Nobody does crazy games better than the Japanese and Chu Chu Rocket is all kinds of crazy! But good crazy, the fluffy type you can share and play with. And seeing as this was the Dreamcasts first ever online puzzle game it was most definately most fun when shared.
It was developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2000 and was given away free (thats correct FREE) to players in Europe if they sent their details to DreamArena, the Dreamcasts online home hub, which was a major thumbs up to this quirky little puzzler.
Essentially all the player had to do was get the ChuChus (space mice) into rockets before the KapuKapus (space cats, obviously) could chomp down on the frightened critters. You led them with down/up/left/right arrows (configured on the joypad buttons) and played against three opponents either computer controlled or, and this was the BIG FIRST, against other humans who could be anywhere in Europe. Chalk up yet another first for Team Dreamcast.
I shall put my hand up here and admit that although I owned ChuChu Rocket back when it was released, shamefully my copy was hardly played. I was too enthralled by the fighters and shooters on offer at the time but Ive picked it up again and after hammering it last night I must say I should really have paid more attention first time around. Its such a cool game! Very addictive and looks wise it hits the spot too, all candy colours and a 'bubbly' kind of feel. As I watched the Chuchus run in terror from those pesky KapuKapus I thought to myself, 'this looks great!' Even in the day of next gen gaming.
I don't care that others think this has a 2D look, they're wrong. Simple as that. And this sells for a measly £1 on auction sites and if you were to ignore it at that price then you would be wrong too. Fabulous fun.
On 9th September 1999, Sega released a new console to an excited public, the now legendary Dreamcast. Many would argue the first in Next Gen visuals, and online gaming, the Dreamcast was overtaken by Playstation2 but never forgotten. To this day, a decade on, it is still a powerful force in the gaming world. This is my tribute to the console and games, where a poet becomes fanboy.
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Spiderman
Spiderman was released on Sega Dreamcast on April 19th 2001 by developers Neversoft and Treyarch and publishers Activision. I originally played it on the Playstation and loved it, and now having recently acquired it again for the Dreamcast im re loving the Arachnid Wonder once more.
The story revolves around Spiderman being framed by Doctor Octavius (or Doc Ock) for stealing one of his 'experiments' which results in a manhunt for the web slinger by the entire NYC Police Department. And thats only for starters! Pretty much every superhero and villain makes an appearance during the game (full list below) and each has a part tied in with story. Its very nicely done and everything comes across as comic story which YOU take part in. Or thats what it felt for this Spiderman fanatic.
Controls are simple, and swinging from building to building is as fluid as...well a fluidy thing. A quick tap on the shoulder button enables you to target a specific wall part/object to web sling to. Its all very simple, however one thing I did notice was the controls for the Dreamcast version 'feel' different to that of the Playstation. The targetting was more fiddly but whether thats because I played it more on Sony's box of tricks is open for debate. They're not that different so as to spoil this cool game.
Visually its not too shabby either but there are obvious limitations due to the consoles age. One example is the mysterious green fog which seems to have swallowed the streets far below because the player is only ever able to see the top half of skyscrapers, never the hustle and bustle below. The machine would never have had the power like todays Playstation 3 to display both busy streets and towering buildings so they included the green fog to solve the problem. And Neversoft cleverly wrote it into the story which is explained nicely as you play the game. Well done devs!
Eventhough playing Spiderman today it shows its age (hey we all get old) its still a playable title due to the huge list of cool characters on offer. Plus there are a few neat extras too like collecting original comic covers and unlocking different suits for Spidey to wear.
The big downside to Spiderman on the Dreamcast is its pretty tough to get hold of a copy, and harder still to get it at a reasonable price. Ive seen it sell for upward of £15 which only a hardcore Spiderman collector could justify spending. I was fortunate to have got my copy for £4 however and thats a price more accurate for this game. Well worth a purchase at the right price. 7/10
Villains in the game -
Scorpion (not actually part of 'the plan')
Rhino
Venom (was played against Spider-Man by Spider-Man imposter)
Lizard (Not a boss in game but gives information about Mary Jane where she is held at)
Mysterio
Doctor Octopus
Carnage
Monster-Ock (Mixture of Doc Ock and Carnage symbiote)
Superheroes featured -
Spiderman (natch)
Black Cat
The Human Torch
Daredevil
The Punisher
Captain America
The villians play a bigger part due to the fact you must battle them. The heroes only appear in cut scenes.
The story revolves around Spiderman being framed by Doctor Octavius (or Doc Ock) for stealing one of his 'experiments' which results in a manhunt for the web slinger by the entire NYC Police Department. And thats only for starters! Pretty much every superhero and villain makes an appearance during the game (full list below) and each has a part tied in with story. Its very nicely done and everything comes across as comic story which YOU take part in. Or thats what it felt for this Spiderman fanatic.
Controls are simple, and swinging from building to building is as fluid as...well a fluidy thing. A quick tap on the shoulder button enables you to target a specific wall part/object to web sling to. Its all very simple, however one thing I did notice was the controls for the Dreamcast version 'feel' different to that of the Playstation. The targetting was more fiddly but whether thats because I played it more on Sony's box of tricks is open for debate. They're not that different so as to spoil this cool game.
Visually its not too shabby either but there are obvious limitations due to the consoles age. One example is the mysterious green fog which seems to have swallowed the streets far below because the player is only ever able to see the top half of skyscrapers, never the hustle and bustle below. The machine would never have had the power like todays Playstation 3 to display both busy streets and towering buildings so they included the green fog to solve the problem. And Neversoft cleverly wrote it into the story which is explained nicely as you play the game. Well done devs!
Eventhough playing Spiderman today it shows its age (hey we all get old) its still a playable title due to the huge list of cool characters on offer. Plus there are a few neat extras too like collecting original comic covers and unlocking different suits for Spidey to wear.
The big downside to Spiderman on the Dreamcast is its pretty tough to get hold of a copy, and harder still to get it at a reasonable price. Ive seen it sell for upward of £15 which only a hardcore Spiderman collector could justify spending. I was fortunate to have got my copy for £4 however and thats a price more accurate for this game. Well worth a purchase at the right price. 7/10
Villains in the game -
Scorpion (not actually part of 'the plan')
Rhino
Venom (was played against Spider-Man by Spider-Man imposter)
Lizard (Not a boss in game but gives information about Mary Jane where she is held at)
Mysterio
Doctor Octopus
Carnage
Monster-Ock (Mixture of Doc Ock and Carnage symbiote)
Superheroes featured -
Spiderman (natch)
Black Cat
The Human Torch
Daredevil
The Punisher
Captain America
The villians play a bigger part due to the fact you must battle them. The heroes only appear in cut scenes.
Monday 10 May 2010
Silent Scope
Ah Konami! Everyone loves Konami! At least they ought to if they claim to have a love for videogames. They truly are one of gamings greatest publishers/developers, and when they announced they would be porting the highly successful arcade title Silent Scope onto the Dreamcast gamers the world over exhaled a collective sigh of relief because we knew Konami would score a direct hit (to keep it in sniper-speak.)
Silent Scope arrived on November 17th, 2000, which suprised me as I thought I remembered it as one of the Dreamcasts launch titles but a quick spot of research shows me to be mistaken.
Nevertheless I do recall the excitement I felt as previews and screenshots of the game appeared in magazines (internet wasn't so popular back then), and I vividly remember wanting to get my hands on it ASAP. It looked so cool.
Okay, what type of game is it? Its another on-rails shooter, this time putting the player in the shoes of a highly trained police sniper hunting down terrorists who have kidnapped the First Family. (First Family = the President of course.) Basically you go from one scenario to another picking off targets as they pop up in front of your sniper's scope.
In the arcades you literally had a rifle peripheal but on the Dreamcast version the zoom in screen was actually WITHIN the main screen. Very clever Konami. It works well too and zeroing in on targets is simple via a squeeze on the shoulder/trigger button or the B button. Brilliant!
As you would expect Silent Scope looks fantastic and is very faithful to its arcade counterpart, even down to when the sight scope cursor turns into a heart whenever you spy a sexy cartoon lady. Top marks there too.
In the Main Story (in Arcade mode) there are a number of different stages to complete; Downtown, Stadium, Highway, Hotel, Night Vision and Big Boss. Each one getting progessively more difficult, as well as having their own unique styles. I particularly love the Stadium stage where Cobra (bad guy) is carrying the President's hapless daughter across an American football pitch as you attempt to snipe him from a helicopter. Cool as you like.
Together with the main story in Arcade mode you also have both indoor and outdoor shooting ranges which are a nice plus.
Silent Scope is a fabulous game and still highly playable today. I love spending a few hours honing my shooting 'skills' with it and it has Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to compete with nowadays. Not bad for a game which is 10 years old!
The only downside is the paltry amount of other play modes on offer; two. Ranking, where you move up the ranks and the better Training Mode where you set a scene (Farm, River & Cave) and shoot wooden targets, careful not to plug an innocent civilian target that occasionaly pop up. I say this is the better of the two extra modes because of the variety of challenges on offer; Time Attack, Perfect Shot, Pop Up Targets and Quick Shot.
So eventhough I say the few extras are a downside, there really is a fair bit to them. I guess with the current climate of downloadable content available for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, im feeling the pinch of Silent Scopes limited extras. However thats certainly no fault of either the Dreamcast or Konami's game, the fault lies at my greedy chops because as ive said Silent Scope is an excellent shooter and a Must Have title for any serious Dreamcast enthusiast/gamer.
This usually goes for around the £7 mark but more often than not you can pick it up cheaper. I paid £4 for my copy which was rather nice. Love the game. 8/10
**** Check video out ****
Silent Scope arrived on November 17th, 2000, which suprised me as I thought I remembered it as one of the Dreamcasts launch titles but a quick spot of research shows me to be mistaken.
Nevertheless I do recall the excitement I felt as previews and screenshots of the game appeared in magazines (internet wasn't so popular back then), and I vividly remember wanting to get my hands on it ASAP. It looked so cool.
Okay, what type of game is it? Its another on-rails shooter, this time putting the player in the shoes of a highly trained police sniper hunting down terrorists who have kidnapped the First Family. (First Family = the President of course.) Basically you go from one scenario to another picking off targets as they pop up in front of your sniper's scope.
In the arcades you literally had a rifle peripheal but on the Dreamcast version the zoom in screen was actually WITHIN the main screen. Very clever Konami. It works well too and zeroing in on targets is simple via a squeeze on the shoulder/trigger button or the B button. Brilliant!
As you would expect Silent Scope looks fantastic and is very faithful to its arcade counterpart, even down to when the sight scope cursor turns into a heart whenever you spy a sexy cartoon lady. Top marks there too.
In the Main Story (in Arcade mode) there are a number of different stages to complete; Downtown, Stadium, Highway, Hotel, Night Vision and Big Boss. Each one getting progessively more difficult, as well as having their own unique styles. I particularly love the Stadium stage where Cobra (bad guy) is carrying the President's hapless daughter across an American football pitch as you attempt to snipe him from a helicopter. Cool as you like.
Together with the main story in Arcade mode you also have both indoor and outdoor shooting ranges which are a nice plus.
Silent Scope is a fabulous game and still highly playable today. I love spending a few hours honing my shooting 'skills' with it and it has Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to compete with nowadays. Not bad for a game which is 10 years old!
The only downside is the paltry amount of other play modes on offer; two. Ranking, where you move up the ranks and the better Training Mode where you set a scene (Farm, River & Cave) and shoot wooden targets, careful not to plug an innocent civilian target that occasionaly pop up. I say this is the better of the two extra modes because of the variety of challenges on offer; Time Attack, Perfect Shot, Pop Up Targets and Quick Shot.
So eventhough I say the few extras are a downside, there really is a fair bit to them. I guess with the current climate of downloadable content available for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, im feeling the pinch of Silent Scopes limited extras. However thats certainly no fault of either the Dreamcast or Konami's game, the fault lies at my greedy chops because as ive said Silent Scope is an excellent shooter and a Must Have title for any serious Dreamcast enthusiast/gamer.
This usually goes for around the £7 mark but more often than not you can pick it up cheaper. I paid £4 for my copy which was rather nice. Love the game. 8/10
**** Check video out ****
Charge N' Blast
Published and developed by Xicat Interactive, Charge n' Blast is an on-rails shooter that was released on June 29th, 2001, and like a few other titles its a game that I missed on my first Dreamcast outing. As is the story in many shooters, once again planet earth has been invaded by hostile aliens (this time in the guise of giant ants and lizards) who are intent on blowing us back to the Stone Age. Friendly E.T they are not! Luckily for mankind we have 3 (only 3? Gulp!) super soldiers with BIG guns to take of these scaled terrors. Enter the cool sounding Johhny Rock, the Mr T-alike Nicholas Woods and the token woman of the squad, Pamela Hewitt, who quite frankly sounds more like a librarian than a kick ass soldier.
Players begin in the city (The City Of Nest) and battle on through ever differing scenarios like beaches and such. Whereas other on-rails titles like House Of The Dead 2 were First Person shooters, Charge n' Blast is Third Person which is a nice change from only seeing a pistol's cross hairs. For me anyway. I kinda liked seeing Mr Rock slide (or charge) along the surface onto his next wave of foes.
Controls are pretty simple, you can strafe left or right, charge the gun with button X and fire with A. Initially having to recharge before each shot is frustrating but it soon becomes second nature and you're blasting those ants BIG TIME!
Looks wise it doesn't have the polish of other games on the Dreamcast but its far from horrible to look at. Personally speaking I think it looks fine and dandy.
What Charge n' Blast does have is its arcade gameplay and that One-More-Go factor. Even when my Johhny died for the tenth time at the hands of Godzilla's twin brother it never grated at my nerves once but instead had me firing up for another round.
Ignore the nay sayers and doubters who like to put this game down. If arcade shooters are your thing then Charge n' Blast will entertain you for a good while. And considering you can pick this up on auction sites for less than it does to park a car (I paid £2.60 for mine) you really shouldn't be complaining. Not at that price. Good game which im STILL playing.
Check it out here.
Players begin in the city (The City Of Nest) and battle on through ever differing scenarios like beaches and such. Whereas other on-rails titles like House Of The Dead 2 were First Person shooters, Charge n' Blast is Third Person which is a nice change from only seeing a pistol's cross hairs. For me anyway. I kinda liked seeing Mr Rock slide (or charge) along the surface onto his next wave of foes.
Controls are pretty simple, you can strafe left or right, charge the gun with button X and fire with A. Initially having to recharge before each shot is frustrating but it soon becomes second nature and you're blasting those ants BIG TIME!
Looks wise it doesn't have the polish of other games on the Dreamcast but its far from horrible to look at. Personally speaking I think it looks fine and dandy.
What Charge n' Blast does have is its arcade gameplay and that One-More-Go factor. Even when my Johhny died for the tenth time at the hands of Godzilla's twin brother it never grated at my nerves once but instead had me firing up for another round.
Ignore the nay sayers and doubters who like to put this game down. If arcade shooters are your thing then Charge n' Blast will entertain you for a good while. And considering you can pick this up on auction sites for less than it does to park a car (I paid £2.60 for mine) you really shouldn't be complaining. Not at that price. Good game which im STILL playing.
Check it out here.
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