Editorial Review

The first golf title for the Dreamcast, Tee Off is in the vein ofarcade-style golf games like the Hot Shots Golf series on thePlayStation. Players control big-headed, Japanese animation-style characters onvibrantly-colored 3-D courses. Shots are viewed from multiple cameraangles--including some mesmerizing aerial views--with the ball leaving a fading trailbehind it.

While Tee Off does require some basic golf knowledge, it uses astandardized control scheme which even those who've never played video golf willbe able to pick up on right away. In addition to customizable difficulty levels,Tee Off offers various modes of play, including gate ball (think croquetin cyberspace) and world tour, which rewards players' high scores by "unlocking"new characters and equipment.

Admittedly, Tee Off isn't for devotees of more simulation-oriented golftitles, as they'll probably pass it off as kiddie fare. However, casual videogolfers and those new to the armchair sport are in for one heck of a good timeon the links. --Joe Hon

Pros:

• Highly addictive arcade-style gameplay
• Great replay value
• Gate ball (cybercroquet) mode

• Japanese to English language translation is weak at times
• May not appeal to fans of more simulation-oriented golf titles

Reviews (21)

Not bad.
If they had real characters, I would actually rate this a 5. The courses are extremely lifelike. There should have been some unlockable courses and some easier to lock players. I hate missing the red bar on the bottom, cause once you miss it, you lose a whole stroke. But playing it is all right. Though it's not the best golf game in the world, it deserves a look at.

It could be a bit more realistic!!
.... The 4 characters say the same phrases over and over and I never felt like using up my memory card to save the world tour and unlock other characters. It's not like I was gonna win, anyway. I must admit, though, the 5 courses are pretty good. Japan is easy. U.S.A. gets me in the bunker alot. Scotland has alot of precipitation variations. M y ball always goes into the red clay in Australia. And Africa has a large variety of fairways and obstacles. Gate ball isn't that great because the gates are always in the same exact spots. Other than the graphics and the 5 courses, this game could use some improvement.

Not for the serious golf fan
Tee Off is a fun game but diehard fans may find it disapointing.The game is based around fun and is easy to play and to get into.There are various different modes of play which improve the longitivity of the game, so you and your friends can battle it out to see who is the best.There is also an option to unlock new characters and new equipment though getting high scores.

Waste of time for a Golfer
I love golf games.Golden Tee 99 and 2000 are the greatest golf games out today.I think Tee-off may be the worst. If you are over the age of 10and like to play golf, don't buy this game.If you are prone to dreamingabout playing your dreamcast and can't wait to get home to play them, don'tbuy this game!The people at Dreamcast should have have sent this gameout to pasture when the original version was delivered.Do yourself afavor, buy a football or hockey game for now, and wait until Dreamcast putsout a real golf game.

Let's hit the greens!
This game is the best golf game that I have played on any platform.Some of the computer players are a little weak, but it makes it that muchbetter.

I have played this game for hours on end.The graphics are verywell done.I wish there was a better selection of players with betterskills, but that's life.Perhaps there will be a Tee-Off 2 orsomething..

I can recall many a night staying up and playing this withfriends to the wee hours of the morning.

If you are an armchair golfer,this title is for you! ... Read more

Amazon.com Product Description

Test Drive Le Mans is the official game of the internationally famous Le Mans auto race, which dates back to 1923. Players can select from among a series of Le Mans circuit tracks that wind through the Sarthe region of France, and choose from among over 40 cars that reach speeds approaching 200 mph. Also, race fans can compete in GT and prototype classes, and choose from officially licensed racing teams.

Along with distinct engine sounds, the cars also exhibit realistic engine conditions, so that racers need to factor a pit strategy into their racing. Lighting effects around the tracks mimic the race's 24-hour cycle from day to night to day. Precise road conditions and collision effects allow for realistic crashes, spinouts, and flips. The Le Mans mode allows players to compete in a 24-hour race, or compress it into 10-minute, 30-minute, one-hour, or six-hour modes. Up to four players can compete simultaneously via a split screen. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Wacky Races is a cross between South Park Rally andMario 64, and stars classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters. While thiskart racing game doesn't really bring anything new to the racing genre, it doesbring hours of lighthearted fun.

All the members of the motley crew from the cartoons are here, includingPenelope Pitstop, Dick Dastardly, Muttley--even the Slag Brothers. They've allcome with their trademark vehicles, from the Slag Brothers' rock-solid,relentless Boulder Mobile to Peter Perfect's turbocharged, streamlined TurboTerrific. To add the always-present fighting element, the cars come with theirown individual features to help you get around the numerous courses.

A title ideal for keeping younger kids busy while not appearing totally alien tothe rest of us, this game boils down to a kid-friendly version of South ParkRally. The colorful cartoon graphics give you the feeling that you're in thecartoon itself. --Mike Fehlauer ... Read more

Editorial Review

Sega Rally 2 is the sequel to an arcade game that madeits home debut on the ill-fated Sega Saturn video game console. Despitethe Saturn's demise, the original Sega Rally still holds a warmplace in the heart of video game fanatics as one of the bestarcade-style racing games ever created. Now the series follow-up hits theconsole system after a successful run in arcades. And with cars andtracks not found in the standup version, Sega Rally 2 fansshould be very pleased with Sega's efforts to enhance the gameplay funfor the Dreamcast version. On the flip side, casual racing fans mayfind the difficulty level a bit too advanced for their tastes.

Sega Rally 2 favors more of an arcade-style fantasy physicsmodel than its predecessor, but don't expect this game to be a Sundaydrive. Those looking for an exciting romp behind the wheel will likelybe disappointed after numerous sideline crashes and races endprematurely due to expired time. Purists and road jockeys weaned on thelikes of Gran Turismo may be able to handle the challenge factorhere, but casual arcade-style racing fans may find the race too hot tohandle for long-term, frustration-free fun. --Jeff Young

Pros:

• More replay value than the coin-op version of the game
• Beautiful graphics

Cons:

• Too hard to be fun for many arcade-style racing fans
• Backgrounds tend to pop up dramatically when the horizon is notobscured by curvy road

Editorial Review

For those of you who thought the Teletubbies were strange, watch out: here come the Penpens. Bizarre cartoon penguins and half-penguins, the Penpens live on an icy world far away. Once a year, they compete in a grand three-part race of belly-surfing, ice-walking, and swimming: the TriIcelon. Each racecourse features all three events, tied together with a unique theme such as Candy Land, Haunted House, or Toy Land.

Kids and the young at heart are sure to get a kick out of the goofy Penpen characters. And controls are extremely simple: there's a general action button, used to jump while walking or to stroke while swimming or belly-surfing, and an attack button, which causes your Penpen to try to knock down a fellow TriIcelon contestant. These two features, and the game's cartoonish concept, make Penpen TriIcelon the most kid-friendly game available as of the Dreamcast's launch. --Michael Fehlauer

Pros:

• Colorful tracks with imaginative themes
• Simple controls

• Penpens may be too wacky for older players

Amazon.com Product Description

It's time to grab your fishing rod and head out towards Sega's clear blue sea. Sega Marine Fishing--the sequel to the highly successful arcade and Dreamcast hit, Sega Bass Fishing--features all of the thrills and action of real exotic deep-sea fishing. Players depart on an all-day charter and travel across the Sega Seas to one of three beautiful fishing areas. In the warm South Pacific, you'll encounter breathtaking coral reefs that are filled with colors so vibrant, you'll swear you smell salt water. Continue your fishing adventure at the Offing, where you'll see and hear the surf crash onto the shore while you cast the waters in search of the dangerous mako shark. Land your quota in all three areas for a chance to explore the Sega Sea Special Bonus Area and all of its secrets. With 16 different lures, you're bound to reel in the big one. ... Read more

Editorial Review

This motorcycle racing game, set in pristine outdoorenvironments, will leave players with a serious need for speed. Whilethe game sports some of the most beautiful environments and intricateriders ever seen in a video game, there is no hint of the "extreme"that the title suggests. The collisions are relatively tame, enablingyour bike to glide up fences and other objects instead of crashing orrebounding off of them. Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing featureseasy driving controls that enable novice riders to take steady curvesat high speeds, but players will still need to use the brakes aroundthose hairpins. Turbo boosts are rewarded for reaching checkpoints.

For all of the extreme ambitions of this game, it is still seems to bemissing a vital component. The racing environments are designed in away that fails to convey the speed and realism of an actual race.Rather than rushing by the player, the scenery moves as though it isbeing dragged toward you. While the speedometer and engine-revving topout at fever pitch, the onscreen visual motion just doesn't match up.Beautiful to behold, but only recommended for nongamer, motorcycleracing fans. --Jeff Young

Pros:

• Great graphics
• New features unlock as you advance through the game
• Solid controls

Cons:

• Racing environments fail to convey speed

Editorial Review

The Dreamcast delivers a new sense of realism to the racing-gamesgenre with F1 World Grand Prix. Not only is it one of themost beautiful games of its kind, with lavishly modeled cars andtracks, but it's one of the deepest ones as well.

Almost every aspect of F1's cars can be customized, includinggear ratio, suspension, brake sensitivity, front and rear wings, aswell as tires and the amount of fuel racers choose to carry. Pit stopslet players refuel and repair damage--which cars take realistically--andan announcer identifies racers' ranking, position gains and losses,and specific car damage.

There are 16 races in championship mode, each with weather conditionsbased on conditions found in the real event. A match-race mode lets twofriends compete, which is ideal when you want to go head-to-headagainst a buddy. The only real drawback to this game is that it lacksthe speed of an arcade-style racer, but this fact alone may be enoughto scare away nonracing fans. --Robb Guido

Pros:

• Real F1 racers and their cars
• Beautifully modeled tracks and nice weather effects
• An in-depth car-setup screen

• Races are slower than they could be
• The controls are a bit difficult to master

Amazon.com Product Description

With Metropolis Street Racer, you can drive 40 licensed vehicles from 14 manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Renault, Rover, Mitsubishi, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, Honda, and Ford. Two hundred different routes through Tokyo, London, and San Francisco offer 15 square miles of 3-D scenery that's been created from more than 40,000 photographs and 400 hours of video footage. Play in several game modes, including street race, timed run, head-to-head, model street race, model championship, challenge, and championship. Race solo, or against a friend via the split-screen mode, or see how you compare against online speedsters by uploading your performance in the Internet hot lap to get rated in a league. Road-handling dynamics and car physics are affected by changing weather conditions, including fog, snow, and rain. "Real World Time" allows the gamer to race at the correct time of day in each city. Metropolis Street Racer's authentic engine sounds were recorded from a wide range of cars; but, if motor purr isn't enough for you, you can listen to techno, dance, rock, jazz, or country music while you race through the city streets. ... Read more

Reviews (41)

Yeowza!
Great game. Mind-boggling superbness. Except one thing. Any and all FR cars (front-engine, rear-wheel drive cars) are nearly impossible to prevent from spinning out in the rain.
So....I'm in the final few chapters, and my best car is a Toyota Celica GT-FOUR cuz it's the most powerful car available to me that isn't FR!!! And for the difficulty? Damn. Frustrating much....but that's what makes a good game....even though I'm not able to skillfully drive an RX-7 like I'd like to!!!
Overall....9 out of 10.

Kudos 4 me...kudos 4 you..kudos 4 everyone...except the game
From what I read about Metropolis Street Racer I expected a solid racing game with speed but got neither. The game favors no contact driving instead of fun...uh I mean speed. Imagine a racing gamme with no speed...who on earth could think of such a dumb concept its like a Sonic game without speed or a Doom type game without guns

Really a sad disapointment. The graphics are okay but the game play SUCKS!! Avoid this like SARS

Awesome
I'm probably one of the few people that gave a review that actually beat the game, so I know when its good and when it isnt.

The graphics in this game are good although when youre driving at night its hard to see and apprantly it rains in tunnels. The views are good except they should have had one from the driver's viewpoint. Other good points about the graphics are when u shift gears (auto. or man.) u can see the driver shifting. Also, the tires can and will smoke when they should and the right tires too. If u press start and put the tv camera on it like ur watching someone drive and when u do donuts and fishtails it looks pretty cool. Overall the graphics are really good. 9/10

The music for the most part sucks, however u can turn the volume to 0 and either just here ur engine and the other cars' engines or u can listen to ur own music on something other than ur dreamcast. The engine sounds may seem repetitive, but i noticed between the mustang and the skyline, they sound the same except the mustang has a whistling noise when it gets to around 60mph, thats the only i noticed but im sure there are more small differences like that. The sound changes when ur view changes. With the TV camera u cant here the engine but u can hear everthing else. When have the view from the bumper the engine is loud. when u have the outside view then it sounds just like any of the other cars. As the other cars get closer they sound louder. This definitely helps alot. U will here ur tires squeak when ur burnout or skid and u will here the rain as its falling. Sounds good, 8/10

When i first got this game, i thought that i was ripped off, u start of with 3 really crappy cars. As the game went on i got better cars. The first few chapters are pretty boring, but once u get some better cars the game will get better. Eventually u will end up with cars like the 300zx, supra, rx-7, mustang, and of course the skyline gt-r. And as for the people who think the cars in this game are slow, read the features, 40 licensed SPORTS cars, not supercars or f1 cars. and besides, these arent very accurate versions of these cars, in a good way of course, i have gone 180mph with the skyline, and 185 with the supra. And besides, what other racing game will allow u to drive a lawnmower. (I think i got to 100mph with it) Ive had the game for almost 2 years now and i still play it every once in a while. Once u get into the game u wont be able to get out of it. U will also get better as the game goes on so dont worry about the difficulty. The kudos system is not bad at all and there are ways to easily stack up on them. Fun to play, 9/10

Overall i would have to give this game a 10/10. I dont recommend renting this game though. Buy it and give it a chance, u wont regret it.

Good, yet difficult game
This game has great graphics and over 80 different routes in 3 different areas of 3 different citys. that equals up to about 700 possible routes. The down side to this game is that unless you are extremely skilled, it is hard. You get stuck a lot.
The game automaticly saves yoiur progress every time you do anything. If you loose one race, it ruins your game, actually it dosent do much but can be bad if you keep loosing.
To any skilled vidio game racer, this would be ideal.

Perhaps THE Best Racing Game for DreamCast!!!
I only recently acquired a DreamCast console, and - given my specialty in racing games - picked up several racing games shortly thereafter.Metropolis Street Racer is BY FAR the best of these games, and I find it very difficult to imagine a better racing game for this console.

First, Metropolis Street Racer is definitely NOT for the casual racing gamer; those who view racing as continually standing on the accelerator until the race ends will fail miserably in this game.While speed is needed to clear the many tasks in MSR, the game focuses much more heavily upon racing skill and racing style, with Kudos (points) awarded or detracted based upon the player's performance.

Yet this is not the only innovation.Metropolis Street Racer includes numerous street circuits in Tokyo, London, and San Francisco - in some events, circuits at two or all three of these cities are the norm.In the Street Racing mode of the game (the main mode of the game), real-world time is used - based upon the console's internal clock and location settings - to determine lighting conditions... which means that to truly perform well, players often need to SCHEDULE when they play the game in relation to the time differentials between the player's time zone and the time zones of the cities in reality to ensure optimal visibility in daylight conditions.However, the game also includes numerous weather conditions, ranging from clear skies to intense rain to thick fog.

Within Street Racing mode, there are numerous types of events.In Hot Lap, a player must either beat a posted average lap time or score at least one lap time better than the posted time.Timed Runs force the player to complete a given number of laps within a specific amount of time.One-on-one pits the player against a solo CPU-controlled competitor in a race.There are also Street Races, in which the player competes against up to five other cars.Challenges vary, but can include passing a specific number of cars within a certain period of time, or attaining a minimum number of Kudos.In all events, the player can choose to "gamble" upon the upcoming performances by adjusting the goals of the events according to the player's racing skill, racing style, and confidence.

Having visited both San Francisco and London, I find these locales in the game to be extremely realistic.I have yet to visit Tokyo, but from the films and pictures I have seen, I find the game's rendition to be quite convincing.Of these locales, each presents rather different challenges beyond simply racing.Circuits in London often narrow considerably, and there are often traffic circles, streetlamps, and other such obstacles in the middle of the circuits.Tokyo also often alternates between wide and extremely narrow sections of raceway, but is very often filled with medians which are often extremely difficult to spot even during perfectly-clear daylight conditions.San Francisco circuits often make use of the city's steep inclines, which can send cars airborne and thus make cornering impossible.

One of the less-crucial but still interesting aspects of the game is the music.This ranges from jazz to rock to pop to country.What makes the music so special is its presentation in the form of radio broadcasts, as if the player is listening to the radio while racing.Each city has its own sets of radio stations, each selected at random by the CPU upon entering a race and localized for each city; this also means that the radio announcers in Tokyo speak in Japanese.However, the music itself is not truly localized in Tokyo, as there is NO Japanese-language music in Metropolis Street Racer (only songs in English, plus a few instrumentals), which is a severe defect in the planning and creation of the game.

Overall, Metropolis Street Racer is a highly unique, highly challenging game.Players who actually complete the game will have greatly improved their racing skills along the way, which will pay great dividends in other games in this genre. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Great Premise, Horrible Execution
Your character, called "the sleeper," awakens from a slumber several centuries old to find the world being overrun by tentacles and sentient plant life, all sprouting from an enormous temple named "Fogna." Equipped with a ten foot tall suit of robotic armor named "Elemental Gimmick Gear," he sets off to fight the evil and overcome his own amnesia. It's a bargain basement story at best, and aside from the introduction and a brief revelation halfway through the game, the writing really grinds to a halt right there. You're given no continuing motivation to play.

There are a total of three cinematic cut scenes in Elemental Gimmick Gear. One is played at the onset of a new game, and serves to introduce the storyline (or, perhaps, lack thereof). The second is a montage of scenes from that cinema, and plays when you power the game up and fail to press the start button within a couple seconds. The third is your generic "reward" video, and is played every time you defeat a boss and receive a new power. Eight hours into this game, I'd watched that same cinema half a dozen times. No minor nuances were altered, to differentiate between my reception of the ice beam as opposed to, say, the fire beam. It's all the same, horribly compressed, video scene. I'm sure there would have been an equally uninspiring CGI at the game's conclusion, had I been granted the willpower to make it that far.

Perhaps the only factor in which EGG doesn't completely lag is the impressive originality within the overworld's graphics. There's a beautiful, stylistic, thick-lined detail in the backdrops of the game's overhead battle scenes that, with a little finesse, could have been really well done. In today's world of 3-D rendered surroundings and polygons, polygons, polygons, it's nice to see some legitimate linework making its way into a game. Unfortunately, programmers managed to turn even that slim positive element into a non-factor, as despite their beauty it's incredibly difficult to navigate your way around the detailed sketches.

When you enter a boss battle, the game abruptly shifts from the traditional overhead adventure format (a'la Zelda: A Link to the Past) to a strange, polygonal 3-D battle. In addition to the jerky shift between vantagepoints, the visual style shifts just as abruptly, giving way to a poorly textured 3-D battle zone. Bosses are poorly designed and far from intimidating, to the point where they're almost comical. Your surroundings look vaguely similar to the overhead screen they're meant to be molded after, but lack the fine detail and linework that made those scenes even remotely memorable. The characters are simplistic to a fault, and would've been just as much at home with the first wave of Playstation titles as they are here, late in the Dreamcast's life. Add to that an unforgivable load time prior to each boss battle, and you've got an unhappy camper 97% of the time.

Gameplay in EGG is a chore, full of inconsistencies, quirks and bugs. I honestly don't think this game was playtested before its release. Moving around the screen varies from difficult to impossible, and collision detection is way off. Enemies are either too powerful or too weak, with nothing landing in between. I've watched, several times, as my ten foot robot fell to the almighty power of a trout. Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing� you put a fish and a robot in the same room and tell them to fight to the death, my money's most certainly not on the fish.

Your robot also has a love for sailing off ledges and cliffs, an action which actively returns you to the last doorway you walked through and takes 20% of your life as a toll. It's beyond easy to accidentally sail into the abyss, as the machine assumes you've stepped over a ledge every time you're within a couple feet of doing so. Pair that with the horrendous controls, which, instead of following your instructions and heading north, often lead you alternately northwest and northeast in a bizarre drunken swagger, this is a big drawback.

Even the soundtrack is horribly lacking In EGG. Though obviously influenced heavily by the score to Final Fantasy VIII (complete with the soft plucking of violin strings), the game relies all too often on looping and then looping once again. Each individual song is comprised of MAYBE a minute and a half of original music, which then loops back upon itself infinitely. Considering you'll spend about an hour in an average dungeon, this means you'll hear the same obnoxious tune looped upwards of fifty times before you finally complete your work and return to the overworld.

Thinking about Elemental Gimmick Gear makes me wonder what happened. Hudson Soft was chasing the Holy Grail with EGG, the thought of introducing a new type of game to the masses, something which would forever serve as the mold from which entire franchises were crafted. Instead, they released a product which can only be described as overly flawed, incomplete, uninspiring and often painful. I wouldn't wish Elemental Gimmick Gear on my worst enemy.

this game rules
if you like 2d games you must get this game.

This game is stupid!
Not only has this game have a stupid name, but the story line is stupid too.I just can't get into a game where you play I guy wondering around inan EGG shaped armor suit.The graphics weren't all that impressive. Needless to say I played the game for a few hours hoping it would getbetter, which it didn't, and now it just sitting collecting dust.

Waste of Money
i bought this game because ign gave it 8/10. I ill now think twice before buying on thier reviews. The Control in this game is the worst i have ever seen. The art is so-so.the sprite animation is pure crap. save your moneydon't buy this game

New Owner's Review !
This Game Is Awsome! It Has 4-Player Capability And has an awsome story line. by the way don't let the graphics turn you away cuz the game it great! ... Read more

Editorial Review

"No refs. No rules," boasts NFL Blitz 2000, making it clear that this game is nottrue-to-life football simulation. The game disregards strict realism in favor of outrageous moves,bone-crushing tackles, and jaw-dropping plays. And you'll need those big plays: a first down in NFL Blitz2000 is 30 yards, and there aren't any rules against pass interference.

The gridiron action is enhanced by the voices of the players. A safety who body-slams a wide receiver willstand over the writhing body and jeer, "You're in MY house, sucka!"A sacked quarterback may limpaway, wailing, "I think it's broken!"Even the game's announcers get in on it, gleefully pointing out thatyour star running back just got clobbered.

So NFL Blitz 2000 is the perfect game to play with your buddies. It's fast, fierce, and quickly getseveryone talking trash and slinging taunts. Up to four people can play at once, two on each team (eachplayer needs their own controller).

Fans of deep, realistic football strategy should check out NFL 2K. But fans of the kind of football foundin highlight reels will love NFL Blitz 2000.
Pros:

• Terrific multiplayer game for up to four players
• Brutal tackle animations
• Trash-talking players, great commentary from announcers
• Players can design custom plays and save them to a VMU

• Single-player game quickly gets old
• Turbo mode and other unrealistic moves may turn off hard-core sports fans

Reviews (16)

Arena Football meets NBA JAM
If you like Arena Football and love fast paced, thumb twitching, sweaty palm action then this game is for you.If you're looking for REAL football go for NFL 2K1.THE GOOD NEWS.This is really a game about scoring massive amounts of points, pounding the crud out of NFL players that you hate in real life, and having ARCADE fun.The tackles are right out of the WWE, the game speed is that of NBA JAM, and the thrill of winning is surpassed by none.THE BAD NEWS.The big hits get boring, you get used to the game speed as you keep playing, and winning flat out becomes way too easy.All in all, this game was fun for awhile (it lasted longer than some games), and the more I played it the less I said WOW! LOOK AT THAT!The only real replay value comes from inviting your friends to partake in the slugfest and then talking crap as the feel of the bone-breaking hits make you say WOW! again.

Fun, but not for very long.
I can see how some folks would enjoy a pure arcade version with no reality whatsoever involved.Myself, I think I'd like something more realistic.

First downs are 30 yards, there are no penalties, there's no kickoff, and there is no realism involved as far as athletic ability of the players.For example, if you complete a pass from Young to Rice (remember, this is 2000!), and Rice has the open field, two defenders are actually able to catch up to Rice and tackle him.This is flat out ridiculous, even for an arcade game.Ditto Terrell Owens and Tim Brown, and I was able to stop other wideouts with linebackers just by squeezing the turbo button.

The emphasis is obviously on bone-crushing tackles, but after an hour of play, the only really enjoyable aspect of this is the ability to cheap-shot the offensive players long after the ball is whistled dead.The field-goal kicking system is particularly vexing, as it was apparently designed by a chimp with ADD, and requires eight espresso-mochacchinos in order to maintain the twitch focus required to accurately split the uprights.

Overall, I see this as a fun arcade game for younger kids not up to simulation-level gameplay, and guys/gals who just want to have fun beating each other's players up.Me, if I want to beat up some guy, I'll play Soul Calibur.

blitz
I think that thisis one of the best football games I have ever played.It is fast paced, and a lot of fun.I usually don't like football games, but this one is awesome.

BLITZ IS ALL RIGHT BUT......
this game is pretty fun.The graphics are decent, the sound is also above average.This game is at its best when 4 human players play in a 4 player multiplayer game.Games are always high scoring when playing with your friends.This game is a great game if you always have people who will play with you.But when playing alone this game sucks.Sure smacking the computer is fun a while, but theres no one to smack talk.The novelty of hard hits wears off fast.Also the no pass inerference rule gets cheap.On easy mode, the computer gets whooped every time beacause they never pass interference, but on hard, the computer will use it on every play, making it frustrating, because it will be so freaking hard to cathc a pass. For the person with no friends this game may not be right for you.First of all this game has no season mode for 1 player.its just arcade mode.Secondly, there are no things to keep you busy like creat-a-player ( i believe there is create a play, but i would rather have more fun creating players ).so get this game if you have lots of friends or if there are always people to play with you. if you dont have friends or you are a only child, stick with NFL2k for all you solo gamers.

GREAT GAME
has great game play its very simple if you dont want to play a game where you have to hit all these buttons to throw the ball also if you like this game you will like NFL2K1 ... Read more

Editorial Review

Top-down space shooters, so popular in the late '80s, have gone the way of legwarmers and Mr. T. With the influx of richly textured 3-D worlds and interactiveenvironments, old-school shooters aren't exactly in massive demand. But Armadafor the Dreamcast boldly bucks that trend by giving gamers more than just a rehashedshooter. Armada takes the addictive formula of breakneck shooting action andmelds it ingeniously with role-playing game (RPG) elements such as involved characterinteraction and a growth system based on experience points.

As a member of Allied Command, you must annihilate the destructive Armada whosereign threatens all humankind. But behind this simplistic premise lies a deep gameplaysystem, where you travel within an enormous galaxy filled with space stations,supernovas, planets, and a battery of Armada ships. Although you are assigned primarymissions, there are plenty of secondary objectives, spaceship tweaking, and statusbuilding during the nonlinear gameplay. In this way Armada cleverly interjectsrapid shooting action with involved strategy elements to create a unique experience.Throw in four-player simultaneous play--with up to four people onscreen at once--andArmada has plenty of multiplayer fun as well. --Sajed Ahmed

Pros:

• Loaded with elements of sci-fi, fast shooters, and tactical play
• 6 distinct races to choose from
• RPG-like credit system, where you earn credits to spend on tweaking your ship
• Create and name your own character

• The environments are muted
• Gameplay can become monotonous

Reviews (39)

A massive mistake!
First, don't get me wrong: I love 2D space shooters and RPGs. 'Armada' is a mix of these fine genres, but it's a very poor mix. It fails as a shooter because it has bad controls and poor action; It fails as an RPG because story and characters are never developed.

And here's the most ridiculous thing: this game has no end. That's right: after you beat all missions, you just keep flying on space, fighting the aliens as if nothing had happened. What's the point of beating the game, then?

This may be 'Asteroids' on steroids, but that is not nearly enough to make it actually fun.

A massive mistake!
First, don't get me wrong: I love 2D space shooters and RPGs. 'Armada' is a mix of these fine genres, but it's a very poor mix. It fails as a shooter because it has bad controls and poor action; It fails as an RPG because story and characters are never developed.

And here's the most ridiculous thing: this game has no end. That's right: after you beat all missions, you just keep flying on space, fighting the aliens as if nothing had happened. What's the point of beating the game, then?

This may be 'Asteroids' on steroids, but that is not nearly enough to make it actually fun.

Armada - A good game that could have been much better.
No genre goes back as far as the shooter. The first computer game, the 2 player Space War, was a shooter, with subsequent titles, such as the classic Asteroids, being more complete versions of that original concept. In many ways, Armada could be seen as a successor to those two titles. Indeed, control is handled much the same way, as is the perspective, but Metro3D intended for it to be much more. In essence, Armada could be said to be 2 parts Asteroids & 1 part Populous. If this is the combination Metro3D was going for, they did not entirely succeed.

While everything looks very crisp and clean, nothing ever really looks quite good enough to impress the fact upon you that you're playing a Dreamcast game. There's nothing here that couldn't be done on the Playstation, albeit with a bit of texture warping. That said, the lighting and translucency effects are easy on the eyes, and the textures are clean. Add to that the fact that there are quite a few enemies on-screen at any given time, and you have a game that looks good, even if it doesn't exactly tax the Dreamcast hardware.

Armada has an adequate sound package. The music is quite good, consisting of the usual orchestral science-fiction scores, that stack up quite well. Whether you complete a mission, get your ship upgraded or get defeated in space (at which time you're transported back to Earth) you are awarded with appropriate music, fitting each particular mood, as the soundtrack tries its best to give the game an epic feel. Voice acting is also quite competent, and in most cases sounds better than 90% of the B-Movie dialogue most companies seem to be going for (probably by accident). As far as the usual bells and whistles, there all there too. Explosions, weapons, alien screams, etc. all sound very good, not to mention quite loud. Another invaluable aspect is that allies can and will make themselves known, at which point you can choose whether or not to assist them in their mission (you will be awarded appropriately with a sum of credits). Whenever you manage to get the audio aspects of a game to assist in the actual gameplay, rather than just supply a mood, you know you've done something right. Armada delivers on both counts.

Armada's controls are simple and straightforward. You use the Analog stick to rotate your ship, and the analog triggers for acceleration (energy-draining warp engines, or standard sub-light engines). The D-Pad also is used, but not for out and out control. By pressing down on the D-Pad over an appropriate site (planet, space station, etc.), you will enter other areas for combat, or in the case of Earth, refuel and rearm your Power Pods (smart bombs). Pressing up on the D-Pad while in these sites will of course cause you to blast back out into space. While the system quickly becomes second nature, and is never too cumbersome to drain from the game, the amount of actions is probably a bit too limited (scan/converse, shoot, smart bomb, accelerate) for a game trying to be a "Shooter RPG."

While not a bad game by any means, the promise of a "Shooter RPG" seems to get hopes up a little too high, because when all is said and done, Armada is basically just an overhead, mission-based shooter with a few elements of role- playing, such as conversing with NPC's and levelling-up thrown in for good measure. The multiplayer aspects of the game add some much-needed life into a game that can get extremely repetitive rather quickly, but oftentimes it also can become frustrating when you have players who choose not to cooperate. Another downer is the open-ended gameplay, because as soon as every mission is completed, you basically have nothing more to do, and it seems more like a way to cheat the player out of a proper ending, than a "feature." As a shooter alone, Armada would have been a passable title, but throw the letters "RPG" in there, and you have a game that cannot possibly live up to the hype.

Armada, if a bit of a let down, was and is a good idea in concept, if falls a bit short in execution. Don't get me wrong, Armada is an enjoyable game, especially if you like shooters, but it simply doesn't deliver the role-playing experience Metro3D seemed to promise. Multiplayer is a nice touch, when used properly, but the open-ended game cheats the avid gamer who completes the game, from a more fulfilling experience. Unless Metro3D plans to have additional missions for download into a VMU or the upcoming ZIP Drive, this is a mistake. Rumor has it that Metro3D is already planning to correct the mistakes and provide a more thorough role-playing experience in the sequel. If this is true, perhaps then gamers will get the overall experience they deserved with this game. As it is, Armada is a welcome, if somewhat disappointing addition to the US Dreamcast library.

A really addicitve game.
This game is great. The graphics and sound are good. Basicly you conytrol a little space ship blowing aliens up and completing missions. The missions are cool but the thing I like nost is just flying around and trying to level up and make tons of cash. When my friends and I get together and play a four player game, it makes the game several times more fun. Don't believe the people that gave this game bad ratings. After reading thier reviews I can obviuosly tell that they didn't even know what they were doing when they played. "There is no RPG elements whatsover," my god people, didn't you realize that you gain XP and levels and can buy items. So don't believe them. Buy this game it is COOL.

Flat and boring...don't waste your time or money
I can't believe that a game this shallow actually made it into production for a system such as Dreamcast.

This game is more representative of the old standup arcade games from the 80's than the virtual absorbing games of today.

An extravagantly long game, Armada has ZERO graphical depth and gets boring very quickly. ... Read more