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[img width=350 height=242]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/HH-Title.jpg[/img]
Every wonder what it would be like to have RPG elements added to a wrestling game? Wonder no more, Hybrid Heaven shows you that it can be awesome!!
The N64 is definitely not known for its robust RPG library. If youre looking for an intriguing story and character driven RPG to play on your N64 you should probably keep looking. Hybrid Heaven has some very forgettable characters and a pretty bland story. Why would I recommend such a game then? Its all about the awesome battle system.
Before we get into the battle system I'll try and explain the game a bit more. Hybrid Heaven mixes a few different genres together into quite a unique experience, especially for the N64. A good chunk of the game is played as an action-platformer. Run, shoot, jump, crawl, the usual. These parts of the game play very well, but when shooting upward the camera tends to be a bit of a pain occasionally.
The story comes at you in pretty predictable chunks. It basically goes: Story, Level, Story, Level, and so on. There is some slight deviation from that formula, but not much. The story follows Johnny (you) fighting Alien Hybrids who are attempting to gain control of the US Government in order to slowly and carefully invade and control the Earth. And you have to do it by X-Mas Eve so that you can meet your girlfriend for a hot 64-bit date.
[img width=320 height=240]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/HH-Action.jpg[/img]
Now for the good stuff, Fighting! All the fighting is done 1 on 1 and when you approach an enemy (or they approach you), the words "FIGHT" appear on screen and the battle commences. There are 3 meters to keep your eyes on during the fight: Health, Power, and Stamina.
- Health is pretty self explanatory.
- Power charges quickly while you stand still or walk slowly, and charges slowly when youre running. The more filled the meter is the stronger your attack will be. Once you've progressed enough you can fill multiple meters which allow you to combo moves or simply keep some power bars on standby.
- Stamina indicates how much physical energy your character has left for the fight. If you keep missing or attack too much your abilities will diminish during the battle and you'll be much less effective at comboing.
Johnny has 6 areas he can attack with, and 6 areas he can attack an opponent: Head, Body, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, and Right Leg. Both you and your opponents share the ability to temporarily render each others body parts useless. For example if you strike your opponent's Left Leg repetitively it will have a hard time walking around for a while and be much weaker when attacking with it. The same is applied to your character.
[img width=300 height=220]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/HH-Fight.jpg[/img]Each area has to be leveled up separately from the rest for both offense and defense. That means that if you use your Right Arm enough to attack it will become much stronger. But since your opponent can hurt different your different areas making them less useful it is important to have a well rounded character, just incase. The same leveling up method is applied to defense. So to strengthen your Guard you actually need to take hits and block them.
At the start of the game you have very few moves to choose from. Some body blows and hooks for your Arms and a few mid section kicks for your Legs. Each time you see an opponent do a new move you learn that move at the end of battle. So its actually helpful to not kill each opponent as quick as possible. By keeping them alive for a bit you can learn moves AND improve your defense. It makes for a unique battle system since you can purposely drag out the fight and come out of it a lot stronger. You need to balance this though as health is quite limited and you cant afford to heal too many times.
Once you get Johnny up a few levels you'll get multiple power bars as mentioned above. This means that you can link a bunch of moves together into a massive stamina draining attack. Or you can simply hit and run and not have to worry about your power meter charging back up.
Hybrid Heaven definitely isnt the best thing since sliced bread as Nintendo would have had you believe back when it was being released. But it is a very neat blend of genres and totally worth checking out.
Final Score - 6/10
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I bought this game in a bargain bin at K-mart during the end of the N64's life span. It's all I played for weeks. I still play it every now and then. Nice article, and I agree. It's not that great if you really think about it, but its still pretty fun and interesting.
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My cuz use to rant about this game but i am fairly certain when we were younger and i wanted to try it on a ROM before buying it it was not supported at that point.
Another great article 
It does sound pretty cool. Another game i'll have to add to my Want to play list.
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Great article! I've always wondered what kinda game this was.
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