Sega finally announced the Dreamcast collection... Yay?

Okay, it's been 12 years since the dreamcast released, and 9 since the console fizzled out in the west. That's a fair time for a collective release of a consoles definitive titles wouldn't you say? Sure, it took till 2009 for the megadrive, but at least that had almost the best selection possible, 40 odd top quality games? It was glorious, and whats more, nostalgic. So when the rumour surfaced that a Dreamcast collection was impending impact upon the world, well, it was like a sneeze but better.

The idea of a Dreamcast collection is brilliant for a gamer such as myself who picked the console up for it's short life-span. The Dreamcast, whilst not the hit Sega was hoping for, is definitely one of the most iconic consoles in the buisness, even if it's to show manufacturers what not to do. The Dreamcast is a console in the same way that the Atari Jaguar was. They're developed in-between generations like a quirky middle child. They're slightly smarter than their older brother, but socially inept compared to the younger sister. Or in smarter terms, both consoles came out with double the hardware capabilities of the current generation, only to fall prey to the next generation that was about to swoop in anyway a year or so later with better tech.

The Dreamcast has some brilliant games, Sonic, Phantasy Star, Space Channel 5, Snow Surfers, Metropolis Street Racer, Toy Commander... There are so many games on the console that stood out in my childhood, even if I only played the demo, the Dreamcast was a haven for innovative idea's at the time because Sega was looking to provide something different and more engaging for their audience so the console would sell. I mean, I recall a game where you raced penguins around ice-caps, penguins who wore clothes too. I mean, that's my type of zany, and thats a type of zany I can get behind, and get behind it I did by buying the damn thing.

So as you can imagine, the Dreamcast collection is a dream (pun intended) for me, so many great titles on one disc would be brilliant, it would restore my faith in Sega as more than a publisher of great games, but a creator too...

But... Guess. Guess what's on this thing coming out next month, just guess! Guess how Sega have messed it up!

On the Dreamcast collection, there is the substantial sum of four titles. FOUR titles. To rub salt in the wound, these aren't even titles we haven't seen for years, no, they're the titles that are already on the xbla and psn services! At the end of February next month, we'll be seeing Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Sega Bass Fishing and Space Channel 5: Part 2 all on one disc!

Sega... I'm only asking for a Dreamcast ultimate collection here... Please! That being said... I'll probably buy it anyway because i love those titles... Apart from Sega Bass Fishing... Who the hell wanted Sega Bass Fishing to be re-released anyway?

...Bloody Sega Bass Fishing taking up my Power Stone and Fur Fighters slot on the disc...

Roll on February 25th for the U.K. and Europe and the 22nd for the U.S. !

- Serde

Image credit: arstechnica.com and caratulas.info respectively

Sonic Adventure review

Game: Sonic Adventure
Reviewed Platform: Xbox 360
Other Platforms: Playstation 3, Dreamcast

I just want to open with two words here: "Oh dear." These come from my mouth not only as a showing of my disappointment for a game that i paid 800 Microsoft points for, but for a game that's been firmly placed in my mind for 11 years as the pinnacle of Sega's gaming talent to be such a disappointment. This is one journey down nostalgia lane i won't be finishing.

Now, i know people won't listen to what i, or anyone else say about this game. Simply because i didn't either, i saw the game there on the marketplace and just bought it, no questions asked. I was going to LOVE it. Then i booted it up, and saw Sonic Adventure in all it's glory... All it's horrible smelly glory. I got a HDTV not a month ago to sample the best things in gaming life, like buying a fine wine you don't want to drink because it cost so much. So imagine my disdain when this game booted up in 4:3 resolution, that's near half of my TV showing me blue, and slightly darker blue lines. Brilliant.

The opening cutscene as always, doesn't fail to look epic, and i felt a warmth of nostalgia roll in, settling the 4:3 woe's. Saying that however, the graphics in the cutscene aren't sharp enough to sharpen a pencil. People look like dolls, and Sonic only looks cool because he's the good old "chubby" version. "But Serde! This is a Dreamcast re-release!" you might say. Yes, it is. But it isn't at the same time. They've taken the graphics from the "DX" re-release on Gamecube and PC, so it isn't exactly authentic, in fact, the whole game is the DX re-release, just with every added gameplay feature (save for the chao black market) being removed. But i haven't even got to the in game graphics yet. Jesus are they bad. Not making matters any better is that anti-aliasing seems to have taken a day off in Sonic land. Colours are almost segregated across characters features, making them look like a mess. Perhaps this is the HD doing this, but if it is, there shouldn't be a problem there. Things like this should have been ironed out before they released it. If they weren't going to work on it, why did it take 6 months to come out?!



The gameplay. Oooh, the gameplay. How i loved it back then, speeding around seemingly epic environments on an epic quest... There was this level back then in Sonic's "campaign" (yeah, the campaigns for each character are still there, all with their shitty extra components) where you're on eggman's... Egg carrier, it's called Sky Deck, and had the most frustrating platforming in the game. You'd be falling through walls, railings, off ledges... Mostly because of the camera, but a lot of the time it was just because the game glitched on your face. This time through, it felt like every level was this level. In Emerald coast i was shoved off loops into the sea, in windy valley i flew through the fence in the second section of the level to my death, to which Sonic still, wanting to be non-shall-ant casually says "no" to. Overall the game play is frustrating because of the camera and glitches. That or so tedious you want to switch off (big the cats fishing stages).

But you know what the worst thing was? The absolute worst thing was, that this could have been SO good. They could have re-enthused Sonic fans, maybe even get new ones. This was the last good 3d sonic game (bar adventure 2) before 3d Sonic became absolutely awful, with Sonic 06 trying to draw off Sonic Adventures narrative with a "fire" beast instead of a water beast. Creativity up the wah-zoo. All they needed to do to this re-release was give it a hd lick of paint, change the camera up a bit and get the platforming down to a t. A simple thing that wouldn't have taken too long. Unfortunately for Sonic fans, Sega just doesn't give a shit about him. Whats coming up? Sonic riders natal, Sonic colours and... Sonic 4? Maybe that will be good, i doubt it, but anyhow.

"This rendition of Sonic was good back in the day to our childish eyes. However, by today's standards it's a shambles, don't buy it unless you're the most dedicated Sonic fan."

image credits: ign.com and gamerevolution.com respectively