Warp is a small developer famous both for supporting Sega’s systems and for making offbeat games.  In that sense, Warp’s first Dreamcast game, D2, does not disappoint.

D2 tells the story of a small band of survivors from a doomed commercial aircraft that is first hijacked, and then struck by a meteor.  The game begins eight days after the crash when Laura Preston, one of the passengers and the game’s main protagonist, regains consciousness.  The game then follows Laura and a few of her fellow survivors as they attempt to survive the harsh Canadian winter and make sense of their fate, as most of the other survivors encountered in the game have “blossomed” in to hideous monsters.  

D2 is primarily an adventure title most similar to the so-called “survival horror” genre made popular by Resident Evil.  The game is played from both first and third person perspectives.  While outside, the free-moving camera follows Laura as she makes her way through vast snow-filled landscapes.  Inside, the camera switches to a first person view that most often uses fixed locations Laura can move between (rather than allowing free movement).

All the usual trappings of the genre are present: multiple weapons, healing sprays, and items for simple puzzles.  However, the combat system breaks the mold by mixing in RPG elements.  While outside, Laura is attacked by monsters, usually randomly and with no warning.  The view then shifts to first person where Laura can aim her weapon, but not otherwise move (escape is impossible).  Oddly, two of the game’s five weapons, the sub-machine gun and the assault rifle, have unlimited ammunition (while the regular pistol, shotgun, and grenades require ammo pickups).  So the strategy in combat comes from learning various monsters’ patterns of attack, and knowing how to keep multiple monsters at bay while Laura reloads.  “Boss” battles also require you to hit specific weak points to inflict any damage.   After a combat round ends, Laura receives experience points like in an RPG.  Leveling up raises the game’s only two statistics, Hit Points (HP) and Skill, which increases both targeting accuracy and damage. 

Also unusual is the sheer amount of spoken dialogue in D2 (which probably explains why the game spans four GD-ROMs.)  Towards the beginning of the game, the dialog can actually be quite dull.  Characters frequently talk to Laura for literally five to ten minutes, while Laura just stands there, giving no response beyond slight head movements.  In fact, Laura only speaks twice in the entire game.  It’s quite strange to see characters essentially talking to themselves-answering their own questions because Laura won’t talk.  One character spends ten minutes talking about the poetry she writes, why she writes it, how it makes her feel to write it, etc.  All of this actually gives the game a sort of otherworldly feel that similar games lack.  As you are slowly drawn in to the game's world, and slowly become interested in the characters, the dialog begins to seem more interesting, but it’s still strange.  For the truly impatient, all cut scenes can be skipped, though doing so would rob the player of half the experience. 

Another minor complaint is the game’s structure.  D2 is mostly linear, which is not necessarily bad, but sometimes your next objective isn’t clear.  I found myself occasionally having to revisit several locations on the map to trigger the next event to advance the plot.  I was never stuck for more than a few minutes, but some players might find that more distracting than I did. 

Graphically, D2 has little to complain about.  Lip-synching is frequently off, and some areas are a little dark or plain.  But those are small complaints in a game that is more often impressive than not.  Huge and oppressive snow covered areas are drawn with no clipping plane.  Snow and fog are used only for effect.  Textures are detailed, as are the character models.  Houses and buildings are easy to identify even from a distance.  Shadows are detailed and accurate.  And all of that includes a fast, steady frame rate. 

Sound in the game is not quite as impressive as the graphics.  The character speech is clear, while atmospheric sounds and music do a good job of accentuating atmosphere.  But there are very few actual music tracks, and even fewer that are memorable. 

D2 starts out slowly, has strange and long-winded dialogue, and is rather linear.  But the solid, interesting gameplay, great atmosphere, and the thrill of discovering what happens next give it that addictive quality that makes it hard to put down.  Since I actually came to enjoy the game’s pervasive strangeness, my only caveats are the relatively short length-about 15 hours-and the lack of any real reason to play it again.  It may also be too slow paced for some players.  Though it may not be the next Resident Evil, D2 is still a fun, worthy entry in the “survival horror” sub-genre.