by Polygon Magic and published by Enterbrain in Japan and Sammy Studios worldwide.^[1] Galerians: Ash is the sequel to Galerians, a PlayStation game. It is a psychic action game with a dark setting. It follows the story of a young man named Rion who has psychic powers and the resiliency to overcome the Last Galerians, a genetically engineered group of superhumans whose purpose is to wipe out humankind.

Story

The plot of Galerians: Ash is highly dependent upon its predecessor, Galerians, and begins with a synopsis of the events from that game. In the 26th century, two computer scientists develop an advanced self-replicating artificial intelligence, whom they called Dorothy. Dorothy grew in scope and influence quickly, and began to question why she should obey humans, whom she identified as inferior. Her creators told her of the existence of God, and that just as humankind must abide by the will of God, so must Dorothy obey her creators - humans. While Dorothy seemed to accept this explanation, she secretly began developing Galerians - a superior human race with psychic powers, for whom she would be God.

Dorothy's creators put a safeguard against her - two programs that, if introduced into Dorothy's systems, would destroy her - into the minds of their two children, Rion Steiner and Lilia Pascalle. Though Rion was captured by Dorothy's followers and experimented upon, he managed to break free using the psychic powers he gained from the experiments. Going through a series of painful ordeals, Rion found Lilia and killed the Galerians, but not without discovering that he himself was a Galerian, and that the real Rion died while being subjected to the experiments. In the end Rion and Lilia destroyed Dorothy, but the mental stress of the battle destroyed Rion's brain.

Galerians: Ash takes place six years after the original Galerians. Though Dorothy was destroyed, she produced several more Galerians - the Last Galerians - in her final moments, and mankind has fought a desperate battle with them ever since. The game begins with Lilia, now a computer scientist herself, locating backup data of Rion's personality in the remains of Dorothy's systems, and using them to bring Rion back to life. Lilia realizes that only Rion has the power to stop the leader of the Last Galerians, known as Ash, and end the nightmare once and for all.

New characters

Characters not introduced in the previous game.

Protagonists

• Cas

One of the soldiers helping Dr. Lilia, and defending the human race, Cas is highly respected by those she works with. She seems to be one of the few soldiers who believes that Rion will be able to stop Ash. She sacrifices herself to stop monsters from further entering the second level of the airbase currently being used as a stronghold in the battle against Ash.

• Pat

The best hacker and student AirBeagle pilot available, Pat is easy going, but has a serious side that comes out when Dr. Lilia is kidnapped by Romero. He's very young, which takes Rion by some surprise at first, and has a habit of tugging at his fingerless gloves. Ten years after the final battle with Ash, he's the only one of the main characters still alive, and has become a computer scientist to continue Dr. Lilia's work.

Antagonists

• Romero

Romero is leading the battle against Ash from the airbase, but he refuses to have his troops fight him head- on. When Ash infiltrates the airbase, Romero betrays the others, and sells Ash DNA information needed to access Elaine, the airbase's main computer. In exchange, Ash promises to spare both Romero and Dr. Lilia, but not as one would expect- Romero is made into a robot, and he brings Lilia to the uranium refinery, where she is poisoned by the intense radiation, which will lead to her eventual death two years later.

• Spider

The first of the Last Galerians Rion meets, Spider was created from Ash's feelings of rebellion and longing to escape from Dorothy. He appears physically younger than any other Last Galerian, although they are technically all the same age. He wishes that he had never existed, and he keeps a tarantula named Leo as his companion. He uses many spiderwebs when fighting, on which his spider friends wait for Rion to walk into them. Killed by Rion, he is the second of the Last Galerians to die.

• Parano

The second Last Galerian Rion meets, Parano was born because of Ash's feelings of hatred for his own weaknesses and wanting to be rid of them. Parano comes off as sadistic and violent, but his true nature may be those very weaknesses Ash wants to destroy. His weapon of choice, are two knives. He enjoys seeing blood. His specialty is cutting out the eyes of his victims and replacing them with circuits to create undead cyborgs under his control. Killed by Ash, he is the first of the Last Galerians to die. He's also one of the hardest bosses in this game.

• Nitro

The fourth and last of the Last Galerians Rion meets, Nitro was born from the sorrow and pain Ash lived with and tried to hide, even from himself. She has the ability to lock a person in a perfect-seeming fantasy world in which the victim could be content to live out their wishes and dreams. She offers this option to Rion, in exchange for him allowing her to delete the virus program meant to destroy Dorothy and all of her children that is implanted in his brain. Naturally, he refuses, which initiates the final battle with Nitro, leading ultimately to her death. Killed by Rion, she is the third of the Last Galerians to die.

• Ash

The truth about Ash is that he can not really be considered a Galerian, because he is not a human, biologically advanced or not, but a computer program. His sole purpose was to be the resurrection of Dorothy, should anything happen to her. Discontent with that purpose, when Rion destroyed Dorothy, Ash used it as an opportunity to completely rewrite his program, so that, when he did resurrect Dorothy, she would be under his control, instead of the other way around. Another truth about Ash, that even he does not realize until the end of the game, is that Spider, Parano, and Nitro do not exist but as mere facets of his own twisted and pained personality. He and Rion were frozen only as data, which Rion requested that Pat delete all trace of. Ash and Rion are the last Galerians to be killed, or more specifically, deleted.

Reception

Galerians: Ash was met with mixed reviews from critics. It received an average score of 55.70% at GameRankings, based on an aggregate of 42 reviews^[3] and an average score of 50/100 at Metacritic, based on an aggregate of 22 reviews.^[4]

References

External links

• Official website at Enterbrain website (Japanese)