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Thread: Sleeper of the Week: Carrier (DC)

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    Alex (Level 15) maxlords's Avatar
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    Default Sleeper of the Week: Carrier (DC)

    Survival horror has been a popular genre ever since Resident Evil came out for the Playstation back in the early days of Sony’s first system. It’s been wildly successful on virtually every game system it’s come out on...except the Dreamcast. Excluding Resident Evil: Code Veronica, the Dreamcast has nothing but survival horror failures available for it. Failures in the sense that the games didn’t sell well of course, not that the games themselves are bad. Which leads us to this week’s Sleeper of the Week. Today we’re looking at Carrier for the Dreamcast. You’re part of an elite antiterrorism unit sent to board the aircraft carrier Heimdal, apparently lost at sea two days from port due to a mysterious explosion. You have your choice of the standard male or female character, and the game begins with a flight to the carrier itself.

    Carrier isn’t really non-standard. It’s a very typical early offering for the survival horror genre. The control is similar to Resident Evil, but you have to aim a bit more, and there are some tricks in it. In general, survival horror isn’t a fast moving genre and this is no exception. What it does very well though is set the mood. The entire game has an excellent ambiance where you feel very much like you’re in an abandoned aircraft carrier. The gameplay is challenging but not too difficult, the environments are moody and organic (as the carrier has been taken over by some sort of bizarre plant life) and then music really sets the stage for the game. For a Jaleco offering, there’s a surprising amount of quality here. I was surprised as well by how interesting the story became as the game went on. The plot isn’t deep of course, but it does manage to hold your interest quite well, and there’s just enough thrill to keep the pacing fairly stable. Carrier is a game that tries very hard to be scary without going overboard and does a fairly good job. It won’t have you on the edge of your seat, but chances are you’ll definitely have some fun.

    For control, Carrier is unfortunately, similar to Resident Evil. Not the new Resident Evil 4 that we all know and love, but the clunkier old Resident Evil. Perhaps this is why the game didn’t sell so well, or perhaps it’s because it was offered up by a company such as Jaleco, who knows. But whatever the reason, the interface for Carrier is fairly awful. You’ll find yourself wanting to have a lot faster motion available to you on occasion, and you’ll wonder how a trained antiterrorist can move so amazingly like a rather stiff puppet. And on top of that…they aren’t joking about the survival part…this game is tough! Don’t expect a pushover of a game from Carrier…you’ll be struggling to survive! Aside from that however, the game is fun as hell, mixing quite surprisingly good graphics with excellent music and decent story. Slogging through the overgrown environments made me paranoid of every plant and creeper and of all sorts of doors and openings. And that’s what you want from a survival horror game…a feeling of suspense, a palpable nervousness. It’s fun to be scared, and Carrier is a decent game for it. By no means is it heart-poundingly disturbing in the way that, say, Silent Hill is, but it’ll definitely make you more than a bit creeped out!

    Carrier is definitely worth a run-through if you’re a fan of the survival horror genre. At around $5-15 for a mint complete copy, you can’t really go wrong either. Not too many people bothered to buy the game at all, and a fair percentage of those that did never played it. If you can dig up a copy, pop it in the Dreamcast! You’ve played enough Chu Chu Rocket and Jet Grind Radio anyway, haven’t you?


    scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."

  2. #2
    Pretzel (Level 4) zerohero's Avatar
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    I've been wanting to play this game for a while now. I have a demo to this game as was interested in way back, but when I saw the review it kind of kept me from buying it for 40 bucks. Now that it's pretty cheap on ebay , i've been trying to find it for a decent price and hopefully I will.

    I ordered the game "Extermination" for PS2 not to long ago and I can't wait for that game to come in as well. Survivor Horror games are usually decently sometimes even if the reviewers don't like them.

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    Strawberry (Level 2)
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    I got this game in a buy two get one free deal at a local game store along with Jet Grind Radio and Quest 64. I fell in love with Jet Grind Radio instantly, but Carrier just didn't do it for me. I can't really get into the genre, but after reading this, I will probably print out a guide and dig in a little deeper. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    Alex (Level 15) maxlords's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GameNinja
    I got this game in a buy two get one free deal at a local game store along with Jet Grind Radio and Quest 64. I fell in love with Jet Grind Radio instantly, but Carrier just didn't do it for me. I can't really get into the genre, but after reading this, I will probably print out a guide and dig in a little deeper. Thanks for the inspiration!
    Glad to help! I'd say with a guide it might be more fun. There are some tedious bits, and if you have help it'll make things move faster and you get to see the story. Just don't read too far ahead and ruin it!
    scooterb: "I once shot a man in Catan, just to watch him die."

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    Key (Level 9) RJ's Avatar
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    Good to hear the "good news" about Carrier. Got my copy for a coupla bucks at the last TRU green tag sale I went to. It's still wrapped up, waiting to be opened & played!

    I really have to get to Carrier, back into D2, Jet Grind Radio, Lodoss War, & a bunch of others...
    "The big things that...nerds like to argue about might not actually matter that much."

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    Apple (Level 5)
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    Yeah, it was a pretty good game, but the thing I remember most was the ads with everything blacked out.

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    Avoiding OT Vectorman0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJ
    Good to hear the "good news" about Carrier. Got my copy for a coupla bucks at the last TRU green tag sale I went to. It's still wrapped up, waiting to be opened & played!
    Same here. I hope I enjoy this Sleeper as much as I did Ninja Five-O.


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    Banana (Level 7) pragmatic insanester's Avatar
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    i bought the game for about $9, and sold it for 75 cents. i was probably too hard on it, as i only played it for about 40 minutes before it pissed me off. same thing for The Ring (which i found dirt cheap later at a flea market, and like it much more the second time trying. of course, this copy is scratched and freezed up 40 mins into the game...goddamnit). if i see it being sold for around $5 complete again, i'll give it a more thorough chance.

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    Key (Level 9)
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    I liked this game. It was a way better graphic treat than Resident Evil because of the 128 bit Dreamcast. If I remember correctly, the big thing was conserving ammo because it wasn't dropped too readily and you only had a lame ass "cattle prod" if you ran out.

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    Pretzel (Level 4) zerohero's Avatar
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    Banana (Level 7) Neil Koch's Avatar
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    I didn't like the game all that much. Poor control combined with low ammo and invisible/regenerating enemies made the game more fustrating than anything else. It's a ghetto version of Resident Evil, which was already pretty well represented on the DC with CV and the ports of RE 2 and 3.

    It's better than Blue Stinger, but that's not saying too much...

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