LSD: Dream Emulator ReviewOn October 22, 1998, a company known as Asmik Ace Entertainment released a game for the Playstation called LSD: Dream Emulator in Japan. It's a horror/exploration game which is based off a dream journal made by an employee at Asmik Ace Entertainment who's name is Hiroko Nishikawa. The game never made it outside of Japan. Was there a good reason for that? Or is the game worth playing? I'll let you know by making this review.
Graphics: 5/10 This game has some of the strangest visuals I've ever seen in a video game. There are many strange objects such as a giant hand statue, a giant foot statue, and creatures like a two-sided face with arms and legs, and an inflatable elephant. There are also some strange environments you'll see such as flashing lakes. There's plenty of other strange things you'll find throughout the game. My biggest issue with the graphics have to be the strange colors that the floors and walls of certain areas. These areas sometimes have a bunch of bright colors around each other, creating a distorting and unpleasant environment to look at. Overall, the graphics in LSD: Dream Emulator are certainly not the best the Playstation has to offer, which isn't good for an exploration game like this one. For these reasons, I give the graphics a 5.
Sound: 7/10 The music in this game is very fitting for a horror game like LSD: Dream Emulator. It definitely fits perfectly for a game where you're exploring creepy dreams. One issue I have with this category is the footsteps that you make when you move around. They're very loud and it blocks out the music that's playing in the background, and you're going to be moving around a lot in this game. I was going to give the sound an 8 but because of the annoying footsteps, I'm giving the sound a 7.
Addictiveness: 4/10 The gameplay in LSD: Dream Emulator involves you walking around and exploring various areas in a dream world. Touching anything will cause you to be teleported to a different area, thus giving you a new area to explore. Unfortunately, you never know where you'll end up, so you may possibly end up in a similar area you were in at a earlier time. In a game where the main premise is exploring different areas and touching stuff, not having any control where you'll end up can get frustrating. There are some areas that don't have much of anything to look at, such as a desert themed area that's just full of seemingly never-ending sand, so finding interesting areas is luck based. This would really hurt the replayability of any exploration based game. In addition, when a day ends, you're moved from the area you're currently in, which isn't fun if you've just arrived at a new area and you want to explore it, but you've run out of time. Overall, the fact that you never know where you'll end up and the fact that some areas have little to see hurts the game's addictiveness, which I'm giving a 4.
Story: N/A This game doesn't have a story, so I'm leaving this category blank.
Depth: 7/10 LSD: Dream Emulator has many different areas to explore, though the order in which you'll see these areas is completely random. Each day in the Dream World lasts about 10 minutes, unless you fall of a cliff, then the day ends right there. The game lasts 365 days, so this game has a massive amount of play time. Unfortunately, though there are plenty of areas to explore, there aren't enough different areas to make going through 365 days worth doing. However, the game has enough area variety for me to give the depth a 7.
Difficulty: 1/10 In LSD: Dream Emulator, you explore areas and you touch objects or walls to teleport to a random place. There's nothing else to this game. You don't get hurt, and you don't get game overs. In a game where you can't even get hurt, you can't expect it to be tough. Since there's no way to lose, the difficulty score needs a 1.
Overall Score: 6/10 LSD: Dream Emulator has to be the strangest video game I've ever played. The premise is very unique, but there are definitely better horror games out there. The visuals are definitely not up to the standards of other PS1 games, the walking sound is extremely annoying, and the fact that ending up in a new area you haven't explored yet is left to chance cause LSD: Dream Emulator to not be as good as a game as it could've been. Overall, I give LSD: Dream Emulator a 6 out of 10. I'd only recommend it to those of you who absolutely love seeing disturbing and creepy environments to the point where you don't care how good the game is. Graphics
5 Sound
7 Addictive
4 Depth
7 Difficulty
1