Sunday, November 17, 2002

Xbox Launches Online Play Eight Xbox Live titles are available -- MechAssault, NBA 2K3, NFL Fever 2003, NFL 2K3, NHL 2K3, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Unreal Championship and Whacked. A total of 50 are planned by the end of next year, including a multi-player sequel to the popular combat game Halo. Most of the launch titles are strong, but forget about Whacked or NFL Fever 2003. 9:12:22 AM    comment []

Review of Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets    Harry Potter & his friends (as well as his enemies) return for a second year at the prestigious Hogwarts academy.  For those who have not followed the books, someone has opened the mysterious chamber of secrets, long thought to be a myth; and whatever was inside it is petrifying all the students who aren’t pure blood wizards.  Harry, along with help from his friends Ron & Hermoine, must find out who’s behind it and put a stop to it.     Most of the original cast is back, along with some new faces (most notably Kenneth Braunaugh as an extremely egotistical and extremely inept defense against the dark arts teacher).  But the real difference is in the style & pacing.  This is a much looser adaptation, and a much darker film than the previous one.  And it’s much better for it.  The loose adaptation and darker tone allows for much more humor & greater adventure. Everyone has really grown into their roles, especially the younger actors.  For avid followers of the book, this really leaves out a lot of the scenes of the book and yet it’s a little longer than the previous one, but you won’t even notice due to the excellent pacing of the film.  There is just a lot more confidence in this film, the effects look better (especially in the quidditch scenes), and everyone does an even better job of portraying their characters than they did in the last film, and all the new additions fill their roles really well also.  But a stern warning; this has a lot of scenes that would qualify as terrifying for the younger set (I’m extremely surprised this film did not get a PG13), so it would probably be best to keep them from seeing it.  But otherwise, this is just an extremely fun adventure for almost all ages. Final Grade: A 9:01:58 AM    comment []

Review of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for PS2     Publisher: Rockstar Games     Developer: Rockstar Games     Genre: Action     # Of Players: 1     The most anti-social game in recent history makes a return and takes you back in time to 1986, in Vice City, which is basically Miami.  Decadence & corruption rule.  You are a gangster recently released from prison, and you’ve got to try and pick your life up (and not by being a good honest citizen).  Your boss sets you up with a quick drug deal, but it’s a setup and now both the drugs and your bosses’ money are missing.  Now you have to find the money quick & punish those responsible before your boss holds you responsible.  The follow-up to the best-selling game of last year, this is more than a mere add on with a whole new city, vehicles, and a completely new story.  Now I wasn’t a big fan of the last game, feeling it had a lot of potential but didn’t quite live up to it.  The sequel is almost everything I wanted the last one to be, and it’s one of the year’s best games. Graphics: Much improved over the last one.  Movement and overall look of the game is much smoother, and the game never has any slowdown no matter how much activity is going on.  It really makes you feel like you are in an episode of Miami Vice.  My only real complaints are that the animation on the characters is kind of simplistic and it shouldn’t really matter, but their hands look sort of deformed and it just looks freaky. Sound: The voice acting is top notch, with stars like Ray Liotta, Gary Busey, Dennis Hopper, & Burt Reynolds.  The sound track consists of a bunch of radio stations, just like the last one, but this is strictly 80s music, and it some real 80s music, ranging from hits like Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” to one-hit wonder Mr. Mister’s “Broken Wings”.  There is even a completely made up hair metal-style band called Love Fist (and just like all hair metal bands, they are really, really bad).  But the best is the extremely hilarious dialogue you hear on the funny commercials (like the animal taxidermist) & the talk radio.  Effects, however, are severely minimal, but given the massive amount of music & voice acting, it won’t knock the game too much for that. Gameplay: Ok, most of the problems I had with the original are pretty much fixed.  Aiming with weapons was nearly impossible, now there is a pretty good targeting system.  There are a much better variety of vehicles available, including helicopters & boats & lots of very cool cars.  You can actually own businesses & set up protection rackets to get money.  But what I really like is how much tighter the story is and the missions are.  They move along at a much faster pace.  But the driving is still a little too loose and I feel cars get damaged way to quickly, and quite frankly the collision detection when you are driving is a tad suspect, but nothing major.   The hand-to-hand fighting is still incredibly sloppy, but it’s not a huge deal since you’ll mostly be using guns.  And of course, if you want, you can just go on a rampant crime spree, but police are even tougher on you than last time, and can bust you quite easily (which is a good thing, means more strategy).  There are also lots of hidden things like special packages and mini-games called vendettas which are impossibly hard, but fun to try (like gunning down 20 armed Haitian gang members in under 2 minutes). Features: Unfortunately, there are just the extreme basics here.  I can’t really think of anything, but some extras would be nice. Funfactor: Now granted, if you didn’t like GTA3, there is no reason for you to even give this one a shot.  If you liked the last one, this is a no-brainer go pick it up now.  If you were a middle of the road person like myself, this is definitely worth giving another go as they have fixed the most important problems and put together a much tighter game.  Go ahead and indulge some vices. --Final Scores— Graphics: 9.0-City looks great and game runs really smooth, but people and poorly animated and have freakish hands (it just bug me). Sound: 9.0-Effects are minimal but the great voice acting & classic music make up for it. Gameplay: 7.5-More vehicles, tighter story & missions, improved aiming, but fighting is sloppy and cars are very loose on control. Features: 5.0-Just the extreme basics, no extras whatsoever. Funfactor: 8.5-Great improvement over the original and also a great trip back in time. 8:59:27 AM    comment []

Review of Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets for Gamecube    Publisher: Electronic Arts     Developer: Electronic Arts     Genre: Adventure     # Of Players: 1       Harry Potter returns for his second year.  Coming out the same week as the movie, but more closely based on the book (although I’m honestly just guessing since it doesn’t have any of the scenes from the movie), you can finally take on the role of the world’s most famous young wizard on the current generation of consoles (as opposed to last year when there was only a game for PS one) as he tries to survive the new year at the always exciting & usually dangerous school known as Hogwarts Academy.  Mainly borrowing from Zelda, but mixing in a few elements from other games (even Metal Gear Solid style stealth based missions), EA faithfully closely follows the events of the book and happens to put them together in an extremely enjoyable game that pretty much cements EA as the king of well done licensed games. Graphics: Wow.  Every part of the Harry Potter universe is recreated wonderfully from Diagon Alley to the halls of Hogwarts, all with amazing detail (there are a lot of great little touches in all of the areas).  The characters are all here and look great, with pretty decent animation, but the only character that’s really well animated is Harry himself.  Sound: While not the actors from the movie, the voice work here is just as good, every character has a very fitting voice and is well acted.  The music fits really well in the world Harry inhabits, & the effects are really solid also, as you’ll hear a lot of little things that really help you get into the world of the game. Gameplay: Ok, this plays a lot like Zelda.  There is no jumping, you perform various tasks to get through areas, and do the occasionally battling.  You have a context-sensitive button that works really well, and you can assign spells to specific buttons.  There is a really great variety to the levels and it all fits within the Potter universe.  But the map used in larger levels is extremely confusing; you’re better off finding your way by sheer dumb luck.  And I have a complaint about the stealth missions.  In most games you would either have some sort of radar or at least an overhead view so you could figure out where the guy was.  In this game, it’s ton of guesswork and can get very frustrating. Features: Unfortunately just the extreme basics.  I would like to be able to play some of the minigames outside of the normal game. Funfactor: It’s amazing.  EA has done it again.  With Buffy, Two Towers, & now the latest Harry Potter game, EA has made it look like it’s actually pretty easy to pull of a good licensed game (a feat thought of as nearly impossible previously).  This perfectly captures Harry Potter & his universe and even puts a great game that takes place inside it.  Even if you aren’t a Potter fan, this is just a great game, so do yourselves a favor and pick it up. --Final Scores— Graphics: 9.0-The world is recreated amazingly, but the only really good animation is on Harry. Sound: 10-Great voice acting, music, and effects that really help the atmosphere. Gameplay: 8.0-Good variety of well-designed gameplay, but stealth missions are annoying & map on large levels is confusing. Features: 5.0-Just the absolutely necessary. Funfactor: 9.0-Another fantastic licensed game, lets hope other companies start following EA’s model (never thought I’d be saying that). 8:54:28 AM    comment []

Review of Ratchet & Clank for PS2    Publisher: SCEA     Developer: Insomniac Games     Genre: Platformer     # Of Players: 1     The team behind the good games in the Spyro series brings out a new franchise with the ultra slick, ultra futuristic Ratchet & Clank.  As the unlikely duo, you must use your special abilities to prevent evil aliens who have polluted their own planet so badly that they are taking pieces of others in order to survive (don’t ask me to explain the logic on that one).  While it’s similar in character design & certainly is in the same spirit as last year’s best platformer, Jak & Daxter, this is a whole new game with it’s own unique twist on the genre, and it does it quite well. Graphics: Again, it’s as if the artists who worked on Jak & Daxter also worked on this game, as even though it’s in the future, this game does look like Jak & Daxter in the future.  And this is certainly not a bad thing.  It looks like a wonderfully animated cartoon, the level & character design is excellent, especially with all the great detail like the futuristic cars going on in the background.  The game is incredibly smooth no matter how much is going on. Sound: The sound effects are really solid, but while I see plenty going on in the background, I don’t hear any of it.  The music fits pretty well.  The voice acting is solid, but not great (the robot is a little too dry).  There are lots of jokes in this game, but they are big time hit & miss. Gameplay: No necessary collecting!!!!!!! YES!  I don’t have to collect stupid stars or rings or whatever stupid amount to access the levels.  Not that there isn’t any collecting in the game.  You collect bolts & screws, which you trade in for cool stuff like new weapons (like bazookas & flame throwers, not your average platformer fare, but they are implemented well), abilities & hidden levels.  All platformer games should follow this formula!  The controls are pretty good.  I only have a couple of key complaints.  One is that if I’m really close to falling off a ledge, it’s not uncommon for the game to actually inch me over & I fall to my death.  Also the camera needs some work as it will occasionally get into a weird angle where I can’t really see anything in front of me, and the centering button really doesn’t work as well as it should. And I do wish some of the gadgets you could use a little more intuitively Features: Well, just the basics, but all the cool stuff you can buy that isn’t necessary like the cool weapons & extra levels give it a couple of points. Funfactor: I’ll say it again; I love the fact that I have no stupid quota of collecting things.  It’s amazing it took so many years for programmers to figure out that players really don’t want to have to deal with that.  This is just a really fun adventure.  Unfortunately like all the really good PS2 games that aren’t RPGs, it doesn’t take very long to finish, you can probably beat it in 8 hours, tops.  But it’s an extremely fun ride while it lasts, and you can definitely enjoy going through it more than once. --Final Scores— Graphics: 10-Looks just like Jak & Daxter in the future, and pulls it off amazingly. Sound: 6.5-Music is pretty good, and sound effects are decently done as is the voice, but game isn’t nearly as funny as it thinks it is (although it’s still funny). Gameplay: 8.0-No collecting, great mix of platform & shooting, but camera issues & weird little ledge glitch, and some of the gadgets aren’t as well implanted as they should be. Features: 6.0-Again, no real extras, but the hidden levels & weapons that make for new ways to play are cool. Funfactor: 9.0-A fun & innovative platformer that’s one of the better titles on PS2 in a very strong year. 8:49:29 AM    comment []

Review of Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly for PS2     Publisher: Universal Interactive     Developer: Equinox/Check Six Studios     Genre: Platformer     # Of Players: 1     Spyro finally makes his debut on PS2.  While not quite up there with the big boys like Sonic, Mario, & Crash, Spyro has quite a respectable series of games on the PS one (all of which were best sellers).  But Insomniac, who developed the first three titles, has moved on, and two new teams have taken their place.  In the newest game, Spyro’s most infamous archenemy, Ripto is back and now he has stolen all the dragonflies, which gives dragons their power.  As the heroic young Spyro, you must once again defeat Ripto and save all the dragonflies.  Unfortunately, usually when a new team takes over a franchise, they don’t really improve upon it, and sometimes ruin it, and Equinox & Check Six studios have continued that trend. Graphics: Ugh.  I though I was playing on PS2?  Why does this game look like all the PS one Spyro games?  The levels are extremely barren and lack any sort of detail.  The character models are very poor and badly animated.  There is tons of glitching & slow down. Sound: Well, the music is all right, but the effects are severely lacking all over the place (no sound of running water, most of the enemies don’t even make much noise).  The voice acting is decent, not too bad but not really good either. Gameplay: The gameplay remains virtually unchanged from the last one with poorly designed easy to defeat enemies and the same stuff we had in the last three.  There is a new reflect move, but it doesn’t really factor in much.  The controls respond pretty well, however.  But at the end of the day, this is another one of those games where all you really do is collect a bunch of crap and it doesn’t have the charm, personality, or humor of Jak & Daxter.  And quite frankly I’m sick and tired of it. Features: Just the extremely necessary features, this is about as bare bones as it gets. Funfactor: There is a multitude of platformers out on the PS2 right now (especially Ratchet & Clank), and Spyro, while not really a horrible game, doesn’t give you any reason to get it over previous versions (especially the second one, that was a real gem), and certainly no reason to get it over the competition.  The fact is that Equinox & Check Six Studios brought out pretty much the same game that the first one was.  It was good a generation ago; now it’s old & tired. --Final Scores— Graphics: 3.0-Looks like the PS one games, not a good thing. Sound: 5.5-Music is ok, voice acting is tolerable, but effects are weak. Gameplay: 5.0-It’s the exact same gameplay as previous ones, give me something new. Features: 5.0-Just the bare minimum here. Funfactor: 4.0-Do yourself a favor and spend $10 to pick up any of the previous Spyro games. 8:45:02 AM    comment []

Review of Superman: The Man of Steel for Xbox     Publisher: Atari     Developer: Circus Freak Studios     Genre: Action     # Of Players: 1     Oh great, another Superman game.  I think the only series with a worse history is those horrid Army Men games.  Oh well, let’s give a try anyways.  In this one, you as the protector of a more futuristic Metropolis, have to use all of your abilities to stop the drones of Brainiac13, which are trying to build him a gigantic robot body. Surprisingly enough, Circus Freak has actually managed to create an enjoyable Superman game, although not without some major flaws. Graphics: Granted, it’s been awhile since I read a Superman comic (last one I read was when he died), but it just looks like Superman has aged horribly.  He has a good amount of detail on him, and is animated really well, I just don’t like his look, and that also goes for pretty much the rest of the characters.  I don’t think the cinemas are done well either.  The robots don’t have a lot of variety to them, but the city is pretty nicely done, and the game stays incredibly smooth no matter how much is going on. Sound: While the effects themselves are fairly well done (lots of good little details like hearing Superman flying through the air), and the music is decently done, the voice is a horrid combination of bad acting and worse dialogue.  It’s just painful. Gameplay: Quite frankly the controls take a little getting used to, using one analog to fly up & down, and the other to fly forwards & backwards.  But the rest of the button layout is done pretty well.  But the super hearing radar isn’t done very well.  But my only big complaint is how the enemy lock on works.  You can only target objects directly in front of you; & you never stay locked on for long, which makes the fighting clumsy.  But each level has a good variety of objectives and it actually takes good strategy to complete the later objectives, like using all of your powers at the right time. Features: Loaded with unlockable stuff like concept art, models, different costumes, even a free mode where you can just explore Metropolis with no real objectives. Funfactor: While not a great game, this is a fairly enjoyable one that finally does the Superman license some justice, making it the best one yet.  Circus Freak has done better than the many other companies that have tried to accurately make gamers know what it’s like to be the Man of Steel.  Who knows, maybe in a couple of years they will actually make a good Superman game rather than just an enjoyable one. --Final Scores— Graphics: 6.0-Very Smooth, and Superman moves very well, but I just really don’t like the look of the game overall, especially the cut scenes. Sound: 6.0-Music & effects are solid, but the voice acting & dialogue is just painful. Gameplay: 7.0-Slightly awkward flying controls, but good mission variety and implementation of powers, but targeting system & radar are very poorly done. Features: 8.5-Loaded with some really cool unlockable stuff Funfactor: 7.5-Best Superman game yet, although once again that’s still kind of sad. 8:40:21 AM    comment []