Though not seen in many arcades in the US, Outtrigger was SEGA's answer to Midway's arcade first-person shooter, W.A.R. Final Assault. Both games featured fast first person (or third person perspective if that was to your liking) action with limited weaponry. There wasn't a whole lot of depth to this game ¿ just shoot and avoid getting shot. The translation from arcade game to Dreamcast game might not seem that great, especially since the Dreamcast has two very good FPS titles already (Quake III Arena and Unreal Tournament) and two highly anticipated upcoming titles (Soldier of Fortune and Half-Life). But thankfully, Outtrigger has some major features that'll make it stand out in the crowd of corridor shooters.
First off, while the game doesn't allow you to customize what keys do what, there are 16 different configuration setups available and you'll find a setup to your desires no matter if you're using keyboard and mouse, control pad and mouse, or just the plain control pad. I'll admit, playing the game with the standard control pad isn't exactly intuitive and while the keyboard and mouse setup gives you much better control, we weren't able to change the sensitivity settings of the mouse. Of course, this is a preview version of the game, so that'll probably be fixed in the final version. In any case, the control schemes range from using the D-pad for movement while the Analog Pad is for aiming, to the classic Turok style controls of using the Analog to aim while the DC pad face buttons (X, Y, A, and B) more you forward, backward, and strafe side to side.
Then comes the addition of the Mission Mode. There are three levels of difficulty: Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. You cannot jump straight to the Advanced Mission Mode as you have to clear through each difficulty level before moving on. Each difficulty level has 15 missions, each with a time limit and objective. And yes, you can't jump to the last mission without completing the previous 14. Objectives to each mission range from the simple (collect 10 medals in the arena) to a team battle mode where you're paired up with another CPU player to annihilate a pair of CPU opponents. But despite what you've seen of Outtrigger, not all the missions in Mission Mode are action intensive. For example, in one mission, you have to find all the bombs and destroy all the bombs within the time limit. The bombs are cleverly hidden and are extremely small, and the first couple times I played this mission, I had no idea where the bombs were located. And as you progress through the Mission modes, you'll unlock lots of cool extras including different maps and new characters.
I know I have yet to comment on the online play of Outtrigger and there's a reason for that ¿ I haven't tried the game online. However, I plan to correct that in the next couple of days so make sure to check out our updated preview next week when I take Outtrigger for an online spin.
--Anthony Chau, IGNDC
AM2 does everything these days! There's Shenmue, of course, but were you aware that the legendary development house is also responsible for 18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker, F355 Challenge, and Outtrigger? That's four completely different forms of games, not to mention all that talk of Virtua Fighter IV and a sequel to Outrunner.
What's really strange is that all the games, seemingly everything AM2 does, turn out to be classic gaming experiences, as can be evidenced by anyone who's had a go at 18 Wheeler or the godly Shenmue and F355 Challenge. Outrigger appears to be no different, with many comparing it to the likes of Quake III, and now it's coming to Dreamcast in all its first person shooting glory.
The game, originally developed by the folks behind Fighting Vipers and various other platinum titles, sees you take to the ranks of Interforce, the International Counter Terrorism Special Forces. Err, rather, you play as one of four characters, selecting from Jay, Alain, Lina, and Talon (see the character profiles below), and try to prove yourself worthy enough to enter the forces and fight the outbreak of terrorism and large-scale international organized crime.
In the game's single player mode, you prove your worth by progressing through a series of arena-based seek out and kill missions, where the action progresses at the same pace and in similar fashion to Quake III or Unreal Tournament. You're given a goal for each stage, usually something of the form "Kill Ten Enemies," and once you've achieved this goal, you go on to the next mission.
The real area of interest for the game, as with others of this form, is in multiplayer, though. In addition to two and four player split screen Offline play, up to four players will be able to compete Online via SegaNet. The developers are promising an experience as smooth as its arcade counterpart and are equipping the game with a variety of Online modes. You can group together with friends in a team battle mode, or, of course, go at one another in a free-for-all. You can even create your own distinct character through the game's character edit mode, selecting clothing color and weapon type, among others. Sega is promising monthly rankings based on district, as well as chat rooms in the battle room for the players to communicate with one another.
It appears to be just like the classic FPS titles that have been appearing on PCs of late, and that's certainly a good thing. Outtrigger differs just a bit in that you can view the action from either first person or behind-the-back, but the control is the same in either case. In the arcade version, you control the action through a joystick/trackball combination setup, with the joystick used to control movement and the trackball used to control your view. Three buttons are used for all your actions - one to switch weapons, one to fire your weapon, and one to jump. The novice player can select a fixed viewpoint to simplify things, but as real FPS players know, that sucks major ass.
Dreamcast owners will be given similar options in the home version of the game. You'll find an absolutely horrid standard controller setup (no need for specifics - it's currently not set up like MDK2, and it doesn't work by any stretch of the imagination). Thankfully, though, Sega's also promising mouse support, with Sega's press release stating "a Dreamcast mouse will be available, which will enable accurate and quick control like in PC games." There you go! Hopefully, Sega will also go about including keyboard support, although a mouse/controller combination seems like it may work just as well.
You're gonna need a robust control setup for Outtrigger, as the battle arenas come in all shapes and sizes. You'll find platforms and objects to jump on and hide behind, on top of a good variety of graphical design elements which see you battling in a library, a train station, an old castle, and more. Best of all, Sega's promising additional stages on top of the arcade's twelve, so who knows what we can expect!
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LEFT-RIGHT, TOP-BOTTOM: Art Museum, Asian Ruin, Blast Furnace, Busy Station, Colosseum, Dark Castle, Library, Observatory, Old Castle, Quiet Station, Water Sanctuary, White Base |
Thankfully, you'll have more than just the mouse and controller setup to help you out through this mess. Each character, in addition to varying in attack strength and mobility, has a variety of specific weapons, including grenade launchers, rail guns, and machine guns, but you'll also find special attack items such as guided missiles, photon torpedoes, flame throwers, and sniper rifles. Items are strewn about the levels as well, offering up health recovery, weapon powerups, night vision, and thermo vision (where you can see through walls). There should be plenty of ways to kill your enemies.
With this game joining the likes of Soldier of Fortune, Quake III, and Half Life, the Dreamcast FPS category looks to be a raging fire this Fall and early next year. Now we just need Unreal Tournament, and the circle will be complete.
-- Anoop Gantayat, IGNDC
Standard character, with standard abilities in power, movement, etc. |
Character with the same general abilities as Jay |
Not strong, but fast. Good for players wanting evasion over attack power. |
A very powerful character. |