0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Brain Dead 13

       

Brain Dead 13 is an interactive movie game, with action elements in the form of quick time events. The game was developed and published by ReadySoft and was initially released on MS-DOS in 1995 before later being ported to consoles.

The game received multiple releases over a variety of platforms during the mid 90s, following it’s released in 1995 the game was ported to the 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Mac, Windows, Sega Saturn and Playstation all in 1996. The game would also receive a CD-i released in 1997, as well as an iPhone, iPAD, iPod Touch version that was released in 2010 on the App Store.

Over the years in addition to ReadySoft publishing the game themselves, the game has had several publishers. Philips Interactive Media published the CD-i version of the game, Empire Interactive Entertainment published the UK MS-Dos release, Digital Leisure published the iPhone release of the game, Coconuts Japan Entertainment published the Japanese Playstation release of the game as well as the Japanese Saturn release.

The only gameplay elements that are in Brain Dead 13 are quick time events. During the game you opportunities for exploration are much greaten than in most of the previously released interactive games, with the various rooms in the game linked to crossroads, as a result the route you take to find the brain chamber is entire the players choice.

These crossroads also employ quick time events, failure to choose a path as soon as Lance arrives at the crossroads, as well as failing other quick time events will result in failure screen in which Fritz will kill Lance, or another enemy or environmental obstacle or object, the same occurs if the player chooses the Dangerous path.

The game does however not kick you all the way back to the start when you have been killed, after the cartoony over the top death scene Lance will be revived in a variety of ways depending on how he was killed. As mentioned earlier Fritz is not the only enemy that Lance has to deal with as he explored the various dungeons, hallways, rooms, gardens and labyrinths of Dr Nero’s castle.

With the game having very little in the way of player input, other than the quick time events, the games control scheme is pretty basic. The player uses the D-Pad to move lance, the only directions needed are up, down, left or right.

When Lance needs to perform and action in the game the player uses the X button, the player can also pause the game with the Start button. When paused the player is able to save their progress by pressing the Select button to access the save menu, this only works if the game is paused first.

With the game releasing over multiple different systems the game does vary depending on which system you are playing the game on. If for example you are playing the PC, Saturn or Jaguar CD versions, these games unlike the PS1 version were compressed onto one disc, as a result the visual quality of these versions is much lower.

At the other end of the visual scale is the most recent release of the game, the iOS release which unlike previous releases of the game does not require a physical disc has a much higher resolution of any of the versions.

Lance is a young computer expert, and is called out to fix a computer at a dilapidated castle. After repairing the large computer Lance learns that the client that hired him is the disembodied brain of Dr Nero Neurosis, and he has a diabolical plan to take over the world.

Lance learning of this information is almost immediately in trouble and ends up getting chased around the castle by Dr Nero Neurosis’s psychotic servant and henchman Fritz. Fritz is the hunchbacked little imp that carries an array of deadly gadgets he used to hunt and kill lance, even with his lack of brains the only hope for Lance is for the player to guide him out of the castle and to safety.

Critic reviews for the game are limited but we do find four of them available, critically the game was averagely received at the time of release on the Playstation, with the game peaking at a decent 74 with a couple of above average scores as well. The game has a much more recent review in 2010 where the game scored an abysmal 0.

As usual we will start with the best of them which comes from Game Zero, who rated the game at a decent 74. The reviewer finding that even with the game a year overdue, it was worth the wait. They continued by saying, this is a biased statement because I actually like FMV games and always have since Dragon's Lair hit the arcades back in 1983.

The reviewer commented on ReadySoft’s most recent release in Space Ace, a game that the reviewer called less than stellar, however they continued by saying that this latest release from them is the best the genre has to offer. They continued by saying, Braindead 13 offers top notch animation full of hyperkinetic action and humor, and sets higher interactivity standards than any of its toon predecessors.

Concluding the reviewer had the following to say. But as it is usual with this type of game, once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it, and thus does hamper the replay value of the game, they continued by saying. But, I will say this... Braindead 13 is the first FMV game I didn't finish in one day... and that says a lot.

NowGamer are next up and we see a drop in reviewer score down to an above average 64. The reviewer finding that the game has lots of wacky characters to meet and different routes to take, so it has got guaranteed lastability.

The reviewer also found the game to be humorous enough to appear to younger games, while still being tough enough to keep more experienced gamers interested. To conclude the reviewer had the following to say. Brain Dead 13 is nothing that hasn't been seen before, but it’s still worth a look if you fancy a mad cartoon world instead of a standard platform game.

Next up we head to German and the publication Video Games who rated the game at an above average 62. With the reviewer having the same issues with the Playstation version as the 3DO version of the game, with commands that are illogical, the level structure by mirrored scenarios a bit confusing and motivation by the lack of complete movie at the end not as high as in the Dragon's Lair parts. Just the endless sequences at the end of the game make the whole story appear pretty lengthy in hindsight.

Concluding the reviewer had the following to say. Anyone who does not make a note of every real command has no chance of surviving the final battle anyway. Brain Dead 13 is played only once, so my recommendation is "For Fans".

The final review which comes from The VideoGame Critic, who rated Brain Dead 13 at an abysmal 0, or in their own grading scale an F-. The reviewer found Brain Dead 13 to be either a completely busted or the most unplayable piece of [expletive] in the sordid history of bad games, with the reviewer highly critical of the games brutal difficulty level. The reviewer continued by saying that Brain Dead 13 blurs the line between a working game and a defective one.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, where we find this is a quite hard to come by game, with a trade in price of $25 for Brain Dead 13. As a result if you are in the market for a copy of Brain Dead 13 from Gamedude you will be looking at an outlay of $49.

Next up is Retrogames.co.uk who unsurprisingly don’t have Playstation version of the game listed, as it released in the US and Japan only. They do however have a single copy of the Atari Jaguar version of the game, this copy is still sealed in its original shrink wrap and is priced up at £120. This converts to around $168 in the US and 137 Euro’s in the Euro zone countries. One thing of note, while this copy is the North American Jaguar release, the game is compatible with all Jaguar consoles.

Next we move on to eStarland.com where we sadly don’t find the Playstation version of the game listed. We do however find the Sega Saturn and Atari Jaguar versions of the game listed. Both at the time of writing however are out of stock.

When in stock the Sega Saturn version of the game has a usual price of between $17.08 and $37.95. A trade in is also on offer, with up to $20 being paid for a complete copy of the game. This price will drop to just $6.60 if the case and manual are missing.

The Atari Jaguar version, which usually has a price of between $64.98 and a whopping $129.95, this version is clearly a rare title as eStarland are offering a trade in bonus for the game, with the usual $65 for a complete copy upped to $91. If you are trading in only the CD then the trade in price will drop to just $22.75.

Lastly we head to Amazon.com where we find just a handful of copies of the Playstation version available. The first copy on offer is a good condition discs only copy for $36.53. The second copy on offer is the Long Box version with just the case and discs, this copy will set you back $47.15.

A second Long Box version of the game, this copy comes with the case and manual but will set you back significantly more at $68.98. the final copy that is on offer comes in very good condition, this copy is also a complete copy of the game and is priced at $94.99.

Written by

P J Gibbon