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CAPCOM VS. SNK 2
EO |
 
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CAPCOM |
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FIGHTING |
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GAMECUBE |
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If you didn't
get the opportunity to plunk dozens of shiny gold tokens
into a Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat machine at
your local Malibu Grand Prix (if you had a Malibu Grand
Prix) and you couldn't, or can't, get a grasp of the
exceedingly complex, complicated world of charge moves,
quarter rolls, half circle rolls, 360 (sometimes called
full circle) rolls, Super Combos, Hyper Combos,
Fatalities, Stage Fatalities, Babalities, and
Friendships, you may as well consider yourself fucked.
You're an outsider to that world, like a Catholic to the
Masons, or Moses Fleetwood Walker to the Brotherhood of
Professional Baseball Players (read Clever Baseballist:
the Life and Times of John Montgomery Ward by Bryan Di
Salvatore), and you'll always be an outsider. You may be
treated well by the "true" fans- hell, even respected
for what talent you possess- but you'll always be
outside of that realm... a realm whose members chuckle
every time you pick Dan Hibiki to battle against Ryo
Sakazaki, but never tell you WHY they chuckle.
Alas...
This is a weird little game that's either one of two
things: (a) Capcom's attempt to turn a profit or (b)
something less sinister, Capcom's attempt to open the
"old boy's club" that is the 2-D fighting genre to the
less patient or astute gamer (like myself), who have
migrated to the friendlier "dial-a-combo" world of 3-D
for our fighting game fix.
The idea of EO's (Easy Operation in Japan, Extreme
Offense in the US) simple gameplay will make the most
hardened blond ponytailed Gamestop employee who
impersonates Professor Frink while pummeling a ne'er do
well with Akuma cringe: EVERY special move, Super Hyper
Mega Combo or otherwise, is tied to the Gamecube's
little yellow C-Stick. For instance, with Ryu (or Dan or
Ryo or Ken or Akuma) you push the stick forward to do a
Haduken, up for a Shoryuken, and back to do a hurricane
kick. For arial moves you simply jump then point the
stick in whatever direction the move requires. Since the
C-Stick is analog, exerting specific amounts of pressure
on the stick will determine whether it was a light,
medium, or heavy attack.
Now before anyone who knows how to double quarter
roll blindfolded starts bitching, EO is still a fairly
challenging game. Simply being able to move the C-Stick
around to launch a flurry of attacks won't mean you can
pummel that oh-so-not-AI Capcom AI. In fact it seems the
computer KNOWS that it's dealing with a guy who really
doesn't know how to do Kim Kaphwan's spinning bicycle
split kick (or whatever...) and will promptly counter,
and in many ways abuse, the whole new play mechanic as
well. So the twelve year old kids still out of the loop
reading this review shouldn't wet their chops just
yet...
All 44 some-odd characters are available, and the
color edit mode, arcade mode, and VS. mode are all the
same with Groove edit mode being the lone unlockable
feature. Survival and VS. mode, along with the Groove
Edit mode (for those who can understand it), provide the
game its potential longevity. That and the game's near
GOBS and GOBS of recognizable characters, six different
grooves, and three fighting styles (an improved version
of the first game's ratio system, three on three, and
single match) make it the best fighting game on Gamecube
by default.
As an out of the loop non-sprite pugilist I had a lot
of fun with Capcom vs. SNK EO... mostly because it let
me appreciate a Capcom fighter on more than just an
artistic level. As for tried and true fans, they may
just want to avoid this version altogether: the standard
gameplay is here but it's mapped as pressure sensitive
buttons on an controller that's atrocious for fighting
games. They'll want to stick with the import DC or PS2
version. That said, EO is nice little time waster and a
fine game for those who don't know what the hell an air
cancel is... but who did one just now.
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DONKEY
KONGA |
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NINTENDO |
NAMCO |
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MUSIC/RHYTHM |
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GAMECUBE |
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Let me first
start out by saying that I have NEVER had any desire to
make a fool out of myself by playing any of the Dance
Dance Revolution games. I always thought rhythm games
were a bad idea, and they can be truly polarizing. NEVER
has anyone described DDR as "OK, good, or not bad". They
either love it with a passion or hate it immensely
(those in the latter category, like myself, detest the
very premise so people like us would never play that
game in the first place). I saw Donkey Konga on G4 when
it was a Japan-only title, and thinking that it was one
of the lamest ideas I'd ever seen for a game. No way
would something like that come out in America, right?
And if it DID, there's no way I'd play something like
that.
Then I heard positive things about it from some of my
classic gaming friends. Then I saw the commercial. Then
I read some positive reviews. I was fiending to get a
new game last weekend, and I saw Donkey Konga for the
Gamecube at the store. After much debate, I caved in to
my curiousity and further tightened my plastic handcuffs
(commonly referred to by many as "credit cards") to get
it. I knew I would love it or loathe it. And guess what?
I am absolutely in love with this game and this is
undoubtedly the most fun I've had with a game this
year.
A dual bongo drum controller comes packaged with the
disc. Two conjoined barrel-like drums are plugged into
the GC's control port. A wide variety of hit or miss
songs, 33 in total, are included, and you must use your
hands to pound the drums and clap to onscreen cues while
each song is played. Three skill levels are present,
giving the player the opportunity to earn coins to
purchase drum sets, mini games, and to earn the right to
play songs on the hardest level.
From the moment I started playing this game, I didn't
want to stop. I'm sure there is something out there that
is comparable, but I have never played a game like this
before. So simple yet so challenging and perhaps the
most unique game I've ever played, Donkey Konga is a
must-have GameCube title, right up there with Mario
Sunshine, Zelda Wind Waker and Metroid Prime.
The negatives? I don't care for the mini games and
the extra drum sets offer little to enhance gameplay
(EXCEPT for the Big Band set, which makes the one swing
jazz tune sound much, much better). It's too bad I don't
have a group of gaming friends with their own sets of
Konga drums so we could play together. It seems like an
incredibly fun party game, but being the loner that I
am, I'll probably never know. One other weakness
is that the songs are not by the original artists. They
are all very good covers, but still this should be
noted.
So, yes. I am giving a rhythm game a nine on a scale
of one to ten... it's the most pleasant surprise of the
year. I still can't wait for GTA: San Andreas and Halo
2, but this one will tide me over until then. I'm almost
embarrassed to admit I love this game so much.
Tony Bueno is a pseudonym, by the way...
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IKARUGA |
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ATARI |
TREASURE |
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SHOOTER |
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GAMECUBE |
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Sometimes the most diplomatic way to settle an
argument is to flip a coin and leave it up to
chance. No matter what comes up, you can be sure
that there will be a clear winner... and a loser.
You can always count on a clear outcome from a
coin. Its answer to every problem is in black and
white, never shades of grey.
Inspired by this fact of life, Treasure created
Ikaruga. At first, this sequel to the fantastic
Radiant Silvergun appears to be just like any other
vertically scrolling shooter. However, Ikaruga has
one key difference which transforms it into an entirely
new experience. Like a coin, your ship can flip
over, switching its protective barrier from light to
dark and back again. This gives you two advantages
over the swarms of black and white enemies crowding the
screen... switching to their color will protect you
against their bullets, and switching back makes them
more vulnerable to your own fire.
To survive in Ikaruga, you must constantly adapt to
hostile conditions, frequently switching colors to
defend yourself against a constant rain of bullets and
strike back against well armed bosses. If that's
not enough of a challenge for you (and it almost
certainly will be), you can aim for a higher score by
firing at enemies in sequence... hitting three black or
white ships in a row will earn you a combo bonus which
increases with every trio of like-colored enemies
destroyed.
Ikaruga is a very demanding game... perhaps a little
too demanding for its own good. It lacks the
flexibility of Radiant Silvergun, which allowed you to
experiment with weapons and explore your
surroundings. If you expect to excel at Ikaruga,
you'll have to develop sharp reflexes and absolute
precision... and memorizing the location of the enemies
in each stage certainly couldn't hurt. The best
players will appreciate the chance to push their
considerable skills to the limit, but the rest of us may
not enjoy the challenge quite as much.
Ikaruga's graphics are solid, but not outstanding...
especially not on the advanced GameCube hardware but not
even by the Dreamcast's more humble standards.
Perhaps it's because the game was designed by a skeleton
crew at Treasure, or perhaps the backgrounds are drawn
in subdued sepia tones to make the black and white
objects stand out. Whatever's the case, the game's
visuals don't make the strong impression that its
predecessor had on the Saturn. On the other hand,
the soundtrack is nearly as majestic as the amazing
music in Radiant Silvergun. It manages to be
powerful without demanding your attention the way the
screaming heavy metal in Dodonpachi did.
If you're a fan of Treasure's past work or just need
an exceptionally difficult shooter to keep your video
game playing skills finely tuned, Ikaruga is a smart
purchase. My advice to everyone else? Flip a
coin.
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INTELLIVISION
LIVES! |
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CRAVE |
REALTIME |
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CLASSIC GAME
COLLECTION |
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GAMECUBE |
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Intellivision
Lives! must have been one of those things that seemed
like a good idea at the time. "Hey, everyone else
is making classic game collections... why not us,
too? Heck, we own the rights to the Intellivision
game system and its library... we're practically sitting
on a goldmine!" Unfortunately, Realtime Associates
(aka The Blue Sky Rangers, alias InTV Corporation...)
never stopped to consider the obstacles they'd face when
bringing the Intellivision back to life on the latest
generation of consoles.
The first of these is hardware limitations.
Now, you'd think that a system as powerful as the
GameCube would have no trouble handling games originally
created for a twenty five year old console like the
Intellivision. For the most part, it doesn't...
the emulation is nearly flawless, with perfect sound
reproduction and only slightly blurred graphics.
However, it's the control that drains most of the fun
out of this collection. Like most consoles of the
time, the Intellivision had a complicated controller,
designed to compensate for the system's limited
memory. This allowed players to select options
quickly without a complex interface eating up the
Intellivision's precious resources.
That worked well enough back in 1981, but in these
days of more streamlined and intuitive controllers,
there's just not enough buttons to go around to handle
the amount of input possible on a numeric keypad.
Realtime stretched the GameCube controller as far as
they could by assigning commonly used functions to the
face buttons and using shift keys to access the rest,
but in many games, this isn't enough. Overlays are
provided for more complex titles like B-17 Bomber, but
they fill up a quarter of the screen, and you lose
control of your character while you're keying in
commands. It'll make you wish that the
manufacturers had packed in a replica of the
Intellivision controller, because playing these titles
without one is like trying to play one of today's games
with one hand tied behind your back. It's
possible, perhaps, but not very enjoyable.
The second stumbling block to this game's success is
the limited budget used to create this collection.
Intellivision Lives! closely mimics the design of the
exceptional Activision Anthology, setting the mood with
a nostalgic environment and giving players incentives to
unlock new content by beating high scores. While
the setting, a neon-colored pizzaria, is every bit as
good as the humbly decorated bedroom in Activision
Anthology, the bonus features don't quite measure
up. Only a small handful of the available games
have unlockable goodies, and the selection of music is a
lot less exciting. Instead of a diverse selection
of the eighties' greatest hits, you get an Annie Lennox
knock-off lamenting the loss of her favorite game system
(sweet dreams AREN'T made of this), a surf remix of the
Thin Ice theme song by litigious music composer George
Sanger, and a sex scene acted out by characters from the
Intellivision's voice enhanced games. I only wish
I were making that last one up.
Granted, this is all just window dressing.
However, when you peer inside that window, you're going
to notice a whole lot that's missing. Since the
Realtime Associates crew was working on a tight budget,
they couldn't afford the rights to all the licensed
games on the system. Now this wouldn't be a
problem if they were all movie-based blunders by
Acclaim, but the sad truth is that arcade translations
and film adaptations were among the best titles on the
Intellivision. Burgertime's Peter Pepper was
practically the system's mascot back in the early 80's,
but because Data East went belly up shortly before the
game was released, neither Burgertime nor its sequel
Diner are open for business on this disc. Try as
you might, you won't find Konami's Loco-Motion, or
Activision's Dreadnaught Factor, or Capcom's Commando
(oddly present on Activision Anthology) either.
Finally, Tron: Deadly Discs, truly the gem of any
Intellivision collection, was taken out of the mix as
well. While I understand the rationale behind
this, its absence nevertheless leaves this collection
with a great big hole in the center.
Realtime could have bandaged this gaping wound by
including some of the games they've designed since the
release of the Intellivision. Curse, a
side-scrolling shooter InTV had originally planned to
release for the Sega Genesis, and Normy's Beach
Babe-o-rama, based on the life of Blue Sky Rangers
president Keith Robinson, would have been adequate
substitutes for the games listed above. Sadly,
they're not here either, leaving you with a lot of
forgettable software, and making you exceedingly glad
that you didn't pay much for it.
Intellivision Lives! has one last shortcoming,
reflected in the title. It's an Intellivision
collection, and to be perfectly blunt the system just
hasn't held up as well as its rivals from the early
1980's. Activision's 2600 games still hold some
artistic merit thanks to their carefully layered
background colors and bright, cartoony characters, but
Intellivision games lack that appeal due to the system's
limitations. The resolution is painfully low, the
colors don't blend well, and the fluid animation of the
running man only serves to slow the games to a
crawl. On top of that, the action never feels very
smooth. There's a lack of precision in the control
that makes ships streak past their intended destinations
and humans take unexpected and often lethal detours
through mazes.
If you still have fond memories of the Intellivision,
or just want to alleviate some of the guilt brought on
by playing its games on your computer, you'll want to
pick up this collection. Intellivision Lives!
doesn't compare to classic compilations by larger
software manufacturers like Activision or Midway, but
its astonishingly low price tag guarantees that you
won't leave the store with buyer's
remorse.
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LEGEND OF ZELDA: WIND
WAKER |
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NINTENDO |
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ACTION/ADVENTURE |
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GAMECUBE |
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Once upon a time, a young hero battled the wicked
Ganon and his minions to save a beautiful princess, and
the entire world. Years of peace and prosperity
followed Ganon's defeat, but this great age would not
last forever. Eventually, Ganon returned... but
the hero did not.
That'd be a pretty lousy way to end a video game, but
it's only the beginning for The Legend of Zelda: The
Wind Waker. Wind Waker takes place a century after
the events in The Ocarina of Time, with the world
ravaged by a resurrected Ganon. What little life
remains is stranded on tiny islands scattered across a
vast ocean. On one of these islands, a family
dresses their eldest child in green to honor the memory
of the lost hero.
Nobody realizes that the boy, Link, will carry on the
legacy of the man who first defeated Ganon. Nor do
they understand why their daughter was kidnapped by an
enormous bird. All they know is that someone must
save Aryll, and since he's already dressed for the
occasion, Link volunteers to rescue his sister from her
mysterious captor.
Wind Waker shares a lot in common with the previous
Zelda games on the Nintendo 64, from the extremely
accomodating 3D gameplay to a versatile musical
instrument which helps Link solve the game's many
puzzles. This time, our pointy-eared hero is given
a conductor's baton, granting him control of the
wind. Sure, this may not sound as exciting as a
flute that acts as a gateway to the past and
future. Nevertheless, with all the sailing you'll
be doing to reach new destinations, you'll be very
grateful that you have it along for the ride.
More than anything else, the emphasis on sea travel
is Wind Waker's defining characteristic. You'll
spend as much time skimming across the ocean as you will
wandering through grassy fields and exploring
dungeons. Furthermore, weapons and items that
serve a specific purpose on land may be useful to you in
an entirely different way while you're sailing the seven
seas. A grappling hook conveniently doubles as a
fishing hook for reeling in sunken treasure, and the
bombs you used to clear away boulders can also be used
as powerful ammunition for your ship's cannon.
Players who'd rather keep their feet firmly planted
on dry land may not appreciate the long trips from one
island to the next, but Nintendo made enough concessions
to keep them from getting seasick too quickly.
Link can use the Wind Waker to create powerful cyclones
that carry him to preset locations on the world map, and
diversions ranging from gigantic sea monsters to
barrel-jumping contests (funny, I never noticed Donkey
Kong anywhere...) ensure that the game never regresses
into so much nautical nonsense.
The sea travel is Wind Waker's most significant
departure from the rest of the Zelda series, but it is
by no means its most controversial. That honor
would have to go to the game's graphics.
"Cartoony" doesn't go far enough to describe them...
they've got a simple but colorful look that will remind
you of popular cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls and The
Fairly Oddparents. It may take time to get used to
Link as a big-headed dwarf with stubby legs and enormous
almond-shaped eyes, but you'll grow to love the little
guy after watching him in action. Most polygonal
characters look like stiffly animated zombies or
dead-eyed manniquins, but not Link... he carefully
watches enemies as he circles around them, and reacts
with wide-eyed wonder when examining the glowing
contents of a treasure chest. The monsters in the
game look great, too... they're wonderfully animated,
and many are adorned with swirling, pointed patterns
that bring to mind tribal tattoos and ancient Aztec
carvings.
The graphics are most definitely NOT a liability for
Wind Waker. What does hurt the game are the
overwhelming number of fetch quests you'll have to
complete. Rather than putting the shattered
remains of the Triforce in the dungeons where they
belong, the designers scattered them throughout the
ocean, and force you to collect a series of maps in
order to locate them. If that weren't enough, the
maps are useless before they're translated, and you'll
have to sail to an island in the middle of nowhere and
pay the man who lives there a fortune in Rupees before
you can pinpoint the location of the Triforce
pieces. This brings up a complaint I have about
most adventure games... why are the non-player
characters always so selfish and uncooperative?
I'm trying to save the world from certain destruction,
jerks... you think maybe you could stop thinking of ways
to fill your pockets just long enough to help me save
your own ass?
Deep breaths there, Jess... ah, that's better.
Aside from the design issues that makes the game much
longer (and more boring) than it needed to be, Wind
Waker is one of the best titles in the Legend of Zelda
series. It's got a gentle charm that you just
don't see in video games anymore, along with puzzles so
brilliantly designed and thoroughly satisfying that
you'll spend every waking hour and sleepless night
setting sail for new adventures.
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RAYMAN 3: HOODLUM
HAVOC |
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UBISOFT |
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PLATFORM |
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GAMECUBE |
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Like a guy cutting his eye, an elaborate bank heist
with melting clocks and severed backsides with people
crawling out of it, and Jean Reno movies, Rayman 3 is
French. BEYOND French. Surrender to you three times
before you put it in your system French. The latest
entry into Ubi Soft's venerable limbless platform
franchise continues the series' competency and utter
pandering to its true audience: the hardcore platform
fan. Arbitrary power-ups, contrived jump puzzles, linear
level structure, and endless McGuffin collecting makes
Rayman 3 a joy for the fan of the genre and the genre
alone.
Rayman 3's plot is almost completely confusing at
times, and when does start to make sense it does its
damndest to try to go back to being confusing. Rayman's
cohort Globox swallows a Hoodlum, a small black furry
bug thing, who demands that Globox (voiced by John
Leguizamo...) release him. Unfortunately, for some
reason he can't. The hoodlum demands plum juice or he'll
rip apart Globox's insides, so Rayman proceeds to find
plum juice while trying to save his friend. Then
something happens about halfway through, and you fight
the Hoodlum. Or something.
Really, Rayman 3 is more about gameplay and that's
where it, for the most part, shines. The exploration and
free-form feel of other recent platformers like Sly
Cooper and Ratchet and Clank are forsaken for more
traditional gameplay. Levels are highly structured and
laid out, at times, in a quasi- 2.5D fashion while timed
power-ups are meticulously placed and force use,
creating a hairy, sometimes frantic, pace that demands
much from the reflexes. Level layouts are challenging
but never too mind-bending: The lack of a time
limit, power-ups that last just long enough to be used
effectively, and a liberal sprinkling of life up knick
knacks help keep Rayman 3 from a becoming a controller
busting experience for novices.
Where the game fails, however, is where most games in
the genre do: in gimmicky sub-levels and bosses,
particularly at the end of the game. A snowboarding
level, various rounds involving a shrunken Rayman
chasing his other boot in a bumper-car style battle, and
Rez-like "transition" levels that have Rayman doing rail
transfers, all prove more irritating than fun, but
thankfully, Rayman 3 never relies too much on them.
They're more dispersed throughout then concentrated at
any point in the game.
For a major title released across all three
platforms, Rayman 3 really shines in the graphics and
sound departments. Stunningly surreal (but not too
distracting) environments sport a very French
otherworldly feel: American developers attempting to add
"hip and edgy" crooked doors, mad German professors,
musket toting and vaguely mysterious ne'er do well
cowboys, and shiny glittering things should be taking
notes from Ubi Soft's art staff. The game features some
great music (particularly on the Gamecube, where it's
most impressive on the usually limiting mini disc
format) all credited to Euro-techno group Groove Armada.
Voice work is competant (if bizarre) and offered in five
different languages (English, French, German, Italian,
and Spanish). I'm not sure what language John Leguizamo
is speaking...
Rayman 3 comes recommended to the hardcore platform
fan: it's a nice blend of 3-D and traditional 2-D
platforming, and while the mini-games and other
deviations from the standard gameplay are kind of
annoying, they're not nearly as jarring in other
platformers (specifically Traveler's Tales' Haven: Call
of the King). However, it's not recommended to non-fans,
casual fans, or people who hate the genre. It's entirely
geared toward the lot that enjoy double jumping, hopping
on foes, and recognizing boss patterns.
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RESIDENT EVIL
4 |
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CAPCOM |
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ACTION |
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GAMECUBE |
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Leon
Kennedy thought the nightmare of Raccoon City was over
when the scheming Umbrella Corporation, creator of the
most terrifying disease in human history, was driven out
of business by the United States government.
However, while on a mission to rescue the president's
daughter, he discovers that the worst is yet to
come...
Things might not be looking up for poor Leon, but for
fans of the Resident Evil series, they've never been
better. Even those who never appreciated Capcom's
survival horror games will be astonished by how much has
been changed- and improved- in this one.
Even the zombies aren't really zombies anymore...
this time, you'll deal with faster, smarter enemies
hiding a horrible secret. Are they devoted
religious fanatics, blindly following the twisted orders
of their mysterious robe-clad leader? Have they
all been driven insane by years of isolation in a remote
village, detached from the rest of the world? Or
are they possessed by a far more terrible influence?
You'll need to stay alive long enough to find out,
and the inhabitants of the unnamed European town you're
visiting won't make that easy. You'll be lucky to
escape the clutches of just one of them, but like any
good hunters, the villagers rarely work alone.
They prefer to attack en masse, stalking you with
pitchforks and dynamite and chainsaws and anything else
that looks like it will kill you. There's nowhere
to run, because wherever you hide, they will find you...
and you don't want to know what they'll do next.
All you can do is fight back. Thanks to a
completely redesigned (and frankly, long overdue)
control scheme, you can. While the gameplay still
feels slow in comparison to many of today's action
titles, the control is vastly improved over previous
Resident Evil games. It's more natural and less
rigid... when you push left or right on the controller,
Leon moves in those directions, rather than turning in
place. Reversing direction is still a bit tricky,
but you'll be thankful that you can back up without
turning your back on the crowds of marauding
townsfolk.
There's also a new perspective that bridges the gap
between a first-person and third-person viewpoint.
The camera is set two steps behind Leon, giving the
player both enhanced peripheral vision and greatly
improved accuracy while aiming. This accuracy
serves an important purpose... now, you can line up
shots from great distances and target specific areas on
your foes. Fire into a neo-zombie's face and their
head snaps back from the impact of the bullet as they
stumble backward, shrieking in pain. Reactions
like these make the game feel more alive, even if your
targets, well, aren't.
The fantastic graphics add even more life to the
experience. The cut scenes which advance the plot
are especially gorgeous... the lips, eyes, and mouth of
each character move in perfect harmony as they
speak. When the leader of the village gloats about
his sinister plans, a chill will run up and down your
spine as his lips curl into a devilish grin. You
can see the hatred in the eyes of his manservant when
the towering beast picks you up by the throat and
crushes your windpipe with his massive hands.
These facial expressions both convey and evoke the kind
of powerful emotions you rarely experience in a video
game.
The visuals while you're actually playing the game
aren't quite as amazing, but they're still wonderfully
expressive. If the screaming, bloodthirsty
villagers don't make you feel unwelcome, the village
itself almost certainly will. The blood-stained
beds, the ramshackle buildings, and the dead brown grass
poking out of the parched earth make it clear that this
will never be a vacation hot spot. Once you peer
inside a rusty barrel and find a vile stew of stagnant
water and wriggling maggots, even you'll start to wish
you'd booked a trip to Tahiti instead. Hey, it's
not like she's the president's ONLY daughter, right?
It's tough to find much to complain about in Resident
Evil 4... Capcom's addressed nearly every shortcoming in
the previous games. The voice over acting is
actually pretty solid this time, and the dialogue is
more entertaining as well, even slipping in sly
references to other creepy horror games like
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night ("Hee hee hee...
thank you!") and House of the Dead 2 ("Don't
come!"). Ammunition is in much greater supply, and
new weapons are easily obtained from a one-man army
(surplus store) who shows up at the best possible
times. Capcom has even taken the pain out of
saving, with plenty of save spots and absolutely no
penalty for using them.
Resident Evil 4's only major fault is that its
difficulty level is wildly uneven. The high
concentration of neo-zombies in some areas will leave
you feeling helpless... while their complete absence in
others will just leave you twiddling your thumbs.
Moreover, some locations let you camp in a safe spot and
lure the enemies to their deaths, picking off each poor
sap within firing distance as the villagers wait in line
for a chance to strangle you. Once you've blown
away the long parade of targets, there's no challenge
left until you've entered the next location. There
are just enough enemies to go around in Resident Evil
4... it's a shame that Capcom didn't distribute them
more evenly.
So there's a little room for improvement here, but
not much. Resident Evil 4 offers all the tension
and heart-stopping fright of the first games, without
all the annoyances. It'll convince players who've
always hated the series to happily give it a second
chance... and make Resident Evil fans wonder why they've
been putting up with the game's flaws for almost nine
years.
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SPACE
RAIDERS |
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MASTIFF |
TAITO |
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ACTION/SHOOTER |
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GAMECUBE |
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In
the early 1990's, Taito faced the challenge of updating
its long-running Space Invaders series for a new
generation of gamers. The company had released
titles like Space Invaders '91 and Majestic Twelve,
which brought sophisticated gameplay elements like
bosses and power-ups to the world of Space Invaders, and
further enhanced the experience with outstanding
audiovisuals. Although neither of these games
caught the attention of players the way that Capcom's
hugely successful Street Fighter II had, they
nevertheless served the intended purpose of evolving the
Space Invaders series, once again making it a relevant
and valuable property.
A decade later, Taito once again tailored Space
Invaders to fit the demands of a rapidly evolving
industry. Space Raiders is the company's attempt
to introduce the series to a younger, more demanding
audience... an audience that grew up with more cinematic
games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider. Space
Raiders follows in the footsteps of these influential
releases with a movie-quality soundtrack, more realistic
polygonal characters, and cut scenes which seperate each
level from the next. However, the difference
between Space Raiders and its 16-bit counterparts from
the 1990's is that its new features do absolutely
nothing to improve Space Invaders as a game.
Come to think of it, Space Raiders isn't all that
appealing as a movie, either. Although the
introductory sequence (featuring a horde of alien
monsters scurrying through the city streets, crushing
everything in their path and impaling humans with their
sharpened legs) is pretty exciting, the cut scenes
between levels will just leave you groaning in disbelief
rather than screaming in fear. If the stale voice
acting doesn't leave you rolling your eyes, the
unremarkable dialogue and absolutely idiotic plot twists
almost certainly will. Near the end of the game,
the heroes hijack an F-16 fighter and take it straight
to the invaders' mothership for the final
conflict. Never mind that the jet is in perfect
condition when they find it despite the alien attack
that left the rest of the planet in ruins. Never
mind that this random assortment of survivors (including
a police officer, a news camera operator, and a street
punk) shouldn't have the slightest clue how to pilot an
advanced military aircraft. Never mind that they
dock with the mothership to fight the creatures inside
it, rather than unleashing a dozen missiles on the
flying saucer to ensure its complete destruction.
I won't even mention Space Raiders' stunning(ly stupid)
climax or its infuriating ending, although when you see
them, you'll cut the writers of Independence Day a
little more slack for letting Jeff Goldblum use a
Macintosh to hack an alien computer network.
The storyline could be easily ignored if the meat of
the game were satisfying. Sadly, it's less akin to
meat than the rubbery gristle you'd accidentally bite
into before throwing it to your dog... and not even your
favorite one. Space Raiders is a stripped down
shooter, offering few improvements over the original
Space Invaders and lacking any redeeming values when
compared to triumphs of the genre like Radiant Silvergun
or Dodonpachi. Like in the original, you travel
along the bottom of the screen, picking off invaders as
they steadily close in on you. However, unlike
Space Invaders, whose massive armies of soldiers left
you feeling helpless and overwhelmed, there's little
challenge or urgency to be found in Space Raiders.
Not only are the aliens in limited supply and in poorly
organized formations, but the game hands you so many
advantages that it's practically impossible to lose
against them. Did you just die? Aww... have
a continue! In fact, have them all! Too many
enemies on the screen? Here, throw this grenade at
them... they'll all die in a spectacular
explosion! If even THAT'S not enough, use this
overpowered laser beam to melt them into puddles of
disgusting goo! You can even use this against the
bosses if you want... hey, we won't stop you!
Space Raiders won't impress you much with its
graphics or sound, either. The bass-heavy
explosions are laid on a little too thick... instead of
adding impact to the deaths of especially powerful
enemies, they shake your windows, walls, and doors every
time you blink. The cinematic soundtrack supplied
by the legendary musicians at Zuntata is better, but not
by much. If you've ever watched a big-budget
movie, you've heard it all before. Speaking of
things in Space Raiders that are suspiciously familiar,
the artwork shamelessly copies the dark, dreary
atmosphere in Capcom's Resident Evil games, with
shambling zombies, grimey city streets, and heroes who
somehow manage to stay picture perfect throughout the
onscreen chaos. The unpolished graphics, with
their noticable polygonal edges and blurry textures,
would have been acceptable in the days of Code:
Veronica, but after the release of the visually
astounding Resident Evil 4, Space Raiders is left
looking like a second-rate clone of a game with
infinitely more depth and inspiration.
Unlike the Space Invaders sequels of the past, Space
Raiders doesn't succeed as a next-generation gaming
experience or as a worthy successor to the arcade
classic. Not to fear, though... you can always
squeeze every last drop of power out of your GameCube
with Resident Evil 4, then satisfy those xenocidal
cravings with the upcoming Space Invaders collection on
the PSP. Heck, even Space Invaders on the Game Boy
Advance will do the job in a pinch. Whatever you
do, don't let the space in your GameCube collection be
invaded by Space Raiders!
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TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF
L.A. |
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ACTIVISION |
LUXOFLUX,
EXAKT |
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ACTION |
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GAMECUBE |
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When reviewers talk about this game, the first thing
that comes out of their mouths is "Grand Theft Auto
clone". Yeah, just like that! See what I
mean? However, I don't think the comparisons
are fair, or even accurate. The truth is that the
two games couldn't be more different. In Grand
Theft Auto, you play a sleazy thug who runs over random
citizens with the car he just stole from a little old
lady, while gunning down Mafia-assigned targets.
However, in True Crime, you play a cocky cop who...
uh... runs over random citizens with the car he just
"commandeered" from a little old lady, while gunning
down targets assigned by the police department.
So, uh, there.
All right, all right... I'll admit the two games have
more than a few similarities. However, since the
comparisons to Grand Theft Auto have been done to death,
I'm going to take this review in an entirely different
direction... back to the past!
Nearly fifteen years ago, Konami released a game for
an earlier Nintendo system which, like True Crime,
featured racing, shooting, and fighting, all in one
package. The Adventures of Bayou Billy was
ambitious, but it just wasn't much fun to play due to
the poor integration of the three different styles of
gameplay. The driving would come to a screeching
halt to make way for the fist fights, and the brawls
would end just as abruptly when it was time to draw your
weapons and pick off enemies in the streets of New
Orleans.
Luckily, True Crime takes a different approach.
Instead of pasting together three mediocre games, the
designers took the shooting, fighting, and driving and
blended them together, making each style of gameplay
dependant on the others. When a crime breaks out,
you'll need to jump in your car, race to the scene
before any cops or hostages are killed, then exit the
vehicle and take on the suspect with your martial arts
skills or, when things get serious, your pair of
guns.
True Crime has one other advantage over The
Adventures of Bayou Billy... better design. While
none of the games in Bayou Billy had much substance or
variety, True Crime keeps you hooked with open-ended
gameplay and a surprising level of complexity.
Targeting specific areas of your opponent (whether it be
their legs or the wheels on their getaway car) results
in easier arrests, and the fighting is more strategic
and rewarding than in a certain Rockstar series.
If all this still isn't enough to keep you happy, a
quick stop at a nearby training facility is all it takes
to learn new abilities and further broaden your
horizons.
Heck, the game is even fun to watch, thanks to a
great storyline. True Crime is inspired by the
campy cop films we all remember from the 80's and 90's,
but it's so over the top that it could nearly pass for a
parody. You'll need no introductions to characters
like the Big Black Police Chief™ and the Stuck-Up Female
Partner™...you've met them all before. You're
going to love getting acquainted with Nick Kang,
though... this offspring of a surly cop and his
mysterious Chinese lover is armed with a wit as quick
and deadly as his fists. You'll bust a gut
laughing when he chases after a perp, shouting "Run,
Forrest, Run!", or when he optimistically refers to the
handcuffs he's putting on a suspect as "restraining
jewelry".
Could True Crime get any better? Well, yes,
actually it could. The three way gameplay proves
to be a little too complex for its own good... pressing
certain buttons activates different modes (shooting,
walking, and fighting), and it can be hard to break Nick
out of them when necessary. For example, firing
your gun in the air could convince a suspect to give up
right away... but they may also make a break for it,
forcing you to run after them while still stuck in
shooting mode (and remember, blowing away unarmed foes
is a big no-no, even if Nick Kang is just one gun
conversation away from being the 21st century's answer
to Sledge Hammer). Speaking of shooting, you can
also slow down time to target a foe's "neutralizing
points", but these areas are so difficult to pinpoint
even with the gameplay at a crawl that it's usually not
worth the trouble.
Also, can I complain about the cameo appearance by
Snoop Doggy Dogg? Well, I will anyway. I'm
getting sick of seeing this living stereotype
everywhere, and I sure as hell don't want him in any
video games. He may have won an award for it, but
the option to play as the Shizz-head is hardly what I'd
call a bonus.
Even with its complicated control and idiotic guest
stars, True Crime offers a lot of bang, punch, and
burned rubber for the buck. I wouldn't go so far
as to call it a Grand Theft Auto killer, but True
Crime's successful merger of three different game genres
is more than enough to finally bring Bayou Billy to
justice.
