Sega SuperStars

"12 of Sega's finest characters, and you. Try not to let the side down."

When the EyeToy first came out, I thought of it as an interesting novelty that I would probably pick up eventually. Second hand. Maybe. Then something happened that meant I needed an EyeToy NOW. That event was the release of Sega Superstars. 12 minigames that suddenly made an EyeToy essential. See, I'm a massive Sega fan. No matter how fun Sony's own EyeToy games might be, they just can't compete with such brilliant characters as Sega has.

But enough of that, you want to know what the game's really like, don't you? Well, I'll start with some things that are constant through all the games. The graphics are excellent, everything looks just like it did in its last 'true' incarnation, only far better rendered and smoother. Music is also fantastic throughout, again mostly lifted straight from the real games the 12 here are based on, only given a slight quality boost. I'm sorry, I'm not good at writing about graphics and sound, I know. So let's get onto the good stuff- the mingames themselves.

The headline act is, of course, Sonic The Hedgehog. His game is a variant on the Sonic 2/Sonic Heroes style special stages. Hold your arm out to one side.
Now rotate it in a circle in front of you. Now imagine Sonic was stuck to your hand, and running down a tube. That's how this game works- Sonic will follow your hand around the outside of the tube as you move around the circle. You need to get him to collect the rings and Chaos Emeralds, and avoid bombs. Unlike the normal Special Stages, all 7 Emeralds are in one level, and if you hit a bomb with no rings you lose. Get to the end within the time limit (and without dying) to complete the game. Of course, you know what happens if you collect all 7 emeralds in one run, don't you...?

The next biggest attraction, if you're anything like me, is probably NiGHTS. I'm still kicking myself that I missed the Saturn, so I still haven't been able to play the real NiGHTS, but this game is a pleasant flight through his world. Did you ever run around with arms outstretched pretending to be an aeroplane? Remember how you used to tilt your arms when you were turning? Well now it's time to do that for real. As NiGHTS flies along, you need to lean from side to side to steer. Raise both arms up to ascend, and lower both arms to descend. Your task this time is to fly through the rings and collect enough blue chips to destroy the four Ideya Captures in each area. If you run out of time, you lose. Reach the Ideya Capture without enough chips and you can carry on, but you'll miss out on a lot of points. Definitely one of the best games on the collection.

Now I think we should delve into the lower end of the quality spectrum, just so I can spread out the bad stuff a bit. Virtua Striker, hang your head in shame. This one, not to put too fine a point on it, is rubbish. Balloons appear at one side of the screen, and a ball drops from the top of the other. Your task is to header the ball onto the balloons. Problem is, the collision detection here seems very suspect, with the ball often flying off at completely unexpected angles and speeds. The most fun you can have in this game is holding your head very still with your mouth open so you can hit the ball with your tongue.

But on to a more positive note- The House of the Dead! Just like the arcade gun game of the same name, you proceed along an on-rails path, and every so often the undead will bar your way. Smack them in the face before they attack you. Simple, but very very fun. Occasionally an innocent damsel in distress will appear too- try not to hit them, as they'll slap you back if you do. Umm... I can't really think of anything else to say about this one. But it's great.

Feeling musical? Sega Superstars has you covered with two rhythm-based games. Samba De Amigo is based on the Dreamcast's rare and expensive Maraca-em-up. Just take a dance mat game and replace the arrows for your feet with rings arranged on the points of a hexagon. Simply wave your hand over the appropriate ring as the rhythm balls pass through it. Every so often you will be invited to 'strike a pose', which entails holding over two rings simultaneously. There's a collection of well know tunes, with a few more for anyone good enough to unlock them. Apparently, the extras are made by Sega themselves, and not great. But I'm nowhere near good enough to find out yet.
The second music game is Space Channel 5. Working in much the same was as Samba, SC5 casts you as reporter Ulala, who has to dance off against a bunch of aliens to save the hostages. Yeah, weird I know. There are only 5 different targets in this game (Up, Down, Left, Right, and 'Chu'), but rather than hit them in time with an on-screen indicator, you have to memorise the pattern and reproduce it with the timing intact. Easy at first, but it doesn't stay that way. Unfortunately SC5 does seem to have some noticeable problems actually registering when you wave over the targets sometimes, making it even harder, but when it behaves this game is a lot of fun, and very stylish in a retro-60's kind of way.

It's rubbish time again! The second (and thankfully final) piece of wasted CD space comes in the form of Crazy Taxi. "But CT was a good game" I hear you cry. True, it was- when you were driving the Taxi. Superstars' rendition is the only game in the world based on that oh-so-entertaining task of hailing a Taxi. You jump up and down waving your arms around and shouting a lot... and that's it. Pointless, embarrassing, and utter utter garbage.

Now back to the quality games. Let's see, I still haven't covered... Ooh yes, Chu Chu Rocket. Actually, this one's not great, but it's not bad either. It doesn't really have a lot in common with the real CCR though- instead of laying down arrows, the entire stage is already set up for you. Your task is to operate the bridges by continually waving over the relevant switch. Make sure the bridge is up for ChuChus to cross, but drop it again when the KapuKapus are standing on it to drop them into the pit. Entertaining, but it won't hold your interest for long.

Billy Hatcher is a good game with a big drawback. Out of the twelve, this game is probably the closest to its source material. Two large hand outlines are in the middle of the screen, and these are used to control Billy- you use them to roll the egg. Wave over one, and Billy will roll just one side, causing it (and him) to turn. Roll over both at once and he will run forwards. Your goal is to crush all the enemies in the stage and then get to the exit. A great challenge, and fun to play. So what's the problem? It's ****ING PAINFUL! The length of time you have to keep waving both hands for will destroy your wrists. And it can sometimes be a bit too unresponsive as well. Good only in short bursts. But then once you complete a stage you won't be able to play again anyway, you'll be too busy trying to knead some life back into your hands. NiGHTS, I should say, can also cause some pain (holding your arms outstretched for long periods), but it's not as bad as this.

Puyo Pop is ridiculous. Totally and utterly barmy. And a hell of a lot of fun. Wheras the other games work only off movement, PP manages to use your entire body as 'solid', for the purposes of channeling the large quantities of Puyo (coloured jellybean things with eyes) into the relevantly coloured receptacles. Form ramps with your arms, and try and keep your head from getting in the way. Great stuff. The only problem with this game is that it requires a short calibration before each play, which has a tendency to fail every now and then. But once you get it working, you won't tire of it. There's also a 'free' mode in addition to the standard three difficulties, which just lets you mess around with Puyo without having to worry about a score or bombs.

Just two games left now, which shall I cover first? Let's go for Super Monkey Ball! Who'd have thought that such an RSPCA-baiting hobby (that of trapping helpless simians in airtight spheres and rolling them off landscapes suspended high above the ground) could be such fun? Here, however, you're not the sadistic ape-torturer tiliting the landscape, oh no. You're actually taking on the role of AiAi himself, struggling for survival. Much like NiGHTS, this entails waving your arms around to steer- tilt your left arm down and AiAi will roll to the left, and vice versa. Unlike the purple jester, however, AiAi is not airborne, and so rather than up and down, raising or lowering both arms together will control your speed- raise them both and AiAi will speed up, lower both and he'll come to a stop. Eventually. Usually several feet off the edge of the landscape. You've got three lives to make it through all the floors- good luck.

And finally we have Virtua Fighter. Forget the sour taste left by that other Virtua game, and enjoy this. Working like one of Sony's own games from the original EyeToy:Play, VF has you standing to one side of the screen and facing off against the Virtua Fighters themselves. Targets flash up on screen, you need to react to them- Attack targets will appear on your opponent's body, and you must hit them, taking care not to touch any part not covered by the target, as this will cause them to block and you'll waste your chance. Block targets appear over you, and you must move a body part to block the oncoming assault. Counter marks should be avoided- touch one and your opponent will launch a super move. Fights are over one round, first to wind up with an empty health bar or whoever has least health when the timer hits zero loses. Beat three opponents in a row to clear the game. There is an element of luck involved, as some opponents do seem genuinely harder or easier than others, but each has their own style and pattern of attack/block/counter which, when learnt, can give you the advantage.

So, that's yer lot. Each game has three difficulties, and for the most part each difficulty level marks a significant change rather than just tougher baddies and tighter time limits. House of the Dead, Chu Chu Rocket, NiGHTS, Billy Hatcher and Super Monkey Ball all have different levels for each, er, level. Which is actually less than half, not, technically, most, but who's counting (apart from me)?

There is one more significant feature to talk about. Did you notice that egg on the loading screen? Well, that's part of the Chao garden! Veterans of the two Sonic Adventure games should remember Chao. They're those cute virtual pet things that everyone either used to love, or hate and complain that they had to play with them to complete the game. Well, Superstars has its own, rather limited, version of Chao raising. Every time you play one of the main games, you are rewarded a number of rings, which can be spent in the Chao garden's black market on food, toys, and scenery. Enter the garden for the first time, and that egg will be in the middle of the screen. So stroke it. Rub it gently, go on. Before long, a Chao will hatch, and promptly fall over. Tickle his tummy, pat him on the head, play with him. Buy him stuff. OK, so you can't do much, but those animations are brilliant, this is officially the cutest thing in any game ever. OK, you can quit now. Eh, did I just hear you being sick? But when he says bye-bye it's just SO CUTE, how can you not like that? No, sorry, you can't slap the Chao.
Anyway, from now on he'll appear on the loading screens in place of the egg. He might be asleep, or he might be doing a little dance.

Now, after that sweet but nauseating interlude, we come to the closing portions of this review. If you're a big Sega fan, then this is the most fun you can have with an EyeToy. If you're not a Sega fan, then the personality (which does add a lot to the feel of the games) will be lost on you, and you might be better off with Play or Play 2. And if you're the sort of person who wanted to torture the Chao, then you want EyeToy Chat and pray that the FBI aren't watching what you're doing on your webcam, you disgusting little creature.

So, 12 minigames, 9 of which are top class, 1 of which is very good, and 2 of which are utter rubbish. Let's give it 1 point for every AAA activity present- that's 9/10.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/05