Among one-time Saturn-owning devotees, the name Death Crimson elicits a knowing, pained shudder. Developed by Ecole, it purported to be a light gun game with a story. What it was, however...

Well, words escape us. Imagine the most ill defined textures known to man. Try to imagine the sheer agony of two, even three-frame animation sequences. Picture drab, detail-free screens full of terribly-drawn, totally toss foes of risible resolution and refinement. Imagine speaking the previous sentence to the girl (or boy) you most fancy in the world, but gobbing loads of phlegm over him/her as you do so. The horror! The horror!

Death Crimson was just like the moment when you look into his/her eyes, sick with the knowledge of the terrible faux pas you've inadvertently perpetrated. Yep, that bad.

Death Crimson is a vile game, and one best left as a largely unknown travesty that - thankfully - failed to reach UK stores. Bewilderingly, though, Ecole are developing Death Crimson 2 for the Dreamcast. Future Gamer are, though hardly moist-lipped and heaving of chest in anticipation, confident of a better game this time around. It could hardly be worse...