May 2006

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

May 7, 2006

Unless you’re new to this whole ‘Playstation’ thing, you’ve probably played [i]Grand Theft Auto 3[/i] at some time. And if you have, you’ll feel right at home here. [i]GTA: Liberty City Stories[/i] is another trip through the streets of the worst city in America, and it’s bigger and badder than ever before. Liberty City is divided into three islands – Portland, the industrial district; Staunton, the residential and business centre; and Shoreside Vale, where the rich kids play. Though not often regarded as the best [i]GTA[/i] city, Liberty has a certain undeniable charm, which makes it stand apart from the others. It has a mafia-istic feel about it; if you like the Godfather for example, you’ll love this. The grimy streets underneath the constantly overcast sky… it’s like a worst case scenario version of New York.

So how does [i]GTA:LCS[/i] fit into the saga? It’s set in 1998, everyone’s terrified of the millennium bug (A nice touch) and the city is tense. Everyone seems to be coming apart – there’s strike action against the construction of the Callahan bridge as the ferry workers fear that the bridge will result in them losing their jobs. Of course, there were no ferries in [i]GTA3[/i]. Wonder what happened to them… The unfinished bridge means that Portland is isolated from the rest of the city when you, as Toni Cipriani, arrive. As you progress through the story, the bridge becomes more or less complete, but not totally. Eventually you can cross to Staunton Island. But then the strikers take out the Shoreside Vale lift bridge, so you’re stranded on Staunton until further notice.
The missions are more mafia centered than any of the previous games – mainly because you play as a wiseguy in the Leone family, rather than a freelance anonymous killer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you don’t get the same freedom of choice as you do in the other [i]GTA[/i]s.

Controls wise, this game takes full advantage of every button the PSP has. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be enough. Drive-by shooting is a staple of the [i]GTA[/i] series, and it has become difficult to pull off here. In the default control scheme, you’re required to hold down the L button, and tilt the Analogue stick left or right, then shoot. But you can’t change the direction you’re moving in when you do this; it leaves you totally vulnerable. The alternative allows for a more [i]GTA[/i]-like drive by style, where L and R allow you to look left and right, respectively. However, with this setup, the Handbrake is mapped to Square and X pushed together. Neither one of these control schemes work particularly well. Also, to correctly use the analogue stick, you need to move it with the ball of your thumb. It takes a while to get used to, and doing it incorrectly can hurt your hand…

The graphics are pretty good, all things considered. They’re slightly better than [i]GTA3[/i]’s – there are improved lighting and mist effects, for example. The soundtrack is of the same style as [i]GTA3[/i]’s – an overabundance of techno and trance music. The relaxing classical strings of Double Cleff FM are also present, but the annoying DJ breaks the mood… The staple Talk Radio show isn’t up to regular [i]GTA[/i] standards either – and it loops far too often.

As far as gameplay goes, [i]GTA:LCS[/i] is half-way between [i]GTA3[/i] and [i]GTA: Vice City[/i]. [i]Vice City[/i]’s expanded weapon sets are here(The inclusion of a chain gun is particularly nice), as are the changeable outfits. However, one of the big [i]Vice City[/i] improvements was the inclusion of aircraft; which are sadly missing from [i]GTA:LCS[/i]. This is odd, to say the least, as there are a whole host of fully functioning helicopters hidden away in the game’s code, yet they are only available with the help of a certain game hack… Also a problem is the save system. It stays true to the [i]GTA[/i] style of having a ‘safe house’, but that really doesn’t work so well on a supposedly portable game; how pick-up-and-play is it if you have to run all the way back to your safe house every time you need to save?

The missions are fun. That’s not debatable. Toni Cipriani is an excellent character, even if he has reduced choice in the theme of his missions. He’s a little deeper than [i]Vice City[/i]’s Tommy Vercetti, but you won’t be getting as attached to him as you did to San Andreas hero, CJ. The storyline is just as epic as we’re used to with the ‘big’ [i]GTA[/i] games and Toni gets to do more damage than any other [i]GTA[/i] protagonist; even going so far as to level several city blocks. The token side missions are here, in full force. If I’m not mistaken, there are actually more mini-missions in [i]GTA:LCS[/i] than there were in San Andreas. Among the new jobs available are car salesman and trashman.

Overall, it may not be the killer app everyone made of it. It’s definitely a buy though, as the sheer size of it will keep you going longer than any other game at the moment. The dry black humour will raise more than a few giggles and the intense driving missions will keep you hooked. The inclusion of motorcycles in Liberty City Stories was simply a stroke of genius – Nothing gives you more of a rush than slicing up the road on a PCJ-600 at 90mph. And now you can do it on the go. Groovy.

Tales of Phantasia

May 7, 2006

Game Boy Advance / Reviews / by Kris VanHaaren /

[i]Tales of Phantasia[/i] was originally released more than a dozen years ago on the SNES in Japan where it was a huge hit. Now sometime down the road the game is being brought to American shores as a port, not on a console, but on the Gameboy Advance. This being my first experience with an RPG on a handheld system I wasn’t so sure what to expect, not to mention how far the genre has come since [i]ToP[/i] was originally released. Will [i]ToP[/i] on the GBA live up to the accolades of the original title?

In [i]ToP[/i] you play the role of Cress, a young boy from a quant, innocent, little village with not a care in the world – until his village is burned to the ground and everyone including his parents are killed, that is. You then start out on a quest for vengeance, to find the responsible party and dispose of said party accordingly. You soon find out that the culprit, Dhaos, is only vulnerable to magic, something that doesn’t exist in the current time in the world.

The one thing that has the [i]Tales[/i] series apart from other RPG’s in my eyes has been the combat system. A linear, side to side blend of RPG item management and menus mixed with combat that is very much like that of a traditional fighting title i.e. [i]Tekken[/i] or [i]Soul Calibur[/i]. This system, however, doesn’t translate so well to the GBA world. The combat rather than being the addictive full on action of the other [i]Tales[/i] titles we have come to love feels crowded and is actually rather boring. This same feeling of crowdedness is even more apparent in the menus and windows within the game. At times you will need to press two or three buttons just to see the stats of an item and who can wear it. Other than this the controls of the game actually work pretty well, your usual RPG setup so they should be easy to pick up and play with.

Your combat party consists of up to four members so the AI is a matter of some importance. You have different strategies you can tell each of your CPU counterparts to use. You might think after hearing this that combat would be better than what it is but that isn’t exactly the case. The AI of your team is offset by a few different things. First off, the combat is rather hard. Even when taking ample time to level up you will struggle against many of the enemies you come up against, including bosses where it is almost guaranteed that you will die once or twice before besting the opposition. This is only magnified by the fact that your other party members, despite the good AI, are rather useless.

This being one of my first games on the GBA, first RPG on the system, I wasn’t sure quite what to think of the graphical side of the game. The game seems to be rather dull looking, while the characters are actually rather nice and detailed. The world map is by far the visual low point in the game, something that appears to have come straight from the days of the NES. The sound effects in [i]ToP[/i] are, as might be expected, very bland and dated. What was surprising to me, however, is the score which is rather complex for a handheld title and very well put together.

So in the end my first experience with an RPG on a handheld wasn’t exactly a positive one. I’m not sure if this is simply a poor job of porting the game itself or if RPG’s don’t work so well on a handheld level but I was expecting more in many ways. The story is there, but it’s dragged down by everything else. Tedious combat, lack of enemy variety and dated sound effects. If you’re a die-hard [i]Tales[/i] fan or desperately need your handheld RPG fix you may want to give [i]ToP[/i] a try – everyone else may want to keep their distance.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror

May 7, 2006

PSP / Reviews / by Mate Bors /

I had never played a [i]Syphon Filter[/i] game before, on any console. On the PS1, I was not interested in these types of games, and on the PS2 games such as [i]Splinter Cell[/i] and [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i] kept me occupied. However, [i]Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror[/i] being a PSP exclusive which received excellent reviews, and considering it looked like what [i]Splinter Cell Essentials[/i] could’ve/should’ve been, I decided to get it.

The game has the best graphics I have ever seen on the PSP. Stunning cut scenes, FMVs that look better than most games on the big consoles (for example, [i]Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones[/i]), and in game graphics are excellent too. Locations are varied, as well as the times of day to make the game more interesting. Visual orgasm at its best!

No complaints in the sound department either. Voice acting is solid, music is good when used. Weapons sound good quite too.

Speaking of weapons, [i]Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror[/i] boasts a great variety of weapons. Selecting them may seem complicated at first, but it is actually really simple. You press and hold right on your D-pad, and while holding you press the triangle to select the “assault” weapons (such as shotguns, snipers, rocket launchers, machine guns), the square for pistols, circle for SMGs, and X for your rifle that has multiple firing modes. While in this menu, you can press R for melee weapons, such as your bare hands, a trusty knife, and an EDT, which if you hold down long enough, will set the victim on fire. Awesome huh? The L button is for grenades.

Much like [i]Splinter Cell[/i], [i]Syphon Filter[/i] also has a variety of vision modes. You access these and use them like weapons, but press and hold left on the D-pad. There is the infra mode for seeking heat signatures, the night vision mode for seeing in the dark, a flashlight, and the EDSU goggles, which is for searching for bombs and such.

You move around with the analog stick, and use the circle, triangle, X and square buttons to look around. It may be confusing at first, but you adjust very quickly as it is quite comfortable.

The story revolves primarily around Gabe Logan, the protagonist of the previous [i]Syphon Filter[/i] games. He is sent into a variety of places to get rid of some naughty terrorists. Lucky for Gabe and the player, there seems to be a big link between all the bad guys and this “Project Dark Mirror”. A few familiar faces show up as well to complicate the situation even more than it is.

The single player campaign will take you quite some time. There are a number of unlockables to go back for, even in the training missions! Once you are done with that, online play is available as well to spend countless hours on.

[i]Syphon Filter[/i] is one of, if not the, best games on the PSP. Developer Sony Bend managed to bring the complexity and the awesomeness of a console game right to the palm of your hands, and it was achieved beautifully, unlike many other companies’ efforts. After seeing how a third person shooter really can work in [i]SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo[/i], and now [i]Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror[/i], it truly makes you wonder how a [b]real[/b] [i]Metal Gear[/i] game could work on the PSP. Until that happens, [i]Syphon Filter[/i] should be an excellent alternative.

Grand Theft Auto: Oblivion

May 7, 2006

News / by Wayne Phinney /

For those of you who haven’t heard yet, there’s been an uproar at the ESRB because somebody used a third party hack to access a topless female file in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. This is nearly the same thing that happened with San Andreas a good year or so ago.

Perhaps it’s just me, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Ok, so you can download a hack to look at some digital breasts. In the time it would take me to download said hack, I could download a bunch of nice crisp clear pictures of real women off the same internet.

Of course, this doesn’t really apply to me, but if a kid is clever enough to know about and find the hack for this game that gives you a topless female, then he certainly knows how to find some internet porn.

In related news, John Romero is blaming the modding community for the recent uproar instead of the ESRB or the developers. While it is true that after San Andreas the ESRB changed the way it rates things, including hidden content that’s on the disc, I still think this is a bunch of BS. Even so, John Romero (co-founder of iD Software) blames the modding community, not the developers, not the ESRB, and not anyone else who should actually be held responsible.

That is of course, if you even see this as a problem. Oh goodie. I can download a hack to see some boobies. Hooray for me…

Sources: [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/05/romero-modders-are-screwing-up-the-industry/]Joystiq[/url], [url=http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12627]GameDaily.biz[/url]