Last December I said I thought Sega were the greatest arcade manufacturer of all time, then not a month later I was bemoaning the fact all they are making in the second decade of the 21st century are prize machines. Earlier this month, they unveiled their latest arcade machine and looking at the specs, photos and trailers, I think I may have been a bit hasty.
It's called Dream Raiders and it's a rail shooter with what Sega are calling a "motion platform", which basically means the seat moves. The controls resemble the twin-sticks of Atari's vector classic Star Wars (another rail shooter), with strange glowing domes on top. I can't decide if they're just ornamental or actually serve a purpose. The screen is a big, HD flat panel and it features a surround sound system too, both of which are pretty much par for the course these days.
Superficially, this all looks pretty ordinary, but when I read that it was inspired by the superb Christopher Nolan film Inception, I thought I should pay a little more attention. The basic premise is that each level represents a dream, which the player or players must battle their way through before choosing the next dream to tackle. As such the levels include a dragon hunt, some sort of mine cart through a volcano, a snow mobile chase (which is probably the most Inceptiony of all the levels), a battle with a sea monster, a cowboy world, an alien invasion, an asteroid belt and various other dream-like worlds.
I think Sega have been smart by offering players so much choice right out of the gate. I can see people spend a fair few quid on it, if only to try a different level/dream. The only problem now is finding one to play.
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