D2
by Sega Of America, Inc.
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Category: Video Games
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Product Summary
Brand: Sega Of America, Inc.Platform: Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Sega Of America, Inc.
Video Game Reviews of D2
Customer Review: Strange
Summary: 3 Stars
D2 didn't wow the world when it came out. It's long gone now but here's my review anyway. You play as Laura Parton, survivor of a plane crash in the freezing wastelands of northern Canada. There are a few other survivors but unfortunately some of them have mutated into green plant type monsters. You need to find help, avoid monsters and work out what caused that plane to crash.
Playing D2 is like watching a very, VERY slow movie. It's really one long interactive cut scene with breaks when you need to do something to start the next one. All Laura really does is move about in 1st person mode and press a button to interact with something in front of her. Every interaction causes a little cut scene to play. This could be picking up a healing aid, looking at somebody who is asleep (and not going to answer you), or opeing a door. It looks daft, and after the first 5 minutes it gets quite tiresome. This is how the game plays out in nearly every inside environment. Outside, things change a bit. We leap into glorious 3rd person view and watch Laura trudge around the snow. Now, the mountain landscapes you have to cross are actually pretty amazing. They do make you feel cold, and the sound of snow underfoot is wonderfully realistic. Unfortunately Laura also has to fight monsters outside and this is a bit more clumsy. Again, we go back to 1st person for fighting and it's very, nay almost impossible to fight without getting hit, because Laura does not MOVE when she's in a battle! Luckily healing items are plentiful and seemingly infinite.
There are bosses that are quite fun. And there are some gruesome sights to see, some of which are very adult orientated. But sadly, some of the cut scenes are EXTREMELY long, with lots and lots of spoken dialogue. The lip-synching is diabolical, so these can become quite a chore to sit through. What's really daft is that Laura herself never speaks. She has all the other characters babbling straight at her, and merely grunts, sighs or makes little tuts or intakes of breath in response. If I had to talk to someone like while trapped in freezing cold cabins surrounded by monsters that I would be ready to slap them round the face after the first hour.
But all in all, I enjoyed it. Laura does have a real mystery to unfold, and some of the sights you will see are pretty unbelieveable - just wait until near the end where you have to destroy a super computer that talks to you with a female voice...you'll know what I mean. Talk about sexual imagery!!
Anyway it's all very ponderous and mysterious. Probably far too serious for it's own good. But at the end, I did feel like I had been asked to follow a very personal journey dreamed up by he game producers. They certainly had a unique take on gaming. D2 might be slow and cumbersome at times but it does have atmosphere and a heart.
Description of D2
The long-delayed cinematic adventure game D2 has finally surfaced on the Dreamcast. Despite several years in development by innovative Japanese game design team Warp, D2 seems to suffer from a lack of solid gameplay. Fortunately, the gaming environment is stunning to look at.D2 offers gamers a curious combination of adventurous exploration and first-person shooting. Gamers assume the role of airplane crash survivor Laura (not to be confused with game icon Lara Croft of Tomb Raider infamy). The game begins with Laura embarking on an airplane flight that soon goes horribly wrong. The plane is hijacked by a handful of terrorists--but that effort is foiled when a meteor crashes into the plane. Laura emerges as one of the few survivors of the plane wreck, which has occurred somewhere in the mountains of Canada. Laura must try to survive the icy elements by routinely killing and cooking cute bunnies for food as she travels through the snowy terrain. Animal activists might object to the casual nature of these deaths, which are essential to winning the game.
Several tentacle-wielding creatures attack Laura frequently during her travels. When this occurs, the game immediately shifts from third-person to first-person perspective. While these point-and-shoot segments are challenging at first, they soon become tedious. It is impossible to travel more than a few feet without being attacked--and Laura must travel quite a bit to advance the game. Despite the presence of impressive graphics, these action segments amount to little more than a glorified version of the mass-market PC game Deer Hunter.
Still, the ambitious world of D2 is worth a look and a listen. This game is highly stylized in design, including several artistic cinema sequences that will keep you riveted. A stunning new age-meets-opera soundtrack accompanies the title screen, while creepy instrumental music adds tension in all the right places.
With an awkward balance of both adventure and action elements, D2 ultimately succeeds more as a curiosity than a remarkable gaming coup. --Brett Atwood
Pros:
- Art-house appeal for eclectic gamers
- High-quality animation
- Awkward gameplay
- Tedious and repetitious action sequences
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