Xbox

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3

November 7, 2003

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/rb63/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Squad based action takes another crack at console gaming. While many of the PC gamers are already familiar with the squad based shooters, there still remain console gamers that are just now getting their feet wet. The Rainbow Six Series has a brilliant past. With the release of each game Red Storm has been able to improve enemy and squad AI, making for a realistic gaming experience through and through. Comparisons with the Rainbow Six Raven Shield game will, of course, be made as Rainbow Six 3 is obviously based on its PC brother. Red Storm may have had a new demographic in mind when developing for a console. What we got is a more action packed, though less strategic, yet just as fun squad based action game.

[heading]Ding Chavez, the man, the myth, the legend, the gameplay![/heading]

Ding is back, however, in a new light. Instead of being one of an elite team, Ding is the main character. You, of course, play as Ding as you lead a team through each level. You have your mission objectives which are given to you in the briefing that happens before each mission. They cover the full gamut of rescuing hostages, securing an area, deactivating bombs, and some stealth is mixed in there as well. RB63 shines with its gameplay. Of course, you must keep your team and yourself alive and well while engaging through the tough missions. The developers have given you some nifty tricks in which to do so.

First off you get a map that is extremely informative. The map will show if an area is safe or not with a designated shade of gray. This helps you plan your incursions with proficient ease as you order your team to breach room after room. You can also set up more complicated orders and send your team into a room while you breach another entrance at the same time via the Zulu commands. Each Zulu command will have your team perform an action when given the command. This allows you to position yourself for a perfect incursion to a hot zone. The Zulu command is an extremely beneficial feature.

How do you command a team of three with the press of a button? Raven shield introduced an excellent technique and Rainbow Six 3 puts it to use. You will be given team icons when looking at certain objects. Should you, as lead, want your team to breach a room and clear it, you would look at a door and the “open and clear” icon would appear. A simple press of the button activates the action and your team does as ordered. You can order your team to position itself in the distance, climb ladders, deactivate bombs, gather in position, and hold position, among many other useful techniques. Commanding a team has never been so easy. Of course you must know what you are doing. Sending your team to a distant location may have them walk into heavy resistance and before you know it you have a man down, or even worse all of them. You can use the Xbox Live headsets to give the same commands to your troops as you would with the icons. While this is a great feature, you can imagine there are some flaws. I don’t know how some commands get picked up but often my team will breach a door when I did not issue the command. Still it is a neat feature bringing you into the game and immersing you into your role further.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/rb63/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]Not only do you have great command of your squad but you have excellent control over your character. Moving Ding along is a breeze. While you can order your team around you may also defuse bombs, secure hostages, and the like. Most important you can slowly creek open doors to take a peek inside. Doing so and dropping in a well placed flash grenade can be the difference in most successful missions. You move about smoothly and of course can adjust how your controls move along the X and Y axis with the menu buttons. With the adjustments made you can turn around faster and aim slower. It’s up to you. Regardless, you will have no trouble getting Ding from point A to point B, all the while putting a .50 Cal in a terrorist.

[heading]Where did my customization go?[/heading]

This is where the obvious toning down of Rainbow Six happened. In previous PC incarnations you can customize everything about your team. You could place team members in different squads and assign them each weapons, sub weapons, ammo, and armor. Rainbow Six 3 for the Xbox lacks all these features. You cannot control what guns your team members have or their armor. For a customization fan like myself I was very disappointed in the lack of options and equipment. In the past I had become accustomed to taking a weapon slot to add a silencer, or carry extra ammo, none of this is to be found in Rainbow Six 3. Perhaps they thought that people were anxious to get to killing and did not want to spend that much time setting up. Who knows?

[heading]Repetition, repetition, repetition[/heading]

The levels are quite remarkable graphically and model wise.. Taking you from closed quarter offices buildings and houses to Alcatraz (my favorite), the levels in RB63 are a sight to behold and the ambiance sound and gunfire will bring you into the environment. The levels will make sure to test your skills in leadership as well as survival. The missions do however have an annoying knack of becoming predictable and repetitive. As you play each mission you will know exactly when and where bad guys will pop in at. Gone are the days of terrorists that just patrol and react to gunfire, now they are just triggered events. While first playing the levels it’s great, but you will know that when you defuse the bomb two guys will come around that corner. You will be waiting to put two in the chest and one in the head.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/rb63/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatleft][heading]Live![/heading]

Squad based action shines in multiplayer. You can tackle missions with three of your friends or PVP with up to 16. All connected via live and a headset, RB63 is an extreme experience. I usually take point man and issue out strategy to my friends. The fun in breaching a room is endless, and your heart will pound as you try to stay alive. Of course there are many game modes including terrorist hunts where you try to neutralize all the terrorists, as well as a few PVP modes. Survival games are fun where you play against the other players. Team Survival is the best as you use your squad based strategies against actual players. So far I have been lucky enough to not run into Online Gamer and his crap PVP tactics, however the game is only a week or so old. Give him time and Online Gamer will know the kinks in the maps and where the best places to snipe you are.

[heading]Lock and load.[/heading]

Rainbow Six 3’s faults are outweighed by all the things it does right. The AI for both bad guys and your squad is dead on. Watching your team clear a room is a sight to behold. Graphics, sound, and most everything is extremely well done. The game play is a standard of first person squad based shooters and yes. Red Storm has once again outdone themselves. For those with Live, the gaming experience is just that much better. Rainbow Six 3 is well worth the price, and already a Snackbar Favorite. Go out and add it to your Xbox library.

Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick

November 3, 2003

Reviews / Xbox / by Chris Rasco /

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/evildead/cover.jpg[/floatleft]I seem to be on a role lately with all these game/movie combos. I assure you that it is merely a coincidence. I love Evil Dead, and I enjoy watching Bruce Campbell. When it comes to movies, I can sit through a terrible movie and afterwards justify why it wasn’t all that bad. I am there for the entertainment value and over the top B movies with chainsaws for hands keep me thoroughly entertained. I am not going to say I awaited the arrival of this game though, because I didn’t. I figured it would be an entertaining hack and slash game at best, but to my surprise it was much more than that. I would be lying if I said that the game blew me away with a new inventive style of gameplay, but I was surprised by how much they actually put into this game. Normally, games based on movie content are shallow representations of the characters from the movie. Fist Full of Boomstick captures the true essence of Bruce Campbell. Bruce did the voice acting and the FMVs did a superb job with Bruce’s likeness.

Before you think that I have gone loony and think I am proclaiming Fist Full of Boomstick as a “must buy” title, allow me to expound on my thoughts. Graphically, Evil Dead is nothing to write home about. The graphics get the job done, but they surely aren’t going to win any awards in the “Breakthrough performance by a pixel” award… ok that was really bad I know.

In the realm of camera control, which is my biggest complaint with almost any game, Evil Dead certainly left me hanging. The camera was stuck facing the same direction as your character and it may as well not have been implemented at all. The camera faces forward at all times and the camera analog stick will allow you the ever so slightest camera adjustment in each direction. If you are having difficultly seeing something, don’t bother using the camera controls, as they probably will not help you.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/evildead/ss03_thumb.jpg[/floatright]The games’ sound was an area that I wasn’t impressed with either, but should I have been? B-movies often exploit the fact that they cut corners in special effects on purpose. They make themselves the butt of the joke in regards to special effects or, lack thereof. Fist Full of Boomstick adhered nicely to this rule as I felt the sound effects were mildly cheesy and it seemed to be completely lacking in the overall department.

The most important factor in judging a game to me is the fun factor and gameplay. I can generally look past terrible (not too terrible I hope) graphics and control schemes if I truly have fun playing the game. FFoB kept me entertained for a short while, but the incredibly linear gameplay got boring. You just ran around the streets lined with porno shops looking for the undead to kill. While that sounds fun for a short time, it does get boring. On occasion there was a little bit of thinking required to defeat a large group of the undead. Earlier I mentioned that the game was much more than I expected. What I was referring to was your ability to learn spells and cast them. It added a little variety to the game, but not much. The spells are button combinations that can be looked up in a book you carry in your inventory. Your inventory also houses your multiple weapons and other items you may need to utilize later on.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/evildead/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]If THQ was going for a below average action adventure game with a slight dash of character leveling, then they got this one perfect. The character “upgrades” aren’t even enough for me say it has RPG elements. Unless you have been dying to play the next Evil Dead game since “Hail to the King” was released a few years back I highly recommend you just let this one go. FFoB falls short of even a recommendation to rent as we have recently been hit with some pretty high quality titles in this genre. If you find yourself staring at this title in a game store, do yourself a favor and let it rest in peace.

Amped 2

October 28, 2003

Reviews / Xbox / by Michael Parks /

Microsoft’s Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding was one of the first games out of the gate for the Xbox two years ago, and the first real competition for the SSX series. It met with mixed reviews, mainly because of the steep learning curve and awkward control scheme, but gamers who toughed it out were treated to a fun, if not overly-realistic, snowboarding game that more than held its own against the original SSX. Now, two years later, and facing stiff competition with SSX3 and 1080 Avalanche, Microsoft returns with Amped 2, and fans of the first game will definitely not be disappointed.For better or worse, the basic gameplay here is still the same. The left analog stick handles the brunt of the control – it moves your boarder and controls your spins while in the air. Holding down the A button accelerates your boarder, while releasing it will make him jump. B and Y are used for grinding and lip tricks, respectively. The L and R triggers are for tweaking your tricks. The main difference between Amped and SSX, and the one thing that most gamers have trouble getting past, is the fact that the right analog stick is used for grab tricks. This means you’ll constantly have to move your thumb from the face buttons to the stick, which never feels completely natural, even after extended play. Fortunately, there’s a lengthy tutorial mode to help ease new players into the game.

New to the game are A

Freedom Fighters

October 23, 2003

Reviews / Xbox / by Marco Ortega /

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/freedomfighters/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Have you ever considered what the world would be like if Russia would have won the Cold War? Let’s go a bit further, what if Russia had started to spread their Communism all over the world? Well, in the case of this game, Communism makes an abrupt visit to the United States. Freedom Fighters takes us into the life of an ordinary hardworking American who is forced into the life of a rebel soldier trying to take back an invaded New York City. The great thing about fighting this war is that you don’t have to fight it on your own. As time progresses, your experience is measured by your charisma level. The higher charisma level you have the more people you can recruit to fight with you in a battle. And believe me, these volunteers will be more than happy to fight with you.

This third person shooter has a unique method of choosing weapons, giving commands, and soldier placement. This is not your ordinary detailed squad-based management game. It does not have the command menu like Rainbow six which it lets you choose different precise actions. And this is certainly not a specific pin-point location movement management game either like Ghost Recon. FF is a simple three command squad based game. You simply tell them to defend, attack, or scout. All three ways will have each member of your team attacking the enemy without being told to do so. You can move each player individually, one by one by simply pointing your aim arrow and designating a position there after. If you choose not to control them individually, each member of your squad will follow you like body guards. You can command up to twelve recruits and each recruit carries one of three weapons, a pistol, an AK-47, or a shotgun. I prefer to recruit those with the heavier fire power. You can recruit has many people as you want depending on your charisma level. If your charisma level is at 5 then you can recruit 5 people, and so on and so forth. You are only allowed to carry two primary weapons, three explosives, other handy weapons like a wrench, and a medi-pac. Each item can be selected by scrolling through an item menu during game play. Weapons range from sub-machine gun, an unmounted machine gun, an AK-47, an RPG, frag grenades, revolver, glock, C-4, and the special Molotov Cocktail. The movements of the characters are simple and straight forward. Reloading is automatic along with aiming and mission objectives. One complaint that I have with the controlling is the manual aiming when throwing Molotov cocktails and grenades. Throwing explosives becomes a huge challenge because you find yourself taking too much time calculating distance. If you put too much of an arch on it, the grenade will find itself falling on your head. If you don’t put arch on it then it falls a foot in front of you. Finding a happy medium was quite annoying during a heated battle.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/freedomfighters/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatright]EA decided to give FF a small hint of GTA when designing this game. I mean, playing in the streets of New York, camera movements, the whole third person shooter action just reminds me of GTA 3. The graphics are a little above average compared to GTA 3. FF and GTA 3 are almost alike with shadows and good lighting and some destructive environments. The buildings have depth and very good texture. Backgrounds are incredible with beautiful skylines and tall enormous sky scrapers. The AI in FF is a little rough around the edges, but overall decent. Enemies will fire if they see you, and they will run and call for reinforcements. Every once in awhile you find a soldier at point blank range crouching in front of you pretending to hide from you. That’s always pretty funny. One thing I found pretty ridiculous was the helicopter explosions. A Russian attack helicopter would hover around mowing all of us down constantly. Every once in a while I would find myself with an RPG. Every time I would blow that thing up it would just disappear. No magnificent explosion with a blaze of glory, nothing. No parts falling from the sky, nothing. It was dull, however, it would take about 5 tries to hit that thing. The helicopter would dodge anything you shot at it.

Overall, I thought EA did a great job making this title. I enjoyed the entire storyline of taking back New York and building a rebel army. I especially enjoyed every last objective of every mission. Raising the Stars and Stripes!! To complete each mission you had to take back certain locations and raise the American Flag. I thought that was a cool touch to the game. This entire game reminds me of the movie Red Dawn with Charlie Sheen, Patrick Swayze, only the game was in the city. Freedom Fighters has a “WOLVERINES!!” feel to it! If you’ve seen the movie then you understand what I’m talking about. I truly enjoyed playing this, I suggest for those of you with a passion for war and squad based games to try this one out.

Voodoo Vince

September 30, 2003

Reviews / Xbox / by Lauren Rasco /

There are few games out there that truly capture one’s imagination, make you lose track of time, forget that you have places to go, people to see; all because you are so captivated by the world the game presents to you. Personally, I have only had three games do this to me thus far – Halo, Ratchet and Clank, and Kingdom Hearts. In fact, Halo still captures my attention for hours on end countless weekends in the year. I am proud to add another game to my short little list: Voodoo Vince.

Is it hot in here or is it me?

Voodoo Vince is set in the surly, dark underworld of the New Orleans night life, in which Vince, a voodoo doll, is forced to become an unlikely hero when some unscrupulous bad guys steal Vince’s maker Madame Charmaine’s zombie dust. She is kidnapped by Kosmo the Inscrutable’s cronies and Vince, brought to life by the powers of the zombie dust has to save her. The game then takes you through level after beautifully constructed level of the New Orleans and Louisiana landscape with a twist, as it has all been altered by the negative effect of the stolen zombie dust. Each level is so well thought out and graphically stunning that you hate to leave each one behind when you complete it. The humor that is presented in the game is a little cheesy at times, but still it is funny and is suited very well to a 10″ voodoo doll. Each character you meet and obstacle you encounter is unique and funny in its own aspect too. This game, put out by Microsoft and Beep Studios, is so well thought out and planned that there are few details that are left untouched. The graphics and worlds created alone are enough to make this game worth checking out.

Another thing worth mentioning, while I am on the trend of extreme praise, is the music that is heard in the game. This is what really sets the mood of the game. The sounds of New Orleans come alive as you play through each level listening to jazz from smooth to lively. There was one bit of classical music that literally put me to sleep once while Cone was playing, but other than that, the music just completes the feel of the game. It helps to really take you there. Halo’s “soundtrack” is a good thing to compare it to…without it, it just wouldn’t be Halo. The same goes for Voodoo Vince, the levels just become that more alive with the sounds of good ole New Orleans jazz playing in the background.

Enter the Voodoo

Oh, did I mention that in addition to kicking and punching the baddies that you hurt yourself in a myriad of ways to kill them as well? Yeah, that’s right, in this game it is okay to “die.” Drop an anvil on your own head, jump into a flour grinder, swim in a bathtub full of man (or voodoo doll) eating sharks, get attacked by killer aliens; you name it, you can do it and it kills the bad guys in masses. The best part is that it is a simple task to do all of these things. You build up voodoo power and then pull both trigger and voila! dead monsters. That is another aspect of the game I really appreciated – the controls were kept simple. One button jumps, one punches, one does a spin attack, and the other allows you to pick up and drop items. This is not to say that the levels
do
not progress in difficulty, because believe me, they do, but it is just nice to have one set of controls with few combos to learn. One thing I did notice while playing is that the game goes from really easy to pretty complex and challenging somewhat quickly. I wouldn’t call it hard, but the game definitely makes you have to think. It isn’t like a typical slash ’em and run through the level game. There is an order and a reason to most everything you have to do. It isn’t so complex that it leaves you wanting more freedom to just play around, because it provides plenty of opportunity to do that as well. One thing that the levels do allow for is extensive exploration. There are sewers and rooftops to explore, along with countless rooms and windows to enter. I just wish I could go into every door and every window, but that is just because the levels were so well presented. Another thing that I wish they would have implemented into the game is a destructive environment. There were trashcans I wanted to overturn and crates I wanted broken, but I know a girl can’t have everything she wants.

My mom always told me not to run with scissors

My one true complaint about the game is this: when you were on a ledge or up against a wall it was almost impossible to see where you were going because the camera was right above your head. But you could pull into first person view so it wasn’t too bad.

Overall, Voodoo Vince is one of the best games that I have played in a long time; truly the most unique concept for a game to come out in a very long time. Vince is one of the best characters I have ever seen in a game. Taking him through the levels in which he complains about the “obligatory boss battle” and other sarcastic comments truly adds to the game play experience. There are a variety of mini games stuck in there and you never really have to do the same thing twice. I would suggest picking it up and trying it out because the concept to it is so unique and the levels so intriguing. Just remember “never mess with a voodoo doll, poindexter!”

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