 |
Star Wars - Jedi Power Battles - Episode 1 (DC)
by virtua007
Also released on the PS1, this game was meant to offer the experiences of a Jedi Master to all the 9 year olds in the world. I'm afraid to say that this wasn't quite the case although it did try its best. Allowing you the option to control 5 different Jedi over 10 missions there was an attempt to make a quality title out of this game. ... Unfortunately, this game is destined to be sat beside Teras Kasi as an example of poor Star Wars titles.
The problem is that the gameplay is rather clunky and progressing through the levels is hard with the fixed camera angles which make clearing jumps a nightmare for the player. This isn't due to the graphics, which are from the PS1 version and was a rather lazy move since the DC was capable of so much more than this.
The best part of this game is the soundtrack, although that isn't saying much really. It sounds faithfully Star Wars and compliments the levels well. Having said that, it doesn't exactly engage with you that well. The lack of voice acting is also a big let-down.
The boss levels are a nightmare since the controls make it a nightmare for you to block incoming laser bolts. This is a crucial move in the first level so you'll be spending ages trying just to clear this boss. And don't even get me started on the second level.
The problem with this game is that while there was clearly some effort put into the title, the game designs took shortcuts all over the place and didn't take the time to hone the controls or gameplay mechanics. This ultimately kills what could have been a solid action title. Even fans might want to avoid this sadly underdeveloped piece of rubbish.
Read the complete review |
 |
D 2 (DC)
by nikkirox78
First off, D-2 is not a sequel of D, which dissapointed me when I found that out. There are some similarities, like the main character being a blonde girl named Laura, the intriguing music that causes high emotions, and some of the game play, but that is about it.
First thing is first, you must put in Disc 4 of this game to ... see the opening movie. I found this rather odd, but did so and watched it. As soon as I was done watching it, I wanted to beat the game in one sitting. The movie was awesome and got my attention right away!
So I put in disc 1, and get to know all the characters. In the beginning of the game, the main character Laura wakes up in a small cabin with a woman named Kimberly Fox. She gives you a description of what happened, where they are, and what they need to do to survive. After a while, Kimberly is attacked by a creature, and saved by a man named Parker. You learn a little more about what is going on, but are still confused about how big everything is. I don't want to get into the plot anymore, the rest is for you to see!
The gameplay is different than other RPGs. In the beginning you are given a sub-machine gun, and you walk arounf the world in the third-person view. Battles are random and consist of shooting the creatures. You receive experience points, and level up after reaching a certain amount. When increasing your level, you gain more hit points and skill points. When I beat the game, I had my character at level 22.
There is also a hunting aspect to this game so that you can receive food to recover health. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. After disc 2, I think the animals go away, so make sure you have 99 food before the end of disc 2. I had about 80 meat left before the last boss and used about 50 during that battle. There are also first-aid sprays of different colors to recover strength, but having meat is the way to go!
There are a lot of in-game movies, some longer than others. Make sure you save your game when you can. I had my game freeze during an in-game movie once, and had to go back about 30 minutes to catch up to the same place. The movies really make your dreamcast work, as you can usually hear it whirl around and load, so make sure your TV volume is up. There are no subtitles, but the voice acting is clear, so it's easy to understand them.
While this game may be a little weird and on the science fiction side, it is totally worth playing. I beat the game in around 20 hours of gameplay, so it's pretty short in my book, but worth the ride!
Read the complete review |
 |
Evolution (DC)
by nikkirox78
Evolution for the Dreamcast was one of my least favorite RPG's that I have ever played. The storyline was weak, the fighting system only average, the economy of money system made it very difficult to acquire a fortune, or even enough money to buy needed items.
The beginning of this game confused me very much. I powered up the ... game, selected "new story" and all of a sudden, BOOM, I'm in the middle of a battle. I thought my disc was defective and skipped to a battle, but after finishing it, I realized that was just how the game started.
The graphics to this game are typical of other Dreamcast games. It is created by UBIsoft, so if you ever played Grandia 2, it looks similar to that. The in-game movies looked nice, but there were not enough of them.
The fighting system is turn-based. There is a bar on the right side of the screen to let you know who is going to fight when, so that allows you to plan some strategy in battle. You can see the enemies before you engage in battle, so if you want to skip a fight, you can try to run past them.
Most of this game seems to be fighting. There is very little story line, which to me, is very boring. If I wanted to fight most of the game, I would have played an action game.
The end of this game is the worst! When you go to the final location where the boss is, you can't return back to your town until you beat the game. Well, apparently I wasn't ready to fight the final boss, and my characters weren't strong enough when I got to the boss. I couldn't level up because there were no enemies, so I was unable to beat the game. I wasted 24 hours of gameplay to be unable to beat the game.
There are many things that this game could have done better. I don't suggest playing this game if you are looking for a good Dreamcast RPG.
Read the complete review |
