Carrier

by Jaleco

Product Features

• fight flesh eating monsters; must navigate an aircraft carrier; two playable characters; on screen map; large number of weapons

Product Details

• ASIN: B00001ZWUQ
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,527 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

In Carrier, Jaleco's Resident Evil-style adventure, you play as one of two government agents who've been sent to investigate what's happened to an aircraft carrier that's lost communication with the mainland. The situation is bad, of course, and it involves an ancient organism that has taken control of the ship and turned most of the crew into hideous kill-crazy mutants. Your goal (as either the big-faced Jack Ingles or the strangely named Jessifer Manning) is to discover what happened, save any survivors, and destroy the menace before the carrier arrives into port. Unfortunately, it seems like for every positive aspect of Carrier, there are one or two drawbacks. The graphics, for example, carry many nice little touches. If you walk through a puddle of blood, you'll leave bloody tracks for a few steps, and dispatched enemies dissolve into a wonderfully gruesome puddle. At the same time, the game's many explosions come off as half-hearted fizzles, and when water appears, it'll take you a moment to recognize what it is. Likewise, the rendered backgrounds look very sharp, full of metal walkways and machines that have a believable shine to them. But if those environments are populated with a lot of objects or growths, and most are, the frame rate slows to a crawl. (In fact, boss fights routinely drop you down to a slow-motion jog.) The monster designs are also fairly inventive, full of zombies that sprout sharpened ribs from their chests and split-headed mutants that try to bite you with what was once their faces. But if two attack you at the same time, the second will... walk through you. Similarly, the music and sound effects have some great moments that help build tension, but there are many instances where a scream or song sounds so inappropriate as to jar you out of the mood as well. The voice-overs have much the same feel as those in Resident Evil 2. That is, some are completely normal but every now and again there's the odd "Don't shoot! I'm a human!" The control is - for the most part - good though. You'll get spoiled by not having to hit a button to climb stairs and using the analog pad to move has you run as a default, two elements where Carrier exceeds the current genre standard, Resident Evil: Code Veronica. The overall feel is much like that of Resident Evil actually, with a few slight changes. Instead of an auto-aiming feature, Carrier provides a target to show you if you've lined up your weapon's sight with a mutant's chest or head. The aiming system works well except when you're being attacked by a creature that's crawling along on the floor. You might have your gun trained down at an ankle biter, but if it sinks its teeth into you, your aim will default to straight ahead, and it's likely that you'll get bitten again before you can target it again properly. The recent addition to the Resident Evil line of a 180-degree spin move also appears in Carrier, but it's so easy to perform here that you'll often end up doing it accidentally. One major difference between the Resident Evil series and Carrier is that there's a rudimentary first-person mode within Carrier's main game. Early into the title, you gain special goggles that you can use to detect infection in those around you, scan rooms for objects, and see through blocked areas. But their main advantage is that they let you see beyond the normally visible screen. A common problem in survival-horror games is that having fixed camera angles within the environments keeps you from seeing if there are creatures just out of sight in the room with you. In Carrier, you can use the goggles to look around from a first-person perspective, eliminating any possible surprises. Another nice touch is the map system, which - once you've gained the map data for a level - shows which areas you haven't accessed yet and sometimes highlights rooms you have to return to. Carrier does take longer than many games in the genre to complete, but that's mainly because there's a lot of ground to cover, and much of your time is spent backtracking. The map system saves you from having to wonder where you're supposed to go, though you'll still have to run around a lot, as keys and security controls are rarely found near the areas they unlock. For example, when playing as Jessifer, you'll use the security computer to open a door on a lower deck. An elevator is fairly close, but it is located near a section that's blocked off from the door you want to go through. Instead, you must travel to a catwalk that is close to the security computer, but because of a broken door sensor, you have to run all the way around the entire deck to get to it. And instances like that aren't rare. On the positive side, there are two characters to play as, as in most of the Resident Evil games, though Jessifer's scenario (the second) is much shorter than Jack's. There are several minor points of contention too, such as bombs sometimes vanish if you're interrupted during a countdown and the fact that some enemies are so slow that the only way they can get you is if you stop to shoot them. These are not major problems in and of themselves, but along with the slowdown and the constant backtracking, they do add up. In the end, Carrier isn't an awful game, and it really does manage to grow on you after a while, but it definitely has problems. It's worth buying if you're an absolute survival-horror nut, but otherwise you might want to look into picking it up as a rental.--Joe Fielder--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars don't pass this one up., March 8, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Carrier (Video Game)

of course the best way to describe CARRIER is to say that it's resident evil on an aircraft carrier but what sets this game apart from capcom's hit francise, is that the graphics are brilliant thanks to the DREAMCAST'S capabilities. not only are some of the backgrounds prerendered, but they can pan in/out on the fly at times.

the concept of CARRIER is more or less like John carpenter's "THE THING" as "night of the living dead" is to RESIDENT EVIL. where u have to guess which crew members have been infected by a plant like organism. the special X-RAY like goggles, not only detect infected sailors, but can also locate hidden items as well. the zombies/monsters may not be as terrifing as EVIL's but they come damn near close. my only gripe about CARRIER, would be, the sluggish controls lack of weapons and of course bad voice acting. but nonetheless JALECO should be praised for producing they're first attempt at the "survival horror" genre.

if your'e a RE fan like me,take a pass on BLUE STINGER and pick this one up instead. you wont be disapointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I should have just waited for Resident Evil, March 15, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Carrier (Video Game)

First off, the game spends too much time back tracking instead of killing off mutants. There are times where I find myself spending more time looking at the map of the ship trying to figure out where I have to go rather than actually playing the game. Secondly, the camera angles absolutely, positively SUCK! More than half of the time when trying to kill off the enemy you can't see them. Furthermore, even when you're walking or running you not able to see what's in front of you. After a while it gets old and frustrating. However, the game has great graphics and sound. But even with that it still isn't enough to make up for the lack of lasting appeal. Also, the game is pretty hard to play if you don't have a manual or a walk through guide. There are so many things that you would not even think of doing that you must do in order to complete a level. I would suggest that you either rent this game first or borrow it from a friend before you decide to buy it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Why?, November 15, 2000

By 

Agent M "etriganx" (Lynbrook, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carrier (Video Game)

I must admit that I'm not a huge fan of survival horror games. Only R.E. 3 struck me as an engaging game. I figured Carrier would have been cool considering it was for DC. The sound, graphics and overall wonder that can come from a DC game will knock you off your feet. Then, there's Carrier. A worthless piece of tripe that is not fit for a coaster. The voice acting is TERRIBLE, the graphics are decent, the gameplay is boring and hampered by awful controls and there's nothing interesting going on in the game. Stay away at all costs.