Blue Stinger (Sega Dreamcast, 1999)

Blues Stinger was one the launch games available for the Dreamcast when the console was released in the winter of 1999. Blue Stinger is essentially a survival horror game in the Resident Evil mould. Though perhaps it's fair to say that it's fairly light on the horror and gore aspect and heavier on the action even if it is a mature rated game.
 
The game open 65 million ago with the Yucatan Peninsula asteroid impact which wiped out the dinosaurs. Skipping ahead to the year 2000 the area is wracked by a series of earthquakes as a island of dinosaurs emerges from the ocean. Why this happens is unclear but the asteroid must have created some kind of rift in time. This new island is imaginatively named "Dinosaur Island" and is settled by a joint co-operation between the American and Mexican governments with a new city and a biotech corporation known as "Kimra". The game is set in the near future in the year 2018.
 
As the player you take on the role of Eliot Ballade an elite member of the Emergency Sea Evacuation and Rescue organisation or ESER for short. While on holiday in his boat an asteroid hit's the island creating some kind of blue dome of energy covering the island. Soon after this happens a flock of mutated birds attack Eliot's vessel sending him overboard. It is at this point the survival/horror/adventure begins.
 
Soon into the game you will meet another character with the rather odd name of Dogs Bower, as nautical "Sea Captain" kind of chap who becomes a second playable character. You have the option of switching between the two characters during play.
 
The game is fairly typical 3rd person perspective adventure or survival horror game fare with plenty of free roaming exploration, puzzles to solves, keys to collect and various switches that must be activated in order to progress. As in any good survival horror game there are zombies and mutants aplenty, mainly humans but there are some mutant dinosaurs as well. Handily the zombies carry around hard currency in the form of gold coins (the Kimra dollar) which that can be used to buy various useful items from vending machines such as weapons, ammunition and food which when eaten restores your health.
 
There are a number of weapons available both ranged ballistics such as shotguns or rocket launchers that require ammo and hand to hand melee such your trusty axe and you can always use your unarmed martial arts punching and kicking techniques. Monsters re-spawn each time you reenter a level instead of staying dead however and this can be really tedious.
 
The game is good fun to play with an interesting story and responsive controls. However the camera can at times be a problem as it has a tendency become lodged behind obstructions when in a tight spot or hovering right above your head so you can't see any of the monsters standing right in front of you. This is serious enough to be an annoyance but not bad enough to entirely ruin game.
 
Graphics wise for a game that was released in 1999 alongside the original Playstation and N64 it was a spectacular game at the time. Nonetheless by today's standards the games visual have aged somewhat but it is by no means an eyesore and it has a smooth frame rate and textures. There is no voice syncing animation for speech characters lips remain close while they speak this is certainly no Shenmue.
 
The music is one of the games highlights with particularly well composed themes throughout the game a particularly impressive epic sounding intro and ending score. Blue Stinger also features good sound and ambient effects as well as highly competent voice acting of the characters themselves, they won't be winning any Oscars but good for a video game.
 
Blues Stinger will take around 8-12 hours to complete depending on your experience with this kind of game. On completion you can unlock bonuses such unlimited ammo, all weapons and time trial challenges which add to the games re-play value.
 
If you're a fan of the classic Resident Evil games or adventure games in general then this a Dreamcast game well worth checking out. While unfairly bashed by critics it is a decent playable game with an interesting story. It does have a few issues particularly concerning the camera angle and tedious re-spawning monsters which detract a little from the overall experience.

Recommend this product? Yes