DC 52 Weeks

[Rev. Rob]

On another forum that I frequent more often than this one, I've been writing an article on one Dreamcast game per week to celebrate 10 years of Dreamcast gaming. I intend to write 52 articles total, one for each week of the year. Since I also frequent this forum often, and because this is one of the coolest videogame forums I've ever found, I thought you guys might enjoy these as well. So, I decided to post them here as well, albeit a few weeks behind. I figure this is the forum for this. Since Dreamcast is 10 years old, I think we can officially call it retro.

 

This is Dreamcast Game of the Week: Crazy Taxi - Week 1

 

Dreamcast Game of the Week

 

Until this time next year, I am going to create one thread per week highlighting one Dreamcast game in celebration of one of my all time favorite game consoles. Everyone is welcome to post one of their own, provided that their wasn't already posted.

 

Crazy Taxi

Released: February 1, 2000

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: Hitmaker

 

 

 

The first time I saw this game was in a movie theater. It was $1 to play, and I spend about $5 on it. I don't think there was anything like this before with a feeling of being able to drive anywhere in a 3D city.

 

The graphics were cutting edge at the time. Clearly better looking than the PSOne or N64 of the day. I really enjoyed the punk soundtrack. If I recall, that was one of the things that drew me to the arcade cabinet. I heard The Offspring and thought, "What game is this coming from?"

 

Crazy Taxi really had that old school feel to it of trying to beat your previous high score. Once it finally came out for Dreamcast, as soon as I got used to playing with a controller, I was getting farther and farther in the game, making more and more money, and earning those Class A licenses.

 

This was also one the first games where real brands were used. "Take me to Pizza Hut." My understanding is, however, that Sega did this the opposite of how in game licensing is done now. Sega paid companies for the rights to use their names and logos, as opposed to getting paid for the advertising.

 

Released in February 2000, this was one of the first big games to come out for the Dreamcast since the launch, and provided much needed sales and excitement for Sega.

 

Since it was released, two sequels have been made, Crazy Taxi games have appeared on Gamecube, Xbox, Gameboy Advance, Playstation 2, PSP, and PC.

 

I didn't care much for Crazy Taxi 2 or 3, and I can't really see how a game like that would have any real success outside of the arcade world or an XBLA type service these days. In its time, it was a beacon of brilliance.

 

[oldjd]

Im not real big into the newest stuff,but this game I did play

I have to admit it was a cool game,but I liked it more for the release of hostility I got...passengers getting mad and jumping out was cool.

[Rev. Rob]

Dreamcast Game of the Week, Week 2

 

So, two down, 52 to go. I just checked, and I only own 34 Dreamcast games. I guess now I have a good excuse to pick some more up.

 

Released: September 30, 2000

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: Midway

Developer: Midway

Genre: Racing

 

I don't like racing games. There, I said it. No matter how hard they try, even in the arcade, it just doesn't feel like driving to me. When I was a kid I always thought I would like this genre more after I learned how to drive. Nope, my feelings didn't change, and that's what makes Rush: 2049 so great. It's nothing like real driving.

 

The game has three major modes:

• Racing
  
• Stunt
  
• Battle
  

 

There were several racing modes, the details of which I don't care to go into great detail about, but there's regular racing for you and up to four friends, a circuit mode, a ghost mode in which you race your previous record, and stuff like that.

 

Racing

 

Racing on the tracks in this game is pretty fun. The whole way to win and get ahead isn't be flawlessly turning each corner and being in the right gear at the right time (gag me), it's by finding awesome shortcuts and ramps that lead through, subway stations, over buildings, trough buildings, and around Sonic the Hedgehog style loop de loos.

 

Because the game takes place in the futuristic and far off year of 2049, the vehicles are not sims of current models. Some are equipped with jet engines. The best part is that all are equipped with wings that can be deployed for added hang time. Did I mention this game is fun?

 

Screw up big enough by landing a jump upside down, or smashing into a wall at 300 kph, and your car will explode. That usually sucks in most games, but not here. No, no. No matter what, if you blow or, or just take the wrong turn, you can hit an instant "Abort" button which gets you right back in the race, saving valuable seconds that would elost in any average racing game.

 

There are a lot of unlockables in this game that can be obtained by collecting gold or silver coins. This added a lot of replay value and really gives Rush 2049 something that most other racing games don't have, an incentive to explore. The thing is, by exploring you also find out the good shortcuts, which leads to better races.

 

Battle Mode and Stunt Mode

 

I am not usually a fan of vehicular combat, but the Battle Mode is kind of fun, especially with four players. It's standard fare. You are placed in an area with ramps, obstacles and cover. There are various power-up scattered through out that inflict damage in various way or provide defenses. Blow up the greatest number of other players, and you win.

 

Stunt mode is just a blast, again, especially with more than one player. I've spend hours messing around with this in two player mode. Basically, you're in an arena and the objective is to pull off insane stunts by jumping up rams, deploying wings, and doing somersaults, corkscrews, and back flips. Doing this well, and landing it, score points. If a high number of points are scored, another stunt room is opened up. It's great fun, really.

 

Midway did release another "Rush" game, LA Rush, but it sucked because it was just another stupid racing game.

 

My only disappointment is that this game didn't have an online mode. Racing, battling, and stunting online with four to eight players would've been a blast. It sure was a memorable gaming experience offline.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5_STF9UzXo

 

Box:

[StanJr]

These are fun! Thank you for sharing. This will be a great way for me to get to know the DC better and maybe discover a few new favorites!

 

Any chance you'll do a piece on Sonic Shuffle? I'd love to compare notes on your impression of the game vs. mine!

 

[Rev. Rob]

These are fun! Thank you for sharing. This will be a great way for me to get to know the DC better and maybe discover a few new favorites!

 

Any chance you'll do a piece on Sonic Shuffle? I'd love to compare notes on your impression of the game vs. mine!

 

 

There's a good chance. I've got 47 more to write.

[Video]

I had a demo disc with Rush on it, and I played it a hella lot, to bad it's so hard to find DC stuff IRL

[Rev. Rob]

So, last week I said "two down, 52 to go," and no one corrected me. So, now it's really three down, and 49 to go. I am trying not to do all of my favorite games at once, I still have the better part of a year to go.

 

Dreamcast Game of the Week, Week 3: NFL 2K1

Released: September 5, 2000

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: Visual Concepts

Genre: Sports

 

When the Dreamcast launched on 9.9.99, one thing that it brought back was something that had been missing since the days of the Genesis: Sega Sports. Sega Sports was a pretty well known name brand that once faced off against juggernaut EA.

 

With Sega's acquisition of Visual Concepts, they were sure to have a sports product to compete with the likes of the Madden NFL franchise. However, we all know that wouldn't be the case as EA refused to publish games for Dreamcast, for reasons that probably will never be known. One interview with Bing Gordon states that EA didn't understand the chip set that Dreamcast used, and refused to learn a new one, and others say that EA simply lost faith in Sega (too simple of an answer, if you ask me).

 

EA's stand-offishness attitude on the Dreamcast elevated the Sega Sports vs. EA Sports rivalry into something different. It became more than a rivalry between which brand of football game was better, it was about which company was better, which console was better.

 

In my mind, there's no doubt that NFL 2K1 crushes Madden NFL 2001. I am not a fan of sports in general, and that trickles down to me not being a fan of sports games in general. However, with the hype surrounding NFL 2K1 when it came out, I had to give it a try, and I liked what I saw. Sure, it was football, but it was fun. So, when NFL 2K1 released in September of 2000, I was ready and waiting to play it.

 

The game looked great, it played great, and the VMU was fucking great when playing what an opponent next to you, so they couldn't see your plays. But what really makes NFL 2K1 worth writing about is that it was the first online gaming experience that many gamers had at that time, and it was a success.

 

In retrospect, I am more amazed now at what Sega was able to pull off with a 56K dial-up modem than I was then. This wasn't Chu Chu Rocket (which will probably be a DCGW later on), this was a very graphically intensive game with what was, at the time, some really cool audio.

 

Gamers went online, ended up in a lobby, set up a game in one of several modes, and then you were in. This game didn't support voice chat, that would come later on with Alien Front Online, but you could use a keyboard, which was pretty cheap and a lot of people had them.

 

I didn't even know that there was a "Coach Mode" in the game until I was at a friend's house and someone asked, "coach mode, cool?" He joined the game and quickly left after realizing what he had agreed to.

 

That was the same day that I realized how popular Dricas Gaming had become. I had contributed to DricasWorld.com for years, but the owner realized that there was an oversight in Sega's online plans. There was no ranking system. So, he created a website to rank the best players. When I was at my friend's place, the "coach mode, cool" guy was the only one willing to play him because everyone else said, "r u dricas?" and refused to play him because he wasn't a member of Dricas Gaming.

 

Those were good days, the budding of online game communities brought together through online gaming; the console game becoming a social activity even when you're alone at home. Gaming communities online really became expanded to not the kinds of people who went to game forums before, but everyone.

 

Dreamcast really helped to bring gaming mainstream in a whole new way, thanks to being an internet ready console out of the box, and NFL 2K1 will always embody the beginnings of that to me.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGar8CKdfw0

Edited October 17, 2009 by Rev. Rob

[StanJr]

2K1 was really good, but it was Madden's bling bling flashy cousin who goes home at night and beats his wife. Sure you want to know him, be like and hang out with him. He's drinking Cristal and riding in his Bentley and has all the hot chicks on his jock, but at the end of the day his life is hollow and in shambles. What my long metaphor is getting at is, NFL2K1 was great for people who wanted to play football without having to know a lot of X's and O's and wanted shiny new graphics, but it simply couldn't match Madden's depth or complexity. I think there is an audience for both, but I was already firmly planted in the Madden crowd and NFL2K1 didn't offer me anything spectacular over what I was already playing.

 

Nice write up, thanks for sharing!

[Rev. Rob]

2K1 was really good, but it was Madden's bling bling flashy cousin who goes home at night and beats his wife. Sure you want to know him, be like and hang out with him. He's drinking Cristal and riding in his Bentley and has all the hot chicks on his jock, but at the end of the day his life is hollow and in shambles. What my long metaphor is getting at is, NFL2K1 was great for people who wanted to play football without having to know a lot of X's and O's and wanted shiny new graphics, but it simply couldn't match Madden's depth or complexity. I think there is an audience for both, but I was already firmly planted in the Madden crowd and NFL2K1 didn't offer me anything spectacular over what I was already playing.

 

Nice write up, thanks for sharing!

 

Online multiplayer!!

[StanJr]

Oh I get that, but at the time I was a dial-up man living in a cable internet world with my only football friend living about 1/4 mile away, so I just went over to his house to play it. I definitely understand the appeal for others that feature brings.

[Video]

Awesome review dude, and I agree, NFL 2k series was a great game, especially if you didn't want the overly complex stuff that Madden had at the time. Ultimately though, we know what happened, NFL 2k became a big enough threat, that EA went out and bought the rights to NFL, for something like a 5 year contract. Sega could make football, but at that point, they couldn't make NFL football (and as that's in the name, that kinda screwed them) I'm a quick 'get in and play' person myself, don't care about setting up shit, or seasonal stuff or antyi8ng like that, so NFL2k was a great game in my eyes (didn't even know it had an online mode) Me and some friends still occasionally play it, and I like to use it as an 8 ball to see who will win the next game, cause one feature this had that other games didn't, was a computer vs computer mode, that looked amazingly realistic for it's time.

 

Anyhow, great series...maybe I'll bust it out again tonight.

[Rev. Rob]

Dreamcast Game of the Week, Week 4: Seaman

 

I wasn't planning to do Seaman until later on. It's questionable whether or not it's even really a game, but I just couldn't get that fish face out of my mind.

 

Released: August 8, 2000

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: Vivarium

Genre: Simulation

 

Seaman is a shining example of the innovation that Sega and Dreamcast stood for in 2000. They were forging ahead by making Dreamcast the gamer's game machine, partially through embracing unique new approaches to games, including Space Channel 5, Phantasy Star Online, Jet Grind Radio, and Seaman.

 

My first experience with this "game" was at E3 2000. It was a very pissed-off and odd looking fish-man-hybrid. Convention goers had been tapping on the glass and flicking him all day. He wasn't saying anything interesting, despite the booth guys saying that he would if he weren't so pissed.

 

My first though was, "this isn't the type of game that usually gets released in the US." Sega had a lot they were showing off that didn't get a US release, or released at all, including a Sega branded stand alone DVD player, an Iomega zip drive that docked beneath the Dreamcast, and the Dreameye, an Eye Toy type concept that never came to full fruition. I thought Seaman might not make it to the US, just like each of these products.

 

I was wrong. Later that year Seaman saw a domestic release, complete with pack-in microphone.

 

Getting the game started was something else. It took me a while to realize that I had to get the nautilus to eat the little spermazoa looking critters. Thanks be to Lenard Nimoy's constant advice on the start up screen. Once you get the hang of it, you raise one Seaman through their various stages of development to adulthood.

 

To keep them healthy, the temperature and oxygen levels must be monitored, requiring players to login once a day. They have to be fed too; you start out with food pellets and then cultivate larva in a moth cage. Run out of larva and moths, and the game is over.

 

The poop-slinging creatures don't talk much at first. As they mature, the game allows for more conversation. Seaman will never really have interactive conversations with you. At various points, about once per 24 hours, he will ask questions, at which point a pre-programmed conversation can take place. Outside of these events, they don't talk much. However, they are programmed to respond to specific words and phrases. Despite that, it was still cool to talk to your TV screen. My then-four year old thought so too, when I broke it out for him to play with a year ago.

 

As with Highlander, there can be only one. Whether you start off with four, five, or six gillmen, you will only have by the end of the game, as they will kill each other off, (cold-blooded murder before your very eyes), as the game progresses. There's

nothing quite like talking to one of them and another comes along and kills him with the same member that they use to have sex with and shit with.

 

By the end of the game, Seaman is out of pre-programmed conversations. You can keep him around like that if you want, but you're given the choice to release him. Once you let him go, that's it - nothing more to do.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MqvIHxkQo

 

 

Box:

[Video]

Seaman was a coolish Idea for what was then the hot market of virtual pets. I mean, it was right around the same time Tomogotchi was huge. I seem to remember he'd have a funny reaction if you said "Nintendo"

 

I never got the game myself. Never saw one for sale, and only got to play with it at a friends house on vacation once, but it's one of those games it's not really fun once you've accomplished all the rather limited things you could do with it. Sure, you could see how long you could keep the dude alive, but that was about it.

 

As for the accessories, yeah, it pissed me off that so many came out that never made it to the US, odly enough, I don't think the DVD drive ever came out at all, and it was the one piece Sega had to have if they planned to keep going with the dreamcast....after all, it was the one thing that allowed the PS2 to stay afloat the first year or two it was out (that and full BC with the PSX)

 

Anyhow, Seaman, still want it, it's one of those interesting "WTF" type of games. But I don't expect it to hold interest very long...

[Rev. Rob]

Seaman was a coolish Idea for what was then the hot market of virtual pets. I mean, it was right around the same time Tomogotchi was huge. I seem to remember he'd have a funny reaction if you said "Nintendo"

 

I never got the game myself. Never saw one for sale, and only got to play with it at a friends house on vacation once, but it's one of those games it's not really fun once you've accomplished all the rather limited things you could do with it. Sure, you could see how long you could keep the dude alive, but that was about it.

 

As for the accessories, yeah, it pissed me off that so many came out that never made it to the US, odly enough, I don't think the DVD drive ever came out at all, and it was the one piece Sega had to have if they planned to keep going with the dreamcast....after all, it was the one thing that allowed the PS2 to stay afloat the first year or two it was out (that and full BC with the PSX)

 

Anyhow, Seaman, still want it, it's one of those interesting "WTF" type of games. But I don't expect it to hold interest very long...

 

You can probably find a copy on eBay for pretty cheap. Once you're done with the "game" aspect, you're right, there's nothing left to do. I just let mine go, or let him die.

 

You're right about the DVD player. It was a "SEGA" branded DVD player that was stand alone, and never released. I wish I could find my pictures from that E3. It was before I had a digital camera. I did read that in the UK Sega was bundling Dreamcasts with some other brand of DVD player when the PS2 came out. I think you're also right about the DVD functionality sustaining the PS2 market for the first year.

[StanJr]

This is my first knowledge of this game, what an insane concept. It's like a virtual pet on crack. Now, I must own this.

 

Thanks, Rob!

[Giltygear]

I had a 10 minute conversation with Seaman when it was all grown up. after that the novelty wore off for me. a week later i fired it up again to see what it was up to, and leonard nimoy told me "your seaman has died"

 

::turns system off::

[Kripto]

Any intention to cover Propeller Arena? Although Hydro Thunder was my favorite.

Edited October 26, 2009 by Kripto

[Rev. Rob]

This is my first knowledge of this game, what an insane concept. It's like a virtual pet on crack. Now, I must own this.

 

Thanks, Rob!

 

Thank you.

 

Any intention to cover Propeller Arena?

 

Yes, this game definitely on my list. I really like(d) it. Plus there's an interesting conversation to be had about its release, or lack thereof. Look for it around the middle of the 52 weeks. Maybe I'll bump it up on my priority list, though, since you mentioned it.

Edited October 26, 2009 by Rev. Rob

[Rev. Rob]

"No! Not G. How could this happen."

"I don't wanna die."

"My God."

"Don't come, don't come."

 

Those are just a few of the groaningly awful lines from today's DCGW.

 

Dreamcast Game of the Week, Week 5: The Typing of the Dead

Released: January 24, 2001

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: SEGA

Genre: Keyboard Action

 

The House of the Dead 2 is pretty well known among gamers. This arcade shooter turned Dreamcast launch title was the next progression of the original House of the Dead, a light gun shooter on rails in a world being taken over by zombies where everyone speaks in the worst imaginable dialog. So, you can see why I was so excited when, seemingly out of the blue, Sega announced The Typing of the Dead.

 

The Typing of the Dead, for those who haven't heard of it, is a clone, a hack of The House of the Dead 2. The game is the same. The character's lines are just as bad. You're still on rails. There's just one difference. Instead of wielding guns, the player characters have a special Dreamcast backpack, to which a keyboard is strapped. You know, words are not enough to describe this, so just take a look:

 

 

That says it all, doesn't it?

 

To play the game, a Dreamcast compatible keyboard is required. I had one already, because I used my Dreamcast to surf the net until I got my first computer in late 1999. However, they were cheap then and are much cheaper now. About the only thing they're good for these days is playing this game. I recommend owning two keyboards for multiplayer action.

 

The enemies on screen are defeated by typing a character, a word, or phrase. So, instead of winning by being a great shot, you win by being a fast an accurate typists. As you type the word or phrase, the correct characters come off of the screen. Be sure to watch the screen as you type, because if you miss one, that's the only way to know where you left off.

 

As I mentioned, this game is good to go for two players. In that mode, each enemy has the word or phrase that kills them displayed thrice, once for player one, and once for player two, and once just for reference. Here's a tip: Never, ever start typing the same phrase as your partner, because then you're duplicating effort, and there's usually other threats on the screen.

 

Here's another picture to show how this looks in single player:

 

 

This is a great game to bust out with people who've never seen anything like it. It's surprisingly fun, and hilarious to watch body parts fly off as characters are typed. It's an interesting party games, especially today.

 

Happy Halloween!

 

YouTube Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNfQ_B6_xy8

 

Box:

Edited October 31, 2009 by Rev. Rob

[Video]

Surprisingly good game, and I bought it as sorta a typing tutor. I used to type slow as hell before playing that game. Not tat I'm much faster now, but I'm still a lot better because of it....didn't know it was two playered though, I'll have to dig out the other keyboard now.

[Rev. Rob]

Surprisingly good game, and I bought it as sorta a typing tutor. I used to type slow as hell before playing that game. Not tat I'm much faster now, but I'm still a lot better because of it....didn't know it was two playered though, I'll have to dig out the other keyboard now.

 

Highly quotable too.

[Rev. Rob]

Dreamcast Game of the Week, Week 6

 

Shenmue seems to be either a game that you love or you hate, with most people falling into the latter camp, but not me. I enjoyed it for what it was and not for what it was hyped to be. Since Ryo Hazuki is about to appear in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, I thought this would be the perfect time to make Shenmue the Dreamcast Game of the Week.

 

Shenmue: Limited Edition

Released: November 7, 2000

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: SEGA

Developer: AM2

Genre: F.R.E.E.

 

The first time I saw Shenmue was at E3 2000. The Sega booth was a party. Literally, they had Beer kegs. On the walls were Space Channel 5 go-go dancers (hot scantily clad Asian chicks) dancing in cages and on poles. It was exciting. Everyone was standing around the main stage waiting for Yu Suzuki to come out and give a personal demonstration of Shenmue. It was a rock concert atmosphere.

 

I don't even remember what he said. But what stands out is that when he took control of Ryo, walked into his room and turned on the light switch, the crowd went ballistic. Like Kirk Hammett just busted out an insane guitar solo.

 

Looking back, obviously the ability to turn off light, open drawers and sleep aren't that impressive. I guess that wasn't so much the point. The point was immersion; for a game to be as immersive as possible without being a "sandbox" game (which also didn't exist yet).

 

See, the point of Shenmue wasn't to be a go anywhere do anything kind of game that Grand Theft Auto would later come to represent. It was to tell a narrative, like an RPG, but to give the player more free roaming ability and control over action.

 

Yu Suzuki considered this to be a new game genre that he called "F.R.E.E." or Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment. (Talk about a stretch for an acronym!) Shenmue is not really a totally new genre. It's an adventure game at its core with action elements and QTEs thrown in for good measure. There's even a stealth element that I thought was pretty fun.

 

Now on to the game...

 

In the beginning, Ryo Hazuki wittinesses the dramatic murder of his father, Iwao Hazuki, at the hands of Lan Di, an evil Chinese dude. The game picks up a few weeks later as Ryo embarks on a quest so solve the mystery of his father's murder. It's a kung-fu mystery game. Ryo collects clues a by talking to the locals, of which there are many.

 

At this point the game is often criticized for a lack of distinction between characters, specifically limited dialog and some not-so-great voice acting. The line "Do you know where I can find sailors?" has been the butt of many jokes. But hey, this was nine years ago, and the development began something like 15 years ago, so I don't really hold it against them.

 

Shenmue is full of atmosphere. I remember, as I played the game in Phoenix, Arizona, where it never snows, it was cold and snowing in Sakuragaoka, Japan. I could smell the crisp air and almost feel the freshness of it on my face.

 

Ryo had relationships, with several of the locals, with his brother, and most notably with Nazomi. Who can forget that awesome Dreamcast commercial? Probably the best one ever.

 

The fighting is the move fun to be had in the game. Fortunately, it's a pretty competent fighting system. This is a game developed by AM2, who are also the team behind Virtua Fighter, so they knew what they were doing. Sometimes walking in an empty field to practice was fun in its own.

 

Perhaps the most criticized aspect of Shenmue was being forced to have a job. Driving the forklift sucked. There's no doubt about it. Also, I sucked at it. All the time I got stuck clipping on walls. I hated it.

 

In between fighting, working, QTEs, and looking for the next lead in the mystery of you father, there's plenty to do in Shenmue. My favorite was to find an arcade and play Space Harrier or QTE Title. I was awesome at QTE Title. I wasn't the best, though. When I put in the "Shenmue Passport" disc to see my rankings, people always had maxed out numbers. I suspect they were Gamesharked, though.

 

Aside from games, plenty of people went around buying and selling trinkets, like Sega figures, and music tapes. Special soda cans could even be redeemed for prizes. I never really got into that. The Limited Edition version of Shenmue does come with a music CD that contains the Jukebox music. There was also plenty of gambling to be had.

 

Remembering Shenmue, this was a pretty damn good game. These days few games even attempt to draw a solitary player in with a story. More and more it's about coop, or online play, or an open sandbox environment. I miss the adventure genre, and Shenmue was a damn good adventure. In fact, I think it's about time that I play through it again.

 

Shenmue "Nazomi" commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k40L30YjDQ

 

Box Front:

 

Official Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf-MK4599A8

 

Did I mention that the soundtrack is awesome?

[StanJr]

My wife LOVES Shenmue and we have the sequel, but I don't think she has completed it yet.

 

I think the minutia of the game is what turns me off, I don't want to play a game where I have to feed the cat and work the job, all the while I'm trying to solve a murder and fight people. I get the immersion factor and I love games with such atmosphere, but I don't know that Shenmue is for me. I may give it a try one day since you seem so enamored with it, Rob.

 

Great post!

[Rev. Rob]

My wife LOVES Shenmue and we have the sequel, but I don't think she has completed it yet.

 

I think the minutia of the game is what turns me off, I don't want to play a game where I have to feed the cat and work the job, all the while I'm trying to solve a murder and fight people. I get the immersion factor and I love games with such atmosphere, but I don't know that Shenmue is for me. I may give it a try one day since you seem so enamored with it, Rob.

 

Great post!

 

The in game job was not the most fun think I've ever done in a game. Fortunately, I think it was only like five game days that you had to do it. In Shenmue II, the job was pretty much optional. There were other ways of making money, and you didn't have to show up every day.

 

Other small things, like feeding the cat, which you brought up, you don't have to do. It's your choice if you want to have a relationship with that cat. I pretty much ignored it.

[Rev. Rob]

Dreamcast Game of the Week, Week 7

 

StarLancer

Released: November 28, 2000

Platform: Dreamcast

Publisher: Crave Entertainment

Developer: Warthog/Digital Anvil

Genre: Space Combat Simulation

 

 

While all of my Dreamcast friends were off playing NFL2K1 online, I was tearing shit up with StarLancer, which is easily one of the best games in its gene in the last decade, and hands down the best game of its kind of ever grace a home console. I'm still waiting for a game to be this good on a home console.

 

So, where to begin? StarLancer Is a flight sim, but it's a flight sim in space. You know what that means? You don't need to worry about gravity, there's to ground, and you can travel in any direction. What's more is that it's a combat game, so you're guaranteed action, and lots of it, because again, you're in space, there's no "ground" to be rendered so they can use all of the system resources for more bad guys and better AI. The game is just beautiful.

 

The basic gist of the plot is that there are two warring factions in the solar system, the Alliance and the Coalition. After a great many years of fighting, a peace treaty is signed. But anytime a military conglomeration takes the name "The Coalition," they can almost never be trusted (plus, they speak in Russian accents). The Coalition double-crosses the alliance, which in turn retreats to Neptune. They're desperate for recruits, so you're the best they can come up with. This whole plot is told through a computer generated cut scene. It's worth mentioning that the voice acting is pretty good. The pre-rendered scenes are par for the day.

 

Once you get into the campaign, you begin with a basic ship as a member of the 45th squadron. Missions vary in difficulty as the game goes on. Mission objective vary as well. They range from the standard "kill everyone" to scavenger hunts, to the usually frustrating "babysitting" mission in which you have to prevent another craft from being destroyed by taking out missiles, to very specific objectives, like take out the cannons on this asteroid, or destroy these supplies.

 

As the missions go on, the variety of ships and weapons increases, each with their own set of weaknesses and strengths. All ships have shields, but some have better shields. Some ships also have armor in case the shields fail. Some are faster, some are less agile, and some can carry more weapons. Basic stuff. Towards the end of the game, you'll get a ship that has a cloaking device, which is pretty much required for the last mission to be successful. Of course, you can also customize your weapons between missions. What kind of a game would it be without that?

 

One touch that I liked is the news reports that display between missions. These reports would vary depending on the outcome of the mission, and the level of success. By the end of the game, your 45th squadron is essentially famous.

 

StarLancer was a PC game. Usually a reviewer would take this time to bitch that the complex keyboard controls translate horribly to a console controller, and therefore the entire game is ruined. I'm not going to do that, because I found the controls to be intuitive and precise. I had no trouble manipulating my craft on any axis, X, Y, or Z. And I had no problem tearing it up in the game or online against other players.

 

Basic features that we've come to expect from this genre are present, such as the ability to change camera angles, or give orders to other members of the squadron.

 

Online play was a blast. There were several modes of play that the person setting up the game lobby could choose from. Most games where straight up death match, in which the objective is to have the highest number of kills. I was undefeated. This could be spiced up by the presence of torrents on asteroids, or by items that can be collected in play field, like extra missiles.

 

Two other modes of play that stand out in my mind were vampire and tag (I might be off on the exact names of these modes of play). In vampire, one person was cloaked, but had no shields. You could only score points if you made a kill while being the vampire. You could only be the vampire of you kill the vampire. In tag, there's a bomb. To pass the bomb to another person, you need to shoot them. Whoever has the bomb when the timer expires, dies. Whoever passed the bomb gets the point.

 

Unfortunately, there were never that many people who played StarLancer, but for a while there were usually a couple games with eight people in them at any given time. In the end I would just create a room and sit for 10 minutes until someone else joined. Eventually, no one else ever came.

 

Even without the online component, StarLancer is an amazing game. It's fun, interesting, there's a challenge, and it looks great. Thanks be to the Roberts brothers (creators of Wing Commander), and Digital Anvil for creating this game. I loved it, and I still do.

 

Here's a video showcasing a combat scene. The player's view is from behind his ship (I preferred the cockpit view):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAWOIE6H-Iw

 

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