Developer: FACE Publisher: Sankindo Released: 12/21/90 Genre: Action
Cyber Cross was not a good game. It was the kind of generic pap you get not long after a system launch and was mediocre in every way. It was doubly embarrassing considering the caliber of Famicom releases at the time. We’re talking games like Duck Tales, Holy Diver, and Cosmic Epsilon, real showcases of the hardware. At its core however it did have the makings of decent mechanics. That foundation was used to create its far superior sequel. Cross Wiber is a great game and everything the first should have been.
First things first, Cross Wiber looks great. Cyber Cross was not a first generation game as it released in 1989 but it certainly looked the part. The overall artwork is far more detailed and packed with the kinds of detail expected of 16-bit games. Where the first game was overly bright and cheery Cross Wiber has a darker tone. The sprites are large as in many Turbo Grafx games and look great although the animation is about average. Most importantly nearly every level features one or two layers of scrolling which wasn’t common even late in the system’s life, let alone in 1990. This was a pretty dramatic turn around and makes the game more approachable.
At its core the game is very similar to the original. You still have the standard array of melee combat moves such as punches and kicks. The spin kick is still available but takes one unit of health to perform. The controls are very responsive this time leading to less frustration. Probably the biggest change comes to your hero form. Now you’ll have to wait until reaching about 60% maximum health in order to change. You actually initiate the change manually this time. I really like it; in the first game you would change as soon as you hit the minimum threshold which was dumb. There were many times you would take one hit and devolve back into a teenage weakling.
The hero forms have also gone through a redesign. Now each suit (red, blue, green) comes with a default weapon, be it the sword, boomerang, or gun. Items to switch weapons appear regularly as well. Technically you could say the suits have gone through an upgrade but that is not entirely true. The sword is only useful against bosses for reasons I’ll get into later. The gun has limited ammo; more drops frequently but if you run out you are not better than your base form. Only the boomerang remains consistently useful in every situation in my opinion.
With its basic gameplay improved is automatically much more interesting than its predecessor. This is a long game at thirteen chapters and could have been a victim of padding. However there is a clear push for variety to keep it entertaining up until its conclusion. No two levels are the same as you ride atop a train, ride a hover cycle twice and explore a nonlinear corporate building. The enemy variety is greater than before and even though they are recycled heavily the situations and grouping keep it fresh. The game does lose the goofy charm of the original but I’ll take a better designed game any day of the week.
Where the first half of the game is relatively straightforward it picks up considerably in the second half. Here the levels become more densely populated and the platforming is dialed up significantly. The number of attacking enemies borders on ridiculous and is sometimes unfair. The platforming sequences are all the more frustrating due to everyone’s favorite, knock-back. While it has its moments the game is still easy overall. It is very generous with health power-ups so you’ll rarely spend time in human form. Outside of the building maze I rarely died. You actually have limited continues rather than a single life which makes the game’s length bearable.
In Closing
I really, really like Cross Wiber. After its disastrous predecessor it would have been easy to write it off. Luckily its quality is evident almost immediately. This is the type of game the Turbo Grafx-16 needed more of in the US. There is no reason this should not have come to the United States as it is completely in English. Sucks, but it makes for an easy import.
