3RRDC D2

Wow, after finally getting my hands on this game, I came to realize
what a video game can truly do. It seems that even though I have been
playing games for so long now, every once and a while a game comes
around and changes your whole perspective on the medium. One such
game is D2. Do not be fooled into thinking that this is some Resident
Evil clone, or a gory zombie fest. It's not. It's much more, and it's also
the first game to truly scare me. Yes, this game gave me nightmares.
Now if you need any other reason to pick this up, well here goes!

D2 stars Laura Parton from the first D game on Saturn and also the
Enemy Zero game. Now I never played those games, but I do have
some knowledge on them. I don't think any of the three games are
related in any way what so ever, other then the silent main character.
The story starts on disc 4, yep disc 4. The opening cut- scene can be
found there. It's a very tragic tale of Laura onboard a plane with a
pendent. The plane is then hijacked, an evil sorcerer mutters some
chant, and then a meteor hits the plane causing it to crash in the
Canadian wilderness. Talk about bad luck. Laura survives the crash
somehow and now finds herself in the company of another crash
survivor, Kimberly. The two become friends and must now try and find
a way to figure out how to escape all this madness, and get to the
bottom of what happened, as well as look for other crash survivors like
"David". And that's the set up to the story, but it becomes so much
more then just survival horror.

The crash caused the people on the plane to turn into mutants, weird
plant-human hybrids. They blossom and then lose control of their own
bodies and minds, and then they search for blood. Also who is this
David, Laura is looking for? And who is Laura? All questions will be
revealed throughout this 4 disc GD-rom adventure. What role does the
sorcerer play? Why fight for this Earth? Is the end near? You will be
kept intrigued until the end.

You want adventure? You want shooting? You want something that
plays like the first D? Well this game has got it all. When you are
outside buildings, the game look is 3rd-person and there are 1st-person
random battles for you to partake in. But the Dreamcast is so loud in
loading them, that you always know when they are coming up. When
you are inside buildings, it is first person and you can zoom in on things
and inspect them. There are also so other things for you to do. For
health, sure you could just find first aid sprays, or you could actually
hunt your food. Yep, D2 features some animal hunting goodness. When
outside in the wilderness you can take aim on rabbits, moose, and
other animals. Then if you shoot them you get meat which heals you.
Also you can take pictures of the places and things you see and view
them later.

The random battles are very fun, as you will be pitted against up to
three vile monsters. Don't worry, the main gun has unlimited ammo.
Also you can get different guns and grenades to help you. The boss
battles are very fun and usually are at just the right difficulty. One
thing of note is that everything has a cutscene. From entering a door,
to picking up an item, everything has a cutscene. These can be
skipped if you have already seen them, but I think it's cool that so
much went into the game. There are a few puzzles that are mildly
difficult in the game. Sometimes I had no idea on where to go, and
getting places can take a long while, especially later in the game. At
times you are able to use a snowmobile to get to places way faster,
but most of the time you have to do things on foot. Also note that the
cut scenes can be very long. We're talking up to a half hour long. I
think from disc 3 to disc 4, you go through 45 minutes of cutscenes.
And the good part is that they are done very well, and they are
interesting, so you'll love it.

The graphics for this game are amazing. The Dreamcast continues to
wow me with each new game I get. The Canadian wilderness looks
great, it's cold and snowy and the pine trees sway and the snow blows
in your face, and just the whole scope of the location is huge. Also the
insides of buildings are eerily detailed. The only downfall here is that
there is not a lot of different places sometimes. For example, disc 1
spends a lot of time going from the log cabin up the hill to the stone
hut, and back with a few variations here and there. But you do come
across some very interesting places later in the game. But I don't
wanna spoil anything about that.

The character models are for the most part very good, especially the
monsters and bosses. Freaky stuff here folks. The humans all look a
little weird too, and that's cool. There is very little CG in the game, and
that's a good thing. The in-game graphics look better then the sub par
CG scenes. Also there is some startling live action movies found
throughout the game. So don't worry about the graphics, D2 has got
you covered.

Laura hardly even speaks in this game; you mainly get gasps and
screams out of her. But she does say a little bit near the end and her
voice actress did a good job with what she had. All the other human
characters then have tons of lines to explain what's going on.
Kimberly, Laura's new friend, probably has the most, and the voice
actress also did a nice job. The little girl Jenny, that you find, has a
voice that some will probably get annoyed with. Voice acting is very
important to this game, as it is so story driven. Unfortunately, the
voices are not in sync with the lips at all in most cases, and it looks a
little dumb.

Howling wind, and hard techno beats, along with other spooky sounds
get the job done here for the music. Normally when you are outside,
there is no music, just atmosphere. Every time you find something or
go somewhere though it plays a little piano tune. The random battles
have a paranoid kind of tune to them, and the boss battles get this
awesome techno beat that just rocks. So very minimalist, but when it's
there, it's in your face.

Replay? Hmm, nothing can be unlocked as far as I know, and there
really is only one ending, so replay kind of hurts here. The game will
probably take you 10-15 hours max to beat, and that's if you get stuck
like me and wander around fighting mutants (which raises your
experience level up so you get more health, wow it's even part RPG). I
would like to pop in D2 again, as it does touch on so many things.

What do I mean by that? Well D2 should have gotten the Adults Only
rating in my opinion. This is not a game for children. The back of the
box lists "Animated Blood and gore", "animated violence", and "mature
sexual themes". Let me comment on these. The violence is in your
face and gory. Humans get torn apart in this game and are turned into
hideous plant monsters. The blood is green if you kill a mutant, but it
does splatter on the screen when you get into close combat. The
sexual themes are there in spades. For one, the game features full
frontal female nudity, that while it was apparently toned down from the
Japanese release, it's still as apparent in this version. Tentacles
coming and going from certain places is enough said. However there is
far more then what the ESRB rating people caught.

For one, drug use is a heavy theme in this game. Kimberly takes these
"Linda" pills to calm herself and others along the way, of which they
are addicted to. Language is another issue. There is some swearing in
the game, and in disc 2 I swear the mad men (you'll see) said the F-
word. Also the real life video segments depict some heavy things.
World War 2, Vietnam, The atom bomb, death and destruction. It's all
so real. And that's why the game is so important. The ending does
something that no other video game has ever done, it teaches you. It
informs you on this world. And just sitting there absorbing all the
information in, is the truly scary part. I recommend that people buy this
game just so they can see the ending.

This game deserves to be played by all Dreamcast users. Sure it is
short, a little easy, sometimes confusing, but everything else really
shines. It is an important game to play as it pushes the boundaries of
what a video game can do. With a compelling story that will keep you
guessing until the end, fun 1st-person battles, and graphics to drool
over, I can't believe that I went so long without this game. So what are
you waiting for? Get out there and play D2!

Review By: Orochi Sonic