Mini-Reviews: Console & Computer Games. Contribute!

[firstadopter]

Animal Crossing for Gamecube - 6 out of 10
I think a good game for young girls, but for older guys fetching things all the time isn't my idea of fun. Graphics are very cutesy and cartoonish. Give this game to your young daughter.

Mario Party 5 for Gamecube - 7 out of 10
Good party game, hence the name. Some excellent mini-games, but I hate playing the stupid board game in between.

Lord of the Rings: Two Towers for Gamecube - 7 out of 10
Good action game, limited rail line story. But graphics and movie scenes are amazing.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker for Gamecube - 8 out of 10
Zelda. nuff said, other than the graphics and story line, not much has changed.

SSX 3 Snowboarding for Gamecube - 9 out of 10
Great snow boarding game, improved on the original 3X fold.

NBA Street Volume 2 for Gamecube - 7 out of 10
I didn't like it as much as the NBA Jam days. Game seems more flash than skill, also GC version not as good cuz of the controller button limitations.

Super Monkeyball 2 for Gamecube - 7 out of 10
Great party game, singly player game gets frustrating and dull after a whilel.

2002 Fifa World Cup for Gamecube - 6 out 10
Not much new here, control is pretty arcadish.

[firstadopter]

Unreal Tournament 2004 - 8 out 10
The initial amazement at Onslaught mode is dying down, but this is still one of the best online multiplayer experiences on the market. Stunning graphics especially at 1600x1200 and great control and vehicles. A excellent addition to any gamer's library.

[arogan]

Psi-Ops (XBOX)

Fun Fun Fun!
- about 3-4 hrs into it.
- best use of havok 2.0 physics engine.
- psi powers are great fun. so many ways to kill your enemies. the combat is just great. My favorite is mind control. Take control of an enemy, hose all his buddies, then make him turn his own gun on himself as he screams and struggles to regain control until finally he blows is own head off in a bloody mess. FUN!
Btw the last move is almost an easter egg b/c I guess it's so violent. Just push down on both analog sticks (activate the buttons) for 5-10 seconds. You need at least 50% of your psi energy if not more.
- I kind of like the comic approach to character design
- missions are a bit generic with some key hunts. Level design has been pretty good though
- Tons of great interactions with the environment and your psi powers. It really shows off good use of havok.
- story is pretty generic so far
- check point save system has been well placed so far and not frustrating at all.

It's a great playground for havok with your psi powers. Well worth the $40 I paid!


Ninja Gaiden (XBOX)
- long game. I'm about 15 hrs into it (ch 11/16). I will easily go over the min 20hrs.
- controls are awesome. great fighting mechanics/gameplay. good combo system that requries technique but not a lot of memorization.
- throw in some good exploration, adventuring, and environmental puzzles.
- money, shopping, some leveling up of weapons.
- graphics are awesome. some very nice character models.
- level design has been so far excellent
- save points could be a bit more frequent but overall not too frustrating.
- difficulty is definitely up there but winnable
- music/sound nice.
- camera kind of sucks. It's very close to the action which looks great but many times enemies attack you from off screen. The way the combat system works it's not too terrible but I wish I could pull the camera back at times.
- a few evil jumping puzzles that are made worse by camera issues.
- xbox live support in the form of some tournament mode that is unlocked after finishing it. I hear it's more like a time attack.
- 3 nes ninja guiden games are unlockable but it sounds like it's pretty hard to do and could take multiple plays. Ummmm I think I would just spend the $5 and buy all 3 for the nes.
- swimming sucks. really hard to see underwater because of these crazy graphic effects. What really sucks is I've just started a chapter that is 95% water.

A few flaws but well worth the $50.

I finnally went back and finished it. I was maybe only 3 hrs from the end when I had put it on hold.
- About 25hrs total, Crazy amount of bosses at the end, last boss was actually pretty easy it's just getting there that's kind of hard.
- difficult but very satisfying game
- watch all the way past the credits for the complete ending.

[arogan]

Joint Operations (PC)
It's BF1942 meets BHD in this multiplayer only game that supports up to 150 players.

- Played about 3 hrs of team DM
- there is suppose to be a really fun co-op mode I need to try where a bunch of players square off against AI.
- no real single player except a bunch of training missions.
- Keyboard mapping is all screwed up like usual just like BHD. You can't map ctrl, ctrl+key combo's don't work right, can't map extra mouse buttons, the usual buggy crap from novalogic. They do this every game and everytime they eventually patch it. Time to update that common code base or quit out sourcing the damn keyboard mapping code!
- Nice jungle environments, good foilage for snipers, tons of vehicles (land, sea, air) that are SUPER easy to control with the mouse. No more hours of training just to be a "pilot."
- fps were around 50 most of the time at 1024X768. Game felt smooth overall with no noticeable lag.
- the usual hosed 5.1 support that conks out after about 30 min.

Overall it was worth the $28 I paid for it at fry's. It's a bit rough but I think after a few patches it can be a pretty good game. The game is a bit sniper heavythough.

[TheAngryIntern]

i got the demo for joint operations and it was ok, i guess. I tried a few different servers, got pretty good pings. You are right, it is VERY sniper heavy. for that price, I might just go buy it, cuz it was fun.

Thief 3: Deadly Shadow

I've been playing this off and on since i got it a couple of weeks ago. The visuals are pretty darn stunning, especially the level of detail in the shadows, which of course are a major part of the game. I like hiding in a shadowy spot in a narrow hallway and having a guard walk right past me and not see me, then quietly follow him and smack him upside the head with my blackjack!!! The AI is a tad bit stupid, for more insight to what i'm talking about, click on this: http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=2004-06-16 That pretty much sums up the AI in this game. All in All, it is a lot of fun sneaking around killing the enemy unseen and stealing lots of loot to sell so you can buy more arrows and such. Also, if you are thinking of getting this game, go here: http://www.graphics-by-john-p.com/textures/Thief-DS/index.shtml This guy realized that some of the textures in the game were not as detailed as they should be, so he wrote his own textures that are available for download. Nothing to big, but it does make a difference. Anyway I'd give this game a 7 out of 10 for some bugginess, somewhat stupid AI, but incredible graphics and sound!!

[firstadopter]

How hard is Ninja Gaiden for an average gamer (I'm not as hard-core as I used to be)?

I heard there is a Ninja Gaiden 1.1 coming out in a month or so with a bunch of new enhancements if you're an Xbox Live subscriber.

[firstadopter]

Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox) - 9 out 10
Perfect combination of great graphics, good gameplay, and decent learning curve. I'm having a lot more fun than I ever did with Gran Turismo. Gran Turismo was way too hard and frustratingly boring trying to learn the turns and get the licenses.

PGR2 on the other hand has perfectly reasonable learning curve, better graphics and an awesome online multiplayer mode. Much recommended.

[TheAngryIntern]

Driv3r- don't bother. this game pretty much sux. The driving controls were ok, but the controls for just running around were atrocious. Not to mention that it is a total GTA rip off. I rented it from Game Fly and played it for about an hour and promptly sent it back. pretty much total suckage.

[firstadopter]

Yeah it's getting horrible reviews everywhere. Supposedly Atari is so worried they are trying to get sites NOT to review it since they shipped 2.5M copies. Lol.

[TheAngryIntern]

Spiderman 2 (xbox) 9 out of 10.....this game rocks so far. I've only played it for a couple of hours, as I have not seen the movie yet, and my roommate was watching me play and he told me i'd probably ruin the movie if i played much more of it. I played the first spiderman game and it was pretty cool, but this one blows that one out of the water. for one thing, one major gripe I had about the first game was when you were swing around the city, you could just sling your web up in the sky and grab onto the sky and swing, which was pretty retarded. This new game, there has to actually be something for the web to grab onto, such as a building or a tree or something. Manhatten Island is beautifully rendered, which all the major landmarks you would expect to see. I crawled up to the top of the Empire State Building and did a swan dive off the top, rushing towards the street and then slinging out some web at the last minute and swinging to safety. Man that was cool!!!! The game is also much more open ended. Each chapter of the game has 3 or 4 major objectives you must accomplish in order to continue on in the game. So far my objectives have been to acquire so many hero points, buy a certain powers upgrade from teh store, and go to a certain point in the city, where usually there will be a cut scene of some kind. There is no time limit to completing these objectives, so you are pretty much free to roam about the city, looking for bad guys to beat up on and gain hero points. You will hear people shouting "over here spidey" or something to that affect, and you go down to the street and a citizen will have some little mini objective for you to do, e.g. some bad guys robbing a dude or something, and then you go kick their arses and save the day!!! You also have the addition of spidey senses, which for me on the xbox was used by pushing up on the d-pad. This slows down time for a bullet-time like play where you can see attacks before they will occur and can react accordingly. All in all, this game rocks and is a lot of fun. I really need to go see the movie so I can continue playing the game!!!!!