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DC
Under Defeat Limited Edition -
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NCS
Game Synopsis
«©NCSX»
In its
heyday, Dreamcast software sales trumped PS2 numbers
handily. Whereas the majority of PS2 software
struggled to sell 100 units each week, DC games
regularly hit the 1000 unit mark. Not just a few
times but
time after time and week after week. NCS had to swat away our collective tears
when Sega announced the DC hardware swansong in
2001. Back then, we figured it was the end of
perfect Naomi home conversions. We were wrong. Ikaruga, Border Down, Trizeal, Chaos Field (hm), and
Rajirugi all made their way to market in the years
since. As
2006 rolls around, Naomi conversions are still being
churned out and the latest DC release is Under
Defeat from G.Rev. We paid a little over $1500 for
our Naomi GD-Rom a few months ago to play the
helicopter shoot 'em up but Dreamcast gamers get to
completely own it for the reasonable price of US$78.
The limited edition includes a 11-track music CD
(Extended Tracks)
which is
packaged with the game inside a DVD case.
Color
Empire and Union have been at war. After suffering massive
casualties on both sides, a stalemate is called but
behind the scenes, Empire is massing more weapons of
war. With armies and the air force bolstered with
fresh armor, the conflict brews anew. With a new
threat on their hands, Union has no choice but to
launch the experimental VKL503 helicopter into
service to destroy Empire. As is often the case, the player is
given an impossible mission - take on the entire
Empire (at least in the first two levels) by his
lonesome. In the third level, you lead the vanguard
against Empire while Union tanks motor below and
aircraft speed on ahead but they're basically just
for show since the enemy forces attack as mightily
as ever.
Control
Under Defeat features a
versatile experimental VKL503 helicopter as the weapon of choice against
an entire empire hell bent on stopping it. At first glom,
Under Defeat looks like Zero Gunner 2. But it's not.
While the helicopter may pivot on its central axis
to shoot at left and right angles, it won't rotate
360˚like ZG2's Apache, Comanche, and Hokum.
The control scheme for movement and partial rotation
is as follows:
» Move joystick by itself and the VKL503 pivots in
the direction of movement.
» Hold the shot button to keep the orientation of
the VKL503 the same.
» The pivot scheme may be set to "NORMAL" or
"REVERSE" at the outset.
Weapon
Standard weaponry consists of vulcan shots and a
screen shattering bomb but lay off the SHOT button for a few
seconds and the option meter at the lower left
portion of the screen begins to fill. Once full, a clutch sound will be heard
and you may press the SHOT button to deposit a little cannon onto the playfield. Once
born, baby cannon shoots vulcan fire, rocket fire,
or cannon-fire in
the original direction of your helicopter when it
was launched and lasts for about 6 seconds. If you
twist the helicopter to a different orientation, the
mini cannon stays at the original orientation which
is useful when you're aiming to clear a stationary
enemy or gun battery below as you fly away to take
on fresh foes flying in from the top of the screen.
Bridgehead Assault
The first mission in Under Defeat is dubbed Bridgehead where the
VKL503 copter swoops in to the whir to helicopter blades as
an expanse of land streams below. The first greeter
is a watchtower that notices your arrival and spits
a few fast moving fireballs at you. Swerve around
the tower and blast it away while minding the top of
the screen as reinforcements slowly approach. As you
make your way through the early part of the level,
the terrain below will be pockmarked by your weapons
of destruction which leave unbecoming craters on the
earth below. Another common sight as your swath of
destruction cleaves through the enemy territory is
thick, black smoke swarms that billow up from the
charred hulks of destroyed enemy helicopters and
ground installations. Some
explosions are particularly impressive where metal
shards spray from the impact blast with smoking black
trails as they arc upwards and away. The wind blows in an easterly
direction since that's how the smoke drifts and
watchtowers leave shadows which point to the
northwest. If you
watch the trees below, they'll weave to and fro as
explosions rock the local vicinity. A blasted
installation located in the center of the screen will cause
the trees around it to wave away from the blast
radius.
The first level boss is a thuggish silvery
helicopter who charges into the screen with guns
blazing. However, it's not very well prepared for
the battle and it'll soon be smoking from multiple
locations on its body as it flounders and eventually
crashes into the countryside. In the second level,
the music takes on new urgency as the player homes
in on a massive battleship with a spiteful conning
tower that needs to be sunk to the bottom of the
seas. In the early part of the level, the helicopter
flies over an enemy shipyard with only a single tank
providing offense. As the level goes on, more tanks
appear along with moored battleships which provide
some decent crossfire action to twitch your
helicopter around.
Bonus Pickups
Red - Bomb (Maximum of 6 bombs in your bay)
Aqua - 5000 points + Rocket fire
Yellow - 5000 points + Vulcan fire
Green - 5000 points + Cannon fire
Limited edition
The LE package includes an 11-track
CD which is mounted on the main spindle inside the
game's DVD case. The actual UD game is mounted on
the center divider inside. The music disc is dubbed
"Extended Tracks" which contains music composed by
Chinji Hosoe with arrangements by composers such as
Keiichi Okabe, Satoru Kousaki, Yousuke Yasui, and
Takayuki Aihara. Guest guitars are riffed in from
Atsuhide Nakayama, Makoto Asai, Yuichi Tamagawa, and
others. The track list is as follows:
01) Can't come back
02) Toward a mistake
03) Way back that was shut
04) Storm of fine weather
05) tears which died
06) Can't come back
07) Toward a mistake
08) Under Defeat medley mix
09) Tears which died
10) huge dead end
11) To the far off sky
Closing tidbits
» The game may be played in squat horizontal
aspect mode with side borders or in arcade perfect
vertical aspect or TATE mode where you'll have to
rotate your 800 lb Wega on its side. There's
rotating monitors in the market which shift from
landscape to portrait mode which is more convenient
if you're not in the mood for heavy lifting. Coupled
with an XRGB-2+ and a decent sound system, you'll
have the perfect way to play DC vertical shooter
ports.
» In the practice mode of the game, players
may select which level and sublevel to play. To hone
your craft, multi-view replays of a level may be
viewed where your dodging and shooting skills are on
display for everyone to witness and be awed at.
» The Gallery Mode of the game features
character sketches and assorted CG from and inspired
by the game.
Due to time constraints this morning, we'll post any additional DC
game notes in the next few days. |
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This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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