> I've been hearing about this game for a while now.  When I saw that a demo of it was available in the February GD-ROM of the Official DC mag, I just had to grab the issue and try it out. 

     > Well, so far it looks good.  I didn't have a chance to try this in the arcade as I don't know if it even came over to this side of the Pacific.  And if it did, they didn't have it in any of the local arcades.  The demo offers four control schemes.  Anyone comfortable with MDK 2 will feel right at home with option D.  It uses the exact same control scheme as that game, with the digital pad changing weapons and camera view.  The graphics are very detailed and colorful.  Considering this is probably a straight NAOMI port, nothing less should be expected.  The frame rate didn't suffer even when there was a lot going on.  It offers a third- or first-person view, but games of this type are best played from behind the barrel, as opposed to the over-the-shoulder view.  However, I felt there were a few issues that need to be addressed before this game is released. 

     > While it is nice to be able to choose a control scheme, it would be nice to also choose in which direction I move the analog stick to look up or down.  Moving the camera in the same direction as moving the stick would be fine if I was using a mouse to play this, but it is annoying to get used to.  The lack of a manual reload is also a little annoying for this FPS veteran. When I'm in the heat of battle, there is nothing more vexing than running out of ammo and having to reload just as a guy is preparing to ram a missile down my throat. 

     > Despite my minor misgivings, I think that this game will shape up to be quite a winner. With online play available, as well as four-person split-screen, the multiplayer game will be quite fun.  I only hope it doesn't fall prey to the lack of a decent single player mode, as most of the latest games in this genre have.