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Simple 1500 Series Vol.94: The Cameraman
  PS1Shooter_HorizJ  
  opened by paleface at 04:07:46 12/23/04  
  last modified by paleface at 12:25:50 03/05/24  
  paleface [sys=PS1; cat=Shooter_Horiz; reg=JPN]
           
Reference added: 327
  "Cameraman 1 and 2"
 
The subtitle babelfishes as "Intense copying boy being defeated attaching." The game has been called "Photo Boy," I'm not so sure about the "being defeated attaching" part.
 
I'm told this is a port of the PC Engine original, so there you go. In terms of mechanics it's a lot simpler than the sequel on PS2: here you don't have a flash or zoom, you just point and shoot and that's what you get. But the trick and the fun still comes in snapping the right thing at the right time, and you have to be careful to use your film wisely or you'll run out, the level will end prematurely, you probably won't score enough photos to please your demanding editor, and then you'll have to start again.
 
There are a lot of stages, all packed with stylishly-drawn surprises. It's just fun to discover hidden things. For instance, snap a picture of an innocent-looking window and it opens to reveal a cat, who plummets out: get a shot of the diving cat for a big score. Experimentation is the rule of the day here, and the game usually rewards you with funny stuff. On the other hand, flying obstacles can come thick and fast, and if you get hit you're dizzy for a while, meaning you can't shoot photos for a bit, and you drop a lot of film. This gets particularly frustrating when you keep getting nailed by bolts from the view, like quick-falling flowerpots that just sail in from off the top of the screen.
 
Still, it makes for a challenging game, and what with the tough goals for each level and the number of things you need to find or avoid in all the levels, this will probably keep you busy for a while--and you can always try beating your previous score on a stage.
 
Oh, sometimes you get "powerups." I've seen two: one gives your camera a bigger viewfinder, which is really nice, and the other speeds up the panning speed of the viewfinder, which I found less than helpful because it made it too fast to control easily. The game could have benefitted from analog control if they really wanted to dicker with the speed, I guess. For now I just avoid that powerup (hint: don't snap a shot of Spidey).
    
 
references:
· Gekibo 2 (PS2)

 
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