Preview: 'Bangai-O' combines action and puzzles

Platform: Sega Dreamcast

From...

	GALLERY

by Human Tornado

(IDG) -- "Bangai-O" hearkens back to the days when action/shooters combined a bit of exploration and even a touch of puzzle solving. This 2-D Dreamcast title has you take on the role of dynamic duo Riki and Mami, who don mech armor to battle with the SF Kosmo Gang. You can instantly switch between characters even in the heat of battle to maximize your effectiveness. Mami's bouncing shots are great for clearing out narrow corridors, while Riki's homing rockets can lock onto mobile enemies.

The gameplay is fairly simple. You can walk on level surfaces or fly through open areas, but you spend most of your time airborne. Enemy soldiers, robots, turrets, and buildings await their demise at your hands, and you have to duke it out with a boss at the end of each relatively short level.

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Gameplay is simple: hold down the fire button and destroy everything, picking up the fruit icons for points along with the health and energy powerups, but ou don't have to worry about ever running out of ammo: it's infinite. The enemies aren't defenseless, however, they launch relentless missile and bullet attacks, and the boss characters get progressively harder.

In the preview version, the 2-D graphics had a cool, retro look to them, and, as long as you aren't expecting anything fancy, they'll do the job well, with anime inspired dialogue cut-scenes (no voices, just subtitles). The synthesized game music and the sound effects were matched to the anime ambiance and the retro styling. Odd whistles and other goofy noises were heard between the explosions.

"Bangai-O" looks to be a nice change of pace from the usual spaceship based side-scrolling shooters typical of these days. If you want to blow up stuff and I mean lots of it -- look for "Bangai-O" in stores February 27.

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