Chrono Cross Review

Platform Reviewed: PlayStation One

Chrono Cross

=Story Time with Doctor Gonzo

Once upon a time, there was a game released on the SNES called Chrono Trigger. This was one of the last games released for the system, boasting 32-bit graphics, the likes of which were seldom seen in those days. The game had such notable contributors as Hironobu Sakaguchi of the established Final Fantasy series and Akira Toriyama at the helm of character design who created the Dragon Ball crew. With such a rock 'n' roll team on board, fans from all over expected a lot and were given more than they could have imagined.

Since then, fans of the game clamored for a sequel. Then, one fateful day, the game Chrono Cross was announced. Fans went nuts. There were riots in the streets and absolute bedlam possessed even the most mild-mannered gamers. D of the project began to surface and people realized that this was not going to be what they expected.

Chrono Trigger was about a romp through time and had a set of characters that were likable and a story that was made to be played several times through. As the title, Chrono Cross suggests, this game didn’t work on the same time-manipulative system as its predecessor. Instead, you “cross” time into a parallel dimension.

In Chrono Cross, you start as a character named Serge who accidentally travels into a dimension where he has been dead for the last ten years. With forty playable characters, this game is nothing if not a stride away from the original.

Fears of the Chrono Trigger followers were assuaged when this title was released. Though it was a completely different format and Akira Toriyama’s characters were nowhere to be seen, it earned a space in the hall of fame for taking the high road and not re-hashing the same old format (though I think the fans would have been just as happy).

Play it/Replay it

Perhaps one of the only things that make this game like the original is that you are rewarded heavily for playing through the game with the "game plus" feature that lets you start from the beginning with most of your stuff transferred over from the first run through the game. You have to play through to get a lot of the characters, mostly because you’re forced in several occasions to choose between one character and another, but one of the most satisfying features is the ability to earn hidden endings by completing the game through a series of different scenarios.

The Doctor's Orders

Chrono Cross rocks. There’s no reason you shouldn’t have played it through already, and in case you forgot, it was a lot of fun -- so go play it again.

If you haven’t played it, then back that ass up and go pick it up. You should be able to find it for fairly inexpensive because not only was it one of the greatest hits series for the PlayStation One, but it can probably be found in a used video games section at your local game store.