My gaming time recently has consisted of playing the odd half an hour of Skies Of Arcadia but nothing much else. However, today I have just taken part in a six hour Dreamcast session !!
My son's friend was staying over during the school holidays, so I thought I'd treat them both. I handed them the keys to my DC vault, bought in some beers, soda pop, popcorn and pretzels and then picked a selection of games to play.
First up was Dynamite Cop, a title I'd never played before. We took turns to play the coop mode and enjoyed it for what it was: an action/ beat-em-up/arcade game. Basically we enjoyed beating seven bells of crap outta the enemy for about an hour ! The end bit where you beat each other up seemed to go on for an eternity !! A fun game.
The second game we played needs no introduction: Virtua Tennis 2. We conscripted my girlfriend into playing four player doubles. If you haven't tried it before, you are missing out BIG TIME ! The single player game is brilliant but four player is sensational !! It's got to be one of the all time classic games on Dreamcast or any other system.
Next up was another game I'd never played, namely Millennium Soldier. Again we played co-op mode. What a total riot ! The perspective is from the top down but still in full 3d. The game engine really impressed me, the environments were full of detail, the characters were very well modelled, the explosions and lighting were impressive.......basically, it looks stunning. The gameplay is simple but very busy !. Moving around, running, strafing, shooting, power-ups and weapons to pick up.......the action never lets up. To be honest, despite a few problems with the camera, this game is a revelation. Rage and Infogrammes really nailed it with this one. I'm gonna be playing this some more ;)
Then came the wrestling game Giant Gram 2. I left playing this to the experts - the kids ! The first thing that struck me as I watched was how serious it was. There's not much of the silliness inherent in western wrestling, though there is inevitably, and thankfully, some panto involved. Everything about the game reeks of quality. The audio is brilliant, the graphics (especially for a first gen title) are awesome (with the face modelling being particularly well done), the arenas are full of atmosphere and detail........I could go on and on. Make no doubt, even though it never had a western release, this is an AAA title. At the end, I asked the kids what their impression was. Now bearing in mind these guys have been playing wrestling games on ps2, ps3 and 360 since they were in diapers, their thoughts have some weight to them. They said it was one of the best wrestling games they'd ever played. They were desperate to play the sequel but I told them they should save it for a rainy day. I nearly detected a tear in my son's friend's eye, he'd really enjoyed playing it and didn't want it to end.
Finally I suggested they played two-player Snow Surfers (Rippin Riders). Now here was the first hiccup of the night: It wouldn't play in VGA :x I hate that message when it comes up on screen lol So, for the first time since I got my Yamaha audio receiver, I switched the vga box to S-Video and waited for the picture to come up on the projector screen. Which it did, but only green and magenta..........and in a small box. So I turned on the amp's processing and put the S-Video through to output at 720p. It worked, and it looked fantastic. I got a big cheer from everyone ! Yay ! I felt a bit like a projectionist at the local cinema - though really I was wanting to play the game, not piss about with technicalities lol
By the time they had completed half an hours snowboarding, and six hours of concentrated DC gaming, they were ready for bed. And out for the count. All in all a memorable night which I hope you didn't mind me recounting the story here.
My son's friend was staying over during the school holidays, so I thought I'd treat them both. I handed them the keys to my DC vault, bought in some beers, soda pop, popcorn and pretzels and then picked a selection of games to play.
First up was Dynamite Cop, a title I'd never played before. We took turns to play the coop mode and enjoyed it for what it was: an action/ beat-em-up/arcade game. Basically we enjoyed beating seven bells of crap outta the enemy for about an hour ! The end bit where you beat each other up seemed to go on for an eternity !! A fun game.
The second game we played needs no introduction: Virtua Tennis 2. We conscripted my girlfriend into playing four player doubles. If you haven't tried it before, you are missing out BIG TIME ! The single player game is brilliant but four player is sensational !! It's got to be one of the all time classic games on Dreamcast or any other system.
Next up was another game I'd never played, namely Millennium Soldier. Again we played co-op mode. What a total riot ! The perspective is from the top down but still in full 3d. The game engine really impressed me, the environments were full of detail, the characters were very well modelled, the explosions and lighting were impressive.......basically, it looks stunning. The gameplay is simple but very busy !. Moving around, running, strafing, shooting, power-ups and weapons to pick up.......the action never lets up. To be honest, despite a few problems with the camera, this game is a revelation. Rage and Infogrammes really nailed it with this one. I'm gonna be playing this some more ;)
Then came the wrestling game Giant Gram 2. I left playing this to the experts - the kids ! The first thing that struck me as I watched was how serious it was. There's not much of the silliness inherent in western wrestling, though there is inevitably, and thankfully, some panto involved. Everything about the game reeks of quality. The audio is brilliant, the graphics (especially for a first gen title) are awesome (with the face modelling being particularly well done), the arenas are full of atmosphere and detail........I could go on and on. Make no doubt, even though it never had a western release, this is an AAA title. At the end, I asked the kids what their impression was. Now bearing in mind these guys have been playing wrestling games on ps2, ps3 and 360 since they were in diapers, their thoughts have some weight to them. They said it was one of the best wrestling games they'd ever played. They were desperate to play the sequel but I told them they should save it for a rainy day. I nearly detected a tear in my son's friend's eye, he'd really enjoyed playing it and didn't want it to end.
Finally I suggested they played two-player Snow Surfers (Rippin Riders). Now here was the first hiccup of the night: It wouldn't play in VGA :x I hate that message when it comes up on screen lol So, for the first time since I got my Yamaha audio receiver, I switched the vga box to S-Video and waited for the picture to come up on the projector screen. Which it did, but only green and magenta..........and in a small box. So I turned on the amp's processing and put the S-Video through to output at 720p. It worked, and it looked fantastic. I got a big cheer from everyone ! Yay ! I felt a bit like a projectionist at the local cinema - though really I was wanting to play the game, not piss about with technicalities lol
By the time they had completed half an hours snowboarding, and six hours of concentrated DC gaming, they were ready for bed. And out for the count. All in all a memorable night which I hope you didn't mind me recounting the story here.