Saturday, October 26, 2002

Review Red Faction II for PS2     Publisher: THQ     Developer: Volition     Genre: FPS     # Of Players: 1-4     The sequel to the groundbreaking shooter that literally allowed you to change the way you played the game is here.  In it, you are now part of an elite squad of super soldiers originally made to quash the rebel group known as Red Faction, but now you are being hunted by the same fascist government that created you, and you find yourselves oddly aligned with your former enemies more through coincidence than design.  This sequel offers more action, more modes, and certainly a lot more challenge, but it doesn’t offer nearly the same level of interactivity as its predecessor. Graphics: Oh, it’s so hard to judge this fairly when you have an Xbox, but these are excellent graphics for the PS2.  The levels all look great and the characters animate very smoothly, but there is occasional stiffness, especially in your comrades.  My major complaint is that the game is way too dark in some places.  Yes there’s night vision, but you have to use it so freaking often. Sound: The voice acting in this game is just beyond excellent.  Solider talk is extremely common & realistic, and just sounds great throughout, and a lot of it is very humorous.  Effects are very solid as well, but occasionally spotty (i.e. a rocket hits me and I survive, but I never heard a damn thing).  The music is good and fits the atmosphere of the game, but isn’t fantastic. Gameplay: The level layouts are really well designed and soldiers are really tough and genuinely smart, even on the easiest setting.  The control is a little bit floaty, making aiming occasionally difficult.  By my biggest complaint is the redefined georama mode.  Restricted is more like it.  In the original, you didn’t need access codes or keys; you could literally blow holes through just about every wall if you had a rocket launcher handy.  This sequel is so beyond restricted compared to the first one.  Stuff gets scarred or fizzles, but no big holes to go through. Features: This game brings new meaning to the word loaded.  Tons of multi-player games, unlockable cheats, and the best part are the unlockable cinematics; which includes a hilarious Summoner 2 video (one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen) among many others. Funfactor: Well, although not delivering on their promise of an even better Georama mode, Volition has delivered one of the more engaging single-player FPS games on PS2.  The single-player isn’t quite as good as Medal of Honor, and the multi-player isn’t quite as good as Time Splitters 2, but it nevertheless takes it’s own spin on the somewhat oversaturated FPS genre and gives a very satisfying experience. --Final Scores— Graphics: 8.0-Good, but occasionally stiff animation, and levels are nice, but a tad too dark. Sound: 7.5-Excellent voice and solid music, but sound effects are kind of spotty.   Gameplay: 7.5-Control is a bit floaty and not nearly as free as the last one in blowing stuff up, but enemies are really smart and genuinely challenging, and I like the level design. Features: 10-Loaded with extras but the absolutely hilarious Summoner 2 video puts it over the top. Funfactor: 8.0-A solid and deserving sequel which is rarer and rarer these days. 8:28:24 AM    comment []

Review of Bloodrayne for Xbox         Publisher: Majesco         Developer: Terminal Reality         Genre: Action         # Of Players: 1     In possibly one of the oddest concepts in a long time, you play the half-human/half-vampire Bloodrayne.  It’s WWII, and it’s your job to use your special abilities in order to prevent the Nazis from recovering sacred and powerful relics, which would make them unstoppable (you mean like the Lost Ark? Oh wait, that was Indiana Jones…).  Bloodrayne gets the look and sound down, but it’s almost as if no effort was put into what is the most important part of any game, the gameplay. Graphics: I really like how great the levels look; they all have a nice dark, gothic feel to them. And some of the effects are good, but some are really uneven, like when you shoot them they don’t react.  And while for the most part animation is pretty solid, some of it is just silly (I kid you not, the women’s breasts bounce when they are just standing still and doing nothing, it’s really funny). Sound: The music is solid and fits the atmosphere pretty well, and I think that the voice acting is fairly dead on, it really fits the characters.  Effects are uneven, however. I can hear monsters off in the distance, but not when they are close.  Gun sounds are extremely inconsistent, and I don’t hear that satisfying slice when I chop off an enemies body parts. Gameplay: And here’s where it really goes downhill.  The control in this game is a lot like Halo, as you use one analog to move, and one to turn, but it’s not handled nearly as well.  Your hand to hand is two moves that rarely connect properly.  Guns are apparently much more successful against you than enemies, as it usually takes all the ammo in any one gun to take down one enemy.  There’s this blood rage thing that’s a direct rip-off of Max Payne and there’s just a lack of general cool moves.  Buffy would kick Bloodrayne’s ass.  Hell, Xander would kick Bloodrayne’s ass. Features: Just the extreme basics for this type of game. Funfactor: This had a lot of potential, and has a pretty good look to it, but it’s like somebody forget to input any really gameplay.  There is nothing deep or entertaining about the fighting, which is the real meat of any fighting/action game.  This is possibly the shallowest action game I have played on any of the next gen platforms.  Even horrid games like Azurik & Nightcaster at least tried to do a lot of stuff, even if they failed miserably.  You know how the saying goes: Win big or go home.  This game doesn’t even try to win.  It tries for a draw, and that’s it’s biggest failing. --Final Scores— Graphics: 8.0-Nice models, great looking stages, and most of the animation is nice, but some is just funny (like breasts not obeying the laws of physics!). Sound: 7.5-Nice music and voice acting, but effects are extremely uneven. Gameplay: 2.5-Gameplay?  What is this gameplay you speak of? Features: 5.0-Just the basics. Funfactor: 3.5-Just do yourself a favor and put a stake through this game, it’ll be more fun. 8:24:03 AM    comment []

Review of X-Men: Next Dimension for PS2     Publisher: Activision     Developer: Activision     Genre: Fighting     # Of Players: 1-2     Although custom-made for action games, the only place X-men have been making noteworthy appearances are those awesome Capcom fighting games.  So it may have been the best course of action for Activision to try to give the X-men their own fighting game that they don’t have to share with Capcom characters.  In ND, you can either do straight normal arcade, or for a hint of originality, there is a real story mode where you follow a story and play as different characters throughout.  Unfortunately, this X-men game is an extremely run-of-the-mill fighter in every way, shape & form. Graphics: Ugh.  Everything about this game’s look from the extremely simple animations to the lackluster stages and the horribly boring and way-off character models (only ones that look decent are Wolverine, Magneto, and the Sentinel) screams slightly smoothed out PS one game. Sound: Although the music is passable and the effects are done just fine for a fighting game; the voices, with the exception of Professor X & Magneto, are all done quite horribly.  And they have something lame to say for every single move, so it gets extremely annoying very quickly. Gameplay: First off, the fighting reminds me of Tekken in that it’s extremely slow for a fighting game.  The fighters are woefully unbalanced; Wolverine can kick everyone else’s butt very easily.  And the story mode is really unpolished, you get one shot at winning, and you can’t choose which character you are in the fight, and the number of moves is fairly limited, every character only has a few. Features: Although limited, the addition of an actual story mode is a welcome change, and it’s got most of your basic modes, as well as hidden characters. Funfactor: Well, while there really isn’t anything that bad about this game, there’s really nothing good about it either.  There are at least a few fighters that are way better than this one available on PS2, and even if there weren’t, I’d strongly advise you wait until there was a quality one, because this belongs in the bottom of one of those bargain bins. --Final Scores— Graphics: 3.5-Most characters look nothing like their comic-book counter-parts, animation is fairly simple, stages are bland & boring, looks like a slightly smoothed out PS one game. Sound: 5.0-Most of the voices are done poorly, music is passable, effects are solid. Gameplay: 4.0-Fighters are unbalanced, move slowly, have a limited move set. Features: 8.0-Pretty standard set of extras, but a real story mode is a welcome change. Funfactor: 5.0-Strictly average in every sense of the word.  How uncanny…. 8:17:55 AM    comment []