Crime Crackers

Crime Crackers is a first-person shooter with light RPG elements that is structured like a dungeon crawler. The game consists of a linear set of missions, each involving the exploration of maze-like, 3D corridors filled with useful items, environmental hazards, hostile enemies, and occasional end-stage bosses. The player controls a party of three playable characters that move together as a single unit, though each have their own health meter. The character in the middle serves as the leader while the other two characters are inactive, but their positions can be quickly swapped.

Only the leader can attack enemies and receive direct damage, although inactive characters can still take damage if the group is hit from the side offscreen. The player can rotate and move both forward and backward using the controller's D-pad, as well as strafe while also using the shoulder buttons.

Crime Crackers is based on the Monthly Shōnen Captain manga Chō Hikari Seiki Star Crackers by Kokomahi. Set in the distant future and in a far away galaxy, the story begins 20 years after the end of large-scale, intergalactic war. Though it is mostly peaceful, the Galactic Federation police have difficulty controlling all crime on its own. A system is established in which the Galaxy Police partner with bounty hunter groups colloquially known as "crackers" to maintain order.

One such group are those aboard the starship Pink Dolphin. They are led by protagonist Emilia F. Alkanet, a genius young woman from a prestigious family who is in search of her missing brother Cain and dreams of one day rising to the ranks of the legendary Cosmo Guardians. The second core member is Dolan, a dragon-like military veteran who served Emelia's grandfather during the war and was assigned to watch over her afterwards.

Vision. The game would be published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and development support was provided by Sony's internal development team. Vision's founder and president Takashi Fukushima previously worked at Telenet Japan and dreamed of going independent. He eventually met Akira Satou, former SCE chairman and game developer at Sony Music Entertainment.

Satou told him that Sony was investing in the development of its first home console, the PlayStation. Vision in 1993. Vision began producing Crime Crackers right after Golden Week of 1994 and aimed to release the game alongside the launch of the PlayStation on December 3 of that year.

Crime Crackers has garnered a mixed response from journalists since its late 1994 release, most of which covered it as an import title. Journalists focused on its anime aesthetic and its blend of light RPG gameplay mechanics with first-person shooter elements found in 1993's Doom. In a scoreless review, GameFan editor Dave Halverson (under the pseudonym "E. Storm") called the game "tight", "well thought-out" and "quite spectacular" for a launch title.

He praised its visuals and audio, proclaiming it proof that the Sony's first console would be destined to compete with industry giants Nintendo and Sega. The game also received some positive remarks from Nourdine "Trazom" Nini of Joypad and Maxime Roure of Consoles +, two French magazines that scored it 90% and 68% respectively. Both critics enjoyed its 3D model animation and game length. However, Nini found the core graphics and music extremely repetitive.