Developer: Ecole Software Publisher: Sammy Release: 08/01 Genre: Shooter
The final years of the Dreamcast in the West were sad. We all must deal with the death of a console that was with you through thick and thin but this one hurt man. Sega finally got their shit together with the Dreamcast and in a 2-3 year span released so many great games it is a crime they did not have the capital to keep it going. But with the announcement of its discontinuation most stores would drop the price of the games to clear the shelves. This means many classics were dirt cheap and I made out like a bandit with the likes of Record of Lodoss War, Grandia II, and Outrigger. Death Crimson OX is not one of them. Even at the dirt cheap price I picked it up I feel ripped off.
I will be completely honest, I do not know how the hell Death Crimson became a series. The first game is one of the absolute worst Sega Saturn games of all time. It is legitimately an embarrassment and everyone involved in its creation should be ashamed of themselves. I still cannot believe that it is a piece of software someone had the audacity to sell on store shelves. However Death Crimson 2 for the Dreamcast is a legitimately great game, a full on adventure game/light gun hybrid that is what Resident Evil Dead Aim tried to be. Unfortunately that is not the game we received in the West. Death Crimson OX removes most of the story and third person gameplay elements to be a basic light gun shooter. And not a particularly good one at that.
The controls in Death Crimson OX are different from most light gun games and not in a good way. When using a light gun you move the targeting cursor with the d-pad on the gun rather than aiming and firing. You reload by pressing B instead of firing off screen. This means you have to hold the gun with both hands which is dumb. It is manageable but smacks of being different for the sake of it. You can use a controller but the game becomes so fast paced later on it becomes all but impossible without an insane amount of practice. Considering the quality of the game few will want to bother.
From its look to its pacing Death Crimson OX is clearly patterned after House of the Dead. Unfortunately this is a poor man’s version of that game. To a degree all light gun games are a roller coaster as they move from one set piece to the next. However the truly great ones nail staging and pacing and sprinkle in dynamic events to keep you on your toes. Death Crimson OX is formulaic and predictable in comparison. The waves are predictable and the game even stops at various points and becomes a boring, glorified shooting gallery. You are essentially going through the motions and sadly these waves are not interesting.
If the game leaned in to its unique mechanics maybe it would have had something. Machine gun power-ups give you a charged shot and you can store multiple. But you cannot attack while charging meaning you have to weigh the risk versus rapid firing enemies. Due to the pacing you do not get to use it much sadly. You also gain experience for successful hits and earn more life as you level up. This feature is cool and one that could have added to the game’s replay value if done right. But sadly it is a missed opportunity.
In spite of some questionable enemy placement later in the game Death Crimson OX is easy by light gun shooter standards. The experience meter fills up relatively quickly allowing your life bar to grow so you can take a lot of hits. If you fiddle with the options and set it to five to start you will feel even more overpowered by the middle of the game. Death Crimson OX is more generous with life restoring power-ups than is typical of this genre too. The game is not long and I imagine most will have little trouble breezing through it using few credits.
For those looking for a challenge you can either bump up the difficulty or try the other modes. Mission mode is essentially a stage select that only arms you with two credits. Bullet mode is unique and one of the game’s few highlights. You have limited bullets and for every target you miss you lose one (obviously). However successful hits do not waste ammo. It is a true challenge to make it through this mode. I only wish the game were better to warrant such an action. Death Crimson OX is barely worth one trip let alone another with your hand tied behind your back, so to speak.
In Closing
Death Crimson OX is a curiosity in the Dreamcast library and nothing more. Even for diehard fans of light gun shooters it is a hard sell. The game does almost nothing new and comes across as a pale imitation of Sega’s classic. I had vague memories of not liking it when I played it in 2001 but was open to being wrong. But replaying the game now only reaffirms my feelings. It is a damn shame Death Crimson OX is among the last official releases for the system in the US. The Dreamcast deserves better.
