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[img width=598 height=600]http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/7/9/1/196791_41807_front.jpg[/img]
Y'know it's kind of funny. I'm a huge horror movie fan, but I don't play nearly as many horror games as you might expect. I mean, I certainly lean towards macabre games in general -- say my love of Darkstalkers for instance. But when it comes to survival horror, it seems I end up collecting these kinds of games more than actually playing them. A lot of that might just come down to lifestyle. The truth is I often gravitate more toward shorter games or arcade style games over long affairs. But it being October and all I figured I'd continue to dig through my collection looking for anything horror-themed that I may finally spend some quality time with.
When it comes to survival horror, there's obviously the staples -- the Resident Evils and Silent Hills -- that I'm certainly familiar with. I'm also a pretty big fan of the Clock Tower series. But sometimes it's really fun to look into more overlooked titles. Blue Stinger was a one-off game published rather early in the Dreamcast's lifespan where it remained an exclusive.
[img width=638 height=478]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/c/7/e/gfs_41807_2_1.jpg[/img] [img width=639 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/6/a/e/gfs_41807_2_2.jpg[/img]
The game opens with an impressive ten minute CGI intro with some gorgeous animations and horrible voice acting. Oddly the bad acting made it even better for me, as it really felt like I was watching a b-movie. Next thing I know I'm wandering around Dinosaur Island which has just been hit by a meteorite. "Dinosaur Island"? Hilarious. And within minutes I'm seeing a flying naked ghostly woman and dudes with big insect-arms growing out of their bodies coming after me. In short, the visuals are ridiculous in a really bad horror flick kind of way -- something I can totally appreciate.
[img width=640 height=480]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/3/0/e/gfs_41807_2_4.jpg[/img] [img width=637 height=477]http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/7/b/f/gfs_41807_2_9.jpg[/img]
Game-play wise Blue Stinger has its ups and downs. The controls are (thank goodness) not tank-controls. This is pretty refreshing for a survival horror game. It's probably a bit easier than most games of the genre seeing as how most progression is made by simply locating a key-card to access the next area. Not to mention the fact that there are vending machines in most areas that provide you with healing items and ammo. Thankfully saving your game only requires finding certain save spots as well. Sure all of this makes the experience a little less grueling, but in a sense that makes Blue Stinger a more campy fun horror game which is maybe an alternative to more well known series.
I was initially surprised that the game didn't spawn any sequels, though some research led me to discover that the developers had instead gone on to make Illbleed on the Dreamcast, which appears to be even more over-the-top and a bit of a cult-classic that I still need to hunt down.
EDIT: shout-out to my buddy GrayGhost81 who sent me this game for free!
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If I recall, I picked this up CIB in very good condition in the "junky" side of the local flea market for a buck about a year back. Weird thing is, I rediscovered it last night when I was clearing out a few things in the ol' game room-- it was hidden behind my case of PS1 games.
Well, if ya think it's decent enough to give a go, I'll definitely throw it on the towering to-play stack...
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I remember I rented a Dreamcast and this game when it came out. I thought it was just like a b horror movie too, but I remember this is the very first game where I heard swearing in the voice acting. It surprised me to hear that, as I hadn't really thought of cursing in video games before.
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I do sincerely believe that Blue Stinger was given a bad rap not because of any content (or lack of content), but because it wasn't RE or SH, and back in good ol' 1999 that was a perceived sin. That, and being released seven months after SH and one month before RE3 pretty much sounded the death knell.
Still, even though I don't think that Blue Stinger is quite a hidden gem, it was certainly overlooked (and better than Carrier). Regardless of how you feel, I think we can all agree that at least this games isn't Illbleed.
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I really enjoyed Blue Stinger. Wasn't it the first case of a pre-launch title? I remember reading the game came out before the console even hit stores.
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@Cobra: well the Japanese version was out before the US console I believe. Is that what you're thinking of?
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@noiseredux: Can't remember where I originally heard it from but most sites have its US release date before 9/9/99 the Dreamcast launch date.
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Oh might have been one you could rent at blockbuster before you could buy it then. Hmm.
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I don't know if it is because I bought that game nearly 10 years after its release but even if I can recognize the beauty and fun of a game for its time, I'm still wondering about that game. It was, let's say, more deep than most game (remember that most dreamcast game were arcade like, without a real story to follow) so this was nice, but the playability of this game was just awful. The characters walked like they were stiff, the fights were hard to really master without loosing much energy, etc. To be honest, a game like Blue Stinger gave the impression that Dreamcast was closer to the original playstation than it was to a new generation of video game systems.
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