Outrigger, reviewed by J.B.
It can't be said that the dreamcast is a system which lacks a variety of classy first person shooters, in fact quite the opposite is true, with a multitude of first person quake ripoffs flooding the market. But hidden amongst the pyramid shaped pile of dreamcast CD cases, there are a few unexpected gems proudly sharing company with the two big guns( Unreal Tournament and Quake 3: Arena). Is Outrigger among them ?
That question is one that happens to be rhetorical in nature, but at the same time I recognise that many people reading this will be gunning for a yes or no answer. I'm sorry to disapoint the masses, but the answer is a bit too complicated for a binary logic gate to process. Outrigger you see, happens to be both a very good game and an unfortunately average attempt at the same time. But before I focus on the negative aspects of Outrigger, I would like to say that the negativity isn't really brought about through poor design, rather, it is the product of a lack of ground breaking features within a competitive, even flooded, environment. And the environment to which I am refering here is the single player first person shooter.
This concept has been absolutely butchered to death by God knows how many average titles. Consequently, the gaming public will only look at a single player first person shooter if, and only if, it is absolutely exceptional. Outriggers single player game is not exceptional. It's not bad either, just average. Among its myriad problems that prevent it from being exceptional are the fact that 1, the game has no story, 2, the missions are incredibly boring. For instance, in an average mission, you have 1:00 to find and kill ten bad-guys. Wow!!!. What an imaginitive extension of the single player first person shooter. Not. Or rather not exactly. Because, for some reason, this game works in multiplayer mode.
And in multiplayer mode, the tides are turned completely. Up to four people can play on the same T.V. using a split screen facility. Words can't express how much fun this game is in four player mode. Also, up to six players can compete online using the broadband adapter. So to surmise, Outrigger is an excellent multiplayer, but average single player first person shooter, and I feel it's score should reflect this. If Outrigger were multiplayer only, I would be tempted to give this title 90%+, but it does contain a single player component, so it gets a score of 81%.