Author: Erik Brudvig | 
Mention Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram to a Dreamcast fan boy or girl and you may find yourself sucked into a detailed conversation about the glory days of SEGA and the rare Twin Stick peripheral. Mention it to anybody else and you'll likely get a bunch of blank stares and questions about what exactly a Tangram is.
The Virtual-On franchise has always been a cult favorite, never achieving widespread appeal. That hasn't stopped SEGA from bringing it back for one more go around, this time on Xbox Live Arcade. Though this release has a few quirks and can't be played the way it was originally intended on the 360 controller, it is still one of the best versions of Virtual-On ever released. That still doesn't mean it's for everyone.
Virtual-On is a mech-based arena combat game. Players select from a small set of Virtuaroid machines -- each possessing its own weapon set and stats for agility, firepower, and speed -- and enter a stage to do combat. From there, it's all about jockeying for position, lobbing ranged attacks, and swooping in for powerful close range melee combat. The game is fast moving and surprisingly deep, the result of many years of tweaking by SEGA.
This style of game is best experienced the way it was originally intended with a Twin Stick controller. Unfortunately, that option isn't available on Xbox 360 and the result is something that can be a little difficult for Virtual-On rookies to get into. Virtual-On is a pretty deep game but it's going to take some work to see that because the controls can be a major hurdle for new players. The weak tutorial videos you can access from the main menu don't help matters.
The way Virtual-On is presented creates another hurdle, as well. The menus are far from attractive, holdover visuals from the Dreamcast (including Twin Stick icons and a VMU icon) are used, and once you enter a single-player game you'll find that it is hard to back out.
Compared to the original Dreamcast game on the left, this new release is much sharper.
As an arcade arena fighter, Virtual-On is best experienced against another human opponent. You're free to play through the original arcade game against computer controlled mechs or try your hand at the Score Attack mode, but the real fun comes in besting a real person. SEGA has added Xbox Live support to this release, allowing players to meet up online and duel in either ranked or unranked matches. The game showed no noticeable lag in my experience, but I already found it tough to find an opponent quickly through matchmaking.
Unfortunately, there are no options for local multiplayer on a split-screen. For a game that never had widespread appeal and likely can't support a large online community for months or years, this is a major oversight.
Unlike most modern mech games, Virtual-On sees future war as rather bright and cheerful. The music is happy; the textures free of grit. You're free to customize the color palette on any of the mechs, but you'll never get away from the happy-go-lucky feel of Virtual-On. This style is half of the game's identity and works well towards giving each Virtuaroid its own personality. Erik Brudvig
The Virtual-On franchise has always been a cult favorite, never achieving widespread appeal. That hasn't stopped SEGA from bringing it back for one more go around, this time on Xbox Live Arcade. Though this release has a few quirks and can't be played the way it was originally intended on the 360 controller, it is still one of the best versions of Virtual-On ever released. That still doesn't mean it's for everyone.
Virtual-On is a mech-based arena combat game. Players select from a small set of Virtuaroid machines -- each possessing its own weapon set and stats for agility, firepower, and speed -- and enter a stage to do combat. From there, it's all about jockeying for position, lobbing ranged attacks, and swooping in for powerful close range melee combat. The game is fast moving and surprisingly deep, the result of many years of tweaking by SEGA.
This style of game is best experienced the way it was originally intended with a Twin Stick controller. Unfortunately, that option isn't available on Xbox 360 and the result is something that can be a little difficult for Virtual-On rookies to get into. Virtual-On is a pretty deep game but it's going to take some work to see that because the controls can be a major hurdle for new players. The weak tutorial videos you can access from the main menu don't help matters.
The way Virtual-On is presented creates another hurdle, as well. The menus are far from attractive, holdover visuals from the Dreamcast (including Twin Stick icons and a VMU icon) are used, and once you enter a single-player game you'll find that it is hard to back out.
Compared to the original Dreamcast game on the left, this new release is much sharper.
As an arcade arena fighter, Virtual-On is best experienced against another human opponent. You're free to play through the original arcade game against computer controlled mechs or try your hand at the Score Attack mode, but the real fun comes in besting a real person. SEGA has added Xbox Live support to this release, allowing players to meet up online and duel in either ranked or unranked matches. The game showed no noticeable lag in my experience, but I already found it tough to find an opponent quickly through matchmaking.
Unfortunately, there are no options for local multiplayer on a split-screen. For a game that never had widespread appeal and likely can't support a large online community for months or years, this is a major oversight.
Unlike most modern mech games, Virtual-On sees future war as rather bright and cheerful. The music is happy; the textures free of grit. You're free to customize the color palette on any of the mechs, but you'll never get away from the happy-go-lucky feel of Virtual-On. This style is half of the game's identity and works well towards giving each Virtuaroid its own personality. Erik Brudvig
