The Final Word game review

Mars Matrix -- Capcom

R.I.P.
I've played alot of shooters over the years. I even get yelled at by my family and friends sometimes because the largest percentage of games I buy are shooters. ...and while at times I treat shooters like pizza ("it's hard to find a bad pizza, but when you do... look out!"), I do recognize greatness when I see it.

It's with that thought that I bring you Mars Matrix. This game was stunningly good, and in my most un-humble opinion, has to rank as one of the top five best shooters of all time, possibly even fighting for first place. The only sad part of this story is that it came out at the end of the life of the Dreamcast and got missed by so many people. The upside of this is that you can still find it for $10 - $20 new at many stores that are closing out DC software... and I've got to tell you, this game is worth every penny, even if you bought it at $40.

Oh sure, I've played the other domestic DC shooter releases, and they're ok. Heck, I even went out and bought all of the other Dreamcast Capcom shooter releases after playing this game with the thought that if this one is this good, what if the others are even better! (I probably could have skipped them though because none of them even touch this title).

Mars Matrix is pure, classic, arcade shooter action. Solid like a rock gameplay, beautiful graphics and level design. Intense action. Perfectly graduated progression, so that you don't stomp through the game to quickly yet don't get board of being stuck in the same place in the game over and over. The sound effects and music are perfect for the game. In fact the music is fantastic and has joined my collection of game music I listen to while driving. Two player action is just as awesome as single player. The menus and options are comprehensive and laid out in an easy to figure out manner... and on a technical note, this game has some of the best disc loads I've seen on the DC... The game loads like a cartridge title, as if all of it was being played out of memory.

The extra game modes and bonuses are great and really add a ton of added longevity to the title... unfortunately once I had completely racked out everything in the game, I was so burned out from playing it, that I haven't picked it back up. Granted it took me a couple of months of solid play to do that (the only thing I didn't unlock was all of the gallery items). It's like a great song that you just crave to hear over and over again for days, or weeks on end, and then when you're finally done listening to it you avoid it for a few years because you're burned out on it. The song still kicked butt, but you've just got a step back and give it some space before you can try to appriciate it again. That's MM in a nutshell.

Ahhh... I could just go on and on about this game. Look, if you own a Dreamcast, this is one of the absolute must have showcase titles for the system. If you are a shooter fan, you have no choice but to play this game. And last, if you don't own a DC, go spend the $50 + $15 for a system with memory card and $10-20 bucks for the game already. It is really, really worth it. Geeze, atleast buy it for a friend and go play it at their house. They'll love you for the gift.

(05/2002)