Dux arrived in the post last Friday, so here's a video of what you get with the regular edition and a quick spot of gameplay, which is conveniently cut to not show how many times I blew up on my first go. I also also set it to an option that turns the background off without realizing that's what it meant by 'Perfect' so er...yeah.
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Jenson Buffoons
How do. I've been at Silverstone this weekend watching loud cars drive about for a 'Grand Pree' or something. Wasn't overly exciting, but I didn't have to pay for the experience (hehe!) so I'm not complaining. I did, however, spend a lot of the time baulking at the price of the food on sale at the event - one fuckwit had the cheek to try and charge me £7.50 for a cheeseburger that looked like it'd just been sat on by a certain Dr Banner, post anger-inducing incident. You'll be happy to hear that no exchange of currency took place, although a swift flash of the V sign did. On the bright side though, I happened to spot a bit of (slightly) DC related guff:
That's right folks, there was an 8-player Ferrari F355 Challenge trailer round the back of the Stowe corner grandstands...and people where actually queuing up for a go! If only the blinkered cretins had the sense to spend £20 on a Dreamcast and another couple of quid on a copy of F355, rather than £30 on a ridiculous Jenson Button baseball cap (that was no doubt made in Taiwan by a 6-year-old for about 14 pence), THEY'D NEVER HAVE TO QUEUE AGAIN!
Unless, of course, they were queuing for something other than a go on an F355 arcade machine...erm...
Back to the scene
My Dreamcast hates me. And the worst part is, she's (yes, you all know I call me Dreamcast a "she") right! I've been neglecting her, only playing with my many other consoles (except for the N64, that one's sitting quietly in a dark corner). Maybe that's why the laser slowly began to fade away... But now it's back! I really have no idea what's going on, maybe it just needed to rest for a bit, but, anyway, what matters is that I've been playing the hell out of that thing lately, with 3 particular games, 2 I already had, neglected in the shelf, and a new one. Let's break it down:
Le Mans 24 Hours
Amazing game. The only reason I didn't play it much when I got it was because at the time I was more into arcade stuff. Now that I'm seriously in the simulator business this game is a godsend in the Dreamcast's library. The gameplay's just...right, you know? The cars respond to every move you make, with fully analog control that lets you turn or accelerate exactly how much you want, depending on the pressure you apply to the analog pad or the triggers, and it just feels good, driving those hi-powered machines in a variety of different tracks. The graphics are pretty damn awesome, and, of course, it gives you the option to race the whole Le Mans challenge, in 24 hours real-time!
Radilgy/Radirgy/What-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it
Personally I like to call it Radilgy, as in Radio Allergy. Because that's what the game is all about, your character having a radio-wave allergy, and her father's being kidnapped, and you taking control of a flying robot shooting wave after wave of enemies... Pretty generic shmup storyline, you see. As I stated sometime ago in a comment to a Martin's post, I had it, though, as what happened to Le Mans, at the time I got it just for collection's sake, not exactly to play it. Well, now things are different. In the past months I've became a huge shmup fan, so I inevitably had to play this. Here's what I think.
The graphics are awesome, pure cell-shaded, bright colours, delicious animations goodness! The gameplay is tight, the controls respond well and the game's not impossibly difficult (although it's far from easy). There's the regular shot, a special move identical to the bombs in other games but which is used primarily to render you invulnerable for a period of time and a close-range sword attack, powerful but dangerous to perform since you're right next to the enemies, making it difficult to dodge incoming fire.
I only have two major gripes with the game. First, you can't use the analog pad. This is just stupid. If the damn thing is the closest you have to an arcade stick, why the fuck shouldn't they allow you to use it? The d-pad's fine, but it just isn't the same... Second, the main shot is weak as fuck. Even when you power it all up certain enemy ships take about half a minute to blow up, which leaves you felling like you have a peashooter on your hands.
Other than that, great shmup, specially considering the rather weak competition when it comes to the Dreamcast (face it, it wasn't a particularly great machine for shmup fans...).
Wind & Water: Puzzle Battles
Finally! I thought I would never get my hands on this game! (now I only have to get that Dux...) Played just a little bit yesterday, not enough to pass judgement, but I can already tell you two things. First, the gameplay is rather unique, so be prepared to suck at it at first. The game features a nice tutorial, explaining everything in detail, but still, don't expect to master it right away. Second, this game was made with love. Seriously. The attention to detail, to make this game appealing to the player and has solid, complete and polished as a game can be is really astonishing. Also, the soundtrack's great.
Now, I've only really saw the tip of the iceberg, but I can already tell I'm going to love it. By the way, Gagaman and Father K, would you be so kind as to send me your custom character's codes? I'd love to play as both of you :P
(Gman's rummage vid)
Le Mans 24 Hours
Amazing game. The only reason I didn't play it much when I got it was because at the time I was more into arcade stuff. Now that I'm seriously in the simulator business this game is a godsend in the Dreamcast's library. The gameplay's just...right, you know? The cars respond to every move you make, with fully analog control that lets you turn or accelerate exactly how much you want, depending on the pressure you apply to the analog pad or the triggers, and it just feels good, driving those hi-powered machines in a variety of different tracks. The graphics are pretty damn awesome, and, of course, it gives you the option to race the whole Le Mans challenge, in 24 hours real-time!
Radilgy/Radirgy/What-the-fuck-you-want-to-call-it
Personally I like to call it Radilgy, as in Radio Allergy. Because that's what the game is all about, your character having a radio-wave allergy, and her father's being kidnapped, and you taking control of a flying robot shooting wave after wave of enemies... Pretty generic shmup storyline, you see. As I stated sometime ago in a comment to a Martin's post, I had it, though, as what happened to Le Mans, at the time I got it just for collection's sake, not exactly to play it. Well, now things are different. In the past months I've became a huge shmup fan, so I inevitably had to play this. Here's what I think.
The graphics are awesome, pure cell-shaded, bright colours, delicious animations goodness! The gameplay is tight, the controls respond well and the game's not impossibly difficult (although it's far from easy). There's the regular shot, a special move identical to the bombs in other games but which is used primarily to render you invulnerable for a period of time and a close-range sword attack, powerful but dangerous to perform since you're right next to the enemies, making it difficult to dodge incoming fire.
I only have two major gripes with the game. First, you can't use the analog pad. This is just stupid. If the damn thing is the closest you have to an arcade stick, why the fuck shouldn't they allow you to use it? The d-pad's fine, but it just isn't the same... Second, the main shot is weak as fuck. Even when you power it all up certain enemy ships take about half a minute to blow up, which leaves you felling like you have a peashooter on your hands.
Other than that, great shmup, specially considering the rather weak competition when it comes to the Dreamcast (face it, it wasn't a particularly great machine for shmup fans...).
Wind & Water: Puzzle Battles
Finally! I thought I would never get my hands on this game! (now I only have to get that Dux...) Played just a little bit yesterday, not enough to pass judgement, but I can already tell you two things. First, the gameplay is rather unique, so be prepared to suck at it at first. The game features a nice tutorial, explaining everything in detail, but still, don't expect to master it right away. Second, this game was made with love. Seriously. The attention to detail, to make this game appealing to the player and has solid, complete and polished as a game can be is really astonishing. Also, the soundtrack's great.
Now, I've only really saw the tip of the iceberg, but I can already tell I'm going to love it. By the way, Gagaman and Father K, would you be so kind as to send me your custom character's codes? I'd love to play as both of you :P
(Gman's rummage vid)
Dux is shipping out!
If you put in a pre-order for the latest indie Dreamcast shooter DUX, it's should be winging it's way to you from today, and according to the DC-Scene forums some people in Germany already have it. If you're one of those few and can type English, post in the comments with your impressions!
HUCAST put out some rather tasty preview photos of the final pressed boxes, both the regular and special edition, in their pretty DVD cases that can sit along side your other late Dreamcast shmups like Under Defeat and karous, if you were lucky enough to get your hands on those of course. Personally I have both editions ordered (the L.E with Play-Asia, so hopefully they don't let me down!) and they'll be sitting rather nidely besides Cosmic Smash and Segagaga, and also Last Hope Pink Bullets when it makes it way into the post.
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