GAMES REVIEWS (June 2001)

Daytona 2001
Publisher: Sega

The Daytona game is back again. New and improved, sporting improved sound and graphics, fans of the game will enjoy what is essentially a similar experience to the previous incarnations of this game. Not that that's a bad thing, No! Daytona is rather good. It would have to be to have lasted this long. It's gobbled many a penny in the arcades and should see many thumb blisters on the Dreamcast.

The gameplay is pretty simple, race around the track as fast as you can, trying to make as little contact with the walls as possible whilst overtaking and then maintaining your lead until you win the race. However, the other drivers are rather good, which is quite unusual for this type of game. It's a struggle to come any better than 5th for the first half an hour. This could put some people off but, to me, it's a lot better than completing all the game on your first go.

Daytona is quite a good game but it's not fantastic. The two player option does of course improve things, but you do sometimes get the feeling that the controls for the car consist of forwards, point car, adjust direction, and that you could well be steering a car shaped torpedo. Overall, a game that will be improved by beer and grabbing some friends to abuse each others' performance.

3/5 Dave Paget

Skies Of Arcadia
Publisher: Sega

WOW! This game has some storyline. The graphics in this game are really well designed,and the various presentation styles for each element of the game are well chosen. In the game, you control Vyse and the Blue Rogues pirates, as they seek to plunder the ships of the Imperial armada for treasure to use to help people and along the way you get caught up in whatever adventure is thrown your way.

The game is quite atmospheric, and even though the characters are cartoon-like the overall feel of the game really works. Combat works on a system similar to Fantasy Role Playing Games because the action solely revolves around the characters taking part and you take turns to select what you will do next. This includes options such as Attack, Guard, Run and Magic. Combat is somewhat a case of trial and error until you have learnt the general attack patterns of each type of enemy. Until that point, depending on the strength of the enemy, you are likely to suffer a fair amount of damage.

As with all FRGP's there is a fair amount of exploring to do. On the earlier levels this takes rather a linear form, but later in the game the levels offer a greater challenge and more interaction with the storyline.The only real flaw with this game, and it is a rather large one, is the excessive use of in game movies. Having reached a certain stage you are forced to watch for a period of time as certain parts of the plot are unveiled to you, and then you have to wait whilst your character and another have a conversation in which you play no part. As the game progresses there is more interactivity to the conversations, but initially the time spent watching movies far outweighs the time spent playing the game itself, which is very frustrating.

4/5 Dave Paget