Written By Tony
Remember that game called Centipede? You know, the quarter game sitting in the corner you don’t see many people playing? With the growing trends of classic Atari game updates, Hasbro Interactive brings yet another 3D update.
You play as Wally, a simpleton that is chosen as the Wee people’s last hope against Queenpede and her henchman. The short, slightly humorous movie introduction is enjoyable and gives you high hopes of fun in the game, but it just doesn’t deliver.
You zip around in your little spaceship designed by the scientist who recruited you, shooting the classic enemies you expect from the original Centipede all in 3D and rescuing the Wee people. You can jump and upgrade your shields and weapons, which does add a certain depth to the game. But, the game tries way too hard to keep the same idea of Centipede (shooting impeding centipedes and turning them into harmless mushrooms) and this turns this into a shooter with nothing much to expect. The levels are fun to explore, but there are boundaries, like the inability to go into water. Seeing what new level would pop up encouraged me to trudge on the mindlessness, but it did irritate me not to find anything new to do. Controls are simple and easy to pick up, much like the original Centipede. You can accelerate easily and decelerate with the same ease and shooting the multiple centipedes on the screen is easy, with three different views (over top, behind and in first person). In fact, the game’s controls are perfectly balanced and nearly redeem the otherwise redundant game play.
Graphics are adequate to say best, and doesn’t push the Dreamcast ability much, except for bright colors. The fog, way too close for comfort, isn’t used for effect, but instead a result of a quick port from the Playstation version of the game. The character models are detailed, buut the textures also appear as though they weren’t paid enough attention to. Sound is nothing spectacular, but not horrible either. The sound effects retro gamers have come to known are in here along with so ho-hum background music.
Maybe the most fun part of the game is the perfectly translated port of the original Centipede. Here, the game is how it was made in the first place with simplistic game play. Luckily, you have the ability to play the original addicting game right you pop in the GD-ROM in your Dreamcast. I’ll have to admit that I must have spent most of my time playing that instead of the main game and is a nice bonus.
SCORE:
Gameplay – 4
Graphics – 5
Sound -6
Entertainment – 3
Overall: 4.5
Centipede isn’t really a game to warrant your money and leaves you wondering why Hasbro couldn’t have done a great job like they did with the remakes of Breakout and Pac Man. The only game saving this from an even lower score is the inclusion of the perfectly emulated arcade classic, Centipede.
