Xbox Multi-Platform GameCube
ICO
State of Emergency
Twisted Metal: Black
Simpsons: Road Rage
James Bond 007 in...Agent Under Fire
NBA Street
Herdy Gerdy
Silent Hill 2
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
How to use these lists: You'll notice that each of the lists
are preceded by an index of the titles covered. Click on those titles and you'll get to a
blurb about each game. At the top of the blurb, the title is again linked, but this time
the link leads to a preview page where you can get more screens and (usually) more
in-depth coverage of the game, including the release date.
ICO
ICO
(pronounced "eye-ko") made my best of E3 list last year. It never hit the
stores, but this year its back and better at E3. Last year I had a thing with
comparing everything to Resident Evil (please forgive me), and I mistakenly said that ICO
was kind of like Resident Evil. Talk about crummy journalism. ICO is much more innovative
than that. It tries to include something from every game genre: RPG, strategy, puzzle,
fighting, adventure, and more! You play as Ico youre generations horned boy.
Having horns is not as cool as it sounds, at 12 years old youre slated to be
sacrificed to cleanse your community. But before that fate befalls you, Ico slips into a
dream about the princess. Ico must save the princess from the evil queen, thereby saving
all the land. The problem is that the princess is a bit of an idiot and needs constant
help and attention. ICO includes a controller button completely devoted to calling the
princess and holding her hand, and many of the games strategies and puzzles stem
from the problems caused by leading the very dense princess around. If she is left by
herself too long the queens evil sprits will come and encompass her, and sometimes
theyll be bold enough to attack her while shes with Ico. The game play rewards
cleverness over strength and encourages protecting the princess over attacking the bad
guys. The story itself is interesting and original: is it real, is it Icos dream, or
is Ico already dead? It sounds a lot like Occurrence at Owl Creek. SCEA has
succeeded at making a game that looks and plays like no other.
State of Emergency
State of Emergency emulates sheer pandemonium. It is the near future and the
evil ATO (American Trade Organization) has declared a state of emergency in their plot for
world wide domination. You are just a normal citizen braving the urban riot torn streets
in search of justice, or a really nice and easily looted TV set. The ATO can only be
brought down by one thing, utter chaos, and its up to you to create it. I like to
think of State of Emergency as a super brawler; you can fight through swarms of cops,
giant SWAT teams, and hoards of fellow rioters. State of Emergency promises street brawls
with over 100 characters at a time. The environment is loaded with weapons, from flame
throwers and rocket launchers, to dismembered legs and cash registers. The more mayhem you
create, the better, and dont worry -- the violence is not life-like. The characters
and settings look a lot like the cartoony style of Dreamcasts Crazy Taxi. If
youve ever fantasized about running amok, this is your game: cut loose, run wild,
get State of Emergency.
Twisted Metal: Black
The
original Twisted Metal team is now gathered under SCEA, and man does TM:B look good. It
seems like its been years since weve been able to play a decent car battle
game. Sure there have been many Twisted Metal imitators (a few published under the Twisted
Metal name), but none have been as playable as the real deal. Dont expect big
changes; the fighting system is the same as well as the general premise (kill all the
other cars). The graphics have been greatly improved, the frame rate is screaming, and the
levels are bigger, badder, and more detailed than ever. The PS2 has been waiting for this
type of multi-player deathmatch game to come along, and it is finally here. Twisted Metal:
Black isnt an innovative game but it is a highly playable game, and it is a must
have for any multi-player fan.
Simpsons: Road Rage
Almost nothing tickled me more at E3 than Simpsons: Road Rage. I was so happy to see a
Simpsons game that looked playable. Simpsons: Road Rage actually looked more than
playable, it looked downright fun. Im a huge Simpsons fan and over and over
Ive been crushingly disappointed in the quality of the Simpsons games.
Lets not even talk about the Simpsons Wrestling game. But this time Fox has
taken a different approach, theyve taken the gameplay style of Crazy Taxi and worked
it into the wacky world of Springfield, USA. The ever evil Mr. Burns has taken over
Springfields buses and converted them to nuclear power, consequently the fare has
been hiked up to $99. The citizens of Springfield have banded together to form a taxi
service, to compensate for that lack of buses and to make enough money to buy their public
transit back. When I say this game is a lot like Crazy Taxi I really mean it, but Crazy
Taxi was a really great game that deserves to be "honored." This game has over
20 playable characters (and yet more cameos); all of the Simpson favorites will be there
each with there own catch phrases and style. I just found it super cool to drive around
Springfield, drop Apu off at the Kwik-E-Mart and get Willie back to his shack behind the
school. Finally a Simpsons video game worth playing. This game is a must for any
Simpsons fan, but it might be fun for anyone that enjoyed Crazy Taxi (which in my mind
should be everyone with a console and a pulse).
This game will also be released on the Xbox.
James Bond 007
in...Agent Under Fire
As I was walking through the immense EA booth at this years E3 I caught
James Bond 007 in...Agent Under Fire out of the corner of my eye. I was hooked. I was
drawn in not by the 007 franchise, but by the killer action happening on the screen. As I
picked up the controller I was immediately thrown into the hottest car chase Ive
ever had the pleasure to play. I wasnt driving, but it was up to me, my machine gun,
and my rocket launcher to fend off the bad guys and secure my escape. I launched rockets
into the pursuing cars causing massive carnage and giant explosions on the streets. The
chase met its climax at a fireworks factory adding more fuel to the explosive
frenzy. After that five minutes of game play I was truly hooked, but it is just the tip of
the iceberg. Agent Under Fire includes more than 10 exotic locations and promises a
well-balanced mix of furious action and cunning stealth. Add to that a multi-player mode,
more diving levels, lots of 007 spy gadgets, tons of innovative missions, and youve
got a hell of a game on your hands. If you want lots of action Agent Under Fire is your
game, the fact that its a Bond game just makes it cooler.
NBA Street
Im not a big sports game fan; Ive always been of the mind that
its more fun to go outside and play soccer than it is to play it in the living room
on the TV. If I can do it in real life, why do I need a video game to emulate it for me?
This is not to say that I can perform an excellent bicycle kick or slam dunk a basketball,
but I could try. For me video games allow me to do things I could never do in real life,
so when I play a sports title I like it to be over the top, if not just downright silly.
NBA Jams threw emulation to the wind and came up with a highly playable and additive game
that remotely resembled basketball. Well all that was nothing compared to NBA Street. I
like to think of it as a basketball game meets a fighting game. EA is pushing this game as
"street" and wants all the "ballers" out there to go "hook
up" with a copy. To me street has a sense of authenticity, but NBA Street is not at
all about real basketball; its about special moves, slam dunking, power meters, last
minute victories, and super charged lighting. In other words it fulfills all my B-ball
fantasies and excludes any of that pesky reality.
Herdy Gerdy
You play as Gerdy, the apprentice herder. Gerdys father has
fallen under an evil spell and its your job to save him. But in order to save his
pop you must master all of the many herding techniques. This is no easy task with 12
unruly island species, each with their own intellects, personalities and behavior patterns
to contend with. Herdy Gerdy is no fighting game, its an environmental game (like
Pikmin or Munchs Oddysee) where understanding the environment and using strategic
thinking solves problems. Acquiring tools, getting guidance and experience from
NPCs, winning challenges, and successfully completing side quests progresses you
through the game and closer to Gerdys father. This unique gameplay is combined with
some of the nicest graphics found on the PS2. The world is complete, highly detailed, ful
of life-like characters and animals, and completely loadless. On top of all that it is
said to include 27 expansive environments with more than 200 non-playable characters.
Herdy Gerdy is on the forefront of the new environmental game genre, and I wont be
surprised if it becomes a gaming classic.
Silent Hill 2
Konami is bringing back one of the scariest games ever made, Silent Hill 2
looks like it will have twice the terror of the first installment. While the first Silent
Hill was easy to compare to Resident Evil, this second installment has really come into
its own. (Yes, I did compare them and Im very sorry about it. I had a problem
with comparing everything to RE, but Im over it now.) You play as James, and James
has just been summoned to Silent Hill by his dead wife. The killer creepy ambiance of the
first game is back with a vengeance in this follow-up title, but this time the action is
way more intense. James is armed with a flashlight, but the comforting glow only
illuminates a small chunk of the screen at a time. The darkness outside the light is full
of ghouls and the worst things your imagination can come up with. The darkness breeds
paranoia and lends itself to overall scariness of Silent Hill. Judging by the few cut
scenes Ive gotten a peek at, Silent Hill 2 might be the goriest console game ever.
Silent Hill 2 has a slightly more cinematic look to it this time around, mainly due to the
beautiful graphics, real time weather effects, and incredible facial expressions of the
characters made possible by the power of the PS2. Finally the survival horror genre is
alive and kicking on the next-gen systems. Horror movies are for sissies, for some real
terror try stepping into the characters shoes and see if you can make it out alive. Silent
Hill 2 looks like the scariest story of 2001, scarier than any X-Files or Friday the 13th
, even scarier than Tammy Fayes Eyes.
Jak and Daxter: The Precursor
Legacy
The Naughty Dog team, famous for their excellent Crash Bandicoot
series, has been working on Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy for over two years now
and all that hard work shows. While it is essentially an action game, Naughty Dog has
worked hard to incorporate parts of almost all of the other game genres. From platform
puzzle to racing, Jak and Daxter seems to have it all. You play as Jax, who is looking for
the solution to his best friend Daxters problem. Daxter was knocked into a vat of
Dark Eco, some real nasty stuff, which has transformed him into a ferret type creature.
Now the two must set off in search of the sage that might be able to transform Daxter back
to his real self. The graphics are breath-taking, and to make them more spectacular the
world is seamless, no loading. From one end of the world you might be able to see a
mountain top, and after five hours of play you might be on that mountain top looking back
to your original position. Never before has a world been so complete, so connected, and so
full. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is sure to be a game that makes you glad to own
a PS2 or makes you go get one, because this game finally makes the PS2 worth owning.
Xbox
Multi-Platform
GameCube
Sarah
Wichlacz |