REVIEW OF SHENMUE:CHAPTER ONE:YOKOSUKA
Shenmue is Yu Suzuki's latest entry to the game library of Sega's
machine.The game starts you off as a young man by the name of Ryo
Hazuki,an unfortunate teenager that is forced to watch his father be
murdered by the chinese "gangster" "lan Di". And that is what you
will be doing for the rest of the series of chapters is investigating
the reason why your father was taken out. On your journey you will
encounter literally hundreds of characters,friend or foe. You will be
able to go inside hundreds of different rooms and buildings which
will aid you on your journey to getting closer to the truth regarding
your fathers murder.
One of my favorite elements about this game is the
q-t-e's,aka,quick time events,used only by Sega,which we first saw in
the Saturn adventure "Die Hard Arcade". For those of you that do not
know what a q-t-e is,it is a sudden moment in the game in which you
will have to press a certain button in a certain amount of time,the
icon of a button will flash on your screen and when that happens you
must press that button on your controller,get it?,I hope so. These
events will happen during fights and chase scenes which are pretty
darn cool!,especially the choreography of the fights,this game does
feature amazing motion capture indeed.
Another very cool element in the game are the mini games that are
in the arcade,and some of these games are actually full versions of
Sega arcade classics such as Hang on and Space harrier. The other
games include darts and q-t-e games that are very helpful in brushing
up your quick time events skills. More cool elements in this game are
the "magic weather and time control". Lets say you are in the arcade
and want to go to the local bar to meet some sailors,(you'll find out
what I mean in the game), you will have to wait for it to
open,because each shop has it's own hours just as in real life! So
keep an eye on the clock and make sure to get home in time for bed.
-GRAPHICS-
The visuals in this game are by far the most impressive seen on the
Dc yet,each characters face is highly detailed with wrinkles for the
old people and shades and dorags for the biker tough guys. The
environments are just as impressive with awesome lighting effects and
weather effects such as snow in the trees in winter and people
holding umbrellas in the rain,heck you even see jolly old saint nick
walking the streets near christmas time!
-CONTROL
Probably the weakest part of the game,I'm not saying it's awful or
anything it just could use some work. It is sometimes hard to get Ryo
to face the right direction sometimes but that to me is easy to
overlook when considering all the other amazing elements in this
game.
-SOUND-
Perfect,just perfect,the music sounds very fitting for 1980's japan
and the ambient sounds for the environments are also top notch.The
character voices are decent but sometimes contains lousy voice
acting,but hey.that did'nt bother us in resident evil.
-WRAP UP-
This is definately a very revolutionary game that is both enjoyable
and addicting. It is sort of like a really cool movie that you just
have to watch until the very end. Waiting for Shenmue 2 will
definately be torture.
-GRAPHICS=9.0 SOUND=9.5 CONTROL=7.0 OVERALL=9.0-


REVIEW OF QUAKE 3 ARENA
Our good friends at Raster productions have bought us a near
flawless conversion of the long time pc hit Quake 3 Arena.From the
minute I went to my Dreamcast and put the new disk inside I was
wowed!,the game looked incredible!,with awesome lighting
effects,beautifully detailed environments complete with fire barrels
and the fast moving clouds overhead.
The game starts you off with 30 characters and 30
arenas,including arenas exclusive to the Dreamcast. Game modes
included are 1 player,multi player and the to die for internet
mode,which pits you against 3 other players from who knows where in
the u.s.a.
-GRAPHICS-
The graphics in this game are at the best level in the one player
mode (of course),but when you play the multi player mode the rez goes
down just a little but the frame rate stays intact,which is a good
thing. The internet mode looks just as good as the one player mode
minus the small details such as the fire barrels(which are just still
shots on the internet mode),the clouds overhead are more choppy as
well and the overall frame rate holds pretty good but drops when the
online action gets intense,but when you are kicking nation wide butt
(like me) who cares about those small short comings.
-CONTROL-
This is a section that I probably should'nt review because I play
with the control pad (I know,I'm sorry,I'll get the mouse and
keyboard soon I swear),but the control pad does ok,it is very smooth
and responsive,the analog trigger is used for the weapons and the d
pad is used to cahnge weapons,you use the buttons to move around.
-SOUND-
The sound in this game is very good,the music is very cool and the
weapon sound are very loud and somewhat explosive(that could be
because I play my dc through my stereo). The sounds of the characters
getting blasted apart by a rocket or something also is pretty cool. I
have no complaints about this department at all.
-WRAP UP-
This is a game that all fellow Dreamcast owners should get their
hands on for never ending fragging action. If you have alot of
friends that you play with or you are an internet gamer (like me) you
will get the most enjoyment out of this game,(use seganet). If you
are a loner you will only have the cpu ai to go against (which can be
somewhat tough at times).
So go out and grab this game right now,and I'll see you
online!
-GRAPHICS=9.0 CONTROL=9.0 SOUND=10 OVERALL=10-


-GRANDIA 2 REVIEW-
GRAPHICS-Perfect,very solid,colorful and respectively beautiful
with awesome magic spell effects.
SOUND-Again perfect,beautiful music which also comes on an
enclosed cd which I have in my cd player right now.
CONTROL-Very simple and responsive,the battle system rules,very
customisable menu based battling,easy to pick up and play.
WRAP-UP-This game is definately a must have for any traditional rpg fan,it might be short compared to others but it has one of the best story lines of any of the other games,I definately recommend it.
BEST FEATURE-I'll pick one,...awesome graphics.
WORST FEATURE-hard to find one,.....sometimes I got lost?
GRAPHICS=9.0 SOUND=9.0 CONTROL=9.0 OVERALL=9.0
4x4 EVOLUTION REVIEW
GRAPHICS-not bad,pretty tracks and environments,the trucks are ok but could use smoother textures.
CONTROL-I have heard mixed reviews on this department from other reviewers but I'll say what I think,very responsive controls that may be hampered by the poor collision detection,shame!
SOUND-not good,not really good at all. All the trucks sound the same,which sucks. And the musics is very repetitive and it WILL get on your nerves,which is why I listen to korn or something else while playing this game.
WRAP-UP-Definately the best 4x4 game on the dc,alot better than 4 wheel thunder if you can compare the 2. I recommend this game if you love to buy,build and fully customise one of many 4x4s and 2x4s in the game.
BEST FEATURE-amount of available trucks and the online mode
WORST FEATURE-I'll say both,collision detection and sound.
GRAPHICS=8.0 SOUND=4.0 CONTROL=7.0 OVERALL=7.5



MAXIMUM POOL REVIEW
GRAPHICS-decent for a pool game,but the lack of backgrounds take away from the "being in a pool hall" feeling.
CONTROL-Very simple,very easy to learn,you'll be making hard shots just like the pros in no time.
SOUND-Lounge music feels the air in this game,and so do the voices of the opponents,they can be both cheesy and annoying at the same time!
WRAP-UP-Definately the best pool game on the dc,if not the only one.This game would have been better if it would have a season mode or championship or something like that.
BEST FEATURE-online mode
WORST FEATURE-not enough game modes
GRAPHICS=8.0 CONTROL=9.0 SOUND=7.5 OVERALL=8.0



RESIDENT EVIL 3 NEMESIS REVIEW
GRAPHICS-lets just say this,they are alot better than the playstation version,but still are not very good to dreamcast standards
CONTROL-classic Resident evil control,no complaints
SOUND-Same here,unchanged from the ps version,very eerie music and cool monster effects.
WRAP-UP-I am very glad our friends at Capcom decided to bring 3 of their ps blockbuster games to our favorite system,good idea and they did a good job.
BEST FEATURE-Dreamcast enhanced visuals
WORST FEATURE-the game does'nt take full advantage of the dc hardware but it was'nt meant to.
GRAPHICS=8.0 CONTROL=9.5 SOUND=9.0 OVERALL=9.0



DINO CRISIS REVIEW
GRAPHICS-This game sports a cleaner character model than RE3,and the moving camera is even better than the ps version.
CONTROL-Same as RE3,no complaints
SOUND-no complaints here either,the dinos sound very real!
WRAP-UP-This is also one of the 3 games that Capcom bought to our fav system,very good job on this one as well,stay tuned for the RE2 review.
BEST FEATURE-cleaner graphics than original or RE3.
WORST FEATURE-I had a hard time with all those puzzles!
GRAPHICS=8.5 CONTROL=9.5 SOUND=9.0 OVERALL=9.0

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