Toy Commander
Reviewed by Dale Kulas
The Game
The Dreamcast doesn't have a big share of the so called
'kiddie' genre of games, but this very unique title by Sega
and No Cliche gave people first thoughts of being one, but
don't let this first impression fool you, because it has way
more depth than you can imagine. Will this game deliver an
all-out great gaming experience, or just end up a game for
your little brother? Let's get onto the review and find out.
The Story
You are Andy, you just got a whole bunch of new toys, and
you neglect to play with all your old ones. So Huggy Bear,
forms a group of rebel toys to overthrow you and your new
toys. Go control your new toys and take out all the rebels
in 50 different missions so you and Andy can live happily
ever after! It does have a kiddie type of plot, but once you
get into the game, the story will grow on you.
Graphics
I gotta say that I was impressed right off the bat with the
game's opening movie. Everything in here looks great, and
looks so real. The environments look so close to the way
they look in real life, like the living room, looks exactly
like a living room, the kitchen looks exactly like a
kitchen, the fisher price people look... ., well you get the
drill by now. There's 35 different vehicles you control in
the game, and most of them look pretty darn good, like the
tank, various airplanes, etc. I was really impressed with
not much slowdown at all in multi player or with lots of
action going on at once in some of the missions. Just
everything looks great in this game overall, the only thing
I gotta say that I have a problem with is some of the camera
angles in the game, where it's hard to get lock on aiming
with targets, and at times it can be hard to control your
camera, but after a while you'll get over this nit picky flaw.
Sound
The background music is all right, and I guess it fits the
theme of the game well with it's lets-go-beat-up-the-bad-guy
type of story. And it's faded just right during the game, so
it doesn't interfere with game play. All the sound effects
are done nicely and sound exactly like they should, like the
gunfire, explosions and so on. So I guess the sound is done
pretty good, but I really felt their was a need for voices
in the game, all you hear is that boss bear, grunt and laugh
with accompanied text, I just felt that the use of voice in
the game could've helped out the sound department a lot.
Game play
The controls are pretty easy in the game, you move around
with the control stick, and the 4 main buttons on the
Dreamcast controller are used for changing your main weapon,
using your main weapon, firing your gun, and changing the
camera angles. This is a really nice configuration and you
should get the controls down in no time. For main weapons
and guns, you pick up upgrades for them 3 different times to
effect their damage rate. Like their's missles, which start
off as pencils, but then get upgraded to screwdrivers, then
toothpaste bottles, sounds weird, but it works. Then there's
another type of drop bomb for the second main attack, and
some land mine type weapon for your third main weapon. All
of those can be upgraded to, as with your gun by moving
across certain icons in the area you're in.
The game play missions are pretty easy, they're about 5-7
main levels, with each level cotaining about 8 missions
each, including a boss. Those missions can either be
airplane/car races, or objective type missions that can be
anything from putting out a fire, to saving inhabitants from
green army men, there's just so much you can do in the
missions, and since there's about 50 of 'em, you'll be
playing them for a great deal of time. Then there's the
multi player levels, which you can play in 3 different ways.
Those being capture the flag, death match, and Cat and
Mouse (kind of a tag type of game) and up to 4 players can
play where you can establish teams, set limits, and pick
your vehicles. You can play as either cars or planes, and
both vehicles have their ups and downs, so everything's all
evened out. The multi player is a blast to play, and so are
the missions, but one really nice feature I would've liked
in the game would've been a map editor, just imagine making
your own environments.
Replay Value
There's so many missions in the game, you'll be playing them
all for hours just trying to complete them all. And if
that's not enough there's a multi player mode too! I loved
playing this game with my friends for all out brawls. No
Cliche added so much to this game that it's unbelievable.
Trust me, you'll be playing this game for a long time.
In Brief
+: Great environments, 50 missions!, multi player!
-: Some camera problems, Voices seemed like a must in this
game
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 9. 1
Sound: 7. 2
Game play: 8. 2
Replay Value: 8. 5
Overall: 8. 2 out of 10
Final Analysis
This game really surprised me when I bought it, because it
turned out to be more than what I thought it was to be. I
gotta say, this is one of the most underrated games on the
Dreamcast. I'll have to say everybody should at least give
this game a rent and find out for yourself to see how
addicting this game is.
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