Powerslave -Saturn- 8.5

May 14, 2022

I beat Powerslave earlier this evening. This game was ahead of its time in that it feels a bit like Metroid Prime, more than I expected. However, it’s not perfect. The overworld map breaks the immersion compared to what Metroid Prime did 6 years later. And there is some very frustrating mid-90’s style FPS platforming. (Metroid Prime later had the genius idea of automatically making you look down when you jumped.) Anyway, beyond the flaws, Powerslave is a very impressive FPS adventure with awesome weapons and upgrades. The artifacts you find unlock new areas that are inaccessible when you first see them, which is a nice touch. The ancient Egypt setting is really cool, and the graphics are really good for a Saturn game. I’ll give Powerslave an 8.5. Metroid Prime took these ideas much further in 2002 (I give that game a ten), but Powerslave had a lot of those ideas first in 1996.