All New Games Review

Mini Golf

2009-07-02T22:47:00.001-07:00

Mini Golf ISO
So you think you can putt? Minigolf includes 10 holes and 10 challenge holes made up of sand traps, water hazards and unusual twists and turns. Popular with golfers and non-golfers alike!

Contains...
~The popular game of â€˜Minigolfâ€™ that will challenge your putting skills.
~10 holes and 10 challenge holes- with no more than 7 strikes per hole.
~Sand traps, water hazards and unusual twists and turns.
~Three difficulty levels.
~Rated E-for everyone.
~An easy-to-use interface.

Download Links
http://rapidshare.com/files/79621592/miniglf-silk.part1.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/79622976/miniglf-silk.part2.rar

Red Ocean

2009-07-02T22:38:00.001-07:00

Players take on the role of diving instructor and treasure hunter Jack Hard, who stumbles upon a secret Russian cold war research station deep underneath the ocean surface.

As he discovers, it is controlled by a terrorist organization â€“ and before he knows it, he gets caught in their nefarious schemes.

The unique twist: players will deal with water in all 3 states of aggregation: in liquid form it not only enables you to approach enemies unnoticed by diving but can also conveniently drown a baddie. At sub-zero temperatures it quickly becomes a dangerously slippery surface, and hot steam is nothing to mess with either. Players will have to use their wits in order to defeat the terrorists and save the day.

Download Links
http://www.filefactory.com/file/47cc18
http://www.filefactory.com/file/68d51c
http://www.filefactory.com/file/7bcfe0
http://www.filefactory.com/file/ea8606
http://www.filefactory.com/file/86c7f1
http://www.filefactory.com/file/c054f8
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a15765
http://www.filefactory.com/file/11974a

Motocross Madness 2

2009-07-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Motocross Madness 2 is the sequel to the very popular motocross racing game of the same name.

It adds more tracks, more gameplay modes, more bikes, and the ability to customize almost anything about your rider or bike.

The game lets you take control of the handlebars of a motocross racing bike as you compete in events like races, trick competitions, and Baja racing.

Download Links
http://rapidshare.com/files/59000800/Motocross_Madness_2.part1.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/59016485/Motocross_Madness_2.part2.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/59025129/Motocross_Madness_2.part3.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/59033846/Motocross_Madness_2.part4.rar http://rapidshare.com/files/59042011/Motocross_Madness_2.part5.rar

Super Mario Sunshine for GameCube Videos

2009-07-02T01:41:00.000-07:00

When Mario, Peach and an entourage of her loyal Toad friends set out for a tropical vacation on lovely Isle Delfino. A mustachioed maniac has mucked up the entire island, and Mario is accused of committing the crime.

Summary
The return of the Mario series and it was never so...wet. Most of Super Mario Sunshine takes place in water or around it. In fact, the only missions you aren't around water are the hidden missions. But I have to say, I still haven't even gotten every star. So this game is definatley challenging but fun and never frustrating. I think that games like this are simply a reason to own a Gamecube alone.

Sound
Bright, Evil, Mysterious, and Classic are the three types of music used in Super Mario Sunshine. I think that they did a great job remaking the classic Mario tune. They also did a great job setting the mood for boss battles, exploration, and triumphant and relaxing moments. I also think they did a wonderful job with the water SFX. I think that they had a great crew working on the SFX and music for Super Mario Sunshine and I hope they use the same crew in the future.

Gameplay
They really expanded on the gameplay in the next of the Mario installment. Now you can pull off wall jumps over and over with ease instead of timing it wrong and ending up swearing at your TV. It's also cool that you can ride Yoshi in this Mario, Unlike the last one. I mean seriously, who needs 100 lives after you beat the game. On Mario 64 when I saw Yoshi I was like, "awesome I'm gonna get to ride Yoshi" but then he just says a few words, gives you 100 lives, and jumps off the building and commits suicide(If you found him in Mario 64 you'll understand this joke. So when I picked up this copy and rode Yoshi early in the game I was like,"this is sweet". Seriously, the only reason I found all 120 stars in the last one was become some evil little kid said, "Oh yeah, if you get 120 stars you'll get to ride Yoshi whenever you want". So you can imagine how mad I was when Yoshi commited suicide. So throughout the entire Mario Sunshine I was so glad I was finally riding Yoshi in full 3-D. I also like how they added that cool water pack on you back. It allows you to reach higher places, get somewhere faster or jump across a gap that would otherwise be impossible. Another cool little gimmick is that there are many hidden items. For example when you see an open window squirt it and some coins will most likely fly out. You can also discover lots of mini quests and they often reward you with blue coins or shine sprites. It's also cool that you can acess the cities sewers.This allows you to get where you are going much faster. All in all, I think the gameplay is one of the top of any game out there.

Supreme Commander

2008-09-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Fitting Supreme Commander onto the 360 is a bit like squeezing a horse into a chest of drawers - even if you can, that doesn't mean you should. With the massive battles and sweeping strategic vision of the PC version already melting CPUs and warping motherboards on anything but high-end gaming rigs, trying to port this much sound and fury onto a console seems like an act of sheer bravery. And it undoubtedly is, but then so was the Charge of the Light Brigade. Sometimes, simple bravery is not enough. Sometimes, what's really called for is a little bit of judgement too.

The good news is that, the option to play on two monitors aside, almost all of the original game has made it across. From the choice of three factions, to the range of units, to the slow clamber up the three-level tech tree, all of the crucial elements are in place, as is the dizzy sense of scale that lies at the heart of the game. The control scheme is a success, too, although it can initially take a bit of time to get used to. Building, grouping, and issuing commands are all handled gracefully by a series of radial dials mapped to the d-pad, unit selection is taken care of by varying taps at the A button (stabs in my case, ever since I spilt chocolate milkshake on the controller), and the famous strategic zoom, which allows you to lurch from close-up action to a view of the entire battlefield in seconds, is controlled with the right thumb-stick.
The results can still be fairly intimidating - even with the on-screen stats slimmed down, there's a lot of information to take in at any one time, particularly when you've got a couple of factories chewing through some hefty build queues - but pains have clearly been taken to make Supreme Commander as simple to comprehend as a game with this kind of agenda is ever likely to be. Equally, although the lengthy tutorial possesses an almost Amish-like refusal to indulge in thrills and glamour of any kind, it provides a handy and much-needed introduction into the frightening wealth of tactical options available beyond.

And masochists will be pleased to note that, even on the lowest difficulty settings, the game is still fearsomely hard when it wants to be. From around the second mission mark, the multi-stage objectives played out across deviously designed maps will most likely see even seasoned RTS players running into trouble when fighting on more that one front. As with the PC original, the point at which the game truly clicks is when you finally comprehend the scale these particular conflicts are designed to play out at, and realise just how many units you're going to have to manufacture in order to achieve most of your goals. Supreme Commander doesn't just give you the option to think big - it demands it, and the game's focus on strategic large-scale warfare means those used to the handful of favoured pieces you'll need to keep most RTSs chugging along will be shocked by the often inhuman scale you have to think in here.

zBut those without a military degree from West Point will still be able to tank-rush the enemy and eventually win most encounters through sheer bloody-minded force of numbers. And that's not as bad as it sounds, as the tank rush in Supreme Commander is such a vast undertaking, requiring what can seem like hours of planning and building, that when you eventually send your units into battle for the last big push, their slow crawl across the huge map is a moment imbued with a real sense of nervous excitement. At times like this, the only way to see what's really going on is to zoom out to view the entire battlefield, and although the mass of squares, triangles, and diamond-shaped icons representing your units makes the game look like Geometry Wars for the Werthers Original crowd, it's hard not to get sucked into the mayhem as the exacting battles unfold.

It's not all good news, however, and it's the scale, ultimately, that causes most of the problems. Refusing to alter the game's design beyond installing a 500-unit cap per faction, the developer hasn't avoided compromise; it's merely shifted it elsewhere. As the game grinds on and the battlefields grow, the cracks inevitably start to show.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

2008-09-15T23:32:00.000-07:00

In a JRPG landscape filled with identikit teenage protagonists, indistinguishable blacker than black antagonists and drab, clinical futuristic cityscapes, Dragon Quest IV is a deep breath of fresh air. This is, after all, a game in which you begin by assuming the role of a blue-mustachioed soldier in his fifties, a man who speaks in a thick, near-indecipherable Scottish brogue.

Ragnar McRyan is in no way a character designed off the back of some intense Japanese schoolgirl demographic focus testing. He is not aspirational. He does not wear a fussy, frilly shirt, unbuttoned halfway to reveal an over-designed amulet nestled betwixt stony pecs. He will never be a poster boy for a Dragon Quest Mountain Dew ad campaign in downtown Shibuya. He has a blue moustache.

A man approaching retirement, Ragnar is all tufty grey hair and regional accent, on a mission to catch a peeping tom and track down some missing children. And my goodness, for a game that was first released 18 years ago onto the NES it's a piece of anti-hero casting that feels braver and more interesting than pretty much any that's happened in the genre since. Doesn't that speak depressing volumes?
Better still, Ragnar is but one face in an ensemble cast that continues to buck expectation. The titular chapters exist beyond mere metaphor. This is a game literally divided into segments, each one focusing on a different character: the Russian tomboy and Tsarevna, Alena, the overweight trader Torneko, a man who decides late in life it's time to make his fortune as the greatest merchant in all the world and the twin sisters Maya and Meena, out to avenge their father's assassination.

Then, in the fifth and (almost) final chapter, each of these narrative threads string together as the chosen unite as a team behind you, the hero character. It's an excellent conceit, one that no doubt contributed to the diversity of the protagonists. After all, if you have the luxury of telling five different tales in your game, you can afford for one of them to be about Ragnar McRyan and his blue moustache.

At an hour or three apiece, the first four chapters are relatively brief, but this again contributes to rich and interesting feel: nothing is protracted so far as to become tiresome. The story is smoothed over by another solid translation from Square-Enix, whose recent localisation work on the Dragon Quest series has been exemplary. The diversity in accents (there are 13 dialects represented) lends the game world a real sense of geography, something that many JRPGs fail to do with their all-American voiceover casts.

Fable 2 Pub Games

2008-09-15T23:29:00.000-07:00

The idea behind Fable 2 Pub Games is a Peter Molyneux special: gamble fictional cash and one day you can merge your Pub Games drunkard profile with your Fable 2 hero profile for a wodge of extra green on the streets of Albion. Or in this case gold. Pub Games will be bundled with Fable 2 - the standard and special editions - and is also available as a pre-order incentive for people who pick the game up at specific retailers, including branches of GAME in the UK. (Update: Lionhead now says something's up with this and codes aren't being distributed after all. We'll look into it.)

The question we've got to answer today though is whether Fable 2 Pub Games is good enough to stand alone, which is what it does on Xbox Live Arcade: you may be able to get it for free elsewhere, but otherwise it costs 800 Microsoft Points, or the equivalent of GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60. Does it do enough to justify that?

Booting it up, you're presented with the choice of six playable characters, each with a fancy Robin Hood-style wanted poster avatar, and there are six "Hero" slots to fill as well, which is where your Fable 2 characters will be offered. Once you've made this initially arbitrary choice, you'd best head to the Tutorials page to get acquainted with the three gambling mini-games on offer.

Each of them is unique to Fable 2 Pub Games, but fairly familiar. Spinnerbox, for example, is a slots machine where you specify how much gold you want to bet and then spin the box to try and match symbols and bank prize money. The number of spinning symbols varies from box to box and there are a range of bonus variables, along with a winnings calculator to help you manage your bets.

Keystone, meanwhile, is a variation on roulette or craps. A keystone bridge is assembled over a semi-circular board, and each of the bricks in the arch is given a number between 1 and 18. You stack your chips on the bricks, and in segmented areas beneath them, and then win or lose cash based on the roll of three dice.

The third and final game is called Fortune's Tower, and is a bit more unusual. You place an initial bet and then three cards are laid out - one is face down, while the other two are face up in a row beneath it. You then blindly lay additional rows and get the option to bank the total number they add up to in gold.

The element of risk is that every time a card in the new row lines up diagonally with the same number in the previous row, it burns out and potentially ends the game. The only things that can rescue you are that single, face-down card at the top of the pyramid, which swoops in to save the day (providing it too isn't a match for a card in the previous row), and special hero cards, which save the entire row from any problems with diagonals.

There are a few potential pitfalls with all this. The obvious one is that, if you make tons of gold, it could unbalance Fable 2's difficulty curve - even in a game that hopes to be extremely open-ended. Of course, we won't be able to judge the impact of a pile of free money until Fable 2 itself launches on 24th October, but if our Pub Games experience (mountains of debt!) is anything to go by, only the lucky few will get to find out whether it breaks Lionhead's opus.

More worrying is that all three of the games are very simple once you've absorbed the windy tutorials, and that none of them boasts accompanying depth. There are a few strategies you can adopt to achieve greater gains (don't keep going in Fortune's Tower when you've used up the card at the top and you're already set to make a bit of money, for instance), but for the most part these are games of chance with the odds stacked against you. Just as it is down the pub.

There's a Tournament mode, in which you can compete against the AI over several rounds, but no online multiplayer. There are leaderboards (it's a technical requirement for XBLA games, remember), but whether you will be able to take much pride in achieving a big tournament total is debatable. The most fun we had was fluking a victory against the AI by placing ludicrously large bets in Fortune's Tower.

Virtually the only other things of note are the 200 Gamerpoints you can unlock by questing after the Achievements (in theory this means Fable 2 is worth 1200 out of the box, since Pub Games comes free - assuming that's the way it's bundled), and the 15 unlockable "unique" items you can then transfer into Fable 2. These include plaited hair, backflip training for your dog, some tattoos, a couple of weapons and a magical ring.

It's difficult to argue that these represent an 800 Microsoft Points value (the phrase "horse armour" springs to mind), and, overall, it would be impossible to argue that Fable 2 Pub Games represents value for that money. The marriage of XBLA and boxed game is a nice idea, but the Pub Games themselves are lightweight and boring, and the potential benefits for Fable 2 players are the sorts of things typically bundled on Collector's Edition bonus disks in the first place - and typically overlooked by the majority of players who can think of better ways to spend the extra money. Down the pub, for instance. If you're looking at this without an eye to buying Fable 2, definitely don't bother. If you're itching for Fable 2 and can't resist, make sure you take advantage of a pre-order deal. Either way its inoffensive composition isn't enough to escape censure.

Rock Band

2008-09-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

In this godforsaken age of the TV talent show, we can find hope in gaming. The obvious reason for this is that if you've fired up a game on your Wii just before Pop Idol starts, the buffoon in your house who wanted to watch it will be unable to use the TV because you got there first (them's the rules).

In a rather more roundabout way, mass take-up of games such as Rock Band and SingStar could bring about the demise of the talent show altogether. Think about it: rather than terrorising the nation via X-Factor, people who think they've got talent could get a copy of the game and let the software decide whether they can cut it or not. That should either lead them to seek out a record deal or knock their dreams on the head accordingly, meaning us long-suffering viewers are spared weeks of ear-blinding squawking.
So that's one reason why we're recommending Rock Band: it could potentially weed out legions of tone-deaf no-hopers before they set foot outside their homes and shuffle onto your idiot box. The other reason why you should consider getting a copy is because it's a damn fine game.

Drop the beat
Choosing to play guitar, bass, drums or take to the mic, you can strive for musical greatness alone or with up to three friends. As in Guitar Hero, coloured blobs scroll down the screen and you have to hit the corresponding note/beat as they pass. If you decide to take the vocal part, your targets scroll along the top, denoting the correct length and pitch required for melodic bliss.

So far, so familiar, and the single-player is as good as anything you'll enjoy in Guitar Hero. But where Rock Band really comes into its own is the multiplayer Band World Tour mode, because when four of you are hammering your controllers (and, er, mic) - well, there's nothing quite like it. You play co-operatively, with band members able to bring failed colleagues back into the game by playing well enough to compensate for their harmonic inadequacies.

Passin' me by
However, Band World Tour mode on Wii is a shadow of its PS3/360 self. Gone are all the customisation options and the free-roaming structure - Wii players are forced to tackle songs in a set order. This shouldn't dent your enjoyment too much, but it's just one example of the cutbacks you'll find on the Wii.

Online multiplayer, character creation tools and downloadable tracks are all missing too. In this respect it's massively disappointing - why should Wii owners only receive a tiny portion of the experience that other consoles have on offer? Still, wallowing in self-pity never got anybody anywhere and, if you're prepared to overlook the disparity between versions, you'll have a lot of fun with Rock Band.

Songs for Europe?
Perhaps the most important element of a game like this is the songs, and there's a healthy selection to start you off. Orange Crush by REM, Radiohead's Creep, Paranoid by Black Sabbath - there are over 60 classic and recent tunes here, some of which you've probably never heard of.

Once you're bored of the songs you'll have to buy a $30 (£15) Track Pack containing 20 new tunes, which seems a little pricey and very unfair when you consider that 360 and PS3 owners can choose from hundreds of new songs to download. Sigh...

Rich man's world
Which brings us right to the thorny issue of cost, and there's no denying that the Special Edition is a costly game. It only includes one guitar, so if you want a full four-player experience you'll need to buy another at $60 (£30). You can get the game on its lonesome for a mere $50 (£25), but once you've factored in the cost of the drums, guitars and mic, this package works out cheaper.

Ultimately, whether you buy this depends not only on how much you're prepared to spend on a game, but on whether you own a PS3 or 360. If you do have one of those consoles, we simply can't recommend the Wii version of Rock Band - there's just too much missing to warrant a purchase. However, for Wii-only gamers, this is still a terrific title, even with all the 'extras' taken out. Maybe we'll get lucky with the sequel...

Digimon World Championship Review

2008-09-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

Digimon World Championship attempts to shake things up with some interesting ideas, but these changes leave the game repetitive and unexciting.
The Good

* A nice variety of digimon to train and care for
* Does more than rehash last year's formula.

The Bad

* Virtual pet mode is boring
* Computer-controlled battling takes away much of the excitement
* Evolving your digimon is unintuitive.

Last year's Digimon World games for the Nintendo DS, Dawn and Dusk, were retreads of Digimon World DS that failed to improve upon the formula. Namco Bandai decided to shake things up with Digimon World Championship by revamping the battle system, introducing more involved Digimon hunting mechanics, and--strangely enough--reaching into the past by including the pet-raising mechanics of the original Digimon World for the PlayStation. Unfortunately, Digimon World Championship also completely eschews any storytelling and takes away some hands-on control from Digimon battles, resulting in a disappointingly tepid game.
Digimon World Championship puts you in the role of a tamer whose purpose is simply to hunt, train, and take care of multiple digimon for entry into a world championship tournament. There are no dungeons to crawl around in or plot twists to discover. As you win battles, you increase your tamer rank, as well as the level to which your digimon can evolve. Every day, you increase your digimon's abilities and stats by dragging them into different cages using your stylus. As the game progresses, you'll be able to purchase more cages that have unique effects on your digimon's development. You're given limited space with which to work, so you'll also have to manage the way your cages are laid out. Your critters will get hungry, tired, sick, and even cranky as they train. As such, you'll have to feed and medicate them appropriately. You'll even have to undertake the embarrassing task of cleaning up their digital "leavings."

At first, managing your cage layout and caring for digimon as pets are refreshing gameplay mechanics--at least in relation to recent games in the franchise. But as the population of digimon increases, all of that cleaning, dragging, and feeding becomes extremely repetitive and dull. With this in mind, trying to juggle around all the different cages also becomes somewhat frustrating as you try to mix up training regimens for the various monsters. Furthermore, it's hard to figure out how to evolve your digimon, and the game is no help. You will eventually discover that in order to advance your monsters, you have to repeatedly de-evolve them. This isn't just counterintuitive, it's also frustratingly repetitive.

You'll need to take some time out of your pet-care schedule to hunt for new creatures. At its core, this involves drawing a lasso around your prey with the stylus and then dragging it in the opposite direction from which it's running. This is perhaps the most enjoyable part of the game for two reasons. You won't be hunting often because you don't have that much room to keep digimon, so it doesn't get overly repetitive. It's also the only portion that really requires dexterity on your part because battling is an entirely hands-off affair.

During most days of the in-game calendar, events called "Title Battles" are available for you to partake in--provided that you register for them between 7:00 and 15:00 on the day of a given match. You can also participate in "Free Battles" on the side to further develop your digimon. These battles can be one-on-one, three-on-one, three-on-three, and one-on-three. Fights play out in real time, with participants running around an arena and wailing away on each other. Once you assemble your team, you're able to set one of three general strategies for each team member--but that's really it. You don't control any of your team members directly, you can't select which attacks to use, and you can't even switch up general tactics during the battle. This auto-battle system carries over to the multiplayer modes as well. Digimon World Championship provides DS wireless and Wi-Fi Connection multiplayer modes, but leaving your success to the whimsy of artificial intelligence just isn't as exciting as making the correct strategic decisions yourself.

The game's presentation is none too thrilling either, though it manages to stay inoffensive...mostly. Everything is presented in 2D, with some zooming effects taking place during battle. Almost all of the digimon are colorful, detailed, and easy to tell apart. However, there's some noticeable slowdown that occurs while training your digimon in their cages--something that shouldn't be an issue in a game with such simple visuals.
Digimon World Championship presents an interesting combination of gameplay mechanics, but it just doesn't take them as far as they could go. There are some nice little touches, such as when the game looks up your birthday on your DS and gives you a gift or how your digimon's hunting habits will have to change as the seasons do. In the end, though, the auto-battle system and repetitive virtual pet mode drain much of the life out of this game, leaving behind a tedious and detached experience.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Review

2008-09-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Only slightly less painful than getting your brain removed through your nose.
The Good

* Decent sound effects.

The Bad

* Plain graphics
* Barebones storytelling
* Frustrating gun combat
* Timed levels can be maddening
* Not enough variety.

The film Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, with its tomb-raiding, treasure-hunting action, seems ripe for adaptation into a video game. Unfortunately, the Nintendo DS game based on the latest in the series of adventure films starring Brendan Fraser fails to capture any of the movie's spirit. You are cast as Rick and Alex O'Connell, father and son adventurers who must stop the evil Emperor Han from raising his Terracotta Army and conquering the world. That sounds like potentially thrilling stuff, but the storytelling is so thin that the tale it tells is barely even coherent, much less interesting. The game seems to assume that anyone playing it has seen the movie and therefore can fill in the gaps in the narrative. But even if you've seen the movie a dozen times, you're better off staying away from this game.
The action is presented from a three-quarter view and has you navigate your way through ancient tombs and across hillsides, fighting terra-cotta soldiers and avoiding shots from idiotic snipers. The first level maintains a decent balance between light puzzle-solving, trap-evading, and combat. The puzzle-solving is all very easy, consisting of simple block-pushing and using the touch screen to write ancient runes, but despite its basic nature, it does lend a modicum of variety to the action. Unfortunately, after the first level, the traps and puzzles fall by the wayside and the focus shifts largely toward combat, which is much less enjoyable.

The combat consists of fisticuffs and firearms. Brawling is done by tapping the Y button to make your character pull off simple combos and hitting B to dodge your enemies' attacks. More often than not, though, shooting is going to be your best option. That's because the game has a tendency to surround you with enemies. The action sometimes forces you into these situations by making your character stand still while the bad guys make their entrance and circle you, which feels downright cheap. And once surrounded, if you stop to punch one dude in the face, another is likely to shoot you in the back.

So the best tactic then becomes to run around in circles like a crazy person, cutting down enemies with your weapon while trying to avoid enemy attacks. Gun combat is handled in an unusual way that doesn't always work well. There's a crosshair on the touch screen, and by touching the screen in relation to the crosshair, you control the direction in which your character shoots. Rick's pistols lend themselves to this control scheme. They fire and reload quickly, and they have a nice, long range, conveniently leaving trace lines in the air so that you can easily determine if you need to adjust your aim to hit your target. Mowing down onslaughts of terra-cotta soldiers with Rick's pistols can actually be fun for a little while. Alex's shotgun is a different story. The gun fires slowly, and you'll spend about as much time reloading it as you will firing it. Your aim needs to be as precise with the shotgun as it does with the pistols, and considering that all you get when you fire the shotgun is a burst of smoke, it can be more difficult to determine if you need to adjust a little to the left or a little to the right to hit your mark. It's frustrating to seemingly unload a shotgun blast right in an enemy's face and see it stand there unaffected.

Tomb of the Dragon Emperor also can't make up its mind about difficulty. For the overwhelming majority of the time, it's very generous with checkpoints. However, a few timed levels need to be completed in one go, without the benefit of any checkpoints, and these can be maddening. A lengthy level near the end is particularly obnoxious, given that the first few sections are quite easy. It's not until a ways into the level that it really starts to throw the bad guys at you en masse, and having to play the easy sections over again each time you fail, just to get back to the part that's giving you trouble, feels overly punishing.

Visually speaking, the game is plain. Your characters animate well, but all of your enemies are featureless, and the environments, with a few minor exceptions, are drab and monotonous. The music and sound effects are somewhat better. The occasionally rousing score sounds like the stuff of cinematic adventure, and the over-the-top sounds that accompany the flying of fisticuffs sell the action pretty well. Nevertheless, the verbal cues are annoying. The voice actors don't sound like their movie counterparts, and hearing Alex's petulant voice whine "No" or "I can't do that here" each time you hit the climb button but aren't standing in precisely the right spot is enough to make you want to reach into the game and throttle him.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will take most players about five hours or so to complete. There's a harder difficulty level, but no built-in incentives to play through again. Certainly the gameplay isn't strong enough to make it worthwhile to play even once. If the game had continued to follow the more varied design formula demonstrated in the first level, the result might have been mildly engaging, but the poorly implemented gun combat quickly gets tiresome. Ultimately, its inconsistency and the plainness of its visuals make Tomb of the Dragon Emperor feel like a poorly thought-out, hastily thrown-together attempt to capitalize on a movie license, and that's probably exactly what it is.

Spore Creatures Review

2008-09-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Spore Creatures is pleasant and charming, but ultimately forgettable.
The Good

* Cute adventure across multiple planets
* Varied quest objectives keep things from getting stale
* Creature creator is surprisingly robust.

The Bad

* Some frustrating gameplay elements
* Various control and camera quirks
* Being forced into certain creature designs minimizes player creativity.

Spore Creatures for the DS isn't the far-reaching trek through evolution you may have expected--but don't take that as a reason to totally dismiss this charming title. It's still a cute adventure across multiple planets, and it features a pared-down version of the creature creation tool that helped make the PC release such a success. It has some annoying quirks, and it won't inspire an emotional connection between you and your digital doppelganger, but Spore Creatures is still a pleasant diversion and an appealing, if ordinary, companion to its bigger brother.
Your galactic journey is set in motion when your companion creature, Little Oogie, is abducted by an evil alien for reasons unknown. In response, you accumulate evolutionary improvements and apply them to yourself with a singular goal: rescue the little bugger. You'll visit various planets and continents, acquiring new spaceship parts--in addition to limbs for your own beastly body. You'll alternately befriend and alienate nests of other creatures as you explore the various planetside environs; and while the voyage is linear, it's easygoing and, at 10 hours, reasonably lengthy.

The creature creator you use to develop your avatar is limited, but it still lets you snap together a number of interesting limbs and other bits. Notably, your creature is a two-dimensional collection of parts and pieces rather than a full 3D model, though within these bounds, you can still resize and rotate the various appendages. This can result in a gangly mess of odd-looking eyes and tails tottering across the landscape, but there's still something remarkably charming about such paper-thin oddities. Moving pieces on and off of your beast can get a little annoying, since it's far too easy to grab the wrong piece if your creature is a busy mess of limbs. But all in all, the 2D approach works, and the creation tool offers the right combination of form and function.

Each body part confers particular attributes and bonuses, such as improved attack ratings and special abilities called bio-powers that you can use in combat. You need to be far more conscious of these factors compared to Spore PC because your mission objectives are often incredibly specific, forcing you to use a particular appendage to accomplish your goals. For example, you'll need to cross different types of terrain at certain points, such as desert, ice, or lava; And to do so, you need to attach very specific body parts. Or, you may need to prove your good intentions to another race of creatures by equipping one of their arms. Mission-required adjustments like this devalue the fun of the creation process, since it shoves aside player inventiveness in favor of arbitrary gameplay mechanics.

Many of your missions are fun, though, and there are a number of gameplay elements sprinkled in to keep things interesting. You can pick items up and throw them with a flick of the stylus, so at various points you will need to throw rocks at weather machines to break them, fling food at starving creatures, or water plants by throwing liquid-laden flowers at them. These activities are amusing--though not all missions are created equal. One annoying quest initiates a minigame, asking you to fling rocks at thieving creatures by tapping on them as they appear. The vague instructions and picky, pixel-perfect tapping required turns a fun diversion into a frustrating detour. In fact, simply navigating can be problematic: Stylus controls are a little slippery, and the camera has a habit of zooming in and out in various unhelpful ways, often keeping you from getting a helpful view of your surroundings.

Occasionally, you'll need (or want) to befriend other creatures, a facet that requires you to utilize one of two gameplay elements. To cuddle with other creatures (though we're not sure why anyone would want to cuddle with a scaled purple lizard), you send out a friendly call, which prompts a series of smiley faces above your prospective buddy's head. Then, you drag the smileys downward and rub them around on the creature. Or if a flower petal appears over its head, you drag it down to initiate a rhythm minigame reminiscent of Elite Beat Agents. This minigame works just fine (though the accompanying tunes aren't exactly memorable), and in the last hours of the game it gets surprisingly challenging.

You'll also fight other creatures along the way--sometimes because you have to, other times because you want to. Either way, combat requires little more than slashing the stylus across your target and perhaps tapping on an icon to initiate one of your bio-powers. Your battle prowess is related only to your equipped body parts, rather than any actual skill, though you may find that getting your slashes to register is sometimes a bit of a hassle. These battles are over quickly, though, and they are mildly fun while they last. Good thing, too, because if you decide to go the meat-eating route with your animal, you'll need to fight to get food. But this creates one of the game's real issues: You need the meat to heal, but to get it, you need to fight. If you're close to death, the best way to handle things is to let yourself die and spawn back at the nest.

Spore Creatures features a colorful, attractive visual design paired with cute sound effects and a laid-back, spacey soundtrack. It also features some of the PC version's online connectivity, albeit in an extremely stripped-down form. In this case, you can download other players' creatures, which then appear within your own game as you explore. This is a neat addition, though its limited scope doesn't give Spore Creatures much additional replay value. But no matter: On its own, Spore Creatures is still a cute--if not particularly memorable--adventure game.
By Kevin VanOrd

Little League World Series 2008 Review

2008-09-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

Ah, not since those after-school days in fourth grade have I felt so close to Little League. The small fields, the sound of aluminum on a hardball - those are good memories. And you can experience them too, whether you're still in the fourth grade or if those days are long gone, with Little League World Series Baseball 2008 from Activision. What's great about this game is that it captures the very essence of Little League. This is not a full-blown baseball simulation with complex detail and strategy. Nor is it too dumbed down and simple. It's somewhere in between, and that's what Little League is all about.

From the moment you turn on Little League 2008 you can tell that the game is all about fun. From the approachable art style to the inviting menus, the presentation is excellent - and easy to navigate through. There are numerous play modes available from the start, including Exhibition, World Series, Training, and Skill Challenges. This last mode includes such games as Home Run Derby, Horse, and even Bowling. Well, not that kind of bowling. Yes, you do knock over pins, but it's by throwing a baseball. Kind of strange, kind of intriguing, but it still adds to the overall product.

Thinking confidently, I jumped right into the World Series mode. I wasn't going to shy away from some Little League game after all. And, well, I quickly lost. This game is no push over, to say the least. It took me a few runs at the World Series mode before I was able to make any progress whatsoever. Unfortunately, however, part of the reason for this difficulty level is the gameplay. First of all, the batting mechanics are slightly awkward, and they change based on whether the batter is a righty or lefty. Add to this that you can seemingly swing on time and hit nothing but air, and you'll have a difficult time hitting. And then there's the problem that sometimes you'll perform the stylus motion to swing, and your hitter won't swing. The combination of these flaws lead to a sometimes frustrating experience.

Besides the batting though, the game is generally fun. The pitching mechanics are especially unique and interesting. They require you to quickly and precisely perform certain stylus motions based on what pitch you want to throw. And the more quickly and precisely you do this, the faster and more accurate your pitch will be. It successfully made the pitching side of the game fun, which is more than I can say for some other baseball games. Defense is taken care of automatically, except for throwing the ball to the correct base. A quick stylus stroke will instruct your player to deliver the ball to the base you choose. The problem is remembering to do this, as it is easy to be lulled to sleep by the auto-fielding.

Now, Activision, I apologize for the following, but as a baseball enthusiast, I feel obliged to point out a few shortcomings relating to the rules and mechanics of baseball. First of all, a runner should NEVER or at least VERY RARELY be thrown out at first base when he hits a ball into the outfield. It just doesn't happen in the game of baseball. Unless of course it's Oprah Winfrey running to first base. This happened numerous times in the same game, and it's just not acceptable. Secondly, when a runner scores, and the third out is then made by a tag-out (not a force play) the run COUNTS. Errors such as this might be overlooked by some players, but not those who know baseball. And I'm assuming this game is targeted towards baseball players.

In short, Little League World Series Baseball 2008 is a balancing act. It teeters on the brink of fun and frustration, just as it balances the arcade and realistic styles of baseball. But overall, it is an enjoyable game to pick up and play, especially if you're a baseball fan. Besides, who doesn't want to go back to Little League and hit a few home runs?

Review Scoring Details for Little League World Series Baseball 2008

Gameplay: 6.4
The pitching mechanics are unique and actually make the defensive side of the game interesting. That's a nice twist. Fielding is taken care of automatically, but throwing to bases can feel a bit clunky. On the offensive side of things, batting was often the most frustrating aspect of the game. I swear the ball must have been going right through my bat half the time. And I'm not a newbie when it comes to baseball games.

Graphics: 8.2
The dev team (NOW Production) has done a nice job with the presentation here, striking a perfect balance between caricature and realism. The characters are short and stubby renderings of baseball players, but in all fairness, they translate well as Little League Ball Players. Animations are a little less than fluid in some places, but overall the graphics create a fun, light-hearted atmosphere for a baseball game.

Sound: 7.0
For the most part the sound effects and music are well suited for the game. The metallic ping of Little League aluminum bats brought me back a few years to say the least. One strange - yet funny - aspect in the sound department was the crowd noise. After finally figuring out that it was indeed supposed to be crowd noise, I decided that it sounded more like a haunted house than a baseball stadium.

Difficulty: Medium
What seems as an easy game at first turns out to be quite a tricky customer. Unfortunately, part of the difficulty is due to the confusing and seemingly faulty gameplay. That said, it took multiple tries before I was able to advance deep into the World Series Mode. And I imagine the target market for this game (little leaguers) will have at least as difficult a time.

Concept: 7.5
The idea of a Little League World Series game was new to me at first. But Activision took the opportunity to create a not-so-serious, arcade-style baseball game for the younger market. It's a little less complex and perhaps a little more fun than your average run of the mill baseball game because of this.

Overall: 7.0
Little League World Series Baseball 2008 has a lot to offer in terms of depth - you'll never play the same game twice, and that keeps things fresh. There are plenty of modes to keep you interested, including Exhibition, World Series, Home Run Derby, and even a baseball-themed Bowling game. Little League World Series Baseball has its moments of greatness, but it is often plagued by gameplay issues that obscure its full potential.

BOMBERMAN TOUCH - THE LEGEND OF MYSTIC BOMB

2008-09-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Players have been in love with the Bomberman series for many years now. Each time a new gaming system is released it is inevitable that a Bomberman game will soon follow. Launching with the iTunes App store for the iPhone/iPod Touch, Hudson Soft released Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb. Fans of the series will be delighted to know that the classic Bomberman gameplay that they have enjoyed for years has stayed intact in this latest game.

The story for this game is very simple yet effective. Bomberman John and a friend have crashed landed on a mysterious island while they were out looking for treasure. After the crash, players must fight their way to find the treasure buried in an ancient temple. Players must transverse though various levels searching for the treasure while avoiding hostile enemies to get to it.
The controls are very simple for the player to use. The entire touch screen acts as a d-pad for players to move around. To use it, players just touch anywhere on the screen and where they touch becomes the “center” of the d-pad. Then players must then move their finger in any direction (left, right, up, and down) to get where they need to be. While this isn’t as accurate as a dedicated d-pad, it does get the job done. To drop bombs, players can press the bomb icon on the screen.

This game follows the rules of the classic Bomberman games. Players are thrown into a maze where there are various obstacles in their way. Players must clear a path and avoid the bomb flames to stay alive. In order to get to the end of the level players must destroy the enemies on the screen with their bombs. Players must be pretty astute to catch the bad guys because they always seem to be aware of their surroundings and try to take cover when a bomb has been dropped. Throughout each level they are various upgrades that players can collect that will give them more lives, bombs, and even upgrade the power of their bombs.

The visuals for this game are pretty good and crisp. What players will really enjoy is that there is no slow down, especially after a bomb has been set off. The jungle theme works really well for this game as well, and has a few small tie-ins to recently released movies. The musical score for this game is good, but players would rather listen to their own music. Sound effects are also strong and have a nice sound to them.

Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb can be purchased on the iTunes App store for $7.99

Review Scoring Details for Bomberman Touch: The Legend of Mystic Bomb

Gameplay: 7.9
Players will love the touch-screen controls and it works really well for this game. This is classic Bomberman gaming at its best!

Graphics: 7.9
The graphics are crisp and clean.

Sound: 8.0
Players will love the classic Bomberman music.

Difficulty: Medium
As with all Bomberman games, it starts off really easy and becomes more challenging as players progress.

Concept: 8.0
No gaming system is complete without a classic Bomberman game, and the iPhone is no exception.

Overall: 8.0
My only real complaint is the lack of a multiplayer mode in this game. Hopefully the developers will come up with a way to include it in a future release. Players should get many hours of great gameplay out of this title.

Total Extreme Wrestling 2008 Review

2008-09-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I have a fascination with wrestling. I’ve been a huge fan of wrestling twice now, once in the early 80’s and then again in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. My last infatuation with wrestling drove me to find out more about what really happened in wrestling. I made it a point to visit almost every wrestling Web site to read about the latest scoop and behind the scenes happenings of WWE, WCW, ECW and Japanese wrestling.

I even had a crazy dream at one time that I wanted to be involved in the inner workings of a wrestling company. There were a couple local independent companies (Ohio Valley Wrestling and IWA Mid-South) running shows that I would attend from time to time. I remember at one show thinking to myself that I would get some money up and “invest” in one of these companies. Now if you know anything about wrestling you probably realize just how insane that idea was at the time. You don’t just “invest” in a wrestling company and get a chance to run the show. I was naïve and sucked into a form of entertainment that I thought I knew everything about. Yet almost 10 years later the wrestling business is still going, with fans still having the same dream I did years ago.

Total Extreme Wrestling gives would-be bookers/owners a chance to find out just how complicated and involved running your own wrestling promotion can be. Almost every single aspect of running a wrestling show seems to be included in Total Extreme Wrestling (TEW). Now when I say “seems to be” I should add that since I’ve never actually been an owner or booker before I can only assume this game includes everything involved in running a wrestling promotion. From what I’ve read and heard from friends that were involved in the business TEW hasn’t skipped over too many details.

However, TEW isn’t just a wrestling game like the classic THQ N64 games or even the legendary Fire Pro Wrestling series. Total Extreme Wrestling is best classified as a simulation database instead of a wrestling game. You will never actually play a match by moving your character around the ring or performing moves by pressing buttons. TEW is completely focused on the backstage/business aspects of wrestling.

You start off by selecting an avatar for your character. There are only six avatars to select from so choose wisely. Next up you select which promotion you want to work for or you can select to start your own promotion. I chose the later because I had an idea for a promotion that I thought would work great. I wanted an intense show with great angles, great-to-decent matches and a rabid fan base that was quick to turn on a bad match. Honestly, I wanted to reproduce the early ECW (pre-WWE ownership) style and I thought it would be a piece of cake.

Once I started my promotion I had to sit down and face the realities that I was almost immediately in over my head. I had hundreds of wrestlers that I had to review to see who I wanted to contact to work for my company. Ever wrestler had their own history created for them ranging from how many years they have wrestled, which companies they have wrestled for to the number of titles they have held. It was up to me to fill a complete roster to run a weekly show every Saturday in the Southwestern United States. So I had to choose wisely because I couldn’t double book a guy for my show and somebody else’s show on the same night. I also had to take into account that some of the wrestlers had contracts with the bigger promotions and won’t be able to wrestle for me no matter how much money I could throw at them. So after looking over their availability and contract/employment status, I had sent out communication to probably 50 workers.

I say workers because I not only had to get wrestlers to actually wrestle I had to get referees, announcers and a road agent. A good referee should be invisible but still be able to visualize the action in the match by their body/facial expressions at key moments. The announcers have to be able to tell the story of the match by explaining the history of the wrestlers, their feud and what every move is doing to the wrestlers in the match. The road agent is the guy backstage that keeps everything together and will usually work with the workers on how a match will flow. So I decided that my first signing should be the announcer, who was going to be the Joey Styles of my company. Even though he was working somewhere else my offer was good enough to have him do one show a week for me.

What I found out during the negotiations with the talent was every guy was completely different with their demands. As expected, younger workers just breaking into the business were willing to accept much lower offers than experienced workers. But some of the veterans in the business really tried to be a hard negotiator due to their demands. You can select from a variety of options when you make an offer to a worker. Besides their pay you can decide if they get a percentage of the merchandize or the gate. You can offer an actual contract or a pay per performance with different lengths to the deals. Would it be a one shot deal so you can bring in a huge name in the business to hopefully bump up the gate for a big show? Or do you want to lock up a promising rookie to an exclusive deal so he doesn’t sign with one of the bigger companies?

Besides the negotiations the amount of options you have control over in TEW is staggering. Once I had enough workers signed it was time to book my first show. I had two huge big men signed that I wanted to push by making them look like unstoppable monsters. I figured a couple of squash matches to start off their career in my federation were appropriate. Then I would have a match to determine our television title, even though we didn’t have a TV deal just yet, by booking a solid veteran against a big strong young talent who was getting recognized in another company. Then I booked the world title match with my character going up against a superstar wrestler from Mexico. I even did an advance booking schedule for the show so fans knew the matches before they came to the show.

Next up was to select a venue for the show. Now I thought to myself why am I selecting the venue on the day of the show? Wouldn’t I have already chosen my venue weeks or months ahead of time so tickets can be sold? Unfortunately I didn’t have an option to book a venue ahead of time but it really didn’t affect the game. I picked a sweltering venue that lacked air conditioning and always had a rowdy crowd in the Southwest from an impressive number of venues across the country. I could have gone with a huge arena that could fit 30,000 fans but I would have blown most of my budget just on one show. Instead my venue would hold 1,000 fans, which I thought was perfect since the pre-show analysis said almost 1,900 fans were expected. If more people wanted in for the first show I just knew I would have 3,000 fans ready for the next show.

However something happened by the time the show started and by the time it was finished. The fans didn’t like the show and the outcome of the matches didn’t meet my expectations. The game gives you a small breakdown of each match as the show progresses, such as who the winner is, how long the match lasted, the mood of the crowd and an overall ranking of the match. Almost every match brought the mood of the crowd down and was ranked as an E or lower. Somehow I skipped a whole section of the game revolving around the storylines and angles for the show.

Just because I booked the show didn’t mean that the show would go off exactly as I planned. I needed to dig farther into the game to actually tell the road agent who I wanted to win the matches. So instead of the insanely popular Mexican wrestler becoming the new champion I found myself in the position of Owner/Booker/Champion. On the day of the show you need to give notes to your Road Agent as to how you want the match to progress. You can select who wins, who interferes in a match, who to keep looking strong in the match and numerous other options in how the matches will be performed. You also get to book angles for each show which can be used for a variety of reasons. You can use the angle to interview a wrestler about an upcoming match, show a video package of a new wrestler coming in or have a tag team break up. Almost every angle that I watched as a wrestling fan looks to be included in TEW.

The other portion of the game that I didn’t pay attention to was the storylines. More post-show analysis said the fans expected more storylines and less action for my show. So when I selected the storyline option I was presented with a huge collection of storylines to pull off on my shows. Just like the angles, probably every type of storyline I watched in wrestling seemed possible with TEW. So I decided to run a tag-title tournament storyline at my next show.

The tag-title tournament storyline featured four teams. I booked my two huge monsters together on a team, two up and coming faces (good guys) as the second team, two low level wrestlers as the third team, who would simply be the squashed meat for the monster team. The last team was my character and the Mexican superstar. The storyline requires that you book each match in a specific way in order to keep the storyline progressing. This required me to tell the road agent exactly which teams I wanted to win so the computer wouldn’t decide for me. The story was for the two up and coming faces to win an upset match over me and the Mexican superstar. This way I thought it would make the two new faces look good in the process and get the fans into thinking they could defeat the unstoppable monsters.

Next up I had to book angles on the show at precise moments so the storyline will keep progressing. If I screwed up and booked the wrong team at the wrong time it would cause the rest of the storyline to fall apart. The first angle involved the big men talking about their upcoming match with the faces. The next angle had the two faces talking about the upcoming match against the monsters. Then the next angle was a video montage hyping the match one last time. Finally the match was scheduled and I told the road agent I wanted the big monsters to go over. But I included notes that I wanted to have an all-out match and I wanted to make the two faces still look strong. Then there was still one more angle to book a celebration angle where the new champions celebrated their victory in the ring.

Once again everything had to be planned to perfection or the storyline would fall apart. If I booked the wrong team to win or the wrong angle at the wrong time the storyline was useless. I would have to abandon the storyline for another one in hopes of building up hype for the workers. But I knew I messed up because I booked the entire storyline in one night instead of spreading it out over several shows. The post-match analysis of the last match included a comment that both of my big men were noticeably tired near the end of the match. My total show score was an E which is well below a C where I needed to be to keep momentum going for my company to succeed. Even the next show I booked, where I had all of the good guys winning still wasn’t enough to make the fans happy. That show was ranked an E+ which is a small improvement.

Total Extreme Wrestling 2008 really shined the light on me. It made me realize that there was no way I would have ever been a good booker for a wrestling company. There are way too many choices to keep your company producing a great show week after week. Thankfully the game does a good job of letting you try as many different options as possible to running your own wrestling show. This is without a doubt the most hardcore wrestling game I have ever played simply because of the almost limitless number of booking options. Total Extreme Wrestling 2008 can be your only choice if you want to find out just how difficult it can be to actually run your own wrestling federation.
Review Scoring Details for Total Extreme Wrestling 2008

Gameplay: 8.0
As I’ve mentioned TEW is more pure simulation than action packed wrestling game. Most of the game is easy enough to follow once you start clicking around at the seemingly endless menu options. Everything is point and click to get going in the game. I didn’t appreciate how the storyline options didn’t really connect with the advance booking on the day of the shows. If I did my advance booking I was never able to import those matches into the game the day of the show. So it was rather tedious having to schedule all the matches even though I already had them listed.

Graphics: 7.0
Just static head shots of the various wrestlers in the game. You can tell that some of the models were used over and over again for many of the wrestlers.

Sound: N/A

Concept: 8.7
Really it’s probably better to think of this as a wrestling database instead of a game. You get almost every angle, storyline and match type imaginable to book your own wrestling promotion. You decide who you want to push, who wins the titles or even how much they get paid.

Multiplayer: 7.5
The game does let you and three other players compete against each other to see who can run the most successful wrestling company. Each player is assigned their own spot on the database which can be password protected to prevent other players from stealing your upcoming angles and stories.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
This is as hardcore of a wrestling experience as you will find. Your head will probably be spinning at first just trying to figure out how you want to book a match, who you want to sign and the other countless options in the game. A slightly cumbersome interface in certain parts of the game will cause some additional confusion as well.

Overall: 7.8
If you’re still one of the die-hard wrestling junkies who just can get enough then you will fall in love with Total Extreme Wrestling 2008. You will probably find just the right combination of insane stories, unusual angles and hardcore matches to let you create your ultimate wrestling fantasy.

The Sims 2 Apartment Life Review

2008-09-06T00:41:00.001-07:00

There are a few certainties in life … death and taxes are the two most often cited, but how about that as long as there is a Sims franchise, EA/Maxis will pump out expansions every couple of months.

Yep, it’s time once again and with Sims 2 Apartment Life, the supernatural gets a shot in the arm with the introduction of witchcraft. The element of witchcraft in the game is part of the new idea that Sims don’t have to own their own homes, but rather can rent. Of course there are rules for renting, like noise levels and making the rent on a timely basis, but the apartment element is surprisingly akin to the homeowners element. You will have visitors and develop social groups.
Part of the vampire element introduced several expansions ago allowed Sims to meet vampires and if they got friendly enough, that vampire might bite them and they would become a vampire. Werewolves got a similar treatment. Well, now it is time to give witchcraft a try. Sims can meet witches or warlocks and befriend them. If all goes well, they may be allowed to learn either the Ways of Light or the Path of Darkness.

When you head down that road, you get a spellbook and cauldron. The spellbook contains all your Sim will learn and the spells fall into three categories – good, neutral and evil. Good spells might include healing sick Sims, neutral allows for teleportation and evil includes starting fires and breaking up relationships.

And because there are witches, that means foregoing mechanical conveyances and riding on the broomstick.

The expansion includes a few new animations available in the radial menu (when at the right place) like a dance kiss, brushing teeth, washing the Sim’s face and jumping rope. A few new objects also enter the scene, like adding closet doors to a small room to create a walk-in closet, and there are also vending machines, a new spiral staircase, ceiling tiles for rooms, a new bed and bookcase and a silent ringer mode for phones.

Because some Sims do not make a lot of money, you can advertise for (and get) a roommate. The roommates are NPCs, and that means they operate under an independent AI. Sometimes the actions seem to make little sense, but generally they can work out fairly well.

As expansions go, Apartment Life adds some nice variety to the series. It does not add anything new in terms of the graphics engine but does bring in some nicer elements to the gameplay. The sound changes little.

Maxis (and EA) must be stretching it a bit to maintain viable content for the Sims 2 series – especially with Sims 3 releasing in 2009. But Apartment Life is a bit more robust than Free Time was in terms of behavioral modifications and that makes it a bit more fun.

Review Scoring Details for The Sims 2 Apartment Life

Gameplay: 7.2
This actually adds some entertaining elements to the game.

Graphics: 7.0
Some nice effects make this a bit brighter in terms of content than previous expansions.

Sound: 6.5
Typical of the franchise.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 7.5
The witchcraft element and roommates make things a bit more interesting, especially if you like to meddle in the lives in NPCs.

Overall: 7.2
This is more entertaining than Free Time and the apartment roommate element spices it up a touch.

Art of Murder: FBI Confidential Review

2008-09-06T00:40:00.001-07:00

Nicole Bonnet is an FBI agent based in New York City. Her partner is killed suddenly, but instead of being allowed to work on that case, she is instead assigned to working a different case with a new partner. This new case involves several grisly, ritualistic murders that appear to be the work of a serial killer. The trail begins in New York, but eventually leads to South America.

The game begins with the murder of Nicole’s partner. Shortly afterwards (in game time, that is), she’s back at the office and ready to get back to work. In this big, dangerous city of New York, this branch of the FBI only has three desks for the rank and file officers and one desk for the boss. Nicole is the only regular officer here, as she prepares to investigate her partner’s death. The secretary is here, though, and Nicole chats with her and then tries to head out. Oh, wait, she has to write up the report, first, before she can leave. Drat, the printer is out of paper! This is too exciting.

At this point in the game, we don’t know anything about the story. Nicole’s partner was killed, but that’s all we know. This lack of story background, combined with the very mundane tasks that Nicole has to undertake, makes for a rather ho-hum beginning. Fortunately, the game does become more interesting later on when Nicole travels to Peru, but that’s not saying a whole lot.

The Art of Murder: FBI Confidential is a point-and-click adventure in the usual style, but one that relies on a police procedural approach, similar to CSI. This is a good idea, and one that should have worked well in this setting, but the way it’s handled is rather boring. The tasks don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, and often either items can’t be used or picked up until later in the game when they are relevant, or Nicole can’t move ahead in the game because of something not done. Fortunately, there is a hint system (needed items or places will light up) and the inventory puzzles aren’t very difficult.

The interface is the typical icon approach to interacting with the environment. It’s handled efficiently and easily. Right-clicking when the appropriate icon appears will trigger the needed event.

The music is adequate, but not very soul-stirring. The sound effects are present and do a decent job of emulating the activities in the scenes. Where the game falls down in the sound department is in the voice acting. Partly due to the random remarks that don’t have a whole lot to do with anything going on at the moment, but mainly due to bad voice-acting, the voiced conversations are bland and dull. There are some rather funny remarks pointed at pop-culture, but they don’t hit the mark very often due to the overall writing and voice-acting. There is also a lot of cursing, which may have its place in some scenes with an FBI agent, but here it’s as if these words were placed randomly for the sake of existence.

This game is fairly easy, and with the hint system it’s hard to get stuck. The puzzles become harder later in the game in South America, but then they often don’t make a whole lot of sense.

The Art of Murder isn’t a bad game, but neither is it a very good game. There are good aspects to it, but when mixed with the bad parts it’s a mediocre package. The game begins decently enough, but it never gets off the ground. The boring puzzles and bad voice-acting make it hard for players to get into the game while playing. Nicole has a hard time with her script; it’s all over the place. Her remarks often jar with the scene.

The Art of Murder is probably best enjoyed if purchased as a bargain for a weekend play.

Review Scoring Details for Art of Murder: FBI Confidential

Gameplay: 6.0
This game is rather boring and it’s difficult to get into the story. The interface is designed well and it’s easy enough to play, but just not very interesting.

Graphics: 7.0
The game looks pretty decent and the characters move smoothly. The environments are nicely drawn and populated.

Sound: 7.0
The music is not very memorable, but isn’t bad, either.

Difficulty: Medium
There isn’t anything that is particularly difficult.

Concept: 6.0
This game is just like all the other average adventure games out there.

Overall: 6.0
This game is a mediocre adventure game that may offer a few hours of enjoyment to some. Much of it is illogical or unexplained, and the voice-acting is hard to get past. There are lots of thing to do with the inventory puzzles, but they aren’t very interesting or challenging. This isn’t the worst game out there, but neither is it the best. Players who are looking for a few filler hours of CSI-like gaming may enjoy it.

Planescape: Torment Review

2008-08-29T22:13:00.001-07:00

It's clearly the best traditional computer role-playing game of the year and is bound to be an all-time favorite for many of its inevitable fans.

Torment is a traditional role-playing game with an uncommonly detailed story and first-rate graphics and sound. It's set in the complex and interesting Advanced Dungeons & Dragons universe of Planescape, which is a patchwork of wildly different dimensions surrounding a sprawling city that connects them together. In Torment, you play as a nameless character who cannot die and cannot remember his past, and in uncovering his origin, you'll experience one of the year's most fascinating games.

Torment uses the same graphics engine as Baldur's Gate and will consequently seem immediately familiar to fans of the best-selling 1998 role-playing game. However, Torment's top-down isometric perspective is much closer to the ground than in Baldur's Gate, which means all the characters in Torment appear quite large onscreen. Each character is highly detailed, carefully animated, and cleverly designed above all else. Torment abandons the high-fantasy styling of most RPGs and instead uses the Planescape license's unique interpretation of familiar fantasy archetypes, which lends the game a wholly original appearance that defies expectations for fantasy and science fiction artwork. Even Torment's protagonist, who is heavily scarred, entirely tattooed, and dressed in bones and animal hides, seems nothing like the usual role-playing game hero.

Torment's scenery is more intricately detailed than the scenery in Baldur's Gate because of the close perspective, and much like its characters, the scenery looks good and looks different from what you're used to. The game has no pointless spans of wilderness; each area is carefully designed, and most areas are densely populated. The jutting blade-like architecture of the game's urban settings and the rough-hewn, almost alien tangle of its catacombs give Torment a well-defined, highly distinctive appearance, while the game's atmospheric soundtrack, good sound effects, and sparse but high-quality voice acting all help maintain Torment's style. The game has a consistently cold look that can even be unsettling and uncomfortable at times, but Torment's bleak environments seem to work intentionally to motivate the protagonist's desire to escape from the oppressive, claustrophobic confines of the city of Sigil. In spite of its harsh scenery, at times Torment is colorful and impressive looking, mainly because of its often-spectacular special effects. Powerful magic spells cause the screen to go dim and erupt in ghostly energy, which shakes and rattles the screen. Even the game's most minor incantations feature impressive effects and animations, although some of the more elaborate effects tend to make the game slow down.

The Baldur's Gate engine has other limitations, some of which are exclusively aesthetic, and some of which have a slightly adverse effect on Torment's gameplay. However, as in Baldur's Gate, Torment players will likely be quick to dismiss or disregard any such problems, like the limited screen resolution, bad character pathfinding, and the unattractive real-time-strategy-style fog of war shroud that covers each new area you visit. To allow for Torment's bigger characters, most of the game's interface is invisible until you right-click to bring up a circular pop-up window that lets you use items, cast spells, use special abilities, and so forth. Unfortunately, while the hidden interface does free up most of the screen, it is neither compact nor intuitive - you'll spend a lot of time fumbling for its little unmarked buttons or otherwise dragging it aside so you can see what's happening once you bring it up. At least the game automatically pauses whenever the interface is active, so you can figure it out at your leisure. Even though most of Torment's interface isn't onscreen most of the time, you'll find that the game's close-up perspective nevertheless has particular problems. There are virtually no ranged weapons in the game, if only because there's so little relative distance from one end of the screen to the other. Similarly, several of the game's powerful spells have a bad tendency to be just as dangerous to the caster, because by the time the enemy is targeted and the spell is uttered, that enemy has already closed the distance with the caster, who invariably suffers from his own magical attack. Torment also suffers from the game's unrefined menu screens and the unavoidably slow scrolling speed of its extensive dialogue, which, much like the interface, you will train yourself to ignore.

You will ignore Torment's technical problems because it's such a good game. Specifically, it's a long and involving game with an original plot, well-written, descriptive dialogue, and likable characters. It's fortunate that Torment's dialogue reads well, because there's a lot of it to read; although the game's graphics are evocative and often beautiful, the game's most vivid events are actually written out rather than portrayed onscreen. You might wish the game had a more frequent tendency to show-not-tell; however, its combination of great graphics and writing is generally very effective. As such, even though you'll be reading text half the time, you'll rarely feel as if the dialogue interferes with the game's surprisingly quick pacing.

That's mainly because the dialogue is actually one of the best parts of Torment, since it's one of the few role-playing games to ever make good on the promise of letting you play your character however you prefer. Torment's dialogue often lets you choose to make promises, bluff, or play dumb; the game lets you perceive small details if your character is intelligent, understand philosophical implications if he's wise, and intimidate or charm if he's strong or charismatic. Your character's moral alignment and his affiliation with Sigil's different factions are openly flexible and have a noticeable impact on the course of the game. Similarly, your character can readily switch between fighter, thief, and magic-user classes and can rapidly advance to a high level of proficiency in any and all of these, which is justified within the game as not so much an acquiring of new skills as a remembrance of latent centuries-old talents. In addition, your character's perverse incapacity to permanently die also helps maintain Torment's pacing by discouraging you from frequently reloading your saved games, although the game never seems easy or trivial in spite of the hero's immortality.

Yet it's easy to apologize for Torment's many programming flaws, which cause the game to become excruciatingly slow at times and some of its dozens of quests to become unsolvable on occasion. It's true that bugs in computer role-playing games seem almost as conventional as spells and hit points. Fortunately, Torment's aren't so drastic that they actually ruin any single part of the game. Nevertheless, you'll probably experience several glitches either in performance or in quest scripting that make portions of the game unnecessarily frustrating, especially in light of Torment's generally excellent quality.

In fact, it's evidence of Torment's impressive achievement that its problems, which would be detrimental to most any other game, seem so negligible. It's clearly the best traditional computer role-playing game of the year and is bound to be an all-time favorite for many of its inevitable fans. That's because it's a great-looking game that's lengthy but never boring, and it begs to be played through more than once, just as its unique hero and his story promise not to be forgotten.

Guild Wars Review

2008-08-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

It's a very impressive game that's rewarding on many different levels and can be tremendously appealing for any number of reasons.

The Good

* Well-designed, interesting skill system and action-packed combat
* Tons of content--huge volume of cooperative and competitive activities
* Lavish presentation makes the whole world of the game look alive
* Technically marvelous--runs fast and smooth, loads almost instantly
* Has something for just about everyone.

The Bad

* It can be difficult to find a good group of willing players for cooperative missions
* The gameworld is beautiful, but lacks cohesion.

While it's tempting to compare Guild Wars to any number of other fantasy-themed role-playing games, there's really never been anything quite like it before. It innovatively and successfully combines many of the best, most addictive properties of action RPGs, online RPGs, and competitive multiplayer games in one beautifully produced package, which offers a tremendous lasting value yet none of the monthly fees typically associated with online-only games. The first title from developer ArenaNet, Guild Wars threatens the entire online RPG establishment with its bold design. More importantly, it's a very impressive game that's rewarding on many different levels and can be tremendously appealing for any number of reasons.

In the world of Guild Wars, the men are men, and the women are runway models. Oh, and it's awesome.

In Guild Wars, you play as a hero from Ascalon, your typical fantasy province that's fallen on hard times, thanks to relentless assaults from fearsome creatures called the charr. Ascalon seems huge and wondrous as you begin to explore it and its outskirts. But it turns out to be literally just a tiny portion of the richly detailed and shockingly gigantic world of Tyria, which you'll explore during the course of an adventure that's truly epic. Meanwhile, the other half of the game consists of competitive battles between teams of players, set in various types of arena events. It's action packed, it's tactical, and it's sporting. It's definitely more involved than a pick-up-and-play first-person shooter, but it's relatively easy to learn and certainly difficult to master. Unlike many other online RPGs, which often take a lot of flak from their audiences for lacking a definitive endgame, Guild Wars gives the impression that it was built with the endgame competition as a primary concern. However, one of its big surprises is just how much noncompetitive content there is. Even if you have no interest in player-versus-player battling whatsoever, Guild Wars will still provide you with more than 100 hours of quality gameplay, which you can tackle either alone or together with other players pretty much every step of the way.

The core gameplay in Guild Wars is reminiscent of action RPGs like the Diablo series. It lets you navigate countless big, winding maps filled with enemies and treasure, and combat is frequent and fast. You can't climb or fall from ledges, so at times, the design of the maps feels pretty contrived. However, the generally linear layout mostly just helps to keep you focused. The game's interface is clean and intuitive, and offers a few neat perks like a minimap that you can scribble on to help you communicate with your team. You have free reign over the camera perspective, so you may choose to play from a first-person viewpoint all the way on out to a bird's-eye view. Although, a third-person behind-the-back angle seems to deliver the best of both worlds, because you'll get a close look at the game's gorgeous graphics and plenty of room to see on your character's periphery. When you see an enemy (whether it's a computer-controlled creature or an opposing player), you may target it with a hotkey or a mouse click, and then attack it with your ranged or melee weapons. Most of your combat will be focused on using your different skills, though.

You can have exactly eight skills readied at a time, which correspond to the number keys on your keyboard. Which eight skills you bring to battle and which skills you discover during your adventure is really at the heart of what makes Guild Wars such a compelling experience. It's what levels the playing field in PvP and keeps the action manageable even when things get really intense. Each of the game's six character classes has 150 unique skills, and each one has its own little icon graphic, description, and purpose. For the most part, skills are not inherently better or worse than other skills--they're just different. Depending on how you've developed your character or your role in a player team, the skills will be better or worse for your circumstances. Many skills have obvious uses, while many are much more specific to certain types of situations. Some will serve you better when exploring the role-playing portion of the game, while others will be better suited to PvP battling against real opponents. It's definitely an interesting selection process. It shares a lot in common with collectible card games, and similarly offers a very satisfying reward whenever you discover that great, new skill that makes you feel much stronger while also causing you to make significant changes to your overall strategy. Guild Wars' skill system is a resounding success.

Creating a character is a quick, straightforward process of choosing a gender, appearance, and character class. You'll quickly notice the game's striking character design right from this point. Even prior to that, though, you're asked to make an important choice: whether to build a standard role-playing character or a player-versus-player-specific character. If you choose the former, you start out as a first-level neophyte on a foreboding day in Ascalon's history. And if you choose the PvP option, you skip all the way through the 100-odd hours of questing and storyline and begin with a high-level character decked out with powerful equipment. He or she can then jump right into some competitive matches, but cannot participate in any cooperative gameplay.

An absolutely huge story-driven role-playing adventure awaits you, though you can cut straight to the player-versus-player skirmishing if you prefer.

The idea behind these two options is pretty obvious. Players who'd rather not muck around with leveling up and pretentious fantasy storytelling needn't even bother with it, and they can instead jump straight into the competitive game. Or, players who want to get their feet wet before diving into PvP combat, or who want to ignore PvP entirely, may do so during the course of the adventure. It's not quite this cut and dried, though, because Guild Wars wants you to experience both aspects of the game, regardless of whether you think you do or not. Specifically, if you cut straight to the PvP, you'll find that the vast majority of the different character classes' skills are locked away, waiting to be discovered during the course of the role-playing portion. Custom weapon parts can also be found in the campaign, which can later be used in PvP.

So, it's possible that players expecting Guild Wars to be a light and breezy experience will be disappointed, because this is a deep, enthralling, and potentially very time-consuming game. While combat in Guild Wars rewards skillful planning and coordination between players, many of the best Guild Wars players will surely be the ones who invest the largest number of hours into the game--not only honing their talents, but also seeking out the best skills and equipment in the role-playing portion. Fortunately, the role-playing portion is on equal footing with the PvP, so chances are you'll enjoy the opportunity to experience both, and appreciate the game all the more for it.

Ratchet & Clank® Future: Quest for Booty

2008-08-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

The heroic lombax, Ratchet, returns this fall in an all-new adventure with Ratchet & Clank® Future: Quest for Booty exclusively for PLAYSTATION®3 via PLAYSTATION®Network. A stand-alone adventure for both fans and newcomers to the franchise, Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty offers up to four hours of gameplay in Ratchet and Clank’s debut on the PLAYSTATION Network. With all new wrench mechanics and light and dark illumination puzzles, Ratchet must manipulate objects and use his wits in order to succeed in his quest. New pirate-themed puzzles in four exotic locations will have gamers interacting with townspeople, manipulating shadows and playing pirate tunes, and mixing pirate brew to find hidden treasures.

All new wrench mechanics: Push, pull, and manipulate objects
Light/Dark gameplay: Illuminate dark areas and use your wits to survive.
Pirate Puzzles: Mix brew, manipulate shadows and play tunes to find hidden booty!
Travel to four exotic locations on Planet Merdegraw: Pirate Fleet, Hoolefar Island, Morrow Caverns and Darkwater Cove
Fight a motley crew of pirate enemies including Skull Walkers, Hot Heads, Giant Vipers (Pythors) and Undead Robotic Pirates.
Explore a small island town and interact with the townspeople to find vital clues to Captain Darkwater’s treasure.
Up to four hours of epic Ratchet & Clank gameplay for both fans and newcomers to the franchise.

Dracula 3 and Sinking Island from Encore released

2008-08-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

Mystery Adventure Games Line Launches First Titles

Dracula 3 and Sinking Island from Encore released

Encore, a wholly owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, announced today that the first titles in their Mystery Adventure Games line, Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon and Sinking Island have shipped to retail. Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon is the newest installment in the original Dracula series and makes it’s North American debut with a $29.99 MSRP and rating of “T” for Teen by the ESRB. Sinking Island brought to life by acclaimed game maker Benoit Sokal hits US shelves for $29.99 MSRP and a “T” for Teen rating by the ESRB. More information, assets and trailers for these games can be found at www.mysteryadventuregames.com.

“With new game play elements and plot twists, the first two releases should create positive momentum around the entire Mystery Adventure Games line,” said Cal Morrell, president of Encore. “Dracula 3 introduces fans of the series to intriguing new characters and Sinking Island delivers the fast pace, puzzle solving excitement that Sokal fans have come to expect.”

Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon, a game produced by Microïds and developed by Kheops Studio, is the newest installment in the original Dracula series. Based on Bram Stoker’s universe, Dracula 3 takes players to Europe on a suspenseful quest to discover the reality of vampires and come face-to-face with Dracula. As Father Arno Moriani, players must travel to Transylvania to investigate a potential candidate for sainthood. Along the way players are submerged into a gripping storyline with numerous challenging and engaging puzzles to solve that leads to a final confrontation with Dracula!

The creator of Syberia, Beno�t Sokal, returns with Sinking Island, a gripping detective story that combines suspense and intrigue. As an investigator sent to a luscious tropical island to solve the murder of a multi-billionaire hotel developer, players must sort through 10 suspects to the crime as a storm rages on the island. In Sinking Island players have only three days to solve the mystery before the island and the mystery disappears into the ocean. A game by Beno�t Sokal, produced by Microïds and White Birds Productions, developed and designed by White Birds Productions.

DT Carnage

2008-08-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

In DT Carnage, players will race on various tracks using any and every trick they have up their sleeves. From using items to slow down opponents, to crushing other drivers against the side of the track, to simply breezing past rivals using skillful driving maneuvers, racers will do whatever it takes to be proclaimed number one.

In RPG mode, players start off with training. Players will learn how to use various items and techniques to excel on the track. After players have finished training and leveling up their drivers through the growth system, they will send their drivers off to the tracks to battle against the best of the best.

Be prepared to get lost in the world of fast cars, talented drivers, and dirty tricks as Agetec, Inc. today announced that they are revved up and ready to “step on the gas pedal” with their upcoming game, DT Carnage, which promises to be the most cutthroat racing game ever seen, can be found in North American retail stores this summer.

“Fans of the racing genre will love this game. It features top notch graphics, amazingly realistic controls, and over the top action. With all of that and more, the game will really make players feel like they’re in the race of their lives,” says Mark Johnson, producer at Agetec. “DT Carnage also sets itself apart from other racing games by having a RPG like mode that allows drivers to live the life of a racer from start to finish.”

A Combination of Racing and Explosions Blast its Way onto Store Shelves

Agetec, Inc. today announced that its newest PlayStation 2, DT Carnage, has shipped to retailers in North America. This racing title combines intense racing action with down and dirty tactics in the quest for being number one.

“Players will definitely feel the pressure,” says Mark Johnson, Producer at Agetec. “Not only will they have to sharpen their driving skills, but they’ll have to master using the multiple weapons and explosives at their disposal if they want to survive the race.”

The DT Racing underworld is made up of violence and excitement. Indy racing teams have sectioned off their own turf and race one another for control. Compete in these underground leagues against the other teams to come out on top – but be careful. In the lawless world of DT Carnage, each Indy league you race will try to win by any means necessary. Learning to use their tricks and tactics against them is the only way to survive.

Along with the intense and violent racing action, DT Carnage also features an RPG mode where players can learn the tracks, gain experience to improve their skills, and learn to use their arsenal like a pro. DT Carnage also features over ten unique soundtracks to go along with the spectacular racing and intense explosions.

Red Alert 3 Hands-on

2008-07-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

"Our dirty little secret on the dev team," whispers Amer Ajami, Red Alert 3 producer, "is that the Empire of the Rising Sun is the tool with which we pay homage to a lot of Japanese pop culture and Japanese games. We are, to put it bluntly, a bunch of nerds on the team. We watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga, play a lot of hardcore Japanese games."

Amer has just summed up everything you need to know about Red Alert 3's brand new faction, a force that takes everything we know and love about Japanese culture, condenses it and injects it with Red Alert RTS juice. Take the Tengu unit, for example. Essentially the Veritech fighter from anime Macross, it can transform from a ground-based unit into an air fighter unit with a simple press of the secondary attack button, or the F hot key. On the ground the Tengu is anti-ground. In the air, it's strictly anti-air.

Think Robotech meets RTS. The Shogun Battleship is a nod to the real-life WWII naval unit the Yamato. Bubblegum Crisis makes an appearance, too. The Scionic Schoolgirl, like Gogo from Kill Bill spliced with Tetsuo from Akira in some mad Japanese lab, can lift up any vehicle, even an aircraft carrier, with her mind and crush it in one hit. And then there's hardcore 2D shooter Ikaruga, which has directly influenced the Seawing unit. It has two modes, black and white, and can flip between the two. Normally white on top and anti-air, it can flip upside down revealing its black underside and go anti-ground, following the Ikaruga formula of switching colours depending on enemy fire.

"If you can pay attention to your battle and can quickly transform your units you can really manage your forces very well," Amer explains. "If those Tengus in air mode run into a bunch of anti-aircraft fire you can trigger them into their ground mode and now the anti-air can't touch you and you can take them out. If you pay attention you can really do a lot of damage."

Red Alert 3 is in fact the first Red Alert game in seven years (the last being the 2001 expansion Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge). So it's been a while. The question on our mind, as we sat down with Amer for an extensive hands-on of the PC version of the game, is what has EA's LA studio come up with to make the C&C spin-off series relevant after all these years?

The answer, either reassuringly or disappointingly, depending on your point of view, is not much. Red Alert 3 feels very Red Alert 2. The trademark tongue in cheek tone remains (infantry units will get down and give you 50 if you leave them alone for a bit), the vibrant, saturated "not quite cel-shaded" look is intact and expanding out from your base quickly, scouting the enemy and reacting to your opponent's force is still the focus.

Changes are more about providing better graphics and streamlining the Red Alert 3 experience, making things quicker, easier and smoother. Naval gameplay, a Red Alert trademark, is expanded upon. "Naval gameplay is a very important part of RA3," says Amer. "That doesn't mean just make more naval units. That means making units that can transition from water to land. It also means amphibious structures." Move amphibious units from land into water and they will automatically change form, with no input from the player. Power stations can be built in the sea, as well as other structures. In RA3, unlike most other RTS', you'll need to keep one eye on the land and an even keener eye on the sea.

In-game economy has also been simplified. In previous C&C games resource, whether it be Tiberium or Ore, was strewn about the land and players were able to move an arbitrary number of harvesters into a resource field and generate an incredible amount of money very quickly, which would invariably be used to build as many tanks as possible to spam the enemy with. EALA has tried to combat this by employing 'resource gating'. Amer explains: "When I went to place down my refinery I was presented with a ghosted image of the ideal location. As this harvester travels back and forth between my refinery and this ore node that time is the exact amount of time it takes for this ore node to reset and be ready to dump a new node from its little shovel. It has to go back, pick up more ore, bring that ore up to the front of this line and as soon as it does that the harvester is ready. It's running as efficiently as it possibly can."

EA says 360 and PS3 Tiger Woods 09 graphics identical

2008-07-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

There will be no graphical difference between the 360 and PS3 versions of upcoming EA sports game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, EA has confirmed.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com in an interview published here, EA Tiburon associate producer Greg Rinaldi said that the development team took "great pains" to work on the PS3 version and with Sony this year and that he can't personally tell the difference between the two.

Some PS3 versions of multiplatform EA Sports titles have in the past angered gamers because of frame rate and graphical issues. The PS3 version of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, however, did not suffer from similar problems, and EA looks set to achieve parity once again this year.

Rinaldi told VideoGamer.com: "There's no difference this year. We took great pains to really work on PS3 and work with Sony. Visually, I've seen the two side by side and I couldn't tell the difference. I know there were some issues last year on some of the titles, frame rates being different, but that's not the case with Tiger Woods. Tiger has always been consistent on both platforms.

"It's especially important with stuff like GamerNet, you know where we're exploiting the power of the PlayStation Network, allowing users to be constantly online, constantly able to connect to GamerNet and their friends. I think, European gamers especially, will appreciate that."

Rinaldi agreed with comments made to VideoGamer.com recently by David Rutter, the producer of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of FIFA 09, that PS3 development had now "caught up" with 360 development following Microsoft's console's head start.

"I know at Tiburon we developed Madden 06 on 360 and it gave us a lot," said Rinaldi. "The fact that Microsoft was first gave us a lot of insight into the hardware. We kind of hit the ground running on that. When the PS3 came out, for the first iteration of the titles that we were doing on PS3, I think we had a lot going on at the time. We still had to ship a 360 title and we had to get up to speed on the hardware for PS3. I think it's taken us a cycle or two, but at this point we're really at the same level on both and that's what people need to see."

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Review

2008-07-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

My fingers still bear the scars from a competitive gaming childhood. While I tired my hardest to beat my brother at every game, it was Track and Field and its many copies that saw the most fevered competition. During my younger years I was innocent to the ways of button mashing. It wasn't until International Track and Field on the PlayStation that I discovered a technique using a penny and two shoulder buttons. My controller and fingers were never the same again. With this kind of pedigree I eagerly anticipate every new contender, with SEGA's officially licensed Beijing 2008 being the latest game to have my hands screaming for mercy.

With the Olympics being such a grand affair, the game includes 38 events set across 10 sports. If you follow any of the main events then chances are they're included, but if you watch the Olympics for the football and tennis, look elsewhere. The majority on offer here are score or time based, but a few almost random events have been thrown in to spice things up a little.

ck and Field events are quite obviously core to the game, with the expected array of sprinting, throwing and jumping events. A classic is the 100m sprint, known by many as the finger decimator. Beijing 2008's new twiddling analogue stick technique (optional two-button alternation is available) is perhaps an even bigger killer though. My hand is still bruised from a heated set of races which culminated in a blistering 9.73 seconds photo finish. The longer the distance the more gruelling things become, but it's pain you'll want to live through - especially on Xbox 360 where records are often accompanied by Achievements.

Throwing and jumping events vary in the required technique, with some using the typical speed and angle approach, while others are based on timing a series of button presses or stopping a marker within a set zone. They're not all brilliant, but the majority are good fun and challenging enough to offer a degree of progression. Swimming events are always good for a laugh too, mainly because of their length in comparison to track events. Here you once again have the option to use a two-button tap technique, but it's far better to use the dual rotating analogue stick method, with each stick being rotated in a different direction. It's incredibly tough when competing in two-length races and will almost certainly result in hilarious controller grips and contorted facial expressions.

Things sadly take a turn for the worst when you move away from the track and pool. Numerous shooting events simply aren't fun, the various gymnastic events fail to excite and Judo and Table Tennis are simply odd. The key to fun in games like this is speed. You can introduce as many events and control options as you like, but when the dust settles after a few rounds of playing through all the events, it's the sprint events that reign supreme. The lacklustre events in Beijing can be forgiven though, especially as you can even go online and compete against others and check out where you appear in the world rankings. Appearing in the top 100 is reward enough for the permanent damage you've done to your hand.

Swimming is extremely tough on your hands and controllers

Despite what you might think, Beijing 2008 isn't all fun and games with your friends. When playing alone you're able to effectively become your nation's entire Olympic team. You'll train them, improve their stats and eventually go for gold across the line-up of events. It's a decent effort at a solid solo experience, but not really enough to recommend buying the game for on its own. Multiplayer is where you'll get the majority of enjoyment.

Being the official game of this August's Olympic Games, and seeing as it's only arriving on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, you can expect some impressive production values. Everything looks very nice and the menus have a next-gen flair to them that we simply didn't get on previous consoles. Some stiff animations aside, we can't ask for much more. If there's one area that really could have been tightened up it's load times. The loading between events becomes quite grating, especially when trying to play through a quick game with friends.

At the moment Olympic fever hasn't really hit, yet we're still quite partial to a few sprint races in the office during our lunch break. Once the big event starts in August, being able to take part in the events from the comfort of your living room will be even more enticing. Make no bones about it, Beijing 2008 isn't doing anything all that new, but there's just something undeniably addictive about going for high scores and fastest times. If you've got an urge to twiddle an analogue stick faster than any human knew was possible you can do a lot worse.

Iron Man - Xbox 360 video game review

2008-06-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

Based on the comic book series and major motion picture from Marvel Studios, Iron Man immerses gamers in hardcore shooting action and explosive combat from the film. Exclusive content created just for the game makes it even more interesting for those who want to know more about the Iron Man story. With freedom to move anywhere in the open world environment, customize your Iron Man suit, and seamlessly transition between ground combat, and open air flight as you battle against armies of fighter jets, tanks, armored Super Villains, and more. You are a One Man Army. You are Iron Man.

Features:

* Become a Devastating Weapon: Iron Man alone battles armies of fighter jets, military tanks, armored Super Villains, and more.

* Beyond the Movie: The game includes additional plotlines and characters from the Iron Man Comic Universe that are not featured in the movie.

* Open World: Players have complete freedom to move anywhere in the environment and make seamless transitions between ground combat and open air flight.

* Power Control : Players will direct power to different parts of Iron Man’s suit, creating a variety of unique attacks.

* Chaotic Battlefields: Open-ended battlefields create adrenaline-packed combat filled with unpredictable challenges.

Gameplay:
There is the rare moment of joy playing as Iron Man–which is a shame because the movie is so good. One of the rare bright spots is your ability to tweak your suit. You get to mess with everything from the weapons to the abilities of Iron Man.

Then there is the bad–and there is a lot. “Iron Man” is the definition of repetition. The enemies couldn’t be lamer. If I didn’t have to review the game I’d have bailed on it much sooner. Another pisser is the fact that you either make it through a level or you don’t. There is no halfway point where you can die soon after and restart there–its back to the beginning if you burn through your lives. There were numerous occasions where you are asked to be a hero but can’t because its impossible. Either you are so massively under attack which makes it near impossible to complete a mission or you just can’t sort through the chaos to save a nuclear plant from exploding. Sometimes its just easier to pretend the bad guys aren’t blowing things up.

Graphics:
“Iron Man” is all over the graphic map. Occasionally some of the scenes are great and others just move awkwardly. The cut-scenes should be great and yet they are lackluster.

Audio:
Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrance Howard are actually voicing the characters and yet it doesn’t matter. Not because the game isn’t good–they just sound like two guys going through the motions.

Finally:
“Iron Man” is an exercise in frustration. Not only because the game isn’t good–but because it could have been great. Flying around as Iron Man is cool. It’s when Iron Man has to react to a problem that the game falls to pieces. “Iron Man” is the type of game where you wish it were more “Grand Theft Auto” with a massive world where you can explore everywhere. How cool would it be to fly across the ocean to Europe just because you can? Well you can’t fly forever and that is forgivable, but little else is. The lack of AI and other important details kill “Iron Man.”

Gran Turismo 5 - Playstation 3 video game review

2008-06-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue features over 60 stunning cars – including vehicles by Lotus, Mitsubishi, Nissan and Ferrari for you to race on seriously realistic, real-life tracks: including the Eiger Nordwand, the London City Track and Suzuka – all rendered in incredible High Definition graphics. There’s also all-new driving physics for the most lifelike driving experience ever and new, improved opponent artificial intelligence for the toughest race challenge yet.

But that’s not all – for the first time ever in the history of Gran Turismo, players will now be able to race online. Up to 16 players will be able to go head-to-head on some of the world’s best racetracks on PlayStation Network. All you need to get racing is a broadband connection and PS3. Once you’re up and revving, Global Online Rankings and the My Garage homepage feature will leave the world in n o doubt as to just who is the best at Gran Turismo.

And then there’s the Online Dealership, providing a wealth of information on cars and manufacturers and also Gran Turismo TV – a dedicated online channel available exclusively from PSN and packed with some of the greatest content that Motorsport, car manufacturers and TV has to offer.

Gameplay:
This version of Gran Turismo is much like the previous where you must unlock events in order to move forward. Typical of a GT release the game gets progressively more and more difficult. And fans will be able to buy different cars–but you won’t be pimping your ride.

In terms of driving, GT5 is difficult. The controls never feel sloppy–which is important because its not easy to conquer. The fifth version of GranTurismo is the closest the franchise gets to become a full on race simulator. The camera views aren’t anything new to the franchise except the nice view from the seat. Still the bumper view is the best as the inside view is little more than a bonus feature. You can also modify your vehicle’s suspension, tires and gears.

The competitors are phenomenal. They occasionally make mistakes but it often feels like you are racing a robot and not a human–which is to say the AI isn’t realistic enough. The competitors are too close to perfect.

There are over 60 cars from a massive amount of auto companies. This is a huge drop from the cars that were available in GT4 however. I know some people are complaining about the lack of cars but truth is I always felt like it was a hinderance to have so many cars and trying to figure out what to drive. It wasn’t something that made me want to come back and drive those cars–instead it was a bit overwhelming. As with previous versions, the cars are as they should be. Cheaper cars suck and expensive cars are great. And it still takes a lot of work to unlock all of the cars.

You can compete on 6 tracks with 12 total layouts, including Fuji Speedway, Suzuka Circuit, and Daytona International Speedway.

Graphics:
The Playstation 3 hasn’t come close to proving its worth until now. GT5 looks amazing. The tracks are some of the most amazing things you’ll have seen yet on the PS3. This is the way hi-def gaming should look. Everything from the mountains to the clouds are visually stunning. The game renders in 1080p at 60 frames per second with crisp, realistic lighting and camera effects (replays rendered in 1080p 30fps).

Audio:
The soundtrack is top-notch with all kinds of musical styles. The sounds of the game are brillant as any simulator should be. It’s not hard to imagine yourself there as the car revs and tires screech.

Finally:
“Gran Turismo 5″ is a great game but not as good as “Dirt.” Even though “Dirt” isn’t meant to be a sim its far more fun. There are occasions when “Gran Turismo 5″ feels too stiff and not fun. It’s a bad thing when fun takes a backseat to realism.

Hot Wheels: Beat That! Review

2007-12-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

It's pretty easy to Beat This.
by Ryan Clements

December 11, 2007 - Who would have thought that driving miniature cars around recognizable domestic environments would lead to an incredibly unfulfilling experience? As charming as racing tiny little cars may be in theory, putting the idea into practice is an entirely different story. There's really no charm in Hot Wheels: Beat That! other than the fact that this particular title serves as a perfect representation, unfortunately, of below-average videogames. But there's more to be said about this miniscule racer, so let's move on.

Published by Activision Value and developed by Eutechnyx, Hot Wheels: Beat That! puts you in control of a tiny toy car and gives you the ability to race around a handful of tracks, competing against other like-minded toys. The only thing that gives this game any personality at all is the fact that the cars are indeed among the pint-sized variety, and there are a number of weapons and devices to employ during a race. That's the only interesting thing that can be said about Beat That!, because all the other game elements are extremely standard. Everything from the gameplay to the race tracks completely lacks evidence of inspirational design.

Um... nice?
Um... nice?
The game is divided into two main modes: single-player and multiplayer. The single-player mode is further organized into three difficulty levels: easy, medium and hard. At the beginning of the game, just about everything is locked, only giving you access to the easy setting and a single racing zone. Each zone is essentially a themed racing area, with about four similar tracks contained within. That set of four can be played with three different game types: Quick Race (a standard race), Eliminator (every thirty seconds, the last-place car is eliminated until only one remains), and Rampage (you must destroy a set number of cars with rockets). Furthermore, you can also play consecutively through these four tracks in a score-based Tournament. While this menagerie of modes may seem like a great assortment of activities to engage in, just remember that each of the four zones only has about four (very similar) tracks, and you have to play them over and over again. In other words, the game structure isn't that exciting.

Gameplay itself is carried out in the exact manner one would expect from a completely sub-par videogame. The little car of your choice can drive like any other car - it can drift and shoot a variety of semi-deadly weapons. Unfortunately, there are major control issues present. The cars not only feel bland but they also feel the same, with very minor differences between each vehicle. More problematic are the collision models and other similar mechanics, which allow your car to get caught, snagged, flipped or completely disabled on the most inconspicuous or inappropriate road objects. At one point during a race, our car actually got stuck behind a small groove in the road and couldn't even get out, throwing us from first place into last.

The many modes mentioned above, while seemingly impressive in number, were ultimately wasteful. Everything blurred together and grew less interesting as our time with the game progressed. The tracks have little individuality, and being forced to race the same four tracks four times in a row for each zone is absurd. Multiplayer also brings little to the table, because you can only play with one other person, split-screen, and only within the various game types and tracks that you've already unlocked (and on the same keyboard). Multiplayer is generally a great feature to have, but when the game is intrinsically poor, adding more players to the mix won't help things at all.

Loops.
Loops.
Displeasing gameplay isn't the only negative element working in the game's disfavor. Hot Wheels: Beat That! also sports bad graphics and one of the most repetitive and annoying soundtracks imaginable. In the grand scheme of things, it seems almost impossible that a game so fantastical would completely abandon the potential to create interesting tracks. And yet, the course design is horrendously bland and frustrating.

Closing Comments
As scathing as it may sound, there's really no reason for a racing fan to play Beat That, even if that fan is a little kid. Although the gameplay isn't completely broken, it just isn't fun. Even more unfortunate is the fact that the game's few positive elements, like awarding flame points (used for unlocking content) for achieving secondary goals, are completely lost in a much greater number of negative traits. Ultimately, there's a great deal of irony in Beat That!'s title, because it's beaten very easily by the majority of racing titles on the market today.

Avencast: Rise of the Mage Review

2007-12-31T18:03:00.000-08:00

Wash down the bland story with a tasty genre cocktail.
by Emily Balistrier

December 11, 2007 - Many games claim the "exciting combination of dynamic action, adventure and traditional role-playing" that Avencast Rise of the Mage has printed on the back of its box, but how many actually live up to it? There's always a danger in trying to do too much, but somehow Avencast manages to make an RPG with action-based controls and tricky puzzles like an adventure game should have.

First and foremost, let's call it an RPG. You play as Moses—errr, or you could name him Moses if you wanted and it would be apt, since he was found floating down a river in a basket. After showing a particular aptitude for magic, his benefactor sends him to the magic academy to unlock his potential and the plot picks up near the end of his studies. This lends everything a rather Harry Potter-ful flavor, but luckily there's more to it than that—yes, including healthy amounts of loot.

Quests range from infuriating side tasks like keeping some overheating pots from exploding, to main story missions like exploring crypts beneath the school and hunting ghosts. You'll level up as you go, earning ten stat points with each. Allocate them as you please either among your four main attributes (Health, Mana, Soul Magic, and Blood Magic) or unlock one of the many spells available, which all cost a cheap six points. You never have to hoard stat points, as opposed to some games where leveling up is often anticlimactic because you're not earning anything new while saving.

Blood Magic consists of more melee range spells, while Soul Magic allows you to attack from a distance. Since you can dodge flaming skulls and other projectiles, enemies' melee attacks are far more dangerous, so getting close enough to throw out Lash of Rage or Fire Thrust seemed risky. The most useful spells were the "Wave" type under the Soul umbrella. In addition to looking really sweet, they allow you to attack multiple enemies in one rolling hit. There are also a number of summons, and Killer Flies are awesome. Not only do they make whichever enemy they attack flail and run in circles, but they distract his friends, too.

Using WSAD to move doesn't necessarily equal action, but it sure feels like it does in this type of game. I preferred the "Follow" camera option (where the camera is always behind you) for its MMO-y feel, but no matter what style you choose…no click to move. Breakthrough! Double tapping any direction causes your character to do a roll, while spacebar is a one step dodge. Magic spells have an even fresher scheme, where instead of a hot key, each spell is assigned its own combo (e.g. down, up, down, left click for those wicked Killer Flies). There are still some monsters that are big and lunky that you can just kite out of existence using your default purple magic shot, but for the most part you'll have to be a little more active.

Once you make it past the minions, though, bosses tend to be needlessly long and tedious. If you know the pattern and that's all there is to it, it probably doesn't need to take more than a few minutes to whittle down the HP. Plus, there's one particularly lame bug that seems to have not be addressed yet involves bosses disappearing, which leaves you with an obsolete life bar and nothing to whack on.

Completing the trio of genres here is the adventure puzzle segments. You don't always expect puzzles in an action-RPG, and certainly not ones that put you to the test (or to the forums) as much as in Avencast. While figuring out how to operate the machines in the Planetarium or put your magical imprint on your special glowing crystal could be very frustrating, it was also really nice to have something outside of the dodging, spell launching, and staff wielding to accomplish.

The well-rounded gameplay is complemented decently by the sound and graphics. Instead of not really noticing the music at all, I found it to be actually sort of good, and mood-fitting. The battle theme seems to come in with its fat staccatos at a slightly higher volume for an extra alert. Voice acting is pretty consistently good, even if the dialogue is sort of bland.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with the in-game graphics, but I was happy to find that cut scenes played out in artistic stills rather than generic fuzzy CG. The inky parchment look gave the events a more classic fantasy feel anyways, and it's getting to the point where having a discrepancy between in-game and cut scenes feels really outdated. That may not be why they made the choice, but it's still a really great alternative, and it even managed to make me pay attention to the dull story.

Closing Comments
With so many typical fantasy RPGs coming out all the time, it’s nice to see something a little different in Avencast Rise of the Mage. Despite the cliché setting and plot, it manages to differentiate itself well by incorporating environmental puzzles and an action-oriented control system. Even if you don’t always feel terribly invested in the events, at least the thinking and dexterity required provide a more involved experience than your typical hold-the-left-mouse-button hack ‘n slash. Avencast may not be for everybody, but while it could use a bit more spit polish in places, it’s more than the generic box art lets on.

Next Life Review

2007-12-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

But there are good games in this one… so why bother?
by Emily Balistrieri

December 12, 2007 - Spoiler alert: The main character dies in the first two minutes of the adventure! It's a car accident, poor chap. Instead of burning forever in the bowels of hell for answering his cell on the road, he is sent to an island to be greeted by a rag-tag bunch of multinationals, who oddly can't seem to agree what year it is. They subsist on biscuits and water, and every evening after a bell tolls—third chimes the charm—everyone mysteriously falls asleep. Next Life is a point-and-click adventure in which you attempt to figure out what the hell is going on.

It's also a game in which you collect sticks and stones…everyday. Unfortunately, there isn't much bone breaking to be done--mostly just making fires, prying doors-- although you do get to whack a fellow in the head, which is very satisfying after all the non-action. But then this isn't a game about action, this is a game about the search for the answers. It's about atmosphere and cleverness at solving puzzles.

Or rather, it should be. Mostly it's a game dealing with the tedium of the moment to moment movements of your stick-in-the-mud Bohemian (in the literal sense: "Good day, my name is Adam and I come from Bohemia," which for those keeping track, is in the Czech Republic, where the game devs are located!) He is so stiff and so slow that you just want to physically pick him up and throw him across the screen. One of your first tasks is moving a boulder and getting to it involves climbing. Might as well have a bathroom break or something after you click, because he takes…his… sweet time. For such a healthy-looking guy, Adam is severely lacking in agility. I want to adventure with someone who can handle the island environment, and not some jerk who has to turn in place before taking a halting step in the direction I pointed him.

Also, I'd be pleased if there were just one mouse button to click. Other adventure games have done just fine having you always clicked the left button. Interaction to be had? Left mouse button! Investigate to undertake? Left mouse button! Next Life felt the need to disrupt that simple formula by sticking the investigation portion on the right…but is there really that fine of a line? It throws off the flow quite a bit when you start realizing you should compulsively right click everything rather than get stuck for an hour because of an arbitrary button assignment.

Not too far into the game Adam begins to have strange dreams, which play out in puzzle segments that take place off the island. The first of these, on the top of a huge crane, also introduces you to one of the more interesting, if a little frustrating, aspects of the experience: mini-games. Mastering your fear of heights by rolling 2-D marbles through a maze is one thing, but I think my favorite is the CPR mini-game that occurs later on, only because of its adorable icons. You block the lightening from entering an electrocuted mans heart, while allowing the blood drops to flow through.

Not quite as welcome as some of the mini-games, are the timed tasks. One example is infamous enough to be known as the "seatbelt dexterity puzzle" in the forums. The set-up: You're trapped in a car and for some reason the oncoming train refuses to acknowledge your existence even if you wave or honk the horn. Use your brain in the exactly way the developers intend or perish! Granted, adventure games always require you to puzzle things out, and that is half the point, but when you're not granted the leisure to do so, frustration escalates rather quickly. There are actually zipped save files you can download in the forums to bypass it, for the weary who still want to complete the game.

As for the atmosphere, the ambient noise is fine enough, but the voice acting is distractingly fraught with stereotypical accents, some of which are just poorly done, others plain incorrect. I've heard worse, but these could've been a lot better considering one of the main questions of the game is what a bunch of such random people are doing on the island.

Next Life also suffers from poor localization. I could give it the benefit of the doubt and say that the intent was for all these non-native speakers of English to sound authentic, except for the typos in the subtitles, and weird disparities between the spoken and text versions of the dialogue that betray less planning than required.

Closing Comments
Next Life’s story gets more…intriguing? as you go, but the animation and gameplay continue to be a slow drip of super-clunk tempered only a little by a sprinkle of more action-oriented mini-games. The atmosphere is marred by uneven voice acting quality while the pressure of a time limit occasionally screws with player’s problem solving method. Your current life should have enough good games in it this time of year without having to adventure beyond the beyond.

Universe at War: Earth Assault Review

2007-12-31T17:58:00.000-08:00

Why won't these aliens stop invading us already?
by Steve Butts

December 14, 2007 - On the surface, Universe at War: Earth Assault is your standard base laying, resource harvesting, unit building affair. But what Petroglyph has done is to take that basic framework and use it to create a game with three wildly unique but finely balanced factions that each offer a level of real-time customization that gives players a chance to really adapt to the changing circumstances on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the game's campaign doesn't do justice to the overall design while a number of sticky interface and performance problems add to the frustrations.

In brief, Universe at War tells the story of an alien invasion of Earth, our timely rescue by an otherworldly benefactor and the eventual arrival of a third group of aliens who have been awakened by the whole mess. Of course, any one who's paid any attention to anything vaguely resembling science fiction has seen all of this before. We have the requisite giant multi-legged walkers, the flying anthropomorphic anime robots, and, of course, the ancient mystics who were long thought dead. It has a real paint-by-numbers feel that hides any of Petroglyph's original ideas behind a thick coating of overused cliches. We might be more likely to accept it all if we were more convinced that Petroglyph intended the whole thing to come off as kitsch rather than homage. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on that one.

The one really nice thing about the story is that Petroglyph pushes humanity to the side pretty quickly. We've about had our fill of games where the plucky humans fight back against cruel invading aliens so having a game where the real fight is among different groups of aliens who are merely using humanity as a backdrop is a welcome change of pace. Of course, we'll see what happens come expansion time.

Now, with all that said, the actual gameplay concepts behind each of the races are amazing, not just in their individual strengths but in the fact that they each feel like they might have come from completely different games. Better still, each faction has some far-reaching universal powers that they can adjust on the fly to give their forces an edge in one particular area or another.

The Novus are a high-tech but fragile force that relies on an amazingly interesting system of energy towers that give them a level of mobility that I don't think we've ever seen in any other game. Being able to move large forces around in a matter of a few seconds gives them the opportunity to strike virtually anywhere on the map with lots and lots of inexpensive units. Their resource gathering units are so numerous and agile that it's hard to strike at their economy in the field, meaning you'll have to actually hit them at their base to keep them from continually swarming you.

The Hierarchy are pretty much the opposite. They're much slower but they have the distinct advantage of lacking a sizable base infrastructure. Instead, their force revolves around self-sufficient resource gathers (who aren't too terrible in defending themselves) and massive walkers that can be upgraded with hardpoints either for powerful direct fire weapons or for unit production. The Hierarchy player is basically working with three mobile bases that act as siege weapons and barracks at the same time. Marching them right up to the edge of an enemy base and pumping out fresh troops while their guns are pounding the base defenders is one of the most fun moments you'll have in the game.

Finally, there's the Masari. These ancient, godlike people are soon drawn in to the conflict between the Novus and the Hierarchy and they bring their very own, very unique play style to the mix. Their resource collection efforts are actually centered at their base, giving them a chance to consolidate their power until they can really let loose with their late game powers and heroes. Their builders can actually be tasked on different buildings to improve their functionality, giving the Masari a tremendous versatility. If you want a slight edge in resource production, unit training, or research speed all you have to do is shuffle your architects around. The Masari can also shift the focus of their entire strategy by switching back and forth between Light and Dark mode depending on whether or not they need to put more of a premium on speed over protection. The chance to drastically change the overall abilities and strengths of the army make them a hard foe to counter.

The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific Review

2007-12-31T15:49:00.000-08:00

As the year swiftly comes to a close, it becomes irrevocably clear that 2007 saw a very impressive number of incredible first-person (and third-person) shooters. The degree of quality that these titles possess is so great in fact that upcoming FPS games have dauntingly high expectations to meet. After all, when you're following in the footsteps of magnificent art, it's difficult to get noticed.

Unfortunately, The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific is an FPS that not only fails to inspire or redefine the genre, but it also misses the mark of mediocrity. This is an extremely substandard game, through and through, and it's almost a shame that it had to follow such a great series of acts. Set in the now entirely overused backdrop of World War II, Battle for the Pacific attempts to recreate certain segments of the Pacific Campaign including the legendary Battle of Iwo Jima. However, its lackluster presentation, abundance of AI glitches and forgettable narrative make this an FPS game you may want to skip.

We don't mean to say that Battle for the Pacific is entirely hopeless -- it occasionally demonstrates (at least through imitation) a handful of respectable elements like average combat mechanics and a few good animations here and there. But these are hardly enough to redeem its negative qualities.

Here they come.
Here they come.

Battle for the Pacific places you in the dirt-covered boots of an American soldier participating in the US campaign to retake key strategic positions, including the aforementioned Iwo Jima. Perhaps the first problem that presents itself is the complete lack of soldier personality, which is becoming increasingly apparent in FPS titles nowadays. The only character you'll develop any sort of relationship with is your Sergeant, who miraculously survives just about everything that's thrown at him (and does a surprisingly good job of taking down the opposing force). Besides this ultimately weak character, no one else really matters, which is too bad.

The next obvious problem is the core gameplay: following people. Almost every mission among the collection of about ten missions involves you following either a commanding officer or fellow soldier, and if you stray even slightly from their immediate vicinity, the mission fails. Hooray. In other words, the gameplay doesn't change much, so once you've seen the first ten minutes of the title, you've basically seen it all.

This promptly leads us to our next issue: the game's length. Sure, the first ten minutes just repeat over and over again, but for how long? There lies our biggest surprise: the game only lasts two hours tops (unless you die frequently). For an almost full priced FPS title, two hours is bordering on pathetic. But with such an intrinsically weak experience, maybe that short length is a blessing in disguise.

But let's say that these issues don't get you down. "I don't care, Ryan," you say proudly in dignified protest, "I still have a resounding desire to partake in this Battle for the Pacific!" Well, we should also point out that the game is noticeably glitchy, especially when it comes to your fellow soldiers. Because you follow at least one NPC for the majority of the game, you rely on them quite a bit to move forward. Unfortunately, your "guide" will often stand in place idly and stare at a wall, run back and forth in one spot, or generally just forget where he's going (or so it seems). This really hurts the gameplay and makes the experience much less enjoyable -- though it wasn't overly enjoyable to begin with.

Reload!
Reload!

Otherwise, the game is almost entirely forgettable. It technically works, but going through the same jungles and trench environments gets old pretty quickly. In fact, some of the beginning levels look virtually identical to the final ones, which isn't promising.

As for the multiplayer experience, we can't strongly recommend Battle for the Pacific because our searches for a match usually resulted in no fellow players. Considering the fact that the minimum player count ranges from three to four, the grand majority of our matches couldn't even start. Awesome.

Closing Comments
The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific isn't necessarily an atrocious game, but it just isn't that fun and brings so very little to the table. As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, there are numerous FPS games out there now that are highly worth your time. Try them. Leave Battle for the Pacific on the shelf, unless you're legally bound to own every World War II-related videogame ever made. If that's the case, we feel bad for you.

The Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle-Earth II

2006-03-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

Genre: Strategy
Published by Electronic Arts
Developed by EA Pacific
Release Date: 28.02.2006
Minimum System: n/a
Reality Factor: Fantasy
Real Time: Real Time
Map Size: Local
Combat Status: Militaristic
Base Management: Minor Economy
Age: Ancient Times

We play The Lord of the Rings: the Battle for Middle-Earth II...

Sometimes its worthwhile flogging a dead horse, and EA games proves that they are expert floggers indeed with this latest release of the LOTR game that didn't quite manage to rule them all. You can't really blame them, they feel the potential oozing from the product like power from the one true ring. But unlike Gollum's object of desire, this precious isn't quite as powerful as they expect and will probably walk itself to Mount Doom in a few months and happily toss itself on Peter Jackson's LOTR merchandise pyre.

Having said that, the game ain't half bad. Neither was the original. This one is a fair old improvement, because they managed to get the license for the books and the movies. That means if you've only seen the movies you're going to be pleasantly surprised by the array of monsters and races which come out of the woodwork. Middle Earth also turns out to be much bigger than previously indicated in the original game, so you get a much deeper, more authentic experience. The problem with more authentic experiences is that they tend to be boring. If you've watched the movies or read the books and gotten thoroughly irritated with all the walking, you'll know what I mean.

You can play single player, which is fairly lame, or in War of the Ring mode, which is as impressive as the name suggests. It's also as long and drawn out as the name suggests, so alert your friends and family so they don't worry too much when you emerge from your room several days after installing the game, looking vacant eyed and muttering about elven conspiracies. In this mode you must conquer all of Middle Earth, much of which would rather that you didn't conquer it. There are some very nice combat scenes to be had, but the action can get a little repetitive and there is the risk of loosing interest in between battles. You can also set the computer to play out the battles for you, which is an excellent way to defeat the purpose of playing the game at all. People who are looking to a future in accounting or data entry might enjoy clicking around a map, however most blood thirsty players will be getting their thrills from fighting the battles themselves. There are a few wrinkles which haven't been ironed out, such as the fact that troops you amass during battle disappear when you've won. This is rather confusing. It's not clear whether they evaporate magically, or if perhaps they are absorbed into the soil of Middle Earth. Either way, it's rather silly and quite unrealistic.

To give single player a mention, its saving grace is all the new material and the somewhat improved AI, although that's not really saying that much. If you're even halfway acquainted with strategy games you'll kick its ass fairly regularly. There are two campaigns, depending on whether you'd rather be naughty or nice, each campaign has eight scenarios to play through.

There are some new features that may make your ears prick up however, my favorite was the ability to create your own hero. He wasn't perfect, but he was mine. The ability to build stuff anywhere is nice too, makes you feel less like mummy is holding you hand whilst you play. The naval warfare option is also a nice new touch.

Where the fun begins in earnest is when you get to pit your wits against others sitting at their keyboards with their elf ears on, intent on destroying you and taking Middle Earth for themselves. There is the option to play in skirmish mode or War of the Ring mode. Unlike some games, in which real players are more incompetent than the AI, LOTR has attracted a skillful player base, which means you can come up against some very stiff competition indeed. (Read: They annihilated me and made me cry.)

War of the Ring mode may steal your life and suck you dry, but it'll leave you wanting more. There appeared to be people living on the server, the logistics of which don't really bear thinking about. If you're not feeling fanatical as that, you can always save and go see what's happening outside, though its unlikely to be as interesting as whats going on in the game.

Graphically this game is excellent, we should expect no less from EA and from the LOTR franchise, and the sounds aren't half bad either. Combined they make for a compelling experience, one that will keep you glued to your screen long after bed time.

Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy

2006-03-15T17:02:00.000-08:00

This mediocre expansion pack adds little to the Empire Earth II experience.
The Good: Interesting new factions such as the Maasai and Zulu provide a look at Africa rarely seen in historical RTS games; tug of war is a great addition to multiplayer modes of play; native tribes add strategic options to maps.
The Bad: French and Russian civilizations have been done to death in other RTS games; many odds and ends would more appropriately have been provided in a patch or in the original empire earth ii; a lot of the rule tweaks are worthless.
Expansion packs for real-time strategy games are always a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you get great new content that both enhances and lengthens the original game. This might include a new campaign, a fresh faction or two, and maybe even some rule tweaks and new multiplayer modes of play. Other times, however, you get a disappointing collection of odds and ends that have been held back from the original game for the express purpose of selling them to gamers for extra cash six months or a year down the line. Expansions are almost always at one extreme or the other; they rarely seem to be simply mediocre. Until now, that is. Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy walks the line between new content and reheated leftovers, mixing intriguing additions, such as African tribes and a campaign at the dawn of Egyptian civilization, with bland accoutrements, such as the French civilization and multiplayer rules that nobody will ever use. The developers at Mad Doc Software balance every good feature in this expansion with something either uninspired or ill-advised.

Yes, even great big guns can be heroes in this expansion pack.
Take the four new civilizations and campaigns, for instance. Incorporating the Maasai and Zulu tribes into the existing mix of 15 RTS-standard civs is absolutely inspired, as African civilizations aren't often brought to life in an RTS. The Maasai campaign is an innovative story about a war with an evil multinational corporation over a newly discovered energy resource in 2037, while the Zulu are featured in new historical "turning points" battles, which deal with the legendary battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879. And the new African region, which includes deserts, scrub plains, and lush jungles, is the setting for a campaign set at the dawn of Egyptian history.

But much of the African novelty is offset by the other two new civilizations, the French and the Russians, and their been-there, done-that Napoleonic campaign. These nations have been featured in nearly every historical RTS ever made and would probably have been in the original Empire Earth if they hadn't been held back for inclusion in this expansion. The same goes for the campaign, which pits the Russians defending against the French in a snowy struggle that any respectable strategy gamer has already fought a couple of hundred times. Mad Doc has included a civilization editor that allows you to create nations from scratch, but that's still no excuse to ship the expansion with boring additions like these.

Give and take is apparent in the two new skirmish/multiplayer modes as well. Tug of War is a great idea that spreads the battle over multiple maps (three, five, seven, or nine) that represent each side's home territory and the no-man's land between them. You start in neutral ground and try to drive the enemy back to its homeland through victories on one map after another. This leads to tense, quick bloodbaths or lengthy, epic conflicts, depending on how many maps you choose to fight over. Picking three maps raises the stakes, as a single loss forces you to battle for your life, while choosing nine maps usually leads to a drawn-out war with lots of ebb and flow, victories and retreats. The only drawback is that the overall campaign isn't quite seamless, as all units aren't transferred between maps (although progress through the epochs and on the tech tree is, so you don't have to start from scratch on each new map).

Territory Hotspots, on the other hand, is boring. This is a variation on regular Hotspots play from the original Empire Earth II, with the only difference being that the key locations here are revealed at the beginning of matches, and you win by controlling them for a set period of time. The game is supposed to mimic real-world victory conditions, where armies routinely win wars by conquering oil fields, ports, and the like. And it does accomplish this objective, although it plays out so close to the standard Hotspots mode that you have to wonder what the point is here.

Rule tweaks and additions in The Art of Supremacy are up and down as well. Heroes don't add much of anything, as units seem to jump to this status almost randomly during battles. The asymmetrical-resources toggle nicely mixes up resource allocation, although this seems like a more appropriate addition for a patch, not an expansion. Fealty mode in skirmish and multiplayer matches is interesting, as it adds a medieval-style lord-vassal relationship to give losing players a chance to stick around as underlings. The only problem is that this doesn't work well online, as most losing players don't want to stay in games. They typically choose the Viking-funeral route and go down in flames--or simply quit. So this mode doesn't seem to get much use.

Burn baby, burn!
Adding independent native tribes such as the Iroquois and the Olmec to maps makes more of a difference to gameplay, although it's hard to laud this feature too much as it sort of copies an innovation previously seen in Age of Empires III. Here, though, you can assimilate these groups and gain specific bonuses like warrior spirit, which lets you produce infantry faster, or fertility, which cranks up the population growth rate. Tribes add a strategic option to games as well, in that you have to decide between negotiating alliances with them to gain power-ups or wiping them off the map and seizing their buildings. It can often be a better idea to try and destroy tribes to prevent rival players from assimilating them than it is to bother with the often-tedious chore of lining them up as allies.

If you're a hardcore Empire Earth II fanatic, The Art of Supremacy is probably a must-buy. There are a reasonable number of enticing goodies in this package, and the new campaigns provide at least seven or eight hours of gameplay. More casual followers of the series might want to hold back for this one to hit the bargain bin, though, since there isn't anything here that could be considered essential, and the retail price is a rather steep $30.

mediocreGameplay 5
Graphics 7
Sound 7
Value 4
Tilt 5
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Curve: About a half hour
Stability: Stable

Command & Conquer The First Decade

2006-03-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Command and Conquer The First Decade is probably the best compilation of games from any genre all in one DVD. The C&C series started back in 1995 with Command and Conquer, which at the time was one of the few, if not the only real-time strategy type games. They paved the way into gamer's hearts offering not only exciting game play but offered titles that had great graphics, compelling storylines, exceptional acting and fantastic sound effects and music. These attributes provided the groundwork for some of the best titles in the industry and a fan base like no other.

There are 12 titles in the collection spanning over 10 years from 1995-2003. Not quite a real 10 years, but seeing as there has not been a release of any C&C games since 2003 it's close enough. Twelve titles in nine years is still pretty remarkable and shows that Westwood Studios kept working hard to keep the fans happy. The bonus DVD is certainly worth viewing. It goes on about all the development of all the games and into some detail about how the fan base grew as the series progressed. Has about an hour of content and I highly recommend watching it if you purchase this excellent title.

Command & Conquer The First Decade will combine the following titles:

Command & Conquer™(Aug. 1995)

Command & Conquer The Covert Operations™ (April 1996)

Command & Conquer™Red Alert™ (Oct. 1996)

Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™The Aftermath™ (Sept. 1997)

Command & Conquer Red Alert Counterstrike™ (Mar. 1997)

Command & Conquer™Tiberian Sun™ (Aug. 1999)

Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ Firestorm (Feb. 2000)

Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 2 (Oct. 2000)

Command & Conquer™ Yuri's Revenge™ (Oct. 2001)

Command & Conquer Renegade™ (Feb. 2002)

Command & Conquer™Generals (Feb. 2003)

Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour (Sept. 2003)

Visually you can definitely see the progression of technology as you play through each of the titles noticing how the graphics and game play improved over the years as computers advanced over time allowing for better visuals and more in-depth game play. Though the earlier titles may not be as pretty, they still provide some awesome gaming that any RTS fan will surely enjoy. Personally, my collection only involves Red Alert 2 through Generals Zero Hour. Now I was able to play the earlier titles to see how the series evolved over the years. Wow, was I impressed. I have always loved the fact that the games involved real actors - some of which you have actually seen in real Hollywood movies. I have always felt in any game that when you use real talent it always helps the storyline in any genre. It surely beats bad voice-overs from the local college trying terrible foreign accents that you know you yourself could do better at. Just one more accolade to add to the long list of paramount attributes in the development of a great series.

All the titles have top-notch sound effects and the music is still the best I have ever heard. The voices were great and I always liked the different sound bytes you would hear when selecting a unit. I.e., Tanya with her “Shake it Baby” … and yes she is still smoking hot! When you have 100 units doing different tasks, planes flying over dropping bombs, guys being blown to oblivion, buildings pumping out units or being destroyed was like overload to my ears because it sounded so good. It’s a wonder that my ears didn’t bleed. The sound effects had me so immersed in the game that when I heard the nuclear alert go off I wanted to hide under my desk. In short, these games all had unique qualities and pushed the envelope at the time of their development. If there were not hardware limitations it would interesting to see what else they could have come up with.

All the storylines were so creatively done it’s a wonder that Westwood or EA has not jumped on the bandwagon and gone Hollywood. I could see how some of the titles could certainly be spun to be a box office hit. Heck, cast Kari Wuhrer (Tanya the gorgeous agent from red alert 2) in it and I would sure be at the box office! In all seriousness the creativity was second to none and I surely hope that in 10 years we will be looking at a second decade of hits.

Review Scoring Details for Command and Conquer The First Decade

Gameplay: 9.0
After the initial set up it’s a snap to get on with the gaming. All the games are on one DVD, which eliminates fumbling around with different CD’s. Even if you own a few of the titles it's worth picking this up and having them all. I have always been a fan of the series because playing was very easy with a small learning curve and adjustable options. The storylines are epic in their own right and Westwood has made it a practice to use some real Hollywood actors, which proves that they take great measures to make a good game into a great game.

Graphics: 8.0
Keep in mind that some older games are on the disk so compared to today’s graphics they don’t even hold a candle to them. Some of the more recent titles like Generals still look good despite being a couple of years old. C&C has always pushed the envelope to invoke new technologies in their games. This used to be a bear on older PCs. Today's PCs can take the abuse these titles hand out easily, which make playing them now pretty much trouble free even on the highest visual detail settings.

Sound: 9.0
Still sounds great after all these years. I do not believe that any of the games are surround sound supported, but still sound good in stereo. The music from these game is some of the best I have ever heard.

Difficulty: Medium
You can toggle many of the settings to make the game as easy or as hard as you like. Experienced players will find the multiplayer useful for those all-out slugfests.

Concept: 8.0
I like what EA has been doing with some of their legacy titles like the Sims and the C&C series. For those who might have tried a few games on the disc, it makes purchasing this compilation worthwhile.

Multiplayer: 9.0
Still one of the best multiplayer games I have ever played.

Overall: 8.8
One of the best values around.

Decisive Battles of World War II: Korsun Pocket

2006-03-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

Gamers are no strangers to World War II games. Every type of game style imaginable has been covered, including FPS, RTS, and online gaming devoted to one of the most infamous battles in history. Matrix games has recently released their own version of a World War II title called Korsun Pocket, Decisive Battles of World War II which is not only a deep and involving RTS title, but resembles more of a board game format rather than your traditional RTS title.

Korsun Pocket focuses on the Russian / German aspect of the war in 1944, which focused on the town of Korsun and it’s airfield. The Germans moved in, and of course Stalin sent his troops to remove the German forces from Russian soil. This bitter and brutal battle that took place along the Dnepr River also was pegged by historians as what could have been another Stalingrad, and places you in a commanding position over the struggle between the two armies. In addition, they also included the Ardennes Offensive scenario that pits U.S. and German forces against one another in a bitter battle of December 1944.

As I stated before, this game takes more of a board game approach to playing. The board consists of a map constructed of hexagonal tiles, each on with it’s own unique terrain element such as a road, water, trees, mud, and so on, which may or may not effect movement of various units. There are multiple troop types to select from like infantry, artillery, and tanks and forces that fight one another are made up of stationary square pieces that slide from hex to hex. The gameplay consists of a turn-based format where you or your opponent move and perform all actions, then the other player moves and takes all of their turns, and so on until the game is over. In addition, all combat actions and chances are determined randomly by a die roll plus modifiers and bonuses to determine success or failure.

One thing that I found particularly impressive about Korsun Pocket is the amount of detail that went into the game overall. While this game is not your typical RTS title, everything that you can think of that could be done is included in possible actions each turn. Forces can move, group together, separate, send reinforcements or supplies, blow bridges, send out detachments, and any number of other things that you won’t find in typical board games. This virtually adds an unlimited amount of strategies to mess around with, including flanking, ambushes, or even luring an unsuspecting enemy into a volley of artillery fire.

Another nifty aspect in the detail area of the game is in the amount of information that was included for each unit type, both for you and your enemies. By right clicking a troop tile, you can quickly see how many operation points can be used for moving, firing, etc, who is in the overall battalion (if multiple troops are banded together), attack and defend numbers or morale bonuses, and can even select different troops or detachments to send out on their own from there. This really helps in getting a feel for what a potential battle can turn into, and helps you to plan strategy or attacks wisely.

Unfortunately, both of these great aspects of the game can also work against it with some gamers as well. For example, the sheer amount of detail definitely presents a learning curve and can get a little frustrating up front trying to figure out what’s going on. There is an included tutorial that walks you step-by-step through everything you need to know to get into and play the game, but it in itself can take about 2 hours to complete. Secondly, the massive size of the maps and scenarios also leads to some REALLY long games and turn times, and gamers with a little less of an attention span may quickly find it to be a little much for what they like their strategy games to do.

Korsun Pocket’s graphics are definitely nothing flashy, but they weren’t intended to be. Personally, I felt as though they did exactly what they needed to do with it in presenting stationary tiles that contain readable stats for information “at a glance” and also for making each unique hex look and report all information that you needed to know about it as well. There isn’t much sound in Korsun Pocket, and no music, but moving pieces will give off the sound of marching or tank treads and warring factions will interrupt the silence with the staccato of gunfire or booming explosions of battle.

Overall, Korsun Pocket is a must-get title for anyone who is a major armchair commander or loves military strategy and planning. Matrix spared no expanse in giving you as much detail as they could figure out, and you will spend hours playing against the polished and well-done AI or even in an e-mail game against a friendly rival. RTS fans may also get a lot of fun out of Korsun Pocket, but if you are more of an action-based kind of strategist only you may want to see about downloading a demo or trying it out before you buy.

Reviewer's Scoring Details

Gameplay: 7.6
I was really amazed at the amount of detail and options that were included in Korsun Pocket, and was really impressed that Matrix was able to take a board game and cover every possible movement and element that I could think of with little square shaped pieces and a hex map. Everything is included that gives you the information that you need to know, and there are a ton of possible strategy options that you could use to win. The environments are huge, and the amount of detail can also lead to some extremely long games and can be confusing up front trying to figure out what can be moved and where all of the pieces are on the giant map.

Graphics: 7.5
The graphics are nothing flashy by today’s standards, but look fantastic for what the developers were doing. Anything more may have wound up ruining the board-game style that they were looking to do. There are some neat things like icons changing to fighting troops during combat that were done, and each hex space shows little differences in what kind of terrain you will encounter, and a quick right click will show you exactly what is there.

Sound: 7.3
Again, it’s definitely not bad for the kind of game that Matrix was making, but there’s just not much to it. Troops will make marching or tread noises while moving, and combat will go into the sounds of battle. There is a neat little black and white FMV presentation of some scenes from WWII as well in the beginning.

Difficulty: Hard
There is a tutorial to help you learn all of the different possibilities in playing, but like I stated earlier it can take you two hours to go through. In addition, there are so many different things that you can do or options; there is a definite learning curve to playing. Once you get the hang of it, it gets a lot easier obviously, but some gamers may not give it that long to find out.

Concept: 7.7
Taking a board game style of play and incorporating all of the elements of a WWII strategy game into it was a great idea and it worked well. The lack of constant graphics or whatever also helped move the game along a little faster than I expected, but it is still very time consuming.

Multiplayer: 7.7
One really cool thing about Korsun Pocket is in the multiplayer game. You can find opponents on www.wargamer.com to play with, and play a game by taking your turn, then e-mailing the game file to your opponent, then they do what they do and e-mail it back. This helps to let both players play when they want vs. having to sit for a long period in front of the PC to finish a game. Definitely a good idea.

Overall: 7.6
This is a really great concept, and those of you who were fans of board games like Axis and Allies should definitely pick this one up. Also, you would be military leaders and strategists can also test your skill out in the Korsun Pocket and see what you’re made of. Run-of-the-mill RTS gamers will probably find it fun and amusing, but may also lose interest in it if they are looking for something a little faster moving.

Mortyr 2

2006-03-08T00:34:00.000-08:00

It sank without a trace...

I have nothing against mediocre games. Even at their most average they can introduce a novel concept or an interesting character or maybe even retina-burning graphics.

Debut games are the same. Sometimes they're excellent; other times, not so much, but either way they normally show something that gives me hope for the future.

Mortyr was an average Nazi-shooter that played relatively well and made for a fun couple of hours, but in the end it was buggy and, when you came down to it, a Wolfenstein 3D clone with a little futuristic Quake action thrown in.

While there's nothing wrong with Wolfenstein 3D or Quake per se, nobody wanted to shell out eighty bucks for an updated clone that, thanks to little and in some places, no press, nobody had heard of.

As you would imagine, Mortyr sank without a trace everywhere except in certain parts of Europe (Britain, particularly, for some strange reason). This was sad but not unexpected. Four years later and European developer Mirage Interactive have a sequel to Mortyr and, unfortunately…it's bad. Worse, in fact, than the prequel that spawned it.

You are Sven Mortyr, British agent circa World War Two, and you have been sent into enemy territory to stop the Nazis from developing, as per usual, horrible Weapons of Mass Destruction. Add to that Sven's dear old Dad, scientist extraordinaire, has been kidnapped and forced to work for the Germans on said WMDs, and you've got yourself an FPS plot.

Of course, this being a shooter, that's where the writing ends and the shooting begins, effectively.

And this wouldn't be such a bad thing, if it weren't for the fact that Mortyr 2 is so average, buggy and such a resource-monster (for no apparent reason, I might add). Even mindless Nazi-killing can't save it.

WWII, Nazis and secret weapons of mass destruction. All that's missing is the gameplay

Let's start with the most obvious thing, the graphics. They're bog-standard. I expect this kind of thing from first year game-design students. Weapon models are poorly textured and animated, as are character models. Blocky, misshapen and drab being the keywords here.

In fact, you could apply the word 'drab' to the game as a whole, for there is no word more apt in describing just how average Mortyr 2's visuals are. Never has Poland looked so boring. The government should sue. Idiosyncratically, the foliage generation isn't too shoddy, and could probably measure up to some of Far Cry's quieter outdoor moments.

Then again, there are the weapons themselves, about as standard-issue as they come. A knife, a pistol, a couple of rifles, light, medium and then heavy machineguns, a rocket-launcher and grenades; not much in the way of variety here, folks.

On the other hand, you're facing an armed troop of permanently brain-box deficient (running into walls, oblivious to danger, the whole shtick) Nazis; you could probably overpower them with three-day-old kelp. Truly, the AI has all the consistency, smarts and courage of a soggy banana peel.

That's not all, though, folks. Audio. The people who did the voiceovers for this game deserve to have their vocal cords excised with rusty scalpels so that never again can they traumatise the video-gaming public like this.

Peculiarly, again, the ambient firearm and outdoor noises aren't too bad, and the music certainly has improved from the first game, although that wouldn't be hard, seeing as the first Mortyr had almost nothing in the way of music in the first place.

This is the kind of mediocrity that produces games like Marine Sharpshooter and World War 2 Sniper, from studios that don't actually have the talent, skill or possibly the budget to adequately produce what could otherwise be quite spiffy games.

And so we're left with these, poorly executed efforts from game houses you've never heard of that make excellent gifts for people you don't like and can also stand in for coffee coasters, frisbees and targets for your sexual frustration at a moment's notice.

Game: Mortyr 2
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Mirage Interactive
Distributor: Red Ant

Rating: 45%

Sonic Riders

2006-03-07T23:33:00.000-08:00

Sonic Riders is full of hot air. Considering the game's airboard gimmick, that could be a compliment.

Even though Sonic the Hedgehog is known for his immense speed, he’s had a hard time getting into the racing game groove. His first attempt with Sonic Drift for the Sega Game Gear was quite the washout, and the sequel didn’t do much better. Later came Sonic R which took Sonic and friends from their little cars and set them running on their own feet in an adventure that was moderately fun, but too short and simplistic. Now Sonic Team is trying Sonic’s racing luck again with Sonic Riders. Combining elements from F-Zero GX and Kirby’s Air Ride, Sonic Riders puts the blue blur on an airboard and sends him on a speedy quest to recover Chaos Emeralds.

Features

- Sonic’s first new racing game in nearly a decade

- Normal Mode provides conventional racing action

- Story Mode follows Sonic’s adventures in search of Chaos Emeralds

- Multiplayer fun with Tag and Survival modes

- Unlock additional characters, racetracks, and Extreme Gear units

Super Sonic Racing Once Again
When a mysterious band of thieves called the Babylon Rogues abscond with a Chaos Emerald, Sonic and friends give chase and wind up being challenged by Dr. Eggman to a race. Eggman’s EX World Grand Prix offers all of the Chaos Emeralds up as a prize and since the thieves are apparently somehow linked to this contest, Sonic decides to enter the competition to collect the big prize. Along the way he and the usual cast of characters including Tails and Knuckles the Echidna will have to unravel the mad doctor’s latest scheme.

The cast of Sonic Riders ride around on airboards known as Extreme Gear, hovering rides that are fueled by air. As long as a Gear has air in its tank, it’ll keep moving. As such, the controls in Sonic Riders have no accelerator button. After crossing the starting line, the Gear just goes and goes until it runs out of air. Once the air tank runs empty the character riding the Gear has to run on foot until a refill can be found, so the key to Sonic Riders is to keep precious air in the tank. The L and R buttons function as a rudimentary brake, slowing the Gear but never actually stopping it. The Control Stick steers the Gear, but unfortunately the Gear doesn’t respond well to quick turns. All too often, players will see a hazard up ahead and try to steer away to dodge it, but the Gear just won’t veer away fast enough to avoid wiping out. It’s also possible to end up moving in the wrong direction on the track, but since the Gear cannot stop, it is not possible to turn around to move in the correct direction without falling behind in the race. When this happens, the screen simply fades to black and drops the offending character back on the track in the right spot. Press the B button to use a little air for a quick speed boost, while the X button takes an offensive swipe at nearby competition. Furthermore, while airborne Sonic and friends can execute various flips and twirls to gain air and, on occasion, speed.

Sonic Riders includes several gameplay modes, although they all revolve around the same basic racing mechanic. Players take a running start towards the starting line and then jump aboard their Extreme Gears for a three lap race through various Sonic-inspired raceways (jump the gun and try to take off before the green light hits, however, and an electric barrier will stop hedgehogs in their tracks with a penalty). Tracks branch out into multiple paths, but all eventually loop back to the starting/finish line. Along the way, players should pick up rings, recover air, and knock the other players back with a carefully timed press of the X button which causes characters to execute a little offensive move, such as Sonic’s power punch. Aside from the air tank gimmick, Sonic Riders follows the rules of today’s conventional racing games. Speaking of air, Extreme Gears tend to give off contrails in their wake. It’s possible to get caught up in these contrails and slide right up to the nearest competitor. Riding these contrails is a great way to catch up lost ground quickly and allows players to link together various flips and turns to pull off combos.

As far as game modes go, Sonic Riders features a few ways to play the same basic game. Normal Mode has the familiar racing formats live, such as free racing, time attack, and a standard grand prix format in the style of games such as Mario Kart. Story Mode follows Sonic and friends as they track down the Babylon Rogues through a series of races with animated segments breaking up the action to tell the story and specific goals to meet during the race (such as defeating a particular character or finishing the race in a certain ranking). Tag Mode is a multiplayer mode in which players share a single air tank while competing against an opposing team and Survival Mode involves fighting off rivals while collecting Chaos Emeralds. An unlockable Mission Mode adds a little replay value as well.

Standard Issue Speed

On paper, Sonic Riders is about what one would expect from a racing game. There’s little going on in the game to set it apart from the other buzzword-laden extreme cartoonish racing titles from this generation. In fact, it’s fairly unremarkable. There’s a decent level of challenge to be found, but most of that comes from learning to control the Extreme Gear’s quirks. Remember that it’s not possible to let up on the Gear’s accelerator, nor can the unit execute sharp turns. It’s all too easy to either fall off the track or slam into a wall because the Gear makes extremely wide turns. The game offers onscreen hints as to when the hit the air brake and jerk the Control Stick to make a quick turn, but in practice the maneuver is not so easy to execute or useful to use as using the brake, of course, slows down the Gear.

Sonic Riders continues the ongoing process of ramping up Sonic’s attitude, and as such the game sees itself as an extreme all-out turbo event. Characters toss threats at one another, vowing to "settle this during the race!", making it tough to take the game all that seriously. It’s not the first time video game characters are attempted to settle disputes this way, but for some reason Sonic Riders really seems to see itself as loaded with intense character rivalries. It’s hard to take it all seriously, partly because the new villains introduced here – Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross – have seemingly no history with our heroes. There’s some intense long-term anger beneath the surface here. Why are they fighting so harshly when they’ve supposedly never encountered one another before?

Speedy Sights And Sounds
Sonic Team has seen fit to overhaul the character models of the core Sonic cast once again. Dr. Eggman gets the short end of the stick, becoming even more rotund and now sporting an even more craggily mustache. Sonic himself seems especially slender this time around, too. During animated story segments the visuals are on the level with last year’s Shadow the Hedgehog, but during the races themselves, the environments take on a definite F-Zero GX sheen. The faster the Gear glides, the more impressive the world looks. Background music also seems to have been inherited from Shadow the Hedgehog, as there’s plenty of hard guitar and bass beats to be heard. The voice cast from the Sonic X cartoon speaks for Sonic and friends, and their acting skills don’t quite mesh with the onscreen action. There’s plenty of inflection in the spoken words, but characters onscreen do not react with rage or sadness. Other times, a character may make a power gesture and then say a line in a bland tone. Basically, eyes and ears don’t quite match.

Finish Line
All of that said, is Sonic Riders fun? It depends on one’s expectations. Players looking for a simply executed racing game will enjoy the experience, while those looking for complex elements and serious in-game physics may do better elsewhere. Sonic Riders is enjoyable, but the overall gameplay becomes repetitive quickly. The best praise that can be heaped on Sonic Riders is that it is the best Sonic racing game to date, but just remember that the competition for that honor is Sonic Drift and Sonic R. It’s recommended, but from the discount rack in six months.

Fable: The Lost Chapters

2006-03-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

The Original Fable Vision Realised

Does anyone else get a sense of déjà vu? Well, if that’s the case, don’t be surprised as Fable: The Lost Chapters is nothing more than a re-released version of Fable - the original great action/adventure game which, like a relationship with J-Lo, promised everything but left the player feeling less than fulfilled.

However, thanks to a vast array of expanded content, greater customisation options, and additional story lines, Lost Chapters brings the Fable juggernaut a little bit closer to the adventure of a lifetime it once proclaimed itself to be.

For anyone new to the world of Fable you should first take a good hard look at your gaming priorities, then read up on our review here.

When it comes to role playing games on Xbox, Fable: TLC does not come close to the length of Morrowind or explore the in-depth combat provided in Jade Empire, but instead takes the cake in the style department, giving players a lasting connection with their character.

The combat interface is very simple and intuitive, which gives the title more in common with the Zelda series than most other recent RPG epics, although the combat system can be exploited thanks to some overpowered spells. The character interaction to most of Albion’s inhabitants turn out to be slightly shallow, which can get highly repetitive, but the game tries something new with moods and facial expressions.

The main addition to the game begins after the original ending of Fable, with an entirely new area and boss battle, which was heavily discussed during development of the original Fable but never made it into the game...until now!

The core story is unchanged. Minor tweaks help the game have a slightly better flow and it now feels more complete. Those of you that kept up to date with the development of the original, you would have learned of some features that never found their way into the game but instead were left on the cutting room floor. Although removed, these features were still clearly hinted at throughout the game world. Demon doors that never opened, ships that never set sail, legends that only existed in books, these and many more are now apart of the game and can finally give some of us the closure gamers were looking for.

You discover additional regions, storylines and side quests as well as new optional missions. Many of these are solely for giggles, like a bordello in Darkwood, or a quest involving mushrooms - not any ordinary mushrooms, if you know what I mean. There are more spells to master, new amour, a few new weapons and even some new monsters to use them on to slice, dice and julienne! Keep an eye out for new characters scattered around the game world as well as items to find, loads of dialouge, and new cut scenes.

Fable: TLC’s highly detailed visuals are brought to you by soft, colorful ambient lighting, which gives the entire game an appropriate dreamlike, wispy look. The PC version is where it's at, but that's not to say the Xbox game looks shite - it's just not as detailed when seen through 256Mb of arse-kicking AGP memory. The sound score is memorable, a beautiful classical style, playing pleasantly throughout the story, changing its tone and mood effortlessly to fit each different type of setting and situation.

The only element lacking in the sound is that of the enemies - where the repetitive grunts and groans can get more annoying than listening to Monica Seles playing on centre court - more variety is needed.

This game is filled with memorable sights, sounds, and surprises, and with its platinum prices you can’t go wrong. If you have played thoroughly through the original Fable as both evil and good, this game may not warrant another purchase. However - if you haven’t, this game will make a splendid addition to your Xbox collection.

Game: Fable: The Lost Chapters
System: Xbox
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Distributor: Microsoft

Rating: 80%

Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play

2006-03-06T21:45:00.000-08:00

Back To The Portable Future

Arcade is the main word in this gaming compilation, with variety coming a close second. Now, I don't know if you guys out there with a PSP know this, but *this passage has been edited for legal reasons* and I told the cops that it was like that when I got there.

Anyway, this is a review about Midway Arcade on the PSP. This game, or games should I say, consist of a number of interesting old school (1980-1990's) arcade games, each of which I've given a short review - so let's not dilly dally:

720 – 1986: 1 player. This skating game (not exactly Tony Hawk) is pretty cool for its age, where you have to skate around with only four different directions at your disposal to hit jump ramps, half pipes and complete crazy moves. You can pick up skating gear at a skate shop depending on how much money you have and if you run out of time, lots of random events, such as tornadoes, weird cars and dust bowls come to kill you. Very nostalgic, very poignant, very simple, and pretty boring.

Arch Rivals – 1987: 2 player [with local wireless]. This is one of my favorite games on this arcade treasures UMD. Easily makes it into my top 12 list. It's a basketball game where you have 2 players on each team, and you can punch people to get the ball. Full contact basketball! Mr T. would be chuffed.

You choose your character, and start playing, and run up and down the court constantly, punching in every direction until you get the ball. And then when you get the ball amidst all the violence, you take a shot at the hoop. This is great for playing over wireless against a friend -- heaps of fun!

Championship Sprint – 1986: 2 player [with local wireless]. Even I know this game! And I've been in cryogenic stasis since Sputnik broke the mesosphere, but I see it around sometimes in cheap caravan parks etc... The game is probably my 2nd favorite of this bunch, with the aim of the game to race around a 2D track racing against three other cars.

If you win your races you get credits, if you get enough credits you can buy cool stuff, such as helicopter repair, turbocharger upgrades, better tyres etc... It's okay for playing two player games, but can get boring after a while. If you enjoyed playing this game back in 1986 though, you'll probably blow your daks.

Cyberball 2072 – 1988: 2 player [with local wireless]. Like most of the games on here, I've never heard of it (again with cryo), it's an American football type game played with humans in robot armour. The graphics are better than most games, but still make me nauseous. I don't know much about American football, all I know is that you have to make it to the other end and get a 'touchdown'. So all I do is pass and pass and set random field strategies until I get there. I guess it would be a good game for the enthusiast, and can be cool with long running plays and good passes.

Defender – 1980: 1 player. Defender is a spaceship game where you have to move along in a free roaming area (2D) and shoot re-spawning aliens all day. Your spacecraft is fitted with three bombs which can instantly kill any alien within the screen. I didn't find it particularly attractive, but my gaming standards are impeccably high - but hey, if you like this kind of stuff 'twitch' gaming, you'll enjoy this 26-year-old offering.

Gauntlet – 1985: 4 player [with local wireless]. This is an RPG game where you're a warrior and you have to go around killing all different kinds of monsters like ghouls, ogres, magicians and so on. You must kill the monster spawning blocks to stop the spread of baddies and also to reach different stages of the game. It's quite addictive this one, and I'd recommend it to the people who like battle-axes and pixellated slime.

Joust – 1982: 2 player [with local wireless]. This game is where you're a little bird, and you have to flap your wings and jump on other birds to take their eggs (or whatever they are, possibly massive parasitical grubs). Joust is a game where if you go out of one side of the screen you re-enter it on the other - often called 'wrapping' (and not to be confused with threatening rhymes). It's a little repetitive, although you need to get so many eggs/grubs to pass a level, so it keeps it fairly exciting. Impressive for something coded in 1982, very impressive in that respect.

KLAX – 1989: 2 player [with local wireless]. KLAX is a fun game - I really liked this one. You have to arrange tiles in a certain order to gain points. It's almost exactly like Tetris, except you have a different layout and different tiles orders. KLAX is really fun, and you have to see it for yourself to be able to see what I mean. You can hold three or four tiles at a time, and you must drop them in the right spot, and quickly too, in order to fit on the next KLAX tile. It's highly addictive and the graphics are reasonable, and is good when you're on the train surrounded by sullen people exhausted and stressed out by the corporate machine, as you tend to laugh and scream a bit, which cheers them up and makes them think about joyous videogames.

Marble Madness –1984: 2 player [with local wireless]. This is quite a well thought-out game. You control a marble, kind of like a glass eyeball without the ocular mucus, and must manoeuvre it though a whole range of obstacles in order to get to the finish. I remember playing this on the NES. The game obeys simple laws of gravity, friction and momentum, so it can get fun as it has a real-world vibe to it. Although it seems all good, there is one problem -- it can get really frustrating when you're one centimetre away from the finish and the marble drops off into the abyss for the fifth time in a row! You stupid f***ing game, I'll KILL YOU INSTANTLY! Apart from that it's a very nice game for its time!

Mortal Kombat – 1992: 2 player [with local wireless]. We all know Mortal Kombat, kill, maim, stab, decapitate and kill some more. You can perform low kicks, low punches, high kicks and high punches and can also perform 'fatalities', just like the onces in our time. The characters in this original include Cage, Sonya, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kano and all the other originals from this classic. The UMD also includes Mortal Kombat 2 and 3, which have extra characters and moves in each one, which adds to this compilation's amusement.

Paperboy – 1985: 1 player. I love this game - it's one of my favourites and for good reason: the aim of it is to ride past people's houses owned by various people while avoiding a whole heap of obstacles while perfectly delivering papers from your hybrid BMX. It's great fun, but can get very hard very quickly. But ultimately, it's still very addictive to this day, and shows that you can't judge a game by its graphics, but you can judge a dog by its collar. At the end of each paper round you get to go on a BMX dirt track and do jumps and stuff, and even I found this quite amusing! Nice game, very nice.

Rampage – 1986: 3 player [with local wireless]. This is a King-Kong style game where you get munch people to get health and smash windows to bring down buildings. First you get on a building, smash it to bits and then kill military recruits. The aim is to smash all the buildings in the 2D screen to bits, and kill as many people as possible and dodge grenades and missiles. Good for fans of the many Rampage games released over the years, but kind of boring and a bit of a crap compared to Marble Madness...

Rampart – 1991: 3 player [with local wireless]. This is a game where you must choose a location on an island, set up a fort and place cannons. The aim of the game is to kill the incoming ships trying to attack your fort. Although the graphics are useless, the gameplay is quite acceptable. I like the strategic point of it and military buffs will enjoy it, but it can get very hard to kill the incoming ships with only two cannons. This one's in my top seven - nice game!

Sinistar – 1982: 1 player. This is a game a bit like space invaders except you can free roam - you're not constricted like CSIRO scientists trying to do their jobs. It's quite cool, kill little space ships etc... Except near the end of the level you hear a voice and it says "Beware coward, run coward," then this huge white creature that looks like a cat comes and kills you. It's hard to escape it because there are meteors in your way... I don't find it too exciting, but it's pretty cool nevertheless. Kind of like cornflakes - not great, but still very digestible.

Spy Hunter – 1984: 1 player. Spy Hunter! Cool. I heard they making this game into a movie starring Michael Caine as the transforming vehicle, but we're still waiting on his phone call to confirm this... This little game is quite fun. You start off in a car and you have to race up ahead on a vertically scrolling killing field and kill bad guys in cars. The evil cars are red so you can easily tell that you have to kill them. The only problem is that they ram you off the road and put oil slicks in your way! I've played this before on an arcade machine, and I sort of like it. It's hard, but it's fun and it can easily get you hooked. Nice game there, and probably my fifth favourite title in this very comprehensive package.

Toobin – 1988: 2 player [with local wireless]. This is a wicked and original game I must say! You are on a non-edible donut (in the water) moving down a stream and you have to steer and control yourself to move through markers, find treasure, avoid obstacles and get bonus points. You're against another non-edible donut 'bot' and whoever gets the most points at the end of the race wins. I loved playing this game over and again thanks to its simple racing them. A nice game and very original!

Wizard of War – 1981: 2 player [with local wireless]. This game is a complete Pacman imitation, except in this you can shoot. You're a little spaceman with a gun manoeuvering around little corners trying to kill dinosaurs, like Jurassic Park crossed with Desperate Housewives. Of course, as the round goes on, the dinosaurs get faster and harder and faster and harder until you get your arse kicked and slam your fish into the PSP's screen, rendering it momentarily inoperable. You have about five lives and you have to survive as long as possible and get the high score. Conclusion: unoriginal and boring.

Xenophobe – 1987: 3 player [with local wireless]. I could tell as soon as I went into this game that it wouldn't be that good. It's a 2D world where you're on the ground, and have to go around shooting in alien infested places, like Hollywood and Maroochydore - only joking, these places are lovely. You can get different weapons and stuff, but it's fairly boring. You can jump, duck and shoot at aliens for a long time, that's all it is. Disappointing for me, but others may find some joy here.

Xybots – 1987: 2 player [with local wireless]. This is probably the best game on the UMD, along with KLAX and Paperboy and Arch Rivals. It's the only 1st person shooter here and is pretty good for 1987. You're in these corridors and you can steer left and right and kill and zap aliens. BAM! Dead. The graphics are not really that good, but it makes it all the more interesting, which is strange but true in an ironic way. As you progress through the levels, you can buy equipment and soon the aliens get harder, move faster and are more accurate, and as the pace builds, so does the tension. Wait, who's behind me - noooooooo! This is probably on of the first 1st person shooters and it's great!

I had heaps of fun playing all these games, and I tell you what, you get a lot of games for your buck/euro here, and most of them are pretty good too, and if you're an old bastard like the Editor and haven't been frozen in the cryo freezer like a flaccid chunk of celery, you'll get right into this.

I think it's kind of poor that you would get 15 or so games and whack them all onto an operating system and sell it like that - the originality factor is nil because these games have already been created - but the truth of the matter is that there's a lot of gaming joy to be had with these old-school classics. Anyway, my question is, why wouldn't I just go and *this passage has been edited for legal reasons* because let's face it people, monotremes really do nourish their young with milk, after all.

I reckon that the gamers out there who like the old school games should get this, it would be handy to have around all the time, that's for sure. But if I had a choice between, say, Metal Gear Ac!d and this, I would choose Ac!d I think, because it's new and I like it. Still, this is one of the better nostalgic compilations to hit any system in recent times, showing off impressive levels of variety, and is a title that contains some of the better classics and very few stinkers.

Game: Midway Arcade: Extended Version
System: PSP
Players: 1-4 Player
Online: Sort of
Developer: Midway
Distributor: Red Ant

Rating: 75%

NBA Live 06

2006-03-06T16:12:00.000-08:00

There aren't too many other basketball games on the PC to choose from. That's why I decided to give NBA Live 06 a try and here's my brief review.

NBA Live 06 picks right up where 2005 left off. The game modes include Quick Play, Play Online, Season, Dynasty, Playoffs, NBA All-Star Weekend, Freestyle Challenge, 1 on 1, Slam Dunk School and Individual Practice. Of course, there is also a Roster Update (with create-a-player option).

Dynasty mode, which plunks you in the chair of the general manager, has several new additions. You can now hire assistant coaches, scouts, and trainers. Each staff member will have his own unique job on the team. Assistant coaches help you train players, scouts provide information on upcoming players for the college draft as well as give you reports on your next opponent, and trainers can be assigned to helping your injured players heal faster.

The biggest addition to gameplay is the new Superstar mode, which is a special set of controls (special moves) that are available exclusively to the top NBA players in the game. These mainly consist of special shots, dunks, and passes, but there are a few defensive ones as well. These moves may look incredibly cool, but they aren't balanced properly - the teams without superstar players have no chance.

My biggest problem with the game was rebounding. It's really very hard to steal the ball - the rebound is sometime impossible. For instance, there is absolutely no way the Earl Boykins (5'5 feet tall) can grab an offensive rebound from Tim Duncan (around 7 feet tall). This creates many frustrating moments and makes the game pretty unrealistic. Another issue with the gameplay was the AI of my teammates. I felt like I need to control all 5 players simultaneously(!) because the AI is awful. Passing is hit or miss! OMG. Also, In my opinion, the gameplay is too fast, and it looks like the players are skating on the court, instead of running. Yes, it is arcade-like, for some this may be a turnoff (or benefit, depending on your perspective)

So, is NBA Live 06 worth buying? Well, despite the flaws, the game is fairly fun to play ... for a day or two. Then you start thinking if you couldn't have done better with those 40 bucks!

related links: homepage, cheats, NBA Live 06 CDROM

Minimum System Requirements: 1.0 GHz Intel Pentium III or higher, 256MB RAM, 32 MB DirectX 9.0c Compatible Video card*, Sound card with DirectSound support and DirectX 9.0c compatible driver, 16xCD-ROM/DVD-ROM, 1.6GB free HDD space,

INTERNET PLAY (2-8 PLAYERS, 2 PC's, 1-4 PLAYERS PER PC)
- 56 Kbps or faster Internet Connection
- High speed serial port (16550 UART) required for external modems
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1
- 1 NBA LIVE 06 CD per PC

* Supported 3D Graphic Accelerators: ATI Radeon 7500, 8500, 9000, 9100, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700Pro, 9800 Pro, 9800XT, ATI All-In-Wonder 9700, NVIDIA GeForce 2/MX/GTS/Ultra, GeForce 3/Ti, GeForce 4/MX/Ti, GeForce FX series, Intel i865g Onboard, NVIDIA nForce Onboard, NVIDIA nForce2 Onboard, Radeon 9100 Onboard. /During testing, some video cards using the Geforce2 MX, and Geforce4 MX series chipsets had problems running the game with driver versions lower then 61.76/

snd: 3/5 - acceptable, repetitive commentary, soundtrack includes a variety of hip hop from bands like Black Eyed Peas, The Perceptionists, Chamillionaire, Jae Millz, etc.
gfx: 4/5 - fairly good for the most part, nice dunk animations, player models are a little cartoonish (notably, the heads are too big for their bodies)
playability: 3/5 - mediocre, improved Dynasty mode, new Freestyle Superstar feature, poor AI, controls and interface are not intuitive, laggy online gameplay, bugs present in NBA Live 2005 are still present in 06!!
genre: basketball sim
platform: PC 2CD (also available on PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, GC and PSP)
release: November 2005
developer: EA Canada
the game is similar to: NBA Live 2005
publisher: EA Sports

Sniper Elite

2006-03-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

Developed by UK based Rebellion (guys behind Aliens Vs. Predator, Dredd vs. Death, etc.), this sniping/stealth action game is set in 1945 Berlin. The ravages of World War II are drawing to a close and the Russians and Germans are locked in furious conflict for war-torn Berlin. Reports abound that the Russian secret service (NKVD) are in Berlin to steal atomic bomb technology from the German Army. In the game, you control the fate of an American soldier, trained as a sniper by the OSS. Now, as a key member of an invisible, yet elite group, you are assigned to the most sensitive of missions. Disguised as a German and working alone, you must infiltrate hostile enemy environments and using your stealth and sniping skills, and stop the NKVD at all costs.

So, what can you expect to actually do in this game? If you've seen the movie Enemy at the Gates you probably already have a pretty good idea. There are 28 missions in all in the single player campaign. The missions are pretty much what you'd expect from a sniper game. Each mission will start off by giving you an objective (marked on the easy to use map) and will then give you more objectives each time you successfully complete the last one. Mission objectives vary from assassination high-ranking officials, stealing secret documents, rescuing captured allies, to shooting hundreds of guys in the head.

The sniping portion of this game is, obviously, extremely well done. The game does a great job of building up the sense of tension that comes from sneaking around and picking off enemies. Flames in a building, planes overhead engaged in a dogfight, and distant explosions, even though may not be relevant, also adds to the tension you feel. You never know who will come out from where, enemy can be anywhere, on a balcony, window or inside a wrecked building...The paranoid, midst-of-battle atmosphere of the game, as well as the intelligence of the AI, forces you to keep low and think before you shoot. The stealth is well done here - you can stay behind cover and run from cover to cover, and take the enemy out from very long distance. The environments are not overwhelmingly impressive, but they do suit the style of gameplay that is present. Bombed out buildings and debris is scattered throughout the levels-- the perfect environment for a sniper.

Your character can hold a variety of items from med kits, bandages, time bombs, TNT, tripwire grenades, stick grenades, frag grenades, a silenced pistol, a machine gun, etc. After killing an enemy you can often search their bodies for goods and ammo. As you progress in the game you earn access to new guns, each of which has slightly different sniping abilities. Beyond the 3 standard scoped rifles at your disposal (Gewehr 43, Tokarev SVT-40, and Mosin-Nagant M91) the game also offers up such goodies as the MG42 Heavy Machinegun, MP40 Schmeisser, P-38 Luger, and PPSch-41.

The bullet physics are fairly realistic, especially on the highest difficulty level- when taking a shot you must account for wind speed, posture, heart rate and, most importantly, gravity. A long range target will be impossible to hit unless you account for the distance by aiming above the mark's head. Wind means that you must also compensate your shot by aiming to the left or right of a target, depending on the actual speed of the wind present in the level. Scoring a head shot on a long-range moving target is incredibly satisfying, as it takes quite a lot of skill to accomplish! When you do line up that perfect shot, a slow motion effect begins and the camera follows your bullet through the air all the way to the target. The result is a graphic death and a bloody splat from the back of the head! The close combat is not as fun as sniping, but it is necessary in some areas of the game, and it does give a welcome change from constant sniping.

The feature that really impressed me the most is the enemy's level of intelligence. If you injure a soldier another will run out and put him over his shoulder and try to get him out of there. Often they will call for reinforcements and even work together to try and take you out. The AI is well done and very challenging, but not without a few bugs that do need fixing. Enemies, on the highest difficulty level, occasionally and magically know where you are positioned as soon as you fire a shot.

Sniper Elite has both LAN and online play. Your character's appearance can be customized and you have the choice of playing Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, or Assassination modes. Unlike the console versions of the game, the PC version doesn't have any co-op play.

I have to admit this game kept me interested to the very end, it's well laid out and the story line flows reasonably well, the sniping is realistic but easy to get used to. If you are the kind of gamer who loves playing as a sniper and going for that perfect shot, then this is the game for you!

System requirements: 1GHz Pentium CPU or equivalent (1.4 GHz recommended), GeForce 2 32MB (GeForce 4 Ti or better recommended), 256 MB RAM (512 MB RAM recommended), DirectX 8 compatible sound card, 4 GB free hard disk space, DVD-ROM drive.

snd: 3/5 - good - bombs exploding, rockets soring through the air, screams and cries of the wounded..., mediocre music
gfx: 3/5 - dated, environments are not overwhelmingly impressive, but they do suit the style of gameplay that is present, lots of reused textures, some bugs
playability: 4/5 - enjoyable&addictive - require a lot of patience, long-range shooting is fun and satisfying, solid AI, multiplayer Internet/LAN, can get frustrating at times (a limited amount of saves), a few scripting glitches
genre: WWII sniper simulation
platform: PC (also available on PS2, Xbox)
release: October 2005
developer: Rebellion
publisher: Namco

25 to Life

2006-03-06T00:57:00.000-08:00

25 to Life is an urban action third person shooter that has a story-driven single-player mode and a team-based multiplayer mode. The single-player portion is mission-based and has a storyline where you play in turns as a good cop, bad cop, and gangster. You start you out in the role of Freeze, a gangster who's trying to get out of the game and escape with his wife and son. You'll also play as a cop surrounded by dirty cops and as a gang leader who gets banished to Mexico only to end up taking over the organized-crime scene there by force. Each of these playable characters has a unique background, but in one way or another, they remain connected to the main storyline. The story is all over the place, and since the playable characters are to a certain extent connected, you're never really sure if you're playing as a good guy or a bad guy.

In a lot of ways, the game plays like Max Payne. You are given a view behind your character, and you will see the action unfold that way. Unlike Max Payne, the gameplay lacks emotional gratification. It doesn't give you much to go for other than to rack up the number of killings as many as you can. In terms of shooting, the game boils down to hiding behind boxes and then spraying your enemies with bullets. In each single player mission you're given a primary objective, as well as several secondary ones. Killing xx enemies, getting xx headshots or breaking xx cash machines are a few of the secondary objectives that, if completed, net you bonus goodies for the multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, the missions are short, easy, and the same thing over and over.

The game offers a wide variety of guns including several pistols, SMGs, assault rifles, Rocket launcher, grenades and Molotov cocktails. Ammo is easy to find, as is health. They don't even hide the gun and health pickups - for some reason they smoke! However, the most irritating aspect of the game is getting used to aiming. No matter how hard you try sometimes, it seems almost impossible to fire accurately. But don't worry - the AI is poor in this game so you won't have too much trouble taking the enemies out. In addition, the character controls are pretty basic. You can run, crouch, lean, and sometimes climb walls. There is no jumping, there is no sneaking...

The team-based multiplayer is definitely where you're going to want to spend most of your time with this game. This mode offers four different variants and allow up to a maximum of 16 players to enter. The setting is basically cops versus criminals team match, and the list of multiplayer modes includes War (typical team death match), Raid (Raid puts you on the defensive side, protecting your stash from being raided by cops), Robbery (your goal is to loot as many items on the map and bring them back to the base), and Tag (a graffiti war between different gangs - you must tag the walls to earn control points). The multiplayer in 25 to Life does have potential, but it never seems to be addictive enough. It also fails to bring any innovations in terms of gameplay. Another very serious drawback to multiplayer 25 to Life is the lack of people to play with.

Should you get the game? NO! But if you still plan it, you should at least try renting it first.

System Requirements:
Minimum: Pentium IV 1.4GHz (or AthlonXP equivalent), 256MB RAM, 100% DirectX 9 compatible 64MB Direct3D Card with Pixel Shader 1.1 support (GeForce 3/Radeon 8500+) (GeForce 4MX Not Supported), 100% DirectX 9 compatible Sound Card, DVD-ROM drive, 2.5GB uncompressed free disk space LAN and Broadband play supported.
Recommended: Pentium IV 2.4GHz (or AthlonXP/64 equivalent), 512MB RAM, 100% DirectX 9 compatible 128MB Direct3D Card with Pixel Shader 2.0 support (GeForce 6 & 7 Series/Radeon)

Note: Laptops & Integrated graphic cards may function but are not supported.

snd: 2/5 - poor - gunshots sound like little pops, and explosions are extremely muted, some good hip hop tracks (Public Enemy, DMX...)
gfx: 2/5 - horribly dated, even things like blood are done badly, no bullet-time, clipping errors
playability: 2/5 - short & boring singleplayer, terrible aiming mechanic, poor AI, team-based multiplayer up to 16 players (Internet/LAN)
genre: urban-based 3rd-person shooter
platform: PC (also available on PS2, Xbox)
release: January 2006
developer: Eidos
the game is similar to: Max Payne
publisher: http://www.eidos.com/

Twisted Metal: Black

2006-03-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

It's twisted, and it's definitely black...

Just what you need to unwind after a hard days work....

You climb into your car, put on your seat belt, start the engine, adjust the mirrors... then blow stuff up!!

That's right, Twisted Metal is now on PS2, and is more dangerous and psychotic than ever before. With it comes the customary rockets, machine guns, flame throwers and many other weapons of mass destruction, which in some ways define the game.

As with the other Twisted Metal games, all the usual suspects can be seen or used, with many secrets to uncover as well.

Though there isn't a plot of any shape or form what so ever, the game makes up for it with all-out violence. Who needs story lines!?

Besides, how will a story fit into a game where all you do is kill stuff and make things explode? By having no cut scenes, you have more gameplay, thus more destruction, and ultimately more fun.

Don't think for a second that the game was made for sticking a bunch of weapons on a cool, fast, highly realistic vehicle, because it is quite the opposite.

Ye olde faithful ejector seat - arrrrrh!
So, you can imagine that the cars don't really have the accurate physics of Gran Tourismo, because all the effort was put into the weapons, but this in no way relegates the game to bargain bin-only status.

It is fun to have a car that instantly reaches top speed and that can come to a stop within five metres, but as mentioned, the weapons are the epicentre, the crux of the game.

With a comprehensive selection of artillery including guided missiles, super machine guns and petrol canasters, you are sure to find a favourite that you can use to explode, burn, detonate and, well... put holes in your foes.

Gameplay mainly consists of destroying every other enemy on the map and doing so can be a whole lot of fun. Do you char-grill your arch nemesis or perhaps rain death on him from above with some mortar shells. Decisions, decisions...

While the phunny-car physics are a bit painful at first, it doesn't take long for your brain to decipher how to best exploit the game engine and soon you'll be hand-braking on a dime and launching yourself off the top of tall buildings.

The graphics of Twisted Meatal: Black have somewhat improved since the previous Playstation versions. For example, each weapon you select causes the car to change form, like a loading mechanism, so that you discharge it as gracefully as possible.

Check the amazing smoke effects!
Sweet Tooth's special attack is particularly cool, as his ice cream van (!!) unfolds into a 'mech warrior' type robotic thing, resembling himself, which shoots out twenty guided missiles. Very cool....

Furthermore, with the good graphics comes great sound. Each weapon has its own individual matching sound samples, adding to the effect of the devastation.

The sound of the cars are well, pretty generic car sounding sounds. Nothing special in particular here. Yet Sweet Tooth (once more) has a cool distorted ice cream van tune, which would create the impression of nothing less than mouldy, soured ice cream. A tasty thought...

At the end of the day, Twisted Metal: Black is a fun, timeless game for those who can't put up with excessive dragged out cut-scenes with detailed and multi-branching plots.

It's great for playing with friends in one on one death matches, or team based tournaments and is, generally speaking, a good fun, no-nonsense action title.

It is not a particularly addictive game, but nevertheless, the kind that won't grow old in a hurry. So, if you have the spare cash, it will be money well spent.

Game: Twisted Metal: Black
System: Playstation 2
Players: 1-2
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Sony
Distributor: Sony

Rating: 80%

Blade 2

2006-03-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

Gaming with added bite

Back in the 16-bit days of the SNES, Neo Geo and Genesis (aka MegaDrive), movie-to-game conversions were a dime-a-dozen.

This would have been a good thing, save for the fact that 99 per cent of them were utter shite.

Now, some 112-bits later, things are a little different. Thanks to the efforts of websites like ours (cough, ego stroke, cough), gamers are better informed on specific titles and generally came to know that movie-game ports sucked back in the early to mid 90s.

But, at the same, perhaps game developers knew that mums and dads were no longer buying games for their kids, and that the average age of gamers was steadily climbing. Who knows, maybe even the average age of gamers world-wide is now 37?

But the point I'm ever-so-slowly trying to make is that developers can't afford to make crap games, relying on a movie title or buxom babe to sell their product.

As a result, I reckon the quality of games has really improved over the past two years, and Blade II is one such game that would have been absolute pap, had it been released on a 16-bitter.

For those of you who haven't seen the movies, the Blade universe is a place were vampires exist in hiding, fearful that overzealous humans may destroy their already small numbers if work got out.

In this world, you play Blade - known as the DayWalker. He is a hybrid vampire who kicks arse by night - and also by day. He wears cool sunnies, has manic get-up and plenty of cool gadgetry. Yet, while he has all of the vampiric strengths, he has none of their weaknesses - he is, by and large, a very inspired comic-book character.

In Blade II you play this DayWalker and it's quite a lot of fun. While no blockbuster, the game will hold your interest for quite some time, due largely to a neat combat system.

Surrounded by enemies? No problemo...
The left analogue stick control movements, while holding left trigger initiates strafe. Right trigger shoots projectile weapons or grenades and of course there's the obligatory jump moves as well.

The peeps at Activision have gone beyond the call of duty with this 3rd-person action/adventure game, most of which usually assign just one or two attack buttons.

Blade II requires players to use the right analogue stick to attack and, while it will be tough to get to grips with, persevere and you'll find it works well.

I've read a few reviews saying the control system is too complicated and brings the game down. Pah! The fact that you can push back on the stick and do a backwards kick (and string a 'reverse' combo together) is pretty awesome in my mind.

What this '360-degree' combat system offers over the normal push button method is that you can be completely surrounded by blood suckers, but will always be able to fight your way out. A couple of nasties to your left? Just gently slide the stick in that direction and voila! Vampire gets boot in face.

Granted, it's not a perfect combat system. Until you get the rhythm down pat, it can be appear to be somewhat stubborn a little loose at times. Essentially, you must push the stick up 1, 2, 3 times to perform a basic combo - which may be a right punch, left punch, head kick.

At first, most gamers will instinctively flick the stick in the direction of danger quickly, while to get the best combos you actually have to push the stick quite slowly. I believe it may work well for some, while others may really have trouble with it.

Projective weapons, such as Blade's glaive (think deadly boomerang), his fully-automatic 30-round pistol and assault shotgun are easy to use, yet should be saved, for ammo pickups are few and far between. Still, taking a room full of baddies with the auto-pistol is quite a lark - and a little messy, to boot...

Further to the combat engine, every time you punch, kick, stomp, slap, bite, shoot, cut, bludgeon, strike, beat or bash a foe, your blood lust meter will fill. Once full, you can activate Blade's rage, which basically gives you super strength for about 25 seconds and the ability to slice and dice with Blade's fabled sword.

The DayWalker about to unleash a round-house
Going gangbusters with the sword is heaps of fun, as you can be faced with literally 30 vamps, and decapitate three with one swipe. The combat dynamics work well, but are a little hard to master at first. Just like hand-to-hand combat, it's all about rhythm, and getting your timing right.

Another rather gruesome feature to the game are the Mortal Kombat-inspired fatalities. It is possible to perform these ritualistic killings, if you will, with almost all weapons, including the pistol, sword and shotgun.

The manual suggests the best way to get a fatality is to beat your foe down a little, and then when he's close to death block one of his attacks and then strike quickly. I found this didn't really work at all, yet the fatalities came fairly often - put it down to fluke if you like.

There are maybe a dozen different finishing moves all up, one of which sees Blade grabbing his prey in the head-lock position and ramming a silver steak into their head. Figuring out the different fatalities is one of the more enjoyable aspects to the game, and is a great way to impress your geriatric neighbours.

While level design isn't exactly cutting edge, the game still throws up some very memorable moments. The first notable section you'll come across is on the third level. Basically, you've fought your way through this underground car park, dodging kamikaze drivers and pistol wielding vampires, to arrive at the back door to a popular nightclub.

But this isn't your bread and butter nightclub - it is full of evil bloodsuckers. Whistler - your elderly sidekick - gives a succinct briefing: "Get into the club and kill 'em all!"

Those running a 5.1 surround sound system through either their PS2 or Xbox (or both) will really appreciate the attention to detail in this area. Making the most of the in-built Dobly Pro Logic decoder, you can hear the techno beats pulsing quietly in the background then, as you bust through the large double doors into the heart of the club, the music floods around you and the effect was surprisingly cool - as were the vampires shaking their booty on the dance floors.

While the level design can be quite intricate and downright cool at times, the game involves a lot of wandering around in the later levels and can become a problem. Problem, you ask? Well, it gets boring, to be honest. And tedious - but only when you've exhausted all nasties in a level, as the combat is always lively.

The head-lock head-stab is somewhat gruesome
The sound effects, in general, are pretty sharp too, with Blade letting off many of his classic one-liners from the movie, such as: "Oooh - exciting!" Weapons effects are spot on, and the samples heard as he drags his sword on the ground while running, complete with sparks flying, is rather nice too.

As far as the graphics go, Blade II is quite the looker - both on Xbox and PS2. The Xbox does have the advantage - texture maps are much more detailed and the game doesn't bog down as much.

Running at a seamless 30fps, Blade's animations and martial arts style look great, and one would assume that Activision spent quite some time in the mo-cap room.

Blade II is also a rather violent game, and much of the blood and guts are recreated with more attention to detail than many would like.

It's a fairly sexy looking game, and there are some levels that will warrant a double-take, but like I said before, a lot of the later levels get repetitive and all the trudging around bites.

If you thought the Blade movies were crap and had too much action, then perhaps you should steer clear of this title. Fans of the Marvel comic books and films, however, should check this out - it may not be pushing the envelope, but it's one of the more impressive 3rd person actioners on the consoles of late.

Game: Blade 2
System: Xbox & Playstation 2
Players: 1
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Mucky Foot
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 80%

Playboy: The Mansion

2006-03-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

Judging games by their covers...

When I first heard the news that Ubisoft would be bankrolling a Playboy-themed game, I almost choked on my imported caviar.

A tasty mid-afternoon nibble with the dude who cleans the office toilets turned into a nightmare as my brain predicted just how crap this game could be.

Next I saw the screenshots and these did nothing to allay my fears. But knowing the game would be popular for obvious reasons, I had to try it out, to let you guys, our dedicated readers, know whether the hype is justified.

So, after slipping the Ubisoft rep a couple of fluffy Wombats filled with gold bullion, the game was promptly sent through to our top secret offices and quickly booted up on the PS2.

Well, don't I look like a duffer? Or maybe it was the 'special sauce' on the caviar?

Whatever the case, Playboy: The Mansion (PTM) is a lot better than I had expected, and is essentially a magazine-making simulation. Think Pizza Tycoon, but swap the mozzarella for kinky lingerie.

As such, PTM tasks players with overseeing the production of the one of longest running magazine dynasties in the world - Playboy Magazine.

In the game, you play a very young, pre-viagra Hugh Hefner, and after listening to the "Playboy Mansion" song that accompanies the intro (and it's a rock song), you start the game in your mansion, though it's nothing more than a multi-million-dollar avant garde crap shack to begin with. The deviant grotto, bowling alley and foam-filled dance floor will have to wait until your coffers are bursting with cold hard cash.

Via the well-implemented (if somewhat tedious) tutorial, you are taught all about the world of magazine publishing, as well as the other activities that you can indulge in to pass the time as the Playboy magnate, such as throwing parties, getting right-royally drunk and jumping on the good foot to do the bad thing.

One half micro management game, the other half The Sims, PTM takes a long time to get through, but it's ultra long shelf life is one of it's attractions. There's so much to do and see and interact with, it's quite inundating at first.

Anyway, there are two options from the get go - mission play (the campaign if you will) and freeform play. Once you've dived into the game and figured out how to chat to people, how to influence them, how to make friends, how to hire and fire staff and how to refurbish and renovate the mansion, the crux of the game lies in getting the Playboy magazine published.
There are six aspects to the magazine that must be completed each month:

1. Cover Shot
The cover of the Playboy magazine

2. Centerfold
Must feature a famous Playboy Playmate

3. Pictorial
Photographs of women in a particular theme - sports, politics, gadgets etc.

4. Essay
An article written by a celebrity - a rock star, director, athlete etc.

5. Interview
An in-depth look into mind of a celebrity or popular personality/public figure

6. Article
General articles on topics such as the arts, entertainment, music etc.

The cover shot and centrefolds are completed by the player. They're quite fun as you can choose different costumes for your models and get them pose and stuff that like that, while you control the camera, patiently waiting for the money shot, as it was.

You only have eight shots though, so make them count. The difference between a shoddy cover and perfect one can be thousands of dollars in revenue at the news-stands.

To get these photos, you'll need to hire a photographer, and to get the best shots both the model and camera operator have to be comfortable with each other, they have to form a relationship (not always purely professional), so spending time to introduce them is tantamount to success.

This model is posing for a Cover Shot

The small status box at the bottom of the screen
shows the targeted person's stats, whether they
like you or not and what kind of mood they're in

It's little things like this that make the game quite a buzz, and looking at your published magazine is quite rewarding, particularly when your financial and creative advisors praise you with your "Best photo shoot yet".

To get new and exciting interviews for the magazine, you not only need to hire a journalist (and the equipment that goes with the territory, such as a desk, a brewery etc.), but you'll need people to interview - special people, otherwise known as celebrities.

Via conversation, which is fun at first then a bit annoying because it's so slow, you can befriend these celebs at parties and what not, and simply ask for an interview.

Pictorials are taken care of out of sight, by your photographers, as are the articles, and all you need do is choose a theme or a topic.

Once everything is ready to go, you simply choose which articles will feature in an issue, which photos, and the colour of the front page graphics, and before you know it Bob's yer mums brother.

Interestingly, you can also set the price for the magazine (cheaper sells more, generally) and the ratio of advertisements to content. If you have 50% ads and 50% content, you'll probably sell less issues and make more cash with ad sales, but with a 35% ads and 65% content, sales usually improve.

We played the game on the consoles and though the GUI is pretty good, offering massive amounts of info in intuitively designed menus, one gets the impression that the PC version would be a good choice because of its native mouse support.

Graphically, PTM does it job, and not a lot else. If you like looking at multi-polygon, skin-mapped pendulous breasts, you'll probably like this game. In fact you'll adore it, because you can even choose what your guests wear, and if that involves nothing but a G-banger and some whipped cream, who are they to complain? You're the alpha rabbit!

There's a lot of nudity in the game, which will please naturalists and peeping toms alike, and also quite a bit of sex too, though it's more comical than outright raunchy. Manipulating the camera is easy, and the only thing that irked me about the gameplay was that old Mr. Hefner walks too slowly. You can speed up time, but this is purpose defeating if you're trying to head off a guest before they leave the mansion, as they speed up too.

There's a lot to this Playboy game, it's got plenty of depth, and I like value for money games too, so it gets two thumbs up from me. It's relatively easy to get into the thick of producing a magazine and living up the life of smut peddler, and there's so much customisation to be done - on characters and the mansion - that no two games (or even magazine issues) will be anywhere near the same.

From choking on my imported caviar at the first news of Playboy: The Mansion, I can now stand back, sip my Dom Perignon and say that Ubisoft hasn't sold it's soul to the devil. Rather than giving us a perv-fest with little else to offer, this game has substance and is actually a very good way to enjoy a rainy day indoors.

The control system is confusing at first (but well thought-out in the long run), there are great rewards for completing goals, and the sims/micro management feel to the game means that you'll invest a lot of time crafting Hef and his dubious mammary mansion in your own image, forging a real connection with the game.

It's not the best simulation out there, but it sure did catch me by surprise with it's sheer addictiveness. Well worth checking out.

Game: Playboy: The Mansion
System: PS2
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Arush Games / Cyberlore
Distributor: Ubisoft

Rating: 80%

Age of Mythology: The Titans

2006-03-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Ensemble's Titanic Expansion

There are two types of expansion pack. There's the type where somebody (probably the work experience kid) has cobbled together a few maps, maybe a recoloured orc or five, and, if you're lucky, one badly rendered weapon.

Then this certain somebody has compiled it all, in BASIC, no less, before unleashing it on the unsuspecting public like a dose of the bubonic plague, only with less gaiety.

Thankfully, we're not getting too many of these anymore, but once upon a time (think 1996), they were a common blight on the landscape.

Then there's the type of expansion that looks as if there was actually a modicum of interest paid to its contents.

There'll be some bug fixes, some new graphical enhancements, the usual map round-up, wrapped up with a nice new and shiny user interface, the game equivalent of a big red bow. Nothing amazingly revolutionary, but then that wasn't the point, now was it?

An expansion pack is there to do what it says on the packet: Expand. It makes the world seem a little bigger, the polygons a little brighter, the music a little louder. It gives us more time with those characters we'd thought had gone down with the ship, more time in those locales seemingly forever cast down and forgotten.

I'm pleased to announce that The Titans is firmly a member of the second category, and immense fun at that. Beginning ten years after the end of Age of Mythology, Titans follow the exploits of Kastor, the son of Arkantos (who was the protagonist in the original AoM game).

Ancient toga parties were a sight for sore eyes

Heading up what remains of the Atlantean empire, Kastor is not exactly the happiest clam around, not to mention that he's more than a little pissed off with the assorted heavenly beings above that have abandoned him and his people.

Eventually, he ends up being used in a ploy to free the Titans so that they may once more walk the Earth.

Okay, so maybe the plot is more than a little hackneyed and would be more at home on the set of the fifty-fifth season of Hercules, or perhaps the fifteenth season of Xena (for some of you others) but why should that have any effect on the fun, eh?

We all know why you'll be buying Titans, and it's not the storyline.

Frankly, you'll be buying this expansion pack for the gameplay, and specifically for the titular, uber-beastly and down right gigantic Titans.

Mega-units, these things can be built in the fourth stage of development, and can quite easily decimate a city and its army without dying, thanks to the almost-godly amount of hit points they have at their disposal.

These guys add an amazing amount of spice to the end-game, as both you and your opponents simultaneously try to build your own Titans, while disrupting the progress of the others.

When someone does finally get their Titan completed, the lengths some people will go to in order to hold it off for long enough to get their own finished are quite extraordinary, and a Titan vs Titan battle is something to behold.

Other than the addition of the Titans, we've got a new civilization in the form of the Atlanteans, who are sufficiently different from the other races that it can take a while to adapt to the correct playing style needed, due to both the expensiveness of their units and the fact that nearly all their units are the strongest in the game compared to their racial counterparts.

Ensemble Studios went out of its way
to create an improved visual aesthetic

New units abound for both the Atlanteans and the other races, and those that aren't new have had a graphical touch-up, meaning that all those polygons look tastier than ever before.

The 12-mission single player campaign that revolves around the cliché --I mean story-- can take ages to finish, and there are multiple solutions to each map, so the replay value is pretty good, although the dedicated AoM veteran will be able to chew through The Titans in roughly 100 hours.

When you get online, it's a different story, as we all know. Multiplayer is fun, good for the soul, and all-improved, although some might find far-flung servers slightly laggish.

My advice: Don't go playing a bunch of American LPBs on a server based in the middle of the Crimea, and you should be right as rain.

For those who didn't like AoM in the first place, The Titans is unlikely to do anything for you.

It's still the same game it was before, only now it's got lots of extra fiddly bits for those who would like to squeeze some more life out of their copy of Age of Mythology.

As far as expansions go, The Titans is an example of how this kind of thing should be done, but, more to the point, it's got big chunky polygon things belting each other to pieces *shrieks like a little girl such is his happiness*.

Game: Age of Mythology: The Titans
System: PC
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Ensemble Studios
Distributor: Microsoft

Rating: 85%

Age of Mythology

2006-02-24T00:06:00.000-08:00

Ageing like the finest of wines...

What made Age of Empires so popular? The game sold squillions of copies and is arguably one of the most prevailing online games played in the last two years.

Most put its fame down to good old-fashioned gameplay, and they'd be right in saying so.

It offered solid real-time strategising with hundreds of units and the clincher was the ability to move through the ages - hence the name, I guess.

As such, Age of Mythology has a lot to live up to, but the gaming gurus at Ensemble Studios have outdone themselves in what will again be one of the most popular on and offline games of 2003 and beyond.

Starting at the top, there are a number of gamemodes you can indulge in.

The main one is obviously the campaign mode, where you progress through a set number of intriguing scenarios - such as the defense of Atlantis.

This is where most gamers will make their first port of call and it has to be said that Ensemble has created a truly massive single player campaign. Other modes include the 'Learn to Play' tutorial, Single Player (including random map, play campaign, load scenario) and multiplayer.

First we'll look at the campaign mode, because this is area that most gamers will explore after installing AOM. You start off playing as the ancient Greeks, which is a good thing as they are the least intimidating race.

You basically complete a set number of missions in order that roughly follow accepted ancient mythology. The majority of cut scenes used to further the story are all created using the in-game graphics engine, but believe-you-me, this is no bad thing.

AOM is a veritable feast for your oculars
There are also those high-gloss, rendered cut-scenes for intro and outro, adding flair to the audio-visual aspect.

As I mentioned in the preview, the first major difference over its precursors is that AOM is now built using polygons, as opposed to sprites. While the Empire titles weren't exactly ugly, this next game is a sight for sore eyes.

Together with a fully scalable and rotatable floating camera, Ensemble has crafted a amazingly detailed and authentic game world.

For starters, if your PC can handle it, you'll be able to pump the resolution up to 1600x1200 in 32-bit colour, and in this res the game is truly awe-inspiring.

Thankfully, even on the lower resolutions, like 800x600 in 16-bit colour, the game looks amazing and the fact that it runs smoothly on entry-level PCs (we tried it on an Athlon 650Mhz CPU) is testament to Ensemble's coding proficiency - kudos to 'em all!

Playing as the Greeks - the first playable race in the campaign - you'll see lots of oceans, complete with waves washing up on the shore, grassy plains, rolling hills, thick forests and long ravines. The texturing is immaculate, which is surprising for an RTS game, and unit animation is well above par. You'll see long ships' oars rowing, cavalry galloping and yes, even soldiers bleeding - it's all there.

But back on the topic of terrain, it's included for more than just cosmetic reasons. All those budding tacticians out there will delight in the logical ways in which you can use various terrain to your advantage.

For instance, there are often naturally occurring choke points in the map that can be taken advantage of.

Egypt's annual chariot convention ended in tears...
Furthermore, if you station units on the high ground of cliffs, they even get an attack bonus, while those attacking from below suffer a penalty.

Forming a plan of attack will all be nought if you don't have sufficient defenses, however.

Building walls around your evolving empire is the usually the basis for a good defense and you can station guard towers around the perimeter - which can be upgraded as you progress though the ages with stronger attacks, better line of sight and even things like boiling oil.

AOM also allows players to collect ancient relics. Once collected by a hero unit and placed in a friendly temple, they offer a number of bonuses, from increasing the speed of workers, to adding an attack bonus to all myth units.

When it comes to offensive tactics, the best idea is go with a highly varied group of units, incorporating mythical units and heroes. Heroes are super-tough, many of which can regenerate hit points and cast minor spells, such as temporarily improving the attack stats of surrounding units. Some hero units can be created at the town hall, but the most powerful heroes are often served up at the start of a mission, and carry through the campaign.

Mythical units are built at the temple or place of worship and, unlike normal units, they require another resource in addition to food, gold and wood - favour.

Playing as the Greeks, favour is garnered by getting the plebs to pray at the temple, the results of which can then be used to train mythical units, such as minitaur, the cyclops and even Medusa.

Interestingly, not all races gather this resource in the same manner. To gain favour as the Vikings, you basically have to kick a lot of booty - suffice to say the Norse Gods delight in violence.

The Vikings gain Godly favour by initiating battle
For all the good points in Age of Mythologys, things would have been annoyingly frustrating had the interface been lacking.

Thankfully, this is far from the case. Most RTS fans will pick this up in a jiffy, regardless of whether they've played the games precursors.

The AI scripting is also pretty impressive, but to see it in action you'll want to play the game on one of the top two difficulty levels.

One the greatest things about the original titles was the ability to progress through history by way of advancing you civilisation.

In AOM, it's a case of meeting certain requirements - usually having specific buildings - and then saving up for the high cost of advancement.

Each age you progress through will allow you to pick one of two demi-gods, and these fellows will decide which mythological units you can create at your temples, and also which spells you can cast.

As mentioned in the preview, the meteor and lightning spells have to be seen to be believed.

If there's one complaint to be made about this game, it would be for the repetitive music - but this is really the fault of no one.

The music is actually quite good, it's just that after several days of non-stop play, one's ears feel bruised. On the other side of the coin, the sound effects, including unit acknowledgements, are top notch and never get tiresome.

The Mythical units are simply fantastic
And then, once you've managed to battle your way through one of the most epic and wholly engrossing single player games ever created, you can jump online and have a more free flowing and unpredictable game against complete strangers.

Truly, multiplayer AOM is amazing. It's colossal, massive, immense.

I would hazard a guess that Age of Mythology will go on to sell roughly the same amount of copies of its predecessors (10+ million) based on multiplayer merits alone.

This is dangerously enjoyable stuff, people...

From the amazing visuals crafted in full 3D, to the engrossing storyline, immaculate interface, remarkable gameplay, to the never-ending multiplayer possibilities, this would have been a truly massive undertaking on Ensemble's part.

Ensemble big chief, Bruce Shelley, always said that his team's aim was to create a real-time strategy game that incorporated all the empire building elements of more traditional turn-based strategy titles. Brucey boy, congratulations - mission accomplished!

General Cheats
Press ENTER and input the following codes (in italics) for the described effects:

X marks the spot - Reveals map
Medium Rare Please - Stocks 10000 food
Give me liberty or give me coin - Stocks 10000 coin
Nova & Orion - Stocks 10000 XP
- Stocks 10000 wood
A recent study indicated that 100% of herdables are obese - All animals on map are fattened
Speed always wins - Building rate doubled
Sooo Good - Random saying when killed by infantry
This is too hard - Clears current map in single player
tuck tuck tuck - Stocks monster truck in retail version

Game: Age of Mythology
System: PC
Players: 1-multi
Online: Hell yeah!
Developer: Ensemble Studios
Distributor: Microsoft

Rating: 90%

The Movies

2006-02-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

Lights, camera, mouse click

The Movies? Could this be a game about movies or films? Why yes, it is indeed. The Movies is what every kid (and I've asked them all, so it's undisputed fact) dreamed of when they was young - that is setting up a cool car chase scene, a bar fight or even or a heart-felt goodbye.

Dream no more kiddies, because the future is here, in the present, but it's not just for kids, it's for older beings too! Upon first playing The Movies, I thought it related to The Sims in some aspects, but is obviously totally different and redefined in others. The reason I say this is because fans of The Sims would probably enjoy the gameplay found here.

And I rekcon Activision and Lionhead studios have produced a great hit with their latest title: The Movies is really something new, it's different, it's cool, it's funny and it's (most of all) really entertaining!

Let me just say, I really didn't think that it was possible to make your own movie, in your own home, in a game, with no videocamera - but you can and it's great! I was hooked on the game so badly that I didn't realise that the whole house was asleep at one stage. Lucky for the slumbering soulds that I was wearing headphones.

The game appears to be similar to The Sims at first, but there's a lot more 'behind the scenes' stuff here. If you choose to start from scratch you must build a big studio where all of your movies will be shot for the next 40 or so years, and you can begin the game from the year 1940 with 100 Million dollars if you want.

Of course, I needed some training, so I went through all the basic steps and started from scratch in a new game. You have to employ the builders, the janitors, the crew, the actors, the cast and a whole lot more, to start making your movie. I needed some help, so I turned on the much-impressive interactive guide, which led me through some of the early stages of construction, helping sort you out, and getting you 'off your feet' for the first few years in the game.

Once my studio had been set up with nice buildings, stages, food stands and plants, trees and the like I started to produce my first movie. The first few productions are made for you, but you can soon employ script writers to do it for you. You can tune in to a radio station to listen to up-coming events via an annoyingly-amusing Englishman talking on wireless. Later on, as time passes and technology increases, you can build better studios, buildings etc.

Then as you near the mid 1930s you can start to edit your own movies, and make them for yourself. This is the main part of the game and you can create and edit your own scenes, using the advanced movie maker. You can exert a lot of control over your actors, ensuring the characters in your blockbuster movie about a blind Priest with magical powers do exactly whatever you want them to.

The movie studio will be a place where you
spend lots of time, and you can augment
the studio with heaps of cool props as well

You can even do voice overs, giving it your own personal touch, and there is scope to create animated features. And the best thing about making your own movie is that you can post it online for the entire world of film lovers to see.

There are online competitions too. The winner scooping cash and/or prizes, and getting the credit for making it. Naturally you can also watch other people's movies. But you don't even have to have the game to watch your mate's movie, as you can convert it into another media file (mpg4) and play it using Windows Media Player.

Another important aspect of the game are the relationships that your movie stars and the other crew (like the directors) have with each. If they're not gelling on the set, your movie is unlikely to reach its full potential.

Okay, so I've raved and ranted about some of the game's features, but there are just too many to mention - it's a big game - and I don't want to make it look boring, because it's not. It's quite full-on having to run a studio, keep stars happy, please reporters and win prizes, and that's just the single player game!

The graphics of the game (on high detail) are surprisingly good. You can't compare them to any other game really, because the models look half 2D, half 3D [2.5D? - Ed], but they really are good, considering that you can zoom up so close you can see the chef preparing a meal in a van, and still have great quality. The visual effects are really great in the finished films as well, and I was impressed with the level of detail which they've captured.

The sound effects in the game are well-suited to the game, providing all the neccesary audio cues, but they do tend to get annoying before too long. The only real let down would be the sound, even though it suits all the surroundings quite well.

At first, I was a little sceptical about just how much freedom a movie-making game would allow and whether it could be accessible to all types of gamers, but now that I've seen the standard set by this game, I'm quite amazed.

Game: The Movies
System: PC
Players: 1
Online: Yes
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 85%

Smackdown VS Raw 2006

2006-02-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

New WWE Game a Smackdown

Yes, that's right, 'Smackdown Vs Raw 2006', the best wrestling game of its time has arrived!

This is one of the finest games I've ever played on PS2, and maybe that's because I'm a WWE fan, but this game really blew me away.

If you thought Smackdown Vs Raw was good, this game raises the bar even further - the graphics are better, the fights are better and the various scenes are more realistic.

Here I will list just some of the improvements to whet your pro-wrestling appetites:

General manager mode
New roster
All new fights
Players can talk
Crowd cheers for good/boos for bad
All new graphics
More involved gameplay

Smackdown Vs Raw 2006 has a whole new roster including all of the Hogan's (80s, normal and Hollywood), William Regal, Carlito, Hurricane and lots more. The roster has been totally updated following all the events in the past year or so since Smackdown Vs Raw. Although I don't want to sound biased against any particular wrestlers in this otherwise neutral review, I will say that it's a bit disappointing that they had to add people like William Regal, who is a total loser...

The story mode is refreshingly new (where your player can actually trash talk) and you can choose your path all the way down to Wrestle Mania, where you must take the world heavyweight title. Although Eric Bisholf was recently fired from Raw, they still added him in the early stages of the Raw game development. Although later on he's fired. Kurt Angle is no longer the GM of Smackdown either, having his job taken by Teddy Long.

All the new entrances, songs and general attitude updates makes the game so much sweeter, so now it adds extra realism, because you can follow the show as well as being on your own show.

The other great part about this new gaming delight is that you can create your own entrance using the advanced entrance maker. You can choose lighting, movement, hand signals and flares/fireworks. Kind of like choreographing a dance routine with hormone-enhanced hairless monkey, you can customise many parts of the routine, or choose an existing entrance. You can also create your own superstar (an old feature, but a goody), and get this - you can make them a normal wrestler, an animal, a robot or some sort of an alien. Very cool.

Most standard features come with the game, so it's not like a whole new wrestling experience for those who have played quite a few of these games, but it's definitely how the first one should've been. There's not heaps to say, because it's playing the game that's enjoyable, not talking about what's been added, such as new moves, characters etc.

Although it's not a whole new experience, it definitely redefines all other wrestling games, and I hope the standard is much higher from now on.

This is really a pleasing improvement on the game, and I'd hope all people who like wrestling would pick it up straight away. I stayed up until 3:00am in the morning, totally hooked on the thing. I love this game, and if you like wrestling too, I think you will enjoy yourself with this one.

Game: Smackdown VS Raw 2006
System: PS2
Players: 1-6
Online: No
Developer: Yuke's Media Creations
Distributor: THQ

Rating: 95%

Having a Paint-Ball of a Time...

2006-02-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

Let me begin by saying that Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d is the #1 Action Sports Shooter Franchise. That being said, can you recall many other action sports shooter franchises? I’m not saying that it’s not a great game… actually I am, but it’s still a good game and anyone looking for the best paintball experience on the Xbox should look no further.

The first thought running through my head when I got this game was “A gun game where you don’t kill anyone? Blasphemy!” But then I realised when playing the game that the creators have gone to great lengths to present paintball as a legitimate sport, with its own rules, culture, products, and players, rather than a dumbed-down imitation of a first-person shooter.

So if you are an avid paintball fan you sure are going to love this game, and if you’re not, there’s no better way than on the Xbox to experience the lightning-quick sport of tournament paintball.

If you didn’t know already, Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d is a sequel to the 2004 game – same title minus the fabricated word – and with this sequel comes all new max’d out features, hence the name.

This game is bursting with game modes including a new longer Single player Career, Co-op play in Career mode, Exhibition mode for up to four players in split screen, the ability to control your team, a field editor where you can design and play your own custom fields in single player, new locations, gear, soundtrack and everyone’s favourite (or at least my favourite), online play via Xbox Live.

This game is, in essence, a squad-based first-person shooter. Your squad is made up of three, five or seven members and you must complete an objective before your opposition can. There are three different game types: Elimination, Capture the Flag and Centre Flag. They play almost exactly the same as the best way to complete any is to eliminate all the opposition.

In Career mode you start as a Rookie and move forward in your career from Rookie to Novice to Amateur and to Professional by competing in tournaments. As you progress you will earn credits and experience points that you can use to purchase gear and improve your character's skills and eventually get to face off against the 14 professionals including Greg Hastings, Keely Watson, and Rocky Cagnoni. The downside of the career mode is that all the different arenas are basically the same. It’s a rectangular field littered with various sized obstacles to provide cover. This makes the game feel repetitive and quickly you will be looking elsewhere for enjoyment.

That other place you may want to look is on Xbox Live. Max’d’s multiplayer component is definitely the game’s strongest point. It's a great way to experience this game and fully put to the test all the different movement and shooting tactics available. After playing online you will find it hard to go back to single player and I don’t see why you would since playing online is where most of your replay value is going to come from.

An excellent component of Max’d is the controls. The whole system is quite tight, and works very well. It uses the dual thumbsticks approach for movement and you are able to move in three postures; standing, crouched and prone. Pulling the right trigger fires your marker (gun, for those not down with paintball lingo) and to refill your hopper (or ammo clip… more lingo) with a pod of paint you press the black button.

Pressing the ‘Y’ button enables turbo which allows you to run quickly while standing. Pulling the left trigger makes you snap (lean… I think they’re making words up now) out from behind a bunker. Pressing the ‘X’ button switches the marker to your other hand so that you can snap to the other side and pressing the directional pad up or down changes your stance. Pressing the ‘A’ button switches between horizontal and vertical snap modes and pressing the ‘B’ button sends you into a controlled dive. Hitting the directional pad left or right gives the capability of glancing around without affecting your aim. And finally, by pressing the white button you are able to perform callouts, which are similar to play calling in football video game titles.

A nice little feature in the game is the ability to cheat. A timed mini game pops up on the screen when you get splattered and you'll need to stop a moving cursor at a specific point in order to have the hit be counted as a miss. Stop it in the wrong place however and you will be eliminated and sometimes also get your teammates eliminated.

The AI here is also surprisingly good, for both your team and the opposition. They hide well behind cover, attempt to flank you, and often pin you down. They even surprise you with tactics you wouldn’t think they would be capable of knowing or even implementing.

And for all you paintballers out there, they’ve got over 160 pieces of authentic, officially-licensed gear like gun barrels, shirts and other assorted paintball paraphernalia looking just like the real thing.

The games graphics seem to have a rather first-generation look to them. There are some decent textures on some of the bunkers, but for the most part they are overly bland and everything looks washed out and muddy. It does have however, a few flashy lighting effects and a smooth frame rate. Character models aren’t overly detailed and don’t have a huge range of animation (they are stiff and tend to go from a crouched position to standing up somewhat awkwardly) to say the least. Gun models, too, aren't very detailed, but they have some nice reflections in them and the different parts you have equipped are represented onscreen when you change components.

The sound? Average like Will Barker's cooking. The markers sound good enough when firing paintballs, but everything else sounds cheap. The soundtrack is comprised of generic rock tracks from actual recording artists, like Puddles of Mud and Static-X, that accompanies the game play appropriately. A good thing is that they also allow custom soundtracks for those who don’t really like rock and would prefer to get themselves fired up with some other style of music.

Less impressive is the game's announcer. Sure he’s fun to listen to at first, but after hearing him repeat his overly extreme voice and trying-too-hard phrases over and over again it can get quite annoying. Having said that, Pauly Shore based his career around annoying catchphrases, so I can't be too judgemental.

Max’d effectively captures the mix of intensity and excitement, and properly using cover in arena paintball, and in the end it’s only limited by the confines of the sport itself. It can be a blast in multiplayer and especially online provided the game develops a solid fan base. However, the release of the Xbox 360 means that this is potentially unlikely. It isn’t really different enough from the first game to encourage a re-buy, either. This game is worth renting and worthy of a purchase if you are a hardcore paintballer, especially seeing as it’s sold at a reasonably budget price.

Game: Greg Hastings’ Tournament Paintball Max’d
System: Xbox
Players: 1-Multi
Online: Yes
Developer: WXP Inc.
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 65%

The Empire Strikes Back

2006-02-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

When your collective resume reads like Ensemble Studios’ does, people come to expect a certain standard. Age of Empires, Age of Kings, Age of Mythology, and many and various expansion packs, games that refined and redefined the RTS genre as we know it, it would not be an understatement to say that the third instalment of the Age of Empires series has been one of the most anticipated releases in recent memory.

And it’s understandable, what with all the hype and those gorgeous screenshots floating around Ye Olde Interweb (as we crusty curmudgeons of a bygone age like to call it).

Sporting a spiffy new graphics engine to put Doom 3 to shame and refinements a-plenty, AoE3 is likely to please even the most hardcore of RTS fans, but, as we are about find out, there’s just not enough new here under this glossy coat of paint that the dedicated Age fan won’t be suffering from a moderate-to-severe case of deja-vu.

Set during an imaginary conflict between eight European powers over the colonisation of North and South America (complete with politically correct invulnerable tribes of Native Americans), AoE3 is historically quite a step ahead of the previous instalments in the series, and each play session offers up five technological eras (culminating in steam-power and the industrial age). As such, where once the serious player invested in ballistae and cavalry, now he looks to cannons and musketeers to soundly flog his enemy into oblivion.

Also, the European sides are not carbon copies of one another, even despite a few highly similar units as, in practice, their differences make a significant impact on the way you play, from cheap infantry for the Russians to the biggest guns in the game for the Ottomans.

Still, there is not a single elephant to be seen, which could be a big slap in the face for those looking forward to pitting Aztec warriors against mounted artillery and the like. And while this is maybe a little less exciting than pounding thine foe with wave upon wave of samurai warriors, there is no doubt that not much can compete with hill-top cannons bowling over ranks of foot soldiers.

I mention combat first because as we all know, Age of Empires has always been a game with its roots firmly in the art of beating the crap out of people -- resource harvesting and town development aside. Build a town centre, get a few drones out looking for resources, build houses as your army grows, expand your town, look for more resources, build more soldiers, and so on and so forth.

Keen to keep micromanagement down to a minimum, Ensemble has seen fit to simplify a few aspects of their tried-and-tested formula this time around, and thus you find yourself dealing with the collection of only three resources (cash, wood, and food), as the fourth, stone, is nowhere to be seen. Neither does one have to deal with workers coming back all the time to drop their hard-earned bounty off (a little less realistic, maybe, but helpful nonetheless). We now have the introduction of mills and plantations, which negate the need to search out new sources of food and wood (a very handy introduction for the late game).

A completely new addition, on the other hand, to the AoE universe is the concept of a ‘home city’, an idea partially reminiscent of the city screen from the Heroes of Might and Magic series. Here you buy upgrades for your race based on your experience (garnered mostly by killing infidels but also via the expansion of your city), including economic bonuses, new military units and batches of surplus troops.

The home city is an interesting diversion from the main game, and is persistent throughout campaigns and also online (you have two separate cities for offline and online play), levelling up much like an RPG character as you go, to the point of being, to a certain shallow degree, customisable (loincloths optional). Furthermore, which race you join has an impact on what upgrades are available to you as time goes by, as all the races have several unique shipments each.

Strangely, however, the theory of refining the old and adding in a little of the new has not been applied to the combat model, which remains pretty much bog-standard, both by AoE and basic RTS benchmarks. The greatest problem here is that your units are not quite the smartest little military men of all time. Indeed, the more powerful units need to be explicitly ordered around to get the most use out of them, and long-range units need to be ordered similarly apart from the melee units lest you end up having seven shades of jam kicked out of you by an unforgiving opponent.

It does not help that in the midst of the bigger battles things get heavily chaotic as your units spread out and the frame-rate drops like a stone on some systems, unlike, say, Rome: Total War, which handled large-scale battles a lot better, although one has to admit that Rome didn’t look nearly as good while doing so. Water ripples, waves roll, men collapse under the force of a cannonball in their midst, and generally things look great.

The environments of South America in particular are especially lush, and it can be quite fun just to sit around and take in the scenery (that is, until some nutter takes a musket to your facilities). Beauty aside, it’s just a pity that, as a result, whether online or off, it is more who has the better graphics card than who is the better tactician that determines the outcome of most battles.

Speaking of which, here’s something that may really get on the wick of the long-time Age fan: insistence on the decimation of your opponents. While this sounds like fun from a theoretical standpoint, in practice it’s a right regal pain in the arse. Games don’t end with the destruction of your opponent’s town centre or surrounding buildings, no, if you want to win you have to find and eliminate every single last unit. Previously, if faced with a situation like this, one could simply build a Wonder and defend it for the allotted time period, thus winning you the game with the minimum of map scouring. One has to wonder about the motives behind this shift in winning conditions, which, in this reviewer’s mind, needed no tweaking.

A game with a proud heritage and a lot to prove, Age of Empires III is a pleasing addition to Ensemble’s long line, and should go on to be a resounding success both with the home crowd and those of us that get their jollies online (from gaming, that is, ahem). Sadly, however, for all its development time and promise, it’s all just a little samey, and doesn’t manage to avoid some of the pitfalls that other, lesser strategy games inevitably fall victim to (or, occasionally, avoid).

Slightly disappointing, maybe, but don’t let that get in the way of your rollicking take-over of the New World.

Game: Age of Empires III
System: PC
Players: Multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Ensemble
Distributor: Microsoft

Rating: 85%

Vietcong

2006-01-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

Vietnam from a Czech point of view

Oliver Stone's Platoon, and Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (forgive the name dropping at such an early stage, folks, but I have to earn those commissions somehow) provided, at their time of production (1986 and 1987, respectively), some of the strongest anti-war messages ever seen on film.

No such sentiments are to be found in Czech developer Pterodon Team's gritty Vietnam-based FPS, Vietcong, although, as an experience, Vietcong comes up almost on par for immersion with the two above-mentioned films.

Indeed, the tutorial (cleverly disguised as a Marine Boot Camp) brings back memories of the first half of Full Metal Jacket, specifically Sergeant Hartman and his hard-ass attitude.
In the single-player Campaign, you are Sergeant First Class Steve Hawkins, Intelligence Officer for a Special Forces unit stationed at Nui Pek.

It doesn't take long for you to make yourself at home, and only slightly longer to be put in command of a team, made up of a radio operator, a point-man, a medic and, on occasion, an engineer and a machine-gunner.

In the war against both the North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong (VC), you will cover hundreds of kilometres, with mission objectives as diverse as protecting a friendly outpost, to rescuing an American POW from VC forces in the dark of night, to fending off a siege against a radio outpost on the Cambodian border.

From cramped, claustrophobic VC tunnels to ancient ruins and humid, rainy swamps, Vietcong, for the most part, keeps you constantly involved and, above all, immersed.
In the single player camp, apart from the cool Campaign mode, there are Single Missions (read: Campaign missions as separate scenarios with selectable settings e.g number of enemies) and Quick Missions, which are unlocked as you progress through the game.

While there are less than 10 of these Quick Missions, they do make a fun alternative to the story-driven Campaign, if you just want to run around with a machinegun and shoot shit up for the fun of it.

The rickety bridge. To cross, or not to cross....

On the multiplayer side of the fence, you can engage in LAN-based frenzies or Internet skirmishes, and, despite some heavy levels of detail, everything seems to run pretty smoothly, even on a lowly dial-up connection.

Things are generally standard over here, so not much in the way of elaboration should really be needed, should it?
As a war-based FPS, the first thing you'd notice would be the weapons, of which there are just under 30 to play with, including such classics as the Thompson .45 carbine, the M1 Garand carbine and the 'light support weapon' of the United States Army, the M60 machinegun.
Other examples of Vietcong's armoury are the Winchester 70 hunting rifle (gotta love that bolt-action!), the M16 assault rifle, the Remington 870 pump-action 12 gauge and, of course, the impressive M79 snap-loading grenade launcher.

You also get five different types of sidearm, a combat knife that looks more like a machete, two types of grenade, and a lot more. Very impressive.
Also impressive on the weaponry side of things is the way that all the firearms can be fired from the hip, but they can also be brought up to eye height and lined up by the manual sights, which adds a certain something to the proceedings, especially when you see that convoy of VC down in the valley and want to try out for some headshots and get some melon-popping practice in with that Winchester.

The addition of eye-level sighting comes into play in a more significant role when you also consider the ability to both crouch and go prone, especially when behind cover, as the eye-level sighting raises you up a little bit and you can generally trade fire over whatever it is you're hiding behind without risking life and limb in the process.

On an aural scale of 1 to 10, Vietcong gets an 11 for sheer perfection. From the sound of rounds whistling past your ears in the middle of dense forest to the dull thud as said rounds impact with the dirt (and the ricochet) brings tear to my eyes every time I hear it.

"I saw something move, Sarge."
The chatter of automatic weapon fire and the rustle of leaves, the hum of exotic bugs and the screech of monkeys, every single sound can be said to be, at the very least, on a level with any big-budget feature film you might care to name, Saving Private Ryan included.
The music only helps to nail this observation down, with a groovy and really quite cool selection of 60's and 70's tunes on display.

Visually, Vietcong can be considered a hotchpotch, with highly-detailed character models that are meticulously constructed down to the point where you can see the whites of their eyes, and some very nice textures and weapon models.
Unfortunately, the foliage that makes up the majority of the outdoor scenes that in turn make up a majority of the game are pretty low quality.

Furthremore, there are two particular things apart from the foliage that let down Vietcong, namely the sometimes-inane AI and the tendency for Vietcong to read off the CD-ROM way way too much. Let's deal with the AI issue first, shall we?
Generally, the squad AI isn't too bad, and they can carry on with a fire-fight without you having to worry about becoming a casualty of friendly fire.

However, they have definite problems with path finding and with situations involving tight groups. For instance, should you manage to get into an enemy trench, then your loyal if somewhat stupid comrades will jump in with you.
However, unlike you, they seem to lack the necessary motor skills to get back out of said trench.
Same thing applies to tunnels, which is probably why, for the larger tunnel missions, Pterodon have set up the scripts so that you have to go in by yourself.
However, unlike several other games that shall remain nameless (*choke* Line of Sight Vietnam), both the enemy and allied AIs know how to take cover, and are good at jumping, ducking, weaving and diving in and out of the line of fire with great dexterity. So it's not all bad.
"We need a medivac, two humvees and some explosions!"

Now, the problem with Vietcong, as far as hardware goes, is that:
A) It attempts to auto-detect your system and does a lousy job; andB) As stated two paragraphs above, it reads off the CD drive too damn much!
Now, the second problem can be worked around via the application of a No-CD crack (not that we at GameBlitz approve of such things *gasp*), reason being that the reading of the CD, or over-reading as the case may be, is only in place as a kind of copy-protection, in that the files that Vietcong reads off the CD are already installed on the hard drive, hence why the No-CD crack works in the first place.

The first problem, however, is really a nutty one to crack, so to speak. Again, it can be worked around, but it generally requires a lot of patience, and I don't get paid enough to go into detail about said problem here.

Suffice to say…Vietcong needs a patch. Not particularly urgently, but it still needs a patch.
A Vietnam-based shooter with a story to tell and a cool way of telling it, a decent engine and some amazing scenarios drenched in enough ambience to make David Fincher self-consciously flinch, Vietcong is good. Very good.
You would do well to put it down on your "To Buy" list, but wait for the patch, yeah?

Game: Vietcong
System: PC
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Gathering of Developers (GoD)

Rating: 85%

Rome: Total War

2006-01-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

Giving you room to Rome

It's just not a proper war without togas, speeches and damn silly tactical maneuvers based entirely around racial memories of outbreaks of the bubonic plague.

Providing all three at once and with a full cast of incendiary pigs, elephants, soldiers, cavalry and senators, Creative Assembly's Rome: Total War has everything a growing boy needs.
A big step up from it's predecessors, Rome takes everything good about the series and rejigs it to the umpteenth level, complementing the proceedings with a fresh and oh-so-pretty battle engine that really brings your involvement in the game to a totally new plane.

As with the previous two Total War games, Rome is divided into two separate but equally important gamely segments.

There are the battles, in which you, as the omnipotent ruler of Stuff, mass your forces and send them into battle for the glory of Rome, and then there's the turn-based campaign, which you toy with when not preoccupied with kicking seven shades of fettuccini out of your enemies.

Basically, every turn (representing six months of the year) you get to move your armies about the real-time 3D map of Europe, spend money on your settlements, and double-deal from the shadows. Basically, you're looking at a cross between the best elements of Civilization 3 and the war making of Medieval. After playing through a fully-fledged tutorial (a rare thing in these slapdash times, let me tell you) Rome then gives you the chance to confront the main imperial campaign as one of three Roman factions: The Scipii, Julii or Bruti.

While the three don't have any special units or buildings (being, as they are, all Roman), they do have dissimilar tasks. The Bruti are assigned the job of increasing the borders of the Empire to the southeast, destroying the last of the Greek settlements as they go. The Julii are tasked with killing Gauls and taking Germania in what quickly becomes an almost painfully slow fight northwards, while the Scipii get the biggest responsibility, in the form of seizing Carthage to the southwest.

Unfortunately, you can't just go about your business willy-nilly, for at all times you are under the scrutiny of the Roman Senate, and not always are you their favorite son. The Senate has the power to order you around on missions and while, like a real general, you have the power to disobey, this is not always a good idea, for to do so is to lose influence within the Senate, which can and does indeed tend to, come back and bite you on the proverbial.

Rome's legions fend off a division ofman-eating ketchup botttles
If you comply with their (sometimes malicious) orders, rewards in the form of cold hard cash, special military units, not to mention extra influence, are up for grabs, making dealing with the Senate a careful balancing act.

Which brings me to the next item on the agenda. Families.
An enhanced attribute from the very first Total War game, each of the three Roman factions are actually families, and those you assign to govern your cities and captain your armies must be chosen, as such, from your family stock.

With an RPG feel to the proceedings, the many members of your family are good for various things depending on their stats.
For instance, it'd be smart to appoint a family member with a high command rating to a position where command is involved (i.e. as a general), while it would most definitely dumb to give the job to a dude who loves, say, picking his nose.

If your choices are good enough, your family members may be picked for important senate positions, increasing their powers several times over. By the same token, you can surround your family members with lackeys (bodyguards, advisers etc) who can perform various functions.
It's not a massively important addition, but it's cool nonetheless.

The importance of having family members serving in military positions I cannot emphasize enough. Having a general in your army can sometimes be the key factor in determining which army wins the day, and a small army with an high-stat general can usually flog a larger force lacking a general to within an inch of it's life.

Much has been made of Rome's new graphics engine, and I think that now, finally, we can say that all the hype was justified. Leaps and bounds ahead of Medieval's sprite-based armies, you can finally see the effects of your commands in glorious 3D. Soldiers rush down out of the hills in monstrous waves, war elephants trumpet and thunder about, hurling infantry into the sky, catapults send giant chunks of flaming rock to descend upon thine enemy and, really, it's all quite operatic.

Also like an opera, there's normally a terrifically high body count, with legions upon legions (sometimes thousands of soldiers in total) marching to their deaths in sync. The attention to detail is sometimes quite stunning, but what is even more amazing is the relative lack of system lag, even in the midst of fierce combat.

The Romans suit up, square their shouldersand gird their loins for battle
With a half-decent system, you can just pull back and watch the teeming masses go at it hammer and tongs without even a touch of framerate-drop.
The new camera does, admittedly, take a bit of getting used to, but give it a few days and you'll be panning and scanning like a pro.

When you get through with the single player campaign (a massive undertaking, consisting as it does of roughly six hundred turns), Rome lets you play with a skirmish mode (the wartime equivalent of a TV dinner, quick and satisfying, but more than a tad on the shallow side), or in a few historical campaigns (far shorter than the large single-player effort, yet quite fun).
Multiplayer is also an extremely valid option, with two game modes provided, in the forms of two-player Siege and open-to-all Skirmish.

Siege is the Rome equivalent of Chess, with one player taking up a township and defending it as the other probes the walls for weaknesses. Skirmish, on the other hand, is a quick and dirty "let's get into it, boys" come-one-come-all gorefest, which is sure to impress all and sundry.
Like ice-cold lemonade on a hot day, Rome is the year's best strategy game. Anyway, even if it wasn't, how can you go past a game that lets you set pigs on fire and hurl them at your opponent?

Game: Rome: Total War
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: Creative Assembly
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 90%

Counterstrike: Condition Zero

2006-01-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

From Hero to Zero...

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, also may I extend a very warm welcome to the ambassadorial party from Pestulon IV, they're in the far corner by the bar.

Thirsty work, being an ambassador. Could I get a wave of the tentacles, perhaps? Thank you.
You may have gathered from my exceptionally chirpy greeting that I am a happy little unit. If you have indeed gathered this…then you're dead wrong with the emphasis on dead.

In truth, my friends, I am a seething ball of rage, testosterone and anchovies.
I've been waiting years for Condition Zero. It was touted as the Quake-killing, throne-toppling single player Counterstrike experience we'd all been craving just like junkies crave that next hit. We, the gaming public, could nigh-taste those sweet caramelised polygons so bad it physically hurt.

All of this, and for what?

An overpriced, outdated and severely outclassed Half-life MOD containing less inspiration than what is stored within the tip of my gangrenous, rotting little finger, is what.

Don't get me wrong; Condition Zero is fine, great even, if all you want to do is play against bots on annoyingly generic maps. If this is so, then Condition Zero is the dog's bollocks, the cutting edge and quite possibly the best of the best.

However, if you are looking for an above-average or even engaging single player experience utilising clever plot, inventive scripted events and/or top-of-the-line graphics…You aren't really looking in the right place, because CZ has none of the above.

Let's start from the top in order to make sense of this mess, shall we?
Firstly, plot: There is none. You've got CZ itself and CZ: The Deleted Scenes (I'll come to Deleted Scenes later). Anyway, standard-issue Condition Zero play is, to be blunt, nothing more or less than a collection of maps and a collection of bots to be mixed and matched at will utilising an updated version of the Counterstrike code complete with a slight graphical touch-up.

Time for a little 'democracy'
The singular incentive for playing through this slog, and it is a slog, is that you get unlock more derivative levels and more generic bots. Gee, don't you feel motivated just reading that sentence?

Secondarily, we have scripted events: They are there, but you can't be bothered to care, quite frankly, on account of the fact that we've seen it all before, from the Northern Africa crash landing that I'm certain was ripped straight out of the Half-life: Opposing Force expansion pack of many years ago to the occasional door being kicked in. This is as bog-standard as it gets.
If Hitchcock was a raving mad CS fragmeister, he must surely be turning in his grave.

Finally, we come to the graphics: This is the only point that allows Counterstrike: Condition Zero to save some face. Note my use of the word 'some'. In a lot of ways, this is as close as the truly ancient Half-life engine is going to come to modern standards.

It's been with us for a long time, we've had some good times and shared a few laughs, but, like that ancient uncle you've been storing under the stairs all these years, it's time to call the undertakers and bury this one for good.

The weapon models are looking good, slow-down is minimal on even the most average of machines and, occasionally, you can be impressed by what the old HL engine is capable of.
Then again, a large amount of the character models look positively decrepit, the particle effects are laughable and don't even get me started on the blood effects, akin to fleshy red streamers or possibly low-budget tomato sauce fountains, or textures, some of which could have quite easily come from the likes of Quake.

As Weird Al Yankovic once sang, "Please don't point and stare, we're just technologically impaired".

Now, I mentioned Deleted Scenes earlier, and even I will admit that the subtitle sounds promising. Hey, you might even be moved to think that Valve will have bundled some cute CGI bloopers a la the likes of Toy Story, out of which we might get, at the very worst, a weak chuckle. No such luck, I'm afraid.

In the name of, presumably, breaking up the monotony of CZ gameplay, we've got a bunch of unconnected, dull single player levels featuring pointless objectives about as engaging as watching the grass grow, maybe slightly more so, but only maybe.

When Angelina Jolie ran out of money,she turned to a life of hockey - then crime
Said objectives range from "kill everything in Northern Africa and escape" to "find the hostage, kill everything in the Philippines and escape" to "defuse the bomb, kill everything in general and escape". I don't know about you fine people, but I'm starting to detect a trend here.
Vietcong this is not. It isn't even Soldier of Fortune. It's just…Condition Zero.

Having read all of the above, you're probably thinking that Condition Zero must be a terrible game, fit only for use as an anchor on the scurviest Slavic garbage scow to sink to the bottom of the Black Sea.

While it would be entertaining in the extreme to leave you all with that impression, somehow I feel it wouldn't be fair.

Counterstrike: Condition Zero is not terrifyingly bad. It is, however, just about the most mediocre commercial experience available today. If it were a MOD available for free download, I could mark it up substantially, but it's not, so I can't, so I won't.

In fact, the only way you can think about Condition Zero is as a patch for Counterstrike, complete with tighter code and a prettier interface, because that's what it boils down to, in as many words.

Is Condition Zero a semi-decent game? Yes. Would I pay money for it? Not on your life.
What the marketing boys will have to realise, if they want to continue receiving their big fat pay cheques, is that the vast and overwhelming majority of people have a hard enough time deciding what to spend their hard-earned dosh on without having to deal with duds, which is, unfortunately, what Condition Zero is. A dud.
Ah well, there's always Team Fortress 2 to look forward to.

Game: Counterstrike: Condition Zero
Players: 1
Online: No
Developer: Ritual Entertainment
Distributor: Valve

Rating: 55%

Empires: Dawn of the Modern World

2006-01-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

Real-time strategy goes extra large

After a solid LAN session of C&C: Zero Hour, a good friend of mine, let's call him Jesus, asked the very pertinent question: "Is the real-time strategy genre currently overcrowded?"
I responded with an affirmative nod of my head, soon after which I booted up Activision's latest RTS game, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World.

"Overcrowded yes, but the quality is on the rise. Oh, and would you like a cup of Bovril?"
Empires falls neatly into this category - the rising quality, not the Bovril - whose sheer scope and number of units make it a must play, and when this is coupled with a strong storyline, detailed graphics and an easy-to-manipulate camera system (a must for any serious RTS), the result is pleasing.

The premise behind Empires is fairly stock-standard. There are five ages spanning 1000 years, and within each age you can play various single and multiplayer scenarios, ranging from quick combat skirmishes to full-blown civilisation inspired sojourns.

The five time periods, each containing different units, include the Medieval Age, the Gunpowder Age, the Imperial Age plus World War I and World War II. For mine, the pick was WWII, but that's mainly because you get to unleash the devastating nuke.

Aaah, the Franks -- nothing quite like a Frank
Generally speaking, the gameplay is solid, and the addition of mucho stats for each and every unit is a nice touch, though this won't suit everyone, particularly the more action-oriented C&C-type strategy fans.

The interface looks a little complicated to start with - there's buttons and maps and doodads everywhere - but the well-paced tutorials will take care of any pre-interface anxiety, and help ease you into the action.

Once familiar with the basic controls, it's actually quite a compelling game, and it's long too, with the aforementioned five ages and multiple single player missions (not to mention instant action levels) taking quite some time to wade through.

Like most real-time strategy games, you'll have to gather resources in Empires, and once the ball is rolling you can start erecting buildings, researching and developing new technologies and of course building a deadly arsenal of combat units in order to solidify your power.

A few of the more intriguing units include the WWII era German U-boats, and the Krauts also have access to the Waffen SS (essentially battle-hardened soldiers upgraded to the elite Verfügungstruppen) and mustard gas.

From the the medieval age, the English used the tough Cuirassier, a heavily armoured combatant wielding a musket, sitting atop a horse. Sure, it may not sound like much against a Tiger Tank, but back in the 1300s they were top shit.

Can the boys in blue fend off the red rogues?

The advancement of shipbuilding in the 1600s makes for some great seafaring levels too, and the La Couronne - a special 17th century French warship - is pretty cool too.
The levels are quite creative, and while it's always nice to just build a stack of units and bombard your foe with supreme firepower and outsmart them with tactical know-how, the game throws more realistic missions at you, and this originality in the mission structure is a breath of fresh air.

That said, this reviewer did find some of the medieval missions a bit of a bore, but that could have been because I'd already toyed with the nuclear weapon (silly me), and the while catapulting plague-ridden cow carcasses through the air is cool, it's not quite as involving as using mechanical units, such as tanks, aeroplanes and battleships.
Further to this, if there's an itch that need scratching in Empires, it would revolve around the lack of anything new.

We've seen empire building games before, and we've seen real-time strategy games, and combining the two is not a new idea.

But beyond its relatively generic features, Empires is still a very playable - and enjoyable - game, but one that doesn't try to push the envelope in what is a very crowded genre.
Create air, sea and land units, then watchthem do battle with the evil Decepticons - arr!
While the graphics are best described as very nice, they're not the best in class. To the game's credit though, the visual style suits the game and presents the landscapes rather well.

The floating camera is also a real winner, and despite not offering cutting-edge visuals, the scalability of the graphics engine is impressive enough, and shows off what it can do with aplomb.

Despite not putting anything dramatically new on the table for all to see, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World is still a good game in my book - it's got five different ages, seven different civilisations (German, Chinese, French etc.), hundreds of units, multiple game modes and a solid multiplayer/skirmish option.

Beyond its admirable longevity, Dawn of the Modern World is a well-put-together RTS game, with a dash of empire building that spans a thousand years, and plenty of special/hero units thrown in for good measure.

Though some real innovation would have been nice, giving the game more distinction amid a sea of generic strategy titles, Stainless Steel Studios has crafted an intricate, detailed and largely enjoyable real-time strategy game nonetheless.

Game: Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
System: PC
Players: 1-8
Online: Yes
Developer: Stainless Steel Studios
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 70%

Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots Exp. Pack

2006-01-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

Throne to the dogs?

I'm not a big strategy fan. Really, I'm not.

I make an exception for the Warcraft games because I have an obsession with orcs, but other than that I find it difficult to sit through prolonged exposure to the genre without reaching for my trusty sawed-off.

Why, you ask?

Because, while I do have patience, I also happen to have a life, and sitting around for hours on end dragging little men in kilts from one end of the world to the other, while aesthetically appealing, is not my idea of fun.

Apparently, unlike most of the world, I don't have a God-complex.
Still, I will give credit where credit is due, so anyone who happens to be breathlessly reading this can stop chewing their fingernails and relax. Ready to continue?

Good. Rise of Nations was, essentially, Age of Empires squared, spanning six thousand years from the Stone to Information Ages with varied units and an innovative real time/turn based style of gameplay.

Age of Empires squared can only be a good thing, right? Right. In fact, it was such a good thing that it garnered a Game of the Year award and high scores across the journalistic board.

With Rise of Nations garnering such success, it was only logical that an expansion pack would follow.

Now, since we're still talking logically here, I think I'd better mention that it is almost a given that expansion packs never manage to provide enough content to equal the play time available in any one game.

Not so with Thrones and Patriots. We have a grand total of six new races (bringing the total number up to 24), specifically the Americans and two types of American Indians (Lakota and Iroquois), the Indian Indians, and Dutch.

Just to round out the field, we've also got the Persians (prince not included).

All six races have totally new abilities and some new units, and, to go with the new nations, Microsoft has thrown in four new campaigns, all of which are good.

The abovementioned campaigns are reasonably spaced out, time-wise, playing out such events as the conquests of Napoleon and Alexander the Great, the Cold War and, to add a bit of flavour to the proceedings, the migration from Europe to the "New World".

Of course, we don't get to play the sequel to that last campaign, where all the migrants realise the New World isn't really all it's cracked up to be and catch the first boat home. Pity.

I won't go on about the graphics and sound etc, etc, yada yada, ad infinitum, on account of the fact that Will Barker and dear old Tom Fahey did that on my behalf in their original Rise of Nations review, so those wondering what happened to the word count here can check their review out for the straight dope on all matters visual and aural.

Any who accuse me of laziness can just come over here, put that blindfold on, and stand against this sunny, bullet-riddled brick wall; you know, the one I prepared earlier.
Now, with the threats and shameless promotion out of the way, I can move on to my conclusion, like so:

All in all, a nicely put together expansion pack from the cyborg assembler drones at Microsoft Games which gives all you strategy fans several good reasons to continue playing Rise of Nations, like the ability to play as a Persian. That has to be good for the soul [Don't knock the Persians - Ed].

Me, though, I think I'll be sticking to my orcs, soul or no soul, thankyou-oh-so-very-much. Green men with axes are just dead sexy, don'tcha know?

Game: Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots Exp. Pack
Players: 1-multi
Online: YesD
eveloper: Big Huge GamesD
istributor: Microsoft

Rating: 80%

Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil

2006-01-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

Short but Sweet Satanic Expansion

The key to a first person shooter is balancing beauty with fun. Not only do you want to see creative, innovative design, interesting locales, fun weapons and character abilities, you also want it all to be exceedingly pretty.

This year, the over-arching industry battle was waged between iD Software's Doom 3 and Valve Software's long-awaited, much-delayed Half Life 2. For all the pre-battle hype, it was a war quickly over, and for good reason, since Doom 3 just didn't have what it took to last the distance with its eager player base.

After a few hours one poorly-lit industrial complex looked the same as the other, and you began to resignedly anticipate when the next batch of hell spawn would jump out at you.

It was, however, great eye-candy, and the engine looked decidedly promising; in fact, the fruits of iD's hard work are just appearing now, in the forms of Prey and the Raven Software-developed Quake 4. With a hand from Xbox developer Vicarious Visions, it made a smooth transition to the Xbox and was actually, on consideration, a better play on the console than on the PC.

Enter Resurrection of Evil, a collaboration between long-time contributor Nerve and id More a boost for the original single-player campaign than anything else, this expansion brings you back to the red planet two years after the events of the first game, as a Union Aerospace Corporation combat engineer left stranded after the assorted legions of Hell (the other hot red place) invade yet again.

This time, however, you're a little better off than the poor sap under control of your thumbsticks the first time around, thanks to a pulsating and empowered heart-shaped Artifact fresh from the shores of Hell, a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun (a nod to Doom 2), and the Grabber (not influenced by Half Life 2's Gravity Gun, nope, not at all). Oh, and you don't have to spend all your time staring into one of those bloody PDAs.

The Artifact and Grabber are relatively big changes to the tried-and-tested Doom 3 formula.

In the former's case, as you go up against the many big bosses that bookend levels, you gain new powers that include a variation of bullet-time (useful when you're outnumbered or when you're faced with booby-traps), temporary invulnerability, and the ability to kill enemies with one punch (similar, admittedly, to the Berserk mode from Doom 2).

The Grabber, however, lets you have a little fun with the sometimes highly-static Doom 3 environment, allowing you the ability to throw around barrels, boxes and even the fireballs of the hell spawn elite, which is highly convenient when you're looking to conserve all that ammo.

It must also be noted that, listening to the masses, Nerve have permanently attached the flashlight to the basic pistol, so you don't have to worry about being jumped and mauled with no way to really defend yourself.

So, heavily armed and savvy, it's once more into the abyss, dear friends. To go with the new weapons and skills, of course, you've got a few fresh and nasty enemies, introduced via the fun mechanic of the real-time Doom 3 cinematic engine, which is still as good-looking as ever.

In fact, it would be fair to say that Doom 3 is still the best looking game on the Xbox. Unfortunately, despite the new tricks and weapons, there just isn't very much here.

The single-player campaign, while just as good as the prequel's, is also terrifically short (about five hours, on average), and the four-player multiplayer hasn't got much in the way of staying power, especially considering there is no Artifact, no Grabber and some bright spark decided to remove the two-player co-op feature of the original Xbox port of Doom 3.

Were it a little longer or a little more involved, I could recommend Resurrection of Evil whole-heartedly, but as it is it makes for a better experience for those new to Doom 3 than its actual prequel, which is an interesting position to be in as far as an expansion pack is concerned.

It also contains, as an extra, Xbox-ported Classic Doom and Ultimate Doom, so those pining for a quick trip around the nostalgia factory can re-live the good old days when sprites were simple.
Demon hunting has never felt or looked so good, we just wish it wasn't over quite so quickly.

Game: Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
System: Xbox
Players: 1-4
Online: Yes
Developer: Nerve
Distributor: Activision

Rating: 80%

187 Ride or Die

2005-12-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

Gas, brake, honk - gas br... Woah!

The graphics in 187 are pretty swishwhen you stop to smell the roses, butthe game moves so rapidly you rarelyget to appreciate the attention to detail
Since the dawn of time when the universe was but a small acorn filled with energy and information, game developers have searched for the platinum racing game. Some thought the blueprint for the ultimate racer would come in their dreams. Sadly no.
Others tried releasing pressure in their skulls by drilling into their temples with power tools to release what could be the germination of the best race game.

Unfortunately they removed themselves from the gene-pool, sad as it may seem.
Looking back, history has shown that some development teams aimed for fabulous realism, seen in such games as Gran Turismo and Forza, while other teams tried for arcade thrills - the graphically manic Burnout series is a prime example - and others use sex to sell their games - the slop that is Street Racing Syndicate springs to mind.

The latest racing game by Ubisoft, developed in house, takes a completely different tack in the search for the ultimate racing game - guns.
Sure, you can race around a track all day long and have plenty of fun, reveling in the sublime physics, but when you unload round after round of semi-automatic weapons fire into your rival's chassis, eventually sending the car five feet into the air as it's underbody fuel tank erupts in a ball of fire and charred metal, it makes things just a little more intense.
And if done well, this kind of trigger-happy racing could one day become a memorable game worthy of cult - nay - occult status.

187 Ride or Die doesn't reach the vertex it could have, but this doesn't mean you should avoid it like a freshly laid doggy turd that's been happily solidifying under the sun's ultra-violet beams of deadly radiation. No, this game has promise, but first, allow me to set the scene of the story mode:

You are Buck, a criminal chap with brilliant driving skills who lives on the tough streets Los Angeles, where 187 gangland shootings are as common as paparazzi flocking to a freshly disrobed teen starlet after a night on the piss.

Your boss, O.G Dupree, has been shot 9 times by his Mexican adversary, Cortez, and decided that you - and you alone - must rid the entire city of the Cortez gang, or he'll kill you himself.
Wow, talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. But if I was Buck, I'd snap off a chair leg and crush his sku… What's that? No more violent anecdotes? Oh crap… Come again? No more swearing either!?! Shit on me… [Ed - you're on probation wise-guy.]
The game kicks off with you looking at a map of LA, and from here you must choose a race type at various locations (whip race, deathmatch, minefield). Proceedings are fairly cut-and-dry: keep on winning races/terminating opponents and you'll keep on unlocking more races/cars/gunners.

Before you enter an event, you must choose a car and a homeboy, the latter being your gunner who can be instructed to shoot forwards or backwards, and will auto-target the closest opponent. You'll be notified when your gunner hits an enemy, which in turn slows them down slightly and decreases their armour, to eventually result in their fundamental demise. Of course, they - and you - respawn moments later (except for deathmatch games, where the exploded stay dead).

As the race commences, you'll find that the game plays well enough, with half-decent physics making the cars feel nice and heavy, coupled with overriding arcade elements, such as the boost gage, which is filled by drifting arcadishly round corners.
Note the rear end of the red car squatting underacceleration, and being peppered with gun fire
Your boost can also be filled by collecting nitro power-ups, and there are other power-ups too, including new weapons, ammo and health pickups. You can even slam into an opponent's car and steal their weapon if timed correctly, which is pretty cool - particularly in multiplayer mode against human opponents.

The handheld weapons include shotguns, pistols, sub machine guns and heavy machine guns, and then there's the heavy artillery, the fixed weapons, such as rocket launchers, described cryptically in the manual: "With a fixed weapon, you can get crunk." Crunk, as in southern hip-hop?? That makes little sense to me, but neither does quantum physics, so why complain.
That's the premise of the game then. Drive the cars, try to keep your boost gauge filled and if anyone draws near, unleash hell.

The story is quite amusing, if only for the main characters' penchants for gratuitous profanity, and the game has a distinctly gritty ghetto feel to it, evidenced in the some of the music (supplied by Guerilla Black) and the in-game speech.

When I first heard "Chitty Chitty bang bang, a dollar for the gang bang," I was amused and horrified in equal parts - what would Dick Van Dyke think? Gang bang indeed...
If you tire of the story mode, or finish it, which is entirely possible considering it's not-too-lengthy, there are other areas to tackle, including an entertaining (if limited) multiplayer mode.
Jumping online and blowing the living tripe out of friends and strangers is a lot of fun, and probably the pick of the multiplayer modes, but I was pleased to see a 1-4 system link option, which we took great advantage of in our spare time; there's something primordially satisfying when car racing and combat are combined.

A split-screen mode for those with only one system and no Xbox Live is included too, plus there's even a co-op mode where one player drives and the other shoots (remember the arcade game Lucky and Wild?), where instead of having an auto-targeting system that only fires front and back, the shooter has 360 degree freedom in this mode.

The gunner, or should I say homeboy (crunk!), also controls the boost, which can make this co-op game mode very interesting (and precariously harmful for all involved) if the gunner decides not to use boost strategically. "Use it on the straights, aiight, not in the corners, foo." "Wha-choo say da mee?" "I said yo mamma wears army boots!!" And so on.

187 Ride or Die will appeal to all the homeboys out there who pay homage to the gansta-rap scene, as it's deeply entrenched in this American subculture. It's also got some nice ideas in there, and anyone who likes racing fast cars through Los Angeles, wantonly destroying other cars and roadside objects would be advised to at least give a burl.

Not groundbreaking by a long shot, and a bit slack for something developed by the people behind XIII and King Kong, but an interesting idea that - if it had more depth and longevity - would be tremendously gratifying. Here's hoping for a sequel with more polish.

Game: 187 Ride or Die
System: Xbox
Players: 1-2
Online: Yes
Developer: Ubisoft France
Distributor: Ubisoft
Rating: 65%

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones Review

2005-12-26T22:33:00.000-08:00

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy has always been known for its tight controls and satisfying environmental puzzles set in beautiful levels. The series' control scheme has served as a model for countless other games that also feature an acrobatic protagonist like the prince. The same great interface remains in the third game of the series, The Two Thrones. Like the other two games, you'll find yourself wall running, jumping, flipping, and vaulting your way up fiendishly designed environmental puzzles, as well as fighting vicious enemies with the improved combat system introduced in the last game, Warrior Within. The prince has a few new tricks up his sleeve as well, but longtime fans of the series should still feel right at home.

The story of the Sands of Time trilogy began with the prince's army attacking and conquering the capital of the Indian empire. In the midst of the battle, however, an evil vizier caused the release of the sands of time, wreaking havoc over the city and the surrounding countryside. The prince and an Indian princess named Farah battled together to defeat the vizier, bottled up the sands, and restored the world to a normal state. The story continued in Warrior Within, where an embittered prince set sail for the Island of Time, seeking sanctuary from an unstoppable time creature called the Dahaka, who pursued him endlessly because of his part in unleashing the sands of time. There, the prince battled not only the Dahaka, but also Kaileena, the Empress of Time. Fans of the first game felt the series lost a lot of its soul in Warrior Within, as the suddenly cynical prince was much more arrogant and less likable.

The Two Thrones begins with the prince returning to Babylon from the Island of Time with the mortal Kaileena as his new lover (this part of the plot may be confusing to those who didn't see the alternate ending of Warrior Within). As they pull in to the harbor at Babylon, the duo finds the city under siege. Their ship is wrecked by the invaders, and Kaileena is captured by the enemies. You quickly find that the vizier is back and responsible for the uprising. He murders Kaileena and unleashes the sands of time upon Babylon, and the prince must battle to regain his kingdom and avenge Kaileena's death.

But it's not just sand creatures and other bad guys from the vizier's army that the prince must fight. With the sands of time infecting his soul, the prince must also battle the whims of his darker, more arrogant side. Throughout the game's long, 12- to 15-hour campaign, the prince will morph back and forth between his normal self and the dark prince. He'll also have internal dialogues between his split personalities, with the original actor from Sands of Time voicing the normal prince, and a new voice actor representing the sneering, more sarcastic dark prince. Here, the game almost becomes self-referential in addressing the popular criticism levied against the arrogant prince from Warrior Within. The internal strife in the schizophrenic prince's mind forms a compelling part of the storyline in The Two Thrones, especially because both the writing and voice acting are pretty good.

Turning into the dark prince isn't just window dressing, though. In gameplay sequences in which the prince is his evil self, you'll find that you're much more powerful in combat, thanks to a new weapon called the daggertail. The daggertail is a chainlike weapon that can be swung around to attack multiple enemies, or lashed out like a whip. It also comes in handy for swinging across bars or lamp fixtures, kind of like in Bionic Commando. Unfortunately, this added power comes at a price. Much like playing as the sand wraith in Warrior Within, the dark prince loses health constantly, and it must be replenished periodically by recovering sand from defeated enemies or from breaking jars or furniture in the environment. Unlike the sand wraith, though, the dark prince doesn't get unlimited use of sand powers. The sequences in which you play as the dark prince let you be much more aggressive in combat, as health is never really a concern (you basically get recharged fully with each downed enemy), but the puzzle-solving and acrobatic sequences can be stressful because you have a time limit to get from point A to point B. Fighting as the regular prince is very similar to the previous two games in the series. You can pick up dropped weapons for use in your offhand, which lets you do more powerful weapon combos against enemies. Or you can vault off walls and poles, and even use the enemies themselves to augment your attacks. The fights are as violent as ever--you can behead or even cut enemies in half with the more powerful moves.

What's different about the combat in The Two Thrones is the introduction of a stealth-kill mechanic, or "speed kills," as they're called in the game. To execute a speed kill, you'll need to sneak up behind (or drop in from above) an unaware enemy. Tapping one button starts the speed-kill animation. Periodically, the animation will freeze, and you'll have a split second to tap a button to execute a strike. There are a number of different animations, and depending on the enemy it can require you to strike once or up to five times. Mistime any of your strikes and the speed kill will fail, meaning you'll have to fight the enemy the regular way. If you can catch two enemies close together, you can also use double speed kills. Overall, the new stealth-kill mechanic is pretty fun and satisfying to do and watch. The animations are extremely violent; you'll shank your foes every which way in their necks, guts, backs, and chests. The mechanic of doing a speed kill also offers just the right amount of challenge--it's not so easy that they're always automatic, but they're not too hard, either. Most importantly, though, speed killing your enemies means much less time spent in combat, which was never really Prince of Persia's strong suit as a game. We found ourselves rewinding out of failed speed kills to try them again, because they're not only fun to watch, but they also help keep the game moving along. There are also a few boss fights in The Two Thrones, and each of them offers a unique challenge. Many of them will require you to combine speed-kill mechanics with climbing and jumping skills.

Speaking of climbing and jumping, this wouldn't really be a Prince of Persia game if there weren't tons of environmental puzzles to solve. As in previous games in the series, you'll be doing a lot of wall running, jumping, climbing, mantling, and trap dodging to find switches that open up doors, or simply to get to broken holes in the wall that will get you to the next room. A number of areas will require you to turn levers and hit switches to operate machinery that changes the position of platforms and other level geometry. Most of these are pretty straightforward, but once in a while you'll run into a puzzle that requires some thought. The game does a pretty good job of introducing complicated rooms with camera flybys and other visual cues, so you'll always know where to go and what you're supposed to be doing.

Aside from combat and climbing, there are a couple of chariot race sequences in the game, but these tend to be somewhat frustrating because one small mistake means you're dead. If you're unlucky enough to reach a chariot sequence with few or no sand charges in your dagger, prepare yourself for a lot of trial and error to get through the sequence. Another small thing that's disappointing about the gameplay is that the sand powers take somewhat of a backseat in combat, especially toward the end of the game. Though you'll unlock some sand powers that can be used in combat, speed kills are all you really need in this game. You'll probably end up wanting to save your sand for rewinding time anyway, in case you make a mistake on a jump or on a speed kill. Rewinding time to make up for mistakes in combat or puzzle-solving has been a staple of the series since Sands of Time, and it's still the time power you'll probably use the most by far in The Two Thrones.

The Two Thrones still uses what appears to be a very similar engine as was used in the previous games in the series. While it has aged, the game still looks fantastic, especially the large and wondrous-looking levels you explore. Whether you're jumping across rooftops in the city of Babylon, plying its underground caves, or exploring the palace grounds, there's always something pretty to look at. In the PC version, you'll probably notice that textures used for skin and certain parts of the environment aren't as sharp, making it obvious that this version of the game is a console port. However, the deficiencies in the graphics engine are largely masked by lots of light bloom, which creates a soft-focus visual effect that contributes to the fairy tale atmosphere. The game still looks great overall, though, especially because of the prince's great-looking animations while jumping, climbing, or doing speed kills. The game also runs very smoothly, even at high resolution with antialiasing turned on. The music is a marked improvement from the last game, eschewing the annoying hard rock for more traditional Middle Eastern themes and instruments that you'd expect in a game called Prince of Persia. The voice acting is also very good, although the actress voicing Kaileena (who also narrates the game) might be a little too soft-spoken to hear clearly at times.

As far as the interface goes, the PC version of The Two Thrones, much like the two games before it, is surprisingly very playable with just a mouse and keyboard. It's certainly much easier to play if you have an analog controller, but dedicated mouse-and-keyboard jockeys still won't have any trouble getting the acrobatic prince to do his thing, whether it's puzzle-solving or combat. The thing is, we couldn't actually get the game to recognize an analog controller. We tried plugging in a peripheral controller, and clicking on default control scheme seems to set up the controller just fine. But in game, no input on the controller seems to register at all. As for other technical complaints, we ran into some minor glitches relating to sound and saves. Sometimes, upon loading the game, the launcher would complain that another application was using the sound driver, even when we shut down all other applications. At other times, the game would freeze up on the save screen. However, a fresh reboot always fixed the sound-loading issue, and we didn't notice the save-screen freezes so long as we avoided switching into other applications while playing.

The Two Thrones marks a fitting end to a fantastic trilogy. The plot ties up all the loose ends and should prove satisfying for fans of the series. Though some new gameplay mechanics have been introduced, such as the speed kill and the new tricks of the dark prince, The Two Thrones is still basically very similar to the other two games--if you didn't like those for some reason, this game's not likely to pull you in. But for those of us who love solving the environmental puzzles and seeing the beautiful environments that the series is known for, The Two Thrones delivers in spades.

Ultimate Spider-Man

2005-12-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

My spider-butt is tingling!

Spider-Man has been watching Astro-Boy
Venom eats people to regain health - how quaint
In the world of enduring superhero franchises, Spider-Man sits amongst illustrious company: Batman, Superman, the X-Men, Hulk and The Punisher, all of whom have remained relevant in the social zeitgeist of today, aided by films, good marketing, refreshed storylines and, of course, games.
In our multi-billion-dollar industry, which relies as much on established names and fan-bases as it does innovation, licensing is a godsend, but results in as many bad games as it does great - though more often than not the result is simply mediocre.
Alongside X-Men Legends and its sequel, the most immediate examples of comic-based gaming done well that come to mind are the well-known Spider-Man games.
Eventually tied in with the arguably excellent Sam Raimi films (culminating in the visually sumptuous if unimaginatively titled Spider-Man: The Movie Game), the games were universally acclaimed as creative, immersive and, above all, accurate takes on the Spider-Man universe.
All and sundry knew that relative-unknown Treyarch Studios had done a good job. Especially, it should be noted, since the original game engine was a derivative of the old Tony Hawk setup, and it was a measure of Treyarch's success that one could not tell: their Spidey looked, moved and sounded just like he should.
Enter Ultimate Spider-Man (USM), the Pepsi Max of the Spider-Man comic universe. The celebrated work of writer Brian Michael Bendis and long-time Spidey-artiste Mark Bagley (both of whom put in work on the game itself), USM takes, polishes and refits the established canon story line:
Peter Parker is once again an awkward teenager balancing his school life against his undeniable urge to crawl walls and fight crime. Mary Jane is fully aware of his web-swinging proclivities, and so he goes about his business, saving the city in-between bouts of study.
Specifically, this outing in the Ultimate Spider-Man line concerns Peter and his friend and occasional rival Eddie Brock finding a crazy black serum in the bowels of a scientific facility, which (surprise, surprise) transforms Brock into the one and only Venom.
Nothing new, surely, except that for the first time gamers can play as everybody's favourite nemesis during specialised segments in the game (more on that later). As one has come to expect from Marvel, all the usual comic cornerstones make regular guest appearances, from villains like Rhino and the Beetle to established heroes such as the Fantastic Four's Human Torch.
First things first, before we move on: Ultimate Spider-Man looks stunning. The influence of Bendis and Bagley on the console interpretation of their baby is obvious from the get-go, as is Treyarch's now-well-known visual prowess: every model is lovingly detailed and cel-shaded, every animation finely and humanly tuned, and every cut-scene evokes comic book framing.
Spider-Man, unlike Superman's Metropolis or Batman's Gotham, calls a slightly modified version of New York and Queens home, and it has been rendered in its entirety for you to leap and swing across from one end to the other. While the buildings are not quite as, shall we say, sexy, and the attention-to-detail lacks a little something when it comes to minor characters, overall USM is a real looker.
Spider-Man has grown weary of violenceover the years, and tries mesmerising hisfoes with gnarly break-dancing moves instead
Boss battles like these will make your eyes do the "dosey-do", such is their grandeur
Taking advantage of such scale, the play area is literally massive, and missions will take you from street-level to the very top of the Empire State building.
Sadly, cel-shading and ambition dost not a great game make, particularly when one is forced to come to terms with truly piss-poor pacing and an exceptionally short, not to mention simplified, play experience over what most consider the best of the Spider-Man games, Spider-Man 2.
No longer is there a true and comprehensive combo system, nor can you treat your web-lines as kinetic objects in the game-world, and forget a consistent and approachable story arc; instead (bar sporadic, though intensive and creative boss battles) the majority of your time in-game is taken up, of all things, in time trial missions and random encounters, and it's these that will turn off all but the most dedicated Parkerite.
Despite offering a semi-sandbox type of environment, what Ultimate Spider-Man does runs counter to all common sense: it locks off certain parts of the city until you have completed a hefty and increasing number of boring and monotonous objectives.
As noted above, these are restricted to web-slinging your way through flaming hoops, and beating up weak gangs of roving miscreants. It is only once you have completed a number of these that the story will progress.
This kind of thing rapidly begins to do one's head in, and is for all intensive purposes the gameplay equivalent of that horrid red and white stuff you find masquerading as crab-meat in the seafood section of your local supermarket: filler.
When not swinging about as everybody's favourite Spider-Man, the game segues into small sections involving Venom, who counterpoints - as a slower, stronger brawler-character - Parker's agility.
He can jump really high, he can climb walls, sprout tentacles, throw stuff and he needs to eat people to regain health, and the first time we get to step into his crazy suede shoes is as he's beating seven shades of hell out of Wolverine; it all points to something special.
However, the initial promise of these gameplay-asides is almost entirely squandered by being both too long and too simplistic (the latter being a criticism easily levelled at the whole game) to maintain interest. More often than not you end up battering away wave after wave of swarming S.H.I.E.L.D. mercenaries and, as with the rest of the game, the only thing that saves the proceedings is the occasional cool boss battle, in Venom's case against well-known Marvel characters like Nick Fury and fresh recruit to the Ultimate universe, Silver Sable.
Even then, combat is fun but the novelty quickly wears off for both characters when you realise that you could defeat your bog standard adversaries with your eyes closed and the game pad in your mouth, because what it comes down to is button-bashing.
Even with all its painfully protracted distractions, Ultimate Spider-Man is not a long game by anybody's reckoning, with the full campaign taking roughly six hours to complete, but only two hours if you remove all the side-quests.
Considering the price of your standard console game, this kind of short play-time is inexcusable, and hence the reason I can only recommend Ultimate Spider-Man as a rental. It's pretty, but shallow and ultimately disappointing, so swing with caution.
Game: Ultimate Spider-ManSystem: PS2Players: 1Online: NoDeveloper: Treyarch Distributor: Activision
Rating: 70%

Big Mutha Truckers 2 - Truck Me Harder

2005-12-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

Keep on trucking...

Filth censored? See the next screenshot then...
If there's something that I have realised as a sometime purveyor of 18th century literature, it's that a funny (as in funny "ha-ha") title doesn't always mean a great book. And the same goes for video games.
Big Mutha Truckers 2 (BMT2) delivers pretty much on what it proposes; that is an entertaining game that doesn't involve much thinking.
The basic outline of the story is that Ma Jackson was locked up by the trustworthy cops of Hick State County (all of occurred at the end of the first game) for tax fraud.
In this instalment her 4 children - Rawkus "dark horse" Jackson (known for his popularity with the ladies and his extreme coolness), Cletus "nature boy" Jackson (struggles intellectually but his enthusiasm pulls him through), Earl "the patriot" Jackson (obese, lazy, beer drinking red neck who does as little as possible) and finally the lady of the group, Bobbie Sue "Sweet Cheeks" Jackson (sexy, strong and independent) - must make money through trading goods, which involves buying stock for cheap and selling it for lots more, hopefully.
On top of the freeform trading game, there are also missions to complete that allow you to bribe the six jurors of Ma Jackson's case, in order to set her free post-haste.
The meat of the game is the trading. You've got a big truck, you fill it up with milk, or lumber, or CPUs, cheese, or prunes, maybe potatoes, but also chainsaws and illegal merchandise like horse tranquillisers and borrowed car parts, or narcotics (the list is huge). Once you've paid for your cargo, you can then drive from one city to another in order to sell it for more cash, avoiding bikers, UFOs and other hindrances that may impinge on your profit taking along the way.
Though driving the trucks across the countryside is fun to begin with (controls for both rig and trailer make powersliding possible) the game itself has a pretty weak, straightforward storyline, therefore making it hard for the rest of the game to appeal.
The physics engine isn't terribly realistic either, and while it is fun to smash traffic out of the way and try to out run other road users, the arcade physics really started to grate after a time. It left a sour taste in my mouth after a few days of play time.
Have at you, filth filtration unit!
Along the way you will venture to bars to talk to the jurors and discover their bribery fees, whilst also going to the stores to buy and then trade items. When delivering the merchandise, players must be wary of UFOs, bikers and the police and, to make further money, players can pass bonuses like helping a hobo on the side of the road, causing a pile-up or breaking the speed record on speed cameras.
The positives that come from this game are the comedic attributes of the characters that you meet throughout the game, each with their own unique quotes. The radio talkback is also quite entertaining, albeit in a condescending way to Americans. The menu options are clear and easy to navigate and the soundtrack throughout the game is top notch.
Another attribute to the game is the opportunity to take a break from riding around the country, delivering loads, and to sit back in the casino to play a game of blackjack (and at times, this is the most entertaining part of the game). And if you thought the title implied you only drive trucks, you would be mistaken, as cars are also used, and the cars look far smoother than their bigger road companions.
Graphics-wise, the game doesn't really push any boundaries. The short movie clips are staggered and rough, and for the graphics during gameplay the surroundings and the cars are all not up to the standard of most other driving games. The inability to go beyond the mission/road boundaries and to just roam around the lands is missing, with a strict path that must be followed.
BMT2 is a game for die-hard fans of the first game in the series. This is better than its predecessor, so if you did like the original, you'll find good levels of joy here.
Compared to modern game franchises like Grand Theft Auto and True Crime, it's fairly limp. If you can accept the rough edged graphics, the basic gameplay and the frail storyline, the game can still be enjoyed for a time. If anything, play it for some quotes from all the characters that you meet - some are very good. But hey, it's not the worst game on the market and could be handy for some entertainment on a rainy day.
Game: Big Mutha Truckers 2: Truck Me HarderSystem: PS2Players: 1Online: NoDeveloper: EutechnyxDistributor: Red Ant Games
Rating: 60%

X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse

2005-12-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

Another Marvel-lous RPG?

X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypseis home to some extra-fancy eye candy
In the comic world there are few supergroups and fewer universes as well known, well regarded and expansive as the X-Men and all that surrounds them.
The subject of several movies, literally thousands of comics and spin-offs and the kind of merchandising only Marvel is capable of, video-games based on this popular franchise have been hitting the streets since the early nineties, almost always in the form of relatively mundane scrolling beat-em-ups.
After all, X-Men has never been about tea parties, it's been about conflict, about beating the living hell out of genetically deformed freaks of nature.
Ahhh, for the good old days when gaming was simple...
In an intriguing change of tack, X-Men Legends added RPG elements and a spiffy 3D engine to the mix and was a fun (if formulaic) dungeon crawler. This time around, those who bemoaned the lack of playable canon characters in the first game have had their cries answered, though if you weren't exactly impressed by the reliable but uninspired first entry in the series you're unlikely to be lured back, as there isn't much here that you haven't seen done before, and done better, might I add.
Set directly after the destruction of the mutant island hideout Genosha by power-crazy mutant Apocalypse, Legends 2 provides the unlikeliest of alliances between the X-Men and their direct rivals, the Brotherhood, in an effort to take on Apocalypse, who is arguably the most powerful mutant to ever shake his fist skyward.
To be quite honest, the storyline at play here is pretty weak by conventional standards, but it's enough to get by on between romps through enemy facilities and over foreign ground, and when the end result is the ability to pick a team from fifteen initially playable canon characters from both sides of the fence (with three to be unlocked), you tend to overlook the occasional plot inconsistency.
Tearing through wave after wave of enemy grunts and gaining experience with each kill, you and your party (the members of which can be switched out at any time to deal with the various puzzles that come up) level up and gain new mutant skills as they move along.
In between, you'll have to dodge sentry turrets, find keys and work your mutant magic on the pseudo-destructible environment. I say pseudo because it's strictly regimented which items in the game world you can actually destroy, and the range is more than a little lacking. I don't call a few lonely water pipes and the occasional wall very original. Red Faction this is not.
The X-Men gain mutant energy fromstanding on fried ostrich and emu eggs
Sugarman is a big favourite at rave parties
Now, if you can get past the gimmicky destroy-some-stuff-around-you concept, the rest of Legends 2 sounds pretty cool, but in practice is less fun than it sounds or should be, most particularly as, while you can delegate the responsibility of skill-picking/experience-spending/item-equipping to the CPU (which in effect makes the large majority of the RPG component of Legends 2 completely redundant), attempting to personally configure each of your team members or even change settings is a massive pain courtesy of one of the slowest, not to mention most painfully non-intuitive interfaces to ever grace the PS2.
There are massive load times to get into the interface and similarly gargantuan load times to get out, and in between you have to cope with the brain-deadeningly weird menu system.
It doesn't help that the entire game shares those horrendous load times, either, and for no apparent reason, since Legends 2 is certainly not bursting at the seams with special effects or high-polygon models; developer Raven Software went for a more cartoonish, cel-shaded, Ultimate-Spider-Man-esque comic book look.
Sons of Liberty, a game designed to test the limits of the system, and with a longer overall play-time, did not take nearly this long to load, which one would suspect says something about Legends 2.
Add to this that - barring their special attacks - most of the playable characters share a significant portion of the same attack animations and things are beginning to look decidedly sloppy.
The actual combat guts of the game aren't so bad, ironically, and whilst you brawl with the ever-increasing opposition you can program the AI of your team-members, so that they hang back and use ranged attacks (in the case of characters like Storm) or get right into the action (Juggernaut and Wolverine, as an example).
Though, again, it's difficult to care when navigating through the interface is about as user-friendly as solving heuristic algorithms.
I've been told that the overall loading times which make party customisation such an organ-rending pain are not nearly so severe on the Xbox and PC versions of the game, but this is still inexcusable given the apparently minimal graphical differences between the PS2 iteration and its higher-end siblings.
If there is one adjective that comes to mind in the writing of this review it is 'mediocre' and this extends from the minutiae of gameplay to the sound department which, bar the always-excellent work of Patrick Stewart (reprising his film role as Professor X), seems to be relying heavily on a large cast of average sound-alikes, a fact not helped by the lack of vocal and catchphrase variety, which often leads to the same sound bytes being played over and over and over again until you want to bash Gambit's Cajun brains out with a table lamp.
On occasion Rise of Apocalypse manages to rise above its humble origins and significant flaws, but in the end we've seen it all before. Legends 2 is hardly the revelation that one might have hoped for, and, hamstrung by a crude interface, atrocious load times and average gameplay, only the hardcore X-Men fans need apply. Of which there are millions, so enjoy!
Game: X-Men Legends 2: Rise of ApocalypseSystem: PS2Players: 1-4Online: NoDeveloper: Raven SoftwareDistributor: Activision
Rating: 70%

History's Best Multiplayer Console Games

2005-12-20T22:12:00.000-08:00

In honour of the only game that has prompted me to (very shortly) buy a new system, solely based on its multiplayer, Mario Kart DS, I have compiled the best console multiplayer games list in history as I journey covertly through the Baltics.
This is not merely a "personal faves list". This is entirely based on my flawless objectivity, so it is correct.
Mario Kart 64 - N64The best game to make friends with. It may sound weird saying to a stranger in a park, "Want to come over to play Mario Kart?" but once you have three complete strangers sitting on your bed squinting at the 34cm TV in your room all shouting "Easy go!", "Yoshi!" or laughing like Wario as they pass, it makes sense.
Even the biggest, saddest loser in the world, who doesn"t understand the concept of changing underwear could make some friends with this game.
Just as long as they don't expect any meaningful, fulfilling conversation outside of screaming in someone's face at close range as you ram a green shell up their tail pipe.
Virtual On - Saturn/ArcadeIt may only be two players, but this is about spectators. When other people watch you play they think you are amazingly talented because everything moves so fast and is basically impossible to follow as a spectator. So not only is it fun, but other people think you are cool as your neural pathways interface with robotic challengers at the speed of static electricity. They will always think you're cool.
Well, as cool as some loser who plays videogames all day as opposed to having a life and getting a girlfriend and taking her to the beach can be. But still cool.
Perfect Dark / Goldeneye - N64Goldeneye = Proximity mines, library. Perfect Dark = Four players + Eight bots +/- Spontaneous nosebleeds. These are the games that cost Microsoft 375,000,000 dollars. Bill, I have a question, why do I need to pay six hundred bucks for a new Xbox 360 and Perfect Dark Zero, when I can go out and buy a used N64 for about $3.50 and Perfect Dark for $10? LOL ;-P
General Chaos - that's a play on words. Clever
Power Stone: "Fantastic!"
Crashing a car is one of the easiest and mostenjoyable things that videogames allow us to do,and the Burnout series simulates this wonderfully
General Chaos - Megadrive/GenesisI still for the life of me cannot understand why no-one has had a crack at a remake of this pearler. One screen, ten soldiers, so much fun. The title says it all really.
If you can't get hold of the cartridge apparently naughty people made emulators to play older games on the PC and Mac. But I have heard two players on one keyboard is still alright...
Micro Machines - All Systems since NESThis was the game that probably made Codemasters very rich, but when they put two players on one pad and controller ports in the cartridge enabling eight players (OMGWTF?!) they deserve all the cash they can get.
I would be very surprised if Codemasters don't win a Lifetime Achievement Award at next years Academy Awards based on Micro Machines being awesome seven years ago.
Soul Calibur - DreamCastThis is the best fighting game ever made. Ever. And it's easier to follow than Virtual On. And you won't need a girlfriend because you have Seung Mina to look at. Or Mitsurugi if you are a girl, or a boy who likes boys. In which case Mitsurugi is a good choice as he has long hair and is a Samurai.
Power Stone 1 & 2 - DreamCastI never played four player Smash Brothers. So instead Power Stone gets in. Four players jumping around smacking the crap out of each other in matches that take forever is brilliant.
It's funny too. Picking up a pole that holds up a roof and swatting everyone else is quite amusing. You can also try doing that in the game, nearly as amusing.
Capcom finally shows the world how crap Streetfighter is. The DreamCast didn't have many decent four player games. This is reason enough to go out and find a DC and four controllers for "Retro" fun. This should have come out on PS2.
Burnout - PS2, Xbox, GameCubeThis gets a mention because its one of the few games my sister and an ex-KGB girlfriend were both prepared to play. Admittedly that was the "Crash" bit. I guess that says a lot about women really. They're all sadists deep down.
But seriously, the Crash junctions are probably the best multiplayer turn-based game released this generation. And though the games are getting more complex they still keep the essense of arcade carnage alive.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Megadrive/GenesisTwo players again. But if you need a game that can bond two people this is it. I believe this has the first co-op option in a console game ever. It's better than Halo co-op, too. Except when one player runs too fast and tails flies in.
What's also great about Sonic 2 is that if your pal gets sick of controlling Tails the game takes over the character. I'd like to see Halo do that. Also, the split screen race option is brilliant. They just needed a few more zones. If only they kept it for Sonic 3....
Quake 2 - N64A bit of a dark horse this one; originally I was sceptical this could better or even come close to the majesty of Rare's finest first person work. It does in multiplayer, though this is an altogether different beast. It's sort of more violent and funny.
I suppose it is a port of what was, at the time, the biggest thing in the multiplayer PC world. Except you get to sit next to the people you play against. And you don't speak to each other in text gibberish during bouts.
"OMGWTFTEH:<)SMCYDCTH3:-owndSTFU" and other nonsense like that. Because one can simply bat the controller out of the other's hands if unimpressed by seeing your character explode in globified pieces when someone rams a rocket into your retinal orifice.
Rogue Squadron: Rebel Strike - GameCubeIf it was possible to throw away part of a game it would be the single player part of this. It's barely worth thinking about. The co-op in Rebel Strike is Rogue Leader (which is the best Star Wars game ever made) except you and a mate, or that stranger from the park, get to do the levels together.
If I had any friends who were as good as me at Rogue Leader I would kidnap them and force them to help me get Platinum medals on all the levels. Hypothetically. I'd need friends. LOL. Seriously.
Honourable Mentions - VariousHonourable mentions have to go to Timesplitters 2 on multiple systems, which is just Perfect Dark, except not as good, but nearly. Bomberman is good, except boring after losing three matches in a row. Also NHL '93 for Megadrive/Genesis. I have never ripped a cartridge out as much as that particular one. I hate my brother.
Coolness Rating: 900%

Mortal Kombat Evolves

2005-12-20T22:10:00.000-08:00

Like a human finger in the chilli con-carne, the original Mortal Kombat was always going to cause consternation amongst the politically correct.
That was, in fact, the point. It was to the gaming crowds of the early nineties what GTA3 and Manhunt are to us today.
Laughably ugly by modern standards but representing an important hallmark in the history of video-gaming, Mortal Kombat spawned several direct sequels, more than a few exceedingly bad films, and has since sunk into relative obscurity, every once in a while rising again like a shambling zombie to dry-heave an, at best, mediocre spin-off upon the console community.
Last year it was the unevenly reasonable Deception, and before that it was Deadly Alliance, both of which were not terrible but fell short of capturing the feel of the original trilogy.
Today, we’ll be looking at the latest attempt to revive the flagging franchise, the refreshingly different if not truly innovative Shaolin Monks, which goes back to the original canon storyline and puts you in the bicycle-kicking boots of Liu Kang or his hat-loving accomplice Kung Lao during the events directly following the end of the first tournament and the escape of everyone’s favourite baddie Shang Tsung.
From there on, story really isn’t important, but then, what do you expect from a game with the words “Mortal Kombat” in the title? I speak solemnly when I say that the opening CGI depicting the above mentioned in gory detail is damnably impressive, even to one as jaded as I.
What is important, as opposed to the storyline, is that Shaolin Monks represents the biggest split from the original games thus far attempted, moving from the tried, tired and tested one-on-one fighting game formula to that of a surprisingly competent 3D brawler sprinkled liberally with secret content and almost literally millions of references to previous games in the series.
Here, you play either alone or in co-op mode, and run through levels based on original MK arenas and bashing everything that moves with whatever comes to hand, including weapon pickups, environmental kill zones and unlockable fatalities that manage to reproduce in full three-dimensional splendour the colourful and ludicrous gore that the name Mortal Kombat has become synonymous with.
It is with the levels, however, that players may find the greatest fault, as there is more than a small amount of backtracking required to complete the game, and this becomes seriously tedious by the time you’re within sight of the finish line.
Kung Lao's trendy crotch drape allows forstealthy defaecation - mid fight if needs be
Which, might I add, does not take all that long, and were it not for the appeal of finding and unlocking secrets one would be hard-pressed to find a reason to play the game over again.
Thankfully, there are more than enough hidden goodies of an enticing nature to keep even the most demanding of treasure hounds busy.
Speaking of which, you’ll definitely be wanting to rope in a friend to play with, is my advice, both for the extra unlockable content available in co-op mode and simply because it’s just not as much fun on your own.
Via the simplification of the entire control scheme, many and various simplified button presses are all you need to pull off the hardest of secret moves, though for those high-tier combos you’re going to need ninja timing still (no change there).
Still, fatalities are much simpler to complete, requiring only for you to build up a meter to the point where you can enter fatality mode and throw down any one of your unlocked fatality moves (further into the game you get access to multalities [multi-kill] and brutalities [no points for guessing that these are definitely the most impressive of the lot]).
It’s not as complex as the canon system but by the same token it’s not quite as rewarding, a feeling made up for, at least in part, by the sheer amounts of action happening onscreen.
There are lots of enemies to kill and lots of ways to kill them; there are combo multipliers and multi-directional brawls to attend to, though, as one might expect from a game such as Shaolin Monks, your opponents are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. No matter, however, as there is more than enough variety in the enemy ranks to make up for their decided lack of intelligence.
Similarly, however, on the technical side of the equation, Shaolin Monks isn’t quite the looker that Deception was, which isn’t so strange when you consider that there are many more characters on screen at the one time compared to Deception’s two.
Still, it’s reliably pretty when it needs to be and the animation is smooth enough for you not to mind the occasional jagged poly. The same cannot be said for the amusingly hammed-up audio; one has the suspicion that this might have been a deliberate effort on the part of the developers, as they have also resurrected from the archives the original Liu Kang scream and a whole raft of punches and kicks. Ahhh, nostalgia.
A refreshingly different take on the Mortal Kombat franchise that returns to the golden age of the mythology and does a lot of things right in ways that recent incarnations of the series have not, but at the same time it is unlikely to revive this once-proud licence.
Good, but unimaginative and occasionally workman-like, Shaolin Monks is a step in the right direction and an excellent buy for those with fond memories of the good old days.
Game: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin MonksSystem: PS2Players: 1-2Online: NoDeveloper: MidwayDistributor: Red Ant
Rating: 75%

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey Updated Impressions - Story, Combat, and Voices

2005-12-20T01:10:00.000-08:00

In production for nearly three years now, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is shaping up to be one of the biggest adventure games in years. As the sequel to 2000's highly acclaimed adventure game The Longest Journey, Dreamfall promises an epic adventure that spans time and dimensions. It also promises rich, detailed worlds to explore, along with plenty to do, as we recently discovered when we got an updated look at the game. We last saw Dreamfall at E3 in May, so naturally, it has come a long way since then.
First, we should note that Funcom is still keeping a very tight lid on the story details, so we only got glimpses of different parts of the game in action, and we got little sense of narrative in our demonstration. Still, what we saw was very enticing. You'll begin Dreamfall by playing as Zoe, a mysterious young woman who has strange visions that haunt her wherever she goes. And from what we saw, her locations will range from her plush apartment with a killer view to the attic dojo where she practices her martial arts, which is as good a place as any to discuss the combat system in Dreamfall.
Combat in adventure games is a tricky thing, because if you wanted a fast-paced experience, you'd just buy an action game and not an adventure game. With that said, the combat in Dreamfall isn't a frenetic, button-pushing exercise like it is in a fighting game. The fighting moves at a slower pace, so when you're controlling Zoe you can time your attack or your block. You don't need to worry about combo moves or anything, as your distance to your opponent determines the type of attack. If you're in close, it might be a light jab. But if you get some distance between you and your opponent, it might be a harder attack, like a high kick or a roundhouse kick. We saw Zoe battle her sparring partner as they circled around, kicking and punching at one another. In other sequences, we saw different characters in combat, with one using a sword, while another was using a staff. The basic principles remain the same, though, so you don't have to worry about relearning the combat system for each character.
Since the game is being developed for the Xbox as well as for the PC, Funcom designed it so you can play using one of three control schemes. PC players will most likely feel at home using the keyboard or mouse, or a combination of the two, while Xbox players can use the gamepad.
We couldn't help but be impressed by the game's size and scale. Though it starts with Zoe, it will hop to different characters in different worlds and different eras. Before you know it, you've gone from a futuristic cityscape to a fantasy realm and beyond. In the fantasy world, you'll explore medieval-like cities, as well as encounter some of the many strange characters who you can interact with throughout the game. One of Funcom's goals is to create all-around interesting characters, rather than rely on the clichйd caricatures found in so many games. The conversation system is fairly easy to use. When you're talking to someone, you'll be presented with a circular menu with potential discussion options. Just press in the direction you want the conversation to go, and that's it.
The puzzle system also looks interesting, as you'll do everything from figuring out how to unravel a medieval traffic jam in a narrow street to cracking security codes when trying to break into a top-secret facility. In another situation, you have to figure out how to distract a museum guard in order to get past him, and that involves some creative thinking, as well as making good use of the other characters around you. There are stealthlike elements in the game as well, such as when you have to dodge security robots in a hallway. Don't worry, though, because if you're having nightmares of Splinter Cell-like difficulty, the stealth-action sequences in Dreamfall won't be anywhere near as difficult, and you'll be given plenty of places to hide when a robot gets too close. All in all, Funcom says that there's at least 12 to 15 hours of gameplay in Dreamfall, and that's assuming you play it as an action game and blitz your way through it. Realistically, adventure game fans will want to take a slower pace and follow a lot of the side quests. Do that, and there's around 35 to 40 hours of gameplay. And you'll be able to replay the game and explore different avenues, as well.
Dreamfall has excellent visuals. Even though there's no cutting-edge look here, there's something appealing about the clean art style that the developers adopted for the game. We saw both the PC and the Xbox version in action, and it looks good on both, though the Xbox version of course runs at a lower resolution than the PC version. The developers have spent a lot of time researching the voice cast, and while they didn't get any big-name stars, they did get plenty of voices that may sound awfully familiar to you, and there's a reason for that. To find the voice actors, the designers watched plenty of movies and made notes of whose voices they liked. Then they went and got those actors for the game. They made some great choices, too. For example, Jack Angel, the voice of Teddy in Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence voices a similar type of character in Dreamfall, and you'll recognize that it's a perfect fit when you hear and see his character. The team has been busy recording voices in London, Ireland, New York, and Los Angeles to provide life for the more than 5,000 lines of dialogue in the game.
Again, we only got glimpses of the game in action, so there are many unanswered questions that remain. Of course, Funcom wouldn't have it any other way, and that's good news for the fans of The Longest Journey and adventure games in general. What's the deal with Zoe's visions? How does the story span three worlds? Where will it all go? We'll find out when Dreamfall ships in the spring of 2006.

Blitzkrieg 2 Review

2005-12-20T01:08:00.000-08:00

World War II has always been a favorite for Hollywood, mainly because it was a war that lends itself well to the big screen. This was a war of global scale with titanic battles, and there's something awe-inspiring about that. And you can't help but get the feeling that the designers of Blitzkrieg 2 felt the same thing, because this is a World War II real-time strategy game that focuses much more on the popular conception of the war being all about gigantic tank sweeps and epic air battles. And while it may not be historically accurate, it's still quite a bit of fun to let go and roll over a country as if it were a speed bump.
This Blitzkrieg is quite a bit different from its predecessor, though. The original game required a lot of micromanagement in order to succeed. So much so that it almost became painful at times, because the smallest mistake could be fatal to the entire mission, forcing you to restart the battle or reload from an earlier save. This Blitzkrieg is much more forgiving, and the focus seems to be far more on fun than on realism. Of course, the sequel still models armor thickness and keeps count of each unit's ammunition, but those seem to be secondary concerns when all you have to do is lasso a group of tanks together and blast everything in your way. Once again, it's satisfying in a strange kind of way.
Though it's a real-time strategy game, you won't do any kind of resource gathering or base building in Blitzkrieg 2; it's more of a light, tactical game in which you control combined arms units on the map as you attempt to crush the enemy. The game features some big levels that offer lots of variety; you'll battle from the jungles of the Pacific to the ice wastes of the Russian steppes. There are also tons of historically accurate vehicles and weapons in the game.
On the normal difficulty level, you'll find yourself literally blitzing through the game's three campaigns, which let you play as the Americans, the Germans, and the Soviet Union. The campaign structure differs a bit from regular real-time strategy games in that between missions, you're presented with a strategic map and you can choose which battle to participate in next. In this way, you can chart your own campaign, as well as unlock new units for future campaigns. However, the entire "rewrite the history of the war" thing seems overdone. Your own victories don't seem to do much for the overall direction of the war (we won every battle in the Philippines decisively, but the Americans were still kicked off by the Japanese).
The actual battles themselves aren't too accurate, from a historical point of view. For example, the Americans get tons of armor in situations when they historically didn't have any to spare. And you'd have to be pretty brain-dead not to win these battles, though your main challenge will be to try and preserve your force as much as possible, since units can earn experience over time. Still, if you get a group of tanks rolling, they can be darn near unstoppable. Meanwhile, the game's reinforcement system can generally make things easier, as you get a set number of reinforcements that you can call each battle and each campaign, and so you can use them all to maximize your chances, or use them minimally and husband them for future battles. For example, you can request more tanks, more infantry, fighter cover to take care of pesky bombers, or your own bombers to "soften" up a heavily defended target. It's pretty easy to get a decent-size tank force together and blow through the defenders, who aren't that smart in most cases. Often, defenders will try and attack you after you've been detected. Or, they'll huddle in trenches and wait for you to have to root them out. Again, it might not be too challenging, but it's still pretty cinematic and fun--you get the sense that your forces are darn near unstoppable.
Graphically, Blitzkrieg also keeps the 2D, sprite-based visual look of the original game, which is both old-school and sort of refreshing. The problem with 3D graphics engines is that trying to create any kind of destructible environment results in huge frame rate problems. That's not an issue in Blitzkrieg 2--you can pretty much blow up everything (or have tanks just knock over entire forests), and the frame rate doesn't hitch up. And though it doesn't look as cutting-edge as other games, it still looks pretty good. There's something to be said for the older, 2D look in this day and age, which looks more like a painting and less like a collection of polygons. And the good news is that it runs fairly well even on older, slower systems, which are the types of systems that wargame fans tend to have. The sound effects, meanwhile, are adequate, though the music dangerously borders on corny.
Blitzkrieg 2 has a good mix of historical detail and light gameplay to appeal to a wide range of strategy fans. You can always turn up the difficulty level to up the challenge, or you can enjoy the game for what it is at the default levels: a fast-paced, light strategy game that lets you steamroll other countries into submission. And there's something to be said for that. If you're wary of the many hardcore, realistic, intense World War II games out there, you might want to check out Blitzkrieg 2 for some beer-and-pretzels-style real-time strategy gaming.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe Review

2005-12-20T01:05:00.000-08:00

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a video game based on the just-released film of the same name, which is, in turn, based on the classic book series from C.S. Lewis. The game is a basic fantasy adventure with plenty of puzzle-solving and some light combat. It closely follows the events of the movie and actually uses quite a bit of footage from it to set up and close each stage of the game. As a result, you might not want to play this game until after you've seen the film, lest you run the risk of spoiling the plot. Even if you haven't seen the movie or read the books, you'll still be able to appreciate some of the interesting and varied levels, each of which present unique challenges that require you to utilize the special abilities of each of the four playable characters. This isn't a basic hack-and-slash platformer, as it actually requires a bit of critical thinking, which is a nice change of pace from the usual game based on a movie license. That said, there are still plenty of better, family-friendly, action adventure games available, and unless you find the Narnia license to be especially appealing, there's no reason to go too far out of your way to play it.
If you're interested in the game, then you're probably already familiar with the basic storyline. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is based on the Disney movie of the same name. The game follows the events of the movie and actually uses quite a bit of footage from it to set up and close each stage. Even if you haven't seen the movie, it doesn't take long to get the gist of what's going on. You can play as any of the four Penvensie siblings: Peter, the older brother; Susan, the older sister; Edmund, the younger brother; and Lucy, the younger sister. One day, while playing hide and seek, young Lucy wanders into a magical wardrobe that transports her to the fantasyland of Narnia. Eventually, all of the children end up in Narnia, where they embark on an epic adventure to save the world from the evil White Witch. The story is filled with your basic fantasy standbys like ogres, Minotaurs, dwarves, and talking animals.
There are 15 levels in the game, although some are fairly small. For example, one entire level is a boss fight. Depending on which level you're playing, you'll be able to play as at least two of the four children, although some levels require you to use all four. This is because each character has special moves and abilities that are required to overcome certain obstacles. Peter is the strongest of the bunch, so you can use him for fighting off enemies or breaking through barriers. Susan is your ranged attacker, and she can throw snowballs and tennis balls, as well as use a bow and arrow. Edmund is a decent melee fighter, but he's also light and athletic enough that he can climb trees or posts and walk on delicate surfaces like thin ice or weakened floorboards. Lucy is small, so she can crawl through small passages to reach areas that the other children can't. Lucy can also charm animals and use them to attack, and she can use a first-aid skill to heal all the children.
You can switch between the characters at any time with a press of a button, and you'll often have to do so to complete various challenges. In one boss fight you'll have to attack the boss with Peter, then use Lucy to climb on the boss' back to distract it, and then have Susan take out the dwarven archers that attempt to shoot Lucy off the boss' back. It sounds complicated, but once you figure out what you have to do in a given situation, it's fairly easy to manage all of the characters.
There are also tandem abilities that require two of the children to team up. When you move close to a character you can press a button to initiate a cooperative attack. You can team up with Susan and Lucy to slide Lucy through breakable barriers or to fire a volley of flaming arrows into the air. Also, Peter can grab Edmund and swing him around to inflict radial damage or to break down tough barriers. There are multiple different cooperative attacks for each combination of characters, although most of the challenges don't require you to use cooperative attacks at all.
The biggest problem with this multiple-character system is that the artificial intelligence is completely useless. You can only control one character at a time, so there's always at least one character being controlled by the AI. Most of the time, the characters just follow you around and don't do anything helpful. It's frustrating when you're trying to get a shot off with Susan, only to have a bunch of enemies attack you while the other children stand there doing nothing. Likewise, the AI doesn't know how to use any of the characters' special abilities. It would be extremely helpful if Lucy could automatically use her first-aid ability when a character is about to die, rather than have to switch characters each time you need to use that skill.
When you aren't fighting enemies or solving puzzles, you'll spend a lot of time collecting coins, statues, and bonus items. Coins can be used to purchase new abilities and upgrades for each of the characters. You can buy health upgrades, special moves, and cooperative attacks at any time, although some abilities only become available later in the game. You can unlock bonuses like movie clips by collecting other bonus items and statues. All this collecting feels tacked on here, though, and at times it just makes the game feel awkward. In an early level you can get coins by hitting pieces of furniture, so you have to run around the house beating the crap out of chests of drawers and end tables, which just seems ridiculous.
The game does a decent job of emulating the overall presentation of the movie. The characters are all modeled after the actors from the movie, and although they look a bit plastic, they are fairly detailed and animate well when attacking. We saw a bit of slowdown in a couple of areas, but it isn't sustained or pronounced enough to be much of a problem. The biggest visual problem is the fixed camera angles. You don't have any control of the camera, which can be really frustrating when you're trying to see what's going on around you. The sound is about average. The soundtrack seems like it's lifted directly from the film, and it works well in the game. The sound effects are pretty weak and are repeated so often that you'll quickly get sick of them, especially some of the more annoying screeching and grunting noises that enemies make as they attack.
The three console versions look about the same, although the Xbox version is slightly sharper than the other two. The game looks the best on the PC if you have the hardware to max out the resolution, although some of the lighting effects make the characters look even more like shiny, plastic dolls than they do in the other versions. The controls are simple and easy to pick up on all three versions, so it's just a matter of your preference there. The PC supports a gamepad, which is really the only way to play this game, because the default keyboard controls are rather awkward.
If you like the movie and the book, you'll probably enjoy The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe game for the five or six hours that it manages to stay entertaining. And if you have a friend or sibling that wants to play, he or she can simply pick up a controller and jump in at any time for some two-player cooperative action. The best thing that can be said about the game is that it makes good use of the license, and it feels like the developer actually put some thought into the design, rather than simply taking the characters from the movie and slapping them into a basic button masher. On the other hand, if you don't care one way or another about the license, you won't find anything here that hasn't already been done better in plenty of other games.