Steel Harbinger

by Mindscape

Product Details

• ASIN: B00002STK8
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,582 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Steel Harbinger is a top-down, 3-D game with a full range of movement. The player takes control of Miranda Bowen, aka The Harbinger, and must rout an alien menace before it heralds in the apocalypse. The twist to this tired plot: The Harbinger (while killing aliens and rescuing humans), must eat her victims, humanoid and alien alike, to regain energy. The result? A grisly, action-packed joyride. Steel Harbinger is an over-the-shoulder shooter with disappearing walls. (Its look isn't all that dissimilar to Loaded, but the closer view, more interesting story, and excellent cutscenes make it a superior title.) Luckily, the former Ms. Bowen spends much of her time outdoors, so the effect isn't overused. The level designs tend to be repetitive, but are challenging nonetheless. Perhaps the designers should have chosen dissimilar geographical regions to stage this war of the worlds. After all, on a 32-bit system the prairies of Kansas, the arctic desolation of Canada, and the desert wastelands near Las Vegas can easily look alike. Background redundancy complaints aside, the graphics are very impressive. The Harbinger looks just dandy in her biomechanical bikini, and some of the giant monsters look great (especially the earthworms that turn humans into aliens). Other monsters, however, aren't up to 32-bit par: The centipedes resemble polygon versions of the upright snakes seen in Super Mario Bros. 2. The only real problem with Steel Harbinger is the save game feature: Players can only save the game after they've found their way to Canada, and then it doesn't seem possible to get back. It's a frustrating flaw, especially since the level following Canada is incredibly difficult. It's also possible get to a battle ground too early. While this wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, players who find Canada before they encounter the logically preceding level won't be able to go back to beat it. The controls are easy to pick up and very sharp, which means Steel Harbinger is both a great game to look at and a great game to play. --Hugh Sterbakov
--Copyright ©1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Product Description

This is the game Steel Harbinger for the Playstation 1. This game may not come with the original case and instructions. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for you.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Under-appreciated top-down shooter of the PS 1 era, May 27, 2005

By 

Nightfall (UT, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Steel Harbinger (Video Game)

During the lifespan of the PS 1, there was such an onslaught of games for the system that many good titles got completely overlooked. Steel Harbinger is one of them. It's primarily a shooter, but also comprises puzzle elements, exploration, and item collecting. You even get to drive vehicles. It is played from what folks in the biz call an "isometric" view, which is essentially a camera in the sky at about a 45 degree angle to the ground. The graphics are 2D and scroll side-to-side and up-down, but the game creates the illusion of three dimensions by having buildings and other objects go transparent when Miranda walks behind or inside them. Miranda is the character you play, and she is a rather attractive young girl who was unfortunate enough to be partially mutated into an alien. It is her job to single handedly save the entire earth (or at least the continental United States) from an alien invasion.

The gameplay is non-stop shooting action, and Miranda has a huge arsenal of weapons at her disposal. The environments are littered with all kinds of stuff to pick up. There is a large variety of alien creatures and some of them are downright creepy (giant mutated babies?!). The action takes place in several major American cities, and each locale is unique. Your primary objective in each city is the same: find the Net Node card which will activate the satellite defense system over that region of sky. (Why they can't just do that from the White House or Pentagon I don't know).

The cutscenes are actual film footage of real actors, and, I'll admit, some of it is pretty bad. But the gameplay is what counts. The difficulty level gets pretty nasty towards the game's latter stages, but it's nothing overwhelming. The frame rate is consistent throughout, the control is problem-free, and the game never gets boring. And there's also the little fact that the outfit Miranda is wearing is pretty dang sexy. It's great, shoot-em-up fun. If you're up for some old-school PS 1 action, Steel Harbinger would be a great place to look.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the price, but I didn't pay much for it, December 22, 2002

By 

DeRosset Myers "DeRo" (St Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steel Harbinger (Video Game)

This is the kind of game magazine editors warn you to stay away from. The graphics are sub-par, the camera is fixed (though that can be an advantage), the storyline [is bad], and you'll probably hate the music unless you're me.
On the upside, Miranda does a good job of juicing up an over-used storyline. I mean, come on! An alien invasion?! Like that's never been done before!!