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Die Hard Arcade is awesome! One of the very best games I've seen or played on ANY system. It's virtually a 100% perfect copy of the arcade version. The game follows the story of the first Die Hard movie. White Fang & his group of thugs have taken over a skyscraper, taken some hostages & kidnapped the president's daughter. John McClane & his new partner Kris must go in and save the situation. You can play as either character or grab a friend and team up. The game is a cross between Virtua fighter & Final Fight. You fight your way thru 5 stages (about 20 or so rooms) of various thugs and bosses until you reach White Fang himself. Each character has hundreds of combo style moves and dozens of throws or body slam type effects at their disposal. Throughout each room there are various weapons that can be picked up and used (by the bad guys as well). Various guns, knives, bottles, spray cans, bats, TV, even grandfather clocks and furniture can be hurled at the enemies! Sega also included their classic arcade game Deep Scan where u move a ship left & right and drop bombs at subs while dodging their bombs. The better your score, the more credits you earn for use in Die Hard, thus making it possible to beat the game in one sitting.

The graphics are outstanding! Everything is totally polygonal and 3D. The backgrounds are highly detailed and colorful and all of the characters are very detailed and highly animated and they move very smoothly. The camera zooms in & out and rotates according to your position. There are animated cut-scenes between the levels that tell the story of the game. There are a few spurts of blood when someone is shot or hacked with a knife or bottle.

The sound is very solid as well. The music really pumps you up for a good fight and the sound effects all sound realistic. The basic punch, kick, gunshot, explosion sounds are all present as well as various grunts, groans, screams and a few enemy laughs. The voices in the cut-scenes are clear & understandable.

Controlling this game is a cinch! You have a punch, kick, & jump button and moves are executed Virtua Fighter style. Everything is quick and responsive. Every combo and throw is easy to pull off(except maybe the backflip).

Gameplay wise, this game is action-packed and exciting from start to end. There is always a new combo or throw that you can discover. A big part of the fun is just seeing how many new ways you can discover to kick some butt! Some of the cut-scenes are even interactive. In some scenes you have to make the correct button press or controller movement in a small amount of time to take out a bad guy or dodge on oncoming blast(or truck!). If you succeed, you take out the enemy or dodge the oncoming object and move on, but if u fail, you have to stop and fight a new enemy or you get hit by the oncoming object & take damage. Some have said that this game is too short or too easy, but I disagree. Sure, if you cheat and play Deep Scan to earn dozens of credits, this may be true, but if you keep the credits at a reasonable amount(20 or less), this game offers just the right amount of challenge and length. It can be fun to see how few credits it takes you to beat the game. Even for those who cheat and beat the game in one sitting, there's a lot of replay value in seeing how many new moves & throws you can discover. In my opinion, this is the ultimate beat-em up game. I can play it over & over and never get bored with it. It is a title that shows the superiority of the Sega Saturn and I highly recommend it!

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Control: 8.5
Gameplay: 9
Overall: 9.5
The Last Word: "The perfect beat-em up game!"