Jaleco
just sent us a near complete reviewable copy of their upcoming
Dreamcast survival horror game, Carrier. Those Resident Evil
fans out there who can't get enough of the genre will be
pleasantly surprised with Jaleco's first effort.
If you are familiar with the Resident Evil series then you
basically know how Carrier works. Replace the creepy mansion
with a futuristic aircraft carrier dubbed the "Heimdal", and
Chris, Jill and company with Jack and Jessifer, and the rest
is pretty standard fare.
You play as Jack Ingles, member of an elite investigation
team sent to the Heimdal to determine why the ship fell silent
to any and all radio communications. You quickly realize the
carrier is stocked with a load of ballistic missiles, as well
as a quickly spreading virus introduced into the ship's
population by a recently discovered ancient organism.
Carrier, while not on the same visual level as the
spectacular Biohazard: Code Veronica, is still more that
competent. The characters are well modeled and textured, and
the polygonal environments are suitably creepy and
occasionally near pre-rendered quality. Jaleco has the game
running at 60fps, and has added some nice visual enhancements
such as dynamic lighting and fog.
Resident Evil veterans will feel right at home with
Carrier's control scheme. The game can be played with either
the digital or the analog pad and both seem to work fine. The
right shoulder button draws/aims your weapon, while the left
allows you to cycle through weapons on the fly. Button 'A'
fires the drawn weapon, and functions as the action button;
Button 'B' allows you to use the scope; Button 'X' allows you
to run; And Button 'Y' brings up the map. You can even perform
a Dino Crisis style 180 degree spin by holding down on the
control pad and pressing 'A'.
An interesting feature that Jaleco has added to Carrier is
the use of a scanning scope. Since the Heimdal's population
has been infected with the virus, there had to be a method of
determining who was safe, and who contracted the deadly virus.
By utilizing the scope, you can scan each life form within the
first person viewing area to determine the level of infection.
If the virus is detected, you are best off drawing a weapon
and unloading on that mutated crew member.
No game in this genre would be complete without some
horribly cheesy B-movie voice overs. As you can see in the
first movie below, Jaleco has not let us down. Another
interesting feature included in Carrier is the ability to
choose from both Japanese or English voices AND subtitles.
That is an option I would personally like to see in more
upcoming games.
There really isn't much bad to be found in the game so far.
Occasionally there are some odd bouts of slowdown, and the
character's mouths aren't quite synced up with the voices
(Japanese or English), but none of it has affected the
gameplay as of yet.
Carrier looks to be an entertaining addition to the
survival horror genre. Expect a full review after we put much
more time into the game. Carrier is currently scheduled to hit
store shelves on February 20th.
-- Jim
Cordeira
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