Ok, enough of that. How does it look? Sexier than Cheryl Tiegs in her twenties. A smile will cut across your face when you see Soul Blade's beautiful settings, smooth play and detailed models. Trick Style will floor you with its flashiness, lighting, and smooth motion. Ready 2 Rumble will knock you out with its over the top characters, smooth moves and hilarious facial expressions. Are we repeating the word 'smooth'? That's because the DreamCast will deliver you to 60fps nirvana. Virtua Fighter 3tb will make you cry. It's uber-perfect. But the best game of all, the one program that made my jaw drop in stunned silence, is NFL 2000. At first impression, it just looked real. Never have I been so floored by graphics. It took awhile for me to realize that I was not watching MPEG video, but that the in-game engine was actually in use. Bravo, Sega, bravo. The graphics of the DreamCast blow away those of the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. It's just no contest. Sega did such a wonderful job that we have to ask, is it better than a PC?
Well, no, but it has its advantages. The PowerVR 2DC is, compared to current PC hardware like the GeForce 256, a rather slow graphics solution. But unlike PCs where game makers have to write a game that will work with most hardware, fast or slow, DreamCast game designers can write games that take advantage of the DreamCast hardware strengths and leverage them to make up for its weaknesses. They can design games which take full advantage of the DreamCast without having to bother with compatibility testing for multiple graphics cards or worrying about cutting the low-end system owners off from their product. The first generation of DreamCast games is already graphically impressive. We're looking forward to seeing what developers can do when they have a better understanding of and more experience with the DreamCast hardware.
On a side not, while most people will run their DreamCast hooked up to a TV, we found that, as far as clarity and sharpness is concerned, the DC looks its best when hooked up to a VGA display through a VGA adapter. We use one from Madness Gameware that includes a composite, RCA, S-Video and two headphone outputs in addition to the VGA adapter. It's also much cheaper than the Sega adapter. Unless you have a huge TV and a small computer monitor, we wholeheartedly recommend using a VGA adapter.
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