One of the best games to ever grace the Sega CD system, The Space Adventure is unlike anything you have ever played before. More of an interactive comic book than a game, it will get anyone interested in good sci-fi stories and/or Japanese animation interested in the adventures of Cobra.
The action in the game isn't like anything else. It sort of combines the "tell the character what to do" aspect of an RPG with the graphic adventure element of, say, Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. The graphics are not one long animation sequence as with those titles, but the combination of shorter animation sequences and beautifully drawn stills makes for an appealing look.
As Cobra, you make your way through the game by choosing one of several choices listed at the bottom of the screen for him to act out. Some of these may include "Look," "Think," "Open," etc. Once Cobra has utilized every command in a scene, usually a new command will appear and enable the story to progress further. Sometimes, you must "Look" or "Think" multiple times, which can make things rather annoying when you wind up reading (or hearing) the same thing more than once when you don't have to. Further, it can be very frustrating when there's one command you must look at to move on, but you can't seem to find it anywhere. This aspect of the game is my only major complaint.
Another thing that might bother some people is the relatively slow pace. The long story and the repetition of phrases may get to the impatient people who just want to blow stuff up.
Besides its originality, the thing that makes The Space Adventure such a great game is the story itself. Truly an epic, there are many plot twists and surprises ahead of you. It's like reading a comic book on your television screen. The voices, while used sparingly (probably about 25% of what is said), are spoken very well also.
So if you're a patient Sega CD owner who wants to be exposed to a great, epic science fiction story, you know what to do. Buy The Space Adventure.
Graphics: The animation in this game is great. However, the limited colors of the Sega CD don't make them as sharp as they could be.
Sound: The voiceovers are well-cast and well-acted, and the sound effects are realistic. My only complaint is that sometimes the repetitive music is louder than the speech, making things difficult to hear.
Enjoyment: If you like good science fiction, look no further.
Replay Value: The story is spectacular enough to make you want to go through it all again. But the frustrations of having to do every little command again may get to you eventually.
Space Adventure Cobra is a really awful SEGA CD game adaptation of one of my favorite manga/anime series. Written by Buichi Terasawa, the series are about the exciting exploits of Cobra, a wise-cracking, arrogant, cigar-chewing space pirate whose most potent weapon is a "psychogun" concealed in his left arm. In more than two decades since his inception, Cobra has attracted a sizable and loyal fanbase, especially in Asia and Japan. As a fan who grew up watching Cobra on TV (which turns out to be one of the few anime series that are better than manga originals), it's hard for me to say this: Space Adventure Cobra is a horrendous game. One would think a blockbuster license like Cobra in the hands of reputable Japanese developer like Hudson Soft would guarantee a great game, but the result is the opposite.
Space Adventure Cobra is an adventure game similar to Konami's excellent cyberpunk adventure Snatcher. But as with many other bad games, Cobra is a result of horrible implementation that can't save a great concept and premise.
The graphics (especially the animated cut-scenes) are quite good and the story isn't that bad. You start the game with Cobra sauntering into a bar, looking for his curvaceous robotic partner. The game then goes downhill very quickly as you read atrocious writing and hear even worse voice acting. Unlike Snatcher where some thinking is actually required to proceed, Space Adventure is so ludicrously easy that it doesn't deserve to be called a "game." Similar to many Hentai games, there are usually two things you can do: LOOK at various things, and THINK about different subjects. You often have to LOOK and THINK the same thing (ie. word) several times before something actually happens.
The game contains a large number of locations, but most of them are so empty that it's more boring than fun to walk around. Cobra's spaceship for example spans many screens, most of which have nothing of interest. Combat is similarly mundane: Hudson Soft squanders the chance to add some challenge to this game by making it multiple-choice - you just choose whether to kick, punch, or psycho-gun your enemies. Your choice has no impact on gameplay as far as I can tell, because I always win no matter what I pick.
The only saving grace of this game is the storyline, which is somewhat interesting, although far from the quality of the best Cobra episodes on TV. True to the manga's raunchy art and seventies sci-fi feel, there is more than a few scantily clad women in the game, and Cobra isn't shy about telling you his opinions. If you are offended by sophomoric sense of humor, stay clear of this game. But if you can tolerate it as a part of Flash Gordon-style sci-fi, you'll have some fun following Cobra around the seventh galaxy.
As a game, Space Adventure Cobra is really bad. If you can stomach hours of boring, repeated-click-to-advance-story kind of gameplay with no challenge whatsoever, you'll find a decent space opera anime underneath. Fans of the manga/anime series like me will probably torture ourselves to finish the game just to see how it ends, but you won't miss much if you decide to pass this one up. Some old games are rare because not many copies were printed despite being good games, while some others are rare because they are such terrible games not many people wanted to buy them. Space Adventure Cobra is the latter case. Avoid at all costs, and check out the original anime series instead if you are interested in the story. The fact that it was based on one of my favorite anime series and a half-decent story are the only things saving it from the Real Dog status here.
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Soft Kill, Rockin' Dead, The, Silent Steel, Sinkha: The 3D Multimedia Novel, Sign of the Sun, Stowaway! Stephen Biesty's Incredible Cross-Sections, SFPD Homicide / Case File: The Body in the Bay, Soltys
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