Saturday, December 14, 2002

Review of Haven: Call of The King for PS2     Publisher: Midway     Developer: Traveller’s Tales     Genre: Platforming     # Of Players: 1     You’re having the dreams.  You’re hearing the voice.  The voice that Vetch, a powerful & vicious overlord that rules over your world as well as many others, loathes & fears.  You are Haven, and you must use your abilities to free your people and defeat the evil overlord Vetch.  While it incorporates just about every type of gameplay imaginable, it still limits itself in many ways, and is a solid, but unoriginal collection-fest. Graphics: Looks like a very high quality…. N64 game.  The levels are very large and varied, and have a generally good look to them, but lack a lot of detail.  The characters animate rather stiffly and aren’t very detailed, and there is plenty of slowdown, as well as glitching, along with a very poor use of color. Sound: Surprisingly good voice acting in the cut scenes, but acting in game is non-existent; characters don’t talk, even though levels are loaded with them.  The sound effects are rather lacking as well.  I don’t hear crackling fire, running water, or even most enemies running after me.  But the music is handled very well and fits the atmosphere of the game. Gameplay: If you want variety, it’s here.  Platform jumping, flying, shooting, etc.  Haven takes the idea of throwing everything to the wall and seeing what sticks.  Unfortunately, in throwing so many styles of play at you, it doesn’t do any of them exceptionally, and all have some nagging problems (shooting is clumsy, the platforming has some bad camera problems, etc.).  Plus there are all these people and buildings around you, but the people don’t react to you and you can’t talk to them, they are just there, and you can’t go into any of the buildings.  And every level is collecting so many of an item in order to progress. Features: Not a whole lot but a couple of nifty extras such as concept art and a making of feature. Funfactor: This is a fairly well put together game with a lot of variety to it, but it still is a collection fest that doesn’t seem to realize its own potential and just doesn’t measure up to Jak & Daxter and especially Ratchet & Clank, but it’s still a very solid platformer in its own right. --Final Scores— Graphics: 6.0-Looks like a top-notch game.  For the N64. Sound: 7.5-Music & voice acting is good, but effects are extremely weak. Gameplay: 6.5-Tons a variety, but nothing is extremely well done, and it’s another collection fest. Features: 5.5-Couple of cool extras like concept art & making of. Funfactor: 7.0-A solid & fun, but unoriginal and slightly derivative platformer. 7:30:18 PM    comment []

Review of Rocky for PS2     Publisher: Ubi Soft     Developer: Rage Newcastle     Genre: Boxing     # Of Players: 1-2     The Italian stallion is back!  Easily the most famous movie boxer in history, Rocky and his most famous foes all come to PS2.  You take on the role of cinema’s most famous pugilist as he rises from lowly neighborhood gyms and beer halls to main eventing at major arenas like Madison Square Garden, fighting famous opponents like Apollo Creed & Ivan Drago.  And it takes the unusual approach of you actually fighting through all of the Rocky movies.  While this may seem like every boxing fan’s dream, the horrid fighting and lack of basic options make it not acceptable even to the biggest Rocky devotees. Graphics: The fighters look respectably close to their real life counterparts, but why they didn’t include actual cut scenes from the movies is beyond me.  But the real crime is in the fights.  The arenas & crowds look absolutely horrendous, and the fights are horribly animated with lots of frames missing in the punches, and every wrestler reacts the same to every type of punch. Sound: Yeah, the have the famous Rocky music!  Which they play over and over and over again until you wan to be deaf just so you’ll never have to hear it ever again.  The voice acting is taken straight from the movies, so at least there is that.  The sound effects are pretty limiting, every crowd is the same no matter where you go (equally loud, and always liking you, which doesn’t follow the movies, since he didn’t get real popular until his first fight with Apollo Creed, hey if you’re gonna follow the movies, get it right, dammit!).  And where the $&%* is “Eye of the Tiger”? Gameplay: Let’s start with the button response, which is so bad that it is impossible to string together anything but a one-button combo.  The collision detection is horrible, I have a hard time telling whether I actually hit the guy or not.  The scoring system also makes no sense as I will totally annihilate a guy and the score always stays real close.  I kid you not one round I knocked out a guy twice, and he landed 10 punches on me, and I only won the round 10 to 9.  In between fights you can train to build up skills, but it’s incredibly boring & it’s a lot easier and you’ll be a lot more successful if you just let the computer automatically do it for you. Features: Surprisingly lacking.  Jus a movie mode, a sparring mode, you can watch cinemas, and that’s about it.  There are unlockable fighters and arenas, but that doesn’t really make up for the astounding lack of play modes (where’s a create-a-boxer or minigames to sharpen my skills or even a freaking tutorial?). Funfactor: This is a horrible game.  It’s such a cool concept to play as Rocky, but apparently Ubi Soft thought it could get by on concept alone.  The Rocky series has had it’s up and downs, but this is by far it’s lowest point.  I’d rather be beaten senseless by Clubber Lang than have to play through one more round of this insipid insult to one of American cinema’s favorite underdogs. --Final Scores— Graphics: 5.0-Boxers look decent, but animate poorly & arenas & crowds look awful. Sound: 6.0-Voices from the movies, but crowd response is always the same, theme music is played too much, and effects are extremely lacking. Gameplay: 3.0-Bad button response, collision detection, scoring system makes no sense. Features: 5.0-Unlockable boxers & arenas, but missing some basic essentials. Funfactor: 4.0-This Rocky fights more like My Little Pony than an Italian Stallion. 7:26:33 PM    comment []

Review of Minority Report for Xbox     Publisher: Activision     Developer: Treyarch     Genre: Action     # Of Players: 1     Play in what was my opinion the second best movie of the summer (first of course was Spider Man), Minority Report.  You, as chief of the precrime unit John Anderton, has headed an operation that has made Washington D.C. the city with the lowest crime rate in America.  There hasn’t been a murder in 6 years, but now you are accused of a precrime, so you are on the run from your own men and must figure out how to stop the inevitable without being arrested.  While it has some good ideas, a horribly clumsy fighting engine, pathetic graphics and lack of star power (meaning none) keep this action game mired in mediocrity. Graphics: Well, apparently none of the stars of the movie wanted to be associated with this trash, because I recognize nobody from the movie.  That’s not really enough to knock it down, but when it looks exactly like the Die Hard Trilogy on PS one with the same poor animation, horrid clipping and frame rate, that does it all on its own. Sound: Again, none of the voices from the great actors in the movie such as Cruise or Farrell, but the voice acting that is there isn’t half bad.  The music is pretty good and fits with the futuristic action tone of the game.  And even the sound effects are pretty good, as you’ll constantly be knocking guys into stuff, and everything makes a pretty good sound, but it’s only so-so when you are straight out fighting as hits don’t always make a sound and neither do gun blasts. Gameplay: Initially, it sounds pretty cool.  You as John Anderton beat up groups of guys using moves, guns, and throwing them into whatever is handy (you can even throw guys out windows, which is pretty cool).  The environment is very destructible, but it’s so limited, because you can only destroy, you can’t pick up and use anything (guys come at me with baseball bats, and I can’t pick it up).  The fighting is beyond clumsy.  You can kick a punch, and kick punch some more, and then you can grab guys and…. Kick and punch them while grabbing them (you can buy additional moves, but you won’t wanna work for it).  Button response is abysmal, as you have to press several times for anything.  Every fight is pretty much the same thing, and as with almost all games where you fight multiple enemies, they gang up on you, and even more so than in most recent similar games. Features: Actually pretty loaded with cheats, cut scenes, training modes, and even a crappy music video! Funfactor: I actually had hoped things had turned around for licensed games this year with great releases like Buffy, Two Towers, Harry Potter and The Thing.  But this game reminds me that licensed games are still for the most part horrid pieces of crap meant simply to desperately try and get a few more bucks out of us.  Even if you have a shrine to Minority Report hidden in your basement, you’ll wanna offer this up as an unworthy imposter. --Final Scores— Graphics: 3.0-Looks like that Die Hard game on PS one a few years ago, and that’s definitely not good. Sound: 6.5-Solid voice acting & music, but effects are extremely uneven. Gameplay: 3.0-Destroyable environment is cool, but too limited, enemies gang up way too easily, moves are too simplistic, and controls are extremely unresponsive. Features: 8.0-Loaded with lots of extras like cheats, training modes, etc. Funfactor: 4.0-Everybody runs.  Away.  Far, far away. 7:23:16 PM    comment []

Review of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter for PS2     Publisher: Lucas Arts     Developer: Lucas Arts     Genre: Shooter     # Of Players: 1     Take on the role of the famous bounty hunter Jango Fett in the latest Star Wars game for game cube.  This game takes place before the events of Episode II.  And this is basically the story of how Jango Fett ended up getting involved in all the events in Episode II.  And while the story is really fleshed out, interesting, and well developed, the gameplay is so problematic that it just isn’t worth going through. Graphics: The locales look fairly decent, but the animation on Jango & his enemies is pretty poor, and there’s just an astonishing amount of clipping, frame rate dropping, and even some occasional slowdown.  While the locales themselves are pretty lively with plenty of normal civilians & those annoying little robots as well, the actual effects are extremely lacking, I can only blow up a few barrels, for instance. Sound: It’s a Star Wars game, meaning it has all the usual great music & effects, & to top it off, they got the actor who plays Jango Fett in the Episode II movie. Gameplay: Initially, the gameplay sounds pretty cool, as Fett you chase down bad guys with your dual laser pistols and can do some fairly cool stuff like use a jetpack and cool flips.  The main problem is with executing bounties.  You have to switch to a first person mode, then lock in on the guy, then use a wire to catch him, and you can only do this one guy at a time, and most times you are facing a flurry of guys, which makes it nearly impossible.  There is no map or tracking radar of sorts, so it’s incredibly easy to get lost, and if you are against a wall, your gun gets magically absorbed into them and can’t fire anymore.  Plus all the enemies are extremely mundane and idiotic, they all run straight out like morons, and isn’t enough overkill like Serious Sam to make it any sort of menace. Features: As usual, plenty of nifty unlockable extras, but some multi-player would’ve been nice. Funfactor: The only thing this game has going for is its story.  It has a couple of interesting concepts, but they are extremely flawed in concept and there are much better Star Wars games available, and better one-player shooters available (including Jedi Outcast).  Bottom line, unless you a desperately interested in the story of Jango Fett, you are better off staying on the lighter side of the force. --Final Scores— Graphics: 6.0-Locales look good overall and have plenty of life, but poor effects, lots of clipping & frame rate problems. Sound: 10-It’s Star Wars, pretty much the standard for great sound these days. Gameplay: 3.0-My gun gets stuck in walls, capturing bounties is impossible, enemies are insultingly stupid. Features: 7.0-Lots of unlockable extras as usual, but no multi-player. Funfactor: 5.5-Only the most dedicated followers of the dark side should bother checking this one out. 7:17:33 PM    comment []

Review of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell for Xbox     Developer: Ubi Soft     Publisher: Ubi Soft     Genre: Action     # Of Players: 1     In America, every citizen is guaranteed certain freedoms. Free speech, freedom of religion, etc.  As secret operative Sam Fisher, you have an additional freedom; the freedom to do whatever is necessary in order to protect those rights.  Featuring a huge emphasis on stealth, Ubi Soft (and many Xbox fan boys) has basically been promoting Splinter Cell as a Metal Gear Solid-killer.  However, while definitely not knocking Metal Gear Solid off its perch, Splinter Cell draws damn near close to it, and definitely establishes itself as an extremely viable contender. Graphics: The cinemas are pretty good, but a little shoddy by Xbox standards.  The in game graphics are for the most part, incredibly stunning.  The locales all look great and extremely realistic, and Sam looks incredibly lifelike and moves with amazing fluidity.  And this is why the inconsistencies will sometimes stand out with some frame rate drops & some clipping (and things like laid out enemies feet sticking through doors). Sound: The voice acting is fairly uneven.  Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers) provides the voice for Sam, and he does an ok job, but he’s not a great actor.  The enemies all speak English in really bad foreign accents.  The music is done really well though, knowing right when to start up in order to get your blood pumping, and the effects are just amazing as you’ll hear every footstep on broken glass, every door creak, etc. Gameplay: Splinter Cell’s gameplay, much like Metal Gear Solid’s, is focused mainly on stealth.  You use a variety of gadgets & moves to help you keep out of sight and take out enemies all while avoiding detection.  And this is possibly the hardest game ever stealth-wise, because usually the slightest misstep will cost you dearly.  And while the stealth element is really well handled overall, it would be nice to have a couple different ways to approach a situation, the game really only gives you one.  And unfortunately, in many situations shooting guys isn’t a good option because your gun is so puny you can’t even take guys out with one direct headshot, and taking them on hand to hand is also a bad idea because until they are knocked out they just keep shooting at you like the hits don’t affect them.  And finally, when you are up against walls, the camera gets very hard to handle. Features: Well, eventually if you have Xbox live you can download stuff like new levels, but other than that it’s just extremely bare bones. Funfactor: This is not a game for everybody.  It requires you to really think about how to best approach any situation without being caught taking in a lot of things that most would take for granted (like stepping on carpet over wood so you have less chance of being heard).  It’s also pretty damn hard, most players will have to try missions many times in order to succeed, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great game very much in the vein of Metal Gear Solid and a great stand alone game in its own right. --Final Scores— Graphics: 8.0-Stunning detail in levels and animation, but some clipping & frame rate problems and cinemas aren’t up to snuff. Sound: 9.0-Music and effects are amazing.  The voice acting well… isn’t. Gameplay: 8.0-Good controls, but a little linear, and what’s with the wussy little gun? Features: 5.5-You can download new stuff eventually, but in the meantime there’s nothing else. Funfactor: 8.5-Just a great stealth game and a great addition to a growing quality Xbox library. 7:13:09 PM    comment []