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74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dream Blaster a dream or nightmare?, April 14, 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
I read almost every review on this gun, as well as its competitor from Interact... The interact one has a long list of problems that plague it and it feels so cheap, so I opted to try the MadCatz Dream Blaster...Overall, the Gun is very good. The construction is very high, everything feels very sturdy. Is the gun comfortable? I had heard many people complaining of their hands getting sore from using it... and I will have to agree. After using the gun for a while, I found my hand starting to get sore... but I guess if you hold anything with a firm grip long enough, it will cause some discomfort... right? Buttons: The trigger feels very solid... but I think it could be a bit looser... At first it isn't much to think about.. but after pushing it a thousand times in one sitting, you start to want a softer trigger... But yes, you could put it into autofire mode... but I like to challenge myself... The other buttons are located in strange places that require your other hand to operate them... but you get used to it.. The direction hat control is placed in a very awkward place... You really have to adjust your grip to reach it... it's good that you don't need to use it during the game. One expansion slot... and no built in Vibration unit... and I've tried to keep another controller plugged in with a VMU, but the game doesn't recognize it unless it's in the gun's slot. You really do need a VMU hooked in, so you can save and load all your set options, scores, progress, etc.. But the vibration caused by the pak is awesome too... do you have to sacrifice one for the other? A work around that I use, which the game says not to... is... load the game up with your VMU in the slot.. when the game loads, and the main menu opens... replace the VMU with the Vibration Pak. The vibration pak adds so much to the feel of the gun... It's best to go to the options the very first time, change all the settings to the way you want the game to load... then exit the options menu... If you look at the VMU screen, you'll see it saving when you exit.. when all the animation on the VMU screen finishes, and there's no activity, then remove it and replace with the vibration pak. You now have a VMU that has all the settings you would want next time you load the game. When I play the training missions, I usually just play with the VMU, and not the vibration pak, so that it can save my progress... But one thing I noticed with using the vibration pak is that it really vibrates the gun with some force.. at times, when trying to shoot the gun, the vibration would slightly throw off my aim... somewhat of a mini recoil effect... desirable? it's up to you... How accurate is the gun? Well... It's not as good as I expected... I found it varies from tv to tv... and strangely, I found using the calibration program in House of the Dead2 didn't really help... Sometimes I had better results when I just played the game with the standard alignment of the gun. You do have pin point accuracy, but it's not always where you want it... When you aim and shoot, most of the shots hit where you aimed at, but some stray off.. some were off by even as much as an inch!... If you want the best accuracy in your shots, I found removing the vibration pak helped... as well, find the most suitable spot in front of your TV to shoot from.. try sitting, standing... different distances from the screen... But the the aiming device on the gun really doesn't help much... since the two parts that you need to match up, really don't line up perfectly... typically, you line up the notch on the front most part of the barrel between the slot located near the rear of the gun... but this slot is twice as wide as the notch.. so there really isn't much accuracy involved here... You really have to learn the properties of your gun, and find the best way to aim it... and remember to keep the lense really clean.. free of dust and fingerprints, because that will misdirect your shot.. Other things... the trigger has a clicking noise when you push it... some people hate it.. but others don't mind it... personally, it's not that bad... I really can't notice it, unless the sound of your tv is very low... but even then, it gives you a nice audible feedback... It's not half as annoying as the sound that the Nintendo gun made.. remember Duck Hunt people? oy... Conclusion:.. this gun is the better of the two that is offered to the Dreamcast.. since we can't get the Sega model here in north america, the madcatz would have to do... It has a couple of things that may hinder it from being perfect, but it really is a fun controller to use... But if you really need the best, it's always best to wait... I'm sure some other company will make another gun in the future.. but then, it doesn't hurt to get the madcatz one now, and when a new one comes out, you can get that one too... so you can play 2 players... or if you're really adventurous, you can shoot "john woo" style, one gun in each hand...
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