GameCube

Super Monkey Ball 2

May 30, 2003

I want to start this review out stating that I am fully aware that there are many people out there who enjoy this game. I, however, am not one of them. I can’t quite put my finger on what I don’t like about it – oh wait; yes I can. Ei ei poo.

Wonderful Story Mode…

I started out playing Super Monkey Ball 2 in story mode. This involves four monkeys and a bad guy in a blimp – BADboon. The premise of the game is that you are this little monkey that speaks Japanese and you are encased in this clear ball and must roll through Labyrinth-like courses to reach a goal, while collecting bananas that BADboon has stolen from you. The levels start out really simple, basically rolling yourself across a bridge into the goal line. They, of course get progressively harder and you have to hop across mogul-like bumps and hurdle your monkey across moving conveyor belts. Each level consists of 10 courses that are arranged to look like pool balls in a cue. How cute. It took me about ten minutes to beat three levels. It is relatively easy to control your monkey ball, no difficult combinations, just simple moving of the joy stick. Oh yeah, I forgot the story. BADboon wants MeeMee, the girl monkey in the pink dress (how original) to marry him and she says A

NBA Street Vol. 2

May 11, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal /

Basketball is relatively boring in my opinion. You can’t touch
anybody, and you must let the opposition score in the most spectacular
fashion. I am a huge sports fan but I must bitch about the rules
of basketball more than anything. I would very much like to see
more street basketball on TV. That may be why I enjoyed the NBA
Jam games from the days of old. NBA Street Volume 2 has brought
back some of that nostalgia as well given a life to basketball that
I thought was lost.

I was hesitant to get another sports game that was not entitled
Madden. Usually I will play them and dominate, only to get bored
and turn it back in very shortly. It is not the game’s fault that
I enjoy replay ability that sports games do not give. With the high
hopes that I had for NBA Street Volume to, it turns out, while it
is a cool game, it won’t stay in my collection for very long. Allow
me to explain.

Graphics on the Gamecube are considered middle of the road; the
Xbox always will win the title for the sharpest graphics, and the
PS2 for the absolute shittiest graphics in the console comparison.
The version I picked up was for the Cube, and the graphics look
crisp as all hell. The character models are a good translation from
their real life counterparts. The courts are displayed nicely and
are modeled after actual urban courts from around the US. Around
the court are the spectators; which are modeled, instead of the
usual cardboard people we are accustomed to seeing as audience.
Buses and cars zoom by the streets and the graffiti is present on
the walls and the court itself. The look pulled off by the designers
is defiantly there. The opening menus are fucking sweet. I am a
fan of vector art so the transitions between videos were rather
easy on the eye, definitely a nice touch.

The sound of the streets is present as you ball up and down the
court. Cars honking, chatter and ambience of downtown will come
out of your speakers to illuminate the game itself. The game’s downfall
comes with the announcer. While some of his remarks are cool, the
majority of his comments are on the stupid side. When I say majority
I mean somewhere in the vicinity of 99.9 percent. The rattling on
the rims and the chain net sounds are perfect.

Depending on which platform you choose the control scheme is either
great, or a giant pain in the ass. On the PS2 the 4 upper buttons
come in handy as you have three separate turbo buttons and two trick
buttons. On the Cube you will have to use the Z button as your third
turbo, which is not too much of a pain. On the Xbox you will have
to press d
ow
n your analog stick on order to activate your third
turbo, which I hear is a complete hassle.

The Cube controls are not too hard to pull off. Tricks come easily
with the press of the X or Y and a turbo. Figuring out all the combinations
of tricks and dunks is very cool, and easy to remember for when
you want to bring them out of the bag. All in all the controls are
very easy to master, and with some practice you will be tricking
the computer out of their shoes and pulling off double alley oops
in no time.

The challenge of this game, to me, is like the challenge of any
sports game. For a while it is hard till you learn the controls.
After you learn the controls and some basic strategy you will be
whooping the computer’s ass into submission in no time flat. The
game has three modes of difficulty but when you find the computer’s
tendencies you will easily beat the competition.

This game has your usual EA Big fun factor. What I mean is invite
the boys over to run smack and drink beer while you play this game.
By yourself it has a limited appeal, but with a crew I can see how
this game can shine. Even when playing co-op with Soda I already
get bored. Having owned the game for a few days I have had my fill
of super dunks and fresh looking passes. Don’t get me wrong this
is a very sweet game; if I were more a basketball enthusiast I would
be more eager to get exited about this game, or even keep it longer.
I recommend a rental when you know you will have some pals over,
the controls are a breeze to perform (on PS2 and Cube) and people
are quick to pick them up. Other then that, I say the game is just
fine; the only thing that bugged me was the loading times, however
that varies per platform. Have fun ballin’ it up.

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc

April 22, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Anuj Agrawal /

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/rayman3/cover.jpg[/floatleft][heading]Introduction[/heading]
Rayman 3, the sequel to one of the greatest games ever…Rayman 2. There was Rayman 2, a fantastic game, then in between there were a few terrible Rayman games, and now finally a sequel that wasn’t put together in a night. A really deserving sequel, a game that even Ubi Soft decided to fully credit being a sequel and not a piece of crap. Rayman has always been about fast action platform fun. Rayman 3 is a good game but it still has it’s shortcomings in some areas.

[heading]Graphics – 9.0[/heading]
The graphics of the game are very good. The FMV cut scenes are really nice and quite well done. The levels just shine in terms of beauty. They look like fully pre-rendered levels, but clearly they are not. Smooth frame rate and not even a hint of slowdown. Great simple clear colors, brilliant effects and amusing animations sum it up.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/rayman3/ss01_thumb.jpg[/floatright][heading]Sound – 9.0[/heading]
The game sound is really good. The music in some areas is really good, and in other areas it is okay, but overall it is good. The voice cast is great, and the voice acting is superb. The people really act it out well and overall put a lot of effect into this funny game. Yes, the game is very funny, and it may not have been as funny had the parts not been acted out so well. The only downfall would be that the music in some areas is not as good and can very rarely be even irritating; but as a downfall, that is a very small one.

[heading]Control – 8.5[/heading]
The controls are just fine. They are standard for any platform. The camera control with the C-Stick just isn’t enough though sometimes. There are some pre-set camera angles in some areas and sometimes they just don’t work, and the camera with the C-Stick just doesn’t move around fast enough sometimes. The R button works as an A

Ikaruga

April 21, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Anuj Agrawal /

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/ikaruga/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Well, I will begin with a brief history of the game. The game was originally released for the Sega Dreamcast in Japan but never brought to the US, till now. On April 16th, 2003, Ikaruga was released for the Nintendo GameCube; a very popular game in Japan that US audiences were very happy to finally have. In a world of 3D games and immersive worlds and many dynamic modes of gameplay, it is a great change of pace to have a two dimensional fast paced shooter that all of us old school gamers can sit down with and have a great time with. We’ve all played and cursed at the screen playing our Gradius and our Galaga and all of it. Now we can experience that all over again with this wonderful new game.

[heading]Graphics – 8.0[/heading]
There really isn’t much to say about the graphics. It’s a 2D overhead shooter with very nice background visuals and many effects on the screen with not a bit of slowdown or anything. The game is as graphically impressive as you could hope for from a game like this. Although it is nice, it is not perfect. It does the vertical line of travel, and many of us who have previously fallen in love with Gradius and other such titles, really do prefer the horizontal mode of movement. Well, the game does come with an option to play horizontally instead of vertically, but unfortunately it doesn’t accommodate the controls for this change. Up on the analog stick is still forward and so it becomes impossible to play unless you lay down while playing the game. That being said, most people will probably stick with the normal vertical modes of gameplay. The graphics are as good as one could hope for, but not perfect.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/ikaruga/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright][heading]Sound – 8.0[/heading]
There isn’t much to be said about the sound either. The background sound fits the game well and can make the game fun and action packed, but the music isn’t anything truly memorable or something that sticks in your mind even after you are done playing. The sound effects of shooting and explosions and everything are also just fine.

[heading]Control – 8.0[/heading]
The controls are “standard”. The only issue with the controls are when you try to play in horizontal mode. That is all. I will use this portion then to also talk about the innovative ship control modes. You can play as either “Light” or “Dark” ship mode. You can simply change the polarity or your ship and this innovative mechanism allows many different ways of gameplay. The enemies you encounter also have a polarity that fire energy as the polarity of their ship. The polarity that your ship is changes or effects that the rest of the enemies and fire does to you. It will start upon the firepower from you hitting an enemy. If you shoot a ship that is opposite polarity as yourself, you inflict double damage, but if you shoot a ship with the same polarity, if fires back at you with firepower of the same polarity. Now, the polarity of your ship and how it takes firepower. If you get hit by energy of the same polarity, you absorb it, and charge up your missile or power shot bar. You can fire these out at any time but the more it is charged up, them more missiles it fires. So using this ability on similarly charged enemies to charge up is a very clever mechanic. You can either burn through enemies faster with double damage, or charge up your energy bar to inflict major damage later. Now, if you get hit by a shot of the opposite polarity, you die. These clever game mechanics allow for you to play the games in many different ways, and also have you keep track of a lot of things in the game all at once, making it a lot of fun, and very challenging.

[heading]Challenge – 10[/heading]
Speaking of challenge, this game is challenging. There are options to play it that can make it harder. There is a mode called bullet-eater mode where you can try to play the whole stage without firing a single shot yourself. If you pass the stage without dying or firing a single shot, then you will be rewarded with ample points. That is all on top of the fact that there are three modes of difficulty, easy, normal, and hard, and hard is very hard, and a lot of fun. It will be difficult and it will take most people a while to beat the game, no matter how or what difficulty they play it on. The game is designed so that you can get good enough to eventually beat it, but then after that, you can also keep playing to get a really high score. These scores can then be entered via a code online on the Ikaruga Net Ranking website. This does allow a lot of replay value with incentive, not to mention that it’s a helluva lot of fun.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/ikaruga/ss05_thumb.jpg[/floatleft][heading]Fun Factor – 9.0[/heading]
The game is a lot of fun. The many different ways to play and the difficulty settings allow a lot of unique games. On top of all of the fun that can be had playing it alone and getting better just to beat it, there is a very good score keeper so you can hone your skills and try to get the perfect score. Then on top of all that, you can do it with a friend. There is a two player mode where you and a friend share the screen and share the action.

[heading]Conclusion – 9.0[/heading]
This great game gives something that you can always play. Bored? Pop in Ikaruga and play for half an hour or so. Grab a friend and play 2 or 3 games, see how far you can get. This fast paced fun shooter is something you can always come back to and play for a bit. Is it worth the 50 bucks? In my opinion, yes, but lucky for you it only costs 40.

Zelda: The Wind Waker

March 28, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Chris Rasco /

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/zelda/cover.jpg[/floatleft]As one of the most anticipated games of the GameCube library I feel almost an honor to be the one to get to give my thoughts on the current generation Zelda game. The angle that I will take when reviewing this game is probably much different from what you might expect if you are to read any other reviews of The Wind Waker. The reason I say this is directly related to my experience with the Zelda series of games. If you have spent any amount of time reading our site then you know that I have a deep loathe for turn based RPGs and an absolute love for action RPGs. I would consider playing the original Zelda as my first experience into the foray of the RPG world. While I consider myself to be a fan of Zelda, my enjoyment never grew into an obsession. I never owned a Super NES and thus never played the A link to the past. I also was not very fond of the style of game used for Zelda 2 and thus I never experienced it. My N64 was bought purely for WCW vs NWO and Flying Dragon. You could say that I have been on a Zelda hiatus. I have been waiting for the game that would combine the style of gameplay and level of enjoyment that I felt with the original Zelda. I feel that the release of The Wind Waker ends this wait.

One of the more controversial aspects of The Wind Waker has been the graphical element of the game. There was a pretty even split of people that were very excited to see what Nintendo would do with cel shading and there was another camp of people that were very vocal about the fact that cel shading would somehow destroy the legacy of a game that began way back in many of our childhoods. I tried to maintain an open mind about cel shading and I did a fairly good job of not allowing either group of people sway my opinion in either direction. It should also be noted that this is my first experience with cel shading aside from playing the demo of JSRF and an hour or so of Dark Cloud 2, neither of which made me think twice about the use of cel shading. My thoughts on the graphics of the game are that Nintendo took a fairly unexposed technology and did some very amazing things with it. One of the most notable aspects of cel shading are the facial expressions that Link uses. The expressions convey more feeling and allow you to immerse yourself into the story. The lighting in the game is also superb. I toyed around w/ the camera and positioning it facing the sun in a myriad of different ways and I couldn’t find any flaws, clipping, or improper shading. This is not to say that it doesn’t exist, just that Nintendo made sure that it wouldn’t be common. Rest assured that Nintendo did a complete job on the graphics and you will be very impressed with just how good the game looks.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/zelda/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatright]Being a fan of the original, it brought me great joy to hear some updated versions of the old school music. The music in the game never seemed to annoy me or actually cause me to take notice that it was there. It seems to perfectly complement the overall game experience without standing out in a bad way. The sound effects were right on and even just using the speakers on my TV I felt like they did a good job on giving you that A

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