Sunday, October 06, 2002

Review of Taz: Wanted for Xbox     Publisher: Infogrames     Developer: Blitz Games     Genre: Platform     # Of Players: 1 Taz’s girl has been kidnapped by Yosemite Sam and he’s trying to turn your homeland into a tacky theme park!  As the world’s most famous Tasmanian devil, you must stop Sam before he can complete his dastardly plan.  Featuring a large cast of those crazy looney tunes, and cel shading animation so it looks like it’s straight out of a cartoon (although it doesn’t look like looney tunes, quite frankly).  But this extremely shallow game will probably only satisfy the youngest of Looney Tunes fans. Graphics: I’m really starting to hate cel-shading.  It’s supposed to give things a cartoony look with more animation to make it seem more like a cartoon, and when done properly (i.e. Jet Set Radio) it looks amazing, but most of the time it’s strictly put in because it’s the latest thing (since when do video games go with trendy styles?).  And here is one of those examples where it’s extremely sloppy.  Does it look like a cartoon?  Sure, does it look like the classic cartoons we grew up on?  Hell no, this looks like some cheap rip off of Itchy & Scratchy as far as quality animation goes. Sound: The voices are great, they all sound like the real Looney Tunes characters, and most of them have some pretty funny one-liners.  The music is kind of cheesy, however, and the effects, while great on Taz himself (you get that great buzz saw spin sound, his trademark ranting and random gripes & grunts), they are lacking elsewhere, I’m not expecting realism, but the effects cartoon-wise are pretty lacking, (i.e. I spin through a tree and it makes no sound). Gameplay: Let’s see, aside from the abilities that don’t really work well (your spin is a little hard to control, and isn’t useful against enemies, it’s better to just avoid them, and your scare attack is completely useless).  The camera needs a little bit of work, and there just isn’t enough variety in the levels. Features: Surprising amount of extras.  Two player games (why not 4-player, though?) that aren’t great, but a fun little diversion that actually adds a little play value to the game.  There’s lots of art and cheats to unlock. Funfactor: This just smacks of laziness.  There just seems to be no real effort put into this game to do something new or original or different or even well for that matter.  It might entertain the kiddies for a little while, but any looney tunes fan over the age of 7 will tire of the extremely uninspired attempt to milk a few more bucks out of the franchise. --Final Scores— Graphics: 4.0-Yeah, it looks like a cartoon… a really crappy one. Sound: 6.5-Voices are great, but the music & effects need a lot of work. Gameplay: 3.0-Useless moves, levels just aren’t imaginative, and camera needs a little work. Features: 9.0-Surprisingly loaded with extra modes, artwork, and cheats. Funfactor: 5.0-As Taz would say: Argh! EEGH! OUGH!! (Game sucks bad!) 1:17:48 PM    comment []

Review of Superman: Shadow of Apokolips for PS2     Publisher: Atari     Developer: Infogrames     Genre: Action     # Of Players: 1     It’s a bird! It’s a plane! OH #&$#! It’s another $&*&%$$& Superman game! RUN!  In all seriousness, there has yet to be an even decent Superman game, and the last one is generally regarded as the absolute worst game of all time (of course, that was before Kabuki Warriors came out).  In this latest attempt to finally successfully bring the man of steel to consoles, you of course play Superman, who is once again taking on his evil nemesis Lex Luthor who has unleashed a number of famous Superman villains such as Metallo & Parasite to finally put and end to Superman, as well as an army of super robots with technology supplied by an anonymous benefactor (who is Darkseid) with his own plans.  Featuring actors from the great cartoon show of a couple of years ago and the same animation style, this game goes a long way towards getting the look right, but doesn’t get a lot of the gameplay elements quite right.  Still, this is definitely the best Superman game yet. Graphics: Again, the characters and cut-scenes look like they are straight out of the cartoon show, they are cel-shaded, one of the few instances where this style of graphics really works.  But while the characters and cut-scenes look great, the in game graphics are kind of simplistic.  There’s no real detail on the buildings, and they are all weird one-color buildings (since when are office buildings blue or green?), and the animation in-game is kind of simplistic. Sound: The voice acting in this game is dead on, as it has the same actors from the series, and the music is great too.  For the most part sound effects are fairly good, but it’s missing those little extras (I’m flying through the city, where’s all the city sounds, especially since I have super hearing?). Gameplay: Flying is just plain awkward, you never really get the hang of it.  I constantly get caught on invisible corners if I’m carrying something big like a bus.  I don’t like that I can’t pick up random big objects like cars or street lamps to nail my enemies with.  And finally, the game relies way too much on your heat vision, it’s all you’ll end up using because every enemy goes down with one or two good shots (and bosses don’t take much more).  And almost every other super power is kind of rendered useless because of it (and where the heck is super speed?). Features: Just the extreme basics.  How about a boss mode or unlockable artwork or behind the scenes stuff? Funfactor: This isn’t a horrible game, which sadly makes it the best Superman game yet, and if some work had been done on the flying and more balance of the powers, this could’ve been a really solid game.  As it is, it’s merely passable, and might be a decent pickup for those hardcore Superman fans out there. --Final Scores— Graphics: 7.0-Cut-scenes and characters look great, but the levels look far too simplistic. Sound: 8.5-Great voice acting from the same people who were on the show, and music is nice, but lacking in the effects area. Gameplay: 5.0-Flying is way too awkward, all you have to do to beat almost all enemies is a heat blast or two, constantly get stuck on invisible corners. Features: 5.0-Just the basics here. Funfactor: 6.0-Again, best Superman game yet (just how sad is that?). 1:14:34 PM    comment []

Review of Robotech: Battlecry for Xbox     Publisher:  TDK     Developer: Vicious Cycle     Genre: Mech     # Of Players: 1-2     Arguably the most famous anime series of all time comes to console for the first time in a very long time (last one I remember was on the SNES, not even sure if that’s right).  Robotech battlecry uses the oh so debated cel-shaded look to try and bring the series to life.  I’m not too familiar with the series myself, but the basic rundown is like a lot like most mech games anyways.  Alien invaders attack the earth, and as rookie hotshot pilot Jack Archer, you must defend the city against their deadly forces using a wide variety of mechs.  It’s a noble attempt, but at the end of the day, this game suffers from the same problems 99% of all mech games suffer from. Graphics: Again, there’s a big overabundance of cel-shading these days, but this is one of the few games where it works really, really well.  The mechs all have a great stylized look them, and animate fantastically, and the city has a really nice look to it as well.  My only problem is that there isn’t really enough going on.  Small amount of traffic, no people or smaller planes.  I thought this was supposed to be a sprawling futuristic metropolis?  Where’s all the action? Sound: The music is pretty good; I believe it’s straight from the series, as are the voice actors.  The effects need some work, though, explosions sound great, but I don’t hear too many sounds of wreckage in the actual city, and I see destroyed buildings, but I never hear them being destroyed. Gameplay: And here again, we run into the fundamental problem with most mech games.  The flying levels are ok, but a little slow, and your co-pilots are just no help (and why can’t I lock on to targets?)  The mech levels aren’t much better, as flying in them is just awkward, and where is the hand to hand?  I have to use missiles and guns?  I can’t also (or just) punch the enemies?  It may not be true to the spirit of the series, but it’s annoying if I’m right in front of the guy and all I can do is fire weapons that work best at long range.  And like almost all mech games, the mechs just move very clumsily, i.e. you can’t go backwards or do a quick turn (they actually got them to move very smoothly in Zone of the Enders, to bad the gameplay was rather shallow). Features: There is training and two-player mode, but how about 4-player battle mode? That might’ve been a lot of fun. Funfactor: As far as mech games go, this is a perfectly all right one.  It has pretty much the same pluses and minuses as any mech game, but for fans it has a great license to boot, and it’s the only mech game out on the next gen platforms (it’s available on all three).  So if you like mech games and/or the Robotech series, this might definitely be worth checking out.  But if you haven’t previously been into mech games, this definitely won’t change. --Final Scores— Graphics: 9.0-Cel shading isn’t just a stupid gimmick in this case, it works great for the look of the game, but there are a lot of little details missing. Sound: 8.0-Voices & music are done fairly well, but a lot of little sound effects that would’ve added a lot to the atmosphere of the game just aren’t there. Gameplay: 5.0-Usual problems with most mech games, it’s clumsy, and there’s no close combat, and the jet levels are kinda boring. Features: 6.0-Training and two-player, but where’s four-player battle mode? Funfactor: 6.0-Again, Robotech and mech fans will probably enjoy this, but it won’t do anything for casual gamers or people seeing exactly why somebody is into mech games. 1:10:38 PM    comment []

Review of Rayman Arena for PS2     Publisher: Ubi Soft     Developer: Ubi Soft     Genre: Party     # Of Players: 1-4     You know, a lot of time has been debated over who will be the next Mario, as he is the only character in video game history who has a successful line of games in just about every major genre (let’s see, platform, sports, rpg, puzzle, fighting, kart racing, party, yeah that’s just about everything).  Sonic & Crash have come close, but no cigar, and Abe hasn’t really given it a shot yet.  One character I’m hoping will become the next Mario is Rayman, as his last game is still the best platformer since Mario 64.  And this is Rayman’s first real attempt to become that esteemed level of mascot as Ubi Soft brings us their first attempt to have Rayman successfully make the jump to another genre.  Unfortunately, this proves Rayman still has a ways to go, as he falls flat on his face in this boring and unoriginal party game. Graphics: This is nowhere near top notch.  It looks like an early beta of a first generation PS2 game.  No cool details, no good lighting, low resolution, lots of clipping, and poor animation.  The only Brightside is that the style makes it look like it really does take place in the Rayman universe.  Plus, unlike most of these party games, I only care about the main character, Rayman, I don’t really care about some giant frog and a pirate terminator wanna be. Sound: Well the music and effects aren’t bad; they are just forgettable, which is kind of a disappointment because the music and effects in Rayman usually help in adding to the whimsical nature of the games. Gameplay: Well, there are two different modes, race mode and multi-player mode.  While the race mode is an interesting idea, it isn’t pulled off as well as it should.  You don’t get different abilities in the race, you just freeze other racers and they freeze you, which gets annoying and boring after a couple of races, which is too bad because I kind of like the level design.  The minigames are in multi-player and they are extremely shoddy.  A perfect example is the “death match” mode where you can’t lock onto anybody and the horrible camera makes it impossible to see most of what’s going on around you. Features: Well, you can unlock other games and I like that there’s a race and multi-player mode, and you can unlock new characters. Funfactor: With 4 players, the race or a couple of the games might be fun for a little while, but it wears out fairly quickly.  Much like Pac-man Fever, there really wasn’t enough effort or ingenuity put into the minigames.  There aren’t many big party games on the PS2, but there are probably a couple of  better ones (or at least something that was on PS one), so you’d probably have more fun with one of those. --Final Scores— Graphics: 5.0-I like the design of the race courses, but this still looks like an extremely early PS2 first generation game. Sound: 5.0-Not bad, but completely forgettable. Gameplay: 5.5-Again, I like the design of the race courses, but all you can do is freeze other racers for a few seconds, and the minigames are extremely sloppy and uninspired. Features: 6.0-Two different modes, unlockable games and characters. Funfactor: 5.5-Another dull party game.  Is there any effort put into these anymore? 1:01:50 PM    comment []

Review of Quantum Redshift for Xbox     Publisher: Microsoft     Developer: Curly Monsters Ltd.     Genre: Racing     # Of Players: 1-4 Microsoft tries to make its own version of the classic game series Wipeout.  It’s the distant future, you race in futuristic cars along various tracks using various power-ups to your advantage (sound familiar?).  You also score points, which you turn into cash to upgrade your ride.  While it doesn’t copy the weird hallucinogenic look of the wipeout series, it copies almost everything else from it.  And the general rule is if you are going to take something, do it better.  And Quantum Redshift doesn’t do anything quite as well as Wipeout, and it doesn’t do anything to make it stand out from other racers. Graphics: The tracks have a nice variety to them, and everything moves pretty smoothly, but the design is so unoriginal.  You’ve seen these tracks before (I swear half of them were ripped off from the Star Wars racing games).  The power-ups aren’t original at all, same with the ship designs.  And while the graphics looks solid and run smoothly, this isn’t really top notch for Xbox. Sound: Music is forgettable; the voice acting is decent, but nothing special.  Effects are extremely lacking however.  No sound when I clear a lap, no chatter from the other racers, etc. Gameplay: Camera angles need some work as it’s hard to see certain things, and there are only two views.  I don’t like that you HAVE to finish first in every race to proceed (most games it’s in the top three), and quite frankly control is really loose as it’s easy to get hung up on corners and you can’t really do tight turns.  And I really hate how if you go two inches off the track, they put you back on the track and you’re suddenly in last place. Features: Usual standard set of features for a racer (time trial, multi-player, etc.).  Rather than upgrading, maybe they should start getting to the point where you get money to build a custom racer from scratch.  4-player mode is always fun though (but link mode for up to 16 wouldn’t be a bad idea either). Funfactor: The biggest problem with this game is the same problem a lot of other racers are experiencing, that there just may be nowhere for this genre to go.  There’s just no reason (other than the fact if you only own an Xbox and desperately want something Wipeout-like) to get this over anything that’s been released in the last couple of years.  I don’t have a problem with shameless rip-offs, but they have to at least be fun, and I don’t find this game particularly fun. --Final Scores— Graphics: 7.0-Courses look nice, but design of everything looks like it was stolen from other games. Sound: 5.0-Lack of effects, forgettable music, decent voice acting. Gameplay: 5.0-Control is to loose, courses aren’t open enough, and I don’t like that you have to finish first in every single race. Features: 5.0-Usual set of extras, but how about being able to build a custom racer from scratch? Funfactor: 5.5-Just uninspired and unoriginal.  Do yourself a favor and get any of the wipeout games for a cheaper and more satisfying thrill. 12:58:05 PM    comment []

Review of Pac-Man Fever for Gamecube     Publisher: Namco     Developer: Namco     Genre: Party     # Of Players: 1-4 All of Namco’s famous (?) characters gather for the latest Mario Party rip-off in Pac-Man Fever.  Just like Mario party, you go across a game board competing in minigames and collecting tokens in order to win.  Of course, any entertainment value at all in these games depends entirely on the minigames, and Pac-Man fever fails miserably, as very few of the games provide any fun. Graphics: Horribly low-colored, low detailed boards with poor character animation.  This could easily be done on an N64, and quite frankly, has been (hell I think the original Mario Party looked better). Sound: Music is annoying.  The sound effects are appropriately cartoonish. The voice acting is absent, as no character talks, they don’t even really make noises. Gameplay: The scoring system in most games make no sense, the controls are god-awful in the minigames themselves, and again, the minigames are unoriginal and just not fun (I get to smash fruit with a hammer? OH JOY! Although the home run game is kinda fun).  Plus even on the easiest levels the computer is a damn expert at every single game. Features: Well, you can unlock new minigames and play them separately (as well as characters, I think), but who cares. Funfactor: Little kids might enjoy this for a day or two, but I can honestly think of no reason to get this when you can enjoy Super Monkey Ball 1 or 2 or Bomberman, which are much better party games.  This is one of the most blatant attempts at milking a brand name for every single dollar it’s worth, and it’s obvious there was no real effort put into it. --Final Scores— Graphics: 2.0-N64 games have been done better. Sound: 4.5-Effects are appropriately done, but music is annoying and there’s no voice. Gameplay: 3.0-Yeah, there’s a ton of minigames, but 95% of them just plain suck. Features: 6.0-Plenty of unlockable stuff, but why prolong your suffering? Funfactor: 4.0-Again, any kid who has never played a game like this and doesn’t know what he/she is missing out on might enjoy it for a day or two, but that’s only because they don’t know any better.  Every system has much better party games than this one; so if you need a party game, pick ANY of those up. 12:52:50 PM    comment []

Review of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring for Xbox     Publisher: Black Label Games     Developer: WXP     Genre: Adventure     # Of Players: 1     The first of the onslaught of the LOTR games arrives on Xbox.  But this one isn’t based on the movie; it’s based on the book (meaning the characters don’t quite look like they did in the movie, and some characters that weren’t in the movie pop up).  You play as Frodo, but also as Aragorn and Gandalf throughout the various stages of the game.  Unfortunately, this game was so obviously rushed in order to make it in time, it suggests a great game that because of lack of development, turned into a lousy one. Graphics: Such a mixed bag.  I love how the game looks, they really did a great job recreating Middle Earth, as initially, every location looks great and has a lot of attention to detail, but in motion, there is tons of clipping, draw-in, and just a horrible frame rate.  Plus the camera angles are just god awful, obscuring just about everything. Sound: Not the voice actors from the movie, but whomever they had did a very good job, as the voices really fit the characters and are done surprisingly well.  The music also is pretty good and fairly appropriate for the atmosphere of the game.  The effects are solid, but not fantastic (i.e. you swing at a tree and there’s no sound of you hitting it or your sword slicing through the air) Gameplay: The game is so beyond glitchy that it horribly interferes with combat, and quite frankly, the first level is so boring most may not want to continue (let’s, see, I have to deliver a deed, put some pigs back in their pen, ring a stupid bell, most of this was not in the book, I read it many times) just let me get to fighting.  On second thought, maybe not since combat is just plain clumsy and limited.  And a lot of objectives are way too vague, giving me some general idea of what to do, but no clue as to where to go or how to do it. Features: No really noteworthy extras (there’s a brief biography of the characters as you get them, but it’s totally uninteresting and pointless). Funfactor: This is obviously a game that came out about 6 months way too early.  With the exception of the sound, everything just seems extremely unfinished.  The combat was halfhazardly slapped together like a bad roof job, the graphics look nice as long as you’re not moving, but glitches whenever you move.  This is probably the best license currently out there, as it is a clearly established world deep with characters and lore.  I’m seriously starting to think that Companies should no longer do licensed games period, as the only two decent ones in the last 5 years or so were Buffy for Xbox and the most recent Spiderman game (and that’s out of probably over 500). --Final Scores— Graphics: 6.0-Looks fantastic, as long as you don’t move at all… Sound: 9.0-Very good voice acting, good music, and solid effects. Gameplay: 2.5-Horribly done combat, glitching is so bad it interferes with gameplay; objectives are too vague, and mostly just plain boring. Features: 5.0-Extremely basic amount of features. Funfactor: 3.5-An evilly bad game.  Sauron would be pleased. 12:49:43 PM    comment []

Review of Dual Hearts for PS2     Publisher: Atlus     Developer: Atlus     Genre: Adventure     # Of Players: 1 Meet Rumble, a young and talented treasure hunter. Looking for the legendary Dream Stone.  Meet Tumble, a weird rabbit-like creature called a Baku, who is one of the guardians of the dream world.  He needs Rumble’s help in finding the keys that he lost that will unseal the temple that holds the dream stone.  But the catch is that the keys have all spread into people’s dreams, so Rumble & Tumble must enter various people’s weird and sometimes twisted dreamscapes in order to retrieve the keys.  A weird and stylish departure from most games, Dual Hearts is still at its core your standard adventure game. Graphics: There’s a very distinct style to this game.  The character design is somewhat similar to Dark Cloud.  All of the worlds are very imaginative, as are the bosses (the first one is a cross between a zombie chicken and a giant money bag, for instance).  My only complaint is that this doesn’t nearly tap the PS2’s graphical power, every looks good, but it could look fantastic. Sound: I like the music; it fits the very odd atmosphere of the game.  There isn’t any voice acting to speak of, and the effects are cool and quirky, but somewhat minimal (i.e. running water doesn’t make a sound). Gameplay: Well, the combat is fun and fast, and handled pretty well (I like that you have two different weapons with two different buttons).  There is a problem with the camera as sometimes it obscures things or keeps them hidden from view (although it’s not nearly as bad as say, Kingdom Hearts).  But quite frankly, the game’s biggest problem is the somewhat tedious puzzles.  Every level has plenty of them, and they all really boil down to push/pull big boxes and hit switches.  Yawn. Features: You can choose between two difficulties, but other than that, it’s just the basics for this style of game. Funfactor: The storyline and characters definitely offer something new and different, but the gameplay is somewhat standard for this type of game, and doesn’t really offer anything new.  Still, it’s a solid adventure that adventure fans may want to check out, and it’s really the only game of it’s type on PS2 until the new Dark Cloud comes out (of course that will have an actual party instead of one character). --Final Scores— Graphics: 7.5-I like the distinctive look, style, and character design, but this doesn’t represent to notch graphics for the PS2. Sound: 7.0-Music is appropriately quirky, but no voice and effects are kind of lacking. Gameplay: 7.0-Combat is fun and nicely set-up, but puzzles are a tad tedious and camera needs a little work. Features: 5.5-You can choose between two difficulties, but other than that, it’s the bare minimum. Funfactor: 7.5-An original and solid adventure, worth checking out for those who want to try something a little different. 12:46:12 PM    comment []

Review of Starfox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet for the Gamecube     Publisher: Nintendo     Developer: Rare     Genre: Adventure     # Of Players: 1 Fox McCloud is back in a brand new adventure on an entirely new planet.  In Dinosaur adventures, Fox gets out of his infamous airwing in order to save the peaceful dinosaur planet from exploding, which would be catastrophic to the entire system.  In order to do this, he must not only find the Krozoa spirits and somehow restore several pieces of the planet that have already broken off, he must also defeat the tyrannical General Scales, who is terrorizing the planet with his evil army.     Rare tries to go with a new direction in the series, making it more of a Zelda style adventure with a few minigames mixed for variety (as well as some shooter levels too).  Unfortunately, this somewhat failed attempt shows that maybe Rare should’ve stuck with the original formula. Graphics: A lot of games when they move from one generation of console to the next don’t really get the full graphical upgrade (Mario Sunshine is a good example, very minor graphical upgrades there), but Starfox really takes advantage of the hardware to get very good detail on the characters, you can see all the whiskers on Fox in the cut scenes (but why is the rabbit old all of a sudden, nobody else really aged), and I just really like the look and style of the various areas of the planet and the characters.  But the animation itself is kind of simplistic when you are fighting, and there is occasional slowdown. Sound: I don’t have a problem with the performances, but I don’t think most of the voices quite fit (especially the Irish voice of the warp stone), but that’s just a personal opinion, so I’m not gonna knock the game too much for it.  The music is appropriately done for the theme of the game, pretty good, but not great.  Effects aren’t all that great, though.  No random chatter or sounds (you see a bird fly by, but no sound, for example), which would add a lot to the atmosphere. Gameplay: Well, first off, the airwing missions aren’t too much fun (flying through rings?!? Did we not learn from Superman?!?), although still better than say, the shooter levels in Kingdom Hearts.  But I have some other problems, like the store.  Just make it a freaking store with a counter that I can walk up to and buy things, instead of having to go though these long halls into different rooms, it’s annoying.  The minigames need a lot of work, with the speeder race being a perfect example, as I kept getting caught on invisible corners and while ramming the other racers majorly screwed with my speeder, it didn’t slow down or mess up the other guys one bit (yes, if you ram them enough they explode, but by the time you kill one, the race is almost over).  And quite frankly, the combat is rather simplistic, as you never really learn any new moves, and the new abilities are rather gimmicky (how about being able to use them anywhere to really vary how you play the game?)  And firing projectiles from your staff is such a hassle because the targeting always re-centers the second you stop moving it. Features: Just the basics.  It’s more of a gameplay thing, but I really like that you can save anywhere in the game.  It’s a really rare feature and I really like to see it used a lot more often. Funfactor: I have to admit that coming from such a high pedigree, I had high expectations for this game, and maybe if somebody other than somebody with such a great track record as Rare developed it, I might not be so disappointed, but it doesn’t change the fact that this game, while somewhat solid, has a lot of flaws that should not have been overlooked.  Bottom line is that this is one of those games that stretches itself way too thin. --Final Scores— Graphics: 9.0-Great character and level design, but why the heck is there occasional slowdown? Sound: 7.0-Good solid music, but I personally don’t think the voices fit well, and the sound effects are somewhat lacking. Gameplay: 5.0-Combat is a tad simplistic, and minigames need a lot of work.  Abilities are too gimmicky, and firing projectiles is a major hassle. Features: 5.5-Saving anywhere is great, but no other extras. Funfactor: 6.5-A game that tries to be all things to all gamers, and it just doesn’t work. 12:40:42 PM    comment []