Charge 'N Blast for Sega Dreamcast

Released: February 8, 2001
Platform: Dreamcast
Publisher: Xicat Interactive
Developer: SIMS
Genre: Action

One thing that SEGA had going for it was its huge arcade catalog. SEGA made some of the best arcade games of all time, and used that as a selling point for Master System, Genesis, 32X, Saturn, and to a lesser extent Dreamcast. By the time that Dreamcast came around, arcades were already on the decline. Nevertheless, SEGA ported a number of its arcade properties to its newest home console. Some, like Crazy Taxi, were smash hits. Others, like Charge 'N Blast never received wide exposure.

A lot of arcade games don't translate well to home consoles. They're short, lack depth, and don't have a lot of replay value. Charge 'N Blast definitely fits into this category, and unlike Crazy Taxi, there aren't a lot of extras crammed in for the home release.

This is a straight arcade port from SIMS, which was a SEGA subsidiary at the time (and is now independent), and is one example of several where SEGA opted to not publish its own game on its own console. Thanks be to Xicat for bringing this previously unreleased arcade game to US gamers.

The "plot" is typical. This time we're saving the world from bad aliens that come from meteors.

Though short and only moderately difficult, the game is fun and surprisingly unique. The player selects one of three characters to take care of the world saving. Each have slightly different sets of three weapons. The levels are divided into "war zones."

In the war zone the objective is to destroy all of the attacking aliens before time runs out. The character's movement is limited to strafing left and right with the L and R triggers in order to dodge attacks and projectiles. To kill the enemies a weapon must first be charged by pressing X, Y, or B. The longer the weapon charges the more powerful the shot will be. The analog stick is used to aim the weapon, and then the A button is used to blast.

Several weapons have lock-on targeting which makes it easy to attack a number of enemies at one time. Further, others have splash damage.

Once each war zone is cleared, time is added to the clock and and you move on to the next war zone. At the end of each level there's a boss battle. Each boss has a shield generator which must be destroyed before the boss can take damage. Using any of the lock-on weapons makes this task pretty easy whether your battling a gigantic bug, Godzilla, or an bomb hurling octopus.

The environments are partially destructible, which is a nice touch. Sometimes there are hidden power ups to be found, and other times part of the objective is to not blow shit up.

Two player mode is particularly fun, but extremely frustrating if the other player isn't any good, because in co-op mode both players share the same life bar.

Charge 'N Blast isn't a "must own" game by any means, but is relatively cheap. For those who enjoy fast paced retro arcade action, this game is worth picking up.