The Total Recall
DUD OF THE MONTH COLLECTION!
SEGA SMASH PACK VOLUME 1
(Sega, 2001)
Beware! Although this collection looks very interesting
because you get twelve legendary classics on one GD-Rom disc, 10 of them are
emulated, and rather poorly I might add. The 10 emulated games are the old
school Genesis/Mega Drive classics; Sonic the Hedgehog, Altered
Beast, Wrestle War, Streets of Rage 2, Revenge of Shinobi, Vector Man, Golden
Axe, Columns, Phantasy Star II, and Shining Force. This package also has
the Sega Saturn game Virtua Cop II and the limited edition Sega Swirl as well
to sweeten the deal. Not a bad collection of Sega games, eh? Wait till
you play them!
Altered Beast
This was the original pack-in-game for the 1989 Sega
Genesis and now it's available on this collection. In this 2 player action game you are undead
warrior who has to save Zeus's daughter from a sinister demon but you have
the power to transform into different beast to help on your 5 level mission.
The game was never all that great since it was so short and the choppier animation doesn't help eitherr.
The game even has poorer sound which doesn’t help improve the game's
image as well. Not a good start to this collection.
Columns
Columns was Sega's answer to Tetris but it was never considered to be that
good to begin with since matching coloured gems gets old real fast. The game
seems even worse now thanks to the weaker soundtracks and the sounds were
never that great to begin with. Columns is hardly
any fun here and now it is even worse on the Dreamcast.
Golden Axe
In this 2 player medieval hack n' slash game similar to Double Dragon
or Final Fight, you guide one of three warriors on a mission to kill
the evil Death Adder: holder of the Golden Axe. The main problem here is the
music didn't translate very well and now it sounds even worse than the Sega
Master System version of Golden Axe. It's true!
Phantasy Star II
Easily one of my favourites for the old Sega Genesis and this is a great way
to play it all over again! In this adventure you help two warriors solve the
mysteries of their planet but it won't to easy. The version is a little slower
but it's all here and you can even save your game to the VMU. This game is
very hard to find on the Genesis, so playing this on the Smash Pack may be
your only option but it's still a distance second to the real Genesis PS2
game.
Revenge of Shinobi
Here is another Sega Genesis classic. This is an awesome sequel to the arcade
classic where you control a lone ninja to save his love from the evil Neo
Seed. The game still plays great and this one will sure challenge you but
it also as its problems in the sound department. The music was so great on
the Genesis version and this doesn't do justice to Yuzo Koshiro's music. That
is a big part of Revenge of Shinobi and Sega ruined it!
Sega Swirl
One of the coolest puzzle games for the Dreamcast
is this simple little game. The objective is to clear the table of multicoloured
swirls and you get bonus points for columns, speed and matching sets. The
game ends when you fail to meet the objectives. Although this great game is
very addictive, it's also available FREE on other Demo discs so you really
don't need to get the Smash Pack to play it.
Shining Force
Here is another great but underrated tactical RPG
by Sega. The sound was never all the great in the Genesis version any ways,
so I don't mine playing this new version so much on here. Like Phantasy Star
II this game is very addictive but it's still not as good as the real thing
yet this copy is easier to find then the Genesis copy.
Sonic The
Hedgehog
This awesome platform game helped Sega to beat Nintendo from the top spot
for a few years. Sadly though you'll see tons of glitches in this edition
like failed transparencies (like the start up screen where you can see Sonic's
stomach hanging out) and the game even has slower game play too. You can easily
buy the old Sega Genesis for $2 and its way better than this sorry excuse
for programming.
Streets of Rage 2
The second Rage game now comes with four Street Fighters
has they try to rescue their friend Adam from a powerful crime syndicate in
this fun two player game. Like Golden Axe this is another Final Fight clone
with cartoon-like like sound effects. Just jumping alone sounds really goofy
and this is supposed to be a serious fighting game!
Vector Man
One of the final Genesis games to really gather a
lot of attention before the system was discontinued. Vectorman is an amazing
looking and action packed title with 17 levels but it is not so action packed
now thanks to the slower game play and weaker visual effects. The game no
longer looks like it runs at a smooth 60 frames per second either.
Virtua Cop 2
VC2, like Sega Swirl, is not an emulated Sega Genesis game and works and sound
great unlike the others. This game was fun and it looks very smooth just like
the arcade game but it is still a few years behind light gun games like House
of the Dead 2. This game helped to avoid a lower rating for the Sega Smash
pack here.
Wrestle War
I was really looking forward to playing this one because this particular title
was never released on the Genesis. The first thing that comes to mind after
playing though was Yuck! I don't know what happened here but this wrestling
game is absolutely awful! The animation is poor, characters reappear in random
locations every so often, and the hit detection is weak at best.
Bottomline: Why Sega, WHY!? This collection could have been the game that would make people buy a DC but
don't be fooled because the problems are numerous. First in famous titles
like Golden Axe and Columns the music is absolutely horrible to the point
of being unlistenable. Second in the games like Wrestle War and Sonic the
Hedgehog have tons glitches compared to their 16-bit originals. Third there
are only 12 games here although I seen Internet editions that have close or
over 50 games in one. Games like Phantasy Star II and Shining Force fair a
little better since they are deep RPG's with save options but still have their
problems too. Emulated games are suck because they are suppose to be FREE
and not $49.99! You would think the all powerful 128-bit Dreamcast would be
able to improve the weak 16-bit games but just the opposite happened believe
it or not! This is NOT a shot at one of my favourite game systems, (Sega Genesis)
this is just my opinion of some really bad remakes. Avoid this compilation
especially if you’re a true Sega Genesis fan but if you are curious
then please rent this Dreamcast game first, I beg of you. You may think it's
the greatest collection ever or you may think it is the worse.
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