07/01/00

Game Shark for Dreamcast Makes Bad Games Good!

While there have been quite a few great games released for Dreamcast, there have also been some not-so-great ones. Whether they had one major problem or their entire design was flawed, these games have been generally dismissed, and for good reason, by both the media and the consumer. However, the simple addition of a Game Shark can breathe new life into these games, and turn misses into hits. For example:

Air Force Delta is a graphically impressive flight sim in the vein of Ace Combat. In fact, the controls and HUD are practically identical. Add in the cheesy (but in a good way) 80’s Top Gun music and a huge assortment of planes, and you’d seemingly have a winner. Unfortunately, unlike Ace Combat, the balance is way off, and the game turns out to be maddeningly difficult. However, give yourself some extra armor or missiles, and it becomes pretty enjoyable (although still not easy, not by a long shot). The money code is really handy, as well, as it allows you to buy planes that you would otherwise likely not get to use.

Armada is a really cool idea, on paper. It is mainly a shooter, but there are missions and leveling-up included with a pretty good story. So, you get the mindless action of a shooter together with the strategy and story elements of an RPG. The result is a pretty good game that unfortunately requires hours upon hours of shooting in order to get your ship powered up to a decent level. So, give yourself oodles of money or a quick level-up, and you can get right to the meat of the game and cut out countless hours of repetitive level building. Now the game is pretty damn fun! is a really cool idea, on paper. It is mainly a shooter, but there are missions and leveling-up included with a pretty good story. So, you get the mindless action of a shooter together with the strategy and story elements of an RPG. The result is a pretty good game that unfortunately requires hours upon hours of shooting in order to get your ship powered up to a decent level. So, give yourself oodles of money or a quick level-up, and you can get right to the meat of the game and cut out countless hours of repetitive level building. Now the game is pretty damn fun!

Blue Stinger was the first survival-horror title for Dreamcast, releasing with the system last September. The story is great, the characters are cool, and the voice-acting is right up there with the first Resident Evil. However, with what could possibly be the worst camera system EVER, it was not unusual to suffer countless deaths simply because you could not see the enemies. So, give yourself a health boost and you won’t really care if you’re getting hit. Also, almost every weapon in the game can be purchased (from vending machines, no less), so a money code is pretty handy here, as well. Be forewarned, though: The camera will still make traversing the pipes and girders near the end of the game akin to pulling teeth. Still, this game really should be experienced at least once, so give it a go with the ‘Shark. You just haven’t lived until you’ve seen Capt. Dogs running around in a Santa suit, swearing like a sailor.

Expendable had the potential to be the best Contra-style shooter since, well, Contra (and not those PSX abominations). However, Rage Software was too busy cramming as much pyrotechnics onscreen as they could, as opposed to making the game actually playable. The result is a very pretty game, with so much stuff flying around that you often can’t even tell where your character is. Now, the Game Shark can’t fix that, but the unlimited credits code will keep you from going insane when you keep getting picked off by tiny bits of shrapnel. The two-player mode really shines with the ‘Shark, so grab a friend and get to it.

Soul Fighter was touted as being the 3-D incarnation of Golden Axe. There were only two problems: First, it is a one-player only game, and second, the camera is insane. Much like Blue Stinger, Soul Fighter’s camera will kill you time and again by obscuring your vision of the enemies. The health code will do wonders here, and really helps make the game somewhat playable. However, as a singe-player only title with a very limited number of combos and special attacks, even the Game Shark may not be able to save it.

Speed Devils is actually one of the better racing titles on Dreamcast, although that’s obviously not saying much. The graphics are very nice, with solid car models and, shall we say, "interesting" level design. Unfortunately, in order to get any of the good cars, you must race in circuits over and over (and over) again, on the same damn tracks, to get the cash to buy said cars. Using the Game Shark to unlock these cars really opens the game up and makes it much more enjoyable in multi-player. It’s worth checking out.

Time Stalkers was seemingly made for the Game Shark. The single worst problem in the game, which is that you revert to Level 1 in experience every time you leave a dungeon, can be instantly rectified. Once you get past that hurdle, you still have some weird graphical glitches and an iffy story to deal with, but the game is not at all horrible once that experience thing is dealt with. Besides, it’s not like there is an overabundance of RPG’s on the Dreamcast, you know.

Toy Commander is actually one of the coolest games on the Dreamcast, in my opinion. Or, at least it would be, if you weren’t timed on every freakin’ level. This game was meant to be savored, with amazing visuals, huge (and I mean HUGE) environments and truly unique missions. However, each stage is timed (rather tightly, I might add), and if you don’t beat the set time, you can’t fight the boss and move on to the next series of missions. This is really, really frustrating, and freezing the clock with the Game Shark makes all the difference. In fact, with the ‘Shark, I would say this is a Triple-A title, and everyone should check it out.

These are just a few of the Dreamcast titles that fell just short of greatness due to one or two faults in their design. Most of these games can now be found brand new for around $20 or $30, and even less as used. So, with the simple addition of the Game Shark and its abundance of cheat codes, you, too, can enjoy Dreamcast experiences that would otherwise be too difficult or frustrating to endure.

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