Being an avid shoot-em-up fan, as soon as the first Viewpoint reached
the shores of Scotland, I grabbed it, ran home with it with lustful
glee, and smacked it into my trusty grey slab... Having had a wee shot
of the NeoGeo original, I was expecting great things, and to an extent
my expectations were fulfilled...

Dya wanna quick review? No? well, yer gonna get one anyway:)

Game:Viewpoint, from EA.
Type, Forced Perspective 3d shooter (like zaxxon on drugs)

If you're a shooter fan, then you'll probably consider this morsel
from EA.. not that theres many others to choose from right now, unless
you have a source of good Jap imports, in which case I suggest ALSO
buying In the Hunt, and Pop n Twin Bee (the shooting game). But we're
talking about Viewpoint arent we? Yes, well, it has all the right
elements:

Graphics: Bloody astounding! Lovely raytraced-looking creations,
pseudo polygon sprites, all fully texture mapped and looking damned
sexy, but I did feel the 'class' of the Neo original has been lost a
bit in places... some of the graphics have taken on the typical 3D
studio look, and the intro leaves a lot to be desired. In general
though, you can play the blimming thing for gawping at the mother:)

Sound: I cant remember what the Neo tracks were like, but there are a
mixture of techno/dance/rave (not my favourite) but they are nice and
listenable, but sure do grate after the umpteenth time trying to kill
those bosses.. A wee touch of singing too, which is pretty novel:)

Gameplay: This is where VP comes a little unstuck. Seems to be a very
graphics intensive port, and the feel of the game is a little scrappy.
Stick an autofire pad in an it slows down to juddery tortoise on
jellies proportions....so dont try it, it messes the whole thing up,
even the (sampled?, certainly not cd tracks) music goes all funny and
does a wobbly too. The controls are downright weird...theres only two
movement settings, and neither of them feel right, they should have
included a third one, as the regular ones seem to be pointing in the
wrong direction...you'll know what I mean when you try it! and try
configuring the two shooting buttons for the first time....now THATS a
downright strange method...only two to configure and it takes an age
to get the ones you want....messy, EA.

Ok, I consider myself a true shooter fan, I have an arcade machine
with r-type, gradius and a few others, all of which I can
complete....but I CANT GET OFF LEVEL BLEEDING TWO in viewpoint!! That
crab mother boss is a PAIN IN THE ARSE!!! has anyone got the code for
level three?? and thats on the EASY setting as well, I hate to
admit!!:) Someone tell me they can do it, and rub my nose in the fact
that Im just plain crap now, but GIMME that code!!! please!!!! Its
driving me nuts!!

Still, I love the game quite a bit, just cos its a new shooter, and
we've got to support them before they die out for the second time,
don't we??

My Ratings :(based on how far ive got in the game!)

Graphics 85% - not up to the Neo class standards (imho:)
Sound 80% - ditto (i think)
Gameplay 75% - great if youre a fan, stick to Tekken or something if
youre not. Viewpoint wont convert you.

Malcolm 'McNasty' Laurie