Alien Front Online

For every Dreamcast fan waiting for their alternative to Twisted Metal Black your wait is over. Even though there were a few unsuccessful Vigalente 8 ports for the system, Alien Front online is your game of choice in the senseless killing department.

Imagine if you will, a classic 'us versus the alien' b-rate movie and you're half way home. Alien Front Online combines the very best of arcade tank games with the great Twisted Metal theme. But have no delusion, this game pales in comparison to Twisted Metal Black.

In the story, online, or arcade mode you are able to choose between the human forces and the opposing alien forces. Each side has three selectable "vehicles". Three tanks, each balanced from powerful to speedy, and as you can imagine there are three alien counterparts.

The control is spot on. The Dreamcast pad feels perfect for this style of game, and better yet the game is extremely easy to just sit down and learn in seconds. The game isn't as deep as Twisted Metal, but as tank games go Alien Front Online is about the best.

The aliens are fun to control as well, and are completely different when you get right down to it. It's a nice variation, but I couldn't help noticing how limited they were. It would seem like Sega should have provided a cooler set of aliens to play with.

The game is also playable online, a feature that helps overlook a lot of the repetition in the game. There are only a handful of levels, but each is a lot of fun, and you get enough people in the room and it's hard to beat. It won't take the place of Unreal Tournament or Quake III, but it's a fun online game to play.

Graphically Sega could have done much better. Alien Front Online looks good, certainly better than what is certainly on the Nintendo 64 or P.S.one, but not what you'd expect from a system on it's last legs. The levels look good, but the polygons are extremely simple, and the game ends up looking a lot like a first generation title.

At it's best Alien Front Online is a arcade game with limited lasting appeal ... but if you're looking for another online Dreamcast game, you can't go wrong with this title.