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E3 2000 Wrap-Up
Page 11/11
A look at Sega's showing at E3 - By BenT and Fragmaster
Picks of the Show
Adventure
BenT: Silver. It looks like a fresh take on Zelda-style action, something I can never go long without.
Frags: Shenmue. I'm not sure about some of the gameplay decisions, but walking around the world and drinking canned coffee sounds great to me. Ecco was keen too.
Driving
BenT: The Dreamcast had a ton of good driving titles this year, but I'll give the nod to Demolition Racer, a relative unknown. The kill-or-be-killed gameplay was extremely fun and well-executed, and I can't wait to try this in multiplayer.
Frags: Eh, I didn't see anything that blew me away, but Sega GT could be cool...
Fighting
BenT: While Street Fighter III provides some competition, I was thrilled to finally see Capcom vs. SNK in motion. Lush graphics, great cast, and none of those spazzy versus play mechanics. Rock.
Frags: Power Stone 2, no question. Looks like it'll be insane.
First Person Shooter
BenT: I'd never seen the arcade game before (is it even in America?), so Outriggers was quite the cool surprise. Yeah, Quake III is great, but I get a dose of that every day on my PC.
Frags: Quake III looked great.
Platform
BenT: Good platformers are becoming almost as rare as shooters, so I really appreciated Genki/Crave's Super Magnetic Neo. Cool character design compliments the original gameplay.
Frags: Same here, I love magnets!
Puzzle
BenT: Bust-A-Move 4. Yeah, the series is old news, but how could I resist the temptation to destroy beautiful bubbles in glorious high-res?
Frags: Mr. Driller. I guess. But why the hell do they have the Soul Calibur team working on this?
RPG
BenT: It's Grandia 2 for me. While I'm sure Eternal Arcadia will rock too, I just have to go with the game that has the heritage.
Frags: I'm not a big fan of RPG's, so I'll just say Shenmue again and go sneeze on a Final Fantasy VII manual.
Shooter
BenT: I might have chosen Bangai-O!, but I already own the N64 version. That leaves me with Gunbird 2, a very colorful, solid shooter from Capcom. Old school, but fun.
Frags: Bangai-O! looks really fun. Blowing stuff up is cool.
Sports
BenT: I hate sports. Does Jet Grind Radio count?
Frags: Hmmm... I'd like to say World Series, but it looked a bit rough to me. NFL Blitz 2001 was fun though, so I'll use that.
Overall
BenT: Space Channel 5, baby. This game has more style and personality than Boy George hopped up on goofballs! While the gameplay is simple, Space Channel 5 rocks everything else in aesthetics and presentation. As Arby's teaches us, different is good.
Frags: Man, BenT is such a goon. I'll pick Super Magnetic Neo, just because it was so strange.
Conclusion
If you haven't gathered by now, Sega's overall showing was outstanding... it was definitely their best E3 ever. The Dreamcast represented like a mother (I think that's good), and many show attendees came away with newfound respect and optimism for the system. The stellar line-up of software will be essential in its upcoming battle with the PS2, and Sega will have to keep up the quality if it intends to remain a player. But after seeing the upcoming products of both Sega and its competitors, I have a good feeling about things. Sega definitely is on the upswing. Now bring out Space Channel 5 already, dammit.
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