News / by
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It seems that Namco is disbanding the team that created Katamari Damacy and We Love Katamari. It’s looking like that means the last Katamari game will be the one on the PSP. I’m sure Katamari fans aren’t the happiest about this, but seriously? How many games do you need where you roll things up in a ball? One should have been sufficient.
Source: [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/03/18/goodbye-katamari/]Joystiq[/url]
News / by
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In case you hadn’t noticed how much I’m psyched for this game, we have more news and [url=http://www.jeux-france.com/news14998_new-super-mario-bros-80-niveaux.html]screenshots[/url]. 80 levels is about right. I’m all about a new 2d game.
Source: [url=http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2006/3/19/3255]Arstechnica[/url]
Every year, there are a number of games that come out and catch the attention of gamers, usually due to massive commercialization or it being an anticipated sequel. Then there are the games that receive so little attention, but turn out to be one of the better games released in the year. [i]Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy[/i] falls into this category. With its unique take on third-person shooter game play and great depth, it’s a shame that many people will miss out on this game that, in truth, may outshine some of the bigger titles being released this year.
When you first play [i]Psi-Ops[/i], you start out with next to nothing, aside from a weak little pistol. One might think at first that [i]Psi-Ops[/i] doesn’t really do anything differently than other third person shooters like [i]007: Everything or Nothing[/i] or [i]kill.switch[/i] do. Don’t worry though, because [i]Psi-Ops[/i] offers up one of the most unique game play functions seen in a third person shooter that really makes the game enjoyable. Like the title suggests, throughout the game you will learn various psychic powers to use at your will.
The game follows the story of Nick Scryer, who possesses a number of different psychic powers. However, in order to infiltrate a powerful terrorist organization with psychic powers, his memory has to be wiped. This memory wipe makes him an average soldier, no psychic powers or anything. As the story progresses, you will regain all of your psychic powers, run into members of the terrorist organization, and remain in the dark for the most part. The game doesn’t have “conspiracy” in its title for nothing. While not as bad as [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i], you really won’t know what’s going on until the very end of the game.
As mentioned, you will slowly regain all of the psychic powers you once possessed. There are a number of different psychic attacks, all of which add to the greatness of the game play. Telekinesis, the first trick you’ll learn, allows you to pick up objects, while remote viewing lets you step through walls into other rooms to survey the surroundings before barging in. Mind drain refills your precious psi energy, while mind control lets you take over the minds of unsuspecting enemy soldiers, and pyrokinesis lights up your enemies with fire. Of course, you can’t just use these powers as you please. Every power (save for mind drain) uses up your blue colored psi energy. Luckily, numerous psi containers lying around levels are there to refill your energy.
All these powers make [i]Psi-Ops[/i] a pretty versatile and open-ended game. You can take out your enemies numerous ways thanks to your powers. For instance, to take out a group of enemies, you can use your telekinesis to throw crates and crush them, or throw a tank of oil at them to blow them into oblivion, or pick them up and throw them from the edge of a platform. Or you could sneak up behind them and mind drain them to pop their head, as well as refill your psi energy. Or you could take over a soldier’s mind and have them do the dirty work for you, or simply walk them into a lethal pool of acid. The point is; you can do almost anything you want in [i]Psi-Ops[/i], and take it the way you want to go.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a third person shooter without the guns. Unfortunately, this is where [i]Psi-Ops[/i] falls short. With all the powers at your disposal, you’ll often find yourself killing enemies with your psychic powers over getting into a firefight. Even then, it doesn’t help that the gun selection is fairly bland. There are only a small handful of different guns, and while the guns aren’t completely useless, it’s just much simpler to take someone out with telekinesis. Even so, this doesn’t hurt the game for the most part, but it may have you question if this is a third person shooter or not.
The enemy A.I. is a little hard to talk about. Enemies are fairly smart and will open fire the second they spot you. Meanwhile, civilian scientists and workers without weapons will strike the alarm button, and go cower in a corner while reinforcements come to deal with you. However, Nick’s powers are so powerful that dealing with one or two, even three soldiers is pretty simple work. Things can become complicated when large groups start to converge on you, such as when the civilians strike an alarm, but even then your powers can deal with them with ease. The game usually provides you with a large number of first aid and psi energy containers, so it shouldn’t be too hard to stay alive unless you are astronomically outnumbered.
The physics in [i]Psi-Ops[/i] look great. They have a sense of real life movement, especially when you pick up a dead body with telekinesis or throw a crate at a soldier. The graphics look fairly good as well. Some of the facial expressions are a little exaggerated, although I suppose that’s to give the character’s face the sense of fear or anger without them seeming too bland. [i]Psi-Ops[/i] looks best on the Xbox, although the Playstation 2 version is only slightly lower in quality. In the end, it doesn’t really matter which system you get it on. Both versions work great.
The sound quality is fairly adequate. Like the character’s face, the dialogue between characters may seem a little exaggerated. Some lines will probably floor you, sounding like they come from an old television program. For the most part though, the dialogue is tolerable, and by no means the worst we’ve ever seen in a game. [i]Psi-Ops[/i] is fairly quiet when you’re not in combat. The music catches up when a firefight starts up, or when you enter a boss fight. Overall though, you probably won’t pay too much attention to the music since it only picks up when you need to concentrate on killing soldiers.
[i]Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy[/i] is quite possibly one of the best games to come out this year. It’s a little on the short side, and there isn’t much else besides the single player storyline, but it can be fun to play through again, and with three different difficulties and the number of psychic powers, it can stay fun for a good while. The guns are slightly downplayed in [i]Psi-Ops[/i], but the mind tricks make up for that in full. It’s just a shame that this will become a sleeper hit, with not as many people knowing about it, because [i]Psi-Ops[/i] is a great game that’s full of action and does something new and unique with the third person shooter genre.
[i]Star Wars[/i] has explored plenty of different game genres in the past. From the old [i]X-Wing[/i] simulators to the Battlefield-like atmosphere of the [i]Battlefront[/i] series, Lucas’ movies have been around the block. But one of the few genres [i]Star Wars[/i] hasn’t seen such success in is the real time strategy area. We’ve seen a few companies try to mold [i]Star Wars[/i] into an RTS, but they didn’t do too hot when they hit retail. Now we’ve got the latest attempt to enter the genre with [i]Star Wars: Empire at War[/i], which not only tries to break the traditional formula of an RTS but at the same time learns from the mistakes of previous games trying to translate [i]Star Wars[/i] into the strategy formula. Not everything hits the mark, but [i]Empire at War[/i] is the best way for strategy fans to get their [i]Star Wars[/i] fix.
Strategy fans will be relieved to know that Petroglyph Studios is behind [i]Empire at War[/i]. Petroglyph is a new company founded by several members of the former Westwood Studios, known for the seminal Command & Conquer series. It’s obvious that they haven’t lost their edge since leaving Westwood, and they have finally managed to translate the [i]Star Wars[/i] universe into a competent strategy game. Based on the period between [i]Star Wars: Episode III[/i] and [i]Episode IV[/i], [i]Empire at War[/i] allows the player to choose between playing as the fledgling Rebel Alliance or the ruthless Galactic Empire. The best way of summing up the story of the game is that you are given the chance to recreate [i]Star Wars[/i] history, retelling the events of [i]A New Hope[/i] or destroying the galaxy with the Emperor’s Death Star.
[i]Empire at War[/i] is a bit unconventional for a standard strategy game. Things work on a sort-of multi-layered strategy experience. On one side, you are given a view of the entire galaxy with the ability to take over every planet from Hoth to Coruscant. It is on each individual planet where the majority of your structures and armies are built, allocating funds from each of your controlled planets. Stacking up your planet’s space defenses are critical for staving off fleets of Imperial Star Destroyers, and building ground forces is key to capturing enemy-controlled planets. From the planetary view, a space or land battle may be initiated, leading into the second layer of strategy (which is the standard RTS view where you control your units). Depending on what units are included in your attacking or defending force from the planetary view, you battle the enemy with what you have brought along or stacked on your planet. This eliminates the all too familiar resource gathering aspects from the game, and allows you to bring powerful AT-ATs in right from the start of the battle, that is if you’ve made sure to bring them along on an invasion.
It’s in space that [i]Empire at War[/i] shines its brightest. The game includes every sort of spacecraft you could imagine from [i]Star Wars[/i], and each unit brings something different to the battlefield. Mon Calamari cruisers shoot it out with gigantic Star Destroyers while X-Wings and TIE fighters dogfight in-between the fray. While [i]Empire at War[/i] isn’t the most graphically appealing game, the battles in space look great and are easily the most visually appealing thing in this game. Combat in space also attempts to give the player some different tactics than those seen in the ground battles, such as targeting hard points to disable the engines of a cruiser and attacking the helpless carriers transporting AT-ATs en route to the planet. It’s refreshing to see how the developers tried to incorporate different forms of play into each gametype.
Unfortunately, whereas the battles in space are stellar, the ground battles are less than overwhelming. This isn’t to say the ground combat is terrible, but it is certainly doesn’t do too many things different from other strategy games. When compared to the planetary and space modes, fighting on the ground seems somewhat out of place in [i]Empire at War[/i]. Accompanying the mediocre ground combat are mediocre graphics. The textures on planets aren’t exactly that groundbreaking, and aside from different climates, one planet doesn’t look too different from the next. Whereas space battles have fairly good visuals, things look pretty ugly on the ground, including polygonal infantry units, some awkward animations, and other unappealing sights. Granted, these problems don’t show up as much when the camera is far off, but seeing as how the developers included an up-close cinematic camera, it seems strange that things would look so poor in this area.
Hero units deserve some mention. Han Solo, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and all the usual characters associated with [i]Star Wars[/i] make it into [i]Empire at War[/i], and each character brings different skills and advantages to the battlefield. Some like Admiral Piett and Admiral Ackbar come packaged with impressive capitol ships while others like Mon Mothma give bonuses to production needs. Almost any character put into a battle can turn the tide of battle with the special powers they are given. Even the smallest Corellian Cruiser piloted by Captain Antilles can use his weakening powers to lower the damage Star Destroyers deal. The hero units add a lot of variety to the game, and let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a [i]Star Wars[/i] game if the defining characters were absent.
Being a [i]Star Wars[/i] game, you would probably expect some great sound to come in the package, and you would be right. In fact, the developers have outdone themselves in terms of audio in [i]Empire at War[/i]. All the standard John Williams music is included, but aside from good music quality, the sound effects are also pretty stellar. Particularly in space, the sounds of explosions, turret fire, engines blazing and X-Wing pilots chiming in are all clean and crisp. However, the sound quality is also in full force in the other areas of the game, and while ground combat got a beating earlier, the sound is also excellent on land as well. The sound really makes it feel like you’re down in the middle of everything, and this will be one of those games you’ll want to pump up the volume with.
PlayStation 2 / Reviews / by
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When the PS2 was released, it came with a nice little demo disk. It showed off a few nice videos, had the program YABASIC on it, and a couple of playable demos. [i]SSX[/i] was one of those playable demos. It was, without a doubt, the best of the first few PS2 games. A year later, those crazy guys at EA did what they do best: make a sequel.
[i]SSX[/i] is basically the snowboarding equivalent of Motocross. It’s a race between 6 boarders, each trying to be as stylish and tricky as possible. Throughout the tracks, there are plenty of big jump opportunities, so the boarders can show off their incredible skills in the air. Each successful trick will add to the adrenaline bar at the side of the screen, allowing for a small boost in speed at the touch of a button. Obviously, screwing up a trick, or falling flat on your face will decrease the adrenaline bar. So that was [i]SSX[/i]; a race, pulling tricks to earn speed boosts.
A year on, they reckoned that they had better come to grips with the technology available to them. They said that they had wanted to do things that wouldn’t have been possible in the first [i]SSX[/i]. Tricky isn’t so much a sequel, as a remake. All the courses of the original are back, but a few of the original riders have gone AWOL. (Sadly, this includes the awesome Hiro.) Tricky makes up for it by introducing a bunch of brand new boarders – from the well balanced alpine boarder, Brodi (Hiro’s replacement), to the maniacal BX boarder, Psymon. All the original tracks reappear, some have minor adjustments. Some are like entirely new courses. There’s also the welcome addition of two new tracks; a super easy beginner course, Garibaldi, and an insanely difficult expert course. Alaska.
The emphasis in Tricky is on style, rather than speed. The introduction of Uber Tricks is the best example of this. Topping off the adrenaline bar, there’s now the word “TRICKY”. When you build up the adrenaline bar all the way to the top, Run DMC will briefly highjack the soundtrack, and start yelling “It’s TRICKY!!” This is your opportunity to perform an Uber Trick. These new tricks award you with massive points, a complete refill to your adrenaline bar (Though it should be full anyway, if you just pulled an Uber Trick…) and each Uber Trick you perform will highlight one letter of the “TRICKY” which adorns the adrenaline bar. Highlighting the entire word will give you infinite boost for the rest of the race. It is of course, incredibly hard to pull off 6 Uber Tricks in time for it to actually make it worthwhile.
Each race you win will give you experience points, which you use to upgrade your rider. These points are pretty damn useful, especially when you turn your attentions to Showoff mode. Showoff is the other mainstay of Tricky – you get a course all to yourself, and have to reach the target number of trick points. Here, Uber Tricks are your friends. Do well in the races and showoffs and you’ll advance a ranking. Your rank is just a cosmetic thing – but each new rank unlocks a new board for your rider.
That’s pretty much it as far as gameplay goes. So what makes it so fun? It’s all the little things. The DJ’s always fun and characters like Eddie and Psymon often have interesting things to say. The variety among the boarders is great. Even the character select screen acknowledges their differences; Kaori hides from Psymon. Those are the nice little details that make [i]SSX Tricky[/i] a joy to play, over and over again.
Load times are kept to a minimum which is strange considering they reappeared with a vengeance in [i]SSX 3[/i]. Popup is non-existent, and framerates are never a problem. The graphics aren’t outstanding, but then – it is 5 years old. All things considered, they are pretty remarkable. One minor problem (if it could be called that) is that each character’s outfit selection has little variety. They’re all the same outfit, just with colour swaps.
The music is pretty damn suitable. Lots of hip hop and the general snowboarding vibe make up this sweet soundtrack. The voice actors are all top notch (David Duchovny and Lucy Liu are among the cast) and all suit their character’s well. The DJ is fantastic; he introduces each track in his own unique way… There isn’t much else to say. [i]SSX Tricky[/i] is fantastic, in an over-the-top kind of way. Some of the Uber Tricks, like Psymon’s Guillotine Air, spit at the laws of physics. It’s this rampant surrealism that makes [i]SSX Tricky[/i] fun to play, even though it’s old.
Should you look into Tricky, even though it has 2 sequels? In a word – yeah. [i]SSX On Tour[/i] does away with all the crazy Uber Tricks, and in the process, loses a lot of the [i]SSX[/i] charm. If you’re looking for a solid, realistic snowboard game; go for [i]SSX On Tour[/i]. If you want a bit of silly fun, this is the one to get. At around $8, there is no downside to [i]SSX Tricky[/i]. One thing I must mention though – steer clear of the Gamecube version. It just doesn’t work – not enough shoulder buttons. That said, go buy it. Now.
