Outtrigger

"I should've looked into this more before buying it..."

This is a perfect example of why you shouldn't buy a game based on a review score. A certain website (I don't know if I'm allowed to say its name, plus I would want to keep them anonymous, for their sake :P) gave this game a 8.6. I was looking for a list of new dreamcast games to get after the dc died, to stock up my collection. I see the high score, read the review, find out what its about...''A FPS about an anti-terrorist network? online play! this is gonna be sick!''...damn I was wrong. There are so many things that bothered me about this cause it sounded like it had so much potential...and it didn't deliver...AT ALL!!!

Gameplay/controls: 2/10

Gahhh! This absolutely killed this game. I was expecting the game to have cutscenes and a central storyline involving terrorist plots and you having to stop them, but instead you get to have the exiting gameplay of!...collecting items before time runs out...in a FPS (with no one but yourself in the level either!). Another type of mission has you standing stationary, and just aiming at enemies that pop up from behind crates, and you have to kill a certain ammount of enemies before time runs out. Don't worry though, cause in some missions you CAN move around...but very difficultly. The premise of the game is pretty much kill X ammount of people before time runs out...no real missions. The missions aren't even long, probably about 2 minutes at most. This game is supposed to be an ''arcade FPS''

The controls are also horrible. Controls are not fully customizable, you can only select from preset controller setups. None of them work too well, and you can't move with just the joystick.

There are 4 characters to select from, each with 3 weapons...and 2 of the characters are exactly the same. There is simply just not enough selection, at all, and you don't even get any new guns/pick up guns, just timed powerups for the weapons you have now.

The level design is also horrible. Levels are cramped, and everything is out in the open. It makes gameplay repetitive as all you do is stand there and shoot, instead of moving around levels trying to find your opponent, trying to find new guns, trying to hide, etc. Just a poor job overall.

Graphics: 5/10

Ok, so something decent about this game. It runs at a very smooth framerate. Character models are decent, but overall everything looks very generic. Enemies all look the same, levels are very uninspired. It DOES look cool when you set someone on fire, but that even gets repetitive, because the character model of someone ''on fire'' is also the same.

Audio: 4/10

To tell you the truth, I don't remember much about the audio. I haven't played this game in a long time, and wouldn't even play it again just to review it, cause it ''ticked'' me off so much. But then again, there wasn't anything good enough in the audio that would make you remember it. So therefore, I'm giving it a 4/10. You may not think it was fair for me to judge the audio like this, but trust me...it can't be good :P

Replay value: 5/10

It all comes down to how much you enjoy playing this game. I hate this game with a passion, and will never play it again or even play it online. If you do happen to find something you like in the game, you might be interested in playing others online. I tried to balance out the score between how much I hate this game to how much value it would have if someone liked it. I don't know if you can even play online with dreamcast anymore, but I still hafta factor that into the score

overall score (not an average): 3/10

This is a game that needed a different approach. The arcade FPS style simply didn't work. It definately needed a strong central storyline, more exciting missions that are related with the storyline, and just...better gameplay! The game really did feel like it was rushed out. There is no ''negative bias'' in this review either, cause I worship AM2 for bringing me the Shenmue series (my username even comes from the game), but this game let me down so much.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/11/03, Updated 02/11/03