Life can be frustrating at times, and more often than not, you have to look much closer than you'd like to make sense of the world. For instance, have you ever seen a really, really hot chick with a geeky, ugly dude and asked yourself, "What the hell is she doing with?"

Oh yeah, I know you've been there, and from the reaction of most of my peers in the industry, I'm sure when most gamers got a look at Metro3D's Armada, the reaction must have been something like that. What the hell was Metro thinking? This is Dreamcast, for crying out loud. 128 bits of polygon-pumping power! Do we really want a lame-ass Ateroids wanna-be clogging up our release schedule? Let's be honest. Early slip-ups with this game had kiss of death written all over them: The Internet play options get killed thanks to the fine folks at Sega and their wonderful Internet gaming plan. The game is developed using CE, which any developer would tell you is a sure-fire way to limit the power of the system. Last but not least, It's a *GASP* top-down shooter. Who the hell plays those anymore?

But that's when you start to realize something. The aforementioned dude may be a bit of a dork, and yeah, he may have fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down, but I am guessing that these guys have crazy personality to pull the chicks they do, well, OK, that or they are rich... The same could be said of Armada. It may not exactly be Soul Calibur in the visuals department, but when it all comes down to it, all the graphical complexity in the world can't make you enjoy a game if it plays like crap. So the big question I encountered as I sat down with the final of Armada was this: Will this game have what it takes to make me remember why I enjoyed the genre, or will it serve as a reminder why it has slowly died in our neck of the woods?

Too bad that after about an hour with Armada, I figured out that that was one of the most foolish questions I have ever asked myself.

Yup. You heard me. And here's the primary reason why. This game is not your typical space shooter. I don't care how much it looks like one, and how much it talks like one, Armada is something else entirely. And let me tell you, this something else is truly something special.

I say this because for the first time in a long time, it made me remember a lot of things about myself and the good old days of gaming, and it did so in such a way that I ended up playing Armada more than any other Dreamcast title to date, and that, in and of itself, says a whole lot to me. But before you label me a crack baby for suggesting that anything could take the place of your blessed Soul Calibur or NFL2K, I'll do my best to explain why.

I'll start my babbling by saying that this game is one of the most intriguing genre cocktails I have ever seen on a console. The game is basically a mix of three distinct experiences, and it manages to pull them all off with style. The first and most obvious aspect of Armada is the fact that the combat is ripped straight from the pages of the Atari classic, Asteroids. Yeah, the control has a bit of a learning curve and really could have used reverse thrusters, but overall it is handled beautifully and actually helped me hate the Dreamcast controller a bit less by the time all was said and done. Trust me when I say that your thumbs will numb with baddie-blasting insanity from the instant you pick up the controller, and it gets as intense as it does addictive.

So I am guessing what you're thinking right about now: "What's this? But I thought he just got finished saying this wasn't a shooter. He must be on something..." And that's the same track my mind took when I first started playing. It seemed like a standard shooter, but only after I had logged a few hours did I realize the scope and depth of Armada which , ironically enough, it turns out is the first RPG to hit the Dreamcast. So much for Evolution's ad campaign, eh?

You see, this game is, as I said before, not your basic shooter. For starters, you get to select between one of six races, name your character, and you get to interact with multiple characters (via spoken dialog, thank you very much) who will give you hints, clues, and missions. Thanks to this set-up, the game features not only classic "do this, go there, get that, meet-so-and-so" gameplay that console RPG freaks, but the game is based on a level-based experience point system, and as you pass more missions (and, of course, blow more $#!% up), the bigger and better your alien ship of choice becomes. The voice acting is top-notch, and the game progresses smoothly. To add to the RPG feel, you earn cash flow for each enemy killed and for various missions, which then is used to pick up sweet new items to better bust a cap. Overall, the combination of these aspects and real-time shooter combat mesh for one of the most addictive experiences on the Dreamcast to date. I have spent over 20 single-player hours with the game to date, and am still plugging away at the mission objectives, and it only gets better with age.

And in case you're counting, that's only two of the game's most notable aspects. The frightening thing is, they're not even the best sides of this gem. As I mentioned earlier, the game was originally slated to be the Dreamcast's first massively multi-player experience, with an "endless" universe of co-operative Online play as gamers fought to beat back the horde of Armada spawn. Needless to say, that wasn't exactly feasible with the DC network situation, so Metro had to come up with another solution. That was to make use of the one sure-fire multi-player capability the Dreamcast has going for it: four-player action via the controller ports. Obviously, this was a let-down for nearly everyone (including the Armada Team), but it turns out that this aspect ended up being my favorite part of the game. You see, this game is very big on lots of enemies. And understand that when I say this I don't mean 3-4 at a time, I mean "lots" as in the number of new diets tried by Oprah Winfrey. The screen can get flooded with 20+ little beasties, and they all come packing heat. As you get deeper and deeper into the game, these guys can get downright vicious. And as you all know, the best way to combat people who are bigger and meaner than you is to either start working out, take some kung fu lessons and mess them up yourself, or simply get a bunch of other weaklings to gang up on them and hope there's some truth in the whole strength in numbers thing. Armada ops for the later, and it is this aspect that really manages to capture me as a gamer.

For all you hardcore gamers out there, Armada multi-player is the perfect echo back to the days when co-operative play was king, and anyone who was anyone had been in at least one or two good fist fights over who gets to drive the tank next in Ikari Warriors or who was gonna get the next split-fire power-up in Contra. After just a few hours, my partners and I were all over the universe, escorting supply ships, killing Armada queens and fighting over the health power-ups. Sure, Online play will be dope in Armada 2, but it has been way too long since the last time I played a co-operative experience with this much style. My hat simply must go off to the gang at Metro for managing to do so much more than salvage this aspect of the game. Give yourself a few minutes with a few of your buddies and you'll know just what I'm talking about. Just take a little tip from your buddy Brandon and remember to pick different races...we all need to bring something different to the party.

So with all this positivity coming from the guy who was really starting to wonder about his beloved Dreamcast after the likes of Slave Zero and Soul Fighter, you have to wonder what I didn't like about the game. Well, my one concern with Armada is that it is in many ways a shooter, and eventually it can get a bit repetitive at times, and is also pretty friggin' hard in some areas. Thankfully, between multi-player and ship upgrades, as long as you keep a clear mind as to your objectives, there is plenty to see and do, and you can always get strong enough to overcome adversity and keep moving. On top of that, you can easily log a good 30 hours on Armada by yourself, which is more than enough in my book.

That said, I'll do my best to wrap this up in short order, but let me say one thing. I know it may seem like it from the shots and comments, but this game is by no means ugly. Armada sports some really sharp, detailed visuals for a game of this nature, and the effects can be really spectacular in this setting, especially on the VGA box (The Only Way to Play ¿).

In the end, Armada is a phenomenal first effort from the crew at Metro3D, combining solid control and presentation with heavy plusses in the areas that count: gameplay and longevity. It is easily one of the most diverse titles in the Dreamcast line-up, and for that matter, is one of the most unique games to hit the console market in some time. When you put all of this in perspective, you'll get a good picture of why Armada is my runaway pick for sleeper hit of the year. If you've had enough fighting and racing, it's high time you added a bit of spice to your DC library and picked this title up.

-- Brandon Justice, IGNDC