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Rippin’ Riders
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| Sitting here staring at the green grass, I feel a prick of something. Anger. Where is the blasted snow?!? I’ve got a snowboard collecting dust in my rec room and a snowmobile with grass growing up around it out behind the shed, and all I hear is how nice the weather is for this late in the year. Agghhh! Well, Sega is here to help me and all the other poor souls who are hoping for a nice little blizzard to bury us in white frosted bliss. Rippin’ Riders, the first eXtreme entrance to the Dreamcast library, is just what the mad doctor ordered. Choose from six different boarders with varying abilities: Axel, the tatooed maniac with all around ability; Tia, the girl with the moves, tremendous vertical, and balance like a cat; Ronnie, the military type trickster with good ups; Monica, the sleek she-racer with speed and vertical; DJ Ken, the hip hop DJ whose got speed and technique; Bob, the high flying Rasta-man with excellent technique; and Jimmy, the all-around, laid back traditional boarder. You can also get two secret riders later in the game by beating different records on the various courses. The game comes with three modes: Match Race, Free Ride, and Superpipe. All three have excellent graphics and excellent trick opportunites. Match race can be played two player in two different battle modes, line versus and trickboost. In line versus every time you stick a big time trick, you get a line attack which makes your opponents’ screen shrink. The goal is to completely obliterate your opponents screen, or beat him to the goal. Trickboost follows the same idea, but instead of a shrinking screen, you get boost points, which can be used kind of like a nitrous on a racing game. Free ride follows your traditional race/trick format, where you can go on to the next course by defeating the overall score (an average of the trick plus time minus missed landings). Superpipe allows you to take on the halfpipe, and see how many big tricks you can nail before time runs out. Later on you are able to head down the extra superpipe, every freestylin’ boarders dream. The thing, if it were real, would be at least a mile long, with some of the hugest jumps I have ever seen. The game, overall, is a blast. The interface is intuitive, and similar to many of its predecessors, such as the Cool Boarders series for the Playstation. Anyone can pick up the game and learn how to play within minutes, yet it still takes awhile to get the knack of the timing and speed of it. The graphics, thanks to the Dreamcast’s graphics engine, are incredible. My first viewing literally took me back on my heels. The first scene I saw was Jimmy getting huge air and pulling off a 540 method; as he went back down, the virtual sun sparkled from behind the mountains inthe background. Cool. The only downfall is something I’ve seen in every all the elite snowboarding games. The fun factor is so great, you keep playing over and over again. Therefore, you have every character and course and record in the first week you have the game. You then sit there, again wishing there was snow on the ground. But, I guess its a downfall I can live with. Rippin’ Riders is, far and away, the best boarding game on the market, and maybe the most enjoyable game currently on the Dreamcast platform. |
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WINBACK:Covert Operations
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| Winback:Covert OperationsThere are many of us out there who have had...fantasies. Daydreams. Cast ourselves in the hero’s role on our favorite action movie. Well, Winback:Covert Operations for the N64 allows us to do just that. Thrown into the role of the leader of an elite anti-terrorist group dubbed SCAT (Strategic Covert Actions Team), you play Jean-Luc Cougar, the level-headed leader and former member of a New York City SWAT team. The story behind the game is a terrorist group called the Crying Wolves have taken over a top secret weapons satellite and blown the Center for Space Development to smithereens. Enter SCAT, whose job it is to infiltrate the terrorists’ hideout, neutralize them, and regain control of the satellite. The opening scene of the game shows the team parachuting out of a helicopter after being briefed on the mission. The chopper explodes, seemingly, before the leader can jump. The actual gameplay starts with you controlling Jean-Luc as he is ducking behind a truck in the outer limits of the terrorist’s hideout. The gameplay, in itself, is exquisite. The layout of the buttons on the controller allow for easy weapon change and reload. You can change between your main pistol, a machine gun, and a shotgun. Later on, you will also occasionally have use of a rocket launcher, a handgun with a silencer, and a plethora of C4 explosives which can be planted and then detonated from a distance. You are even eventually called upon to use a nifty little flashlight. The player also has quite a few maneuvers. You are able to manipulate the character to run while ducking, hide behind objects, put his back to objects and then swing out with his weapon and fire at terrorists with the use of the R button. A feature I personally like was the automatic targeting. If the enemy is in the character’s view, he will automatically target that enemy when he fires. You also have the option of locking your crosshairs on to an enemy. This proves very useful, as the enemy will often crouch behind crates or duck behind trucks or buildings, and you can still tell where they are. The game is also very realistic in the sense that you can occasionally take a sniper shot at the enemy. Unfortunately, this also works for you. Many were the times I went carelessly around a corner to be taken out by a sniper shot. The game also does a nice job of making you feel like you are actually in the situation. If, at any time, you forget you are in a covert operation and just take off running and shooting, you probably aren’t going to get far in the game. Every corner requires you proceed with caution, lest a sniper or a lunatic with a shotgun gets you at first sight. It also has sufficient difficulty and game length, with 20+ levels and numerous enemies and traps. There are several laser traps that will instantly eliminate your character throughout the game for which you have to find and destroy the power source of before you can move on. I have only one beef with this game: the forward tumble. The control, overall, is excellent. But I spent as much time trying to get past three laser traps on one level, as I did getting past any two of the other levels combined. The tumble is a realistic and excellent feature, but they expect you to use it in narrow places where if you take one step too many, you get zapped. It would have been better if you could have just used a button combination to incite the tumble, rather than having to have a moving start. WINBACK:Covert Operations, overall, was a delight to play. I enjoyed every moment (well, almost) of the gaming experience. The graphics, as per the N64 platform, are great, the control is excellent, the difficulty is right on (and adjustable, I might add), and the sound is realistic. You often try sneaking through an area only to hear “Over there!” followed by the stilleto of gunfire. The violent content is something parents might want to consider before buying for a young person who already seems to have an obsession with guns or violence. It also has the occasional mild expletive. But if you are looking for a great action game, or you want to do more than just fantasize about being a covert operative, WINBACK:Covert Operations is definitely the game for you. |
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