Sega's Dream Raiders

Last weekend my friends and I took a visit to the local Dave and Busters were the famous walkthrough video was shot. Seriously, I have no idea why that one video has over 77,000 hits on YouTube. I shot back in 2008 with my "new" digital camera and I keep getting people that comment on the video like it's brand new. I've wanted to get another updated video since I've gotten better cameras over the years but there's always more people walking around the Islandia Dave and Busters with suits and earpieces on then a presidential motorcade. Plus I think what's funniest about that video is right after I was done taking it, one of the suits walked over to me and said, "Hey guys, no more taking videos in here...OKAY!?"

Now that's out of the way..the very first game that caught my eye when we walked in was Sega's newest arcade game, Dream Raiders. Not Dream Riders like I said in the video...guess it must be the sinus infection.  As you can see from the video the cab is gigantic. It really takes me back to the days when Sega would make their arcade games larger then life. The game feels like they took a current shooter like Let's Go! Jungle and crossed it with Typhoon motion chair ride. The whole seat shimmy and shakes from side to side and up and down and really starts to rock when you take damage. Since there's a lot to talk about I'm going to break it here. So if you'd like to read more about the game, just hit the jump!




Welcome back! Let's do a mini review of the game. As you could tell from the video they didn't have the sound up on the machine. Which means I could have heard the robot lady in the game actually say raiders instead of riders. So I can't really judge any of the sound portions of the game. Hopefully the next time I see the game they'll have the sound turned up. I really miss those "sound domes" they used to have at Dave and Busters. They made it so you would hear the whole game and almost nothing else. Sad to say it looks like their all gone so all the games and the music over the loudspeakers just kinda bleed together.

Dream Raiders takes the popular "couples shooter" idea and turns it up a notch with the giant moving chair. In the game you and a friend "raid" people's dreams. You can choose six different dreams with some being a trek up a mountain in a blizzard to fight a yeti, flying through caverns against helicopters and going on a two seat motorcycle. If you do well you get to pick from three bonus dreams that include, the alien invasion shown in the video, flying into outer space to fight off a giant battleship and finally a fight against a giant dragon.

The gameplay is like Let's Go! Jungle and Deadstorm Pirates where it encourages you to play it with a friend. At the Dave and Busters they actually have the game set for two players automatically. Unlike in LGJ and DP they don't really focus the game on playing together, other then sharing the same lifebar. In previous games you can overlap your gun's cross-hairs to combine into a power shot that does double the damage or gives you bonus points. From the three games I played I didn't notice a damage boost or point boost for shooting together.

Sadly the game is VERY short. As you can see from the video it's not even five minutes long and that's with the introduction and the two pictures I took in the beginning. You select one of the six dreams then you get one of the three bonus dreams and then the game is over. It's not like other shooters where as long as you stay alive you can continue to play. Maybe it's because of moving chair, maybe they'd think people would get motion sickness for playing the game longer then five minutes or maybe they just want to get people on and off to get more plays in. Maybe there is an operator adjustment where you can play through all 9 dreams or maybe two of the six with the one bonus dream.

The final thing I didn't like is the game doesn't keep track of score. When I saw that we got first place for the one dream we did I thought maybe that's because the game is brand new so we set the record for the day on the machine? Nope. Even if you get first or last there are no high score tables which kinda kills the replay value for me. Hopefully it's something else the operator can set in the adjustments on the game but I really wanted to see how long my score would last on a new game. (Since I think I didn't do that good)

Other then that the game is a worthy addition to the long history of great Sega arcade games. You really have to see the game in person. The cab is amazing the way it lights up, it really draws you in. A lot of people stopped to get a good look at it. It was also funny seeing two kids playing it and giggling as it was rocking back and forth. I also saw on Dave and Buster's Twitter page that it's going to be one of their 7 new games their announcing so it sounds like most locations will be getting the game! So be sure to check your local D&B and give the game a try!