The Armchair Empire - Dreamcast Reviews: Cannon Spike


<MAP NAME="boxmap-p8"><AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="14, 200, 103, 207" HREF="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" ><AREA COORDS="0,0,10000,10000" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/thearmchairem-20" ></MAP><img src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/rcm/120x240.gif" width="120" height="240" border="0" usemap="#boxmap-p8" alt="Shop at Amazon.com">	Platform Dreamcast Genre Action / Shooter Publisher Capcom Developer Capcom ESRB T (Teen) Released Q4 2000

- Fun! Fun! Fun! - Nice visuals - Capcom character cameos

- Too short - Not enough meat to the levels

- Bangai-O Review (Dreamcast) - Einhander Review (Playstation) - G Darius Review (Playstation)
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Cannon Spike

Score: 7.5/10

Sometimes it’s nice to just put aside the big, fancy, epic quest, the sophisticated and even fancier gameplay, to just have a character to move around the screen who can blast the tar out of bad guys while taking a few swings at them for good measure. That’s just how it is in Cannon Spike for the Dreamcast. Players can just sit down, hit the on button, and dive right in, no problem. It’s a simple, brief experience, but definitely makes for a nice ride.

The game is divided up into ten levels, but they aren’t very large. They’re more like areas really. An entire stage will take place in a small jungle canyon, or on a half-collapsed bridge, or at the entrance of an arctic military instillation. That’s just fine and dandy though because the fun comes in whipping out your guns leveling all the enemies that come at you while punching out the tougher enemies that need a little more encouragement to stay down. It’s a very simple setup with some Health, extra Hit Point Bars, and more Supers to keep the super move supply as full as possible. Cannon Spike is basically three parts 2D shooter, and one part old school beat ‘em up. The game is fun and to the point.

Players get to do all of this carnage with a mix of original characters and Capcom favorites like Cammy and Mega Man. But whatever the case they look pretty damn good. Each of the characters and enemies look very good and the bosses are even better looking. The look of the levels isn’t all that dazzling mind you since they are so small, but they have enough crammed into them so that they aren’t boring for the short time that players are there. With all of the weapon fire going on throughout the game it was nice to not see slowdown rearing its ugly head.

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The only real outstanding problem that Cannon Spike has is that it is too short. Even if you increase the difficulty of the game it can be finished in less than 30 minutes. This is largely because of the stages of the game being confined to such a small area, so only so many enemies can be sent after the player before it risks getting repetitive. Also, the difficulty isn’t terribly great unless you crank it up to full throttle, at which point the line between challenging and insane begins to blur.

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Nonetheless Cannon Spike is a fun little experience, good for popping into the ol’ Dreamcast when you need to kill a good 15-20 minutes, getting that quick fix of gaming in. It may not be Shakespeare in the grand scheme of things, but sometimes a little bit of pulp fiction (the literary concept, not the movie) can make for a nice change of pace.

Reviewed by Mr. Nash

(December 3, 2000)