Apart from Sonic Adventure, this was the first Dreamcast game I ever played, so it was a pretty special part of my childhood gaming years. Basically, it was a futuristic and more actionized Resident Evil.
In the year 2018 ESER officer Elliot G. Ballad (Brian Drummond) is on a Christmas vacation when a meteor suddenly hits Dinosaur Island and creates a massive energy dome that surrounds it. Elliot makes it ashore to discover the island is overrun by monsters created by the meteor impact. Concurrently, a mysterious alien being named Nephilim appears and accompanies Elliot for unknown reasons (at first). Assisted by a ship captain named Dogs Bower (Dean Bristow- RIP) and security guard, Janine King (Lani Minella), Elliot must uncover the reason for the disaster and prevent it from spreading any further.
For 1999, the graphics were great. The levels were big and had full 3D rendering, which was uncommon at the time. But some of the map layouts were easy to get lost in. The character designs are polished and well-designed, but their animations are limited, even during cutscenes. The enemies looked and sounded legitimately scary and were fitting for a survival horror game.
The soundtrack had a strong, awesome, and cinematic feel to it that would keep you excited and ready for action, except for the supermarket section that played a cheery and out of place Christmas music that quickly became grating.
Following the same basic formula as Resident Evil, the gameplay was solid and fun: you fight monsters, collect items, and advance further by finding keys or defeating bosses. But rather than the traditional fixed camera angles, there's a dynamic, behind the back styled camera that was frustrating at times when it got stuck on walls or in corners. And with Nephilim constantly following you, blocking it every so often was bound to happen.
Another element that lessened the survival horror aspect was the monetary system. Defeating enemies would cause them to drop coins you could use to purchase weapons, ammunition, and health items from vending machines scattered throughout the game.
You'll have access to an extensive and cool arsenal of melee and ranged weapons. These range from basic, like handguns, crossbows, and baseball bats to advanced, like a railgun, bazooka, ray sword, and even a napalm launcher.
For me, the main drawback of the game was the voice acting. Despite having a respectable cast, the voice actors completely phone in their performances and sound ridiculous half the time. They frequently pause awkwardly, have their dialouge abruptly cut off, or talk over each other as they engage in cheesy dialogue you'd hear in a Sci-fi original movie.
In conclusion, Blue Stinger was a pretty good adventure game for the Dreamcast, and while it didn't reach the level of success as Resident Evil, I still remember it fondly.
