Monday, November 25, 2002

Review of Star Wars: Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast for Xbox     Publisher: Lucas Arts     Developer:     Genre: Shooter     # Of Players: 1-2         The highly acclaimed PC hit comes to Xbox.  You play as Kyle Katarn, a former Jedi who now does various shuttle missions for the New Republic (which was set up by the rebels after the Emperor was defeated).  You are called on to investigate a distress call from a planet that is supposedly abandoned.  You stumble on a to grand plot by Imperial forces that will require you to regain your Jedi Powers in order to help save the New Republic.      Well, this is quite a fresh perspective on shooters, as using light sabers make this one of the few games where you may actually prefer to do melee combat.  You can also use a pretty wide variety of force powers as well.  Unfortunately, while Jedi Knight provides a fun & engaging single player mode, its horrid multi-player might make all but the most dedicated Jedi skip this one. Graphics: The cut scenes are smooth & very impressive, and the levels look pretty good, but do flicker noticeably when there is a lot going on.  My only problem in single player is that the enemies react very poorly in their animations.  They always act like your first shot doesn’t even phase them (if it doesn’t kill them anyways), and the death animations are horrible, and occasionally don’t make any sense (i.e. I shoot a guy with a blaster, and instead of slumping over he’ll fly like he was hit with a rocket launcher).  And finally, while the levels in multi-player look great initially, if you play with more than a few bots or with a second player it becomes chop suey. Sound: The acting is top notch (much better than the last two movies), and of course you get that incredibly classic Star Wars music.  The effects are also very good as you’ll hear every blaster & swing of light sabers perfectly as well as conversation between enemies ranging from everyday stuff to calling for help. Gameplay: Again, the one-player is a lot of fun.  It starts off a little slow since you don’t start off with your force powers and there are a good amount of stupid puzzles, but as soon as you get your saber & those force powers, the game gets a lot more creative.  You can throw guys from a distance, turn invisible, and even have enemies attack each other.   Handling the light saber is a little awkward at first, but it’s handled surprisingly well, and you can even choose different styles to fight with, which all have a good balance between them.     Then there is the multi-player.  First off, it’s only 2-player.  This is Xbox; there is no excuse for this.  You can have up to 14 bots in multi-player, but only two players.  I think everybody would have rather had the bots removed completely so you could actually have a couple of friends over to play.  But then again, the graphics take such a huge hit when you are playing with two players, with a huge drop in frame rate and massive clipping, the game is almost unplayable because its so painful to watch.  And we’ve seen games like Halo & Time Splitters 2 handle this much better, so there’s just not really any excuse for it either. Features: Well, there is just tons of multi-player modes if you want to play it anyways, as well as difficulties, and unlockable extras & cheats, so the game is extremely loaded. Funfactor: The one-player is great, but there are better one-player modes currently available (Medal of Honor, Max Payne, Serious Sam, and oh yeah, Halo).  What I was really looking forward to was dueling light sabers with 2 or 3 friends.  Even if you have an Xbox link cable, you can still only play with two people.  And once again, even only with two players the multi-player just falls apart.  If you just want a good one-player Star Wars game, then I highly recommend it, but those looking for a good multi-player shooter luckily have plenty of other options, because it’s one of the shoddiest I’ve played in a long time. --Final Scores— Graphics: 7.0-Cut scenes look great, as do the stages in single player, but the animations are pretty bad, and the graphics are just destroyed in multi-player. Sound: 10-It’s Star Wars, what did you expect? Gameplay: 5.0-You only get half of the game right, you only get half of the points. Features: 7.0-Loaded with modes & unlockable stuff (but only two-players!!!!) Funfactor: 7.5-Still a very good single player game, but I was looking for a great MULTI-PLAYER game. 7:32:26 PM    comment []

Review of Resident Evil Zero for PS2     Publisher: Capcom     Developer: Capcom     Genre: Survival Horror     # Of Players: 1-2     Resident goes back to before the beginning.  In this prequel that actually takes place before the infamous events in that mysterious mansion, a train full of passengers is attacked by a mysterious force.  A S.T.A.R.S. team of operatives is investigating a mysterious crash site and an escaped prisoner convicted to die.  One member, Rebecca Chambers, happens upon the train, now filled with corpses.  A mystery begins.     This is the first original Resident Evil title to be on the Gamecube, and while it features some of the classic elements shared by all the previous games, it also features some new ones, most importantly the new partner mode.  You have a partner throughout most of the game & a second player can play as well.  Although it still has some of the same problems that have plagued the whole series, they bring back a lot of the scare & pure fun that has been missing in the last few incarnations. Graphics: Easily the best graphics I’ve seen this year on Gamecube and arguably the best graphics I’ve seen all year.  The cut scenes look incredible, a lot more cleaned up from the grainy ones in the Resident Evil remake.  The rendered backgrounds look amazing as well as intensely creepy with nice little details like an arm of a corpse that swings just enough to make you notice it.  The effects are done in gory detail in a good way, & the game just looks incredibly smooth all around. Sound: Sound can make or break games like this, and as usual Resident provides an extremely good mix to keep you on your toes, jumping in with pulse-pounding music (and usually a really well done sound that’ll scare the hell out of you).  The effects give just the right amount of chill as well, being there but so subtly that it gets very creepy.  My only complaint, in fact, is the god-awful voice acting.  Capcom’s one of the biggest companies in gaming, there is no reason they can’t hire some decent voice talent for this series.  It really jerked me out of the game whenever there was a cut scene with long bits of talking because it’s so bad. Gameplay: AGH! THOSE CONTROLS ARE BACK!  For better or for worse (and even the biggest Resident Evil fans usually admit it’s for worse), Capcom has decided to stick with the same control style as all previous ones, which means a lot of awkward running and imprecise aiming.  But what they have done to help balance for guys like me who’d rather blast their way through everything in sight is add a ton more ammo (well, at least on the “easy” setting they did, thank god!), as well as a partner that is with you thoughout most of the game, which is computer-controlled, and you can also move him/her around with the little yellow analog.  Also, instead of dropping items only in chests, you can drop them anywhere and pick them up later.  But the puzzles are still pretty mundane, all boiling to finding a key or pushing the right switch. Features: 3 difficulty settings, and as usual unlockable modes depending on how well you do in the game.  I think a two-player option would’ve been incredibly cool, but it’s not really necessary. Funfactor: It’s Resident Evil.  If you like the series, you are going to be way into this game as it’s a good representation of what the series is historically best at (and I personally think this is the first really scary one in quite awhile).  If you hate the series, this probably won’t change your mind.  If you are a middle of the road guy like myself, who liked a couple of the titles in the series, this is definitely worth a look, as even with the bad controls it manages to be an engaging experience.  But the time is coming where Capcom really needs to start moving the series in a new direction (and with Resident Evil going online, that looks to be happening). --Final Scores— Graphics: 10-Easily the best (and creepiest) graphics I have ever seen on Gamecube. Sound: 9.0-Sound and music is near perfect, but the poor voice acting really takes away from the game. Gameplay: 6.5-More ammo, having a partner is good, but same mundane puzzles & bad controls. Features: 6.0-Difficulty choice is nice, and unlockable modes of play. Funfactor: 8.0-Go ahead, get scared again. 7:26:49 PM    comment []

Review of Die Another Day    The world’s most famous (and smoothest) secret agent is back.  In his latest globetrotting mission to stop the bad guys and get all the girls, Bond (Pierce Brosnan), is a victim of a setup on a mission gone horribly wrong in Asia.  Held captive for 14 months, he is finally traded, but its only because the U.S. government believes he has been tortured enough that he’s actually giving up secrets, Bond is officially benched.  But that’s not really enough to stop him from escaping in order to find and track down whoever betrayed him, as well as the dangerous terrorist he was traded for, Zao.  And of course along the way he meets a gorgeous & mysterious woman, this time her name is Jinx (Halle Berry)     Bond is undoubtedly the longest running franchise in film history, and this latest film may be the best yet.  All the classic elements are there: The incredibly cool gadgets ranging from your standard laser watch to an invisible car with the usual assortment of firearms, a few new bond babes, and all the cheesy puns.  Brosnan as usual pulls the role off really well, he’s one of a handful of actors who can really pull off the smooth attitude Bond requires and not make it seem over the top and closer to Austin Powers.  Halle Berry does a pretty good job as well, but this is definitely not a role that is based on or requires her acting ability.     The action sequences are all incredibly well done and just plain fun to watch (especially a super car vs. super car duel near the end), and there are plenty of really creative sets and current updates of classically cool traps.  My only real complaint in fact, as with the last Bond film, is that there isn’t really a villain with a cool gimmick.  Sure, Zao has a horrendously diamond-scarred face, and the main villain is a full blown insomniac, but those aren’t cool gimmicks like having a steel jaw, a deadly hat, or being able to crush people with your legs.  Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything. Final Grade: A- 7:00:17 PM    comment []