Developers: Attention To Detail. Publishers: Acclaim. Released: March 9th, 2001.
Ducati World is a racing game of the two wheeled kind, where the developers shunned the sports cars and jeeps for motorbikes, and not just any bikes but Ducati superbikes (and the odd vintage and touring models.) Not being a lover of cars but being a huge bike fan I got really excited when I first heard this was being made all those years ago, and because the Playstation version was released before the Dreamcast game I went straight out and picked up a copy on the day of release. (And to be honest by 2001 I had more than enough Dreamcast racers to keep me going.)
Fast forward nine years and here I sit with a Dreamcast copy of Ducati World and a happy bunnykins I am too. Other reviews have spent most of their time being on the stingy side and picking out flaws but I ignore them as usual. This is a pleasant enought racing game (especially for Ducati fans) and there is nothing about it to warrant a drubbing. Ok there are a few downsides such as aggressive opponents intent on knocking you into the scenery and there are no replay videos but these really are minor scrapes rather than a full head-over-handlebars accident.
If you want to, as Steppenwolf said it, just head out to the highway you can by hoosing Quick Race but the real meat of this game, the real rubber on its tyres (enough already! - impatient ed) then Ducati Life is the way to go. Here you must buy/sell bikes, obtain the important licences (to be able to race the big events), tune the bikes engine, brakes, etc and compete in some cool races. It really is a petrolheads daydream come to life and if you have ever played the career mode in Gran Turismo then this is it once again but with fewer wheels.
There are three licences to go get and tests for these go from the incredible easy starting and stopping to having complete laps in under a minute while never making a mistake. They are all fairly enjoyable however the tests can be unforgiving at times and frustration levels can go way past the healthy level.
Looks wise its no Katherine Jenkins but in the same breath its no Susan Boyle either. Some of the bikes look pretty good and the bails look painful enough.
Get to know the circuits well enough and it pays off by being able to weave around the corners, leaving those waspish opponents in the dust. Very satisfying. And there are over 40 Ducati's in the game along with helmets, leathers. Everything a budding Carl Fogarty would need.
I don't see this come up at auction sites very often and while by being no means rare, the bike fan with a Dreamcast should snap Ducati World up if they get the chance. I paid £3 for mine and thats about right.
7 Jagerbombs
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 31 August 2010
Monday 23 August 2010
Gunbird 2
Developers: Psikyo. Publishers: Capcom. Release date: Febuary 2, 2001.
Gunbird 2 is a fantastic (hows that for early praise?) 2D scrolling shooter and yet another hit for the brilliant Capcom. Basically players chose one of 7 zany characters (each with different attacks) and flew up the screen shooting everything that comes your way. And I do mean everything! Enemies constantly come in waves at you, showering the play area with hundreds of bullets and projectiles.
Not being much of a shooter fan back in the day, Gunbird went totally beneath my gaming radar and I didn't play it, but having picked up a copy (a bargain £3) for my Dreamcast collection I must say that its a brilliant title which has hardly been off the console. (And what a fool my younger gaming self was.)
It looks fabulous, even having just come off the sublime looking Devil May Cry 4, proving that the Dreamcast can still shine with todays games. Robots and weird looking space crafts sail around the screen in lush colours, making the player often yell 'cool!' at them. Or maybe just me.
There are 5 difficulty types in all ranging from BABY mode to VERY HARD, the latter being indeed very VERY Hard, blimey! The not so hard levels are a joy for first time players of these type of frantic shooting games, I was sure glad of them because the tougher modes would be enough to put me off altogether. Hey, nobody enjoys dying every 5 seconds right?
What was cool about Gunbird 2 was that for the Dreamcast it had an online rankings board so gamers could strut their virtual stuff. Too bad Dreamarena is a thing of the past but only illustrates just how far ahead of the pack Sega was at the time.
Characters:
Marion - A magician.
Alucard - Vampire, son of Dracula. Alucard is Dracula spelt backwards.
Valpiro - A military robot.
Tavla - Teen girl with a jet pack.
Hei Cobb - A guy with a turban on a flying carpet. Cool!
Aine - A one eyed Samurai.
Morrigan - The succubus from Darkstalkers makes an appearance. Doubly cool!
And like I said you pick one these dudes/dudesses, in order to take on the hilarious (but deadly) Queen Pirates. The final boss is an Eleephant God that is an obvious parody of the Satochan mascot of Sato Pharmaceuticals company.
This is arcade 2D shooting at its brilliant best and deserves a place in any gamers collection, the only downside can be the price. I got really lucky in getting it for £3 because ive seen Gunbird 2 sell for around £8 and upwards. On second thoughts for £8 its still a pretty decent price for such gaming excellence.
Quality rating: 10 Jagerbombs!
Gunbird 2 is a fantastic (hows that for early praise?) 2D scrolling shooter and yet another hit for the brilliant Capcom. Basically players chose one of 7 zany characters (each with different attacks) and flew up the screen shooting everything that comes your way. And I do mean everything! Enemies constantly come in waves at you, showering the play area with hundreds of bullets and projectiles.
Not being much of a shooter fan back in the day, Gunbird went totally beneath my gaming radar and I didn't play it, but having picked up a copy (a bargain £3) for my Dreamcast collection I must say that its a brilliant title which has hardly been off the console. (And what a fool my younger gaming self was.)
It looks fabulous, even having just come off the sublime looking Devil May Cry 4, proving that the Dreamcast can still shine with todays games. Robots and weird looking space crafts sail around the screen in lush colours, making the player often yell 'cool!' at them. Or maybe just me.
There are 5 difficulty types in all ranging from BABY mode to VERY HARD, the latter being indeed very VERY Hard, blimey! The not so hard levels are a joy for first time players of these type of frantic shooting games, I was sure glad of them because the tougher modes would be enough to put me off altogether. Hey, nobody enjoys dying every 5 seconds right?
What was cool about Gunbird 2 was that for the Dreamcast it had an online rankings board so gamers could strut their virtual stuff. Too bad Dreamarena is a thing of the past but only illustrates just how far ahead of the pack Sega was at the time.
Characters:
Marion - A magician.
Alucard - Vampire, son of Dracula. Alucard is Dracula spelt backwards.
Valpiro - A military robot.
Tavla - Teen girl with a jet pack.
Hei Cobb - A guy with a turban on a flying carpet. Cool!
Aine - A one eyed Samurai.
Morrigan - The succubus from Darkstalkers makes an appearance. Doubly cool!
And like I said you pick one these dudes/dudesses, in order to take on the hilarious (but deadly) Queen Pirates. The final boss is an Eleephant God that is an obvious parody of the Satochan mascot of Sato Pharmaceuticals company.
This is arcade 2D shooting at its brilliant best and deserves a place in any gamers collection, the only downside can be the price. I got really lucky in getting it for £3 because ive seen Gunbird 2 sell for around £8 and upwards. On second thoughts for £8 its still a pretty decent price for such gaming excellence.
Quality rating: 10 Jagerbombs!
Monday 16 August 2010
Metropolis Street Racer
Developer: Bizarre Creations. Published by Sega. Release date: 11th March, 2000.
Metropolis Street Racer was initially pegged as a launch title for the Dreamcast, however due to numerous delays it was not to be. Probably a good thing too because it gave Bizarre Creations time to fine tune everything from the tyre up. Make no mistake about it, this is a fine racing game with slick looks, cool soundtrack and a great feel to the races.
Foolishly I ignored it first time around (those adventure/fighting games again) but I picked a copy up a few weeks ago for peanuts and have gone some way to redeem myself by taking it for a spin every chance I get. And richly rewarded I am too whenever I do.
There are 3 cities to tear up (not literally) - London, Tokyo and San Francisco and each of these are recreated with delicious detail and are a joy to race on. They 'feel' like their real life counterparts. Considering the title is a decade old its quite a feat as other racing games at the time were often lazy in track design. For example if they wanted to make a British based circuit the would simply include a few red phoneboxes and miserable weather conditions or for a Dutch track a couple of windmillos would suffice but Metropolis Street Racer doesn't steep so low. Racing in Tokyo IS like racing in Japan (or how I would think it is) so big THUMBS UP to Bizarre Creations for pulling it off.
The soundtrack to this was a neat innovation of the time too. Basically it was a mix of fictional radio stations. There were 9 in all, 3 stations for each city and the only other game I remember doing this back in the day was Grand Theft Auto.
There were 5 race modes:
Hotlap: A solo sprint consisting of usually 3 laps attempting to beat a specific time.
One-on-one: A race against an opponent. (Players can give themselves or the computer opponent a head start up to 60 seconds.)
Street Race: A single race against multiple opponents.
Championship: A 4 race series against 3 opponents. Points are received based on the player's position at the end of each race.
Challenge: A race with custom rules like passing a certain number of cars within a time limit for instance.
All of them pretty spiffing too. And what is also cool is that this is STILL one of the BEST racing titles out there in Videogame Land© which can be bought for as little as £2. £2 for Metropolis Street Racer you say? Get thee off the starting grid on the double!
Metropolis Street Racer was initially pegged as a launch title for the Dreamcast, however due to numerous delays it was not to be. Probably a good thing too because it gave Bizarre Creations time to fine tune everything from the tyre up. Make no mistake about it, this is a fine racing game with slick looks, cool soundtrack and a great feel to the races.
Foolishly I ignored it first time around (those adventure/fighting games again) but I picked a copy up a few weeks ago for peanuts and have gone some way to redeem myself by taking it for a spin every chance I get. And richly rewarded I am too whenever I do.
There are 3 cities to tear up (not literally) - London, Tokyo and San Francisco and each of these are recreated with delicious detail and are a joy to race on. They 'feel' like their real life counterparts. Considering the title is a decade old its quite a feat as other racing games at the time were often lazy in track design. For example if they wanted to make a British based circuit the would simply include a few red phoneboxes and miserable weather conditions or for a Dutch track a couple of windmillos would suffice but Metropolis Street Racer doesn't steep so low. Racing in Tokyo IS like racing in Japan (or how I would think it is) so big THUMBS UP to Bizarre Creations for pulling it off.
The soundtrack to this was a neat innovation of the time too. Basically it was a mix of fictional radio stations. There were 9 in all, 3 stations for each city and the only other game I remember doing this back in the day was Grand Theft Auto.
There were 5 race modes:
Hotlap: A solo sprint consisting of usually 3 laps attempting to beat a specific time.
One-on-one: A race against an opponent. (Players can give themselves or the computer opponent a head start up to 60 seconds.)
Street Race: A single race against multiple opponents.
Championship: A 4 race series against 3 opponents. Points are received based on the player's position at the end of each race.
Challenge: A race with custom rules like passing a certain number of cars within a time limit for instance.
All of them pretty spiffing too. And what is also cool is that this is STILL one of the BEST racing titles out there in Videogame Land© which can be bought for as little as £2. £2 for Metropolis Street Racer you say? Get thee off the starting grid on the double!
Monday 2 August 2010
Urban Chaos
Developer Mucky Foot * Publishers Eidos Interactive. Released 6th October 2000.
Urban Chaos is a third person action/adventure game based in the fictitional Union City, which is for the most part free roaming allowing you to go almost anywhere. In the beginning you play rookie cop Darci Stern, a no nonsense police officer who believes in getting the job done. (Don't they all, these young kick ass lawmen? Or woman in this case.) Later in the game a partner appears called Roper, who is a bit of a mystery ex military chappie who sports a cool beard in a tramp kind of way.
Union City is being plagued by a gang going by the seriously naff name The Wilcats, who are being run by Bane, the games big baddie. You and your cop buddies are out to turn the cats into kittens by using a bit more than stern words and a rolled up newspaper. (Or is that for dogs? Cats never listen anyway.)
I first played this on the Playstation because it was released a few months earlier on Sony's console and I just couldn't wait to start arresting perps or running them over in my squad car. Police brutality? You betcha!
Having only just got a copy for my Dreamcast I was expecting some fond memories to come flooding back but alas the memories were replaced by shock as soon as I got in control of Darci. Guiding her through the training level assault course was a frustrating affair due to the joystick nub being ultra sensitive, making simple obstacles a nightmare to get over. Add the fact that the camera has a mind of its own and contol of that requires use of the D pad while STILL attempting to manoeuvre Darci and you can understand how bad it gets. I don't recall it being like this on Playstation and as that joypad didn't have a joystick nub it couldn't have been.
Its a shame too because the game itself is quite good and with better contols Id be all over it with praise. I mean when a game allows you to slide tackle pedestrians then leave them handcuffed on the road in front of oncoming traffic it gets a BIG thumbs up from yours truly. Honestly, I spent WAY too long doing this.
There is a decent list of fighting moves on offer too, ranging from straight forward kicks and punches to back roundhouse kicks and grabs. As well that awesome sliding tackle! Also bats, batons and of course firearms can be picked up. But once again the controls mess it up because targetting a hoodlum is a point and hope system and you can't aim at specific people like say in Grand Theft Auto IV. You simply walk into a gang with gun drawn and hope the target cycle lands on a gun wielding thug. Not very confident in missions then.
Looks wise its okay, the cars are a little blocky and pedestrians are almost all clones (hookers and thugs mainly) but thats how games were ten years ago so those blips can be forgiven.
I tried to enjoy Urban Chaos because it has some neat touches but I cannot recommend it because the control system is so flawed and frustrating. In all honesty if I wasn't going for a complete Dreamcast PAL collection I would have chucked this back up for sale. I still go back to it but only when I feel like abusing innocent city dwellers, which is a dubious kind of plus.
Another plus was that I only paid £1 for it which is all its worth if you still really fancy a punt on it. 4/10
Urban Chaos is a third person action/adventure game based in the fictitional Union City, which is for the most part free roaming allowing you to go almost anywhere. In the beginning you play rookie cop Darci Stern, a no nonsense police officer who believes in getting the job done. (Don't they all, these young kick ass lawmen? Or woman in this case.) Later in the game a partner appears called Roper, who is a bit of a mystery ex military chappie who sports a cool beard in a tramp kind of way.
Union City is being plagued by a gang going by the seriously naff name The Wilcats, who are being run by Bane, the games big baddie. You and your cop buddies are out to turn the cats into kittens by using a bit more than stern words and a rolled up newspaper. (Or is that for dogs? Cats never listen anyway.)
I first played this on the Playstation because it was released a few months earlier on Sony's console and I just couldn't wait to start arresting perps or running them over in my squad car. Police brutality? You betcha!
Having only just got a copy for my Dreamcast I was expecting some fond memories to come flooding back but alas the memories were replaced by shock as soon as I got in control of Darci. Guiding her through the training level assault course was a frustrating affair due to the joystick nub being ultra sensitive, making simple obstacles a nightmare to get over. Add the fact that the camera has a mind of its own and contol of that requires use of the D pad while STILL attempting to manoeuvre Darci and you can understand how bad it gets. I don't recall it being like this on Playstation and as that joypad didn't have a joystick nub it couldn't have been.
Its a shame too because the game itself is quite good and with better contols Id be all over it with praise. I mean when a game allows you to slide tackle pedestrians then leave them handcuffed on the road in front of oncoming traffic it gets a BIG thumbs up from yours truly. Honestly, I spent WAY too long doing this.
There is a decent list of fighting moves on offer too, ranging from straight forward kicks and punches to back roundhouse kicks and grabs. As well that awesome sliding tackle! Also bats, batons and of course firearms can be picked up. But once again the controls mess it up because targetting a hoodlum is a point and hope system and you can't aim at specific people like say in Grand Theft Auto IV. You simply walk into a gang with gun drawn and hope the target cycle lands on a gun wielding thug. Not very confident in missions then.
Looks wise its okay, the cars are a little blocky and pedestrians are almost all clones (hookers and thugs mainly) but thats how games were ten years ago so those blips can be forgiven.
I tried to enjoy Urban Chaos because it has some neat touches but I cannot recommend it because the control system is so flawed and frustrating. In all honesty if I wasn't going for a complete Dreamcast PAL collection I would have chucked this back up for sale. I still go back to it but only when I feel like abusing innocent city dwellers, which is a dubious kind of plus.
Another plus was that I only paid £1 for it which is all its worth if you still really fancy a punt on it. 4/10
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