Sega

NFL 2K1 is just the cure for the football fan who is tired of the same old NFL videogames. Here we have a football franchise that's still growing—still searching for that identity, which so instrumental in determining a sports game's success. The NFL 2K series alone has that potential to show us new things, visually and otherwise. NFL 2K1 generates excitement by default (it is, after all, a Dreamcast exclusive). Anything on PlayStation and Nintendo 64 should justifiably look stale in comparison.

Yet much to my own surprise, despite these usually unforgiving errors, I actually started to enjoy playing WSB2K1 after extended games. Chalk it up mainly to the pitcher/batter interface. There are going to be some obvious complaints like the ones that Dale made about the indistinguishable pitch selection and the lack of batter movement around the box. But there are also some really great positives to the system.

When I first played last year's NFL 2K, I was, to put it lightly, amazed. The play-by-play was great, and the action was both fast and cerebral. The game breathed new life into the stale video-football genre, setting a standard that has yet to be equaled. Now comes its sequel, NFL 2K1, and it is everything anyone could ask for, and then some.

I can't recall in recent memory a console launching with a sports franchise the likes of Sega Enterprises' Sega Sports. From the very beginning these sports titles showed off the power of the console at launch, and more to the point, they set new watermarks in their respective genre.

Seaman is a tough game to review. Since the overwhelming majority of titles released these days are rehashes of games that have been done time and time again, a rare gem brimming with originality is something to be cherished. Overall I found it to be a very worthwhile and interesting experience that has never really been done before. On the other hand, Seaman isn't really a "game," so I'm sure that a title like this isn't going to be to everyone's liking.

Seaman isn't a game in the traditional "command and conquer" sense. Seaman is a somewhat passive experience best described as part digital pet and part conversational simulator, but 100 percent strangeness.

Game Description: The latest—and undoubtedly strangest—in a line of virtual-pet games, Seaman will have you mothering (or fathering) the most surreal creature yet to grace the Dreamcast: a fish, known as Seaman, with a human face. Drop some Seaman eggs into your virtual aquarium and watch them hatch into larvae, then baby Seamen (no giggling please), and eventually into adults. In order to raise happy, fulfilled Seamen, you'll need to do more than just feed them and regulate their water temperature and oxygen levels—like most pets, they need your regular attention. You interact with the little guys as a disembodied hand that can tap on the glass of their aquarium, tickle them (they love that), and drop things into their tank. Seaman also comes with a microphone; you can talk to your critters. Voice-recognition software built into the game will enable your tiny mermen to learn your voice and, in time, hold conversations with you. In fact, these Seamen are notoriously moody and may even make fun of you at times. If you neglect them, they will definitely let you know!

I never played any of the original Landers games, so I'll leave Ben to speak on the merits of this RPG as it pertains to its Landers lineage. What I can talk about is Time Stalkers as an RPG, and more specifically, a Dreamcast RPG. It's obvious that the Dreamcast needs RPGs, but it's really telling when even Sega can't get its hand on one that is really worthwhile.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Animated Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes