Hello friends, Happy New Year to you and yours! Did you get everything that you asked Santa for? I hope so, I’ll be mentioning the presents got and given to the family in another blog. Right now I’d like to talk about the presents being given to console and arcade players. The biggest of all news comes courtesy of the NiGHTS into dreams… fan webpage. To mark the 15th Anniversary of the game the webmasters and a contributor got together to release a very special recording of “Sweet Snow” the slower version of the title track “Dreams Dreams.” What makes this release special was that it reunited the vocals of the original singers, Jasmine Ann Allen who voiced Claris Sinclair and Cameron Strother who voiced Elliot Edwards. The kids are all grown up now, their voices have certainly matured.
They manage to hit all the right notes like true professionals. This was not a knock at the original Dreams Dreams, the young and inexperienced voices made the song sound absolutely sincere. It was and always be one of the best game songs ever recorded. Fans of the original game owe it to themselves to visit the NiD fanpage and download the free MP3. It certainly shows once again how Sega fans manage to do more to keep the community going than the parent company does, especially on anniversary years!
The other goodies to announce are games for the arcade. One is out now and one will be out soon. Both of these titles involve two of my favorite things, cars and robots. First up is Power Truck by IGS. Remember the studio that I mentioned a number of times during the brawler series? Anyhow, their arcade title is less like Sega’s classic 18 Wheeler and more like Burnout.
As with other arcade racing games this title allows players to save data on a card and keep track of their progress. Aside from tracking races and points the card-based system allows players to store any customizations and upgrades they can earn for their trucks.
Power Truck has several truck types and different game modes, what I find interesting is that there is a Story Mode. It’s not enough to have trucks racing and crashing, there has to be a narrative as well?
What type of story can be made out of the stereotypical USA characters like Milky and Hunter? Or the school kids / witches Wolf and Mystery?
What really brings my attention to this game are that the trucks can transform mid race to take down other racers. On of the upgrades is a giant rocket booster that not only speeds up the truck but also seems to allow players to plow through traffic. It's sort of like Hydro Thunder's patented Mighty Hull attack but for cars instead of boats.
There is also a second attack that knocks opponents away with a sonic blast. For those interested in random arcade trivia, the last arcade racer that had a sonic-based attack was the super taxi cab in Spanish developer Gaelco's Smashing Drive. The title from 2000 allowed players to get a temporary upgrade of a massive horn that could cause cars ahead of the player to explode and get cleared out of the way.
I'm not sure if the rocket boost and sonic blast attacks can be combined, it would be interesting to see if they could. The cabinet itself it a sit-down model with a long gear shifter similar to an actual big-rig. By comparison the Sega arcade game had a simpler reverse, low and high gear. I hope to see one of these in a local arcade soon.
The second arcade game being developed is actually by SquareEnix and it is highly doubtful that anyone in the US will see the title. The developer may not be known for their arcade efforts in the west however in Japan they've released a few arcade experiences, none more popular than Lord of Vermillion. I've mentioned the card-based title a few times on this blog, including the announcement that there would be a crossover between LoV II and Final Fantasy IV. SquareEnix actually has a wide range of arcade holdings, including a strong investment in Taito arcades and titles like Darius Burst. But I digress…
Gyrozetter is a multi-player arcade title that has characters driving licensed and fictional vehicles that can transform into robots. What makes the game more than an arcade version of the popular Transformers console games, aside than it is not based on the characters, is that the arcade cabinet actually transforms! The steering wheel flips up and as do the speedometer and RPM dials on the dashboard to reveal a second set of controllers. The dual joystick setup is reported to be comparable to Sega's Virtua On.
The game doesn't have a trailer yet and SquareEnix has not released any animations or full details even on the game website. Hopefully Arcadia magazine will get to preview the game before the other outlets and I'll get a chance to let the visitors here in on the news.
What do you guys and gals think about either game? Would you be willing to try them out in the arcade or at home even? Also, how was your Christmas and New Years, did you go anywhere or do anything? What goodies did you get?
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