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The third game on this disc is Space Channel 5 Part 2, a title that wasn’t actually released in the UK and which does get an HD version in this package. You take the role of Ulala, a space-age female TV presenter and dance diva who has to be the queen of the disco scene. Like the original, although with a longer campaign than that one, it’s basically a “Parappa the Rappa”-style affair in which getting hip to the beat and landing on your feet may be the key to success.
Keep in time with the music, breakdance better than the invading aliens, rescue their dancing hostages and boost your TV ratings. And that’s just about it. It’s a novelty game which was fine when Parappa was first released since it was a genre to which we’d only just been introduced. By the time the first game reached the Dreamcast it was getting rather long in the tooth and an alternative title would’ve been a better bet.
However, it is an effective UK premiere so you can’t take that away from it. For me: 5/10.
The package is completed with Sega Bass Fishing, a conversion of the arcade game. Does it pitch you against aliens in an intergalactic trade war full of gore and violence with mad bad guys that shout “S.T.A.R.S.” at you? Er… no. It sticks you in a boat and pitches you against fish and stupid ones at that. You know the type – the ones that have the memory span of a… erm… something or other.
The graphics are fine, but the sound is rather a disappointment. Cast your bait into the water (SPLOSH!) and wiggle it about a bit (imagine that one). If there’s one thing that saves a game, it’s great playability – something this game knows little about when trying to play it with a joypad. Move the buttons about and it’s basically guesswork as to how you’re doing. Even when I got the original Dreamcast game for review I never managed to get hold of a virtual fishing rod, although there isn’t one for this release anyway.
It’s weird. You’re looking at the fish looking at your bait, thinking about them in human terms and how they perceive the bait and its movement as you wiggle it. However, they’re completely thick and they’ll follow it anyway if they’re hungry enough, but they’re not hungry, they’re CGI fish, not living, breathing bits of flesh floating in the blue yonder.
I admit I did get a bit of excitement as I tried to reel a fish in on a couple of occasions, since the more you reel it in and the fish struggles, the more the line-tension-ometer increases. Reel constantly and it’ll snap, but ease off a bit and the bar will go down again, allowing you to try reeling in again. However, in real life such things aren’t thought of in such definite terms – the line’s either in one piece (in which you carry on) or it’s snapped (in which case you go home or thread another line).
The idea, of course, is to catch as many fish as possible and catch the heaviest ones possible. Bigger fish = more points. And what do points make? Yes, a high score (not prizes!)
The only amusing thing about the game is that the voiceover, as you can hear on the game clip featured (right), sounds quite a bit like the excellent German comedian Henning Wehn.
Sega Bass Fishing scores 2/10.
Overall, yes, there’s only 4 games on this disc, but then each Dreamcast game was always on a disc that held more capacity than a normal CD and sometimes up to a full 1Gb, so you are getting nearly a full DVD’s worth here for your money.
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Important info:
- Publisher: Sega
- Price: £29.99 (Xbox 360)
- Players: 1 offline, online content: leaderboards
- HDTV options: 720p/1080i/1080p
- Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
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Crazy Taxi Sonic Adventure 2 Space Channel 5 Part 2 Sega Bass Fishing |
8 4 5 2 |
| OVERALL | 5 |
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.