First off I want start by saying Cowboy Bebop is one of my favorite anime series of all time. To me it is the perfect blend  of action, humor, drama, and sci-fi. So when I saw that there was a PlayStation 1 game based on the show I had to play it even though the game was in Japanese. Boy was that a mistake, A BIG mistake. It being in Japanese wasn't the part that bothered me seeing as the game was only released in Japan. No, the part that bothered me was the game itself. The game really isn't based on the show at all except in the title and character names. I was expecting to play the game just like I remember the show being like. And the show had the main characters taking on bounty hunting jobs and try to catch various bounties. Well in the game you get that but in the form of an on-rail space shooter a la Star Fox. That wouldn't have been so bad if they mixed it up with beat 'em up like stages as well. Well enough with the intro on to the scores and see why I cannot recommend this game no matter how big of a Cowboy Bebop fan you are.

   Difficulty 1: Yeah its a 1. The game is to easy to play through. The controls are very tight and responsive but its marred down by it not being challenging enough. Wish it was harder bet it is not.

   Depth 2: Game is not really that long. I ran through it in like 4 hours. I wish I could have said it was a very deep and rewarding experience I cannot.

   Story 3: As I mentioned before if there is a story different from the show I do not know what it is because I do not speak Japanese. Also it was never released outside of Japan so there is no translation anywhere that I could find on line that might have helped me through.

   Addictiveness 2: I rate it as a 2 for how addicting it is. Once I beat the game I have no desire to ever go back and play through it again ever.

   Sound 10: Sound is perfect. The sound for the game is done by Yoko Kanno who also did the sounds and music for the series. To me the game is a pure joy to listen to. Wish I had the soundtrack from the game so I could listen to it all the time.

   Graphics 4: I put the graphics as a 4. They aren't good, but they aren't bad either. I did notice a few graphical glitches here and there but noting that would break the game or anything.

   Overall 1: Over all I rate the game 1/10. There is nothing redeeming of the game out side of the sound. Stay away from this one at all costs. Whether you are a mediocre fan or big fan of the series like I am just say away from it. I know in my Superman 64 review that it was the worst game I have ever played. Well this game is worst. In fact I would rather play Superman 64 just to get the bad experience I had with Cowboy Bebop: The Game out of my mind. And believe me that is not really saying a whole lot.
  
      Final Thoughts: My final thoughts are that I wish the game had been released here in the sates that way I could have followed the story a bit better then what I did. I would have like the game to have more depth then what it did. The difficulty could have been increased some more. The graphics could have been polished a lot more then what I saw. Could have been more addicting then what it was. So as I said before fan or not just stay away from the game.

I like Cowboy Bebop, but UGH this is one of those games that didn't age well at all. Looking at the screenshots makes me queasy. You're braver than me!

While highly negative, you did a good job at saying why you did not like the game rather than rant about it. You even admitted your shortcomings in your review (you do not speak Japanese and couldn not follow the story) which is commandable.

Now, even though your main focus was comparing the game with the series, you could have also compared it with other games as to show how it stands, technically speaking.

Janus, would you stop following me from every post i write on? its kinda creepy.