Full Motion Video (FMV) games were quite new when the Sega CD was released.  At least as far as mainstream gaming goes because Sewer Shark and Night Trap are both about half a decade old upon their release in 1992 on the newly released Sega CD add-on.  Sega knew they had to get unique games out and in the face of gamers.  They knew simply going with a remix of Sonic the Hedgehog with 1000+ levels probably would do well but it would not show the power of the new, rather expensive, add-on to their popular Sega Genesis console.  Enter the Full Motion Video Games like Sewer Shark and Night Trap.

Feelings were not a concern back then

If you were thin skinned gamer then Sewer Shark was probably not the game for you.  Why?  Because this game insults you worse than Mega Race ever thought of.  This is all done by an overweight, obviously more privileged, white guy living the life somewhere you are not (which makes it easy to hate him from the start).

Sounds simple

The premise of Sewer Shark is simple.  You are riding around tunnels and shooting rats and other denizens of the underworld.  Your job is to rid the underground of these creatures without screwing up.  You will screw up.  You will hear about it in insults and the like from the big guy.  When you do well though, you will receive promotions and a new call name, such as Dog Meat or something similar.

All about the, grainy, video

Everything is played out in video clips which for many gamers gets old quick.  There is not a lot of variety to the scenery to enjoy so the awesome effect of “playing a movie” wears off rather quickly.  What is left is a rails shooter with realistic graphics and for some that is enough to find some enjoyment.

Ports upon ports

Sewer Shark has hit a ton of platforms so you may have experienced it on better hardware than the Sega CD.  The Sega CD edition is probably the worst looking of the bunch (as is the case with being early technology).  Check eBay for the platforms Sewer Shark hit and some decent prices (it is still not all that sought after).

Carl Williams

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