Blue Stinger
- January 01, 2000 00:00 AM PST
After a so-so release in Japan due to technical difficulties, Activision launches an American version of Blue Stinger, the first big, adult adventure game for the Dreamcast. But will it make gamers blue once again?
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Resident in Waiting
With Resident Evil: Code Veronica waiting in the wings (to be released for Dreamcast sometime in 2000), Blue Stinger has the same monkey on its back that Sega has with the lurking Playstation 2. The hype from a future project is trying to overwhelm the release of another. That aside, what we have in Blue Stinger is an enormous, complex and quite frustrating adventure.
The story takes place on Dinosaur Island, where a high-tech, high-security bio-research community has been built. Eliot Ballade, a vacationing member of the island's Emergency staff is caught in a mysterious explosion. Upon returning to the island he finds that the population is wiped out, with more mutated people and animals than survivors. The only clue in this mystery is Nephilim, a glowing blue fairy that triggers dream-like visions in those around her.
While the story is confusing and not entirely original, Blue Stinger is graphically impressive in both its enormity and detail. The island community is complex and full of bizarre creatures (although there are curiously few dinosaurs) and buildings ranging from commercial stores to science labs and power plants. The puzzles and boss creatures are very challenging and the strong visuals make this game worth experiencing, but Blue Stinger has distractions that really hamper this adventure.
The Bad Camera Blues
The trouble with Blue Stinger isn't the game itself, but in how it is presented. First and foremost the English dialogue in the cut scenes has one of the most agonizing lip synch problems you'll ever see, making the story sequences painful to watch. The character animation is also amateurish -- watch the FMV sequences from Final Fantasy VIII and you'll see beautiful, realistic characters and motion. In Blue Stinger, the characters pantomime and move like robots, and move even less fluidly than during the game. This makes an already difficult story nearly intolerable.
But once you get into playing another annoying problem arises - the camera. You may sprain your neck trying to look up, down or around corners to see what is happening. It's much worse than an obstructed jump here or there -- you end up playing blind in the heat of battle. And if that wasn't bad enough, both Eliot and Dogs are slow as molasses, which makes the already huge boards and tremendous amounts of required backtracking ridiculous.
Stung by the Stinger
The game itself could have been a terrific anime-influenced sci-fi experience, but Blue Stinger's massive presentation problems make it a flawed adventure game instead of the sure-fire launch hit that the Dreamcast needs.
