I started out disappointed, but ended up pleased overall.
Usually launch games tend to put emphasis on aesthetic elements such as graphics and sound. Blue Stinger is no exception. The graphics are bold and colorful. The character animations are still somewhat crude, but definitely an improvement from the 32-bit systems. It was because of the graphics that I decided to soldier on in this game. The sounds are also top notch. The weapons make their appropriate noises and the enemies’ screams are beautifully rendered. One problem with video games is that the voice acting tends to be sub par to a B-movie. To make matters worse is that this game is dubbed in English, so the characters’ mouth movements aren’t in synch with the dialog. This really wasn’t a big deal to me and was more of a minor annoyance. I guess if I would have been more anal about it, I would never have played the Resident Evil games, which would have been my loss. The game play was one of the elements that took some getting used to. First, the controls were a little rough making moving around and combat difficult. This could be because this was the first game I played with the Dreamcast controller and hadn’t developed a feel for it. What won me over was amount of items available. I was impressed by the different types of weapons there were. It is just me, but I am always impressed if there are a ton of different weapons to choose from. I know I am one sick individual. After getting through the first few levels, Blue Stinger actually started to become more fun to play. This was actually the first game that I started out disappointed with, but ended up pleasantly amused with.
Blue Stinger is a by the numbers survival horror game, but does have a unique charm of its own. If you are a fan of survival horror games, Blue Stinger will not disappoint. Like me though, it may take a bit for it to warm up to you.