3RRDC Armada

Graphics shmaphics. I'll take solid gold gameplay and video game
addiction any day.

I consider myself an intelligent gamer. When I see a Dreamcast game
on the shelf of Blockbuster or Target for sale I never buy it the first
time I see it. I know that a week from then, it'll still be there because
even though the Dreamcast is a fabulous system no one I know plays it
anymore. Not a lot of people do. What I do is, I go home, ponder about
the game, and occasionally I'll read a review on the Internet or in a
magazine. It's very strange. With the exception of a few websites,
every review I've read trashed this game because it didn't have mind-
blowing graphics. That, my friends, is what I'd like to call a non-
intelligent gamer!

I eventually bought this game after weeks of begging my parents to
take me and get it. Let be tell you. I've been eating, breathing, and
dreaming of this game ever since. It bears resemblance to a game I
remember called "Asteroids". Some would say, "How could they sell a
rehash of Asteroids?" It's not a rehash. Believe me. The game mixes
two elements: Shooter and RPG. You heard me: RPG. The point of the
game is this: you pick a race (you know something good is gonna
happen with deformed human races!), pick a name, and blast away as
much as you can before you finally get destroyed. Simple, no? It's the
easiest game to just pick up and play, and it's also one of the most fun
games I've ever purchased.

You start out on your home planet. When you talk to the different
inhabitants, you will get a mission you have to accomplish. You then
venture out into the vast reaches of space in a never-ending quest to
defeat the Alien Armada. You have two attacks. One is the normal
rapid laser fire and the other is the Power Pod attack. The Power Pod
blasts everything on screen and can be most effective when on enemy
planets. When an enemy dies they leave behind credits (money) that
you can use to buy new parts for your ship. The parts range from laser
speed to armor to even complete resistance to enemy attacks! The
RPG element adds a fresh new twist on shooters like this, and keeps
your hands glued to your controller for hours. The cool thing is, there
are over twenty kinds of different aliens and every time you increase
four levels a new ship awaits! The thing that wowed me though was
how huge the space is in this game. Space is measured in coordinates.
It goes 1,000,000 on the Y-axis and 1,000,000 on the X-axis, both
positive and negative. It's truly a fantastic experience.

I don't see why the critics were so hard on Armada's graphics. Sure,
they're not Soul Calibur quality, but is that needed for this type of
game? The only things you're gonna see are little ships and lasers and
they are done quite nicely as a matter of fact. The ships aren't
completely 2D as they tilt when they turn. The lasers and Power Pod
attacks illuminate the screen, and really add flavor to the boring-ness
of space. The developers added fog to the background to create the
illusion that you're really moving, and that's a good thing because
without it you'd have no idea that you're supposed to be going
hundreds of miles per hour. It adds to the feeling of space combat.

The sound isn't amazing, but it's acceptable. The music hums in the
background and adds suspense to the action. The voice acting,
although scarce, is very well done. The laser sound effects can get on
your nerves a little, but if you're just going for pure gameplay, then it
won't bother your insane obsession at all.

There's one thing that I need to mention. The multiplayer is absolutely
great! Up to four players can enjoy the alien blastathon at once; and
with up to twenty-five aliens on-screen at once it gets extremely
heated. If you have friends, you can play this game the entire night. Its
simplicity is good because I'm sure that most of you, like me, hate
teaching friends how to play a game that they've never heard of. And if
you don't have friends, this game will make them for you!

Overall, Armada is a quality title that belongs in any Dreamcast fan's
library. Now, go back to Blockbuster and buy that dusty game on the
shelf that you've been thinking about for weeks. The one called
"Armada."

Grades

Gameplay - 95%

Let's put it this way: if video games were crack, Armada would be the
dealer.

Graphics - 80%

Nothing special, but good light effects and great ship design get the
job done.

Sound - 80%

Once again, nothing phenomenal, but the music and voice acting is
very well done. The lasers, however, can really get on your nerves.

Presentation - 85%

You got a great intro, multiple different races to choose from, and on
top of that, each race has different combat attributes! The manual,
however, isn't very helpful.

Replay Value - 90%

There are a lot of missions with nice variety to them. This is also one of
the most addicting games I've ever played. Space is huge!

Overall - 90%

The Overall rating is not an average of the preceding scores.

Review by: IronKnux