Dreamcast

 a sadly overlooked console which was the first to enter the 128bit market. it was small, stylish and had great controllers and cool memory cards (VMUs). the list of shooters for the dreamcast is not huge but there are some exquisite examples if you have the patience to track them down. by far and away the greatest are the 2002 Treasure masterpiece IKARUGA (unofficial sequel in all but name to the mighty RADIANT SILVERGUN,) and GRev's fantastic 2003 release Border Down. like the saturn, ignore the european version and get a japanese version if you really want to savour the shooting delights of this great console.

 

 

 
BAKURETUMUTEKI BANGAIOH/. probably one of the most mental games I have ever played. developed by Treasure, this game is seriously weird. 'tiny sprites and masses of destruction and fruit collection' is probably the best way i can describe it. it's great fun once you get used to the odd control method.  

 

 BORDER DOWN/. without doubt the greatest game I have ever played. if you are a shooter fan and you don't own this, shame on you.
REVIEWED

 

 

 CHAOS FIELD/. from newcomer Milestone, this game is somewhat of an oddity. basically a whole game predicated on the 'boss rush' philosophy. you fight boss after boss with no 'level' in between. there are 2 'fields', 'normal' and 'chaos', the latter of which ramps up the difficulty but affords the player much greater scoring opportunities. you can switch between fields at will allowing the player to decide how easy/difficult they want their experience to be. an interesting idea but one that doesn't quite work. its not a terrible game by any means and if you like the sound of what its trying to do you'll probably enjoy it. but for me there just wasn't enough proper 'shooting'.

 

GIGAWING/. the spiritual predecessor to Mars Matrix. these two games are very similar, which is a good thing! huge weapons loads of bullets and rock hard difficulty. for me it has the edge over Mars Matrix due to the slightly less ridiculous enemy and bullet count. great stuff and not hugely expensive either. one word of warning - this game is not RGB compatible, so if you have a scart lead in your Dreamcast the game will refuse to boot up. you'll need a composite or S-video cable to get it to work or buy the pal version which does support RGB.

 

GIGAWING 2/. more of the same here but with some superb 3d visuals this time around and a very surprising operatic soundtrack. the bullet count in this game is utterly ridiculous and with some crafty use of the reflect the barrier (a temporary shield that reflects enemy bullets back at them) you can rack up some truly pant wetting high scores. even better than gigawing which is no mean feat. great stuff.

 IKARUGA/. if Radiant Silvergun is the daddy then this is the mommy. two words - 'simply stunning'
REVIEWED

 

MARS MATRIX/. hyper solid shooting indeed. a fantastic game with a ridiculous bullet count. much like a pinball machine this is a shooter which enables you to rack up immense scores unlocking loads of extras. if you like the donpachi series then get this. it's not quite as good but it's not far off.

PSYVARIAR 2 - THE WILL TO FABRICATE/. the Dreamcast is dead, long live the Dreamcast! released nearly 4 years after the systems untimely demise this another great shooter for SEGA fans. this is much the same as the original Psyvariar but with some lovely visuals. it's great fun if you don't mind forgoing the shooting for 'buzzing' (scratching the edges of your ship with enemy bullets to power yourself up and get massive scores). old school shooter fans should avoid, however, there's nothing for you to see here ;)

 

 TRIZEAL/. brought to us by the little known Triangle Service, who's only other notable game was XII stag (see PS2 section). this is a quite nice little traditional vert shooter with 3d graphics. 3 different weapons that can all be powered up a fair bit and some nicely 'old-school' gameplay. not the greatest game in the world but worth a blast if you've gone through all the dreamcast classics. plus you get a bandana with the LE which will make you at least 10% more tuff if you wear it whilst playing the game.

 
     
UNDER DEFEAT/. well, G-Rev have done it again. an absolutely amazing vertical shooter, beautiful graphics (probably the best on dreamcast), brilliant soundtrack, huge explosions and gameplay that's as tight as a gnat's chuff. borrowing a fair bit from Zero Gunner 2 (which is no bad thing) you control a helicopter which can rotate about 45 degrees left or right to shoot into those pesky corners. no power ups but you do get a choice of 3 different secondary weapons and the most impressive smart bomb i've ever seen in a game. absolutely superb.

 

   ZERO GUNNER/. a fantastic helicopter based shooter. fantastic graphics and a great control system that lets you spin around through 360 degrees. yet another great shooter that shows just what a fantastic machine the dreamcast is.

REVIEWED

 

    
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