I've only been exposed to the arcade version of Confidential Mission for a short time, but in that time I've found it to be an exceptionally enjoyable shooting adventure in the vein of its predecessors, the Virtua Cop series. Now the home version has arrived, and fans of the arcade model will love it.
Like most gun games, there is a plot: you are a top secret agent who must track down the criminal syndicate bent on launching a reprogrammed satellite into orbit. Unlike most gun games, there is a large number of cut scenes that keep the story moving along without seriously affecting game play. Most shooting games save the cut scenes for boss battles, where CM sprinkles them throughout the game.
Also throughout the game you'll run across "mini-games" of sorts, where you have to use some special gadget to escape a trap or pursue your enemies. Succeed, and the story continues ... fail, and you may have your work cut out for you to get back on track. While hardly new to shooting games in general (and Sega shooters in particular, with House of the Dead and Lost World leading the way), these events are new to the Virtua Cop line. (While there is no direct connection story-wise to Virtua Cop, most people consider this game to be VC3 in spy gear ... a compliment, to be sure.)
I won't spend too much time on the graphics and sound ... in true Sega style, they match the arcade system almost exactly. Load time is practically non-existant.
As Sega knows all too well, an arcade-to-home port needs a lot of bonus goodies to bring in the sales. Crazy Taxi had its Crazy Box, Virtua Tennis its World Circuit ... Confidential Mission is no exception. Along with several training mini-games and a two-player ranking system that measures how well you and your cohort work together, you can unlock the Dreamcast mode (same game levels, but enemies now appear in different locations) or special gameplay options like no screen displays or level selects.
As Sega chose not to produce its own light gun for the Dreamcast, you're on your own to find one that works for you. Supported controllers include the standard pad, the Arcade Stick and the third-party light guns.
Okay, you've got a first-class conversion and lots of new features ... what more could you ask for? How about an incredibly low price! Confidential Mission is a great addition to any DC owner's collection, and is more proof that Sega is an arcade powerhouse.
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