Death Crimson OX
Score: 85% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Sammy Entertainment, Inc./Majesco Developer: ECOLE Media: GD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Miscellaneous
Graphics & Sound: Death Crimson OX uses what seems to me to be an identical graphics engine to The House of the Dead 2. This means that the worlds created in the game are to say the least, incredible. Textures and lighting effects are of true arcade-quality. Unfortunately, the music and sound fx in Death Crimson OX were a bit lacking. A game with an intensity level like this is deserving of something that will blow your 2000 thousand dollar stereo system. The biggest disappointment I had in the sound department is that the movie cut-scenes were subtitled only. Death Crimson OX would have stuck out even more if the developers would have simply hired some voice over actors to play the parts of the few characters in the game. What makes it worse is that the subtitles go by so fast that sometimes you won't be able to read them, and you lose the storyline of the game.
Gameplay: You have two choices on how to play Death Crimson OX, with a controller or with a gun. What do you think is better? Seriously, if you go out and buy this game, spend the 30-40 dollars on a light gun (or two), and you will fall in love. If you plan to play with a standard controller, frustration will, I'm sure, set in quickly. So there you have it. Death Crimson OX is an arcade shooter, and a good one at that. Along with Mission Mode and Story Mode comes the new Bullet Mode. Playing in Bullet Mode is a great way to practice your aiming and overall gameplay. Here, you are basically allowed 10 misses. For every hit, you score points. Your goal: To get the high score. Don't waste shots, or you have no chance of becoming number one. I can see Bullet Mode as a great party game! Mission Mode simply allows you to play any of the six missions by choosing them. This is another good way to practice for the big game... Story Mode. In Story mode, you only have to defeat one level to continue onto the next. Sound simple? HA! Six levels doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it's plenty. (Although, it would be cool to have more levels in Mission Mode.) The difference between Mission and Story is that in Story Mode, you get to watch cut-scenes with your characters. Also included in the game is the ability to gain Experience Points. EPs increase with every hit and decrease with every miss. Fill your EPs, and your life increases (bullets increase in Bullet Mode). Another cool addition is the ability to pick up temporary Machine Guns and helpful bonuses.
Difficulty: Let's just say that the replay value of Death Crimson OX is pretty high, unless you're a seasoned expert at arcade shooters. There are five different difficulty settings to choose from, as well as the ability to increase the number of continues, etc. Even at this, there are parts in the game that are incredibly tough to get through without taking damage (even when I had my gun on turbo!). However, even with the difficulty level so high, anyone can jump in and have a blast trying to shoot up the baddies on screen. Of course, using a controller instead of a gun will make things all that more difficult. Likewise, although I didn't have a chance to test it, having two players with guns would likely make enemies much easier to deal with.
Game Mechanics: Death Crimson OX is a straight-to-the-point arcade shooter. You don't have anything to think about beyond spraying the screen with bullets. Okay, maybe you need to be careful of innocent bystanders. But other than that... shoot or be shot. As stated above, using a standard controller (vs. a light gun) would be very hard to get used to, as well as being harder to be accurate and quick enough to win. This is simply a default option for those that don't have a gun yet. Even so, there is one major flaw. There is no option to reverse the controller's control for those of us who like to move the cursor as if flying a plane. It takes a lot of getting used to, and turned me off right away. Fortunately for me, I already had a light gun (Pelican's Stinger), and could put using the controller behind me. If you buy this game, BUY A LIGHT GUN! Trust me. You will have loads more fun and won't regret it a bit. With a gun, it makes playing Death Crimson OX a breeze... almost.
-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele
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