And while
Red Dog doesn’t do much of anything new, it’s a damn fine little game. Learning to control the vehicle may cause much frustration, but once you’ve got its movements down pat, you’ll find yourself embroiled in an exciting little shooter with enough hidden stuff to keep you busy for a while, and a fantastic set of multiplayer games.
You control the Red Dog, on a quest to reclaim the earth from the Haak, who we welcomed and have now turned on us. Whatever. Read any plot descriptions as: ‘Kill things. Blow other things up. Do it fast and well.’ That’s the gist of the game (well, the main part of it), and while it’s not particularly deep or original, it certainly is entertaining.
Controlling the Red Dog is a task, and it’s something that may turn many people off of the game. Every button on the controller is used, and many of them are used in conjunction with each other. It’s complex, but it makes sense once you’re used to it, and it’s a necessary part of getting the full enjoyment out of the gameplay.
The single-player campaign consists of a series of missions, in which you’re usually trying to blow something up. Once you beat a mission, you’re ranked depending on how fast you did it, how many lives it took, how many points you got, and how long it took you to beat the boss. You generally open up something with any rank, and open up something even cooler with a high rank. This rewards system is an excellent way to keep people interested in the game.
Indeed, one of the modes that completing single-player missions opens up is the Challenge mode, where you’ll be doing things like racing as fast as possible or learning to control the various systems of the Red Dog better than before. Completion of these challenges gains you more stuff as well, such as improvements for your vehicle. You can get cheats for the game too, which can help you get past the difficult parts. It’s a wonderful idea, the interlinking of the various play modes, and it’s something that more games should do.
When you get tired of the single-player mode for Red Dog (or, more likely, frustrated with the difficulty), you can break out the multiplayer game. And it’s highly entertaining. There are a multitude of game modes that you can play in, from standard Deathmatch to King of the Hill to a macabre version or two of Hot Potato. It’s highly entertaining, and one of the more enjoyable ways to spend time with friends in front of your Dreamcast. Of course, you have to have friends who can actually control the Red Dog, but that’s a minor inconvenience.
