07/01/00

Brad Sez: Buy This Stuff in July

It’s pretty slim pickin’s this month, with most of the good stuff showing up on Dreamcast. The aging Playstation is really getting the shovelware now, and, aside from another God-awful Army Men game, there is not a single title coming out for N64 in July. Man, that’s sad. Like I said, though, there is some good stuff coming for the DC, so we won’t all be bored (heh-heh).

Bleem! for Dreamcast – This should be at the top of everyone’s shopping lists. The first of four planned "bleempacks" (although more are likely), this groovy Playstation emulator will allow 100 pre-selected PS games to play on the Dreamcast, with all of the expected graphical enhancements. Yes, now DC does PS better than PS2. I can’t wait to check out Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu, and, dare I say it, Final Fantasy VII and VIII on this mama. Oh, baby! There is also a "bleempod" planned that will allow the use of PS controllers and memory cards on the DC, although it is not slated to release until August. Assuming Sony once again loses its lawsuit against bleem!, we should see the first disc on store shelves in the second week of July.

RPG Maker for Playstation – My God. This could very well be the deepest game ever made. You can design your own RPG from the ground up – story, characters, dungeons, everything. Then you can save the whole thing to a memory card (or two), and swap adventures with a buddy. The word is that you will also be able to use the otherwise useless Dex Drive to upload your adventure to a website, as well as download ones that others have made. Theoretically, you could get limitless gameplay from this one title! Oh, yes, I will be buying this one.

Silver for Dreamcast – This is a pretty good action/RPG that never got much attention in its original PC incarnation. It should do pretty well on the RPG-starved Dreamcast, though. A killer story, an ass-load of spoken dialogue, and pre-rendered backgrounds that rival those of the recent Final Fantasy titles should result in a grand adventure. It’s due out July 1st, so we’ll find out soon enough.

Fur Fighters for Dreamcast – As I have been saying, don’t let the Acclaim name on the box fool you. Trust me, they had nothing to do with the creation of the game whatsoever – they are merely acting as the publisher. Anyway, what we have here is a third-person shooter that involves stuffed animals that are armed to the teeth with a variety of weapons and skills. The controls are kinda like Turok, and the gameplay is like Banjo Kazooie, only not lame. This should be a winner.

Threads of Fate for Playstation – This was known as Dewprism in Japan. This is from the creators of Brave Fencer Musashi, and is as close to that game as it could be without being called Musashi 2. This is another cutesy action/RPG with whimsical graphics and music. There are two characters, each with a separate quest, although said quests are somewhat short. It’s a Square game, though, and that’s all we really need to know.

Virtua Tennis for Dreamcast – This game is just too good. Really, what are the odds of a tennis game being even remotely enjoyable, much less amazingly addictive? Well, Sega beat the odds with this immensely playable tennis title that looks as good as it controls. The animation of the players has to be seen to be believed, and the controls are dead-on. The four-player doubles mode is perfection, and could easily be considered a "party game". Of course, no one will believe me until they play it, and you’ll have the opportunity on July 12th.

World Series Baseball 2K1 for Dreamcast – Man, if there’s one game I can’t stand, aside from golf, it’s baseball. It’s just soooo dull. As Homer discovered upon being deprived of beer at a baseball game, "I never realized how boring this game is." Still, the kids love their baseball video games, so I figured that I’d better throw this one in. The visuals are near-broadcast quality, with super-high poly players and stadiums. Due to the lateness of its arrival, the stats should be up to date, as well. There you go.

Vanguard Bandits for Playstation – Uh-huh. I’ll believe it when I see it.

 That’s about it for July. By the way, Evolution 2 should be out, like, today, so be sure to pick it up. It’s much improved over the first, which I thought was good to begin with. That should tide ya over until the July stuff starts hitting.

Cast and Crew   News, Articles and Reviews