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Total Reviews: 23
Average Overall Score Given: 7.47826 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 35
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Reviews
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NFL Fever 2004
Just how big will online console gaming get? One of the indicators of it success is hinged on how well Microsoft’s XSN sport series does. The new XSN online capabilities, exclusive to the Xbox will raise the bar for all of its competitors. The ability to make leagues and challenges on the internet using a pc will surely spice up the Xbox live experience. The 2004 version of Microsoft’s football powerhouse will ultimately be known as the year that online console gaming finally caught up to the PC. But with so much emphasis placed on getting the Xbox live experience improved and launching the XSN on the right foot, the natural assumption would be that the single player game mode would take a step back.
Well let me tell you, after playing and managing my team in the dynasty mode for hours, Fever appears to be its normal self-improving self. Ultimately the new toy is going to be the improved online gaming. In the coming years it will be interesting to see to what extent this catches on with the general populous. Some of the new and improved features you will also notice in Fever, are the highly detailed player models that reflect the size and physiques of real NFL players and include variable accessories such as gloves, wristbands, face masks, taped fingers, mouthpieces and animated towels. Also improved is the way the Momentum-based motions provide some of the most realistic animation of any football video game to date. Also the commentary and crowd respond more intelligently to what's happening on the field. If gamers' home teams are playing well, the fans will let them know. Also in this years version of Fever you can take a franchise to super bowl glory with the new more in debt Dynasty mode.
The gameplay of NFL Fever 2004 doesn't really seem to play like an "ultra-realistic NFL experience" type of football game. There are some definite arcade elements to this game. One thing to always remember about NFL Fever 2004 is that this game is ALL about big plays. Long bombs to your speedy receivers, huge run offs by your franchise running backs, and wild plays in between will run off huge score totals on any of the skill levels. The controls of NFL Fever 2004 are nearly identical to any other football games for Xbox, including Madden and Sega's editions. Running the football, or taking control of a receiver with the ball is definitely the best part of the gameplay, as you are able to juke and jive your way around the opposition with remarkable precision. The Dynasty mode of the game is solid, but I have my beefs with it. For example, if you keep injuries turned on, you'll find a slew of unrealistic career-ending injuries. In the three separate seasons I ran through, my team always lost one player in the first season to a career ending injury. In fact in one year playing with the San Diego Chargers, I lost BOTH my quarterbacks Doug Flutie and Drew Brees for their careers to injury after only one season. So word to the wise, just turn injuries off, because the sim engine doesn't handle injuries well. Undoubtedly this 2004 edition is a huge upgrade over the 2003 edition. Improved gameplay and the best feature of all, XSN on-line gamplay, offer a very fun an competitive football experience. The sim engine is a bit out of wack (if you put the clock on 10 minute quarters you get scores of 71 to 30) and the warped torso effect gets on your nerves from now and then. Also When it comes to running the ball, Fever might be a little bit too hard. Even the biggest holes in the line get filled up quickly by streaking linebackers and linemen that slip off blocks at the perfect time.
The graphics of NFL Fever 2004 are at their most impressive during the taunts and replays. The replay graphics show off the power and muscle of the Xbox system. But, how important are replay graphics? Well, not THAT important, but definitely part of the overall equasion. The graphics during the in-game play are much improved over the 2003 edition, however, there still seems to be this "warped torso" effect with players - especially the larger sized players. All of the lineman in the game look like they have giant pot belly’s and it seems like they haven't seen a gym in their life ... hardly the truth in today's fitness driven NFL. If this warped torso effect were fixed, the graphics in the game would be very impressive. As it is the stadium models are very accurate (not perfect) but accurate, and the field graphics (end zone, 50-yard-line logos, etc) are very impressive. The motion-captured tackles and sacks are impressive and offer some "wow" factor during some big hits.
The most significant thing about the sounds of NFL Fever 2004 is the on-field chatter of the players. Microsoft has been able to really create a realistic auditory environment where you feel like you're in the trenches fighting for yardage. The commentators call the action quickly and with interesting comments and also offer mildly amusing play-by-play. But let’s say you have a good run at the end of a game, the commentators might yield comments like, "The defense has to find a way to stop that sooner or later," or "They need to make some adjustments. That is one thing Microsoft should work on, the timing of the comments said. But other than that, Fever 04’s sounds impressive.
Suggestions: If you're looking for a solid football game that offers fun arcade style NFL action, then NFL Fever 2004 is the game you should buy. Overall, this game and franchise is headed in the right direction, and is a fine title to add to your Xbox collection. Fever has earned their audience, and only time will tell what affect XSN Sports series may have. LOOK OUT; the boys are back in town… and they mean business.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter
Warthog, Black Label Games and Vivendi Universal present Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter, a first-person shooter for the Xbox that is a taut tale of vengeance. The story starts off like this; Mace Griffin had tried to make a career of the Ranger service, serving as a pilot and infantry, until a mission turned sour. While Mace was innocently obeying his orders, Mace fell into a trap that took the lives of an entire ship full of his fellow Rangers. Upon his return to base, Mace was court-martialed, and thrown into prison with common criminals for ten years. Upon completing his sentence, Mace joins an old friend from the big house who sets him up with the Guild of Bounty Hunters. Mace’s work in the guild not only serves to fund his operations, but to help him discover the forces that set him up for a fall and ultimately avenge the dissolution of the Rangers and the death of his comrades.
The game starts off with pretty simple tasks. The first task given to Mace is to find the control center and release the airlock, which has shut on the unit. Along the way, players will get a lesson in targeting, and killing a host of bad guys, all of whom speak with Russian accents with trite mean slogans - like "your scalp is mine, dirt bag" or "I’m going to have your head on a stick!"…during the firefight. The game itself is somewhat linear in nature, and the AI is really good. The bad guys don’t just stand there waiting to get shot. They roll, hide and take irregular paths to their target. The graphical quality of the game is very up to par. There is some pretty profound details that are presented in a fashionable way. The textures and coloring is much more lush then most of the other fps on the Xbox. Some of the cut-scenes are a little robotic, though. And there are some lip-synch problems. But those are just minor problem that can be easily ignored. The sound is a mixed bag as well. The musical score is very good, and the battle sounds are well done. Some of the vocal characterizations are cliché though.
The control elements are fairly straightforward and typical of the genre. The right thumb stick controls targeting and is rather touchy. Newcomers to the genre will have their work cut out for them but after about 20 minutes, they should have the fundamentals down well enough to work through the early levels. You will have to pay attention to health and ammunition and find power-ups along the way to sustain both. The game also has auto-save points that enable you to save your progress in a level without having to begin all over should you die. And count on dying. The better you do, the more the AI seems to adjust and throw smarter, tougher and more enemies at you. Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter is almost non-stop action. This is a linear tale that asks players to rely on reflexive abilities rather than worry about thinking too much. Yes, you will have to process information and sometimes they will throw innocent non-playing characters at you as decoys. A quick trigger finger is not always the best idea. This is a game that is challenging, looks good, has a moody soundtrack appropriate for the tempo of the game and plays well. Mace is not your typical hero, but then he has good reason not to be. Levels vary, sometimes requiring all out blasting, strategic action, or even an assortment of puzzles, jumping and otherwise (such as blasting an explosive tank to move an obstacle).
: Here is where the FPS mode shows its flaws and the space combat shines. Although on the ground, there are some neat graphical tricks such as the shimmering orange water in some places, and the hallucinogenic blur when you get hit with a flash grenade, the game is rather primitive looking, with character models that look slightly blocky. Some of the animations are rather nice, including the way Griffin will switch between a single and double-handed grip for his pistol, but as a whole there’s nothing particularly exceptional about the graphics on the ground. In space, however, is a different story, with space itself looking as pristine as it ought to, and the graphical details on the ships a bit more up to par.
The voice acting is nearly emotionless, and the monotonous drone that almost every generic tough guy has used in movies and games since the beginning of time does little to benefit our belief that Griffin is a worthwhile character. The rest of the voice acting fares only slightly better, even if it too is as generic as the protagonist’s. Most of the sound effects are alright, although there’s nothing particularly exceptional about it. The music is nicely composed, although coupled with a sometimes-shoddy dynamic music system it begins to seem obnoxious at times; when a full choir and orchestral score is blasting while you’re simply walking up a few flights of stairs, it doesn’t feel epic at all, unfortunately.
Suggestions: This is a good first-person shooter. The storyline maybe a bit familiar, but the new settings and the way Rollins expresses himself all add up to a very enjoyable time. Mace Griffin sports all the features of the very good FPS titles, and deserves a good long look. Great Job Guys.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick
Now let’s get right into business…. Evil Dead: fistful of Boomstick isn't what I'd call a particularly good game...but it's not particularly bad either. In fact, I'd say I had a lot more fun with it than I expected.
Because of the reviews other sources gave this game I really thought it was gonna be one of “those” games. One of the main reason I think this game disserves a mediocre score is largely due to the influence of Bruce Campbell with this particular title. He recorded all the voice work for Ash, and there's a whole hell of a lot. His wisecracking breaks up what could have been some pretty serious monotony (you can even make him toss out one-liners by tapping the Y button), and there are a few cut-scenes that are laugh-out-loud funny.
The other big thing Boomstick has going for it is a sensible targeting system. There are plenty of times when you'll find yourself surrounded by enemies, and being able to auto-target and fire from any position not only helps with the gameplay, it also makes for some pretty kick-ass effects. If an enemy shows up behind Ash, he'll just flip his shotgun over his shoulder and fire without even looking. Even better, equip a repeating shotgun with explosive shells, walk into a group of Deadites, hold down the Target and Fire buttons, and watch the blood fly. Oh…. priceless.
So why do I give it a mediocre score? Well, the graphics are awfully poor in details...and the camera sucks...and the level design makes no sense whatsoever...and the enemies respond after a shockingly long time. Plus, in spite of the fact that Ash has a weapon in each hand, he can barely pull of combos where you use both of them simultaneously! To me, that's a monstrous oversight. Also the puzzles in this game are awful; in some cases I spent way too much of my precious time figuring out how to get past very simple minded puzzles, but because of the level design those simple puzzles became some pretty treacherous tasks.
Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick is a third-person action shooter that doesn’t get frilly with RPG elements, vehicular or first-person modes, or multiplayer modes. It’s a simple slice ‘em-up and shoot ‘em-up full of action and excessive violence. In the game, gamers play as the sarcastic Ash, voiced by film counterpart and cult icon Bruce Campbell, as he hunts down the Necronomicon, a book with the power to raise the dead and teleport between times and dimensions. A local television station accidentally broadcasts the dead-raising incantations all over Dearborn, unleashing the power of the Deadites all over town. Ash’s primary weapon is his chainsaw that fits perfectly on his right stump in the absence of his hand. With his left hand, Ash can wield a shotgun (his boomstick), a shovel, a flamethrower, the powerful gatling gun, and other weapons to dispense the onslaught of Deadites.
The game begins with a lengthy, pointless cinematic sequence that introduces us to Ash, the swaggering, one-liner spouting anti-hero of the "Evil Dead" movies. Once again, he's out to stop the zombies from taking over the world. We then move on to a deathly boring opening level where Ash talks to boring people and has to complete boring tasks. Did I mention that it's boring? So boring, in fact, that it's hard to play long enough to get to some of the game's more interesting elements, like the selection of different weapons or the ability to cast a few spells. Even if you're able to stick it out, the lame roadblocks (both literal and figurative) thrown at you prevent the action from ever really heating up. This game has more locked doors and deserted streets than a suburban gated community. You're telling me that a bad-ass like Ash, a guy with a chainsaw for a hand for god sakes, can't get past a simple locked door? As I mentioned, all you need to do in this game is get to a locked door, kill some zombies, get the key off their dead bodies, and get through the locked door. This formula is so repetitive in this game that it literally exhaust’s any player in and about the very presence of this game, and trust me it becomes very frustrating, because you are given an extreme lack of clues, and no mapping system what so ever. The game is fun when you're able to just run around, sawing, and shooting through Deadites. Simplistic and monotonous…. yes, but fun. As I mentioned before, the targeting system is the one big highlight, it lets you target enemies all around you, and even shoot over your shoulder.
"Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick" is reasonably good-looking, with some attractive lighting effects and extra touches like leaves blowing in the wind. The game uses the "State of Emergency" engine, so the action is smooth but at the expense of detail. The color-scheme, if you can call it that, is somewhere between muddy gray and grayish mud. The town of Dearborn isn’t incredibly detailed, and many of the buildings repeat. Normally something like that can be overlooked, but when running back and forth through an undetailed town with repeating buildings, even the most spatially gifted, will feel lost. The characters move well, but aren’t very well modeled. Ash himself doesn’t look much more human than the Deadites, and the in-game resemblance to Bruce Campbell is slim at best. The gore is moderately detailed, but gamers will still squeal with joy after lopping off an arm, bisecting a torso, and spilling blood. The cinematic cut-scenes of the game are top-notch (if you can ignore some mediocre lip synching). Ash looks very much like the Ash of the movies, and they prove themselves to be entertaining and well presented.
Bruce Campbell voices Ash's dialog, which should please fans of the movies, but his deadpan delivery might come across as bad acting to those not familiar with the distinct style of his character. And they certainly must have spent a lot of their “mullah” to get Bruce on board, because the other voices are simply bad. The one thing that makes the sound mediocre is all thanks to Ash’s one-liners more than anything else. Fans of the movies will take some pleasure in hearing Ash dish out, “How’s that hole in your head?” and other equally silly insults. The music is very fitting but isn’t exactly something you’d want to listen to on your Discman. Other than that, the sound effects are well in one word “poor”.
Suggestions: "Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick" might be worth the price for fans of the movies. But it also has the misfortune of being released in the same era as “Hunter the Reckoning” a much better blood-and-guts undead shooter.
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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Brute Force
I think it is now safe to say that this is definitely the game everybody should be saving up for. It is the first video game to suck you in with its sheer depth of gameplay, since Microsoft debut on the Xbox with its wondrous fps….Halo. Brute Force is not a first-person shooter like Halo, but don't let that stop you! The game is a third-person shooter published by Microsoft and just like everyone expected this game takes full advantage of the Xbox’s capabilities. Now let’s talk more into depth about this games one of a kind features.
Fitting loosely into the tactical action genre, Brute Force attempts to take the Halo concept to a new level. You command a squad of four well equipped commandos. Each character has his or her own strengths, weaknesses, and special abilities. You will need to use their special ability to develop the best strategies for a variety of situations. The “gun’s a blazing” tactic won’t do you much good in this game; you will actually have to use your noggin’ for something besides crushing beer (or pop) cans.
First off I would like to present each character that Brute Force has to offer.
Tex is the first character you get to use in Brute force. And as the hard !&%$@#* of the squad he will stay true to his role through the game with his “take no prisoners” attitude. His special abilities include firing two large weapons simultaneously. His ability is referred to as Berserk.
Brutus is the first character you encounter that decides to team up with Tex. Brutus is a fairly primitive fellow, right down to his looks. At first glance, he’ll remind you of those big bad monsters from Donkey Kong from back in the day, but most of the alligators from Donkey Kong couldn’t see through mists and in low visibility using night-vision type sight. Even fewer had the ability to heal themselves. By the way for those that didn’t catch it that is his special ability.
Hawk resembles a female version of Sam Fisher. Actually I would have to say that her stealth abilities are a bit more impressive than Sam’s. Her ability to turn invisible in a matter of seconds is handy for sneaking up behind large groups of enemies to ‘spy’, you could even use it to hide if you desperately need recuperation.
Last but not least, Flint. Flint has excellent sniper skills at a distance and her special move aids her to use those skills for close range, accurate, rapid combat. Also Flint doesn’t have to breathe, due to the fact that she isn’t human nor is she an animal, which makes her immune to biological weaponry.
Normal gameplay is seen through a third-person perspective which allows you to see the big picture. You can control each character individually, rotating between them using the D-pad. The three characters you aren’t controlling can be given “auto-pilot” commands such as: follow, defend, engage, or flee. Commands can be even more specific, such as ‘follow aggressively’, at which point your commandos will follow and defend you with an attitude.
Every team member can carry up to two weapons just like in Halo. Throughout the game you’ll come across about 30 different weapons (including Sonic Cannons and Psychic Blasts) and several types of grenades. Although your commandos can hold two weapons each, each character will handle a specific weapon differently than another. As far as this concept goes, some commandos can’t handle certain weapons at all (too heavy, etc.). This should make for some deep strategizing, along with an occasional dose of good ol’ frustration. “Oooh Happy Days”
The control scheme is actually very simple. It reminds me a lot of the rock solid scheme that was used in Halo, but in a third person perspective. Your two joysticks take care of the movement while the right trigger fires your primary weapon. The left trigger uses the item you currently have selected, such as grenades, med kits, landmines stuff of that genre. Switching between characters is even easier, as previously stated, it’s achieved using the D-pad. The D-pad also pulls double duty – you’ll use it in tandem with the colored buttons (A, B, Y, X, Black and White) to issue orders to your commandos. Select the character receiving the order using the D-pad, then use the appropriate colored button to assign them a command. The ‘Y’ button switches your weapon and the white button initiates your character’s special move. All this makes the control very user friendly, from basic combat down to micro-managing your squad.
Now just imagine yourself chomping away through the campaign mode. While you’re finally starting to get the hang of things your buddy walks in and decides he wants to raise a little hell. Where this used to be a problem, Digital Anvil has done you right. Plug in a controller right in the middle of the game and your buddy will assume control of one of your commandos. But after a few hours of hearing you constantly nag about his strategies, he gets fed up with all your orders and decides to bring his business else where and heads on out. Not a problem either for this game. All you need you need to do is unplug his controller and his character returns to your command. Pretty innovative stuff we’re dealing with here…eh. Other than the fine co-op mode there is also a death match mode and a team death match mode. This can become very addictive. And let’s not forget system link. (Oh boy, where just gonna have a jolly ol’ time with this game, aren’t we now?)
Brute Force's graphics are, in a word, breathtaking. Its enormous outdoor levels are painstakingly detailed with flowing streams of lava, towering mountains, and rushing waterfalls. The rare indoor levels are a bit less dramatic, but look fantastic none the less. Every living thing moves so realistically that you'll swear you are watching a movie, and, in a sense, you are. The game is so well laid out that it is like watching a movie. Brute Force’s storyline rivals most movie scripts in terms of plot. And the game gives you such a sense of realism; in some areas. Everything is done so seamlessly that the game draws you in to the point where you feel like you are right there in the heat of the battle. At one point, I actually felt a sense of remorse when I lost some of my fellow squad members. And although I did question my sanity at this point, I think it is just a testament to what the developers put into this game. One point that seems to have gone missing from a lot of previews/reviews of this game is the animation, it's wonderful, I really have been impressed by the way enemies move, defend, run away with their arms in the air screaming and fly through the air when blasted with a frag grenade.
The sound can't be faulted one bit; playing the game is a joy to the ears with the great dialog, music and background sound FX. Every single item makes a different sound in this game well at least it sounds like it. The music starts off the game superbly right from the intro with an intense melody. If you have a Dolby 5.1 setup you are going to be in for a treat. And all of the 30 weapons all have there own distinct sounds. But the most impressive part of the audio according to me would have to be the sound of Brutus breathing while he is running along with his special ability activated. It just sounds so intensively realistic.
But the hardest question I had to ask myself was, what is it about Brute Force that makes it so special? Perhaps it has something to do with the attention to detail that have gone into this game. While graphics don't make a game, it certainly adds to the experience, especially when the graphics look as good as they do in this one of a kind title. but perhaps it is the presentation. From the very beginning of the game, you are given a sense of urgency, of realism, the kind that makes a good movie so engrossing. The music is also excellent, and like everything else, perfectly compliments the atmosphere. But according to me, what makes Brute Force so special is that every aspect of it was given an enormous amount of thought. Every piece of Brute Force is excellent, but more importantly, each one of those pieces fit together so perfectly that they create an incredible, intense, satisfying experience. Is Brute Force really all that and a bag of chips? YES. Has it accomplished things that no game before it has? Yes. Is it revolutionary? Yes. Brute Force will remind you why you play games. It has raised the bar for every third person shooter that will follow. But don't take my word for it. Go find out for yourself. You are about to witness the next level in gaming. Welcome to Brute Force.
Suggestions: I have no suggestion for the developers. All of our hats here at Xbox Addict are off to Digital Anvil for attempting and succeeding on raising the bar for next generation games. Excellent Job!!!
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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State of Emergency
All right let’s get down to business. First off for anyone that is unfamiliar with this game, I will give you a little preview of the story. Well actually I can’t, there is no story accept for that a riot has broken out in a fictional city and that your job is to help lead the budding revolution against the oppressive Corporate police state that has long denied the people their freedom. Not much of a story but I guess this game was not intended to let the gamers develop any relation of any kind with the city nor the people living in it nor the people destroying nor even the people saving it. But I guess it doesn’t really matter it seems like today people are more intrigued in beating helpless citizens down to a bloody pulp with a stolen T.V. than a good in-game back story. (What is this world coming to?) Anyway State of emergency has three modes Revolution, Chaos and a multiplayer mode which was no where to be found in the ps2 version of the game.
By far the weakest part of the game is the Revolution mode, which consists of a large number of missions to complete in order to progress to the next city area. Nearly all missions consist of mindless simple escort, seek and destroy, and fetch quest gameplay. Not only that, but there are many missions in each Revolution mode stage. This adds up to several hours on each stage running around doing the same things over and over and over again.
Chaos mode is more or less of an arcade-style free-for-all that sends you into the streets with no set goals beyond destruction, mayhem, and a high score. A timer counts down as an arrow guides you through various randomly generated objectives, such as blowing up a particular building or beating down an elite Corporation task force. Successfully completing an objective or grabbing time pickups from defeated Corporate thugs will extend your playtime. A little bit like Crazy Taxi but with a crazy arsenal.
The addition of the multiplayer games just makes this game a far sweeter deal than the ps2 version. Up to four players can either team up or just get into an all-out death match where each player is on his/her own. The split-screen action is not as intense as the chaos mode mostly because here the framerate drops and the playing arenas are not quite as packed with screaming pedestrians. Still, the four multiplayer modes (Multiplayer Chaos, Multiplayer Last Clone Standing, Deathmatch and Survivor) do keep this game fresh and fun for a little while.
Well not much to talk about here. All you pretty much have to know is how to press the A and X button. In other words kick and punch. That is the real downfall of "State of Emergency". It’s the disturbingly shallow gameplay. Each of the identical characters has punches, kicks, and grabs that all do the same thing, and combos are practically nonexistent. Simple combos can be worked out with alternating taps of the punch and kick buttons, but repeatedly pressing either button results in an endless combo that will end only when the enemy being pummeled falls down. All melee weapons do is cause quicker knockouts, and firearms make you all but unstoppable. Rounding out your "move set" is a spin attack that will knock down anyone around you, providing a way out of tight spots. But the biggest problem of all is the uncooperative camera. It gets so annoying you will just feel like going to kick and punch people in Kabuki warriors instead, unless you want to master the art of shooting blindly around corners, in this embarrassing port. I would strongly advise every addict out there to rent this game before buying it. SOE is not worthy of your money.
The visuals are more cartoonish than one would expect from "State of Emergency's" setting, but the art style works well. Plenty of blood flows, limbs and bodies fly, and you can even beat people to death with the severed heads of previous victims. Perhaps to purposefully offset this, "State of Emergency's" populace is primarily made up of civilian caricatures and faceless jackbooted Corporate goons. The number of characters moving around onscreen at any moment is extremely impressive. You can see about 100 people sprinting around with no slowdown. Regardless of its other failings, "State of Emergency" is a stunning technical achievement. Well at least it was back in the day when it came out for ps2 it’s pretty much a straight port to the Xbox. Well Xbox graphics have been polished up a bit but other than that and the multiplayer mode the game has nothing to exciting to offer.
The people’s screaming plaints are both loud and intense and you’ll hear plenty every minute. Aside from the shrieks of innocent people that just happened to have been caught in the heat of the battle or should I say riot, you’ll hear the mad grunts of local gang members beating on Corporation officers. Bystanders are also the victims of grenades that just happen to go astray and the explosions are both fiery and loud. However, the game’s soundtrack just doesn’t cut it here or help convey the right mood for a riot in any way. But on the bright side, the option of customable soundtrack is present so gamers can play the right kind of tunes for a revolution. This makes up a bit for the lack of sound FX and voices.
Suggestions: I would suggest not giving us PS2 quality and using the Xbox for all it’s worth. I’m getting pretty tired of all these ports.
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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All-Star Baseball 2004
Acclaim is still pumping out the All Star Baseball games with this years cover man Derek Jeter. Also stepping back up this year is the beloved Franchise and Season mode, but wait there’s more, actually there is much more in the 2004 edition of All-Star Baseball. I guess Acclaim have decided to explore their horizons a bit. Some of the new features presented in this game are the option of playing a "pick up" game; where you just pick from a bunch of players like a sandlot and play in an open field for fun. There is a Home Run Derby, and a very cool Scenario Mode. You take control of situations from some of the most famous moments from the seasons gone by. In all there are 21 innovative scenarios. I hope this continues and that they keep including the great moments of baseball past in the games to come. All Star Baseball 2004 also has a bunch of great little videos for your enjoyment. You will have the chance to learn many little personal experiences of many famous baseball players, both old and new. But with all the new features added in this edition is there any negatives stuff? Well as we all know by now All-Star Baseball is known as having pretty graphics, but inferior gameplay. Let's see if the 2004 edition has improved on any of that.
First let’s start with the good stuff. The expansion mode. Like some of the sport games out there, the expansion mode in ASB 2004 allows you to create a team complete with faux logo and mascot. The selection isn’t as varied as others, but it’s still easy to find a unique one. After that, the expansion draft goes into place and you get to play the bullheaded GM. Just like in the real big leagues, you’ll find it very tough to be a very good team during the first year or two. Gathering experience and acquiring more players, the opening years are best spent behind the GM desk while simulating games, instead of even spending your precious time playing them. Once you’re actually on your way, you’ll have so much control over your franchise, that it won’t even be funny. Set up budgets, move players, get coaching, even put players on a trading block! There is so much you can do with your team you won't even believe it. When it comes to Franchise modes, this is the most comprehensive you can get, period! Although the franchise mode is great, the gameplay still isn’t up to par. In short, it’s too realistic, to the degree where I might as well just be playing real ball instead of in a videogame. The batting system has always been clunky and the worst part of the ASB series, but rather than getting an attractive new facelift for 2003/2004, ASB 2004 makes the problem worse. The pitches now come with blistering intensity, to the point where hitting anything at all is basically guesswork and relies more on your hitter than your batting skills. Awesome hitters will have swing zones big enough to possibly connect with a pitch even if it isn’t near, but average hitters will find it impossible to ever connect if the pitcher is anything better than a fourth-rate closer. It used to be that players struggled through defensive duties in order to enjoy their time behind the plate, now that’s no longer the case. The hitting is just as laborious and random as ever.
This year, Acclaim has brought life into the game with greatly improved visuals in player models and stadiums. Player models, in particular, have fantastic animations on the field especially during big double plays or diving catches. What I liked the most is that I could recognize the player without having to look at the name. The facial details really impressed me this year. With over 75 different stadiums in the game, every one you visit won’t have you saying “Why do I see the same design in every stadium?” That’s not going to happen; Acclaim has made sure that each stadium looks like real life. Something I really enjoy seeing that many other Baseball titles tend to ignore is including history and heritage in games. ASB is one title that really puts forth a valid effort which is something I can’t say of the competition. ASB 2004 comes packed with 200 uniforms, many of them old school which give you a reminiscence of the old days. Uniforms are rich with color and detail and affect the game in a positive way.
This game sounds almost as good as it looks. The sounds of the game are excellent and the crowd sounds great. At one point I noticed that the sound of the bat on the ball was not quite right. It turns out that was because the bat broke. Another nice touch was the commentating, which this year is done by Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons. You can even switch the commentary to Spanish, which for effect, will put a little "SAP" sign up in the scoreboard area. Anyway the commentary is fantastic. Where I thought World Series Baseball dropped the ball with cementation, All Star definitely doesn't. During batter walk-ups, or after a play, sometimes Thom and Steve will actually talk. Their dialogue comes across very natural and conversational. As with
any game, it does get repetitive at times, but that’s normal.
Suggestions: The only real problem I had was with the clunky batting system. Other then that my hat is off to Acclaim for another spectacular Grand Slam.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Pulse Racer
Cashing in on the hottest genres, producing washed up sequels, releasing buggy titles months in advance to meet quarterly results: These are the inalienable rights of every game developer that we at Xbox addict duly recognize, and often endure. After all, it's a free market out there and if companies can successfully peddle out a game which genre has been overly used, well, who's really more to blame? But when a game as bad as Pulse Racer comes rolling through, it makes us seriously reconsider our code of tolerance (sorry but that’s the only way I can describe this game). Combining the tired old futuristic-racer concept with the equally tired world of kart racing, Pulse Racer is a strange and unhappy marriage of genre clichés. This is an Xbox game and it just looks putrid. The tracks in Pulse are uninspired and painfully lacking in visual detail. Even more laughable are the vehicles themselves, which look more like bumper cars than state-of-the-art speed demons. The characters are insipid, and so are their rides. It's all not up to par with any other game of the genre. The sound isn't that great either, particularly some of the rubbishy effects. I can forgive either of those things if the playability is good. But sadly, it's not to be. Pulse racer has flaws that make its gameplay lamer than a mule with rheumatoid arthritis on a freezing cold, wet day…(again, sorry for being so harsh but I speak of the truth).
Pulse's worst crime isn't even that it looks hideous (both technically and artistically); the real sin here is its lack of feel. There's very little gameplay to be had, even while Pulse tries to innovate with its "rubber-banding around corners" technique and a ho-hum track editor mode. (Another quandary: why would you create tracks for a game none of your friends would touch with a 10-foot pole?) There are a number of characters to select. Each drives a different kind of cart, and each has his or her own, strengths and weaknesses. There are also power-up weapons to collect that are used to blow competing riders out. Racing itself is easy. Acting as an accelerator is the player's crop. As you use the turbo, a meter will indicate how much time your player has before he flat lines. Care must be taken not to 'over-fry' your character, which causes he/she to stop briefly while the flat-line-o-meter completely settles down. Then, the caning can begin again. The landscapes and courses aren't particularly good looking or well designed either. All too often the tracks are vague, so you don't really know where you have to go. The whole pulse concept is just a bad idea and isn't well implemented it's like having a racing game where if you go too fast, the car blows up. Oh, and the weapons aren't much fun to use. So there you go. I'm sure you've got the message by now if you're after an exciting racing game, look elsewhere.
As if the disappointing gameplay isn't enough, Pulse Racer lacks any visual flare that might have been able to save it from the realm of mediocrity. The game looks like an early generation PlayStation 2 game and it's a far cry from what we've seen in recent xbox games, even smashing drive had better graphics than this racer. The framerate is solid and there are some nice animations with the different characters' attacks, but there's nothing here that'll impress anyone. Perfectly fitting for such a game, Jaleco’s Pulse Racer look is a bit on the cartoonish side, and easily fits under the "Kids" category. It's easy to see that the graphics stress the game's aim toward younger players, especially since it's filled to the brim with cute and quirky characters (I don’t think it was intended to be that way). Definitely not on the "realistic" side, the graphics are a little bit simple, but feature quite enough to get their point across. With few special effects, none that exactly will lead to a loss for words, Jaleco’s latest racer still manages to have some intriguing concepts, and rarely seems to slow down during intense moments.
Extremely average, both the sound effects and music certainly aren't anything for your ears to bleed over, and yet they're not worth soiling your undies over, either. With a music score that isn't anything new to the genre, let alone gaming at all, you probably won't even notice what kind of happy tune is playing in the background. Pulse Racer doesn't have much new in the audio department, so don't expect sound sensations that will take you aback in disbelief. The sound, similar to the music, doesn't stand out from the crowd whatsoever. With basic explosions, wacky noises, and so forth, nothing really grabs and violently shakes your attention to the point where you actually notice the sounds themselves. Like the graphics, they fit the situation perfectly and add to the cartoonish effect of the already-strange racer. Rent Pulse Racer for a chuckle if you're morbidly curious; otherwise, save yourself the hate, the anguish, the pain, and all the resultant unclean feelings.
Suggestions: Nice try. I would suggest paying a lot more attention to the gameplay instead of making the game look extraordinarily good. Just stick to the simple basic stuff.
Overall Score: 4.0 / 10
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Fatal Frame
There are no zombies, dinosaurs or giants, as a matter of fact there's not much of anything for most of Fatal Frame, except you and a big, empty mansion. The terror in this game isn't in your face, it's behind you for a split second, then it's beside you, then it's gone: lots of big open space, no corners to hide in to feel protected and safe. Most survival horror titles have an abundance of enemies, the fear caused by the feeling of being overwhelmed, Fatal Frame kinda sneaks up and grabs you from the dark, and when you spin around, it's gone. The fear comes from a lack of control of the situation; the ghosts fade in and out, and can appear or disappear in the time it takes to focus on them. The strength of Fatal Frame was its story, and the game structure, and the slowly emerging relationship between them. The protagonist (and player) experienced a strange, distorted world -- and then an even more distorted and horrific world -- and then both worlds collided, mixed, and finally fragmented into complete psychosis. Really, that's what I remember the game being like. The descent into madness, pardon my cliche; they did it right. And, one step behind that sequence, the protagonist learned things. Not everything was explained; but you could guess (eventually) why there were two worlds, what that meant, and why they fell apart. Why, in fact, your first guesses were wrong, and that the madness had been there all along. When my friend and I play, in front of my xbox, in the dark; there was barely a rare ten minutes when you could not hear us say, "Holy crap." Or "This is insane." Or "This is freakin' nuts." Or "Aaaaa." We said "Aaaaa" to each other a lot, as I recall. The designers understand pacing. And timing. (Timing is a single unanticipated thump; pacing is a long walk in the dark, during which nothing happens at all. Both are necessary.) The sound design is terrific. The design of the ghost, their movement, is terrific. Horrific. Aweful. The layout of the buildings is given a great deal of thought. They're realistic, but blocked and locked doors guide the path of exploration, and therefore the path of the storyline. A bit of backtracking, but not much. From the very moment you fire up the game it oozes class (to borrow a phrase from Fagin a fellow dooyooee, as it's so appropriate). The opening FMV sets the tone perfectly for the game, sweeping through haunting images, enticing and confusing. The quality of this is maintained throughout the various cut-scenes within the game which slowly draws you into the plot. While the gameplay is clearly derivative of Resident Evil, the detail and subtlety of the puzzles are far superior to any of Capcom's challenges and will only be mastered by the most patient and persevering gamer.
The game play was good for the most part but I felt that there could have been more ghosts standing in your way. Because of puzzles the game could have lasted a lot longer then it needed to and some time I got confused where I was going because the designers made some of the hallways look the same. So Fatal Frame was not too easy and not to hard and had a great game play. Unfortunately you are not alone within the mansion. There happens to be an unhealthy smattering of otherworldly ghost intended on feasting on your soul. Consequently you have to show your prowess in various self defense techniques but the only way your going to kill a ghost is with your antic camera, which captures the ghost’s souls and eventually kills them .But this is no gung-ho show, oh no. While the evil critters, given half a chance, are persistent and deadly, they are not the biggest challenge. Silent Hill is puzzle central and will challenge your intellect as well as your hand-to-eye coordination. And if that wasn't enough, Fatal Frame is constantly flipping to its alternate dark side, enveloping your surroundings in gothic gloom, which constantly disorientates you with spatial warps and tricks. The darkness dominates the game generating a very claustrophobic, oppressive ambience, that turns your soul into a dark puddle if you play for too long (seriously). The game itself is rather lengthy, taking place over four nights, and after completing the game the first time new options are unlocked, allowing for further exploration of the game. Playing through a second time with a bit more of understanding of the camera special functions and power-ups allows for a different approach to the game and adds some length to the life of the game as well. There are certainly many shots that were missed the first time through, resulting in a lengthier time upgrading the camera, its worth going back in for a second round, which is where I am now.
Graphically Fatal Frame was is pushing its host hardware. The swirling fog and pitch-black darkness served a big purpose and that purpose was to provide a bleak and disturbing nightmare vision of a mansion gone mad. The visuals were the best thing because everything was dark and misty. Most of the walls and rooms have blood smeared on the walls and the floor. Another thing they did was make some backgrounds look like time had wore then down. The camera angles helped a lot with the games atmosphere. Rather than Silent Hills angles were the camera free flows as you move, skewing and spiraling, the angles are more like Resident Evil's static angles. Cut scenes are presented as scratchy, old, eight millimeter film reels, either in black and white or sepia tone. With the exception of the black and white game intro the majority of the game is played in color, but with a very dark, washed out scheme. Blurring effects are used on most of the apparitions on multiple levels, giving them a smoky appearance; there, but then again not quite there. Scary as these specters may be (and beautiful-the look of the ghosts moving about highlights Fatal Frame's superb graphics), the overall atmosphere enhances the nervous fright. This is one to play in the dark and to play loud.
Without sound, visuals are nothing. Whilst the soundtrack never did make for easy listening it drew the player into the nightmare with some unforgettable sound to accompany specific set pieces found within the game. The air raid siren that accompanied the light-to-dark, concrete-to-steel changeover was well done. The white noise (or radio static), used in cut scene was implemented well; the dual purpose was that the sound, just like the lamp, not only guided the player, but also alerted the enemy of their presence. Sound was key in this survival horror game because you would hear things that were not there or hear things bang around so this is another thing that added to the atmosphere. I remember one time when I was in a room and then heard a window shatter and that made me just about jump out of my skin. No pounding soundtrack, just the sound of your own footsteps, and off-screen whispers, creaks, the laughing of children and the wails of the dead from time to time.
Suggestions: Fatal Frame was undoubtedly a great game and is worthy of an inquisitive look. I don’t really have any suggestions for this game therefore all I have to say is Great job guys.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Shrek: Super Party
Super Party neglected to live up to my expectations. Instead of providing xbox owners with a Shrek version of Nintendo's Mario Party, it just makes you wish you had an N64. Shrek: super party while a bit better than those other crappy games, still just isn't worth your hard-earned money. For those of you wondering who this "Shrek" guy is (come on, there might be a few of you), he's a big green ogre from the film of the same name. The computer-animated flick is actually pretty good and worth a rental if you haven't seen it. It stars the voices of Mike Meyers (Shrek), Eddie Murphy (a talking donkey), and Cameron Diaz (a princess), among a few others. Of course, you wont actually find any of those voices in the game version, which is only the first sign that it doesn't quite live up to it's movie counterpart. Well actually Aside from the repetitive antics of Snow White's narrating mirror, there are no other voices from the characters of the movie…. and believe me the handful of different comments that the mirror those say are extremely bland and uninspired therefore the mute button will do a great deal of good in this title. Shrek Super Party has some similarities as the Mario Party Series. You can play as one of six characters from the Shrek movie, either solo or with up to three other friends. Compete to move around the game board by winning various mini-games grouped according to the game area in which they're located. Shrek Super Party features three gameplay modes including, Tournament, Free-for-All and 1-player Quick-Click.
You may take the role of Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Monsieur Hood or Thelonius. Shrek Super Party accommodates up to 4 players at a time, with the computer controlling any excess player slots. Shrek offers three modes of play. Tournament mode is the familiar format of board game with integrated mini-games. Free-for-All mode gives you a chance to play the mini-games separately. The Quick-Click mode is a single-player game that is like Tournament mode, but with a more advanced starting position yielding a shorter overall game. All told there are some 30 mini-games on offer. That's less than the 70 or so mini-games in Mario Party 3, but Shrek's games doesn’t offer both a graphical depth and edgier attitude like Mario party which makes this game not even worth a look for fans of the genre. Gameplay more closely resembles Mario Party than it differs, so those familiar with the genre should be right at home. By the same token, like all good party games, total novices should find themselves able to get up and running in mere minutes, even if getting good at the mini-games takes longer. Among the 30 mini-games their were about a handful that are worth mentioning like the knight-squishing game in which the players, atop barrels, rolled around a confined area flattening armored knights. You'll see that game pictured here, complete with the dirt imprints of the pancaked fighters, who promptly hop back up into shape, only to be repeatedly rolled down until time runs out (I fund that pretty funny). Another charmer was a rat tossing game. In this one, you chase rats around a well in the middle of the map. Once caught, you twirl the rat around, picking up speed, then fling it into the well. The longer your shot, the higher your score. Other players can block your shots, however, which makes long shots not only difficult to aim, but tricky to make if your opponents decide to play defense. There are maybe a few other ones worth mentioning but the rest of the mini-games do not deserve to be talked about.
Mario Party turned from a quirky little game into the definition of an entire genre. Mario Party spawned not only sequels in its own franchise, but a host of other opportunistic titles (using other licenses). Some have been good, others . . . less so. Now comes Shrek Super Party for the Xbox. Shrek's instant contribution to the genre -- other than adding a party game to the Xbox is its attractive graphical package. The player characters are drawn in caricature with big heads and tiny bodies, but are crisply rendered, as are their environments. The graphics are decent at best, but the skewed top-down view makes everything seem flat. Not to mention the utter sense of pointlessness you feel just smashing away on your controller, with nothing for your heroes to do except look stupid. To their credit, the designers have thrown in some graphical depth, like when you walk around the character’s leave traces. But other than that there is only one word, horrible. I presume that even little kids, who the game is presumably aimed at, won't like the gameplay nor the graphics.
The sound, isn't good. The music is fairly innocuous, but the players grunts and groans as they maneuver around in mini-games will get old really fast. The only voice from the movie is that of the magic mirror who does the introduction like a classic game show host. From an entertainment perspective, this is one of the highlights of the game. At least the game doesn't have that stupid Smashmouth song that they seem to be selling to any movie, TV show, or commercial willing to pony up some dough. By the same token, there's a limited amount of audio expression available in this game. Not one of the main character ever speaks, and so all there was to add an aural touch to was a quick dash or the hideous crunch of some blunt object. Thus, just about all you'll ever hear over the carny-music themes is a slide-whistle charge or some variation on the theme of "crash," "bang," or "smash." There is no tunes from the movie which could have made this game a little bit more enjoyable and you can’t even rip you own songs from you hard drive like in fusion frenzy.
Suggestions: The movie may have had box office success, but his game makes me sad. I would suggest taking a look at the Mario party series.
Overall Score: 3.0 / 10
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X-Men: Next Dimension
In the world of comics, no other team of superheroes is more loved then the X-Men which is why this is not the first (or last) attempt to bring them to the consoles. Part of the appeal is that these superheroes have nifty powers and have interesting background and individual stories of their own. Through the fighting genre we get to catch a glimpse of their powers in action. The game contains a large number of play modes, including the standard arcade, versus, survival, practice, time attack, and team battle ones. These modes are straightforward, but offer enough variety to satiate any gamer looking for a fight. To complement this selection are the stable of fighters and the choices of fighting grounds. Players can choose from two dozen different combatants, each with their own set of moves and supers. The characters are modeled after the current comic design of the X-Men and are faithful to the series. Wolverine is relentless, Betsy is agile, and it is nearly impossible to take Juggernaut off his feet. The most appealing aspect of the game lies in its single-player story mode. Keeping with the continuity of the comic series, the story sees the return of Bastion and the abduction and exploitation of Forge. Unlike most fighting games, which create a story for each character, this story involves all characters. Numerous cut scenes and an orchestral score make the play feel more involved than simply a chain of fights. It is this story mode that makes "X-Men: Next Dimension" a worthwhile rental.
The fighting controls are a bit tricky to get use to but once a gamer keep playing, busting out with the combo moves and power attacks become simple. Each character has his or her own style of fighting with various kinds of punches and kicks; you can also grab a character and perform devastating moves such as slamming an opponent against a wall or smashing them into the ground. There is a Super Meter that fills up with successful punches or kicks that connect with the opponent. Once the meter is filled and a level is specified, your character performs a signature attack. For instance, as Wolverine you slash away in a berserker rage that really does damage or as Cyclops you shoot a continuous beam from your visor. This game also borrows elements from Dead or Alive 3 such as throwing, kicking or punching a character off a ledge only to continue the fight in another location. You can also interact with certain objects as well, such as tossing an opponent against a crate of an Egyptian column and watching it crumble to pieces. In a way, the fighting controls are a lot more solid than its PS2 predecessor X-Men: Mutant Academy. It is also so much easier to perform combos or unleash individual power attacks. Also available are tech rolls that come handy after an opponent manages to get him or herself knocked down and the counter system allows you to block some attacks. You can even break away from a hold if the timing is right. There are also some characters with the gift of flight, making their attacks more dangerous and make them a target more difficult to miss since flying characters can sidestep in midair. Double tapping the left trigger can just as easily bring the character down to the ground. Depending on the game mode you choose, the game’s difficulty level is still pretty tough. Each opponent can be really difficult to defeat depending on the character you choose to go up against him or her. Fighting Mystique, who is fast and agile, with somebody as strong and a bit slower like Beast will make for a frustrating fight. Of all the opponents, the most difficult to defeat is Magneto and Phoenix because they have the best of both worlds--power and speed. Up to two players can take each another on in Arcade and Versus mode and there are enough characters to keep things interesting for awhile. While these two mode are perfect for multiplayer play, it would have been even cooler adding a tag team battle mode.
Visually Next Dimension does not take advantage of the accelerated graphics of the Xbox, but what is here isn’t at all that bad at all. Some characters are neatly designed while others (like Phoenix, for example) have funny facial features. Still, the bodies of each character move fluidly and realistically and its something of a rare treat watching the more bizarre-looking characters, such as Beast, in action. Character move more life-like in battle then in the animated cut scenes. The environments are also huge and neatly detailed but still nowhere near as detailed as, say, DOA 3 or Tekken 4. While the jungle setting is alive with wild plants and gorgeous blue skies, the waterfall does not look so convincing and neither does any body of water. The nineteen different stages in the game fit well with the look of the characters. Players will fight in a variety of recognizable locations, from the Xavier School to the Savage Land. Some of the stages contain multiple levels, or way in which to break through to other stages. The environments are big and contain a number of interactive and breakable scenery elements, but the overall look is very simple. Regrettably, single color textures and low-polygon models lend an unfinished feel to a number of the backgrounds.
Aside from the fact that actor Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the X-Men movie) verbally reprises his role of Professor Xavier, the voice talent here is actually okay. Each voice truly corresponds with each individual character the way you would expect it. Rogue is a southern belle so her voice contains a Southern drawl, while Gambit, the thief from New Orleans, speaks with a French Creole dialect. Still, before each battle, you’ll be hearing the same phrases repeated over and over again. The music isn’t bad either, with an intense score that brings the film’s soundtrack to mind. The music becomes especially commanding during the cut scenes. There are some decent sound effects that make each punch and kick sound like it would really hurt and the powers, such as Cyclops’ explosive beam, are pretty decent. My only complaint is that there aren’t enough individual sound effects. For example, when Beast slams an opponent into the ground, you don’t really hear the actual slam.
Suggestions: While not as solid as other fighters, X-Men: Next Dimension makes a great effort yet fails to immerse gamers into the world of the children of the atom. This is still an entertaining enough game for fans of the Marvel comics. But I would suggest paying more attention on little details and add a few more special effects for the eye candy.
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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BMX XXX
The third installment of the Mirra BMX series brings a whole new flavor to extreme sports gaming. Acclaim touts it as the first mature rated extreme game and mature it is. Within it you'll find loads of adult humor, both in terms of language and situations. For example there are run-ins with prostitutes who'll flash you if you pull off the right moves and as you gain money you can see more skin at the local peep show which actually features real video clips. This isn't just another bike sim; it brings a lot more entertainment value along with being accurate to extreme riding. Although it's still objective based and resembles the last release. Mirra XXX was built on a brand new platform (shared with Aggressive Inline) and the result is rock solid game play. A nice thing is that there's no set time limit on the levels so you always have the ability to explore. The obvious visual flaws seen in the previous version have gone away and environments have been better perfected. The environments are detailed and very interactive as are the characters found within them (but could be a lot better). Sound wise, there's a lot of great effects and bands such as The White Stripes have been included. By targeting the older gamers and slapping a mature rating on this title, Acclaim has gained the ability to make this one over the top and unlike any other game of its kind. They've done it well and the result is a game that, most importantly, will be a blast to play. Or will it???
The Hardcore Tour mode has players pedaling their bikes and tricking through open environments while trying to accomplish a shopping list of challenges. Some of these challenges are readily known and very straightforward (achieve a certain number of points, collect coins, and so on). Most are presented in the levels by "colorful" characters' (pimps, stoners, strippers, and so on). Aside from the timers imposed on certain challenges, there is no overall time limit in the stage. The length of your run is only limited by the health bar, which gets eaten away every time you hit the dirt. Aside from this mode, "BMX: XXX" has a few two-player games, a movie viewer, and a custom character creator (complete with uninteresting options and the same trick-set for every character in the game.) An unlockable park editor finishes up the features in the game, but seems to do nothing more than freeze the game. Within the game you'll find a variety of riders to tear up the various levels with, including a new female character. Characters can also be created from scratch and they're highly customizable. Meaning, if you want your rider naked or to have large 'features' for example - that's not a problem. Whatever you may find entertaining is probably possible in this one... Another cool and unique feature found in this release is a multiplayer combat mode in which gamers can battle one another using various weapons to take each other out. So something like a bar-spin to peg-grind to shoot your opponent combo is now feasible. Sounds cool to me. All of this leaves the game with one marketable aspect. There are videos of strippers in "BMX: XXX." The video quality and the editing are both more professional than anything else in the game, even if they are a little on the short side. Unlocking them unfortunately requires you to suffer through the game…LOL
Graphics are a mixed bag. The look of the riders and bikes has been enhanced from the first two games, but the facial textures are still a bit goofy. BMX superstars Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist supplied the motion-capture work, so most of the animation has a smooth, realistic appearance. Unfortunately, certain animations lack grace, namely, the bail animations. The bails in BMX XXX utilize the same proprietary animation system Z-Axis originally created for Thrasher: Skate and Destroy, released in 1999. Thus, the bails are just as hokey now as they were then. The strongest aspect of the game's visuals is the rider's interaction with the bike. It's animated well. Everything else, however, from character models to texture work to the environments seems to just be good enough to get the job done. With so many cutscenes showing the characters up close and personal, it's amazing that Z-Axis didn't put a little more work into the models and animations. The other aspect that makes the tricks so satisfying is the spot-on rider animation. Every trick looks just like it would in real life. Even at a standstill, the riders look very relaxed, perhaps resting one hand on a knee, rather than being rigidly attached to their riser bars at all times. In the air, the hands and feet flow superbly, pushing the bike around and even letting go entirely, then jumping back on before landing. Each of the many riders available has their own selection of tricks, so it is worthwhile having a go with each of them, just to watch their signature tricks in action.
The sound in the game isn't much better than the visuals. With the same sound effects used over and over, it is easy to tire of hearing the same crowd "oooh," or the same grinding noise. The wacky voices in the game obviously come from the same few voice actors, and gamers will get to hear lines repeated so often that mute will be seen as a blessing. Most of the sound effects from the prequel games have been carried over to BMX XXX. This means wooden objects still produce metallic sounds during grinds and riders make the same dull grunts during crashes. Also, some sound effects occasionally cut out or do not play at all. As a whole, though, the sound effects are fairly good, with each level having its own ambient background sounds. Musically, the game features rap, metal and rap-rock tunes. Some of the bands include Sublime, Green day, Nerd and you can also rip some tracks from you hard drive. The soundtrack is not especially strong, but at least the songs automatically alternate during gameplay, unlike the ones in the first game. Besides, you can always turn off the music and enjoy the lazy background sounds.
Suggestions: I would consider taking more time on enviromental and facial expression details then concentrating on the girlssssss, in your case hookers.
Overall Score: 6.0 / 10
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BloodRayne
Although it’s not often that we think of vampires as being good and helpful to humans, BloodRayne is the exception. Between the two world wars her goal is to kill the enemy Nazi soldiers and the horrific creatures they create in order to save humanity from various supernatural threats. This obviously is no easy task, but luckily this blood-sucking chick has some amazing fighting techniques that appear unstoppable. The world may not need another scantily clad anti-heroine heating up the scene, but don't let that sour you too much on BloodRayne. This here is a balls-out action game, every minute of which is packed to the gills with maddeningly fast combat. The controls are such that you'll be able to execute a mad flurry of melee attacks one second, and unload a clip on multiple targets the next. And make no mistake -- the ability to do this is deathly important considering how intense the battles can get. Your vampiric abilities make the ensuing bloodbath all the more thrilling as they allow you to feed on enemies (and shield yourself with their bodies in the process), divine the locations of mission objectives and slow down time, just to mention a few. But the one shortcoming is the fact that hand-to-hand combat, BloodRayne's meat and potatoes, lacks impact. It's less like you're hitting live enemies and more like slashing at thin air with adjacent enemies spontaneously erupting in hemorrhaging gashes. (Oh yeah, BloodRayne is also shamelessly bloody, so stay away if you're a squeamish gamer.)
Her primary weapons are her blades that are attached to her arms and many combos can be pulled off depending on the situation at hand. Additionally, she can pick up guns and other weapons that are dropped by enemy soldiers. A great feature is that it’s easy to use a gun and then blades immediately after one another, as they are controlled by separate buttons. Throughout the game, her health must be maintained by sucking blood from victims, but if she sucks too much blood, look out! The first blood-crazed mode in which she can do a far greater amount of damage is called bloodlust, and as if that isn’t enough, it’s possible to go into the even more frightening bloodrage mode. Also, similar to the slow-motion feature found in Max Payne, gamers can slow down time and easily dodge enemy fire. This is obviously very helpful in game play and there are other similar supernatural abilities that she has as well. Another problem is pacing; when BloodRayne simmers down, it really simmers -- expect to do a ton of backtracking when your objectives aren't immediately evident. But just on the strength of its spastic gameplay alone, BloodRayne inspires repeat visits. After slicing off the legs and one arm of an enemy and watching him pathetically attempt to drag himself to safety before delivering a bullet to his head, it's obvious that developers, Terminal Reality, have not held back. "Bloodrayne" truly earns its M rating. When not being sucked down the damphir's throat, blood flows from severed limbs and dissected bodies. The language is also undiluted, with no obscenities being censored. So many games use gore and obscenities so clumsily that it is very refreshing to come across a title in which the blood only adds to the enjoyment of play. A large selection of firearms and explosives can be found or taken from dead enemies. However, most of the time, gameplay resorts to hand-to-hand combat utilizing the unique bladed weapons, chained harpoon, and viciously spiked heels. The action moves at a frantic pace, with the player constantly taking on multiple enemies. Although many enemies can be avoided or outrun, confrontation is encouraged. Enemies are the source of both weapons and health. Level design is very good, with few tight spaces where controls are at their least satisfying. Even at the standard levels, "Bloodrayne" provides more than enough challenge to satisfy almost any gamer. For those feeling ambitious, a hard difficulty setting all but ensures failure.
Because of the Infernal Engine that was used, the environments are very exotic and extremely well done. With the third person perspective, and nice camera placement it’s easy to spot enemy at all angles. The AI characters are very human-like and their behavior is very realistic. The levels and the objects found within them are very interactive and have a unique feel. Appropriately, hitting walls results in marks on the wall and so forth and sometimes these tactics are necessary to complete missions. Visually the game is dark and grainy. Character models are very blocky, but still carry a lot of style. The movement of the game mimics the rigidity of the models. Very rarely will an animation, once started, be stopped, giving the game a very stilted look at times. Unfortunately, this makes most of the cutscenes and some of the gameplay feel just a little stiff. There are a number of visual treats that save this title. Visual effects are used well, especially those used as a function of gameplay. The smoke and fogging used for atmosphere is effective as are the explosion effects. Most impressively executed are Bloodrayne's special visions. Night vision, slow motion, and sniper vision all look very slick, and Terminal Reality has skillfully made them much more than just gimmicks.
The sound in "Bloodrayne" comes off like much of the rest of the game, with both good and bad aspects. The sound effects are suitably gnarly, with severed limbs and the sucking of blood being described well in the soundscape. The music is really an ambient track, without any true character, but providing something other than silence to kill by. Of note is Bloodrayne's voice. Her in-battle quips come off as perfectly arrogant and devious. Her moans of pleasure as she sucks an enemy dry do a lot to establish her sadism. Her enemies, on the other hand, don't have much to say, and players will soon notice that every German has the same voice when begging someone to "Get her off me!" The music within the game is not very inspiring. In fact, it is a mix of techno and some rock elements (we all have different tastes in music of course). So more than likely you'll be turning the music down and just listening to the action. The action is very entertaining to listen though at some times. For instance, when you jump on a Nazi and start sucking his blood, you can hear him going "Get off me! AHHH!!!" and other gasps and gurgles, which give you a bit of satisfaction. One gripe is the fact that the germans speaking English in a german accent, which really took away from the experience. But this happens in a lot of games so people don't have to sit and read subtext all the time, so it's both a good thing and a bad thing, just depends on your taste. Sound effects from the guns within are not the best or very realistic in some cases. Some even sound the same to each other or just modified versions of the same sound. The same goes with explosions, they just don't have enough....umph to them. All in all the sound served its purpose. Not much more...
Suggestions: Although it delivers adequately in so many areas, so much of &qu could stand for a bit more polish. The slick character design and brutal gameplay should be praised. However, stiff animation and chunky battle controls prevent this game from getting a better score.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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Quantum Redshift
Most games that come out, regardless of platform, tend to follow fairly similar patterns. Perhaps developers feel they can get away with making the same game over and over again. Microsoft has taken the high road with Red shift, and while it's not totally and completely original, it does put a fairly large spin on the racing genre. You pilot a futuristic hover-craft around incredibly detailed tracks, racing other hover-crafts towards ultimate glory. Along the way you pick up weapons to take out the other racers. The capability of playing your own music is excellent, and complements the game excellently. In fact, the whole game has a very special feel to it. It sucks you in through the presentation: the music, graphics, and the designed logos all add to the immersive effects. These are minor points, though. Quantum Red shift is a good, solid game that pushes more boundaries than most. Ten years from now, when most other games have been long forgotten, Quantum might be viewed as a classic. The game takes place in the year 2102 which explains the evolved air crafts. And Microsoft made sure to have enough pilots to make everyone happy, over 16 of them. Speed must not be a fear if you own this game because ships can exceed to speed of 900mph. and don’t forget there is no reward for second place. Have fun!!!
Quantum Red shift is like most other conventional racers where the object of the game is to beat your opponents across the finish line in the standard race mode. In Red shift, this is just too easy, even though it is one of the fastest racer I’ve ever played. The very first time I played, I won handily. I know I’m strong with racing games, but nobody should be that good right off the bat. This is confirmed by the fact that I won the next half dozen or so races before I started looking for a way to make the game more challenging. I pretty much just scoffed at the other racers as I set new lap records every time around the track. To be fair, the game has great control considering it really does feel like you're going close to the speed of light. Those good old repulsor lifts keep your ship and thrusters hovering a constant 5 feet above the ground but the ship has surprisingly good traction for a vehicle that never touches the ground. The strange thing is, even on the ice level, your hovering craft will slip and slide around like a car if you're not careful. Of course, all the ships have different top speeds, handling and cornering abilities, but none of the ones I have played got too much out of control. And this is the problem with Red shift. Microsoft made the game very user friendly with almost no learning curve so that the challenge is almost nonexistent until you get deep into the game. Staying interested throughout the early levels is the tough part. There is a turbo function where at the starting of every lap you get to build up power in your engine before you can give yourself that extra boost. This is definitely a skill that requires some concentration, but the fact of the matter is, you won't need turbo to win any race early on. The Wipeout series, for the psx is a good point of reference, not only because of the floaty vehicle physics, but because both games have a whole lot of speed to offer. The difference is Wipeout demanded mastery of several skills before a player could win a race. Red shift is definitely easy to get into with no tutorial whatsoever. You will certainly need to be better by the time you reach the later levels in the game but the A.I. you're racing against seems to stay the same. After the first relatively lame races, players move onto different worlds with more jumps, nemesis, shortcuts, obstacles and sharp turns that are definitely a challenge. However, even if you do crash several times on a track and several ships do pass you, it doesn't take much to regain the lead, especially if you're on the last few laps when you'll know the track. Even thought the game does get tougher as you go along, the later levels aren't as challenging as they could be because you as a player have gotten better by that time as well. No weapons or power-ups kept the game in line and there's something to be said for the accurate translation. But, I kept thinking how cool it would have been to throw wrenches into your opponents' engines or really force them off the road. The bottom line is, if there's not going to be a challenge from the actual racing, then we should have some other goodies and gadgets for bashing competitors just to keep it interesting. Well of course you have the standard homing missiles and just normal missiles but I was looking for more depth in this title, it had so much potential.
The game looks a lot like I expected. The sense of speed is remarkable without making everything blurry and streaky like you would expect it to be if you could really race these kind of ships. The details of the ships are good enough so that you can see a flap open when you turn or see the flames coming from a thruster when you speed up. In the case of Zaki Shaheen, the giant yellow control flaps on the front ends of his engines open and close to change wind resistance as you turn left and right. Also when you go threw open water, drops will fly up on the screen which brings new sensations to the game, similar to Moto GP. The drops of water will also scatter over your screen when it’s raining outside. Levels are colorful and highly detailed. Clean, well-designed textures blend perfectly together for eye-popping tracks that rival a lot of the good racers out there. Additionally, Xbox's filtering effects have worked wonders, giving Red shift a smoothed-out look without the blurry side-effect. Also, the excellent cut-scenes I was hoping for didn't make the cut. Instead, we're treated of short, jerky intros with little life to them, a far cry from the impressive scenes in other games.
The sound of the game just isn't what it should be, considering that Red shift is a game that could really benefit from great audio elements. The low, humming noise from the engines at face value and assumed that's what they would sound like if they existed. But we were cheated in the sound department. The engine should sound more like a runaway locomotive well maybe not that exaggerated but the way it sounds right now made me think something was wrong with one of the engines. The whining of the other engines in other racers immediately reminded me of what we don’t have in Red Shift. The music is low-fidelity digitized mono streams, but on the other hand you can play your own soundtracks right off the hard drive, which is a very good thing, since most of the games out for the all mighty green machine doesn’t take advantage of this feature. The sound effects are also lame, with blurry boost audio and pretty much no "scrape" noises. Some of the sound effects, especially some lines of the famous announcer of more in depth titles, are sorely missing from red shift. The announcer has partially been replaced by the voice of cheery woman. Well actually there isn’t any cheery women, there is absolutely no intimidation made verbally while racing. Highly lame. But that's just being picky. All in all, Microsoft pulled off a miracle. In case you're wondering why there is load-time in between levels: according to Microsoft, the short break is needed for sound decompression. Red shift is probably the deadliest racing game you can buy for the Xbox. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous, with some of the best light sourcing and effects ever. The control is smooth, the gameplay is fast, and the music is just well hideous. It's games like this that make you proud to be a Xbox owner. Well kinda!
Suggestions: A great game to have when you want to feel some of the fastest racing on the Xbox. Vehicle upgrades lengthen game's lifespan but next time Microsoft should pay more attention to small details and go more in depth with the actual racing, maybe more competition for a start………and please do something with this music it burns my ears when I listen to them tracks.
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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MLB Slugfest 20-03
So here it is... after a substandard of a baseball game on the Xbox, Midway finally releases MLB Slugfest 20-03 for the big green box and most definitely, the very best baseball game to date. There has been a ton of hype for this game which forced Midway to deliver the very best action, and trust me this game does just that. Exactly like Midway delivers in every other sport they have improved to the extreme. Now, let's bear in mind that while I'm totally able to review an Xbox video game, I'm not the most apt student went it comes to baseball. I understand how the game is played and totally respect the historic tradition of baseball, but I'm not the smart baseball student of statistics nor can I recite the entire lineup of the 1989 World Champion Oakland Athletics. In fact, if it wasn't for one of the greatest baseball games ever made, I probably would give baseball a half-second glance on television... that game being the one and only Slugfest. When I first popped this game into my Xbox I had to force myself to play. After a few innings I had learned pretty much all the controls and I was instantly hooked. I ended up playing the rest of that they and I’m spent a good 20+ hours after that, playing this baseball game and still counting. The first thing that instantly caught my attention was the great batting interface, nice visuals, and overall solid gameplay not the mention the great physical collisions and fights sequences that Midway delivers so well.
When it comes to gameplay, Slugfest delivers a great hit, but not necessarily a home run. There are some issues that make Slugfest play too much like a video game rather than a baseball video game. In the game of baseball, there will always be the human judgment that will lead to errors, badly thrown balls, and pitches that hit the pitcher. Some of these are intentional and some due to human error. Occasionally, an outfielder will drop a fly ball, or a shortstop will try to field a grounder that hits his toe, but the one thing I hate the most is when it actually comes to throwing to bases, I have a hard time picking which base I want to throw it to (with the somewhat awkward controls). You have to pick which base you want to throw it to with the left thumbstick which some times you will accidentally push in the wrong direction causing the ball to go to the wrong base. It is really annoying at first but after a while I got used to it, and hopefully you will to. Additionally, the computer doesn't make too many errors, especially when it comes to base running; whether it's tagging up from a pop-fly that's caught or stealing second, the computer makes few base running mistakes. I suppose that's good for experts but first timers like myself better get used to getting your !&%$@#* handed to you the first few games 20 to 0. A good point of this game is the way the base running controls are setup. White to keep running or black to run back. Simple, especially if you have more than one man on base. If you want all base runners to advance, you simply press the white button, but to get an individual base runner to run, you use the thumb stick (up, down, left, right being second base, home plate, third base, and first base respectively) and press the white button to get a specific player to run. So, there are still a few gameplay issues to work out but for me, it doesn't take away from the many great points Slugfest smacks home. Although the pitching/batting mechanic of this game wasn't bad, Midway has decided to make it a bit easier to handle while making it even more tactical. When it comes to pitching, each pitcher has an array of different pitches that he can select from by pressing the one of the 4 buttons X,Y,A,B to the available pitch in his arsenal and selecting that pitch. Once selected, you will not have a baseball cursor that will appear inside a strike zone box. Just like past baseball games on the Xbox. This enables you to not being able to "disguise" where your pitch goes but Midway has added something better “turbo” this comes in real handy when playing two player games. The speed of your pitch is also dependent on what type of pitch you throw and what level difficulty your playing. Turbo will enhance the pitch you are throwing but you will have to use it wisely because you only have a certain amount of turbo. One thing that I have learned from this game is that even though there's something very impressive about throwing a 118 mph fastball, there's nothing quite like making the batter look like a fool by swinging early on the sneaky changeup pitch.
To lead off, Slugfest has great overall visuals. Player models are some of the best in any baseball game and while the faces aren't modeled exactly, there are some really nice animations as batters blink, pitchers shakes their heads from a pitching call, and many more. My favorite is when a flustered batter gets a called third strike flips his bat in the air and walks away in annoyance. Most of the big name players have their well-known stances and animations. However, batting stances and pitching animations are about where the individual characteristics end - you won't be seeing Sammy Sosa doing his little hop after a homer. But you'll get some pretty cool diving animations as fielders dive for fly balls, outfielders making high leaps to steal homers, and even have base runners ram into catchers hoping to dislodge the ball and score. Stadiums look really darn nice as everyone of the MLB parks are authentically represented in this game. The texture of the grass looks very good and there are some weather effects; I haven't had a game rained out yet though. To nag, there are a few slowdown issues that are totally apparent when you see a runner get forced out at first base. Also, there are some limits to the animation of players; there are about only three or four homerun victory animations. By the way, when you see your outfield jogging back to the dugout after the third out of an inning, it's weird to see them trotting in synchronization. But overall, the game looks very good. It is presented in a clear fashion, and the interface will keep casual and hardcore baseball fans very engrossed.
Audibly, Slugfest is a pretty much a mixed bag, doing some things better than other titles offer, while being inferior in other areas. On the plus side, Slugfest features some quality play by play announcing. While there are some problems with some comments being a bit off from what just happened in the game, it is still a quality effort on the whole. Bantering back and forth like a pair of squabbling siblings, the dynamic duo of Tim Kitzrow and make-believe color man Jimmy Shorts is one for the ages, it kept me laughing for hours. Another point in Slugfest’s favor is the game's excellence use of musical pieces from popular tunes, which generally play at fitting points during the game. The music does an excellent job of increasing the excitement at certain key points in the game, such as when the bases are loaded, and helps the game's overall presentation. Other in game sounds, such as the various cracks of the bat when contact is made with the ball are extremely well done. There are distinct differences between the sound of a well hit or poorly hit ball off the bat and it helps greatly in bringing the game to life. On the downer, aside from the excellent timing of the boos, cheers and other crowd effects, the overall enthusiasm of the crowd in this particular title from Midway isn't quite up to snuff when compared to Hitz. On the whole, the crowd reactions in Hitz's game seemed to give off a greater sense of excitement
Suggestions: In the end, I have to give the edge to Midway for delivering the first amazing grand slam, on the Xbox with Slugfest’s over the top superiority. Great job guys!!!
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Enclave
There are two different campaign modes in Enclave: the Light side and the Dark side. This is one of the first games on the all mighty Xbox that allows you to play either as the “bad guys” or the “good guys” and I’m very happy for the much-needed change. Each side has a variety of characters to choose such as the Huntress, Wizards, Knight, and Druid to name a few. Each of these characters has particular abilities and you will have to play it smart by picking the right character for the right level. A lot of people have been complaining about the inability to save the progress you have made, however, I personally liked the save system for it gave me a challenge to play strategically and to master my skills to the maximum. It is upsetting to die at the end of a long level but I just grind my teeth, take a deep breath, and start all over again. It has been awhile since I have had a game that does not allow me to move on to higher levels without beating the previous ones. It is, however, a challenge that I enjoy. The story line of this game is very captivating and grabbed my attention right off the bat. The levels, for the most part, correspond to storyline. Yet, the player may get the odd “survival levels” where the objective is to kill an assortment of enemies while managing to stay alive. The point system is a great help; numbers pop up telling the player how much damage the hit inflicted upon the enemy. Also, when you target an enemy a bar pops up at the bottom right corner which says the name of the enemy and how much more health he has left. Furthermore, the way the menus are designed give the game a middle-aged feel; they are all very original and intriguing. Before each level the player can purchase weapons, armour, potions, arrows and more. I like that system because it helps you prepare to face long and torturous levels. Of course, one needs to find gold to be able to buy these items and this gold is hidden in each level. Sometimes, gold is awarded at the end of a level for completing various objectives. Also, if, by accident, gold has been left behind, the player may return and search for it at anytime.
The first level is designed quite well and features a good amount of balance. The player has a lot of time to adjust to the control scheme. The way the control scheme is set up is pretty much like Halo; the left thumb stick to walk around and the right to look around. The right trigger is used to attack with your weapon and the left for drawing out your shield. White and black allows you to switch from first person to third person view, which is a great option to have, especially when you try to snipe enemies. The “A” button is used to scroll through your weapons and the “X” button is for scrolling through your misc. objects. The “Y” button also plays an important role for it allows the player to drink potions that have been purchased or found on the battle grounds. Of course, there is some added depth to the controls such as holding down on the left thumb stick to crouch down or the right thumb stick to jump. The limited amount of slowdown and choppiness I’ve experienced are barely noticeable and it did not affect the gameplay whatsoever. While battling enemies, some of which are very short, you might have a hard time hitting them with the Knight or other tall characters, which gets really frustrating after a taking few hits (stupid goblins). The A.I. are not the most intelligent characters in this game and here is a perfect example of what I mean: In the second level where I met the huntress, I was in the heat of the battle fighting for survival when I saw an arrow sticking out of my back. I therefore turned around to kill whoever shot me and was surprised to see that my “loyal” partner - the huntress- was the culprit. She shot me three times and I wasn’t very impressed at all. Thank goodness it only happened to me once. Another example of the A.I.’s lack of intelligence is the fact that, as they follow the player around, they often get stuck behind barrels and walls. This is frustrating because the player must always go back and help them out.
High resolution graphics could have easily been left out of Enclave because of the sheer depth of the gameplay. But, obviously, Starbreeze Studios wouldn’t do that to the most dominant system in the world. Yet, they might have to leave a bit of the high resolution graphics out of the Gamecube version of Enclave. Enclave dazzles the eye with real-time lighting effects, soft-skinned characters with unrivalled animation routines, unique architecture in each level, as well as super-sharp and detailed texture. Starbreeze graphic designers did a bang-up job creating convincing societies of creatures with their own culture and behaviours. The most detailed enemy according to me is the stonegnome in the lava levels. There are well-defined veins of lava flowing through their bodies and therefore each time one is hit with a melee weapon, small damage (due to the extreme heat) is inflicted unto the player (pretty cool feature eh!!!). One thing that did not appeal to me is the fact that the weapons available to the player are invisible when the game is being played in the first person perspective. But, other than that, Enclave is a fantastic looking game. The last and most impressive graphical feat is the vast and detailed animation. Each character’s actions are exquisitely animated and different animation sequences correspond to the different weapons that the player has in his possession. There are also a wide variety of environments to battle in, such as the all-too-familiar lava levels, about which, by the way, I heard were illegal to not have in an adventure/platform game.
If you love indulging in medieval-beats, listening to the Morrowind soundtrack, and you're inspired by the weary thumps of yesterday's ancient DJ’s, well, then chances are you're going to like the soundtrack of Enclave. The songs are all very fitting, which bring the medieval atmosphere to this particular title. On another good note, sound effects and voice-overs are also to be appreciated. Everything is above average, but certainly not on par with something like Morrowind. Most of the sound effects, even in their mediocrity, do a wonderful job of complimenting the amazing visual effects. Everything is well placed and punctual. My one real complaint is that your melee weapons do not do clinging sounds when you hit different objects. The voice acting that overlaps during gameplay has its good points and bad points. What is bad about it is the actual acting. In most cases, it's very monotonous and has little energy. On the plus side, a lot of the enemies yell during the levels, which keeps the player good and angry. But one minor flaw that only happened to me three times was that the music skipped violently for a few seconds for unknown reasons. Weird!!! But other than that the sound is top notch. The cut scenes in Enclave really work because of the accompanying sound samples. They're so clear and so natural (unlike the in game voice-overs) that you'll be drawn in to the point where you forget to pick up your controller once the game action starts again.
Suggestions: Starbreeze should have kept going according to plan and added a multiplayer mode which would have given a much more reasonable score by the official XBOX magazine and pretty much every other site that reviewed this game. Hopefully they will add it in Enclave 2.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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Elder Scrolls III : Morrowind
The new benchmark for next generation consoles has arrived. The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind, the third official instalment in Bethesda’s popular action-RPG series is finally arrived on to the “box”, and like its predecessor it is a game so enjoyable, it has the power to pull videogame players into its imaginative worlds and refuse to let go for days. Rarely is there such a perfect mixture of graphics, sound, and gameplay that even the most cynical players will admit that Morrowind is poised to shape the action RPG genre for years to come. Morrowind features a great story line with tons and tons and tons of side quest that will keep you addicted for weeks (and I assume that even if you tried to zip threw the game without doing any side quest at all it will still take days to conquer this game). One thing I really liked about this game is that you could do anything at anytime and that no one is holding a stopwatch on you. Another thing was the way the game unfolded at the starting to define your character’s appearance and his or her strong points and week points. If you’re the type of player that does not like reading this is definitely not the game for you. You have to have the time and patience to play this game. Trust me.
As soon as you pick up the controls for the first time and start to explore the vast universe that makes up this latest creation from Bethesda, you know you're in for a treat. You can move your character with the left thumb stick and look at the environment around you with the right thumb stick. The A button will help you interact with everything and anything in the beautiful world of Morrowind. The B button will allow you to access a series of important menus. Y will allow you to use magic and X will allow you to draw from a very wide variety of weapons. A good features is that you can scroll threw you weapons and magic quickly and efficiently with the cycle weapon/magic combination. Just simply press and hold the L/R trigger and press either the Y for magic or X for weapons. The attack system is not equally impressive. It is a very repetitive system that gets really frustrating when you miss the enemy several times in a row. Another thing that gets on my nerves is when you are fighting with a creature and you push accidentally on the right thumb stick and it zooms out to third person perspective that really gets annoying. But another great feature is that you can rest anywhere to quickly restore your health and magic. I really like the way the magic works in this game. The way you can make spells and enchant weapons is very impressive details that bring that much more fun to this title. You can join different factions in this game that will give you advantages latter on because you can get stuff for very low prices and make new friends that will give you advice all threw the game. That has to be the best part of the games the faction. The drama that goes on within the faction and the big plot lines that all blend in with one another to end up making some conflicts similar to one of those sopeopra. I really like the way you talk to people in this game. You can ask them almost anything and the way the system work is that some key words will be highlighted in blue and then you can ask about that particular subject.
Remember how impressive it was when you first started to explore around in the 3D environments of the Xbox for the first time? With Morrowind, Bethesda has raised the stakes considerably. Once you step out from underneath the boat and into the world of Morrowind you will be blinded by the early morning sun, you will be mesmerized by the incredible scale and depth of the landscapes. Rolling hills extend all the way to the far horizon, with Morrowinds’s towns barely visible in the hazy distance. After a few minutes, the sun will set, it will get dark, and the moon slowly rises in the sky. Far, far away, a wolf hauls and creatures will ascend from there sleep The graphics are incredible. Elder Scrolls is all about details and visibility. The towns are highly detailed with elaborate wall textures and the beautiful day/night changes. Characters animate fluidly and display several different expressions on their faces. The polygonal environments, colors, and visibility are the best yet seen on the system. The water is so realistic it’s freaky I was amazed at the depth in all the small details Bethesda accomplished. In addition to all the wonderful environment there is also and abundant of creatures roaming the dungeons and outskirts of the towns. The only thing that is not up to par in this game is when you play as a third person perspective. Your character kind of runs weird the motion is not smooth but it doesn’t distract me that much I just play as a first person perspective. Also the weather system is astonishing I admire the way Bethesda programmed the timing and the effects of the weather. The thunderstorms has to be the most authentic part of this marvellous game.
What really makes this game so great is the depth of the sound effects. Every location has a multitude of ambient noises, from the crackling of a fire, the subtle trickling of water to the howling of the wind. The sound effects are brilliant. Depending on what you hit with your sword, you hear a cool metal clank, the bow and arrow are as convincing as the real thing, and the screams of pain of creatures are just downright scary. The environment is alive with bird calls, chirping crickets, animal noises and footsteps. At certain times, thunder can be heard and it will start to rain. Award-winning musician Jeremy Soule returns to deliver a whole new soundtrack full of marvellous melodies that really help to set the mood. Like some of the eerie dungeon tunes recall some sneaking suspicions that something bad is about to go down. Tunes that bring out emotions are surely well done. But one minor suggestion make the melodies a bit longer they are to short and they start to get on my nerves. But other than that the sound is very impressive.
Suggestions: Morrowind is essentially a flawless victory. That’s brings the almighty bar to a new level. One suggestion though make the battles more interesting and exciting. But my hat is off to the Bethesda team.
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
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Smashing Drive
Imagine synchronistic paced action/racing, graphics so sharp you almost can cut yourself, an amazing polygon game engine with no pop-up, accurate collision detection, fantastic music with memorable melodies and bass-pounding sound effects! Imagine hours of racing fun with an addictive two player split-screen mode, realistic landscapes, awesome crashes and intelligent computer enemies. Now imagine a game that has none of the above. Welcome to Smashing Drive. The idea is simple: Drive through the big city in two different modes (arcade and survival) and manage to beat your rival CPU cab and successfully get your passenger from point A to point B before the time limit runs out; that’s it that’s all. The game progresses through a series of working shifts which get harder and harder but for experience gamers like myself this was so easy. The game is everything it shouldn't be. Namco should’ve expanded on the (aging) arcade racer's theme by taking on the full force of the Xbox. So much has happened in video gaming industry that Smashing drive’s flat cartoonist graphics look very dated -- especially since Microsoft's own Halo has shown what the Xbox is capable of. The pace is fast, the frame-rate is never choppy and somehow excitement doesn't really kick in. For some strange reason I still felt compelled to drive through the whole game, just to be able to say: "There, I finished it!" Little did I know that it would only take me about two hours to finish the whole game. The graphics look flat, but offer some nice detail in some of the levels like the basketball courts and roof tops but that's about it.
Smashing Drive looks to add a few wacky twists to standard racing affair like a variety of power-ups (Sonic Blast, Turbo, Glider, 4X4, Repair, Cutter, Crash and the all so familiar question mark “?” that grants you a special surprise). The control pattern is pretty easy really: A button for gas, B button for braking. And let's not forget about the X button for Power-ups. Master that strategy, and you'll be a Smashing drive champ in no time. But don't think this basic control scheme takes away from the fun of the game; oh wait it does. Anyone who's already played simulation racing games will tell you that complexity is what helps keeps its fun. As far as a pure racing game is concerned, Smashing drive is really very simple. Don't expect to use your brake button for precision power-slides in anticipation of hairpin corners. The tracks are really laid out in a very head-on fashion where you can simply release the gas if a sharp turn should every cross your path. You'll even find the occasional hidden shortcut or jump to send you zipping past your Rival CPU cab. Most of the time, however, you simply cruise down the long and hilly straight-aways and glide through the gentle extended curves. But when the turbo comes into play all you have to do is sit back and relax because if you happen to hit an other car you will just bounce off it and keep going and if you do go off course an imagery wall will push you right back onto the track; now where is the fun in that you can’t even wonder around the city.
Smashing drive takes you through the crazy imagination of a five year-old child, and the visuals are a real threat to the eye-candy. The effects won’t wow you. Sparks from your cab grinding on other cars fail to dazzle. It is a very blurry environment, there is very little small details which really doesn’t satisfy me. The graphics in this game have all ready been achieved on several previous consoles. A good example of this can be seen by focusing at the mocking absent of texture of any kind in the skies. The only thing that wasn’t embarrassing to the Xbox was the solid framerate and not to shaby car destruction. But, even the destruction of your car is confined to set stages that visually show off how badly your car has been crushed.
The sound effects are okay, but yet again Namco shows a total lack of attention to detail. For example, when your car jumps over a ramp or a jump, there is no difference in the engine sound and even when you hit the ground, there is barely corresponding impact noise. The soundtrack does not actually detracts from the gameplay, but it definitely doesn't enhance the gaming experience. Even my parents (which have pretty disgusting taste) would have trouble sitting through a whole song (If you actually like these songs, seek professional help). Each time you restart a level the song will restart and you can’t skip tracks or anything you just have to bare the terrible tunes that are in the game and you can’t play your own tunes directly form your Xbox hard drive.
Suggestions: This particular title does not reflect the power of the Xbox at all. Pay more attention to the smaller details!
Overall Score: 5.0 / 10
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Spiderman: The Movie Game
This is without a shout of a doubt the best Spider-Man videogame that has ever graced a videogame system, Activision have succeeded, where no company has ever even come close. With this game, the team have re-created the image of The Amazing Spider-man in an engaging, charming, and stylish platform/action game that truly brings out the best traits of the long-standing comic book. The team has created a title that enables you to do nearly everything Spider-man can do, and it feels nearly perfect. From crawling skyscrapers to web slinging across city skies to tangling up opponents to crawling upside down in buildings, or pummeling opponents with web balls, this game makes you feel like Spider-Man. Spider-Man is a great game, but it isn't perfect. It's too easy, oftentimes the camera angles are too complex for their own good. But despite these little problem spots, Spider-man is more than respectable, it's a phenomenon in videogame physics and presentation. It's a big license game that plays well, and brings you into the world of Spider-Man. I'm extremely glad to say that it has been worth every day of this 11 week wait. It doesn't matter if you're male or female, young or old, fan or newcomer -- if you own an Xbox and enjoy a good action/adventure game every now and then, then Spider-Man will certainly wrap you up in his web. The gameplay is just as simple as any punch and kick action title, but Spidey's unique abilities such as clinging to walls and swinging like a monkey have been produced perfectly and are so fundamentally addicting themselves that you will play the game for a long time to come. The training is also very intriguing, from wage battles against various enemies to obstacle courses and even bowling mode, Spider-man has it all. You can also unlock an abundant of secrets by obtaining points. Spider-man will keep bringing you back for more.
Following a rather traditional action/platform character formula, Spider-Man is an action game that follows the adventures of Peter Parker, a.k.a. The Amazing Spider-Man. Using the evergreen Tony Hawk engine, Spider-Man is a piece of 3D engine genius. Players can literally do whatever a spider man can: shoot webs, create a web shield, form web cones on their hands, kick, punch, throw, sneak attack, tangle up enemies with a large shot of web, and shoot web balls. In short, it's amazing how life-like, or should I say, "comic-like" Spider-man is. It's amazing. Once you have control of Spidey, you'll find that the guy is quick, nimble, and will cling to just about any surface he touches. You name it: walls, ceilings, the side of buildings -- if you can touch it, Spider-Man will grip it and crawl all over it. Then you can leap from it, swing to another location, or pounce on an unsuspecting enemy below. This makes for some very rewarding and creative gameplay since you are not limited to simply running around on foot like the average action title. The play mechanics in this game will have you hooked the first time you realize how effortlessly you can cover every inch of the play environment. For whatever reason, swinging around in Spider-Man never ceases to be fun, and it's this kind of basic gameplay design that will keep you coming back for more. As a fledgling Spider-man exploring his new found powers, you will learn new combo attacks as you progress through the game. Combos beginning with a standard punch or kick and can involve up to three moves that are chained together to receive different results. Using a variety of combo moves will add to style points that are awarded at the end of the level. While web-swinging Spider-man maneuvers quickly and effectively which makes the aerial combat that much more fun.
One thing is for certain: Activision has nailed the comic book look of the Spider-Man characters perfectly. Spider-Man doesn't look like the stupid live-action dufus from the TV show of the '80s. He's sleek, smooth, and nimble looking. He is graced with tons of classic poses from the comics, and his suit and animations are !&%$@#* fine. . The level designs are interesting, too. It seems that Activision wanted to create a standard platform/action game that was styled and tailored to Spider-Man's specific powers. So, if you have ever played a platform game, such as Mario or Crash, for instance, you'll recognize the standard action-based puzzles, throngs of baddy attacks, and the all-too-familiar end-level bosses. The movies are very well defined peter parker looks exactly like Tobey Maguire in the spider man movie. The game is rarely slowed down at all, and much credit must be given to the development team for not only keeping this game beautiful, but for adding a few extra bits of eye-candy and keeping the framerate silky smooth.
This title also features some of the best in-game dialog on the Xbox. Every single voice in the game, at least as I had always imagined them, is perfectly read, from the gutsy, gravelly accents of New York thugs, to the maniacal ventilations of Green Goblin, to the primal rage of Shocker. The dialog appears to have been written by Stan Lee himself or by a true fan of the series, because the classic one liners of Spider-man in battles are dead on. Even the lowest rung thugs have the right sound: Dumb, greedy, and lazy. The web sounds and Peter Parker's voice are also top-notch. It's all so good! Spidey will say a few jokes now and then for that much needed comic relief element. The narrator in the training session is also very humorous. The music is also done very nicely, adding dynamic elements similar to the Batman title on Xbox. Whenever you enter certain areas, or begin fighting groups of baddies, you be treated to an extra hard guitar channel on top of the current tunes, which really helps intensify the action and let you know when the heat is on.
Suggestions: Spider-Man is a game that will surprise and delight anyone who buys it. My hat is off to the Activision team.
Overall Score: 9.0 / 10
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ESPN MLS ExtraTime 2002
Even after only a few minutes of playtime it becomes clear that MLS EXTRATIME is the best soccer game ever. You can choose from over 100 teams, including over 60 national and 10 MLS squads to take part in a variety of modes. Match mode - where you select your favorite team for a single match. MLS mode – you work towards the championship in five consecutive MLS seasons. In MLS mode you have the power to transfer some of your players for better players from different teams in a management menu which brings a lot more depth to this mode. League mode – Select 16 teams to take part in a round-robin series of matches. Cup mode – 16 countries compete for the hardest task of all the international Cup. My personal favorite mode is the Scenario mode – This mode dares you to accomplish various objectives in 10 different games. Training mode – Practice your shooting, free kicks, set plays and other soccer skills you will need to become the ultimate team. They wisely included a Player Edit and a Team Edit function so you can keep your teams up to date. You can change face maps, give your players names, adjust attributes, and so forth. MLS is great as a one-player game, thanks to an excellent scenario mode, but the multiplayer mode completely rules. You can imagine what a ball you'll have when sitting with four of your friends in front of one screen and kicking some major grass. The replays are also very cool but the only thing I don’t like is at half time they show all the good play that were done in the previous half. It gets really annoying after a while because you can’t skip it. But other then that it’s all good. After a team scores a goal the players will do some cool taunts just like you see on T.V. The referee complies suitably with the plays he never really gets in the way. And you can always be sure to see the linesman run by your screen once in a while.
On the control side, the developers finally tightened things up with interruptible motion capture animations. Previously on N64 and PS1, turns weren't interruptible, which meant if you started turning around, you had to complete the motion before changing direction again. In Extratime, you can fake the opponent out by quickly changing direction, resulting in a much faster, better controlling game. It is also much easier to keep the ball from going out of bounds when near the sideline. The analog stick lets you do quick turns and such great dribbles that you feel like constantly patting your own shoulder (if you had a free hand). Take a look at a few basic moves you can do. The “Y” button allows you to do a through-pass (ignores the selected player and passes into the selected direction), “B” aerial pass, “A” Short pass, “X” Shoot. You can also do other different moves like headers and heal lift and bicycle kicks which is a great. The right trigger in the speed burst which is always good to have but it is a bit hard to control you player because he won’t respond as quickly but you get used to it after a while. It is pretty easy to try to take a ball away from a player or try to injure him which will result into a red card. Controls become second nature after only a few minutes of play. You can also have your players be controlled entirely by the computer (automatic) or you can control him manually or you can even have both semi-automatic.
Soccer never looked better. The developer has managed to speed up not only the controls and the overall game (it takes only a split second for the game to cut to corner kicks and throw INS), but also the framerate. MLS is definitely more playable than any of the previous soccer games. The presentation is fantastic. Players argue with the refs after fouls, limp when injured and console their buddies when a penalty kicker misses its target. The stadium models look great. And as with every new Sports title, the menu designers have worked overtime to come up with beautiful looking, well conceived interface graphics. This is definitely the best-looking console soccer game out there. The victory celebrations are also very nice, as are some of the antics of the goalkeeper and the referees. You can also select different weather conditions (normal, rain, snow, etc), and switch between day and night. Squint your eyes and you would think this is a real ESPN broadcast. I swear, you will get a kick out of seeing the other player's defender being called to the referee, who angrily pulls out a red card. One thing that really stands out is the crowds. Not only are the crowd well animated, but your teams' flags wave in the background, bringing home the enthusiasm and excitement of a real soccer crowd.
MLS's sound is pretty good, with different levels of crowd roars and cheers (and boos), complimented by some drum patterns and horns coming from the tribunes. The kick/ball noises are all 100% authentic, as is the "clang" when you hit the goal post. The players themselves shout (which I think is brings a lot more realism). ESPN’s announcers (Jack Edwards and Louis “Gooooaaaal!” Tapia) never really shut up, almost all the voice calls are on time, and the samples are clear and easy to understand. There is enough variation to keep the running commentary from getting annoying but some lines do seem to appear more often that others. Sometimes you may here ambulance sirens in the background which keeps the game even truer to life. In practice mode the guy that keeps screaming instructions at you is really annoying he keeps repeating the same thing over and over and his voice is so revolting but other than that the sound in MLS Extratime 2002 is superior to any other sports game on the xbox. The music in the main menu is a really catchy tune it has a good beat that pumps you up for the tasks that lay in front of you. When you create your own player you can decide if the ESPN announcers will call you by your number or by your nickname or even by your last name that is a really cool element that every sport game should have.
Suggestions: For hardcore soccer fans MLS Extratime 2002 is a must. The game play is wildly exciting and the graphics are aswome. That’s all I have to say. Keep up the good work!!!
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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ESPN Winter X Games Snowboading 2002
Boarders (a cast 13 of the top snow boarders including Todd Richards) can pull off quite a few tricks, from Back-flips and Mctwist 720s to Stale Fish Airs and nose grabs and several different grinds. The trick system itself is considerably simple. Thanks largely to the fact that players can pull off combo-tricks. The spins are also simple to pull off. By simply holding Left or Right in conjunction with the A button, boarders will continuously spin through the air limited only by the ground beneath them. Pulling off a 1080 is a piece of cake. In addition, best of all, it is perfectly possible to manipulate a 1080 and follow it up with a nose grab before dropping back down to the ground. Winter X snowboarding, especially by comparison Amped, moves at a wicked fast pace. If a boarder crashes, it is manageably easy to regain all sensation of speed. The idea behind the winter X snowboarding snowboarder mode is undeniably the most desirable feature in this game. You will live out the simulated career of a boarder you have created. Your boarder will travel to the world’s best and biggest mountains and train to become the best of the best. Your ultimate goal as a boarder will be to reach and win the ultimate competition, the X games. You will be able to create your own legend in the world of snow boarding by singing your boarder in different events you will be competing in. The numerous events you can attend in are four real X games events: Big air, Superpipe, boardercross and slopestyle. My favourite is the slopestyle event because you can freestyle your boarder through a course pulling off tricks and racking up points on big kickers, twisted rails and wild pipes. The more tricks successfully manoeuvred, the more points a player receives. However, a time clock continuously counts down as a player races. Winter X snowboarding duel-player mode offers good one-on-one vs. racing at a smooth frame rate, and helps a little to extend the game's replay value.
What makes a good snowboarding game? Many would say lots of speed, many tricks and the ability to catch treetop air. Xbox’s winter X games, Snowboarding has all of the above in great abundance, but players must master the game's controls and learning curve before the real fun begins. Oddly enough, this game is actually quite easy to master though tricks must be performed precisely and landings timed just right or a potentially impressive stunt could lead to a board-breaking disaster. Players control their boarder with the left analog stick or the D-pad as he/she races down the slopes. Holding and then releasing the A button performs a Ollie. Various tricks, including grabs, 180 and 360 airs, can be performed using a combination of the X button. Pressing down on the right analog stick will perform a one footer. When the boarder grinds you don’t have a balance meter like Tony Hawk’s pro skater or Dave Mirra’s freestyle BMX which sometimes seems to easy to do but when the game difficulty advances you will appreciate this feature. You can also do different grabs by holding A and X together. The spins are also easy to execute just by holding a direction with the analog or some might prefer the D-pad and taping A you will start to do a spin. You can decide when to stop the spin in mid air. You can also do grabs while executing a spin by pressing X or A or both of them at the same time. Of course, each stunt (or crash) is enhanced with the great timing of the Xbox’s built in Rumble Pak.
Quite simply, this is the most beautiful snowboarding game ever created. Nothing compares -- nothing. The development team should be applauded for Winter X snowboarding effects, which vary from course to course. The game's lens-flair is the best and most realistic we have ever seen (and we've seen this effect way too many times); it actually decreases in size (mimicking reality) when partially blocked by a tall mountain or hill. The skies always portray a different shade of day (or night), various weather conditions (including storms) and even beautiful, orange sunsets that illuminate the snow. Speaking of the snow, it looks even better than the surrounding environments, and it varies throughout tracks. Powdered snow, for example, sprays up a thick haze of snow-dust behind a boarder, where as ice reflects characters. When a player makes a sharp curve, the boarder will actually balance himself by putting his hand into the snow and it leaves trails! The game looks fantastic and the frame rate, which rarely slows down, only compliments the eye-candy. Because each track offers loads of depth and visibility, pop-ups of mountains or jumps are occasional, but not a problem. In addition, sometimes a character will give-off a shadow where there should be none. The characters themselves are stylish and unique. Most of the boarders wear beanies, baggy pants, goggles and a thick jacket. Truly, the look of the X-Games. It’s a realistic and refreshing change brought into the world of Xbox.
Winter X sounds great. Listen to the music in the game and I think you'll agree with me. It has some of the coolest tunes from some of the freshest bands like Offspring, Half !&%$@#* ed, Saliva, Randy, Jurassic 5, Static-X, 311, The !&%$@#* ed, Afi and several others. The sound effects are also a big step up from Amped, with varied snow and ice noises and plenty of voice work. The Southern-Cal announcer gives out some interesting background information about the pro snowboarder. But he also calls the tricks executed a bit late and can get a bit grating when he says the same comments over and over, but you can adjust volumes in the sound menu to your liking. The game is a shining example of what can be achieved on the format of given time. But they should’ve put the option of playing the users personal soundtrack because listening to the same tracks over and over can get really boring after a while but other then that the sound is great. When you grind the sound FX are good. Sometimes when a boarder crashes, you can hear a slight moan of pain, which brings a bite more realism to the gameplay. When the announcer introduces you and when you win a competition, you can hear the fans rutting for you.
Suggestions: Xbox’s Winter X-Games Snowboarding 2002 is a remarkable game and my hat is off to the big 'X.'. With a handful of unique tracks, air-make and half-pipe modes, two-player support, an ultra-realistic look with spectacular graphics and tons of tricks, jumps, and air there is a lot of fun to be had with this game. I only wish you could play your own soundtrack. Still, snowboarding fanatic or not, you must own this game.
Overall Score: 7.0 / 10
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All-Star Baseball 2003
By far ASB's best feature and the one that makes it stand out this year above the others is Franchise Mode. Franchise mode tracks stats accurately over twenty seasons. It's one thing to survive a single season, but handling minor league players, making trades, and balancing your franchise budget is a whole other ball game. This is the best baseball Franchise Mode on any console to date. But there are much more different modes to pick from like quick play where two randomly selected teams duke it out in an exhibition game, Exhibition - Play against the computer or a friend in a single game to decide the fate of the world. There is even an All-Star Game mode where you play either as the NL or AL all-stars in an all-or-nothing game, season - play a season (with customizable length) as your favourite team. Make trades, deal with injuries, and pull rising stars up from the minor leagues or you can screw the season and start in the playoffs with your favourite team in series mode. There is also a practice mode where you can get your groove on in the batting cage so you can sock the ball in your next game. my personal favorite the home run derby mode where you smack the cover off the ball in a battle for the most dingers. There is also a fair amount of special features like the trivia Game where you can enter one of three setups Classic Baseball, Home Run Derby, or Speed Game. ASB features trading cards. Earn points by performing certain tasks on the field and trade them in after the game for packs of cards. Players, stadiums, Hall of Famers, and the Development Team are featured on the cards. Collecting different combinations of developer cards unlock new stadiums and teams. In my opinion, this game is just plain sweet, with lots of "oooh" moments.
The controls are very simple and will be second nature by the end of your first game. Face buttons throw to the different bases. The batting cursor represents both a contact zone and a sweet spot. Putting good wood on the ball will give it more pop and greatly increases the changes of hitting a home run. You can easily switch from a contact swing to a power swing. The power swing removes the contact zone, meaning you must hit the ball in the sweet spot to make contact. Many major leaguers guess at the pitch and location in hopes of getting a better swing on the ball. In ASB, you can be just like your favourite big leaguer. Guessing the pitch type correctly increases the contact zone, guessing the correct location of a pitch increases the power zone. The batting interface is easy to use and offers a lot of player control to allow for fly balls, grounders, pulling balls, or hitting to the opposite field. In addition, the game allows you to do bunts, so you can outsmart you opponent. Base running is controlled primarily with the left and right trigger. Left sends runners to the next base when the ball is in play, and right returns them to their previous base. By using the D-pad, you can control specific runners. Steeling a base is performed with the D-pad and the Y button. As is standard with most baseball games, a fielding cursor appears when a ball is put into play, showing where it will land. It can be a bit confusing at first since this is not an indicator of where you should stand, but where the ball will actually hit the ground. After a few hits, it's easy enough to know that you need to be a little in front of the circle to actually catch the ball.
ASB is one nice-looking baseball game. There are wrinkles in the uniforms and plenty of accessories. Barry Bonds is outfitted with his elbow armor and Shinjo has his armbands. Acclaim paid attention to the little details other games may neglect. While the animation for ASB are not silky smooth, they get the job done. Sometimes players won't set their bodies correctly when they throw the ball, forcing them to make odd-looking arm motions. For the most part, the game looks good, with speed appropriate to baseball. Players adjust their gloves, check their bats, and tap their toes in the batters box. You'll even catch pitchers wiping their brow from time to time. All of this helps add to the overall feel of the game. There's a bit of flicker when you're in the batters box, but it's not enough to distract you from the game. There are nice touches aplenty here. Umpires signal safe and out calls as well as foul and fair balls. They actually stand in their correct positions and kneel to judge a close play at a base. The first and third base coaches are also fully animated, motioning for base runners to slide, hold up, and head for home. Pitchers point up at fly balls and outfielders wave each other off. And, of course, mascots dance on top of the visitor dugout between innings. My biggest gripe with the graphics are with collision detection. There isn't any, really. Players pass through each other like ghosts and you can even slide through the catcher (but will still be called out) gamers demand player collisions, and haven't we had them in other games? Yes. And so there's no excuse to leave it out here. It really looks silly to have a player walk through another player to catch a pop up.
ASB is meant to be more like watching baseball on TV than down on the field, so many of the ambient sounds are toned down. The crowd is a sea of similar voices for the most part. However, they are somewhat intelligent. They will clap in unison when the home team starts to rally and boo calls by the umpire. Individual voices will stand out from time to time, which is nice. Crowds chant for their home team and even for individual stars. Hits sound real, though broken bat hits sound more like someone breaking some toothpicks in a sound booth than a player actually breaking a bat. There are no umpire sounds, which leaves a bit of a void, especially when it comes to balls and strikes. You have to love hearing an umpire shout "Sttrrrrike three!" Maybe we'll get that next year. The play-by-play is handled by Thom Brennamen and Steve "Psycho" Lyons. Brennamen does a good job with the play-by-play and the calls are almost always correct. Sometimes you get some funky call that doesn't match the gameplay. Lyons offers color commentary and gets old fast. Do I really need to know Eric Chavez has improved his stats each of the past three years every time he's at the plate? It's nice to have comments for a lot of players, but man, you hear about your team so many times it starts to grate on your nerves. Bob Brenly isn't in the regular games. He comments on the stadiums during the Home Run Derby. Seriously, this is pretty much useless filler and an unfortunate waste of Brenly's talents.
Suggestions: Anyone who purchases this game won't be disappointed. I can't beam enough over the Franchise Mode and the great off season menu. But midway should add some collisions and have the umpire talk.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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NFL 2K2
This is not your average football simulation, the game it is more of an arcade game. With bone crushing tackles, live injury reports and a great variety of plays. This game is by far the most enjoyable football game out there except for the poor graphics. Madden take the top when it comes to graphics. But other then that this game is exactly what a football game should be like old fashion ball’s out action. This game must be also the most realistic football because they did not exaggerate the tackles they look like the one’s you would see in real life and in my opinion, this makes the game better overall. This game has many different modes to pick from, from practice where you can practice your special moves, deeking and you can practice only you offence or your defence to playoffs where you bring your favourite team to become the super bowl champions. You can also play a whole season and even play your fantasy tournament with all you favourite teams you can have a four-team tournament up to sixteen teams in a tournament. If you just want to play a quick game without all the hustle of picking your team and setting the controllers, you just press on quick start and the computer will pick two teams randomly and start the game immediately. You can also customize the current rosters by trading players from other teams or even trade the players that you created. You can also create you own team. In my opinion, this must be the best foot ball game on Xbox. The game play is as solid as ever.
NFL 2K2 has a very simple control design. It is a quick and easy process to picking plays in the playbook. It is also very easy to throw the ball at the desired player with the tap of one single button. When one of the players throws the ball the player that has to catch the ball has to do it manually. It is hard when you play against the computer because the player that you are controlling to catch the ball is to slow he does not correspond quickly enough when you press the button therefore the other team intercepts the pass easily. However, when you get the hang of it you realize you have to press the catching button as soon as the other player throws the ball. The boost button is easy to use it is the X button which is very convenient. In the menu when you are choosing your plays, it is hard if you use the joystick to pick a play or a mode. Because when you are about to pick it and you let go of the joystick it goes right back to the center of the menu therefore you must hold the joystick to pick a play. However, it is so sensitive that when you press it a bite to the side it scrolls threw the plays very quick and then you pick a different play by accident. But you can also use the d-pad to pick a play. With the d-pad the cursor stays on the play you want to pick and it does not pop right back to the center of the menu and it doesn’t scroll threw you play book so you pick the play you want. But other than that the in game play is pretty good the deeks and the special moves are easy to do and the joystick is really touchy but it really helps when you try to circle the defence. The d-pad is also very useful if you try to run in a strait line along the foul line. When you start the game with a kick off or when the other team scores a touchdown you have to start the play with a kick off and it is easy to aim at where you want to kick and how hard you want to kick it. The playbooks have been expanded as well. Every team has a standard stable of plays, and these are broken down into formations, which are further split into different pages. The formation/page scheme isn't very intuitive at first, which was pretty frustrating. But once you discover how to navigate it, you'll notice a ton of extra plays.
The facial expressions and the clothing on the players are well defined, compared to the rest of the visual aspects in the game. Their Jersey’s and the rest of there equipment is well done. The shadowing is very accurate and the reflection bouncing of their helmets is all right but the helmet itself looks a bite choppy it’s kind of square and it has a low texture. The crowd is very poorly done you can barely see any details on them because they are so blurry and they do the same movement all the time it gets repetitive. The referees have a lot of room for improvement. They do not even have facial expression you cannot even see their nose but their clothes are well defined. The slow motion replays must be the most exciting part of this game. By slowing the replays down you do not miss any of the heart pumping action. You can really see all the little details on the players in the replays. The fields and stadiums look nice as well. You would not expect a game like 2K2 to have such nice textures, but the playing field is beautifully rendered. The grass actually looks like grass, and the turf like turf. The arenas are fairly true to their real-life form as well. The only thing I wanted to see was more populated sidelines.
Madden has always had a distinctive sound. From the robust, testosterone-filled announcer to the abrasive sounds of men beating each other silly, from the unique sound of a pass being dropped to the thunderous thud of a body-slam, you can always tell when Madden is being played nearby. The aural tradition continues with NFL 2K2 it has a great commentary during game play because it follows every step-by-step play with enthusiasm. The chanting of the crowd really brings more excitement and intensity during game play. While the players are in the huddle you can here the quarter back yelling some plays that brings a bite more realism to this game. When they line up you can here the players yelling intimidating words is cool. In the menu there is some cool music that is mellow like that makes the game have a different feel sometime so it’s not all ways intense and loud. But during half time there is some more loud and intense music to get you pumped for the last half. All of the effects employed help to set the emotional tone for the game, and work quite well as they are intended. When you hear that plink sound as your game-winning field goal caroms off the upright, you may want to throw your Xbox across the room. It's like the game is taunting you, and that's a good thing... 2K2 forces you to want to play it again, just to prove something.
Suggestions: Pay more attention to the small details surrounding the field. A better-looking crowd would also be a good idea. I hope on the next SEGA football game they do not try to rush the game out. Overall, NFL 2K2 is a must-own for any football fan.
Overall Score: 8.0 / 10
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