Its about damn time. This game was shown at E3 2 years ago, and it has just now been completed. I guess I shouldnt complain- with the Dreamcast sinking like a brick, I should be glad to get my hands on any new game- especially one straight from Sega.
Concept-
Ever see the movie independence day? This is kinda like it. Pick your side- aliens or humans- and just kick alot of ass. Your means of transportation? If you are the humans- tanks. Aliens- your body. In both cases, you pick from three different vehicles. A small, fast cruiser that is both weak in firepower and in armor. Next is a middle weight, who is average in all categories. Finally, the big boys- heavy and slow, but strong as hell.
Gameplay Modes
Arcade- Battle through all eight levels ranging from our nations capital to some far away alien planet. This mode is quite dull, as all you really do is just run and gun across varried locales.
Tactics- Advance through grueling missions that test your reflexes and shooting skills. Not quite. This is almost as dull as the arcade mode except here you get more variety. Instead of just shooting, you get to do some fancy driving. Pretty dull- although there are quite a few missions.
Online- Whoa. Totally great! More than makes up for the lack of real 1 player stuff. Its still the basic gameplay of arcade mode- team deathmatch- but here there are 2 more game styles. Capture the flag (self explanitory) and Fortress mode. In fortress mode the aliens are protecting a fortress and the humans are trying to blow it up. Of all these- good ole' deathmatch is the best. All modes accomodate upto 8 players- although when you create your own game, you can set the limit of people and you can also decide if you want computer controlled players in there. So how does it play online??
Damn near perfect! This has gotta be one of the best playing- online game Ive played on DC- right behind Phantasy Star Online. What makes it so good? A few things, the major being NO LAG! Thats right, there is absolutely no latency (its probably there, but you can not feel it at all). This is absolutely stunning to me. I use the DC 56k modem (the only option, broadband is not avaliable with the game) and I connect at 26.4. Pretty slow huh? Well, with NFL online its not too bad- same is true with Quake. But with this game, its perfect. You hit A to fire- and you fire- no delay- never, not once. You hit L to strafe- you immediately begin strafing. Its quite amazing. You seriously wont be able to tell you are online- It feels just as fast and responsive as offline play. So what else make online great? Voice chat. Thats right. Sega has pioneered yet another console first.
You simply plug in the sega microphone (included with the game) in your controllers mem card slot #2 and you are set. Whenever you want to say something- hit the Y button and hold it.... say your message and release Y. In about 1-2 seconds, everyone on your team will hear you say "cover my ass, im goin in!". Wanna talk to the other team? Tap Y twice and then hold it. Now every alien scum will hear you scream "all your base are belong to us!" as time ticks away and you win yet another round. Truth be told, the voice chat feature works quite well. It all depends on how many people are in your game. 2 on 2 and the voices come in clear and it works quite well. Any more than that and you will get more and more slurred, stuttering, and alltogether in-audible speech. Its no biggie- just say "repeat that" and they will. I was really amazed by how well the whole voice thing worked. Sega even added a feature where when someone is recording speech- a box pops up near their name. This indicates that they are recording and that if you try- it wont work. This is nice because it saves you from recording "I own you alien punk!" over and over just because someone else was talking.
All in all- online is the only way to play- especially since there is no split screen modes and the oneplayer stuff is kinda dull. Plus online play is smoking fast and there is voice chat!
Contoll- Nice and simple- just the way it should be. I was able to turn on the game- jump online and within 2 minutes, I was killing aliens. A shoots, B fires super weapons that you pick up, X changes camera and L and R shoulder buttons strafe. The tanks and aliens controll quickly and very arcade like. In other words- the game aint deep, but it shouldnt be. Just right.
Graphics- Verrrry niiiiice. Colorfull, fast, and sharp. The backgrounds can all be destroyed and they look good while you're doing it. Buildings and other textures are highly detailed- as well as your vehicles. Everything looks top notch. This shows that the DC has enough power to compete with anything the PS2 can dish out. Framerate is good as well. Ive read that its 60 fps- I believe it. Very rarely (like when all 8 players drop a nuke) the game dips down, but you dont even notice it. You gotta be watching for it. And when you are in the heat of battle- just forget about it, any minor slowdown that there is- you wont notice it. I promise
Sound- Standard explosions, standard music. Its like watching Independence Day. Music can get annoying. Its advised that you turn down both sound fx and music if you are gonna play online. You need to hear other players talk and at the default sound levels- that is impossible. Oh- and turn off the game voices- damn they are annoying.
Final thoughts- If you buy this game and dont plan on going online- you are gonna be dissapointed. Although there are lots of missions (with both alien and human) they get old fast. Arcade mode is just a snooze filled blast-a-thon. Buy this game for the online play. It is truly amazing. Pretty much lag free and voice chat to boot! All this for an MSRP of $29.99 (microphone included)! What a steal. Hell, this game kept me up from 3 am to 9 am. I played it online for 6 straight hours. Thats insane considering there are only 8 levels! I havent played that much of a game in one sitting since Phantasy Star online was still new.
Buy this game for online play- look for game "morrison hotel" and come say hi to AK47. you wont be dissapointed
8.9 out of 10 - the single player hurts the score quite a bit- but sweet ass graphics and a KILLER online option boost it right back up.
Re: disconects?
