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Dazzling double-lightsaber action! Readour exclusive first review

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Online game play available for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system only. Online play requires Internet connection and Network Adaptor for PlayStation 2 (sold separately). © MMIII New Line Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King" and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. Game code and certain audio visual elements © 2003 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. Electronic Arts, EA GAMES and the EA GAMES logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The Online icon is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox Logos are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft, “, © GameBoy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo, All other trademarks are the properly of their respective owners. EA GAMES" is an Electronic Arts" brand.

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COVER STORY

Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

LucasArts is back with the fourth Jedi Knight game-does it live up to the series' great legacy?

14 Computer Gaming World

COMPUTER November 2003 Issue #232

WORLD Editorial

Jeff wonders why we do "exclusives." We wonder why he still works here.

Letters

Two pages that prove we have the world's smartest readers. Just kidding.

Loading...

It's FPS heaven in this month's Loading section. We start by changing your lucky number to XIII, and then give you the chance to check out a Stalker.

Read Me

This month's expose on Eastern European synchro- nized swimming sims fell through, so we had to go to Plan B and cover some obscure games you've never heard of, like Doom 111, Half-Life 2, and Max Payne 2. Also, check out the first look at Ultima X: Odyssey, the upcoming MMORPG that'll bring Ultima out of the dark ages. Plus, disturbing scenes from GenCon, a preview of Sniper Elite, and more.

60 Homebrew Scott McCloud

BioWare

All these damn Xbox owners get to play one of the best RPGs around! When's our turn? Soon...and we went to BioWare to see how Knights of the Old Republic is looking for the PC.

Hall of Fame

We induct four more classic games and one brilliant game designer into our prestigious Hall of Fame.

Tech

Lloyd reviews Shuttle's nForce2-based case, Dave checks out some speakers by Phillips, and Wil reviews a gaming rig from PCFX and takes a look at AMD's Pentium-killer.

Gamer's Edge

Walking around in endless circles in Star Wars Galaxies? Check out our guide to everything Wookiee. Plus, Bruce and Tom wrestle each other to the mat in the best wargame ever, Korsun Pocket.

Scorched Earth

It's the world's oldest profession, and the world's ickiest column.

NEED FOR SPEED: UNDERGROUND

Car mods and fast chicks in the world of underground racing.

Need for Speed: Underground

No One Lives Forever 2: Contract J.A.C.K.

Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon Vegas: Make It Big

Lords of EverQuest

Drake

Alpha Bravo Zero: Intrepid Protocol

Singularity 94 Knights of Honor

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; r 46 READ ME Pirates of the Caribbean And we thought your momma was ugly... Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic Dark Fall: The Journal Madden NFL 2004 Will Rock Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader

Nexagon: Deathmatch

Europa Universalis: Crown of the North

Revisionist History: Raven Shield The Great Escape Е/А-18: Operation Iraqi Freedom

Combat Command 2: Danger Forward

Ghost Master Chariots of War

THE GREAT ESCAPE

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EDITORIAL

What if it turns out to be a disc full of doo-doo?

Cover Me

Our Jedi Academy review is "first," but so what?

eview covers are weird. I'm not sure why we do them, and I'm not sure I ever want to do one again. The deal is this: A game company, like LucasArts this month, gives us the final version of its game to review, withholds it from our competitors (like Field and Stream), and in exchange for the exclusivity, we put that game on the cover of the magazine.

It sounds good in theory. But in practice, it's a bit of a nightmare. The deadlines are tight, the timing never seems to work, and even if we do manage to get the article done, the payoff of "exclusivity" is usually shot to hell before the issue even comes out because some dang website (usually in Germany) will somehow manage to beat us to the punch anyway.

But, you know-whatever. It's all a bit stupid, if you ask me. It's not like we're talking about state secrets here. So we get to review Jedi Academy before anyone else-big deal. Like that matters. No one cares who reviewed the new Tomb Raider movie first. The important and relevant part is that they told you it sucked. The same thing goes, or should go, for games. It's not the first reviews that should matter to you, but the ones that do the best job of critiquing the game in a manner that's meaningful to you. Maybe that means our reviews, but maybe it's someone else's. Personally, | hope you trust us more than the other guys, because the more you do, the less likely it is that I'll have to go flip burgers or empty garbage, both of which at my age would be really bad for my back.

There is one more troubling thing about review covers. What if we don't like the game? Now, we do tell the game company in advance that getting on our cover is no guarantee of a positive review (just ask the folks at Westwood Studios, who got stung by our Command & Conquer: Generals review). Still, let's be real here. By putting a game on our cover, we are transmitting the message that that game is important-we are hitching our star to the game, and we are giving that game free publicity. But if it furns out to be a disc full of doo-doo, what exactly is the point? Are we helping readers, by warning them off early, or are we confusing them with a mixed message? These are the kind of conundrums that keep your friendly neighborhood editor-in-chief up at night.

So, with all this said, what do we think of Jedi Academy? I'm not telling. You have to go read the article. Then, after reading it, ask yourself whether LucasArts is still happy it gave the game to us for the cover. I'm not sure there's an easy answer.

Jeff Green Editor-in-Chief

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20 Computer Gaming World

COMPUTER

WORLD

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor-in-Chief Jeff Green Editor Ken Brown Managing Editor Dana Jongewaard

Technical Editor William O'Neal

Reviews Editor Robert Coffey

Previews Editor Darren Gladstone

CD Editor Ryan Scott

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Charles Ardai, Т. Вуг! Baker, Loyd Case, Tom Chick, Ron Dulin, Bruce Geryk, Jeff Lackey, Raphael Liberatore, Thomas L. McDonald, Erik Wolpaw

ART DEPARTMENT

Art Director Rob Schultz

Associate Art Director Michael Jennings COPY DESK

Copy Chief Kristen Salvatore

Copy Editor Tom Edwards

Copy Editor Greg Ford

Copy Editor Maritza Refuerzo

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

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Art Production Manager Michele Manousos Senior Production Manager Anne Marie Miguel Production Manager Monica Brent

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Address nonsubscription-related questions and feedback to CGW Editorial, 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Or you may con- tact us via e-mail: cgwletters@ziffdavis.com; phone: (415) 357-4900; or editorial fax: (415) 357-4977. Website: www.computergaming.com ADVERTISING & SALES DEPARTMENT

Group Publisher Lee Uniacke

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rey ledda&ziffdavis.com (415) 547-8775 Marketing Coordinator Wayne Shiu

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alison rubinoGziffdavis.com (415) 547-8779 HOW TO CONTACT ADVERTISING & SALES Address inquiries to: CGW Advertising, 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105; phone: (415) 547-8778; fax: (415) 357-4999. Founder Russell Sipe

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CONTRIBUTORS

The new kid on the block at CGW, Ryan has inherited the grueling position of CD editor. In between listening to Wil O'Neal scream about Madden 2004 and reading some of the disturbing e-mails and web links that get forwarded around by the neighboring GMR staff, Ryan is hard at work producing CGW's monthly demo disc. He also finds time to,

you know, play games sometimes too.

This month marks the end of associate art director Michael Jenning's furious first year with the CGW crew. The milestone was only slightly overshadowed by the celestial celebration of Mars nearly colliding with the earth nearly 60,000 years ago. Coincidence? Who knows? Lately, however, we've noticed two things: 1) The honeymoon is officially over, and 2) we're now

getting an extra serving of outer-space graphics.

22 Computer Gaming World

ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA

Chairman & CEO Robert F. Callahan

Chief Operating Officer & CFO Bart W. Catalane

Senior Executive Vice President, Publishing Operations Tom McGrade

Executive Vice President & Editorial Director

Michael J. Miller

Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary

Gregory Barton

Senior Vice Presidents

Jasmine Alexander (Technology & Sales Operations)

Chris Dobbrow (Corporate Sales & Publisher, eWeek)

Larry Green (Business Development & Worldwide Licensing)

Derek Irwin (Finance)

Charles Mast (Circulation)

Sloan Seymour (Enterprise Group)

Dale Strang (Game Group)

Jason Young (Internet)

Vice Presidents

Ken Beach (Corporate Sales)

Tim Castelli (PC Magazine Group)

Aaron Goldberg (Market Expert)

Michael Krieger (Market Expert)

Charles Lee (Integrated Media)

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Ellen Pearlman (Editor-in-Chief, CIO Insight) Beth Repeta (Human Resources)

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Audit Bureau of Circulations Member АВС AUDITED

THE WORLD INSIDE YOUR COMPUTER.

A viral agent threatens computer Systems worldwide. Countermeasure programs have identified уби as the source. Battle to survive the sinister conspiracy that threatens

to corrupt one reality ald forever transform another.

ет BRaDLeYy LO THE USER

The word surrender does not compute,

WWW.TRON20.NET

Violence ROM

aime your experience wh pentium 4

© Disney. GameSpy and the "Powered by GameSpy" design are trademarks of GameSpy Industries, Inc. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, NVIDIA The Way it's Meant to be Played logo and other NVIDIA marks are NVIDIA GeForce FX

trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and other countries. The Pentium mark is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. The ratings icon

is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. all other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners. The GPU of TRON 2.0

Letters

Register to be California's next governor at cgwletters@ziffdavis.com

Eat Us

| am truly indebted to you all. Thanks to the case of your September 2003 demo CD, | was able to successfully dis- lodge the chunk of Baby Ruth bar stuck in my braces. Oh, and your magazine rocks and stuff like that. Yay.

John Kinney

Switch to decaf, Coffey | always turn to the last page of CGW magazine first, eager for cynical humor. Mr. Coffey's reviews are always enter- taining, but the Scorched Earth edito- rials seem bleaker each issue. Maybe you all could take him outside for a little sun, rent a Monty Python movie for him, or persuade him to see his doc about some Prozac. Please, keep the grim cartoonists away from his page, too. Save them for Jeff Green, who was almost a little too perky this month. Beth Vehre

Unfortunately, Robert has welded his DVD player shut and has Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer running on a nonstop loop. If you'd like to talk to him about this personally, go ahead-don't say we didn't warn you.

Blizzard buzz | am looking for any information on Diablo ІП, and you guys seem like the type to know if this is true. Is it being made, release dates, etc.? Any information would be appreciated.

Fred

Well, Fred (if that is your real пате-апа if it is, well, sorry, dude) we are pleased to present the first ever screenshot of Blizzard's next überhit. It's a radical rethinking of the franchise, but we're betting

gamers will love it. Keep the drool to a minimum.

Thou shalt steal Your September 2003 issue stated (in the CGW Recommends column) that "Max's signature bullet-time effect is still one of the coolest things never successfully ripped off in gaming-not even by the Matrix game." The Matrix sort of invented bullet-time. How can it be a rip-off in the Matrix game if Max Payne really ripped it off from the Matrix movie? I really like your mag, but don't make comments like that if you don't know what you're talking about. RPH Hershey, Pennsylvania

And The Matrix ripped it off from The Great Gatsby, which blatantly stole it from Thessalonians. But what we were trying to get at was that the effect has never been done as well in a game since Max Payne.

"We have decapitated Scooter and are

24 Computer Gaming World

carving his noggin into souvenir chunks."

Enter the Matrix aped its own special effects about as success- fully as it aped an actual game.

Bring me the head of Theery Nagooyen | submitted two designs for the Scooter's head for the E3 contest you held. | never Saw a winner announced, never saw pictures of what was actually done to his head for E3, not even a comment buried somewhere in the magazine. | am curious. Am I the only shmuck that fell for a practical joke? Or did the contest not happen? Or did someone win and I just missed the info about it? Please let me know as the curiosity is killing me. Thanks, Chris

Sadly, Chris, none of the handful of designs we received were feasible or, frankly, all that good. However, as a consolation prize to all those who participated, we have decap- itated Scooter and are carving up his noggin into handy souvenir- appropriate chunks. So if you get a human ear and a bit of scalp in the mail, don't be surprised.

So you wanna bea game developer...

I'm a big time RPG fan, and I wish the gaming companies would make more unique RPGs. I see a lot of them with the "golden path." You pick the best weapons and the best skills then slaughter everything in the fantasy world-boring. In any RPG there should be several instances where your

ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY CAMPBELL

DO МОТ ВЕ SEDUCED BY THE DARK SIDE.

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` STAR.WARS

IFDI KNIGHT: JEDI ACADEMY

You are a new student at Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy. Continue an ancient tradition as you learn the powers and dangers of the Force. Customize your character. Construct your own lightsaber from handle to blade. And develop your fighting stance—from the classic single-blade to the rare and powerful double- bladed lightsaber. Then hone your Jedi skills in single player missions or fight it out in multiplayer modes. May the Force be with you, young Jedi.

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„т < Official Star Wars” Web Site Violence А адз X "2 X www.starwars.com

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LETTERS

Riffraffbri

I'm getting my mag, but not the CD. Not that it matters, I have broad- band.

Daric Wade

Jeff, blink your eyes, wipe the tears away, and read this: GET OVER IT, DAMMIT Anthony

After seeing Max

Payne's double- barrelled pistol- packin' action, is it just me, or isn't Max really a younger George W. Bush?

Eric Moore

Brumfield

character will be stumped no matter what class or how powerful his weapon or magic. How about including monsters that are immune to slashing weapons? Also, NPC interaction needs improve- ment. If I'm a thief and can pickpocket NPCs, then why don't NPCs pickpocket me as well? That could make for some interesting dilemmas if an NPC took a quest item from my character.

Jodin

| have read many reviews and letters from other readers that complain about game developers that refuse to allow us to save when we want. Why do devel- opers continue to do this? They apparently believe it makes the game more engaging or challenging or some- thing beneficial. Some of us can't afford the time it takes to redo the same entire level because the trap at the end kills us. | believe it was Anachronox (and correct me if I'm wrong) that gave you the option of saving at the predetermined save points or letting you switch to save whenever you like. Isn't this the way to go? Bah, who am | kidding, I'm also the guy that wants a co-op Doom Ill.

Chris Bantz

loves Loyd

Loyd Case, | want to thank you for “Friday Night Follies" in the August issue. | am lucky enough to have a great group of friends that enjoys LAN parties two or three times a month, and I've always felt the co-op aspect of games has been largely ignored in computer gaming. You were correct about every- thing in your article: the lousy trend of games requiring one CD per person, games that hide their version numbers, problems with LAN servers, a lack of multiplayer saves, and the worst crime of all, a lack of quality co-op modes.

Every year more homes are getting more computers. Two of the friends in my LAN group have computers in every child's room, in addition to their own. Maybe if the multiplayer and cooperative modes in computer games were made with LAN situations in mind, the effect would snowball and those little “console thingies” would become obsolete!

Horatio Hornblower

Fresh out of Fallout I've heard that a bunch of people (over 27,000) have signed a petition saying “We want a Fallout 3." Do you know anything we don't?

Eric Lambert

Sorry, Eric, as all regular readers of CGW can attest, we know nothing.

Pretty on the inside | was reading my September magazine and noticed you still haven't changed Jeff Green's picture on the Editorial page. That picture is starting to give me the creeps every time | open CGW. Jeff is the scariest thing to orbit the earth. NASA needs to shoot some nukes and hit him so he burns up in our atmos- phere and stops hijacking satellites to post his pictures.

Ша Orkin

` Jeff did submit a photo of him and

the missus at home. Does this work for you?

Please call my satellite cell phone

Imagine spending your next vacation in the most beautiful vacation destination this country has to offer. Spend time with your kids in one or more of the numerous parks such as Disney World's Epcot Center, Universal Studios Florida, Sea World, and many more. You will have the vacation of a lifetime.

Plus, we'll even tell you about other options such as Pasco County, FL, known as a part of the “Nature Coast”, and Atlanta Georgia, the jewel of the south, with its fabulous shopping and sight- seeing. This is something that you shouldn't miss out on.

Just reply to this message with your name and phone number, as well as the best time to contact you, and we will have a representative contact you with options for you to choose from.

Kim Ecroyd

Thank you, Ms. Ecroyd for your kind inquiry. Perhaps you can help me. I am Umbabe CGWLetters, a deposed Nigerian cabinet minister with sev- eral of millions dollars held in accounts of bank. Willing | am to split this money for your assis- tance. Please respond right away.

I've been reading your magazine for

"To say Half-Life is the scariest game ever is absolutely inexcusable."

26 Computer Gaming World

almost 10 years now, and have held my tongue when you made some clearly erroneous statements in the past, but this one is inexcusable. Considering that | know people who were emotionally traumatized by System Shock 2, and the fact that | STILL get cold shivers down my spine when I think of some of those levels, | must protest the statement made about Half-Life being the scariest shooter ever. To say that Half-Life is scarier is like saying that R.L. Stein is scarier than Stephen King. Sure, Mr. Stein can scare the crap out of my 9-year-old sister, and Half-Life had its moments where it made me jump a bit, but it came nowhere NEAR to how freaky and disturbing SS2 was. | never finished the game because | wanted to be able to sleep at night again. | know people that only made it to Deck 4 and stopped playing after they found the ghost of the evil doctor telling the nurse he was about to butcher that she "would be the mother of them all." Sorry guys, but if Half-Life scares Dana, then don't let her play SS2 or you might end up having to commit her.

Aaron Edmondson

While we can argue about this until the cows and/or Wil O'Neal staggers home, we'll just say we think you'll be a happier guy once you read our Hall of Fame feature on page 120.

Bad idea of the month

Do you know if any company is in the works to produce CBS' show Big Brother or ABC's show The Mole at all? | have been wondering this for a very long time and would greatly appreciate if you have any information about it.

Mikester

Considering the big pile of suck that was Survivor: The Interactive Game, we hope to God no one is thinking of making another reality show PC game. Unless it's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy-we love the Fab Five's new look for Wil.