PSX's Retro Reviews

Zone of the Enders Review

PSXtreme — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:48:40 +0000

Introduction
Throughout the history of video games there have been many strange reasons why some games have become mega-hits and best sellers. However, Zone of the Enders (ZOE) probably became the first ever to reach that status because of a demo that was bundled with it. Most people that originally bought the game spent hours upon hours drooling over the wonders that are Metal Gear and completely forgot about the main game. Ebay was loaded with auctions of the game, all with the demo disk surprisingly absent. Hardly any of them were sold. Nevertheless, one can only play the same demo for so long before it gets tiring. Eventually fans decided to give Snake a rest and try out the ‘other’ disc that came in the case. What they found was something out of the ordinary that could stand on its own mechanized feet.

Gameplay
The game takes place on a satellite colony orbiting Jupiter called Antila. The people who live and work here are referred to as ‘Enders.’ The Bahram, a fanatical Martian military force, have declared their independence from the government and have begun attacking other outposts to collect supplies and weapons. They have come to Antila to acquire the massive humanoid orbital frame commonly known as Jehuty.

You assume the personage of Leo, a 14 year old boy who has just recently arrived on the station. Leo is not well liked amongst his peers and has become the object of their bullying. Moreover, he seems to be very insecure with himself and is a bit of a whiner. It is only by blind luck that Leo finds himself in the cockpit of Jehuty when the Bahram attack. With just the assistance of ADA, the onboard flight navigational system, Leo must learn how to operate Jehuty, keep himself alive and stop the raid on Antilia before the populous and the colony are destroyed.

Usually the worst problem with a mech game is the difficult control scheme the game employs. ZOE breaks the mold and gives the player a very intuitive control pattern that feels extremely natural and flows exceptionally well. Long distance and close-in attacks happen automatically with the game engine switching when you get within arm’s reach to your target. The lock-on system is a welcome addition that makes combat very easy to become competent and competitive. The pre-mission training scenarios give you everything you could ask for in learning how to handle Jehuty. The Dual Shock 2 is utilized to its fullest extent without overwhelming the player with memorizing complicated button combinations.

Taking a page from the Omega Boost (a PSOne game released by Polyphony Digital in 1999) playbook, Zone of the Enders has a terrific game pace. Even though it may not seem fast to the player, over-the-shoulder spectators have asked me how it was possible to keep up with all the action on the screen. Nevertheless if you switch to playing another game of the same genre, the new game seems to be running in slow motion. If there were any existent flaws with the controls, this game would be practically impossible. Kudos goes out to Konami for getting it right on the first try.

ZOE is one of the few games where neatness actually counts. Collateral damage on the surrounding cities by errant missiles or by the enemy targets reduces your overall rating during missions. Moreover, these baddies actually go out of their way to destroy the buildings and kill the innocents scattered throughout the sectors. Hence, you not only have to defeat the other frames roaming the land, but also draw them away from the cityscape at the same time if you hope to get a quality rating on your mission rankings.

Enemies come in all shapes and sizes. You can expect to fight the smallest of tin cans to Bosses the size of skyscrapers. Another nice touch in the game is that the levels will change when you replay them. Enemy placement and selection differ each time you run through the game. While some may not be interested in going through the game a second or third time, those needing a rush will be very happy for the variety.

Probably the biggest disappointment that you will experience with the game is its length. Under eight hours long, and that’s including all of the cut-scene magic, is what you can expect to dedicate the first time through the game. With multiple gameplay difficulty levels, you can expect it to be a bit longer as you are forced to handle tougher and tougher opponents when you tweak up the challenge. This is no epic adventure where it will take days just to get to the main plot point. Just like a good roller coaster, the ride might not last long enough to satisfy you but it is an excellent rush while it lasts.

To put it simply, Zone of the Enders is one beautiful game. The visual effects of motion blurring during the dramatic exchanges of gunfire is nothing short of spectacular. To put it simply, the explosions and crumbling of buildings look like they belong in a blockbuster movie. If you are glutton for eye-candy, this definitely is a must-have game for you to relish and enjoy. Words really don’t do the effects justice, no matter how fluent the vocabulary. The remarkable thing is that even with all the action, destruction and weaponry flying through the air, there is not one bit of slowdown or choppiness to the framerate of the game.

The audio of the game comes in the garden variety mono or stereo options. While everything comes through loud and clear, this is one game that really deserved to be done in digital surround sound. Nevertheless, the voice-overs and the combat sounds are music for the ears and no fault can be found. The dramatic orchestrated background music completes the package that Enders gives visually, much the same way that the Flight of the Valkyries does for the helicopter attack scene in the movie Apocalypse Now. Basically, this is everything that we have come to expect from the makers of the Metal Gear saga.

Extras
The original version came packaged with the Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty demo. ZOE also contains a Vs. mode that allows you to match up against another human player in a head-to-head battle. While not totally thrilling, it does add a bit to the replay value of the game.

Conclusion
Even if you factor in the overall short length of the game, ZOE is something that must be experienced to be appreciated. The wondrous storytelling ability of the game, mixed in with the moral overtones of the ‘right-to-life’ can touch the coldest of hearts. The brilliant camera work that Enders manages to deliver always keeps the player in the forefront of the cinematic action without getting stuck in the boring third-person perspective. This is one game that is not afraid to lay it all out on the table and let the chips fall. Pick this one up at your first opportunity and you won’t be disappointed.

Final Score: 8.8

Warjetz Review

PSXtreme — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:28:38 +0000

Introduction
War games have existed since almost the conception of video games. Those of you who are old enough to remember that the Atari 2600 came packaged with Combat know this to be true. Many a night I spent basking in those 4-bit graphics as I drove my tank through mono-colored mazes banking shot after shot at my opponent. At that point in my life I believed that I had reached nirvana. From those simple beginnings, the combat genre was born.

Up until 1995, most combat-styled games focused on players manipulating military-styled vehicles. Whether it was on land, in the air or under the sea, gamers were stuck bringing the fight to their opponents via tanks, planes or submarines. However, the genre was permanently changed when a small company shocked the world with the release of Twisted Metal for the PlayStation. Although it was not the first “official” car combat game ever released, it was the title that finally broke open the self-induced boundaries game developers were not willing to cross and became the first to be accepted by the masses. By today’s standards, the original Twisted Metal is nothing to cheer about. The blocky graphics and stiff digitally controlled gameplay leave much to be desired. Nevertheless, at that period of time in the PlayStation’s lifespan, the game was on the cutting edge of technology.

Not only did this original spawn six different sequels (so far), it also spun off an entire new genre that had developers scrambling to bring clones to market. Soon, you couldn’t throw a controller down a software aisle without hitting a game based on Twisted Metal‘s roots. The situation got even muckier when Sony acquired Single Trac and their founders left to create a completely new company. Now former publisher and developer were competing head-to-head along with all the rest of the newcomers.

By the time that the PS2 came to market, games of this type were second nature. Just about every company in existence had something comparable for gamers to mangle their opponents. Even companies not known for this style of game took a tumble in the hay as a matter of course just to see if they could capture the magic once created by Twisted Metal. One of these developers was the now defunct 3DO.

Better known for their sometimes questionable Army Men series, 3DO decided to try their hand at the genre with the introduction of their World Destruction League series. Attempting to blitz the genre, they went in two directions at the same time. Players could test their mettle either on the ground with Thunder Tanks or take to the air with Warjetz. Neither game received much applause from the gaming media and we’re going to find out why, for at least half of their offerings. Were they overlooked gems or corpses deserving to be buried? Well, that’s what we are here to find out. Up next, Warjetz.

Gameplay
The meat of the sandwich for Warjetz is supposed to be its story mode. Here, you enter the WDL (World Destruction League) as a green rookie looking to make a name for yourself. Cutscene after cutscene will refer to you as the up-and-coming newcomer as you fight your way through nine different areas, but only about four of these are selectable at the start. As you progress through the stages, supposedly more difficult arenas with new masters become unlocked for you to detonate and destroy. Personally, they all seemed to be about the same and only ramped up when you picked one of the two alternate overall difficulty settings.

Each location will have three different level assignments and each of these will have various missions. Sometimes you will be matched up in a pure dogfight with a set number of opponents. Other times you will be matching your wits and skills against a continuous flow of defenders as you attempt to demolish their base of operations. There are also other strange assignments like being the first to blow up a set number of trains or be the one to collect a predetermined amount of cash. At least you don’t have to worry about mission variety not keeping your attention as you work your way through the game.

Every time you complete a section, your competition’s plane becomes selectable for you to use in additional rounds. The flaw to this is that you don’t have your own personal ride and are already using four of the nine planes. So, you only get a new fighter half of the time. One of the neat twists is that you have to select two planes for each contest and there are spots within each arena where you can swap one out for the other. However, each of these machines cost money to replace if they are lost on the battlefield, so it is not always wise to pick the high-priced planes, even if they do pack more of a physical punch. Game cash, or bux, can be acquired while the fighting is going on within the arena, however unless you are using the bargain basement craft you really can’t expect to extend your bank account enough to stick around for more than one additional plane. You are given a set amount of cash at the beginning of the round and this amount increases as you progress through the game. Usually you can bank on having four to eight lives per round and usually you will need all of them to finish off the competition.

Variety is the name of the game when it comes to picking your plane. Pilots have the opportunity to find a ride that fits your flying style. No matter if you prefer the light and nimble attack copter or the slow, lumbering bomber with the mighty payload, there is something for everyone. Almost all of the aircraft are futuristic versions of real-life airships with a smattering of fictional craft thrown in for good measure. Of course their armaments are a bit more beefed up to properly reflect their competition in the WDL and their ammunition is unlimited for the proper destruction of the environments and multiple rivals you will meet. Each craft has it’s high and low points. Some have little to offer in the way of armor or weaponry, but are highly maneuverable and hard to catch while others are destined to go toe-to-toe with anything but are a sitting duck for a semi-maneuverable plane.

Every plane has three different weapon assignments. You have a normal lightweight, fast reloading attack, like a machine-gun, and a slower, heavier attack along the lines of homing missiles or a shotgun blast. No two planes have the same armaments and honestly I couldn’t figure out how some of them applied any damage to opponents. Now that might sound rather strange, but I actually had some craft with such unique secondary weapons that they didn’t seem to even put a scratch on my competition. Since Warjetz also has you taking out land units and installations, you also have the ability to turn your plane into a groundpounder’s worst nightmare and lay down an inexhaustible supply of bombs. Once again, the strength of your ammo will reflect the style of craft you are piloting. The tiny nimble copter will be dropping dirt clods compared to the nuclear arsenal that the heavy bomber is packing in her belly. One nice touch is that when you shift from dogfighting to bombing, your visual perspective changes from a third-person view to that of a topdown 1942-ish one. This helps to let you know where and what you will be firing as there are those times where a finger will slip here and there and flip you into one or the other modes accidentally.

Controlling your craft is pretty simple and it will only take your a battle or two to get the full hang of fighting in the skies. The DualShock 2 is utilized efficiently and the crafts all respond rather well to your button inputs. Switching between your normal fighting and the bombing modes is handled with ease and can really turn the tables when facing the numerous ground and air opponents. Your planes can do all of the normal maneuvers, along with the rather neat barrel-rolls and loops to avoid missiles, but some of the button assignments are doubled which can cause you to zig when you meant to zag in the heat of a dogfight.

Visually, Warjetz is just about average. There is some noticeable draw-in and popup evident and I did experience some random slowdown when the missiles started flying hot and heavy, but normally you get a clear view of whatever is going on without a major distraction. Nevertheless, having any 128-bit game demonstrate deficiencies of this nature really shows a lack of commitment towards the product and the gamers who buy them. This is one of the reasons why 3DO is no longer around making games. At the beginning of every round, and usually once in the middle of the three assignments for each area, you are treated to some rather droll movies with your two official commentators from the WDL. Although the female of the team is rather easy on the eyes, it’s going to be her rather loud and obnoxious partner that draws your attention with his whiny voice and poor slapstick humor. Obviously, 3DO was going for the cheap laugh instead of actually sitting down and finding someone with an actual sense of humor to lighten up your mood and the final product really suffers. After watching the first couple of movies, I really wanted to just hit the start button and skip the whole affair.

Your ears are treated just as rudely. Players only have the bare-bones stereo/mono options without a Dolby surround sound selection in sight. You do have the ability to alter the various levels for the BGM (BackGround Music), special effects and the background voice-overs. There is also, thankfully, an on and off selection so you can completely turn off the useless babbling from the color commentator. Honestly, this freak makes Madden’s Monday Night Football chatter seem like brilliance and really would have been better to been left out altogether.

Once you get tired of the single player story mode, gamers do have the option to try out the skirmish portion of Warjetz. All of your unlocked planes and territories are selectable and they are broken down into three different degrees of difficulty. What is nice with this feature is that you can play it solo or invite up to three other human players to fight for the dominance of the skies in four different categories; Ace, Bomb, Cash or Capture the Flag. Ace simply is the first player to reach a set amount of planes shot down. Bombing is a race to see who can level the most structures. Capture the Flag is just what you would think and the Cash mini-game is a race to see who can collect the most bux. All of the players can modify their experience level, even the computer controlled units, to keep things on an even keel and teams can be established to make the contests two against two, three against one or a free for all. Believe it or not, the multiplayer aspect is probably the highlight to the whole game and really is the only true reason for picking up a copy.

Extras
Gamers are treated to two preview videos for other 3DO games. Of course what 3DO title would complete without some connection to an Army Men game. You get a look at Army Men: Air Attack 2. You also get a look at their other stablemate Warriors of Might and Magic. However, neither really gives you an in-depth view of what either title offers and both are nothing more than teasers.

Nevertheless, there is some good to go with the so-so. Whenever you complete the story mode of the game, you are given different codes that can be inputted into a special cheat section to add special abilities for additional action. Of course, the resourceful gamer will know exactly where he or she could get all of the codes without having to put all the time and effort into beating the game numerous times. However, once you start inputting codes, the challenge of the game goes right out the window and it becomes nothing but running through the levels being an unbeatable force. While some players might find that enjoyable, I found it unnecessary and would have rather had different planes with better abilities to work my way again through the levels.

Conclusion
Warjetz brings a new look to an already established genre. Although it in no way surpasses the king of vehicle combat, it does offer gamers a somewhat pleasant distraction from the norm. Nevertheless, the depth, or rather the lack of it, turns your expectations of hours of fun into nothing more than an afternoon distraction. None of the characters or their combat equipment radiates that desire to experience each and every one of them. The story mode is rather short and the only possible extension for its shelf life would be in the multiplayer mode, and that too probably won’t capture the attention of your guests for more than an hour or two. Now don’t take this the wrong way. Warjetz is not an awful game, but neither is it something that I would put at the forefront of the genre. The title is simply middle-of-the-road and we all know what happens to things walking down the center line of a highway. Unless you can pick up this game for a true bargain, I would suggest saving your dollars for something more deserving of your attention.

Final Score: 6.2

Tsugunai: Atonement Review

PSXtreme — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:02:44 +0000

Introduction
As an educated gamer, I have learned that if I find a new game brought out Atlus to grab it quickly no matter what the gaming genre is or what the asking price may be. While they might not be well known titles, their offerings are always unique and enjoyable. Moreover, they usually turn into rare and hard to come by gems. Tsugunai: Atonement is another interesting import conversion brought over to the North American market from the Land of the Rising Sun. Released during the time that all RPG fans were awaiting the arrival of Final Fantasy X, Tsugunai fell through the cracks and faded quietly into oblivion.

Gameplay
Even though the game starts out in the middle of the story, I’ll give you a more linear view of the happenings. You are a Raven, a mercenary who makes a living going from town to town completing difficult tasks. You have been hired by the Lord of Walondia to obtain the legendary Treasure Orb made by the Goddess of Light, Danu. Once the Raven retrieves the Orb, he has angered the Goddess and she splits his soul from his body. No longer able to die, you have to heal those with extreme sadness in their hearts to earn the right to regain your body and your life.

Now you must possess the innocents that you have to save and use their bodies to accomplish what your disembodied soul cannot. Even though you are an accomplished warrior, your skills and abilities are restricted by the person that you possess. Monsters galore and daunting puzzles stand in your path to becoming whole again. Only by the use of your mind and a borrowed body can you ever expect to live the life that you once knew. Once you heal the sadness in their heart, you become free of the body you have possessed and partially atone for your sin. You then move on to help another and another until you have redeemed yourself in the eyes of the Goddess of Light.

For being a three year old game, Tsugunai: Atonement still has an above average visual presentation. Even though some critics have complained that the game is “too brown,” the earth-tones of the game fit and flow well. All of the people in the game are realistically drawn with no deformed body parts or spiky pink hair that is commonly seen in the modern imported games. The game’s cut-scenes are interesting, drive the plot of the story and make you actually desire to help the main character become whole again.

One of the biggest disappointments is the audio of the game, or rather the lack of it. Like most old school games, the conversations are all text based without any voice-over work, so plan to do a bunch of reading is you want to keep up with the interesting storyline. This seems to be a small thing on paper, but during the game it is a screaming omission that only could have made the game more complete. The background music varies in style and tempo but neither adds or subtracts from the game as a whole. In fact, I completed the majority of the game while listening to the radio and it never affected my playing experience. However I can say that all of the text actually makes sense and is understandable, which usually is a problem with translated imports.

Extras
There are no extras available in this game.

Conclusion
Tsugunai: Atonement breaks all of the established rules that dictate what a successful RPG should be and somehow manages to still be an above-average performer. Atlus brings us a nice and tidy adventure without all the messy extras. The game is long enough to make you feel like you have accomplished something without forcing the player to dedicate hundreds of hours of time wandering throughout a virtual land looking for that last needed gem to save the world. This game in no way will replace the multimillion dollar adventures that we all have come to drool over, but is definitely worthy of your attention during one of those rainy weekends when you have nothing to do.

Final Score: 7.3

Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Review

PSXtreme — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:49:41 +0000

Introduction
What exactly is it that creates such a draw for video games? People outside of our experiences seem to think that it’s the sex and violence that drives the popularity. You can simply verify this by seeing or hearing any news release done by a media outlet that does not make covering video games their prime business. The most recent example of this was of ABC’s radio news broadcast on the day that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released. Their reporter noted that this version would be so much more than, “The three previous games before.” Sure, this may be a minor gaffe, but this is one of the same agencies that demoralizes the very existence of games whenever a video game happens to be linked with a crime.

What outsiders fail to realize is that gaming is the ultimate road for expansion of thought or imagination. Moreover, it allows people to assume the personage of characters that they would have, in no expectable way, the possibility to become in their actual lives. True, it is an extreme form of escapism, more so than books or movies could ever be, mostly because of the interaction that games allow rather than the passive observation that other media outlets present. Nevertheless, probably the most successful genre for video games in a whole would be those of the sports category, rather than those that have blatant killing or fanciful worlds.

A prime example of this would be Activision’s Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 (THUG), especially to one of my generation. For a 35 year old, my days of skating have well passed, even though they never really started in the first place. No longer do I have the “Superman” mental aspect and my mortality is more clear to me than to those less in age. So, now it is through games of this nature am I able to become “Superman” once again and live my life on the edge without having to worry about a financial increase to my medical plan.

Gameplay
Being the sixth in the series, Tony Hawk Pro Skater has been an exceptionally prolific franchise for Activision. Time and time again, each review of a title next in line for the series has uttered the words, “I thought that nothing new could be added to the game to make it fresh.” Time and time again the reviewer was shocked to learn that every game could stand on its own merit and was something credible to be included within one’s library. How it is that professional reviewers would be taken by surprise by the continuous success of a series, especially one that constantly reaches the upper echelon of review scores?

There are only two major reasons why a franchise would fall flat on its behind. Either the development of the game is handed off to a completely new team that did not work with the series from the ground up (Crash Bandicoot) or the hype generated by the media wears off to expose the title for what it truly was (Tomb Raider) from the beginning. The Tony Hawk line of games has always received good press, but never been one to be overly jammed down the throat of gamers and Neversoft itself has retained the series in-house. Since these two points have been addressed, one should not expect anything less than another rendition of excellence.

The only other possible factor that could create a slump for a gaming series would be if the developers were not able to bring something new to the table, or they simply rehashed a successful formula over and over again in pursuit of the almighty dollar. To do this, Neversoft has gone and brought a whole new story mode into being, where it moves away from games of the past to develop a completely new feel. Akin to a rampage across the world, players are included on a skating team for the World Destruction Tour and it is your job to wreck as much havoc in the numerous locales as possible.

Seemingly, these goals focus more on the off-board adventures of your skater than actually being on it. Your character can run, throw objects, jump and climb throughout the levels to reach heights never before available in a Tony Hawk title. Along with being able to tag-team an area with another pro skater, there are also hidden characters within the level and these boys are packing some extremely wild rides. This all adds up to a massive list of separate goals for each level that skaters need to accomplish to complete a section.

However, this deviation from the previous versions may not sit well with skating purists. So, Neversoft has given a two-for-one special and included the old style classic mode which lets you play along just like the previous games. You can tackle all of the THUG 2 levels or take a walk down memory lane, once they are unlocked, through six re-released environments. Each section has the two-minute time limit and ten new goals to keep you on the edge of your board as you go for the fan favorite S-K-A-T-E combo, find the hidden tape or look to reach that new high score total. There also is a branching level progression, so you get the opportunity to skate where you want without being forced to march through the mode in a rigid linear fashion.

All of the moves found in previous games have made their triumphant return, which spells instant success and record breaking totals for combo scores. Although my limited skills would not let me even get close, I have seen combo numbers as high as 50 million on the Internet site, which can only account for the excellent control the game gives a player and a well thought out level design for each place you will visit. Characters react instantly to the slightest touch of the controller and the button layout works with you, rather than making the tasks more difficult. This is exactly what I would expect from a series that has been in existence since 1999 and is a credit to Neversoft.

The musical selection is exceptionally varied and has something for everyone. Most of the groups were completely foreign to such an old fogey, but even I had something to enjoy with tracks from Johnny Cash, The Doors and even Frank Sinatra. I have had little to no exposure with most of the remaining groups, but I will say that every tune meshes well within the game and definitely is worth keeping the volume turned up. Moreover, having more than 50 songs making up the soundtrack, you should be able to play for quite a while before hearing the same song over again. Plus you have the option to customize your playlist to include only the tracks that you enjoy.

The remaining audio is just as impressive. Sporting Dolby Pro Logic II support your system will be utilized to the maximum effect. The voice acting is all done very well and you actually care what the characters are talking about when going through the story. The sounds from your board and what you do with it also it top notch. Everything from toppling trash cans, to grinding or kissing rails and even riding over cobblestones all ring true to the ear. Although I looked high and low, I couldn’t find a chink in THUG 2‘s armor where the audio aspect was concerned.

Visually, the game looks just as good as previous versions. Since it is using the same game engine, the strengths and weaknesses of what has come before all have remained intact. There still is the issue of the third-person camera where it will be blocked by the environmental obstructions, but these are few and far between. Characters and the destructible environments all have an authentic feel and the levels are exceptionally large and varied for what you can do in them. THUG 2 supports widescreen televisions and has a letterbox version for those of us not able to afford the big screens. Blood effects, even though they are minor, can also be turned off for the slightly squeamish.

Extras
Extras? This is one of the few games where there are more extra options in a game than the main game itself. In all honesty, Burger King missed a golden opportunity to get connected up with THUG 2 as it really should have been called “Tony Hawk: Have It Your Way.” Online functions are massive and the customizing options are beyond normal belief. This truly should be the model for any upcoming title on how to give gamers exactly what they want by enabling them to make it themselves.

To start off, both broadband and dial-up users can get their skate on with very little in the way of penalties. The only main difference really comes for hosting a game, as narrowband owners can only have games with three participants while those with a wider pipeline can have up to eight. Nevertheless, there is no real segregation, as dial-up users can freely join up with any group. There is, however, some decisive disadvantages running on the regular connection as animations of the opposite players will not be as smooth as you experience playing offline. But as long as you aren’t worried about the details, you should enjoy the opportunity to display your skating skills to the world. Also, the community seemed to be exceptionally friendly and very willing to tolerate a newcomer, like myself. So even if you aren’t packing the moves of a pro, you should have no problem getting involved with the game for the first time.

The variety of games that you can play online is just about as staggering as the regular options. You have a choice of trick attack, score challenge, combo mambo, slap, king of the hill, graffiti, firefight, elimiskate, goal attack, capture the flag and the all-new scavenger hunt. Not only can you take your completely customized character onto the Internet, but you can also bring along the park where you will skate. Any of the venues that you have unlocked in the offline mode can be used, along with any of your very own creations. Furthermore, you can access Neversoft’s online vault and download parks, skaters, tricks, goals and even personal graphics to help add some spice into your life after you have completed the massive offline game.

For players without an Internet connection, there is included a two-player mode so you can get your skate on with a friend of significant other. Although some game modes are restricted for online play only (Capture the Flag, Elimiskate and Goal Attack), Neversoft has brought the favorite H.O.R.S.E. in for only the offline mode. You can even “keep it real” and use the free skate option with no score or time limit restrictions, so you both can show off your cool moves without the worry about security or physical injury ruining the party. The split-screen does hamper your visibility and makes skating more difficult for the player, but it is a viable alternative in a pinch.

In an update to last year’s release, not only can you send in a picture to be placed onto your skater over the Internet, but now EyeToy owners can cut out the middle man and do it all for themselves. The picture quality is of high grade and is very simple to utilize. After a few button presses and some minor picture alignment, you can put anything, including the face of a favorite pet, on your custom skater for you to personalize your appearance on and offline. Then you have a tremendous amount of accessories, in the way of facial hair, eyeglasses, skin tone, head shape and hats to bring off the complete package. Even specific parts can be altered, like chins and noses, for length and size. Nothing seems to be left to chance and every possibility looks to have been covered by Neversoft.

The rest of your body has not been forgotten either. Anything that you want is within your controller’s grasp, from licensed shirts and pants, wrist bands, protective gear, tattoos, footwear and even the taping and wheel color of your board. You will be hard pressed not to be able to make an exact recreation of your personal appearance with everything that is available or having to worry about seeing someone who looks exactly like you when skating online. You have the option to make your character as outlandish or conservative as you want, only time and your imagination are the only things hindering you in this endeavor.

Everything else in the game can be altered or created from scratch. Players can make their own skate parks from the ground up. Ramps, rails, gaps, environmental backgrounds, obstacles and pools can be designed however you would like to have them placed. Anything that Neversoft has done in the regular version of the game can be done in your personal skating heaven. After you make a level, it’s time to add in your own touch by placing unique goals just like you found in both the classic and story modes. You can even edit what the pedestrians will say once a goal has been completed. Don’t like the variety of tricks your character can perform? That’s not a problem, as you can develop new ones to make your moves different from anything else. For aspiring professional video game designers, this title has to be one of the best on the market to hone your skills and show off during an interview.

Conclusion
THUG 2 is much more than “just another sequel” and could only offer the player more if they included a skateboard inside the game case. This is the best example of giving a gamer a complete package with just about everything being customizable and still having a top-notch title to show it all off. The depth is unheralded and your replay ability should keep you grinding well into the night. Nothing seems to have been left out of the mix and I’m really interested in seeing how Neversoft plans to try to top this latest release. If you are a skating fan, I would expect you to already have this game in your collection. However if you have been sitting on the fence, let me knock you off in the direction of your local game store. Every gamer should experience Tony Hawk Underground 2, even if you have never touched a skateboard.

Final Score 9.6

Test Drive: Eve of Destruction Review

PSXtreme — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:34:39 +0000

Introduction

If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.
- Jimmy Soul (1963)

Now I realize that this may be the strangest way to start out a game review since their conception way back when. However, there seemed to be an underlying connection between this 1963 classic and Atari’s most recent endeavor for the PlayStation 2. For those unfamiliar with the way that the song continues, it goes into depth, describing how marrying a good-looking woman will bring a man nothing but pain later on down the road. While, on the other hand, choosing a less attractive lady would be better as she will be there for you when you need her and you never have to worry about her breaking your heart. Although song lyrics like this, in today’s politically correct society, will eventually ruffle somebody’s feathers, the message is clear and understood.

So how does this tie in with Atari’s Test Drive: Eve of Destruction (TD:EoD)? Well, this is probably the first game in recent memory to flaunt the idea of ugly being good. In fact, Atari recently sponsored a contest, right here on XGP, to find the ugliest car in America to help celebrate the release of the game. Forget about the bright lights, big city approach that racing titles seem to be heading towards. This title is looking to take you deep into Backwater USA, where men are men and their cars are more than street showpieces with big wings and shiny paint jobs. Forget about the high maintenance demands of the vain tuner imports, for these ladies will be there when you most need them and will never leave you in a lurch when the going gets tough. Now, reach up and pull those belts tight. We’re getting to go racing, dirt track style

Gameplay

TD:EoD can be broken down into two different departments: Action and Career mode. The first is where players can get a quick fix without the restraints of pursuing the life of a professional Eve (this is the in-game code name for the racing events) driver. This main section is further divided into three subcategories: multiplayer race, single player race and the dare events. The multiplayer category will be covered later in the review in much more detail; however, you and three additional players will have the ability to race in any of the venues that your prowess has unlocked in the Career and Action Modes.

The single racing events allow you to customize a racing Eve, so that you can pick which of the 25 available contests you would like to participate in, along with the type of vehicle you want to drive and which track where you would like to do all of this at. Also, let me mention that most of the events that you are about to experience have never been included in a video game, ever. Although there are a few fictional races, most of these have been taken directly from short tracks scattered across the United States, and actually do happen on a frequent basis. These include: a figure-8 jump race, the chain race (tow a non-running vehicle behind your race car), the boat race (this time you tow a boat instead of a car), suicide race (half the pack goes in one direction while the remaining cars travel in the opposite), a flagpole race (ring around the rosy), the school bus race and the ever popular Gauntlet (you get to drive a hearse and the entire pack tries to destroy your ride before you can complete a set number of laps). There are more, even stranger events that one can participate in, but I wouldn’t want to let all of the cats out of the bag at the same time and ruin the complete surprise for you. Nevertheless, I will say that once you experience a round of Detention, you will never look at a school bus the same way ever again.

Players also must choose between one of the many camera views available in the game. For most vehicles, the default view (close 3rd-person) seems to work the best, however, I did find that with the taller vehicles (hearse, ambulance, school bus) this view left a visual blind-spot directly in front of your vehicle. Nevertheless, there are many more camera angles, including the really cool suspension cam that you can quickly flip through to find one that works best for you. Since I’ve started mentioning the controller layout, I might as well finish up that area here as well. Monster Games gives players plenty of preference options on how you want to operate your auto, by having multiple buttons work for the same action. Players can use the right analog stick for sensitive acceleration, or they can fall back on the regular mash-it-until-it-hurts X button. Emergency brakes and reverse gear selection can be accessed through either the shoulder buttons or the circle and square buttons on the controller faceplate. Having multiple choices is a mixed blessing, as you can get easily confused when things get exceptionally hectic, but I would rather have more choices than less. I just had to train myself to stick with whatever formula felt the most comfortable and keep myself under control when the going got exciting.

Although players do not receive cash for their victories in the Action section, they do add reputation points to the overall total for the unlocking of additional tracks and vehicles. Depending on how you drive, meaning how much damage you can cause in the course of a race, a hit meter will rack up points which will add to the multiplier for your rewards. Putting another vehicle out of the race, considered a ‘kill’ for technical terms, will also do the same thing but on a slightly less influent scale. Using these points is the only way to acquire newer vehicles and different racing environments.

The Dare subsection is basically 26 different exhibition events broken down into five different categories: A Crash Course, The Technical Circuit, The Destruction Circuit, The Specialty Circuit and finally Good Luck Out There. In each section, there is only one event opened and players must systematically work their way through all of the events in order to open the following ones. Vehicle selections are restricted to only one type of vehicle for each Eve and, unlike the rest of the game, the only thing that matters is finishing first in the race. Once the entire Dare section is completed, players receive a bonus that will help them in the remaining sections of the game. This area is quite challenging and it took me about 4 hours to work my way completely through, but more so it really helped me to learn how to get around the various courses using many of the 30+ unique vehicles that come packaged inside the game. Each one of these vehicles handles differently, and you can’t go headfirst into each event thinking that there won’t be any real challenge. Depending on where the Eve is held will change the track layout. So, even if you are really good at doing the Figure-8 Jump track at one location, you still will have to learn the small nuances, like different height jumps or the placement of different barriers, at other tracks.

Although these three sections might be enough for most games, we still haven’t even touched the main aspect of the game: Career Mode. This section starts at the dirt driveway in front of your singlewide trailer. You just inherited a late-model vehicle from your grandmother and have decided to become an Eve of Destruction participant. Your car may not be very impressive, but you feel that your talent should make up for that deficiency. By entering the Drive Around Mode, you can explore the local township and eventually drive on down to Ashland to participate in the race. Probably, the Drive Around section was the most disappointing section of the entire game. Not that it was horrible or seemingly foolish, but because all of the roads were devoid of any additional traffic or extra activity. It gave the atmosphere that nobody was actually around the area and people were simply holed-up, waiting for your arrival. Nevertheless, it is a minor gripe that deserves mentioning, in hopes that Monster Games will improve the formula for the possible next round of Test Drive excitement.

Once you are on the road, you have multiple options available to you. Players can head over to TJ’s Diner for some unsanctioned races, with a bunch of various drivers that change as the game progresses forward. Each one of these events will have a betting fee that you will need to have available to enter the challenge and the amount that is required also increases as the skill level of the competition goes up. There will also be other areas to have side challenges as you progress up the Eve rankings, so there seems to be always somewhere to make a few extra bucks outside of the established racing venues.

If you head down the road a bit, you will come upon Sweeny’s salvage yard and body shop. This junkyard is where you can acquire new rides, once you have the available cash and your current ride no longer meets your racing needs. Players have the opportunity to have as many as four different vehicles in their stable and can trade-in any of these cars or purchase new ones outright when their funds allow. The available selection of vehicles changes over time, so it pays for you to stop in often to check on the revolving inventory. If a player crosses the street, you can visit the body shop. This is where enhancements can be purchased for your vehicle, or you can give it a fresh look in the paint shop. This area only becomes available to the player after they reach the 80th rung on the Eve ladder, so players will have to weather through at least four events before they can modify their vehicles.

Eves are usually made up of at least three point-races, with possibly some extra non-point activities thrown in for good measure. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to race to the track against another contestant for some bonus reputation points, if you happen to beat them to the end. Once you arrive, you immediately begin the first event with no opportunity to change cars or even know what the event will be. The best suggestion is to always arrive at the Eve in your most rounded vehicle, so that you aren’t left out in the cold by entering a vehicle in that is totally unsuited for the competition. How far you rack up the hit meter and your kill count will have an overall reflect on your take-home winnings. However, you can’t be distracted by looking to turn your fellow competitors into scrap metal. These are also point races that require a good finishing position, so that you have the chance to win the Eve and move up the food chain. For every overall Eve victory, you move up five steps on the driver ladder; and for every ten progressive increments, players are treated to an action video showing the real-life competitors as they compete in the events that were the basis for the game.

Visually, even though it personally pains me greatly to admit openly, this version of Test Drive is the best that I have yet to experience. Although it will never compare with the eye-candy festival that Gran Turismo has come to represent, there definitely is enough action going on in the background to keep even the most fickle of gamers satisfied. None of the vehicle recreations are officially licensed; however, there are plenty of cars that so closely resemble their real-life counterparts that you won’t really care. The game runs at a solid framerate, no matter where you are or how many vehicles are in a contest, and there is no clipping or draw-in evident at all. Vehicular damage is faithfully recreated, and pieces of the cars can and will fall off onto the track whenever they receive a significant impact. One nice aspect that can offer a real challenge is in the fact that all of the tracks have tons of interactive barriers (tires, cones, flaming barrels, bales of hay), which can be moved by any of the contestants. Usually, you will have to navigate around obstacles scattered across the track, along with the debris left by the in-racing collisions, while still trying to maintain the best racing line possible. Nobody ever promised you the easy road to success, and you will have to earn each and every victory through hard work and determination.

One of the biggest complaints I have seen concerning this particular game is that there is no sensation of speed incorporated in the racing. While I will admit that Eve of Destruction will, in no way, blow your doors off. I do have to declare that the speed that the cars attain fits in perfectly with what Monster Games was shooting for. These are not highly tuned street machines, nor are they grand touring prototypes that scream down a track at 200 miles an hour. You vehicle of choice is supposed to be a junker, plain and simple. These cars struggle to get around the dirt tracks, just like they would in real life. If you put other titles behind you and concentrate on the game that you are playing, you will be sitting on the edge of your seat trying to mentally will these beaten and bruised refugees from the junkyard around the course.

Control is another element that takes a bit of experimentation to get the handle on completely. Most of your racing environments will take place on down-home dirt tracks, but there are some examples where you will have the opportunity to enjoy racing on a mixture of paved and dirt surfaces. Nevertheless, there is much more to being able to get around the track than simply putting the accelerator to the floor and turning left. Players will either learn how to utilize the analog accelerator to assist you in making the various lefts and rights, or they will toss the controller away in frustration, complaining the whole time on how loose the cars react when entering a corner. Driving on dirt is a finesse skill that is much more difficult than completing a lap at Talladega at 200 miles-an-hour. I found the races to be much more challenging than those found in other racing titles. Keeping a vehicle heading in the right direction while never having 100% control (just like in real life on the same style of surfaces) is more exhilarating than anything else I have experienced within recent memory, especially since the control issue was intentionally built into the game rather than being the fault of shoddy programming skills.

The game’s collision physics are also very unpredictable, and that is a good thing. Players that like to lean on the walls or other vehicles to assist in completing corners have a big surprise coming, and should do poorly when forced to deal with the built-in reaction differences. Very rarely will you have the luxury of a completely smooth surface to help you make a tough turn, and hitting objects at different angles and speeds can result in various reactions from simply bumping lightly off of a wall, to spinning the player out completely, to being hit numerous times by the closely following pack of vehicles bent on your total obliteration. There are also noticeable differences in how computer-controlled vehicles will take to your presence. If you roughed them up in getting past them, you can expect to receive a bit of payback when they get the opportunity. The computer AI is very aware of what you do on the course and responds accordingly, to how it is dealt with, in form of retribution. There are no meters to help you keep track of whom you may have gunning for you and the AI is much more realistic in how far it will go to trade paint, compared with titles like NASCAR Thunder, where your competitors will happily sacrifice their own vehicle violently just to try to even the score.

Also, unlike other racing titles that include damage for their car models, your rides are not immortal. Although damage can be repaired at either your home base or during the racing intermissions between events, permanent damage will be accrued after every encounter. This forces a player to institute a form of driving strategy, to know where to be aggressive and when to look to avoid getting in the middle of a crash-fest. Repairs are not free. When outside a racing Eve, you can only apply your mechanical know-how when your bank account is in the positive. However, one is allowed to technically take a loan against promised financial winnings during the racing intermissions, to bring your ride back up to its original ghastly demeanor. This is an extremely thoughtful aid and really assists keeping the up-and-coming driver in the thick of things when funds are exceptionally tight. However, players should try to do all of their normal upkeep at the home base, as the price for repairs are cheaper there than at the track. One needs to get in the habit of making sure that all of the cars in their stable are topped-off and are as close to one hundred percent as possible, before heading out to the various tracks. It is also preferable to drive cautiously on your way to the event and save your outlandish antics for when you get there, to keep your repairs financially worthwhile.

Monster Games has included a way to give your ride a more personal touch, and still be able to maintain your manliness. By taking your ride to the local garage, every vehicle has the ability to have each of its three statistics (speed, handling and durability) upgraded once. Each class of vehicle has different price ranges for upgrading, and the price for both normal repair and increased performance directly relates to the original purchase price of the car. The more expensive it is to obtain, the more you can expect to shell out to keep it on the road. Also, there is a custom paint shop that will allow you to declare your independence loud and clear. Although the entire vehicle cannot be completely repainted, there are seven main areas on each car that can benefit from your skill with an airbrush. There is no limitation of color, as there is a custom blending option available if you don’t like any of the pre-selected variations. Moreover, you do not have the luxury of applying decals or pre-manufactured painting patterns. Everything must be done freehand, and the multiple spray-heads allow for just about anything that you can dream up to become a reality. With a little time and energy, even the most artistically deprived individual (myself, for example) can handle the paint shop and make their ride a true statement of their own unique being. However, for those who don’t wish to spend the time in the shop, just having a car with some more colorful expressions painted on the hood or roof, just like the real drivers have done to their cars in the videos, may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

Extras

Eve of Destruction comes complete with a trunkload of extras and options. First and foremost is the highly competitive multiplayer mode, where up to four players, using the PS2 Multitap, can meet in most of the previously experienced single-player events via a split-screen option. There are also some multiplayer-only events like Capture the Flag and Battle (where you shoot exploding chickens from your vehicle of choice), which are great for when friends gather together and you are looking for something to keep them occupied for numerous hours. You might want to keep a baseball bat handy to maintain order if more than four people are in attendance, as nobody will want to give up a controller and there is always a high probability of violence ensuing over who gets to play next. As much fun as the gaming party is sure to be, one can only speculate at the possibilities that could have been if Atari had included an online mode. This game really screams out for four to sixteen player Internet battles, and hopefully they will consider this for any future renditions. I think this was the only aspect absent from the game that easily would have put it over the top where the final rating was concerned.

Nevertheless, this is not the only thing that Atari felt worth adding to the basic game. There are also a ton of unlockable extras in the form of better vehicles, special enhancements for completing very specific tasks during the game, extra tracks and even real-life videos of some of the events recreated in the game. For those of you who would insist that most of the races were created in the deep recesses of Monster Games’ production studios, getting the opportunity to see the chain, boat and trailer races live and in color will be enough to convince even the most skeptic gamer of their actual existence. On the presentation side of the ball, Atari also has options for supporting wide-screen televisions and Dolby Pro Logic II for players who have surround sound setups. It definitely seems like no expense was spared in making sure that TD:EoD would be enjoyed by every class of gamer.

Conclusion
Unlike most of the media who has had the opportunity to experience this game, I can honestly say that I have found Test Drive: Eve of Destruction a worthwhile purchase. The game packs plenty of playability, with easily 30 hours of gameplay under the hood, along with the expected mass hysteria whenever a gaggle of players shows up at your doorstep. Only the most closed-minded or jaded players would find great fault with the presentation or the amount of options that comes included with this title. There are a few shortcomings that keep this title from going over the must-have status, namely the lack of online play and the life-absent environment of the Drive Around section, but still one should be able to add this game to their racing collection with a clear conscience. As long as you remember these two things you should have no problem with this game there is more to racing than going fast and turning left and it’s not always the prettiest girl who deserves the most attention. Now go out there and hit somebody.

Final Score 8.8

Stuntman Review

PSXtreme — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:02:44 +0000

Introduction
Throughout my gaming life, I have only broken one controller due to frustration. It was during my umpteenth attempt at completing the final mission in the original Driver. Just as I could see the opening of the garage, I was hit from behind by one of the bad guys and slammed into the far edge of the door. Eventually, I was pummeled to death as I tried to get inside by the swarm of evil cars that came out of nowhere. After screaming a string of “colorful metaphors,” the controller hit the floor with every once of strength I could muster. Pieces of plastic went flying all over the house. Sometimes I still come across a bit of controller when doing some cleaning. After a trip to Wal-mart for a new Dual Shock, I finally completed that mission after 72 hours of gameplay and I still have that replay saved on a memory card. Now Reflections, the company that brought Driver to life, has come up with a next generation game that will stir your soul with that same love-hate relationship. Strap on your crash helmet and step into your firesuit. You no longer are The Wheelman, you are a Stuntman.

Gameplay
Let me start off by saying that you should not play this game if you have had a bad day and are looking to release a bit of stress. Well, at least you shouldn’t attempt to progress through the Career Mode. However, the Stunt Arena is the perfect place to let off a little steam. Stuntman truly combines the Yin and the Yang of gameplay to encompass something for every gamer.

In the Career Mode, you begin as a fledgling stuntman looking to break into the Silver Screen. Your new job takes you London to work on a British gangster film. Your pay is meager and the film takes are relatively easy to get you warmed up for the tougher challenges that are yet to come. You only have to pull off eight perfect gags in the first take compared to the twenty plus stunts in later films. There are six different films that you get to work on, each having three to five different levels. Some of these include a Dukes of Hazzard knockoff, a Raiders of the Lost Ark wannabe and a James Bondish flick. The better your performance is, the better the rewards. As you complete takes in the movies you receive unlockables to be used in the Stunt Arena portion of the game.

The stunts that you are asked to pull off in the career mode are brilliant and were designed with the help of a true legend, Vic Armstrong. For those of you who are not up on reading the credits at the end of action movies, he has done work in classics like Blade Runner, Return of the Jedi, Terminator 2, Dune and An American Werewolf in London. The game also re-creates some of history’s greatest gags including the famous falling smokestack scene from the stuntman movie Hooper. When you get everything just right you are treated to a replay of your work that is just as good as watching the car chase in Bullitt.

Probably the biggest obstacle to quickly completing your assignments is the fact that the game really gives you no advance warning of what the director wants you to do until you are in the middle of doing it. Combine this with a very short timer that is constantly running, and you will most definitely become very familiar with the “Try Again” option. Nevertheless, if you have that “If at first you don’t succeed” attitude you eventually will go far in the business.

The other half of the game concerns the arena. It is here that you can use the obstacles, cars, ramps and burning hoops that you have acquired. This is basically a create-a-park that allows you to just have fun. You are free to run as many times through the courses you design until you demolish your car of choice. Reflections has done a great job with the realistic car damage. As you put your ride through the paces, you actually get to see pieces and parts fly off your vehicle. It gets very challenging to complete stunts after you lose a wheel or two, however there is nothing stopping you from resetting the park and doing it all over again.

Reflections gives us another quality presentation with Stuntman. Cut scenes and in-game graphics are exceptionally sharp with no popup or clipping to distract you from your tasks. Unlike Driver 2, the motion of the game remains constant without the slowdown that was the downfall of the previous game. On the downside, the loading times of the many cut scenes, and even for the movie retries, are very lengthy and happen often. Some of the FMV are very short. In some instances, you spend more time looking at the loading screen than watching the results. What would have been nice for Reflections to offer would be a way to skip these in-game movies to keep the pace of the game flowing. Alas, this is not the case.

The audio for the game is crystal clear. Sound effects match up with the on screen action and there is no delay between hitting a box or hearing it crush underneath your wheels. The director’s voice can be clearly heard over the in-game action. All of the voice-over work in the game is top notch. Reflections should really give their audio people a raise because they have earned it with this game.

Extras
A nice addition to the game is all of the DVD extras. There is a making of video for Stuntman, an interview with Vic Armstrong, the TV spots for the game and a coming attractions selection that includes a trailer for Driver 3. While this may not seem to be too impressive, it’s a nice touch that is appreciated by the more serious gamer.

Conclusion
Stuntman is a game like no other available for the PlayStation 2. While it is very possible that the difficulty of the game may result in a broken controller or two, the glowing feeling of victory that is felt when you complete a take is worth the test of your patience. Honestly, how many games have you played that when you finish a level you go and wake up your significant other so that they can watch the replay at three in the morning? This game is one of the few that can create such a vigorous love-hate relationship with the player. The dedicated gamer will curse up a storm as they retry take after take until getting the assignment correct. After the replay is complete, you get to relish in the glow of victory for a short while, then are driven to do it all over again as you take on the next job. Give this one a try, even if it’s simply to test the limits of your patience.

Final Score: 7.6

Star Wars: Starfighter Review

PSXtreme — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:31:31 +0000

Introduction
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

This type of opening can only stand for one thing; it’s time to do a review for one of the many Star Wars games. There is probably no other franchise that has so thoroughly saturated the video game market. Games have been released on just about every system that has ever been created, dating back to the Atari 2600. Many of these have been less than stellar creations, and helped to perpetuate the movie-to-video game conversion curse. However, there have been gems scattered throughout history that have given us many hours of Jedi entertainment. Possibly the best of that which has come before was the Rogue Squadron series, which was exclusively released on the now defunct Nintendo 64. Everything about the game reflected the feel of what truly was Star Wars, and the game is considered by most to be one of the top ten titles available on the system. This in itself is no small accomplishment, especially when you take a retrospective look back on all the outstanding titles that came out for Nintendo’s 64-bit machine.

This move by LucasArts bewildered PlayStation loyalists, and had an uncountable number of them gnashing their teeth in anguish. While we were forced to trudge through the muck that was Rebel Assault II or Masters of Teras Kasi, N-64 owners were able to scream across the galaxy, taking on the evil Empire. Life was definitely not fair. Nevertheless, upon the launch of the PS2, fans of the series learned that we now would have the opportunity to fly through space. Let us welcome Star Wars: Starfighter to the fold. Even if it wasn’t in an all-out assault on the Death Star, this was exactly was players had been clamoring for; a chance to submerge oneself in the Star Wars universe. How did it all turn out? You are about to find out. Cue up the booming orchestrated John Williams’ musical score and let us begin.

Gameplay
Starfighter takes place in the Episode 1 timeframe. The Rebel Alliance and the Empire are distant blips on the Star Wars radar, and here your main concern is the happenings of the Trade Federation. By assuming the personages of Rhys Dallows, Vana Sage and the pirate Nym, it is up to this ragtag group to stop the Federation from succeeding in their evil plans of conquest.

Action is the name of the game in Starfighter. You have 14 basic missions, each with three different difficulty levels to challenge your piloting ability. Every individual mission has multiple primary and secondary objectives to accomplish. It is through completing these extra mission objectives that medals can be won, and these are usually responsible for unlocking items later on in the game. There are six additional single-player bonus missions along with a two-player mode, which can be accessed with the completion of the regular portion of the game. Some missions will grant the player wingmen, which can be given simplistic orders to attack or defend specific targets. However, don’t expect these assets to win the battle for you as you lollygag about chasing down the stray scarab fighter. Most of the time you can expect them to simply harass the enemy, and very rarely take out their target only after a long drawn-out effort.

The game has both space and planet surface missions, so your surroundings are constantly changing. All of the environments are lush in texture and have a very deep visual horizon. There is basically no popup, and usually the game’s framerate is very smooth with just the rare hiccup here and there. One might expect to see this more often, since the amount of enemies on screen at one time can be rather daunting, especially when you are without any tactical support. Nevertheless, LucasArts did a relatively good job of keeping the game moving without bogging down the PS2′s processing power. You have to remember that this game came out very early in the lifecycle of the PlayStation 2, and developers were still trying to come to grips with the ins-and-outs of the new system.

The control for all the craft is just as one would expect to experience. The fighters all skip nimbly along, while the bombing craft seem to lumber through the skies. The analog control in the game is spot-on and is neither too sensitive nor not responsive enough. You always feel in total control of the craft, even when flying through the claustrophobic canyons in some of the surface levels. Each individual ship has the ability to have its button configurations customized to the desire of the player, which of course pleased me exceptionally. You also have the ability to swap the Y-axis, so that up is down or vice-versa. All of the craft have primary and specialized secondary weapons, which gives the player different avenues to explore when taking on the missions. When your ship is hit with enemy fire, the DualShock 2 rumbles strong enough to let you know you are in trouble without shaking itself out of your grip. Your onscreen ship also bucks around when taking fire, at the same time, which makes the experience even more realistic. The other grand inclusion to the control scheme is the visual zoom button. When using this option, you are given the ability to get up-close and personal with the forces fighting against you, and it really helps in picking off distant targets with great accuracy. I really have found it difficult to find a chink in Starfighter‘s armor when it comes to the presentation, and the Starfighter team really deserves a pat on the back for bringing such a well-grounded product to market.

Another one of Starfighter‘s high points is in the audio portion of the game. Available in only mono or stereo sound, you still are surrounded by a universe that sounds very much like that of the one found in the movies. All of the voice actors give a stunning performance and the background music is nothing less than stellar. Anything that moves, clicks or whirls has that trademarked Star Wars sound, and really helps to draw the player into the game. Once again, no fault could be found in this department; however the inclusion of Dolby Surround Sound would have been a nice touch and really would have put this game over-the-top in its scoring.

Extras
Even though the game was introduced before the Sony PlayStation 2 went into online mode, there are quite a few extras for the game. Upon completion of certain missions, and the game in itself, special modes, missions and ships are unlocked. One nice thing is that, once these additional ships are unlocked, they can be used in any of the missions to clean up the details that the original ships couldn’t handle. There is a built-in cheat code section for the game, which can turn the whole encounter literally upside-down. Also, entering the proper codes will allow you to view multiple slideshows and artwork concerning the creation of the game and the people behind it. LucasArts left a lot of extras hidden away on the disk for fans of the series to discover, including a handful of hidden touches (like the droid riding the chris corrpedoes in the Charm’s Way mission) that only the observant player will find scattered throughout the missions.

Conclusion
To bring this whole review to an end, I would have to give Star Wars: Starfighter credit for bringing a complete package to market. Although the first-time-through playing time can be a bit short, the replayability of the secondary objectives and medal award system drive a player to go back to redo what they have already experienced. In fact, while writing this review I felt the pull of the Force beckoning me to play through the game yet again. If that isn’t a sign of a good game, then I guess I’m completely lost in the void. A definite must-have for fans of the movies and action junkies, pick this one up at your next opportunity and I’ll guarantee you a good time.

Final Score: 8.9

Spy Fiction Review

PSXtreme — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 16:45:15 +0000

Introduction
It was a Thursday like any other. I was just finishing up a race in Gran Turismo 3 at Laguna Seca, when I heard a knock at the door. Setting down my controller, I went to see who could be so rudely interrupting me from my racing bliss. It was the local Federal Express guy who had an unannounced package to deliver. I had no idea whom it could be from, and when asked he simply replied that there was no return address. Now this deepened the mystery, as I was under the impression that it was a requirement that every package have background information in case there was a developing problem with the delivery. I signed for the envelope, said my obligatory thank you to Mr. Federal Express and went back inside my house.

Upon closer examination, there was very little writing on the envelope to determine the sender’s identity. Only my typed address was visible along with the standard collection of tracking bar-codes. Being able to learn nothing more, I opened the package to find inside an unlabeled DVD and an audio cassette. Now this presented new problems. The DVD could easily be checked out, as there are multiple devices in my house that have the capacity to read it. However, listening to the tape would be much more difficult, since all of my stereo equipment had been upgraded to neglect this form of media. I spent the next 20 minutes searching through closets, looking for an old walkman that I knew had been tossed away to be forgotten years ago. Once I got everything collected up and operating, I slipped the tape into the machine and then my whole world changed forever.

The tape had an annoying hiss in the background. Suddenly a sultry female voice broke the static. “Greetings PSX. My name is Eve and I represent the Special Execution Agency. We have been watching you for some time and feel that you may be of assistance to us in this dire time of need. As I am sure you are aware, terrorist activity has skyrocketed in the last few days and it is our belief that certain agencies have the capacity to unleash biological weapons of mass destruction upon an unsuspecting public. We need your help to defuse this situation. So your mission, if you choose to accept it, will be to join up with the remaining team members of PHANTOM and help stop these terrorists from bringing their plans to fruition. All of the necessary background intelligence is included on the enclosed disk and this mission has been code-named Spy Fiction, for if you are captured we will disavow all knowledge of this assignment. The world is in need of your abilities; however the decision is completely yours. If you choose to accept this mission, you will be contacted by our team within 12 hours with a deployment timetable. Good luck PSX, and god speed. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.”

I was too shocked to move, and only the smoke bursting out of my walkman was enough to break the enchanting spell. I dumped the tape player into the sink and then tried to focus my thoughts on what had just happened. Questions came at me from all mental directions. Who were these people? How had I been chosen? What adventures lay ahead? The whole world was asking for my assistance. How could I refuse? That final thought made up my mind for me. There was no way I could not try to stop these evil criminals from taking the lives of hundreds of innocent bystanders. I sat down and inserted the DVD into my PlayStation 2. It was at that exact moment my life changed forever and I have never regretted that decision.

Gameplay
Now, I’m sure that most of the readers have that bewildered look on their faces as they try to figure out whether they are looking at a game review or have somehow blundered into an RPG Tale. Let me assure you that you are in the right section. The opening, although it may have been a tad obscure, was done to give you a small taste of what to expect when trying out Spy Fiction for yourself, and to combat the shortsightedness of articles that have come from other agencies concerning this game.

For anyone who has taken the slightest glance at either the game or other reviews, I’m sure you noticed the references to both Mission: Impossible and Metal Gear Solid. Some have even insisted that Spy Fiction could be considered the resulting love-child if these two action titles ever got together for a night of high passionate lovemaking. However, since both of these mentioned titles have been so influential for the genre, I contest that the likeness is simply following in the footsteps of success that have come before. To subtract from this title for that reason alone would be like declaring that any agent seen in a tuxedo is a sin and is just another James Bond knock-off. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Sammy Studios has gracefully given a nod to the previous masters and has moved on in its own direction.

As I began my journey through Spy Fiction, I could see the similarities and, in fact, felt cheated by the experience. However, these were just the first two levels of the game. Nevertheless, I buckled under, expecting to have nothing but a carbon copy to look forward to for the next five to ten hours. I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. The storyline is enough of a driving force to keep you in the ballgame, especially with the plot twist near the end of the game. Moreover, having multiple avenues on how you would like to tackle certain missions made the adventure even more personal. Freedom is always a good thing.

Speaking of freedom, Spy Fiction lets the player progress through the levels however you prefer. True, this is a stealth title, and it is meant to be played as such, but there is practically nothing stopping the player from turning this into a run-and-gun type of game. There are certain bottlenecks, where you must play by the established rules, but usually players have the luxury to proceed at their own speed and style. Some minor sub-missions are timed and require you to get from one point to another as quickly as possible. Most of the assignments, however, have no such restrictions, so you are free to explore each of the massive levels at your own pace. For those players who don’t read the instructions, Access Games has also included an in-depth video instruction guide within the options section of the game. Most of the controls can be learned on the fly, but there are some very helpful tips for the situation specific equipment that you will find during the game. The positive aspect is that the game developers took the time to include this so that more freedom could be taken advantage of by the player, and you could see examples in action instead of looking through the instruction guide when you need enlightenment.

The multitude of choices begins right at the start of the game. Players have the option to choose which PHANTOM member they would like to use to complete the game. Both have particular strengths and weaknesses. Billy Bishop is the stronger of the two, but his disguise options are less extensive than those of his partner. Sheila Crawford is a much better choice for the aspiring spy, since she can store more costume options and can impersonate both male and female targets. Nevertheless, her physical attributes are less than her cohort and has to throw more punches to drop her opponents.

By using the 3DA camera, your character can take pictures of any Non-Player Character (NPC) wandering throughout the game, and then, by hopping into a locker or barrel, can alter their appearance to match their subject using the power of your Chameleon Suit. There are three different disguise levels that players can incorporate. You can simply reproduce the clothing of another person, so that you can walk freely in the general area without alerting the other people of your true identity. The next upgrade is the ability to include the subject’s face along with their attire. This is exceptionally helpful for getting into secured sections of the game, where only select members of the staff have access. Nevertheless, after you have captured a two-stage picture of your target, you can improve your disguise even more by eavesdropping on their random conversations and make a recording of their voice. This is the only way to get yourself through the tightest security and pull off those nail-biting face-to-face meetings. Eavesdropping also allows you to gather special hints about what is going on in the game, and players should try to pick up on as many conversations that they can to ease the difficulty one may face in completing their mission.

Nevertheless, your disguises are not total proof that you will be able to glide effortlessly through the game. By acting out of place (most scientists don’t just strangle guards for no reason) within view of another person, they can become suspicious of you and can go as far as patting down your character. Each disguise has a set number of checks that it will be able to pass before setting off the mental alarms of the guards. Once your costume receives its limit, or you do something additionally suspicious (running away is a surefire giveaway) while being checked, it will attain a ‘wanted status’ and everyone will be on the lookout for it. Luckily, disguises can be taken off at a moment’s notice, freeing up your Chameleon Suit to let you blend into the background once out of sight of your pursuers. ‘Wanted Statuses’ do not remain forever and, after a period of time, costumes will become usable again. Players can also clear their status by using different items in consoles located within the levels, once the general alert has passed back to the normal safe mode.

Probably the most original part of Spy Fiction would have to be the gadgets that you have at your disposal. First and foremost is the Chameleon Suit, which not only allows you to change your appearance for interacting with the other characters, but it gives your player virtual invisibility. Crouching against a wall will activate your suit and let you blend directly into the environment. I never did get tired of using this ability, and it was extremely satisfying to be hiding in plain view of the guards, then suddenly uncloaking myself when they walked past to strike at them from behind. Nevertheless, this is just one of the many tools you have at your disposal including: spider grips (these let you walk along ceilings), cigarette flares, a mini repelling unit, three different forms of grenades, about a half-dozen of assorted firearms, bio sensors, button trackers and even remote-detonated bandage bombs. This is not a complete list of your available items, rather it is just a sample of what to expect. These are all broken down into four separate categories and can be exchanged on the fly with no penalty to the player. Access Games has even included a ‘fast draw’ button, so you can have the last selected weapon at your fingertips whenever it is needed.

Players also have the option to be as bloodthirsty as they desire. Most of the levels are populated with a tenfold of lower echelon sentries, which can be overcome by either your physical prowess or your huge arsenal of available weapons. Rendering your opponents unconscious, by either sneaking up behind then and putting them in a sleeper hold or knocking them out with a flurry of lightning fast blows, is the preferred method of progression (remember, you are the good guy). It is more difficult to remain in the shadows with this tactic, but it is also more rewarding, as unconscious victims usually drop extra items for you to use in your quest. If sentries are killed outright by the use of weaponry, they will not leave anything behind to help you later on down the road.

All of the environments have plenty of interactive objects that can be kicked, punched or utterly destroyed. The act of wreckage isn’t permanent, and items will magically appear in their original location if you leave the current level and then return at a later time. I really would have preferred to have all of my carnage left exactly the way it was, but this is a minor aggravation that will only stick with the anal retentive player. Along with the scattering of miscellaneous breakables, there are always a healthy helping of crates and barrels for you to take your frustrations out on, and usually house some form of usable object to assist in your endeavor.

Most of the soldiers that you will come up against have a reasonable amount of intelligence. True, their range of vision is a bit limited and allows players to get rather close before acknowledging your presence. However, once you have been discovered, you can expect to have to put some distance between yourself and them before you can melt back into the shadows. Simply turning the corner and trying to turn invisible will not shake the tail, and players must either kill or immobilize their pursuit before they can fall back on using the Chameleon Suit to wait out the security violation.

Another unique aspect of Spy Fiction is the invented science of Garbology. This is defined as an investigative procedure that is performed by collecting trash. Being a good spy, you have come to find that most people don’t use a shredder for those important documents and simply toss them aside in their lockers or trash bins. Using this science, your player is able to put pieces of a puzzle together to help in your investigation. Some bits are simply scraps of paper that have notes jotted down on them, however every once in a while you will stumble across a complete document that will be the key for your current assignment. Although it is not necessary to find every one of the many clues haphazardly scattered throughout each level, in the same regard that eavesdropping applies, but it will make your task a much simpler one if used on a consistent basis.

Nevertheless, not everything about this title can be considered positive. My most obtrusive obstacle was the in-game camera, which seemed to get more in my way of progressing forward then the enemy forces occupying the levels. Access Games gives the player total control over the positioning of the camera, using the right analog stick. However, in doing so, this lets the camera float free unless it is being physically manipulated. There is a quick correct button that will bring the view into perspective at a simple touch, but usually when you need to see the action exploding around you, your fingers are occupied elsewhere. Also, for some of the tight quarters that the game puts you in, this view just doesn’t work properly. On the levels that are wide open, I have no real complaints. It’s just when you are creeping through some of the narrow corridors that it seems to be the biggest problem. However, there are options where you can customize how you want the analog stick to manipulate your view. Players can choose from the standard control or invert the horizontal, vertical and even both planes for the first and third-person cameras. These options help to lessen the hurt that the looseness of the camera relates to the player, however I won’t go on record saying that I still wasn’t cursing the developers every once in a while. As I progressed through the game, it did become less of a problem and that probably had something to do with me getting used to how the game reacted in different situations. This was not the worst that I have ever experienced for a camera in a game, but it definitely wasn’t the best.

The Full-Motion Videos (FMV) for the game have both their high and low points. The detail of the visual presentation is some of the best that I have seen this side of a Square Enix product. Access Games really put some deep effort into putting these together. They not only drive the interesting storyline forward, but are exceptionally pleasant to behold. On the downside, the conversations of the characters are very strained and come out in bursts, rather than flowing like a normal conversation. While not totally ruining the movie-like quality of the FMV, the audio portion does noticeably distract the player and subtracts from their overall presentation.

The rest of the game’s video presentation is almost as good as the FMV. I say almost, because there are some very rare polygonal clipping incidents that can be caught by a player paying close attention. These aren’t disastrous and usually only are lines becoming visual within a wall. They don’t distract much from the overall experience. There are also instances where a character can move partially inside of a wall when running while against it. However, these are minor gripes that deserve a simple footnote, nothing more. The environments are plush with extra touches, including flocks of birds that can give your position away when they suddenly take flight. Around the edges of the screen is a very in depth Heads-Up Display (HUD) that tracks anything and everything a player should be concerned with to the smallest detail. You can even tell when a NPC is taking an interest in your presence, without having the ability to see the person watching you. Switching to the first-person view while being cloaked has a wondrous effect on the screen that gives the impression that you are looking through a power field. The view shimmers and has a slightly fish-eyed optical effect. There are plenty of things to get excited over when talking about the visuals of Spy Fiction, only if the player takes the time to stop and smell the roses every once in a while.

In the world of combat, what you can hear is sometimes more important to what you can see. Spy Fiction covers this base efficiently, by keeping the sound effects rationale and relevant. NPC’s can be heard walking their post, along with muttering under their breath from a reasonable distance. Also, the amount of sound that you character makes can alert sentries to your location. Trash scattered on the floor will make noise, along with the steel decks and water-covered floors, if you move too quickly. The musical background scores fit in very well with the game and when the intensity of the situation heightens, the music will also step up a notch in volume and tempo until things return to a less-frantic pace.

Extras
Originally, I believed this title to be rather limited in the extras department. There is no support for online play, surround sound or widescreen televisions, but there are the two different playable characters that have branching story lines. Nevertheless, once I completed my first time through the game, I found a bunch of secrets not previously released in anything else I had researched. Not only are there alternative endings that can be viewed with multiple runs through the game, but additional costumes and uniforms for your characters also can be obtained.

The shelf-life of the game is fairly deep. It took me a little over twelve hours to go through Billy’s nine different missions, and that was on the simplest difficulty setting. There are a total of nine various combinations of difficulty that can be used for the game, which simply spells out an approximate 144 hours (8 hours to complete the game times nine different difficulty levels times the two different playable characters in case you were wondering how I came about my math) of gameplay, if you run through the game on each level with both characters. This easily matches up with the amount that most players could spend on a very well-produced RPG (Role-Playing Game). I don’t perceive the majority of players will go to this extreme, but for those who have to do everything possible in a game, this definitely will keep you busy for quite a while.

Conclusion
Although Konami has nothing to fear from Spy Fiction dethroning their Metal Gear hero from the top of the heap, I do believe this game should be rated on its own merits rather than that which has come before. The title does have some shortcomings, but I believe the positive aspects heavily outweigh a touchy camera and a few minor visual and audio discrepancies. The variety of wondrous spy tools and weapons are unmatched by any other title within the genre, and the unique disguise ability of the PHANTOM members is too cool to miss out on because of a few tainted opinions. If you are a fan of action-adventure games, you definitely should give this one a try.

Final Score: 8.2

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy Review

PSXtreme — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 17:20:56 +0000

Introduction
Gamers are a jaded lot. On one hand, you can hear them constantly demanding for new gaming genres and unique playing experiences. However, when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is, you can usually see them picking up the sequels to previously released games from years gone by or falling into the hype machine to be ground up like hamburger because they have followed the trail of bread crumbs left by the mass media. Then, after a few months, they return to their soapbox to clamor on about the failings of the industry since all of the few unique titles have disappeared from the retail shelves with extremely poor sales.

2003 had a tremendous amount of new and original titles released that simply did not go anywhere in the sales department. Two of the biggest would have to be Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil. Both of these received critical acclaim from media sites across the spectrum and were serious Game of the Year contenders that did incredibly bad during the holiday season. But these weren’t the only outstanding or original titles to be snubbed by the consumer. EyeToy: Play had some success, but disappeared into a wisp of smoke quickly. Namco’s I-Ninja was another highly rated title that didn’t get the respect it deserved by the masses. Even games that had big marketing campaigns behind them, like Disgaea, Disaster Report and Primal were left sitting on store shelves while the multitude of numbered sequels outsold them in droves.

Another game that had a big push that went nowhere was Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy (SatCM). THQ had a tremendous amount of development difficulties bringing this game to retail. First, the game went through numerous title changes during its creation, which always makes things difficult for average gamers to keep track of a title’s progression through the development cycle. Secondly, THQ released a demo of the game well before many of the programming issues, mostly camera problems, were ironed out which probably helped to scare away many of their promising sales. Finally, Sphinx was released during the same two-week period that SOCOM II, True Crime: Streets of LA, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King all came to market. With these three things going against it, there is no surprise that the game quickly slipped into oblivion. However, the really important matter is did gamers miss out on a diamond in the rough or just another so-so release. There is only one way to find out, just read on brave explorer and see what you may have missed out on.

Gameplay
If you aren’t familiar with the story background, let me give you just a small taste so I don’t ruin the interesting storytelling ability of the game. This is a tale of ancient Egypt not told in the history books. Long ago, there was the formation of the Egyptian Universal Empire that joined multiple worlds by means of Solar Disc portals, similar to the portals found in Stargate SG-1. However, the Empire fell upon hard times and the magical crowns that held the portals together were scattered and lost. The civilizations on the many worlds became separated and the memory of the other worlds has faded with the passage of time. The legend says that there are two opposing forces trying to recover the crowns and unite the Empire again. Osiris, a force of all that is good and righteous, is seeking to repair what has been sundered while Set is looking to reunite the crowns for his own evil intentions. Now it is up to Sphinx, and the young Tutankhamen, to bring the portals back under the control of the forces of light before they can be used to rain darkness and destruction upon the many worlds on which they exist.

For players fed up with over-simplistic puzzles or seemingly unnecessary backtracking to find out-of-place items to put into even more out-of-place statues then you are in for a delightful treat. Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy will tax your brainpower with little to no hints at all for how a gamer is to progress though the many levels. Although this may be refreshing for the gamer who thinks outside of the box, it may become frustrating to those players used to cookie-cutter styled games of this nature. Personally, I found this to be a refreshing challenge and looked forward to being able to sit down and have to actually work my way though all of the beautifully designed levels.

The motif setting of ancient Egypt is recreated to a tee. The use of various vibrant colors, along with all of the lavish backgrounds, really helps to mentally transport the player to a land lost in time. Everything, from the stone pyramids to the vast desert environments, brings a gamer into a unique mindset and keeps the interest level peaked throughout the entire adventure. Levels are chock full of tiny tidbits to enchant even the most jaded player and progression through the different environments is logical and calculating. Eurocom and THQ get an A+ for their effort. Between the shimmer of the desert heat and the water effects, you might be wondering if you haven’t actually gone back in time to experience what it was like to live in the time when gods walked the Earth.

As good as the visuals are in Sphinx, the audio portents are on the opposite side of the spectrum. The language of all the characters is nothing more than a collection of grunts and twittering, with their actual conversations being displayed in text boxes. With the elaborate character design, one would imagine that THQ would have completed the package and gave their creations some wonderful personality through the spoken word. Even though this is a minor complaint, in this day and age of gaming, it is one not easily forgiven. Furthermore, players are subjected to the bare-bones stereo/mono selections instead of meeting the current Dolby Pro Logic II minimum standards of today. Neither of these are the death of Sphinx, but it would be nice to have a gaming company give players all of the available options when they give a title such an extravagant media push.

Even though Eurocom did a great job in repairing the very broken third-person camera from what I experienced in their earlier demo, there still are difficulties in keeping track of your surroundings and the multitudes of baddies that Sphinx will face as he works his way through the game. This does present some minor frustrating controller-tossing moments, but on the whole, there is little to complain about compared to other games of this same genre. The overall learning curve is delicate and gamers will be able to handle the more challenging creatures and ingenious environmental layouts as they progress through the game at its designed pace. The actual length of the game is more than acceptable, and players will have over 20 hours of playing time to enjoy their trip into ancient Egypt.

Playing through Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy I was under the impression that I was playing two separate games at the same time. Most of the time, you are assuming the personage of Sphinx, a young budding hero in search of saving the world from the dark grasp of evil. Just like most modern-day characters, his arsenal of moves and abilities is quite impressive. Not only can he take on multiple creatures with his trusty weapon, but also has the ability to capture enemy monsters with special beetles to be used in aiding him in his quest. He also can swim, climb and jump right from the start of the game with additional abilities to be acquired as the game progresses.

However, just when you start to get into the flow of how Sphinx moves and grooves his way through the game, you get to take an intermission break and discover how to win friends and influence people with your other persona, the Cursed Mummy. The boy king, Tutankhamen, meets with some evil of his own and is changed into a shambling undead creature. His main goal is to recover the fragments of his soul that have been sealed away in Canopic Vases so that he can once again return to the land of the living and challenge the evil Akhenaten for the right to regain his lost throne.

Although Sphinx is the powerhouse of the tag-team combo, I would have to say that it is the levels with the Mummy that are the better of the two. Since he has already been killed, and is the walking undead, there is nothing available to render the bandaged hero unable to continue. In fact, you get to put the Mummy through his paces by using environmental hazards to your advantage to open inaccessible areas. For example, you come upon a switch behind a wooden barrier, it’s time to set your character aflame and have him burn away the obstacle. The Mummy’s mannerisms and reactions to being squashed by large rocks, set on fire and even electrocuted are wonderfully hilarious and put the title over the top where the fun factor is concerned.

Extras
Both Sphinx and the Mummy acquire addition abilities as the game moves forward, so there is some backtracking through previously explored levels to acquire a 100 percent completion, but this is less like work and more of a reward for sticking with the game compared to other titles that I’ve played. There also is a decent scattering on mini games within the different levels, including some rather extensive side quests, to keep this game actively spinning in your gaming machine for an extended period of time. However, there are no other real reasons to keep on playing once you have completed your quest, as nothing new gets unlocked when you complete the title the first time through, nor is there any online mode at all.

Conclusion
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy brought a pleasant surprise to this gamer’s experience. Having relied on the unpleasant experience of the incredibly difficult camera in the demo, I was expecting the worst and got blind-sided by something rather interesting. The Mummy still does a great job of stealing the show from the true main character, nevertheless, you aren’t forced to trudge level after level with a substandard game when Sphinx is center-stage. The intricate level design, along with the stunning graphics, brings the best to the table anyone could hope for from a sleeper title. Although this will in no way surpass such grand platformers like Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter, you certainly could do much, much worse when looking for something fresh and challenging.

Final Score: 8.0

SkyGunner Review

PSXtreme — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:36:30 +0000

Introduction
Where, oh where have all the good shooters gone? Being a seasoned veteran of video games, I have come to miss the days when Defender and Space Harrier reigned supreme in the arcades. Today, everything has become a Halo or Grand Theft Auto clone. No longer are the adventures where a player would go up against unbelievable odds of enemy fighters on the forefront of gamers’ minds. Now we are bombarded with ‘fragfests’ and ‘jacking a ride’ instead of hunting down swarms of baddies to victoriously face the big boss in a final showdown. While I don’t mean to diminish these games for their fun factors or gameplay, it just isn’t the same experience that I was taught to enjoy.

Even though the majority of the gaming community may have forgotten what drives the soul of older gamers, Atlus still can be counted on for giving us a quality trip down memory lane. Let me introduce you to their latest creation with the complete retro feel still intact, SkyGunner. This ‘retro’ reference is not meant to confuse the newcomer to the gaming world. SkyGunner is a completely new work from the studios of Pixel Arts that has its roots deeply embedded in classic games of the past.

The story begins aboard the luxury liner Merveilleux where the unveiling of the Eternal Engine is about to begin. This engine will revolutionize current technology since it is capable of running forever without an outside power source. The town of Rive has created this Expo especially for this event. Although this is a time of celebration, the town officials have planned for the worst. They have employed the SkyGunners to protect their ship and its precious cargo. Even with these safeguards in place, the criminal genius Ventre has devised a plan to use the celebration as a distraction and to steal the Eternal Engine for his own evil purposes. With the help of his created Poulet army, Ventre sets sail for Rive and thus begins our adventure.

Gameplay
There are so many aspects that I wish to discuss about the game, it is difficult to pick a starting point. So I guess the best place is to start at the basics and work our way forward. SkyGunner has enough bells and whistles to please most players. The audio selections have multiple menus where you get the choice of individual volume levels for the background music, sound effects and character voices. The standard mono or stereo choice is also available, but this is one title that really screams out for surround sound audio. It would make your gaming experience much more detailed if the player could hear the enemy fighters coming up from behind using satellite speakers. All of the musical selections, including the exceptionally well done opening credits, fit beautifully into the game. As a player, you will remember them being there, but never have to worry about becoming distracted by their style or volume.

There are two basic control schemes that can be customized for the player’s preference. In both the novice or expert layouts, you have the option to mix or match the plane control, enemy selection and x-y axis selections. Pixel Arts has given the player the choice of picking one or the other of each separate decision which makes the game more player friendly. You can either pilot your plane using the left analog stick in the novice option or additionally use the shoulder buttons for rudder control in the expert setting. While some games make you get used to figuring out which way is up, SkyGunner gives the player the ability to choose what style is most comfortable for you. So now when you push forward on the analog stick, your plane is going to go in the direction that you want it without forcing you to constantly correct after initially picking the wrong direction. Customizable control schemes are always welcomed by the dedicated video game player and it’s a shame that most companies don’t incorporate this more into their games.

The main course of the game is its Story Mode. All of the cutscenes are done in an anime storyboard style with the characters voices speaking as the plot evolves. The entire game is broken up into different difficulty levels. Each of the five playable characters, three of which have to be unlocked, raises the bar with more complex assignments within the same missions. The first three characters all redo almost the same missions, but each has different assignments within them. An example would be in saving the Merveilleux during the first mission. Femme, the easiest of the three characters, simply has to take out the fighter squadrons, while Ciel and Copain both have other separate targets to contend with.

Each plane has its own special maneuvers and weapon selections. All of these can be learned by going through the training lessons for each plane once they have been unlocked. This is another nice consideration provided by Pixel Arts, not forcing a player to learn their new plane in the heat of battle, but in the comfort and safety of an educational training exercise.

Let me suggest that you use these as none of the missions will be a cake walk the first time through. Enemies come fast and furious in great numbers. It is easy to become distracted from your assignment because there are so many baddies on a screen at the same time. There are as many as 500 different targets to contend with on each of the missions. One nice addition is the help that your two wingmen provide. Unlike other games that have computer controlled partners, these pilots actually will help out in a pinch and make the odds a little less obtrusive. From the in-game picture you can see the massive amount of targets in the upper right corner remaining for this one segment. Even with the help that you are provided, it’s still a long hard fought contest.

Mission style is greatly varied. You will find yourself running escort missions, dog fighting with squadrons of fighters, defending cities, storming island retreats and taking on ridiculously huge battleships. Sometimes you will have the help of your partners while other stages will have all the weight riding on your shoulders alone. Usually there will be missions within the main task, all of which will help your scoring if they are completed along with the primary one.

The more money that is earned is directly reflective in your final ranking once a specific difficulty level is completed. Simply put, the higher your ranking, the greater amount of extras unlocked. Bonus money can be earned by conserving special weapons and by creating combo explosions. Cash is lost when your ship receives enough damage to cause it to become unstable and fly out of control. Moreover, laying heavily on your basic machine gun drains your cash reserves with every bullet spent. While this all may sound easy in theory, it is more difficult than you could imagine to put everything together into practice.

The computer AI really isn’t very big on attacking you at every opportunity. Rather they prefer to maintain their distance and defend themselves once you encroach upon their territory. This is especially evident when you go and take on one of the many big boss ships that populate the levels. These big mothers will take a tremendous pounding. Only by using the chain reaction explosion techniques can you hope to even start to weaken their structural integrity.

Graphically, SkyGunner is extremely attractive. If you stop to smell the roses while playing you can see subtle details like shot-down ships crumbling into pieces and burning as they fall from the sky. The water effects in the game are also well done, especially the rooster tails that appear when your plane gets close to the water’s surface. There is no draw-in evident and all of the environments are beautifully created. Explosions can be like a Fourth of July finale, with shells and missiles screaming all over the place at the same time. This is not without some cost to the game’s integrity as the framerate will start chugging along, like a semi going through the Rocky Mountains, when the shooting gets exceptionally heavy. However when this happens, it’s more of a godsend than a curse as it gives the player time to deal with all the activity going on and almost feels like the game is going into slow-motion on purpose.

There are two optional views that can be used in the game. The default method will keep your target on the screen centered while you are forced to flip and twist in the wind to get your bearings. While this is great for keeping an eye on your targets, since there is no in-game radar, it does make everything more difficult than it should be. The other version is a tail camera that follows your plane nicely. The setback with this viewing choice is that it’s easily to get distracted from your main target and lose sight of where it is in the battlefield. I found that using a combination of both, since they can be switched with a simple button tap, was the most effective for my tastes and abilities. Nevertheless, I was disappointed in the fact that I had to invent a workable view rather than just rely on one invented by the developers. However in all fairness, this was the same issue that I had in playing the flying levels in the recently released Drakengard, so it may be a three-dimensional flying problem rather than a developer issue.

Missions are basically timed through the limits of your fuel tank. Once you run out of fuel, the game ends. Your game can also end prematurely if your escort is destroyed or if you cannot recover your plane’s stability after been shot up before a timer expires. The game does allow for three continues to be used throughout each five mission game. However once they are depleted, your game is done.

While some have criticized Skygunner for its short five mission length, it took me over ten hours to get through the game the first time with just a “B” ranking. While I may not be the greatest player on earth, I usually can hold my own with a crowd. The three and four hour completion times reported in other reviews probably are not reflective of Joe Gamer’s abilities. Even so, there is much more to do once you have ‘beaten’ the game on the easy level. Replay-ability is quite high as the game has plenty to offer in extras and its great for a quick fix when you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to gaming.

Extras
SkyGunner includes unlockable time attack and survival modes. There is also an unlockable photo album in which both victorious and losing pictures are added depending on how you perform in the game. One extra touch is the choice of the player to either have the original Japanese voice-overs with English subtitles or to have both done in English. While this may be overlooked by the casual player, it’s a nice touch that is appreciated by the gaming purist.

Conclusion
Thus we come to the end of our trip down memory lane. SkyGunner is everything that shooter fans have come to expect. Even amidst its slowdown shortcomings and camera issues, it is a game that any hard-core fan will happily sink their teeth into and enjoy the challenge for weeks to come. Like most niche games, this one will be in short supply and definitely difficult to come by. Nevertheless, it will be almost as gratifying to find it tucked away forgotten on a shelf as beating the game the first time through. SkyGunner comes highly recommended for fans of the genre. Those with commitment issues or little patience need not apply. Save your controllers for some other game.

Final Score: 8.2