REMEMBER GHOSTS 'N GOBLINS? ~ ~ OLD-SCHOOL GAMING RETURNS TO GLORY | LEARN TO MAKE GAMES FOR A LIVING WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THIS BAD BOY UY t ~ ТНЕ #1 > "A ~ GAMES a Ben (GC) MAGAZINE = VIRTUA FIGHTER 4 (PS2) Issue E = WWF RAW IS WAR (XBOX) Г a: 5 ZIFF DAVIS - March 2002 $. = X-MEN: NEXT DIMENSION (PS2) .99/$6.50 Canada —— тл is = "e y ШШЕ a One. : 1 wa. x. „т REVIEWED: zm WI PREVIEWED: Aa || = NBA 2K2 (PS2) Ё Star Fox Adv. (GC) AW m Sonic Adventure 2 (GC) (° == Genma Or sha (Xbox)? |: = Super Mario World (GBA) |Z | m Tony Hawk 3 (Xbox) | m The Terminator (PS2) EGM.GAMERS.COM и Star Wars: Racer Revenge (PS2) qp rmi: 3 н ñ ИИ 74. Once again, it's time to hang with Рагарра -and his posse as you learn to rhyme like а rap star. Flow to all new songs. Freestyle with the rap masters. Take your timing and rhythm to а whole new level. But you better have mad skills, Otherwise, Рагарра won't get the girl or save the world, And you gotta believe this dog ain't goin' out like that. 5 5 | 5 B 3 E š E 5 š = | | Q x x | : : | Ñ š 5 g | > g With Sonic Adventure 2:Battle connect your Game Boy? Advance to your Nintendo GameCube" and take your Chao on the road. Battle it out in head to head competition. *Link cable Sold separately. SEGA.COM/SA2BATTLE e 95 D S = ° © = S I [n ex x Ф = = s ~ = S Qo = = о = © © © Em E = WATCH YOURSELF - DEATH SQUADS PROWL THE STREETS LOOKING РОВ TROUBLE "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Blood and Gore State of Emergency game (c) 2001 VIS entertainment plc. State of Emergency and the State of Emergency logo are trademarks of VIS entertainment plc. Rockstar Games and the Rockstar Games logo are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. Copyright 2001. All Rights Reserved. Violence А SHADOWY CORPORATION HAS SEIZED CONTROL OF YOUR COUNTRY. & OPLE HAVE TAKEN TO THE STREETS IN PROTEST. у А STATE OF EMERGENCY HAS BEEN DECLARED = FOR YOU TO FIGHT FOR YOUR FREEDOM. | AWARDED AS “THE TOP OVERALL GAME AT ЕЗ" “WE'RE THINKING ROCKSTAR'S STATE OF EMERGENCY MAY TAKE THE CLASSIC OLD SCHOOL BRAWLER “ҮЗ SHOWSTOPPER” AWARD TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF INTENSITY.” “IT’S ORIGINAL, IT'S WILD, AND FROM WHAT WE'VE Е КАРИ ATEJ ЗЕЕН АНП PLAYED, IT'S АЗ FUN АЗ ТНЕТ СОМЕ." nf PREPARE FOR CHAOS AS HUNDREDS OF PICK UP ITEMS OFF THE STREET AND DEEP SELECTION OF HAND-TO-HAND PEOPLE FILL THE SCREEN - EACH CITIZEN USE THEM TO FIGHT YOUR OPPRESSORS FIGHTING MOVES AND TONS OF SUPER- REACTS DIFFERENTLY TO EVENTS DESTRUCTIVE WEAPONS ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL PlayStation.c QUIS nhastreet.cacom пра co | месе p on tendo GaeCube CODEMASTERS.COM Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. Codemasters ra ‘CONTENT RATED BY ESRB GENIUS AT PLAY RATING PENDING © 2002 The Codemasters Software Company Limited ("Codemasters"). All rights reserved. "Codemasters" and the Codemasters logo are registered trademarks owned by Codemasters. "Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing" and "GENIUS AT PLA Published by Codemasters. “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in and are used under license from Microsoft. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other copyrights or trademarks are the property of their respective owners, Fight as (or against) 16 top heavyweights including Holmes, Tua, Witherspoon and multiple world champ Iron Mike Tyson. Take on all comers with 9 game modes and over 200 unlockables to build your own custom World Champion. BRUTAL BEYOND BELIEF. CONTENTS March 2002 Issue 152 Features Departments 135 Airblade 87 All-Star Baseball 2003 88 Animal Forest 73 Barbarian 142 Blood Wake 90 Bloody Roar: Primal Fury 146 Columns Crown 144 Digimon Rumble Arena 76 Ecco the Dolphin 139 ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 139 ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding 2002 94 Evolution Worlds 86 Fatal Frame 86 Freekstyle 141. Genma Onimusha 96 Gun Valkyrie 76 Headhunter 135 High Heat Baseball 2003 87 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin 66 Hot Shots Golf 3 102-103 Jet Set Radio Future 135 Jonny Moseley Mad Trix 108 Knockout Kings 2002 112 Lunar Legend 138 March Madness 2002 136 Maximo 146 Mortal Kombat Advance 138 MotoGP2 138 NBA 2K2 140 NBA Courtside 108 NBA Inside Drive 2002 94 NBA Street 108 New Legends 144 NFL2K2 141 NFL Quarterback Club 2002 144 Nightcaster 110 Pro Race Driver 146 Puyo Pop 106 RalliSport Challenge 112 Robotech 141 Simpsons: Road Rage, The 87 Sled Storm 2 87 Smash Court Tennis 139 Smashing Drive 94 Soccer Slam 146 Sonic The Hedgehog Advance 139 Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 90 Star Fox Adventures 64 Star Wars Racer Revenge 82 Stuntman 145 Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 Ё 74 Tekken 4 74 Terminator, The 106 Test Drive 110 Thing, The 82 TimeSplitters 2 106,112 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 82 Triple Play 2002 141 Universal Studios Theme Park Adventure 76 Virtua Fighter 4 73 V-Rally з 104 WWF Raw Is War 86 X-Men: Next Dimension Remember a @ Editorial 14 certain side- scrolling horror game by the @ Letters 22 name of Ghosts = Press Start 34 "№ Goblins? Well, Think you know everything about if not, let Maximo refresh your memory. On page raising hell in Grand Theft Auto III? 416 we take a You don't. Learn all of the game's gander at the dirty secrets in Afterthoughts. story behind Also: Find out if fresher games are the game, and better, plus the skinny on a how Capcom GameCube that plays DVDs. entrusted their first American e u studio to Gossip 50 rejuvenate the classic franchise. And finally, our are GX © P. exu Gon review on page š, 336 will show if Previews 63 their faith was Get ready for the spring sports- well-founded. game invasion! Hot Shots Golf, All- Star Baseball 2003 and Triple Play 2002 lead the way on PS2, while extremer fare such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 makes its debut on the Xbox and Game Boy Advance. Review Crew 134 Sonic has found a new home on the GameCube, but can the spikey у a. : blue wonder still work his magic Start practicing your combos and taping your fingers because Tekken ona Nintendo box? Also: See ifa 4 and Virtua Fighter 4 headline our first look at the next generation of bizarre GameCube title based on fighting games. Turn to page 74 and let the fist-de-cuffs begin. Universal Studios can save you the trouble of seeing the theme park in person. Tricks 148 This month, your handy cheating headquarters comes stocked with never-before-seen cheats for Halo, Super Smash Bros. Melee and at the tough Metal Gear Solid 2. Also, check out university that | the codes for four new Xbox teaches how to To hell with the weather. Tune to games. make games on our fearless 2002 Forecast on page 34 and find out which © The Final Word 154 console’s skies look brightest. All right, so they don't have a football team (or & а cheerleading squad), but some = DigiPen grads "* could render them. Get an inside look ад sieusnd јежа Ла uc lage 124. , Page 124 № = — PlayStation 2 Ш@ GameCube Шх хо Dreamcast PlayStation Game Boy Advance Game Boy Color See if Sega's NBA 2K2 scores big on the PlayStation 2, and if. Capcom's Genma Onimusha is worth the wait on page 141. , Yeah, well bust out Oh Vince, | did the mittens, Buttercup. so want to move | just signed for to Los Angeles. " 7 with Toronto. Your office is a 20,000 seat arena, your salary has à whole lot of zeros, and “Who stole my stapler?" is "Who's picking up Vince on D?" You wanted;real; you got real. Build an а!-МВА team during the draft. Check your team's actual NBA playbook, and call those plays with real-time coaching. And details? You can count the players’ cornrows. Have your secretary take a memo — this rules. insidedrive2002.com Ба.сот ЕМЕВУОМЕ tries: Other products and со ther fer ў it Seed: EDITORIAL The N Factor By Dan "Shoe" Hsu • shoe@ziffdavis.com ecause we aren't afraid to take a stand (everything from our monthly reviews to issue #149’s Xbox vs. GameCube verdict), we inevitably get flak from readers who think their opinions are the only ones that are "correct." That goes with the territory; if we're to tell it like it is, we're gonna have to hear that vocal minority tell us what it should be instead. But when people accuse us of being biased against Nintendo because we cover their prod- ucts so lightly, that's when I have to step in and enlighten everyone. Observe this typical dialog: EGM: We need screenshots of your new and exciting games, please. Nintendo: We're working on it. EGM: We need playable versions of your new and exciting games to preview and review. Please. Nintendo: We're working on it. EGM: We need a debug system. You know, the special machine that lets us play early GC games, including those from third parties, so we can pre- view and review their games and yours? Please!? Nintendo: We're working on it. (Note: “We're working on it" = "You're not get- ting squat.") So if you see late or little GameCube coverage from us, you now know why. Mario and Co. just ain't giving up the goods. Even GameCube game makers like Electronic Arts are peeved at Nintendo about this whole mess, since the big N hasn't given us, the press, a way to play any pre- view or review GC discs. Why are they stiffing us? The Japanese parent company is so protective of its assets, they're willing to hide almost everything from the press in exchange for the warm, fuzzy feeling that their unfinished products are not being judged by the public. Needless to say, this is frustrating for us because we can't cover these great GC titles that we're excited to play and you're keen to read about. We've even sent a joint industry letter (along with our friends at a half-dozen competing magazines and Web sites) to Nintendo, complain- ing about the situation. (The reaction to the let- ter? “We're working on it.") But while we're wait- ing for old man Nintendo of Japan to ease up on his stinginess, we'll make the best of things and continue to provide the best GameCube (and other console) coverage possible. Shoe Contributing Writers EGM recruited Shane yet again this month Now if only he'd lay off the boozing and Peter Felonk On his second issue with EGM as a con- tributing freelancer, Peter's enthusiasm for our Tricks section has us convinced he's definitely one of us gaming geeks. David Kushner A writer for Rolling Stone and the New York Times, David covered DigiPen, the Nintendo-funded institute where playing. games is considered homework. for his previewing and reviewing expertise. womanizing, and make gaming his focus... Christian Nutt Christian's found enough time to hop on the EGM boat again this issue, despite all his work on the Pikmin and Crash Bandicoot (GBA) guides for Pocket Games. Gary Mollohan In addition to EGM, Gary regularly con- tributes to GameNow!, Pocket Games and Better Homes and Gardens. (OK, he doesn't really contribute to Pocket Games.) John Ricciartli John has been writing about video games for the better part of the last decade. He now lives in Japan, where he works as ЕСМ” International Editor. Look around this issue for quotes from The Simpsons or a famous movie. Find one, e-mail it (and your mailing address) to us at EGM@ziffdavis.com (subject: Eat My Shorts — EGM #152), and you may be one of five lucky winners (chosen at ran- dom) who will win a copy of this month's Game of the Month. Some quotes from (ће issue #151: * “If you're not cop, you're little people." (Blade Runner, pg. 99) * "Meet exotic creatures from lush new worlds...and kill them..." (Full Metal Jacket, рв. 134. OK, so this is a very loose refer- ence, but we'll give you credit for it. * "Come with us if you want to live." (The Terminator 1 or 2, pg. 114) No purchase necessary. Issue #150'5 winners [^ Halo (Xbox): * Seth Miller—Akron, OI * Carl етет Orlando FL * Cyrus Younessi — Beverly Hills, CA * Kyle Yucus — Streamwood, IL * Jason Massengale— Dacula, GA Electronic Gaming Monthly - M - egm. / We use EarthLink EarthLink’ for our online gaming needs. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY (ISSN #1058 -918X) is published monthly by Ziff Davis Media іс. 28 East ath Street, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals Class Postage Paid at New York, NY 10016 and additional mailing offices. Single issue rates: $4.99. The one year (12 issue) subscription rate is $24.97 in the US. and $40.97 out side the US, Checks must be made payable in U.S. currency only to Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Electronic Gaming Monthly, P.O. 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To reuse any material in this publication, obtain a permission request form atwww.kopy: fight.com/alfdavis/, or have a form faxed or mailed to you by calling (425)430-1663, Copyright © 2002 Zf Davis Media. Al Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, For per mission to reuse materialin this publication (or on this Web site) or to use our logo, contact Ziff Davis Media's Rights and Permissions Manager. For reprints, contact Reprint Services at 800-217-7874, Olga Gonopolsky, if Davis Media Inc. 28 E. 28th St, New York, NY 10016, Tek: 212-503 5438. Fax: 212-503-5420. 0lga_ gonopol кубам сот, Electronic Gaming Monthly and EGM are trademarks of Zif Davis Media Inc. TM and © for all other products and the characters contained therein are owned by the respective trademark and copyright owners. All materials listed in this magazine are subject to manufacturers’ change and the publisher assumes. no responsibility for such changes. The Canadian GST Registration number is 140496720 RT. Hey, kids, brand new year (2002, in case you were sleeping)! Considering all the fine things you could be doing reading this tiny fine print is probably the least productive of them ай, I (the Indicia King) suggest that you buy a "wife ball bat and smack some hollow balls A grand idea indeed! Printed in the USA. Auct Bureau oF Croutons gamers.com ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY Number 15.3 March 2002 egm.gamers.com К i elige" Hsu • shoe@ziffdavis.com i ger * dean hagerGziffdavis.com Ms viendo Запад • mark macdonaldGzifdavis com AS Eu е а от кү n: me ea Dire Ol Əziffdavis. s 8 ff те Chou e чери каш. oe St ih hah Ricciardi” сој ibutors ristian Nut Peter Felonk, ШШЕ Pa BHRR Eu ropean € КО Рот Shane Bettenhausen, Gary Mollohan, ал REA Dan Leahy, Rone Davies Seni [Nicol e cyril_wochok@ziffdavis.com Art Direct. МЄ Beisel * mike_reisel@ziffdavis.com ШЕЖЕ ОСУНА Director SEU UE REA Manager: pe tenere Pre шап Assistant Pif гр коп Manager jeresa New: Ро kit ле * mark lefebvreGziffdavis.com Vice President/Game Group E rial al Director creative ef er DURS gredor Circ iati п Director Mb ie actor Senior Ad Sales Manager SUBSCRIPTION Е NUMBER: DO NOT CONTACT THE EDITORS RE: SUB. PROBLEMS шше ge Contact: 59, ese le, 14th floor, on Francisco, CA 94105 опе: 415-547-8783 = БЕ 15-357-4910 * lee uniackeQziffdavis.com соф ASsocidte publ blisher 3 -4915 • suzie@ziffdavis.com_ кейе Sa es а Manager/East Coast Territory ~ 630: 3 d J mat fallison@ziffdavis. xm т iv oast Terri "iis dies Representative/East Coas ‘ory 7354: 4-0284 * tallie_fishburne@ziffdavis.com Lo î clive /East Coast Territory 15 5226 * emily olman@ziffdavis.com кй Manager]Paciic Northwest & Bay Area Peninsula 57: аг 25 • jan sinclair&ziffdavis.com . ive/Pacific Northwest & Bay Area Peninsula 55 Zaa nnay g! ray@ziffdavis.com E ДЕМ атте southwest Territory 942-62: u * karen_landon@ziffdavis.com u ecutive/Southwest Territory 5-947 87: 1 • linda. ЈА .com Regia ‘ales $ Manager] lexas, Washington, San Francisco депу Mar Werre Í 53574 i944 * ПА com КОШ xecutive/Texas, Washington, San Mehano 91190 Mos Йй i920 * meighan_orourke@ziffdavis.com uu arketing Manager & Creative Director ү • геу leddaGziffdavis.com ма ori or A рот * annie lipscombGziffdavis.com Advert КШТ ator 357-4930 * брег ubbelohdeGziffdavis.com = a in ms 47-8778 * kristeen lautGziffdavis.com ERAS к 415-4 47 ДЕ * cheryl_farrell@ziffdavis.com Founder Steve Harris 4 2 5 different driver. ct vith se B LE 717 p 5 rig and a еН КШТ big Rough ‘n rambling д 2 г twisted thicker pae and tons of > PlayStation: А 32. а aturing 4 different [o X 18 Wheeler” created and preduced by SEGA. SEGA and 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker are registered trademarks of SEGA Corporation. AME СОВЕ. = Ls = — : E EVERYONE Original Game © SEGA-AM2 Co LTD./SEGA CORPORATION, 2001. All «I = Rights Reserved. Acclaim” & © 2001 Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. All A qm Rights Reserved. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo ore AA VIOLENCE registered trademarks of Sony Compliter Entertainment Inc. TM, © and the Nintendo GameCube logo arg trademarks of Nintendo. Screens acclaim.com dong nae shown were taken from the PlaySltion'2 version of the video game. off with the Yakuza mafia as a cop or spy, pulling off 20 tough, high-speed driving missions through the chaotic streets of a fully interactive, fully destructible city. Unleash real-time dan се in one of 10 vehicles—from sport to a monster truck—then relive the action in stunningly ` realistic replays. Violence АСПМЯон | X20 activision.com EL n nire У “...arguably the most exciting, technically demanding, and amazing-looking driving game ever made." — OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE (JANUARY 2002) a Someone call the janitor, the hardwood is about to get messy. Kick your game into high gear with 18 $Ñ one-touch player controls including pump fakes, screens, auto defend, signature dribbles and moves y Run with the team of your choice or create your own player and see how you match up against the NBA's u^ PlayStation mecom best. Oh, and tell that guy to bring a buffer and some extra wax, rubber doesn't come up easy. = © 5 val > ir] = ü www.989spo “the team behind the wheel is Reflections, the folks who brought you th so you can count on it being full of huge crashes, out of control power slit like a recipe for some awesome vehicular carnage.” –тексот FROM THE CREATORS OF THE BLOCKBUSTER SERIES “DRIVER” You're the real : уаште the coole 5 оп you. ive like you. PlayStation.c Stuntman ©2002 Infogrames, Inc. All rights reserved. Created and developed by Reflections Interactive Limited, an Infogrames studio. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. е / ( ( call 1-800-771-3772 ША for Rating Information. | Manufactured and marketed by iremos Кый Infogrames Inc., New York, NY. sone INFOGRAMES 4 ESRB RATING PENDING Visit www.esrb.org or LETTER FAC Letters to the Editors Congratulations Drew McGill. You win an InterAct GameShark for PlayStation 2, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 or Game Boy Color. LETTER OF THE MONTH Dialup Letdown Phantasy Star Online has had a rather profound effect on my life. | was playing over the network several months ago when | met this girl named Rinoa in the lobby. We played together for a week or so when | realized | started to have feelings for her, so | tried to play with her as much as possible. | worked up the nerve to tell her how | felt (by the way, she’s 27 and I’m 15, so it wasn’t easy), and to my amazement, she felt the same way as | did! After that, | was with her all the time online, but | had a little problem. Before | met Rinoa, | had this little “almost” relationship with Dark Crystal (that was her character name, anyway). | didn't want to hurt her feelings or anything, so | sorta kept it going with her on the Side. Things were great until Crystal wanted to meet Rinoa! We all got into a game together, but | had to duck out for a bit, and while | was gone, Crystal told Rinoa we were still together! Rinoa was furious, and it took me several days to smooth things over. Illustration by Shawn Smith Then Rinoa met this other guy online while | was on vacation. | can't stand him, naturally. Well, my DC broke shortly thereafter and | was off for like a month. It was really depressing. Rinoa doesn't talk to me anymore, so I’ve kind of given up on her, but my friend is going through the exact same thing right now with his girl. Hopefully he'll have better luck with online love than me. Do you guys ever have problems like these? Drew McGill Sacramento, CA Actually, West Coast Editor Che Chou ran into some trouble with a younger woman; it wasn't over the Internet, though. He still swears the girl said she was 18.... Too bad things didn't work out for you (unless of course she was really some old fat dude posing as a chick), but you were reaching into a cookie jar full of cyanide-laced hypodermic needles in trying to juggle two cyber- dates at once. We need the Brady Bunch to make an Internet- ) related version of that one episode where Peter has to be on two dates at once to help us out of pickles like these. Until then, ponder this: She was at her first junior high dance while you were still a fetus. It wouldn't have worked out between you two. Dreams Gast For Less I'm a 14-year-old gaming fanatic and don't have a lot of income to spend on games. So this Christmas, instead of an Xbox, PS2 or GameCube, | received my very own Dreamcast. Now, some might have been disappointed, but | see a huge opportunity in my new console. | got three sports titles and Crazy Taxi with the system for Christmas, and then I found Sonic Adventure and Soul Calibur brand new for next to nothing at the store. For about the price of a СВА, | got a ton of stuff for a really cool system and had my best gaming Christmas ever. BikeOtaku@aol.com Way to buck the hype, man. It’s true, we get a little spoiled with all the shiny new games and consoles on the market. The DC is barely two years old and still has lots of great games that people may have missed Letters for the impatient You guys like AC/DC? waco, kid34 @hotmail.com DO we??!! Is there anything else to jam when you're cruisin’ in the EGM IROC? Electronic Gaming Monthly - 22 - egm.gamers.com * Total charges from postage-due letters: $8.73 * Christmas cards from readers: 23 * Boxing Day cards from readers: o (Take THAT, Sewart!) * Messages in bottles: 1 * Letters in alphabet: 26 in the fever of new console launches. Better snatch up as many games as you can before they disappear from store shelves, though. Remember what happened with the Saturn. John of All Trades have a bunch of questions for you guys. First, is there a service to replace batteries in older games, particularly Nintendo and Super Nintendo games? Also, while | have tremendous respect or you guys and for your top 100 list, | would have to say that R-Type III is so much better than R-Type Delta. Not that Delta is a bad game, it’s just the level design seemed a lot better in ///. And finally, when | beat Guilty Gear X, | saw the name of John Ricciardi float across my screen. He was credited as their text editor. Is that THE John Ricciardi? docbrownGcinci.rr.com Awright, the easy stuff first. Yep, that's THE John Ricciardi, international man of English translation. Apart from working for EGM, he does some localization work out there in Tokyo to help fund his lifestyle in the most expensive city on Earth. Second, while we respect your opinion on R-Type Ш, please don't ever say that again. It makes Mark MacDonald cry. As far as refitting batteries to your old games, it's something that you can actually do yourself without much hassle. We're putting together a small feature on that very subject as we speak, so if your games can hold out a little longer, look for it in one of the next few issues. | find it unfair that you gave Final Fantasy X all that space in the magazine and on the cover last issue (#151), but Super Smash Bros. Melee was the game of the month in the Reviews section. It should have gotten more space on the cover than Final Fantasy X. Why didn't it? grahamgoff@hotmail.com Well, we're just biased, we guess. It's as simple as that. No, actually, we often plan our covers way in advance of when we get the featured game in Journey to Hogwarts" in magical adventure filled with i wizardry, fun, and danger. a Term eins Noyermber 1 Sonesta Weawait YOU оу, STONE. GAME BOY ADVANCE. PlayStation ROM www.eagames.com /www.HarryPotter.com EVERYONE EVERYONE © 2001 Electronic Arts Inc. Electronic Arts, EA GAMES and the EA GAMES logo are trademarks or registered trademarks COMIC MISCHIEF of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved. EA GAMES" is an Electronic Arts™ brand. TM, ®, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos аге MILD VIOLENCE registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, The rating icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. m Toten mu HARRY POTTER, characters, names, and related indicia are trademarks of Warner Bros. © 2001 ГШЩ 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information E SRB (601) Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for more info. MICS ВУКА! K u E О < [4 < I [5] т Е Games W Sting Like A Bee | ae March 2009, Kain returns to video gaming's high-throne of bloodthirsty had-asses. When Баше-ах and sword edges dull, Kain turns to Dark Gifts such as rupture and possession. Whether in pursuit of power or just for the thrill ol the kill, Kain's lust for blood is inspiring. — WELEGRQUTRETLSERES ——— This game is intended for mature audiences ONLY. Kain Awakens This March www.LegacyofKain.com LETTERS MORE SHORTS What happened to Seanbaby? Did he get fired? Вгеп 9989 @aol.com No, Brent, Seanbaby lives in a far-off land that is inacces- sible to mere mortals like ourselves. Once in a while, he casts us a piece of writing and we put it in the mag, but he’s not a regular staff member. You'll probably be hearing from him again in the very near future, though. What's with ай the v's where there should be u's in your Circus Maximus preview? SublimeSkandrn 44@aol.com Gather round, boy, and we shall tell yea tale. In olden tymes, Romans didn't have the technology to make curved letters, so they had to use а v every time they needed a u. That's also why all their numbers are letters. Can you imagine having to write out all those blocky o's? Hope this helps. Feel free to ask us anything else you want to know about Romanian history. for review, so we never know how it's going to fare in Reviews until the magazine's almost out the door. Take a look at this month's mag: Maximo is on the cover, but Super Mario Advance 2 is our Game of the Month. Sometimes the cover game is coincidentally the Game of the Month, but it doesn't always work out that way. Just chalk it up to entropy. Journey Defended | saw your comments on the Journey game and band last month. Journey rocks, man. | mean, | never liked the band, but | have been playing the game every day for at least a year now. You guys should try it before you knock it. sonofsam@charter.net Actually, you’ve got something in common with our Features Editor Crispin Boyer! He, too, has been playing Journey on an emulator for more than a year now. Check out this sweet screen we grabbed from one of his many long sessions with bassist Ross Valory. We seriously doubted that anyone could play that game for more than about 20 minutes, but Crispin’s clinically insane, so...what’s your excuse? VALORY Bassist Ross Valory stomps on space crap while the remaining members of Journey look on from their flaming starship. Gamer Sick of Games | was wondering about a video game- related sickness | seem to have developed. | was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced it, or at least heard of it. It is a nauseated feeling that develops in my stomach after a long period of playing first- person shooters (FPSes) that involve tight corridors and enclosed spaces. | suppose it could be termed “Video Game Claustrophobia.” I’m not claustrophobic in real life at all, but it only takes about two hours of playing the right game to get me so sick that | can’t play anymore. | even played Medal of Honor (PS1—the mission where you are in the corridors of the German ship) to the point where I threw up. Any ideas on what's wrong? KrypticVoid@aol.com This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this problem. In fact, it seems like for every couple dozen folks who are totally fine with FPSes, there’s one who inevitably gets sick playing them. We haven’t really heard of confined spaces making people nauseous. But gamers have complained that the bobbing motion some characters display when they walk (like in Half-Life) induces a seasick feeling. The choppiness associated with a low framerate (less than 30 frames per second) can also cause you to feel ill. You might want to try playing Halo (are you surprised we recommended that?) or another FPS that has a lot of open environments and a high framerate to pinpoint your problem. Smoother or slower-paced games like this might not trouble you, so you may not have to miss out on the genre completely. Or maybe you should get out of the house after two hours and do something worthwhile! Hehe...just kidding, we’re probably worse than you are. In your February issue you gave some tips on Halo’s weapons in the Inner Circle section. You said that the rocket launcher kicks ass close in and sucks Electronic Gaming Monthly - 26 - egm.gamers.com What one thing do you most want to see change about video games in 2002? A successful online network for PS2 and Xbox. | want to be able to download expansions for MGS2 and Halo! beanboy86Ghotmail.com New game engines. I’d love to see some new genres develop this year. TheGodfather1087@cs.com Fewer Metroid Prime delays! | mean, what the @#$%$#@A&$#!@@#$ Hades! nakedlettuce@hotmail.com | want to see Square discontinue its exclusivity to Sony and test the waters on the other next-gen consoles. ninjascroll&earthlink.net Better sports games: Full color customization for home and away uniforms, and the ability to create expansion teams and logos. Also, we need better text recognition for announcing created players. bullsfan@iland.net Nintendo's kid-oriented image. | want to see more first-person shooters and RPGs on my GameCube. swstrider@hotmail.com It seems like all the good games on PS2 are really short. | want some quality games that take a long time to beat in 2002. Gethod80@aol.com We all love a well-crafted sequel, but for the love of God, stop franchising! | really don’t want to play a Tony Hawk 4 or another Syphon Filter game. ramojo@fast.net | want to see peoples’ lips moving with their words, damnit! MeltyMallowX@aol.com Next Month’s Question of the Moment: What are you looking forward to most when the next-gen systems go online? Send your short but sweet responses to: EGM@ziffdavis.com with the subject heading: DANN METHOD 540 ONTHE WET DC SUPER RAMP. Pi THE MOST VENTILATED SKATE SHOE EVER. | DANNY WAY'S NEW SIGNATURE MODEL “AEROTECH BREATHABLE MESH LASTING BOARD ALLOWS AIR TO. CIRCULATE AROUND FOOT LIGHTWEIGHT MESH PANELS, GUARDED BY PROTECTIVE LEATHER FLAP, ALLOW ADDITIONAL AIR CIRCULATION (GREY/RED) AIR FLOW CHANNELS LINE THE MIDSOLE, DIRECTING AIR THROUGH BREATHABLE MESH LASTING BOARD AVAILABLE AT YOUR AL SI TO FIND A LOCATION NEA TPU VENT SHANK OPENING Z ALLOWS TWO-WAY < = 'OR STICKERS, PO ۴ VENTILATION OF SHOE DC STICKERS, 770 SYCAMORE AVE) LETTERS You can write ЕСМ at: EGM Letters P.O. Box 3338 Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 E-mail: EGM@ziffdavis.com Please note: We reserve the right to edit any correspondence for space purposes. If you don't want your name, city/state or e-mail address printed, tell us so (but please include your phone number, mailing address and system preference for Letter of the Month prize consideration). Also note: Although we can't respond to every letter, as far as you know, we do read them all. Also, everything you send us is ours to keep! at long range! I beg to differ. How can the rocket launcher be awesome at close range? Most likely you would blow the hell out of yourself and the enemy. From far away they could move out of the way, but at least you won't die. I'm not sure what short or long range is to you, but to me, close range is 10 feet, maybe. | don't want anyone to blow himself up “cause you said the rocket launcher is good in close quarters. DAVIDDJ311G3aol.com Au contraire, good Halite. Play anyone who's worth his salt in Halo, and you won't see him getting hit by a rocket from across the field. It's too easy to see coming, and no good Halo player stands still long enough for you to land a shot from long range. If you wield the launcher well, you can crush people in close quarters (yep, that means 10, 20 feet) without even damaging your shield. OK, if you're practically standing on the guy, the shotgun’s a safer bet, we'll give you that. But for general purposes, the rocket launcher is the weapon of choice for close-range fights. која ЧИ Doo A well-placed rocket at 10-15 feet will resurface the floor with your enemy and leave you unscathed. I'm worried about Final Fantasy XI. Though | am always excited when a new FF comes out, | worry that the online component will make a thousand different people play the same Final Fantasy with other adventurers. As cool as that is, I'm afraid that because there are so many players, the game will lose the epic story quality that makes it so cool. | fell in love with FFX because the story was so gripping and | really got to know the characters. Lonestar2k2@cs.com Based on what we've seen of the game from Japanese beta testers, it’s going to blow your pancreas straight out the front door. True, it’s not the same as the typical FF formula. But if anything, we think the story will be more epic, when you factor in all the character interaction and questing possibilities that come with a worldwide player arena. C’mon, you’ve always wanted to summon Ifrit on some dude from Iceland.... Induced Stress Tests My friend and | were looking through old issues of EGM and saw the piece about the GBA that was dropped, burned, stepped on and flushed, and it still worked. So we decided to test out some other electronic toys for durability. Here are a few of the things that didn’t withstand the tests: 1. Remote-controlled I-Dog puppy Guy W. All Jr. * Clearwater, FL muse | Your snake may be of Ziff Davis Media Inc. and will not be returned! LETTER ART: AS CHOSEN BY Letter Art of the Month WINNER Congratulations, Guy W. All Jr.! | | enjoyed it thoroughly. Your | | prize is on the way-an InterAct | | GameShark for PlayStation 2, | s» | PlayStation, Dreamcast, | | Nintendo 64 or Game Boy Color. | | | | | | == <= Put your creative skills to the test | | by decking out a #10 envelope (the | | long, business type) with your own | | unique touch. Send letter art to: | EGM Letter Art, РО. Box 3338 | | jc Мы | Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 (ог E-mail EGMOziffdavis.com) | Be sure to include a mailing address, and tell us what system you'd | like your prize for, in case you win. All entries become the property | see so many nerds over there working at EGM, yet not even ONE has a ponytail? Come on, dudes, get with it. That's a requirement. ` lExtraSoldier! @aol.com What are you talking about? Jeanne Kim’s got a wicked ponytail! Mark MacDonald had the long hair goin’ on fora while, actually; but it got stuck in the copier...it wasn't pretty. We all keep it short now. Well, gotta get back to nerding it up. Later! small, but we | Roland Sabalza Seattle, WA 2. Handheld Space Invaders game 3. Tiger Sports Feel baseball game 4. Some other stuff that would prevent me from getting a GameCube if my parents found out. Nick Taylor St. Charles, MO Some of OUR follow-up stress tests: 1. Teddy Ruxpin: Failed 2. Lite-Brite: Failed 3. Skid Row cassette tape: Failed 4. Real Doll: Passed (and how!) Oops We're not saying that Ninja Gaiden isn’t coming to PS2, but last month we said it definitely is. Tecmo has not actually announced it for that platform; it's Xbox only for now. Last month, PRINTX-11G-5, the droid that inserts random E-mail addresses after reader letters around here, went a little haywire. He reprinted the same address after a couple different letters. His restraining bolt's back on now, so we should be in business. THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE Not quite Sharkworthy... Close, but no cannoli. Better luck next time. l Timothy Dawson l Porter, TX For Letter of the Month and Letter Art ot the Month contests, по purchase В necessary. If you're really bored and want to read the complete contest legal rules, please visit egm.gamers.com or write us at: EGM Contests-Legal Rules Request, Р.О, Вох 3338, Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338, After reading the rules, please get a Ме. Don't forget to tell us what system you'd Ще your prize for, and don't forget to give us your physical mailing adress Otherwise we won't know where to send your fruit basket. Electronic g Monthly - 28 - egr amers.com 1. AN ARMY OF ONES In the U.S. Army f = => e > = М ТАМ AN ARMY OF ONE. A THERE IS ONLY ONE MAN FOR THE JOB. cm EA GAMES and MGM INTERACTIVE present 165 Bond 0077 in AGENT UNDER FIRE Sy ¢ An all-new ACTION-PACKED ADVENTURE. Immerse yourself in 12 PULSE-POUNDING MISSIONS. Intense FIRST-PERSON ACTION. Breathtaking DRIVIJ | sportscar, including the ASTON MARTIN" DBS, BMW? 7501. and BMW? 78. Employ sfte-of-the- ; Wield HI-TECH WEAPONRY. Meet STUNNING BOND GIRLS. Journey to EXOTIC LOCATIONS across the globe. Frag your friends in FOUR-PLAYER SPLIT-SCREEN action. The next generation of BOND has arrived on SS the PLAYSTATION® 2 computer entertainment system, the XBOX Video game system, and Nintendo GAMECUBE.” WWW:EABAMES:EOM Эйр vi аро кн posa aw Que зао roo 20/pue УП ай eerie ово jo spewapeg ай зобо хо aq pee хоу kuwa (00:09 Opare шаре oe ai ignorem ЖИШШ B gus Y Na ote Ina pusi раро ерове шу элү woy 35083] крот os GG ше] шу pen suy aues ve t «S3 VO VJ "samo age аурей уада эй ШШ S ИША Ц T ыў с. hop pug фы qu үе pis зоб s pur ung pung sawe '100 роб sauer тайдай) рау pue JT eleg 00ГО (aessdura епоха уво aueo ااا اا‎ ама О à 23 зна» Ем 0 x c o б, 5 Ug š = ra š im a Ww 0 2 > 2 š 5 5 (al V5 5 E š єс 0 à > a 2 [Ne E 2 d) = ДЕ ТЕЕМ T puri ESRB Xbox screen shots shown RATING PENDING [» Visit www.esrb.org or w call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. ог from Міс PS' of Sony Comp ment Inc. All other the property nc., New York, N.Y. Mi the Furious dreams...” - оки | /1 ne ‚ "опе of the hest looking racing games on PS2...” € s Me Can you survive? - Huge Jumps – Insane Wrecks - Thick City Traffic Defy the law in the raw power of muscle cars and the legendary -performance of modern sports cars = Bitch relentless zons in San Francisco, Tokyo, London and Monaco ee d opponents get in your head with taunts and will do anything to win - Music by Ja Rule, DMX, Junkie KL and more For movies, screens X wt 1 and other cool stuff go to... 7 Ф. РІауѕгайоп.о www.tdfu.com Press Start К Illustration by Pixel Pushers Design e feel your pain. You bought a shiny W new next-generation system (or got one as a gift) during the blockbuster blizzard of *o1, when great games came out atthe pace of three a week. Now you're lucky if you can get one good game a month, without a ray of Mario Sunshine in sight. But before you do something drastic By Chris Johnston chris_johnston@ziffdavis.com & Jonathan Dudlak jonathan_dudlak@ziffdavis.com and put that slightly used, not-so mint-in- box console up on eBay, take a look at the extended forecast for each system on the next two pages. They’ve been lovingly crafted to give you the heads up on games and trends coming this year that should be on your radar (if they aren’t already). Commit it to memory. There'll be a test later. System Forecast 2K2 Which system has the most games you're looking forward to in 2002? = GameCube - 20% Xbox - 29% PlayStation 2 - 51% Electronic Gaming Monthly - 34 - egm.gamers.com Source: Gamers.com poll, Dec. 2001 Metroid m" The Legend Prime - 32% What 2002 of Zelda - 38% GC game are you most excited about? Mario Star Fox Sunshine - 18% Adventures - 142% Source: Gamers.com poll, Dec. 2001 Current Conditions “Моге than 18 games are coming from Nintendo and third parties in the first quarter of 2002 alone," says Perrin Kaplan, VP of Corporate Affairs for Nintendo. Translation: Get ready for a whole bunch of PS2 ports. Fans hoping for the promised bounty of Nintendo originals will have to wait a bit. The next two releases have suffered slight delays—Rare’s Star Fox Adventures to April and Silicon Knights' Eternal Darkness will follow a month or two later. U.S. releases of Nintendo's Japanese GC games are also still up in the air. True to form, Nintendo will only say they are "assessing the viability" of titles like Animal Forest (see preview on page 88) and Doshin the Giant (God game starring a fuzzy yellow giant). Extended Forecast The real excitement starts in the second half of the year. That's when your 200 bones starts paying off and hotly anticipated titles Metroid Prime PlayStation 2 Current Conditions Last year was very hot for PS2. Gran Turismo 3, Devil May €ry, Metal Gear Solid 2, Grand Theft Auto Ill, Jak & Daxter, Ico, Final Fantasy X...we're getting dizzy just trying to think of all the great games on PS2 in 2001. If you're a new PS2 owner looking for games, it might be best to try to catch up on the blockbusters you missed last year. Sony's got a few games on the horizon, though. Namely Hot Shots Golf 3 in March and SOCOM: Navy Seals later in the spring. L Final Fantasy XI Е like Mario Sunshine, the new Legend of Zelda and Metroid Prime are scheduled for release. The second half will also see the emergence of Nintendo's online strategy. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has already gone on record with Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, saying, “There is a large number of online games in development, which are secret." Damn. At least one online game, Sega's Phantasy Star Online, is already on the slate. And just in case you've forgotten, Nintendo has one more ace up its sleeve for this year: Pokémon. Last summer Nintendo unveiled the first four new creatures from the next- generation Pokéverse and confirmed that both a GC and a GBA title are on the way. Resident Evil Extended Forecast Beware the sleeping giant. While Sony hasn't said anything publicly about most of their 2002 lineup, we do know that online con- nectivity will be a big part of it. When? We're not sure. Sony recently stopped shipments of their PS2 hard drive in Japan—a required component for those eager to play Final Fantasy XI. That could signal a potential delay in the U.S. introduction of the hard drive and Network Adapter until the summer or even fall. And any delay in that hardware means it'll be longer before we can play FFXI, Twisted Metal Online and the online enhancements of games like Tony Hawk 4. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 35 - egm.gamers.com ON THE Resident Evil, Capcom — A graphically tweaked-out remake of the survival-horror zombie shoot-a-thon. May/June Phantasy Star Online, Sega — GC version of Sonic Team's ferociously addictive futuristic online RPG. TBA Star Fox Adventures, Nintendo — See preview, page 90. April Mario Sunshine, Nintendo — The next game in Nintendo's Mario series takes the plumber to a sunny paradise. Summer Metroid Prime, Nintendo — First- and third- person action shooter starring Samus Aran, a female bounty hunter. Fall Eternal Darkness, Nintendo — A macabre, multi-pathed survival-horror game from Legacy of Kain creators (and Canadians) Silicon Knights. May/June The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo — Cartoony installment of Nintendo's second-most popular series. Fall rom Nintendo —Animal Forest, Super Mario Kart, Pokémon, Donkey Kong Racing, Disney's Mickey for GameCube, Kameo Elements of Power, a new Pokémon and a new Kirby. Third-party software — Soul Calibur 2 (Namco), New Ridge Racer (Namco), Turok: Evolution (Acclaim), Mortal. Kombat (Midway), and Skies of Arcadia (Sega). Rumored: Perfect Dark Zero, Banjo- Threeie, Pikmin 2. RADAR ON THE RADAR Final Fantasy XI, Square — Go on a quest in a huge online world with other Final Fantasy fans. TBA Tomb Raider: The Next Generation, Eidos — Lara Croft returns after an extended sabbatical for more raidin'. Late 2002 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Activision — The Hawkman cometh again to Р52. Winter New Gran Turismo, Sony CEA — Whether it's online or just a U.S. concept-car version, you can expect more GT in 2002. TBA Tekken 4, Namco — The fourth installment of Namco's popular arcade fighter. Fall Twisted Metal Online, Sony CEA — Incog Inc.'s car combat game goes online in a Net version of Twisted Metal: Black. TBA Cont. on page 38 Swapping paint with Skywalker, Shrapnel impact at 600+mph Tatooine. Mon Calamari. Turbo-boost slice between canyon wall and Пий Boll, Sullust. PlayStation e r= ANATOMY o- SPEED. ITS A FIGHT TG THE FINISH AT 6OOMPH. GO HEAD —TG—HEAD AGAINST 18 GF THE GALAXY'S MGST AGGRESS!VE PGDRACERS. W!TH 14 HARRGW!NG TRACKS GN 5 WORLDS, FACE TERRIFYING CHALLENGES AT EVERY TURN. GOT THE GUTS TO GO FOR !T? = - Tusken Raider target practice, Badlands. WWW.RACER-REVENGE.COM EVERYONE (8) rainbow: € Mild Violence STUDIOS ESRB ' Microsoft has subsided to barely a whisper. So what's left for the first half of this year? David Hufford, Xbox product manager told us, "Some we can't talk about yet, but | will mention RalliSport Challenge, Kung Fu Party and Whacked!, just to pique your curiosity." Details on Kung Fu Party have yet to come to light, but we can tell you that it's a cartoony action title from the boys at U.K. developer Just Add Monsters. Other unique Xbox titles you'll be hearing about soon are Sneakers (the U.S. title for the Japanese mouse battle game Nezumix), Decayden and Kakuto Chojin (a 3D fighter by The Bouncer creators Dream Publishing). So Xbox owners won't be left idling for long. While waiting for those, you've got good Xbox original third-party titles waiting in the wings like Jet Set Radio Future (Sega), WWF Raw (THQ) and Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions (Activision), all of which should be in stores this month. Extended Forececast With all the action going on in the home console market, it's easy to forget about GBA. That'd be a mistake though, since there's a lot of good games coming for the system. Here's a quick rundown of the titles you should watch for: Nintendo's Super Mario Advance 3 will continue the series of Mario game ports to the portable, this time with the 8-Bit classic, Super Mario Bros. 3. А fourth title further down the line is (you guessed it) Super Mario Advance 4: Yoshi's Island. Konami's 2D experiment with Castlevania: Circle of the Moon paid off big time, selling Fu Party. Kakuto Xbox game Chojin - 3% are you most excited about? Halo The characters of JAM's Kung Mario 3: Coming soon to GBA. What 2002 Extended Forecast The big Xbox attraction this year is the broadband online gaming through one dedi- cated network that will launch in the summer. And don't worry, you'll get to kill stuff. “We didn't put a hard drive and ethernet port inside every box to make it a chess or checkers experi- ence," Hufford told us. *Our ambitions are a bit more lofty." Microsoft's making it super-easy to hook up, too. If you have a broadband Internet account (DSL, cable modem, etc.) you'll be able to play. J Allard, platform general manager for Xbox told us, “Out-of-the-box, setting up system link play is a piece of cake on Xbox with no infor- mation [like DNS settings, IP addresses and all that good stuff] required at all. We'd like for broadband setup to be as simple. We're hoping that all you'll have to provide is your contact and billing information and we are confident that with the majority of broad- band providers, it will be a plug-and-play experience." The first network-compatible games you'll be kicking ass on? Unreal Championship, and if we're lucky, Halo Online. Let the games begin! far better than the publisher imagined (especially in the U.S.). A second GBA game is reportedly in development. The first of Rare's GBA titles will hit this spring, including Sabrewulf—a new game starring an aging explorer who must nab artifacts and make it out alive Indiana Jones-style. Expect Pokémon to make a big splash on the system as well (likely utilizing GC-to-GBA connectivity), along with a few original titles. One potential sleeper hit could be the Nintendo platformer The Legend of Starfi. Right now it’s Japan-only, but it’s definitely U.S.-friendly. And finally, who could forget about Metroid IV? Samus returns in a 2D GBA adventure in addition to her GC outing. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 38 - egm.gamers.com Metal Gear Solid X - 39% Bruce Lee - 15% Source: Gamers.com poll, Dec. 2001 ON THE RADAR Panzer Dragoon, | Sega — Ride on ihe! back of a legendary dragon, shooting down evil wherever it may be. TBA Phantasy Star Online, Sega — Sonic team's online RPG. Thankfully there's no Xbox GameShark yet, ya cheaters. TBA Shenmue Il, Sega — Join Ryo ashe ` continues the adventure in Yu Suzuki's modern RPG, Summer Metal Gear Solid X, Konami — Solid Snake and the cast of MGS2 return for this enhanced Xbox version. TBA Sega GT 2002, Sega — Wow Entertainment. updates their simulation-style racer for Xbox. Summer - Kung Fu Party, Microsoft — Is it a Mario Party clone, a cartoony action game or a - Smash Bros. style fighter? TBA Sneakers, Microsoft — Lead your mice to victory against other rodent factions in this mouse-battlin' title. Spring Kakuto Chojin, Microsoft — Dream = Factory's 3D fighting game. Literally means *Fighting Supermen." TBA Project Ego, Microsoft — Peter Molyneux's open-ended medieval RPG lets you decide what kind of hero you want to be. Fall Announced: Dino Crisis 3 (Capcom), Crazy Taxi Next (Sega). Rumored: Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Halo Online. ON THE RADAR Super Mario Advance 3, Nintendo — A port of Super N 3. Summer ship. Sumner Grand К Auto III, Rockstar — А n of f the Ps2 hit. March Diddy Kong Pilot, Nintendo — Ae g starring DK's pal. Summer Banjo-Kazooie, Nintendo — The N64 duo goesonane enture. Summer Pokémon Next, Nintendo — Add monsters, A game that's kr and shoulders above the rest! Join the zany masters of mirth — Moe, Larry and Curly — on a quest to save an old lady's orphanage and her three b-e-a-utiful daughters from the cruel ` clutches of an evil banker! With only 30 days to collect $5,000 smackers, the Stooges prove that when it coi to fun, three heads are soitenly be than one! Funny and frantic action, including pie throwing, prizefighting, and hospital hi-jinx! Оитадеоиз, family-oriented Тип, including trivia! Original Stooges animation and classic scenes! Hours of slapstick gameplay as Moe, Larry, and Curly <> > THE wel: ЕМЕВУОМЕ www.metro3d.com Metro3D The Three S! d fers, names, and all related indicia are trademarks of C3 Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. im images 02 Metro3D, Inc. Game Boy Advance is a trademark of Nintendo. @ 2002 Nintendo. Ай rights reserved, AN 7 l'take a case 01,6 E d " T еапу tomato soup, f in a game, ме" des breaking through some chowder and minestrone, too. PlayStation.c got two and even th ree man an takes So you'll see backs wr: "T upín ivi gang ti the line and passes broken up by tenacious double coverage. You know what? Be Thought GTA3 was controversial? Have a look at these remarks from Leslie Benzies, producer at DMA Design, who developed the mobster megahit. EGM: GTA3 is definitely a game for adults. Was there anything you wanted or thought about putting in the game that you either pulled out or just decided, “Мо, no, that's just too naughty?" es: Not really. We didn't make the game to be controversial, but we also didn't try to be less naughty because we were worried we might get told off. We wanted to develop and expand on the ideas of СТА and СТА2, namely freeform, open gameplay, non-linearity and contemporary gangster styling. We set out to make a believable and unique world in which everything felt like it was part of the same universe, so some things didn't make it because they didn't fit. The limitations, such as they were, were to do with time. It would have been great to have more pedestrians, more missions, more indoor spaces, more fighting, etc. But with a game as open-ended as this, you have to draw the line somewhere. We felt every aspect of the finished game was very well-done and could co-exist with the rest of the game. EGM: What do you think of all the hubbub surrounding СТАЗ and its violent content? It's pretty boring. There is still this belief, at least in Washington and the newsrooms of major television stations, that games only exist for the under-5-year-old [crowd] and that this game is being sold and marketed to children. The game went out with an M rating and was supposed to be sold only to those over 17. Nothing in the game could be taken that seriously by someone actually playing it, as the whole thing is obviously funny, over-the- top and absurd. But of course, people need stories to sell their newspapers and “controversial video games" is a very popular one among unimaginative news editors. ЕСМ: Have you considered giving СТАЗ an online component so that multiple players could compete in the same city? Yes, it was part of the PC versions of GTA and СТА2, although a little limited due to the CODES OF VIOLENCE As if GTA3 didn't have enough to keep you busy, try out some of these codes (enter 'ет anytime in the game, and there's no time limit). You'll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Full Armor: R2, R2, L1, L2, L, D, В, U, L, D, R, U Full Health: R2, R2, L1, R1, L, D, В, U, L, D, В, Ц (Note: Car damage will be repaired, but not visibly.) Reset “wanted” level to clean: R2, R2, L1, R2, U, D, U, D, U, D Theft Auto III eris “Honey, I'm һоте!!Дїїй 1 ripped off that Viper you wanted." available technology at the time. In the future, of course, we'd like to do it as a [multiplayer] 3D city, as human opponents are always more fun than digital ones. EGM: Ever thought about giving the player a choice of using a male or female character? Imagine all the possibilities for politically incorrect behavior (to put it lightly) a female protagonist would have at her disposal. LB: No, it would have been very difficult to make a story and have it work the same if the character could be male or female. The way people respond to men and to women are totally different, so for a game as interactive as GTA3, it would represent a huge increase in work load for little payback. Also, gangsters and car-jackers tend to be male, so we didn't think it would really work with a female charac- ter. Besides, female characters in video games so far have tended to be a little uninspiring.... EGM: The game's been kicking ass sales-wise for the last two months now. Was there ever concern that the game might not be successful? You always want to be successful and your games to be well-received. It's very nerve- wracking, but we were confident that GTA3 was a unique game that delivered on our expectations, so we thought people would be blown away because we were, as everything finally came together. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 42 - egm.gamers.com EGM: A lot of our readers have expressed frustration with the targeting system, especially when things get hectic. Any advice for those looking to rock the streets on foot? LB: First, practice. | think the game is very intuitive and easy to play, as | believe the targeting system is. But if you're having trouble, practice with it for a while. The targeting is trying to do the thinking for you, so it will always be prone to making different decisions than you. Always keep a lot of bullets in your gun, and make use of the shoulder buttons to scroll between targets when locked on. ЕСМ: Much of the action in СТАЗ revolves around driving. Will we see more footwork in the next game? B: Does it? When | play, most of the action takes place out of the car, on foot, using the weapons. Obviously, the quickest way around the city is in a car, but once you get NOA'S MAIN MAN RETIRES Minoru Arakawa, president of Nintendo of America for the past 22 years, retired from the company on Jan. 7. For two decades he led NoA from a fledgling Japanese subsidiary trying to sell the Nintendo Entertainment System after the video game crash of ‘83 soured retailers, to a powerhouse company with a name now synonymous with games in America. The full story of NoA and Arakawa's rise through Nintendo is contained in the pages of Game Over by David Sheff, available at bookstores everywhere. Good luck, Arakawa-san! ILE somewhere, you have to be out of the car in order to do whatever you have to do. Surely this is like real life, no? If it seems different to you, then maybe that's a good thing. It would mean that the game can be played very differently from player to player, which was definitely our intention. EGM: What is your favorite vehicle/weapon combination in СТАЗ? LB: | like Catalina's helicopter with the rocket launcher. EGM: Which is the best car in the game? LB: Well, the police car is the fastest, but | think the Diablo car is the coolest. EGM: Does having Hollywood-caliber voice actors make a big difference in a video game? LB: Of course. Acting is a skill, if not an art form in its own right. It turns out that Holly- wood actors don't get there by chance, but because they can act a whole lot better than you or me. The voice actors in СТАЗ are amazingly talented, so hiring them really helped bring the characters to life. But voice actors only work if the writing is good; that's what's so exciting about GTA3 —the diversity of talent involved in creating it, and the way it builds on techniques and expertise from a number of different environments. EGM: Do you think GTA3 will раме the way for the development of more mature games, like State of Emergency? LB: Probably, because publishers will see that there is a market for them. We really don't want to be seen, however, as paving the way for a lot of rubbish controversial games. I'd hope СТАз would be remembered for its quality, and for the fact that it gives people freedom never previously experienced in a game rather than because it's naughty. It is a gangster game; it has to be about naughty things, but it is also a uniquely open-ended piece of software unlike any other. People aren't obsessing over it because of any cheap shock value; they like it because of its multi- faceted gameplay. People might find an inter- esting news story in the controversy, but that's not what makes for a fun 100-hour experience. If GTA3 proves once and for all that there is a market for games aimed squarely at an older audience, and that games are not the preserve of 5-year-olds or fantasy-obsessed teenage boys, then it will have done its job. * onic Gamin ly - 43 - egm.gamers.com contro | push the button, the secret agent shoots. | hold left on the analog stick, he runs left. Pretty simple stuff. So when | go to buy that second gamepad, l'Il just grab one- They're all the same. It's not like these things are complicated devices like a GameShark. Of course, if a company can develop a product as sophisticated as GameShark, they could probably make a pretty nice gamepad, right? Play With 08 www.InterActAccessories.com Move over Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo's reinvent- ing yet another classic arcade/8-bit NES title this summer: Rygar. Anyone who remembers Rygar's spinning, razor- sharp Diskarmer (that shield thing with the spikes) will be glad to know that the game will remain very faithful to the original, but in super-snappy 3D. Watch out—we predict alot of running, jumping and smacking | down bug-like enemies. We can't wait. Old Rygar New Rygar | Electronic Arts has announced it will bring another James Bond title to next-gen consoles in late winter 2002. The working title is James Bond 007 in Phoenix Rising, | a combination of first- and third-person | action for PS2, Xbox and GC. Now that J.R.R. Tolkien's first Lord of the Rings book has become the greatest show on Middle-earth, it shouldn't be a surprise that more Hobbit-themed games are crawling from their holes every month. The total tally of LotR titles has just risen to four now that Universal Interactive has announced The Lord of the Rings, Part 1 for Game Boy Advance, due in late 2002. This RPG lets you control all nine members of the Fellowship and follows their adventures from the beginning of Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring to halfway through The Two Towers, the second book in his LotR trilogy. This GBA game joins the three other Rings titles we told you about last month: ЕА'5 ithe ONION WHAT IS THE ONION? Capable of turning a frown upside down on even the most cynical bastards out there, The Onion is the nation’s premiere social satire and funny paper. We dig their stuff, and think you will too. That’s why, starting this month, The Onion will be joining us in the pages of EGM to bring you gaming news that matters (below). Oh, and also be sure to check them out online at www.theonion.com. Ø the ONION | VOLUME 37 ISSUE 16 AMERICA'S FINEST NEWS SOURCE Local Man Exhausted After Long Day Of Video Games SAGINAW, MI—Jon Bros- | kowski, a 32-yearold Saginaw | liquor-store clerk, described himself as “completely wiped" Monday after a long, hard day of video games. “Tm totaled,” said Broskows- ki, tossing his PlayStation 2 controller onto the floor fol- lowing one last “cool-down” game of Madden 2001. “That shet really takes it out of you.” Broskowski, who has logged two decades of back-breaking toil on systems ranging from Intellivision to Sega Genesis, | woke up at the crack of noon | and went straight to work. “I had the whole day off from the liquor store, and I thought, today's the day 1 roll up my sleeves and earn all the | extra characters in SSX Snow- | boarding,” Broskowski said. | “Man, it was a grind." | "They make you snowboard | over the same course and do | the same tricks, like, a thou- | sand times to get a new char- | acter,” said Broskowski, who, | through discipline and a | strong work ethic, was able to | earn the snowboards Sumo | | | Stick, Chaos Crippler, and | Bloo Goo after four hours of labor. “1 must've traveled 50 | miles before 1 got complete | brain fade.” After a brief lunch of toast, jelly, and a Coke, Broskowski turned to Tomb Raider 2, a game he admitted he had put © Copyright 2001 Onion, Inc. АП Rights Reserved. Reprinted With Permission. Two new screens of Universal's LotR tor Xbox. off finishing for more than а | year. | “It was time to hunker down | and get it done,” Broskowski | said. "I'm kind of sick of the | whole Lara Croft thing, but 1 decided Га procrastinated long | enough. | was determined to | get to the end of this game, | even if it killed me." | Though he "guess[es]" he | enjoyed himself, Broskowski | said the three-hour session of | Tomb Raider 2 was by mo | means easy. | “I must've dragged about | 2,000 blocks around and climbed over the damn things,” | he said. "And 1 kept getting killed, so in the end I wound up. doing it 11 times on the Tibetan Catacombs level alone. And those blocks they made me | drag were as big as me.” | “As big as Lara, I mean; | Broskowski added. At approximately 7:30 p.m., | he finally completed Tomb | Raider 2. After watching the game's 90-second closing video, a reward he called | "hardly worth all the effort” Broskowski tidied up his mem- ory-card files and resumed the robot quest he began last Thursday on the rented game Zone Of The Enders. “1 wanted to finally kill Tem- pest without wrecking all those buildings ^ said Broskowski, his fingers numb from prolonged exposure to Above: А visibly drained Broskowski gathers the strength for one more game. DualShock controller vibra- tions."I had, like, $9 in late fees on the game, but 1 wasn't tak- ing it back until I got an А rat- ing on all the missions, rescued all the colonists, and got to the versus mode. It takes about eight hours, but it's the best | part of the game. It sucks that 1 had to fight about 200 other Orbital Frame Robots to get there, though. ГИ be paying for that tomorrow, that's for sure." Sometime shortly after mid- night, Broskowski decided he was “in a major robot rut" and opted to "cleanse his tired palate" with a sports game. “If I went right to bed [after Zone Of The Enders], 1 knew Id be seeing robots in my www.theonion.com Lord of the Rings for the PS2, due out fall sleep, so I decided on a quick game of Madden 2001,” said Broskowski, who played half a season as the Baltimore Ravens before noticing the VCR clock reading 4 a.m. “Christ, am I blown out," said Broskowski, twisting and stretching to ease the strain on vertebrae which had not moved appreciably for an entire day. "My eyes feel like they're on fire, and I never did unlock the last two hidden are- nas in Zone Of The Enders. It never ends." “I suppose I should return that game to Blockbuster tomorrow, if I have the ener- gy" he continued. "Sure is a long walk, though." Xbox title. This third-person action/ 2002, 15 based оп the first and second томе due out fall 2oo2; Universal's The Fellowship of the Ring for Xbox, which follows the book and arrives in the second half of this year; and Sierra's The Hobbit, due on next-gen systems in 2003. Of those three, we've learned а few new details of Universal’s Electronic Gaming Monthly - 44 - egr .gamers.com adventure title will allow you to play as Strider and Gandalf, as well as Frodo, a journey from the Shire through the depths of Moria all the way to the River Anduin. We've nabbed a couple of new shots of the game to tide you over until the next batch of Rings games is announced. THE KINGS OF CARTOONS Before Pokémon and Digimon, animated versions of Sonic and Mario wowed the youth of America. If by chance you missed this television magic, you can now catch both shows on VHS and DVD. Two volumes of each (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and Sonic The Hedgehog) on VHS, and one on polyphonic DVD will be released by Trimark on Feb. 26. We're lining up already. Video games taught us everything we know about love. Why, if it weren’t for them, none of us would have a beautiful princess waiting back at each of our mansions in the clouds. So we thought we'd do a Valentine's Day tribute to the best (and worst) game lovers we know. Mario, Pauline and Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong —Arcade) It never fails. Just when things are going well with your lady friend, some big, hairy dude tries to muscle in. Brute force and the promise of a bigger banana may have taken young Pauline from her pipe-clearing beau, but we don't remember her trying to flee all that desperately until авина Mario finally iced the ape. Suspicious.... Dante & Trish (Devil May Cry— PlayStation 2) When а girl busts through your wall on a motorcycle, runs you through with your own sword then says, “It may not look like it, but I’m not your enemy," you know you're in for a long night. This pair also gets an honorable mention for melodrama. Dante to Trish: “I should have been Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man (Ms. Pac-Man —Arcade) If you're a Pac-Man, it's not like you can just meet honeys out in the maze every day. So when a gal comes along who's even the same 3/4- moon species as you, it's a red-letter day. We imagine this meeting pretty much went down like, “Hey, you're into little white pellets, I’m into little white pellets, let's hook up." ore every lev about how many bullets | have left, or can find some stupid health . If you enjoy dying and re the same levels, that's your choice But Inter. has made my gaming much more fun with GameShark Ryo, to Nozomi (Shenmue— Dreamcast) After relentless advances and subtle hints, Nozomi has to practically draw Ryo a diagram to get him to understand that she’s into his scene. She finally lays it all out and says she’s moving away to Canada, and the big lug is unphased. Nice work, genius—you’re not going to get that kind of no-strings-attached offer ever again. So go ahead, call it cheating. I call it fun. Hiro & Lucia (Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete — PlayStation 1) Hiro and Lucia start out soaking innocently enough in separate areas of the same bath house. Then Lucia decides she's a little lonely and goes over to visit Hiro in his half of the bath (cue funky porno music)...naked. This particular scene accounts for 97.3 percent of what makes Lunar 2 a fantasy RPG. Vamp and his entourage (Metal Gear Solid 2— PlayStation 2) Within the 40-car pile-up that is the MGS2 story, everyone's got some major relationship problems. While Otacon pulling an Oedipus on his stepmom is bad, Vamp is the one we'd most expect to see on Springer. He's apparently invincible, potentially shacking up with Fortune, and definitely doin' her dad...what's next? Play With 087 Ico & Yorda (/со— PlayStation 2) You know you're in trouble when your partner can't even be bothered to make it from point A to point B without a guiding hand. Poor little Ico doesn't know what he's getting himself into: a lifetime of ballet tickets, $300 Sweetest Day dinners and "I dunno, which do you like better, the red or the black pumps?" www.InterActAccessories.com BRITNEY DANGES TO YOUR BEDROOM Here at EGM, Britney Spears is A-OK. We're not like all the other editors out there who despise her because they know they'll never have her. We got over that months ago. That’s why we don’t have a problem giving you the lowdown on Britney’s Dance Beat, the teen diva’s PS2 debut from THQ due out this spring. Let your fingers do the dancing (i.e., tap the buttons PaRappa the Rapper-style) and join Britney in her upcoming virtual tour. And if that’s not enough for you, a GBA version is also on the way. Welcome to the first-ever EGM crossword puzzle. Each month, we'll be testing how well you can apply all that gaming knowledge your parents and spouse said you’d never use. With Valentine's Day around the corner, we're highlighting a few of gaming's memorable pairs throughout this puzzle. Puzzle too easy? You need to learn to appreciate the great outdoors a little more. Stumped? Turn to the Internet, ог to page 155 for the answer key, if you must... Popular Pixelized Pairs ACROSS 1. It gets “busted” frequently in Grand Theft Auto III 4. Smallest button on the GameCube controller 9. Media used by all next-gen consoles 13. Donkey Kong Jr., to Donkey Kong 14. It goes over Maximo's boxers 15. Setting of Dynasty Warriors 3 16. “Funky” Genesis pair 19. Changes with pitch in flight games 20. Vegas Dreams (NES) diversion 21. Fails to defeat 23. Final Fantasy III (VI) artist 25. Saves progress in Tomb Raider IV 27. Dr. Ross in the Final Fantasy movie 29. Object of WWF SmackDown! 2 30. Enemies, bots 31. _ Jetman (NES) 33. Gameplay in Gauntlet and Tetris, for example 37. Forest-dwelling fairy of Rayman 2 38. Tekken 2 tough gal 39. Saturn platformer Вид ! 40. Saves Luigi in his mansion 41. Horny little guy 42. GoldenEye creators 43. Can be sound or special 44. Тпрру Sega shooter (PS2) 46. Chrono Cross Kid's catch word 47. War, to Raw 48. Naughty Dog's new trick 54... Warriors (NES) 56. RC Pro-Am hazard 57. Ancient Amiga vertical shooter 59. Milton Bradley military action game (NES) 60. Number of buttons on the Atari 2600 controller 63. Where NHL '94 takes place 62. Grand Theft Auto III pick-me- up 63. Partner to a NES Boy 64. Gran Turismo 3's 289 Бћр Acura DOWN 1. Early Saturn platformer 2. Soft drink mascot spinoff game _ Spot 3. Need one to catch monkeys in Ape Escape 4. Retro game girl 5. What you did to get all 151 Pokémon 6. Conrad's ailment in Flashback: Quest for Identity 7. Found on the balcony in Shadowgate 8. Castlevanias III’s Belmont 9. Doctrine _ of Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha 10. Baldur's Gate 2 developer Black _ 11. "Yes," to Sunset Riders' El Greco 12. Bust-A-Groove's dancing duo 17. "Master of unlocking,” according to Barry 18. X-Men: Children of the _ 22. What a leaf gets you in Super Mario 3 23. Squall's main squeeze 24. Site of huge battle late in Rogue Leader Electronic Gaming Monthly - 48 - egm.gamers.com 26. Sweet TurboGrafx CD RPG 27. in Wonderland (GBC) 28. Sonya's nemesis 29. Original Metal Gear creator 32. Preceded Bungie's Halo 34. #1 оп EGM's 20 Worst Games list 35. Toshinden whipstress 36. Lisa's special weapon in Simpsons Wrestling 44. Dragon-like boss of Metroid's Norfair 45. Early Sega isometric shooter 46. Final Fantasies’ equestrian summon 47. Your older brother might have driven one when Nintendo was popular 48. Street Fighter Il's weakest punch 49. Prince of Persia, for one 50. First-person shooter primary objective 51. Mortal Kombat 3's _ Saibot 52. EGM's Halo evaluation 53. They brought us Dragon Warrior 55. Titus's pugilist kangaroo 58. 8-bit power player TIDBITS Fresh Outta Japan Remember when we said bizarre Japanese bug sim Ka (Mosquito) would never ina million years come out in the U.S.? We take it back. Eidos has started a new label called Fresh Games to release niche Japanese PS2 titles like Ka (below, called Mister Mosquito in the U.S.), Legaia Duel Saga (sequel to Legend of the Legaia) and music title Bravo Music (as Mad Maestro). New Ways to Look At Your GBA So you have a GBA, but making out the screen has turned portable-game time into a living hell. Well two handy remedies are making their way to market, and (surprise) they’re not from Nintendo. The name may be a bit deceptive, but www.portablemonopoly.com might have the answer to the СВА? dark display. The good folks over there are currently working ona side-light that fits inside your GBA and can be toggled on and off with a switch. No release date is set for the product yet. Those of you who want to bypass the Game Boy Advance's screen entirely can pick up a television adapter. Gametech offers one (available from Upstate Games at www.upstategames.com) for around $100 (ouch) It requires some slight modification to your GBA and looks less than stellar, but it plugs into any TV with a composite or S- Video input and means not having to ruin your eyes on a dark handheld screen. GameGizmo.com offers a similar product [ог closer to $75, but we haven't seen it in action yet.... ©2002 InterAct Accessories, Inc. All rights reserved. * control. í connect. 1 cheat. am interact. You play your game perfectly, tightly gripping an InterAct gamepad. From behind the TV, an S-video cable brings you crisp, clear picture and sound. Your frustration level is low because you're using GameSharke for infinite health and ammo. No, we don't make games. But we do make your gaming experience more enjoyable. GameShark and Gamepads. Memory Cards and Monitors. Even simple stuff, like Adapters and AC cables. We аге one with the game. Play With Us. Play With 5" а www.InterActAccessories.com UCLA. Kentucky. North Carolina. They're no Morgan State. Warm up you take the PlayStation.e ЕМЕВУОМЕ g А CONTENT RATED BY v. So9sports.com GAME LAW COSTS INDIANAPOLIS Video games: 1, Indianapolis: o. An attempt by Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson to enact a law that would have required minors to show parental consent before playing violent arcade games has been struck down in the court of appeals, but not before it cost the city $400,000 in legal work and $318,000 to reimburse its opponent's legal fees. We're sure the folks in Indianapolis can't think of a better way for their tax dollars to be spent, right? Quartermann - Game Gossip 8. Speculation Merry Groundhog Day, Quartermaniacs. ‘Tis 1, your loyal purveyor of gaming gossip, The original Q, here to give you the latest scoops. And I give you ту word, the info | contained on this page is better than Kate & Leopold. Not that | saw it...why are you looking at me like that?! On to the rumors! -..Grand Theft Auto fans won't go long without another fix of wanton violence and pillaging. GTA3 Xbox is a given (with online play?), but we'll also soon hear the first details on GTA4. Rockstar's stayin' silent on the subject, but | could name a few hundred thousand fans ready to part with $50 apiece for it. The current talk indicates that DMA will take the СТАз framework and turn it into a massively multiplayer online game for the fourth installment, where you're free to create your own mobs and anyone in the city could be a “real” person. Word is it'll What is it? You're lookin’ at SLGC-10, also known as the “Q,” released by Panasonic in Japan last December. Panasonic has по plans to bring the machine to the U.S. What can it do? Besides GameCube games, the Q plays DVDs, Video CD-format discs and audio CDs. It's packed to the rafters with AV features, too— it's got outputs for all kinds of TVs, including: a digital video-out for D-terminal HDTVs (only available in Japan), S-Video, component and composite signals. It's got stereo outputs for the sound and even an optical audio-out socket for gamers fortunate enough to own a 5.1 surround-sound receiver. Can it play U.S. games? Yes, well...sort of.... Like Japanese GameCubes, the Q can be modded to accept American *Cube titles. DVDs are another story. The Q only plays Japanese Region 2 DVDs, rendering its video playback capabilities useless for most U.S. viewers, even after modding. або be set та real U.S. city this time. Sounds. sweet!< Lots of action's afoot on the Tomb Raider front. Core Design is taking their time with TRs, which hits PS2 this year. It might ` (stress the “might”) jump to-other systems if Sony doesn’t stitch it up as.an exclusive title. \ Ап Xbox port of tlie PC version would be very | easy to do, yak know. Also, it seems Angelina | Jolie made such an impression’ ‘on audiences as Lara that she may become the Voice of the digital version of the sultry succubus in the games; too. YowzalÁs long as they aren’t only using | movie sound clips... | „Кёїпетһег mu Games, the folks who brought us Spyro the Dragon? Now that they've handed off the dragon hero to Universal (to uh, continue); they got a new game in the works to wow PS2 owners, Look for more info from the E3 show in May, but 1 feel the birth of another new Sony franchise Is it any 20042 То be sure, it's the gaudiest-looking video game system ever. But it's darn cool, and a must for the game collector who just has to be different (put it next to your gold N64). It comes bundled with a very nice gray Panasonic-branded controller and a remote control that can be used (if уоште the зпеаку type) to switch the Q off when уоите losing a Smash Brothers battle. (“It must've been a brownout, ! swear. We get those all the time.") The drawbacks are few but important to note: Only being able to play Region 2 movies is а buzzkill. Also, the unit itself is bigger than the normal Electronic Gaming Monthly - 50 - egm.gamers.com coming on.... Early work has begun on Soul ` Reaver 3. The game will be the last in the \ Reaver series and won't be out ‘til 2003. Crystal D will soon dust off another of its neglected characters, a green TV-lovin' tail- swingin’ fighting machine. Curses! I’ve said too much.... A few quick tidbits before | dine ‘п’ dash for the month.... Gran Turismo 4 will basically be an online version of GT3. Look for itthis year. | haven't been able to nail down concrete info on the persistent rumor that Final “Fantasy Tactics 2 is in development, but Square fans will have another Front Mission game before too long on PS2. And finally, Bungie's working on a new Xbox game codenamed Phoenix. No, it's not Halo 1.5...it’s something new. Can't wait... With that, it's time to wrap up another installment of Gaming Gossip. It's been real, yo. If you want, you can E-mail me at quartermannGziffdavis.com. Ciao! —The Q GC, and it could be difficult to find a good spot for it in your епїегїаїптепї сепїег. Апа though the blue lights that emanate out of the front of the Q are dazzling, they're a bit bright when playing or watching movies in the dark. Ooh, I want one, how much? This sweet baby will set you back 39,800 yen (about $305), twice as much as the standard GameCube costs in Japan. And if you're looking to buy it from an import shop in the U.S., expect to pay around $450. Where сап I get one? That's the hard part. They're being produced in rather limited quantities. Not many U.S. import shops carry them, but we were able to find one place that gets them in stock sporadically— National Console Support at www.ncsx.com. Good luck. —Jonti Davies Okay, this is not an invitation. It's a three alarm wake-up call. A hello-things-are- gonna-be-different wake up call. That "we're- not in Kansas anymore" feeling you get right before you go down. Wanna see? Enter here > (2) different с ћеке & See -H s ы PF. E F з "no XL E Lm I “umd У a җе wae LIS TNCS P "n The course is picture perfect. It’s your game that's not. Hey, today could be different. Maybe you chase this round down with pin-point accuracy and the speed of a cheetah. Or maybe you leave here the same way you came. If it's in the game, it's in the game: E Step up to the World Series pressure- cooker. It's time to dance to sixty-thousand different heart beats. One thunderous crack of the bat and you re-write history on the all-too-real faces down in the other team's dugout. So here goes nothing. If it's in the game, it's in the game. E (ВА) SPORTS / It’s different down here. ©2002 Electronic Arts Inc. EA SPORTS. the EA SPORTS logo. “If it's in the game, it's in the game", Triple Play, Triple Play Baseball and Knockout Kings are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved. The name, likeness and other attributes of Tiger Woods reproduced on this product are the trademarks and copyrighted designs, and/or other forms of intellectual property, that are the exclusive property of those licensers and may not be used, in whole or in part, without their respective written consents. PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR and Swinging Golfer design, TPC, TOURNAMENT PLAYERS CLUB. TPC and Swinging Golfer design. TPC at Sawgrass and THE SKINS GAME are trademarks of PGA TOUR, INC. and used by permission, Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, The Lone Cypress, the Heritage logo, their distinctive images, and individual golf hole designs are trademarks, service marks, and trade dress of Pebble Beach Company. Used under license by Electronic Arts. Poppy Hills Golf Course is a trademark of Poppy Hills, Inc. Prince Course Princeville and The Princeville Resort Logo are trademarks of Princeville Corporation. Muhammad Ali provided courtesy of G.O.A.T., Inc. Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used Inc. Visit the official Major League Baseball website at MLB.com. ©MLBPA. Official Licensee -- Major League Baseball Players Association. Visit the Pla: th permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Choice on the web at ww. bigleaguers.com. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logos are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. in the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. The logos and other indicia of NIKE, Inc. reproduced on this product are the trademarks and copyrighted designs and/or other forms of intellectual prop- erty, that are the exclusive property NIKE, Inc. and may not be used. in whole or in part, without their written consent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. EA SPORTS’ is an Electronic Arts™ brand easports.com AOL Keyword: EASPORTS PRODUCTS RANGE FROM RATING PENDING то T E E N PlayStation. Pe CONTEN: P" ag ши їшї < ad №8). The Top 20 Best-Selling Games of November 2001 Man...almost nothing besides Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto III: Too Hot for Australia managed to hold or gain positions this month. And it's easy to see 11 Tony Hawks Pro Skater J p 2А that EA is going to clean up with the Harry Potter license, since muggles Activision У everywhere seem to dig the boy who lived no matter which system his games P are on. As for how the Xbox and GameCube games fared? Pretty well, we 12 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone GAMEBO NEW reckon. We do see a familiar pattern forming, though. Notice how only a Electronic Arts РАСМАМСЕ. |) couple of GC games sold super-well while a larger group of Xbox games are scattered throughout the charts? Reminds us a lot of N64 vs. PlayStation. 13 Project Gotham Racing X NEW! " P Microsoft Xeox Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty = Konami 14 Dead or Alive 3 > NEW! Tecmo Mice ; 15 NBA Live 2002 are} 2 Grand Theft Auto Ш : Electronic Arts Rockstar " 16 P E Pokémon Crystal ameno | м H х - Nintendo CRP Crispin |Milkman ү 5 11 : | Топу Hawks Pro Skater 2 A З Luigi’s Mansion лав LS Nintendo К 18 КЕ Fever 2002 X 9.0 у | NEW! Chris = Microsoft xeox 4 Halo ° 19 Monsters, Inc. бока Microsoft p THO 100 х A | 20 James Bond in Agent Under Fire = r=! Jeanne | Kraig хеожх ч Electronic Arts 5 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 В Source: NPD TRSTS Video Games Service. Call Kristin Barnett-von Korff at (516) 625-2481 for questions regarding this list. Chart description written by EGM staff. Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at. Activision JAPAN TOP 10 & Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone пастой м 2 "3 1 Winning Eleven 5 Final Evolution — —— In the U.S., you'd never 4516.5 6 F Konami see a soccer game NEW! Crispin | Mark 6.0 A x Г topping the charts. ~: Да Mm Advance 2 (GAME BOYA Sory all you footy fans, 1 Star Wars Rogue Leader j 5 еа gonna LucasArts à Momotaro Railway X = m happen. Yet it occurs 9 0/9 Š Ha Hudson Em frequently in араа on š z д surprisingly, the newly шо ооли © | Cee ; е T 2 is right behind it. And 8 Нату Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Animal Forest + ся what's this? Smash Electronic Arts Nintendo Bros. Melee (called DX а | n -in Japan) above MGS2? NEW! 8.5 " 6 pie Smash Bros. DX © (guess being езу Shane SS Bey isn't as fun as beating Sus قجس‎ ragon Uues Pikachu about the 9 Madden NF : p + ты Hectronic Arts 8 Pachislot Aruze King 6 = === Aruze g Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of liberty — г > А Konami 10 Batle Network Rockman EXE2 (207 ae Bee Capcom ADVANEE] Winning Eleven 5 NeW! 8 8.0 is Source: Weekly Famitsu, week ending 12/16/2001 Electronic Gaming Monthly - 81- egm.gamers.com Compiled by Jonathan Dudlak jonathan_dudlak@ziffdavis.com Fehruary PlayStation 2 Caesar's Palace— Take 2 Gambling Commandos 2—Eidos Strategy Deus Ex—Eidos Action ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 — Konami Sports Evil Twin — Ubi Soft Adventure Herdy Gerdy—Eidos Adventure Maximo: Ghosts to Glory — Capcom Action Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front —Bandai Action No One Lives Forever—Sierra Action Pac-Man Fever— Namco Action Pac-Man World 2— Namco Action Pirates: Legend of Black Kat—Electronic Arts Adv. ВЕН: Run Like Hell— Interplay Action Star Trek: Shattered Universe— Interplay Action Star Wars Racer Il: Revenge— LucasArts Racing World Tour Soccer 2002 — Sony CEA Sports Worms Blast— Ubi Soft Misc. GameCube Dark Summit—THQ Sports Smashing Drive—Namco Racing Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars —Encore Elder Scrolls Ill: Morrowind — Bethesda RPG Gun Valkyrie—Sega Action Jet Set Radio Future—Sega Action Smashing Drive — Namco Racing Tetris Worlds — THQ Puzzle Transworld Snow— Infogrames Sports Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions—Activision Action WWF Raw Is War— THQ Sports _ бат Advance _ АН Puzzle Columns Crown — THQ Crash Bandicoot— Universal Action Creatures — Conspiracy Misc. Duke Nukem —Rockstar Action ESPN Int'l Winter Sports 2002 — Konami Sports Jonny Moseley Mad Trix —3DO Sports Moto GP—THQ Racing NBA Јат 2002—Acclaim Sports Pocky and Rocky—Crave Action Puyo Pop—THQ Puzzle RoboCop—Titus Action Sonic Advance—THQ Action Super Mario World—Nintendo Action Top Gun—Titus Action Worms Blast —Ubi Soft Misc. Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars—Konami Strategy March PlayStation 2 All-Star Baseball 2003—Acclaim Sports Britney’s Dance Beat—THQ Music Conflict Zone—Ubi Soft Strategy Duke Nukem—Rockstar Action Eve of Extinction—Eidos Action Freekstyle— Electronic Arts Action Hot Shots Golf 3— Sony CEA Sports Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer—Activision Sports King's Field 4—Agetec RPG Knockout Kings 2002 — Electronic Arts Sports Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2—Eidos Adventure Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2—Activision Sports Medal of Honor: Frontline—Electronic Arts Action MLB 2003 — Sony CEA Sports Monster Jam Maximum — Ubi Soft Action Need for Speed: Pursuit 2—Electronic Arts Racing Pryzm: The Dark Unicorn — TDK Mediactive RPG Rally Simulation — Ubi Soft Racing Rayman Arena —Ubi Soft Action Simpsons Skateboarding—Electronic Arts Action Sled Storm — Electronic Arts Action Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter— LucasArts Action Test Drive— Infogrames Racing The Lost— Crave Adventure The Weakest Link—Activision Misc. Tiger Woods Pro Tour 2002 — Electronic Arts Sports Transworld Surf— Infogrames Sports Triple Play 2002 — Electronic Arts Sports Virtua Fighter 4—Sega Fighting World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars —Infogrames Racing Back Pedal — THQ Racing Bloody Roar: Primal Fury — Activision Fighting Donald Duck Goin' Quackers— Ubi Soft Action Galleon: Islands of Mystery—Interplay Adventure James Bond: Under Fire—Electronic Arts Action Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius—THQ Action Legends of Wrestling—Acclaim Sports MX2003 Feat. Ricky Carmichael—THQ Sports NBA Street—Electronic Arts Sports Rayman Arena —Ubi Soft Action Tetris Worlds — THQ- Puzzle WWF Wrestlemania 2002 —THQ. Sports All-Star Baseball 2003 — Acclaim Sports Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Electronic Arts Action Crash Bandicoot: Cortex— Universal Action House of the Dead 3—Sega Action Knockout Kings— Electronic Arts Sports Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2—Eidos Adventure МВА 2K2— Sega Sports Sega GT 2002—Sega Racing Test Drive — Infogrames Racing Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon — Ubi Soft Action Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3—Activision Action Triple Play 2002— Electronic Arts Sports Action Atari Anniversary — Infogrames Misc. Colin McRae Rally— Ubi Soft Racing Britney's Dance Beat — I HQ Misc. Grand Theft Auto III — Rockstar Adventure Ice Age— Ubi Soft Action Jungle Book— Ubi Soft Action Major League Baseball — THQ Sports Motocross Maniacs Advance— Konami Racing NASCAR Heat— Infogrames Racing Pinball of the Dead—Sega Misc. Power Pro Tennis— Konami Sports Ripping Friends—THQ Action Smuggler's Run— Rockstar Action Space Invaders —Activision Action Tom Clancy's Rogue Spear— Ubi Soft Action Tony Hawk's Pro Skater з —Activision Sports April PlayStation 2 Aliens: Colonial Marines— Electronic Arts Action Barbarian—Titus Action SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs—Sony CEA Action Spider-Man —Activision Action Star Fox Adventures — Nintendo Adventure NBA 2K2—Sega Sports ECT т-а Action Spider-Man —Activision Action Game Boy Advance Dragon Ball Z—Infogrames Action Spider-Man —Activision Action Electronic Gaming Monthly - 52 - egm.gamers.com IMPORT CALENDAR Space Channel 5 Part 2 y Б | S Import Pick of the Month: Ulala is back to dance her way to victory against marauding Morolians in this PS2 and DC sequel to Sega's cult Dreamcast hit, Space Channel 5. Swing it, Ulala-chan! PlayStation 2 1/31 Final Fantasy X International, Square (RPG) 1/31 Virtua Fighter 4, Sega (Fighting) 2/14 Space Channel 5 Part 2, Sega (Music) 2/21 Grandia l, Enix (RPG) 2/28 Xenosaga Episode |, Namco (RPG) Feb. Space Channel 5, Sega (Music) 3/7 Onimusha 2, Capcom (Action) March Suikoden III, Konami (RPG) March Popolocrois Ш, Sony СЕ! (RPG) March Tekken 4, Namco (Fighting) Dreamcast 2/14 Space Channel 5 Part 2, Sega (Music) March Sakura Taisen 4, Sega (RPG) March Sakura Taisen Complete Box (includes Sakura Taisen 1-4), Sega (RPG) Game Boy Advance 1/25 Tomato Adventure, Nintendo (RPG) 2/28 Goemon: A New Age, Konami (Action) March Lunar Legend, Media Ring (RPG) GameCube 2/14 Virtua Striker 3 Мег. 2002, Sega (Soccer) 2/22 Animal Leader, Nintendo ı (Simulation) 3/15 Doshin the Giant, Nintendo (Simulation) 3/22 Biohazard (Resident Evil), Capcom (Survival Horror) *Schedule subject to change without notice. Consult your local import game store for the latest release info. Ж TOD GERI cc d *actual in-game player model WE GAVE THE ALL NEW NFL BLITZ 20-02 WHAT WOODSON GIVES OFFENSES. A HUGE DOSE OF REALITY. NFL Blitz 20-02 has evolved. Real teams. real players, real attitude, but totally reinvented for maximum impact. With an all-new engine powering 8-on-8 action. www.midway.com next-generation graphics and the revolutionary Impact Player customization feature. f mms 5 Í NFL Blitz 20-ОР delivers "no refs, no rules. no mercy" football for the next millennium. Ш, | т, 4 w. dud 5 i йе Playstation? „№. „2 бамеворломамве (€ БАМЕБИВЕ EVERYONE ЛЕМ ST REE Now, FORCE powered. On, 1 KNOW, | WAS BEING RHETORICAL IM GONNA —P HELLO, VIDEO IM HSU TANAKA, THAT'S Mq | GAMERS! AN, AF OR COULD IT BE, SUST MAS > MERE ast НА THAT ТНЕ GAMERS OF трио" ARE FINALLY LEARNING TO THE TREND, IN RECENT GEARS, OF REMAKING OLD | | APPRECIATE THE VIRTUES OF 2-D GAMES IN 2-D -- зю тите [2 c NT PEDE, RE BEING RELEASED IN Илес) porn Head] | MORE ATTRACTIVE FORMS? EVERY AMUSEMENT MACHINE EVER TO WQ DARKEN THE INTERIOR N 00900 = CHAN GAME DESIGNERS IN... АТ ANY RATE, WE HAVE THIS ONE то GET BACK To WORK ON OUR REMAKE OF THE мит ‘B05 ARCADE RELEASE, "SPACE WHACK.” GONNA gE FULL р: OF A MID-BOS PIZZA HALL HAS GOTTEN THE KIDS П А POLYGONAL FACELIFT T vove IT! WHY ALL THE SUDDEN ЕХСМЕМЕМТ OVER BRINGING THESE OLDSTERS BACK To LIFE? 15 IT ALL 306т А CHEAP CORPORATE CASH-IN ОМ А FAMOUS, 1F DISTINCTLY RETRO, LICENSING OPPORTUNITY... SEE THESE LIGHTING EFFECTS? FREEZE, HUMANOIDS -- КЕСЕК GEAR TR 7 = Е Тоде } OR ПЕ! KREMLOR, CHEF WARLORD OF Now, BEFORE. WE GO Y EE vee E UNDERSTAND QUAKING IN THEIR LA, THE NINTH GALAXY! GT oF OUR. OFFICE, e ИЕ BiG PANTS! NOW ме || f was 1 WHO LED THE DANON ANG MORE HAN RO GioRIGUS MISSION OF > чоо Оо, P" AM HERE To 16506 CONQUEST AGAN о Аң ULTIMATUM DEMAND" PLANETS OF THE MILK NG dou CEASE WORK, WAY, AS WAS CHRONICLE? ON THE "SPACEWHACK™ IN THE VIDEO REMAKE IMMEDIATELY! ђ SPACE WHACK OH, YES, 1 RECOGNIZE Чой Now. COUNTLESS OF OUR PEOPLE HAVE PERISHED ENSURE THAT EEK! А WEDGE OF CHEESE HAS GROWN DILLYBOBS AND TURNED HOSTILE! WHY DIDN'T Чоо CLEAN OUT THE FRIDGE? Ko. SILENCE NE 195100225. SAME, ONCHANGING, FINE- MINUTES “AND” Look ON THE BRIGHT Sie 057 OF THESE GAMES Zee QUT AND FORGOTTEN ARE THIN THREE MONTHS, TOPS, “THE NEW LEAVE IT To BEAVER” WAS ON LONGER! ой, 15 THAT WHERE OUR EYES MOVI HA HA! IT APPEARS FROM SIDE To SIDE 7 THE TABLES ARE TURNING! MEET MY SECOND- ум, мо, THAT'S 3 WHEN UM THAT WAS МУ WN-COMMAND ! МЕ НЧРЕВ-5РАСЕ. CONFUSED, OR Ge а HORIZON. FUSION LASER! fooLiSH HUMANS // HE'S BASICALLY THE SAME AS MYSELF, BUT ВЕР! Do NOT TEST MY PATIENCE ! Do You NOT DETECT THE MORDEROUS GUNT OF EVIL ON ме FACE?! AHEM! NO MATTER! IT SEEMS Gov WILL NOT TAKE MY THREATS SERIOUSLY UNTIL | GIVE You A DISPLAY ' OF FORCE! GRUNT! SPORTIER, 1 GUESS. — FELLAS, РАСЕ FACTS! dou CANT es! THIS, THEN, 1S WHAT | Й = Live. «ООА LIVES IN THE. PAST! Е SHALL. vo! RES, А GLORIOUS -Q PLANE, MEANING THAT THE GAME. 15 OVER, IT'S TIME Neel Chowne сч EVEN ЛЕ YoU ARE ARMED WITH TO GET ON WITH YOUR FUTURE! ROU) БЕ SURE HQPER-SPACE FUSION LASERS, овоо DONT AND ARE NOT JUST OUTRIGHT ен DOING Чоок BUSINESS ON l, рє. Ан. SORTS ARPET, Чоо COULD ONU ieS HIT US WERE WE STANDING ORO PARALLEL TO You, WHICH WE SIMPLY CHOOSE NOT To BE. LOOK, GUYS, YOU'RE 2-0. YOU CAN MOVE ONLY ON THE OUR TALENTS ARE WASTED IN THE PALTRY FIELD OF GAMING! THE WORLD WE ONCE FAILED TO CONQUER 15 NOW OUR ore To LUXURY ! FOOLISH | C WE WILL CONQUER EARTHLINGS, Mo Red THe PEOPLE'S HEARTS, WE WiLL Use FRIEND! INSTEAD OF THEIR "oN ; HOMES, wine OUR, erent ов DIVIDUAL SKILLS! ЕВС NEEDLEPOINT! Coon INTERPRETWE DANCE! Kickin’ in-game soundtrack featuring The Rules? There ain’t no rules. Drive on Wild, original arcade action now with Offspring and Bad Religi rooftops, through subways, even underwater! Nintendo GameCube™ graphics and power! Mild Violence Strong Language "Boys! No weapons on the coffee table!" » mm — — Friend or foe? You decide. Battle in 2 or 4-player co-op mode. Conquer. Reign supreme on 19 menacing tracks set throughout the Roman Empire. «© Damar] -2 DIGITAL 5.1 SURROUND Ti Blood Suggestive Themes Violence Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars ©2001 Encore, Inc. All rights reserved. Circus Maximus ©2001 Kodiak Interactive Software Studios Inc. Circus Maximus is a trademark of Kodiak Interactive Software Studios Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other coun- tries and are used under license from Microsoft. Dolby and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. Encore and the Encore logo are trademarks of Encore, Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other brands, product names, logos, marks, copyrights, and/or trade- marks are the property of their respective holders. Ë 5 oo ze s Š з 2 °= = = ame simply doesn t look amazing would be stupid. It has some of the best visuals yet seen on a console. DCH PON “ : E ‚ап amazing-looking thinking-man's game." P | “brimming with originality and innovation, and showcases some of the most fluid animation ever seen in a video game." 2 ”...опе of PS2's truly next-generation games. "Every element in the game - from the le gest hill to the smallest flower - attention to detail is exquisite. T GameSpot.com EVERYONE e = Оор (< RI HerdyGerdyGam Herdy Gerdy, Core Design. Core, the Core logo and related characters are all trademarks of Core D. evel siga. P. by Eidos Interactive. Eidos; Eidos Interactive, and the Eidos Interactive logo are all registered trademark 3 ialión and the "PS". Family logo аге registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icomis 3 the Inte fights reserved, == (07 Previews PlayStation 2 64 Star Wars Racer Revenge an you feel the Sega love in this 66 Hot Shots Golf 3 month’s previews section? We 73 Barbarian have not one, not two, but six V-Rally 3 new Sega games to show you 74 Tekken 4 on the PS2, Xbox and GameCube. And The Terminator that includes the highly anticipated 76 Virtua Fighter 4 9 ghly anticipated Jet Headhunter = e Set Radio Future (pg. 102-103). Even Ecco the Dolphin: | though Sega's released а handful of Defender of the Future ZAIN games for each system by now, we 82 Stuntman WARNING: believe that their true coming-of-age Lato e i game as a third-party publisher is JSRF. Outside of Halo, Jet Set Radio Future is 86. KEME Next Dimension 5 d If fighting games are more your the game most of us have been waiting Fatal Frame A speed, witness the return of the titans for on the Xbox. Get our hands-on Freekstyle тазза this month. New images for both impressions on page 102. 87 Smash Court Tennis released in те @kken 4 (pg. 74) and Virtua Fighter 4 All-Star Baseball 2003 US. They are (pg. 76) debut in the PS2 section. Namco’s Soul Calibur 2 hits the system. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin designed to Could these brawlers mark the revival And to top it off, we have a blowout of Sled Storm 2 run on ofthe old Namco/Sega rivalry we Animal Forest, a late Japanese-only Japanese or enjoyed back in the early days of N64 game that's already been given 88 Animal Forest ` European PAL the Saturn and PlayStation? We sure the remake treatment on Nintendo's 90 Bloody Roar: Primal Fury Systems. hope so! new system. Check it out on page 88. Star Fox Adventures Import at your We even have some new GameCube While nothing can match the sheer 94 Soccer Slam own risk. i i Evolution Worlds games to show you (finally). Ubi Soft volume of great games released this NBA Street takes the first stab at an RPG on the GC past holiday season, it looks like the with Evolution Worlds (pg. 99), while coming months are gonna come close. 96 Gun Valkyrie fighting fans get Bloody Roar: Primal Who knows? Maybe the market can 102-103 Jet Set Radio Future Fury (pg. 90) to tide them over until support three systems after all. Е- 104 WWF Raw Is War 106 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 RalliSport Challenge Test Drive 108 Knockout Kings 2002 1. Jet Set Radio Future Xbox, February 2002 NBA Inside Drive 2002 2. Star Wars Racer Revenge 3. Gun Valkyrie PlayStation 2, February 2002 Xbox, March 2002 New Legends 110 Pro Race Driver The Thing бате Воу / р АНИНА А 112 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 4. Animal Forest GameCube, TBD 2002 kenar Legend 5. Hot Shots Golf 3 PlayStation 2, February 2002 = 3, Use these MGS2, Smash Bros., GTA3 and Halo-themed valentines to tell Нарру Valentine S Day from EG your sweetie how you feel about him or her this month. You're welcome. — - — Ве Мт e мипе... OrDie You Had Me í Ае "На[о Electronic Gaming Monthly - 68 - egm.gamers.com PREVIEW DEVELOPER PROFILE It was two wheels in Motocross Madness (PC), then they got down with four in ATV Offroad Fury (PS2). Now, Rainbow Studios goes zero-g for Racer Revenge. LucasArts Rainbow Studios 12 Racing 90% February 2002 LOLUCSS www.lucasarts.com More of that white- knuckle podracing action. The storyline here has nothing to do with Episode ll... „which means you don't get any Natalie “Padmé” Portman action. You won't find any Episode II movie tie-ins in Racer Revenge, but the game does have a 3D model of Anakin Skywalker, as played by teen stud Hayden Christian- sen. After seeing excerpts from his masterful performance in the Episode II trailers, we couldn't help but be reminded of another anti-hero we wanted to bitch-slap last November. That's right, we're talking about that whiny long- haired albino Raiden, from Metal Gear Solid 2. While RR will have Anakin sound bites, they're thankfully kept to just yelps and grunts. TIME: 0:38 56 3 _ LEAD:- 0:00.33 sthe Star Wars money machine gears up for a massive Episode |! onslaught this spring, LucasArts will fire the opening salvo by releasing games that hope to take our minds out of Middle Earth, and back to that ancient galaxy so far, far away. One such console project is Star Wars Racer Revenge, a follow-up to the superb Episode I Racer (on N64 and DC) released in 1999. RR takes place eight years after Anakin Skywalker served up humiliating defeat for his podracing arch- rival, Sebulba. Now the ugly little bastard (Sebulba, that is) is back and cruisin' for another bruisin'. If, by looking at these screenshots, you think that podracing involves flying two massive jet engines by the seat of your Padawan jockeys at speeds of up to 600 mph, you're absolutely right. In a lot of ways, RR is essentially a beefed-up version of podracing for the PS2. That reckless sense of speed is back, along with 14 original tracks and a roster of opponents, both new and old. The play mechanics are faithful to that of the prequel, too. You turbo boost, at the risk of overheating your engines—or hit the airbrakes to With Racer Revenge's more aggressive computer drivers, you'll defending your position than simply navigat- ing the track. spend more time HITS: 178 powerslide around those hairpin turns. Take too much damage and you may have to slow down to repair your ride. The biggest change to the game is the behavior of the computer drivers. No, they may not be realistic or smart, but now they’re pissed. Learn to drive offensively, or you'll literally get slammed off the track. If you thought podracing was fast before, it’s just plain brutal now in RR. This tweak to the formula significantly changes the flow of the race. You're constantly watching your blind spots and driving to shaft the competition. Admittedly, RR may not go out on a limb to create something totally unique, but it takes all that was great about the first game (speed and controls), and polishes the zero-g thrill ride to a glossy shine. a —Che Chou Electronic Gaming Monthly - 64 - egm.gamers.com = PlayStation MONSTERS, INC SCREAM TEAM H 2001 | GRADE 4 Г j EVERYONE Don't be fooled by their cute and cuddly appearance, these kids are training to be Top Scarers. They're learning from the best and so can you. As Mike or Sulley, you'll bounce, belly flop and tailspin through a series of exercises designed to test your scaring abilities. It'll be a fur-raising challenge. So which is it? Are you a monster or are you a chicken? Scream Team TALES FROM THE GOLF COURSE Several of the characters in Hot Shots Golf 3 are lipped by John Kassir, the talented voice behind the Crypt Keeper from Sci Fi Channel’s Tales from the Crypt. John’s past video game- related voice work includes the loveable Snott Henchrat from the ever-popular Earthworm Jim animated series. pm p [TM sony CEA Clap Hanz 12 СИ sports 90% #28 (Hot Shots Golf 2) Release: March 2002 COTEKÎ www.scea.com The Good: Superb visuals, trademark Hot Shots gameplay. Courses and (most) characters are fictional. Wait'll you see how some of these guys dress... HOT SHOPS A brand-new feature to Hot Shots Golf 3 is a special shop where you can purchase dozens of items, power-ups and other random goodies using the Hot Shots Points you earn during Tournament play. Things you can spend your points on range from the very useful (clubs, balls, caddies and special moves) to the extremely frivolous (menu wallpapers, new outfits and replay camera angles). This new addition to the series should add some serious replay value. Shop ‘til you drop, baby! s any PlayStation owner over the age of 25 will tell you, there’s no better way to waste away a lazy Sunday afternoonzhan to grab three of your buds, some chips and a six- pack (fruit juice, of course), and hit the virtual links with the latest version of Hot Shots Golf. If you haven't yet had the pleasure of rubbing your best friend's nose in the cheese dip after a glorious Par 5 Eagle, you might want to start preparing yourself, because Hot Shots Golf 3, the series’ first PS2 entry, is on the way. The beauty of the Hot Shots games is that they're extremely easy for even newbies to pick up and play while still maintaining the depth and longevity that hardcore fans of the sport demand. More importantly, they’re damn fun. Hot Shots 3 continues the series’ legacy by taking the tried-and- true gameplay of the previous two games and supercharging it with an all-new beautiful 3D engine, lots of subtle gameplay enhancements, new modes and of course, a fresh batch of characters, caddies and courses. The biggest improvement to Hot Shots 3 comes in the graphics department. The 2D characters of the previous games have been replaced by new 3D models, and the rough, grainy course graphics now look incredibly detailed and realistic. Weather effects abound, and each course can be played in any of the four seasons and at different times of the day, allowing for a wide variety of eye candy. Best of all, the camera movement is swift and smooth, making it easier than ever to get a good view of the course during each hole. Further upgrades come in the form of an Crocodile Dundee is taking in a quick 18 holes before heading off on that jungle safari he booked (left). Meanwhile, a super-cool Sam Jackson look- alike contem- plates beating his caddy to death (below). enhanced putting interface (an extremely useful bar shows the lie of the green from the side), a cool new item shop (see sidebar) and a sweet National Tournament mode. Here, you can compete in special Internet competitions by downloading passwords from the official HSG3 Web site and inputting them in the game. According to Sony, not only will you be able to upload your high scores to the Net, but top-ranking players will be eligible to win prizes as well. Needless to say, if you're a fan of prior Hot Shots games, or just looking for a fun, new multiplayer game to play with your pals, you're gonna love Hot Shots Golf 3. For those of you who might be sitting on the fence (about the game, we mean. Your other preferences are your business), look for our full review of HSG3 next month. But rest assured, after spending hours with the preview version, we think this is one of the best golf games out there. Ён —John Ricciardi Electronic Gaming Monthly - 86 - egm.gamers.com Corto synaesthesi mam ne... The Shooting Genre Reinvented PlayStation 2 Rez е Е Mild Violence CONTENT RATED BY ESRB Sega is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Sega and Rez are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Corporation or its affiliates. € SEGA CORPORATION/UGA, 2001. www.sega.com "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. SELECT A MODIFIER THAT ALLUDES TO YOUR DOPENESS DX-1100 NAMING U! DJ [0] DX-2600 DUAL NAMING UNIT. Doma MESE = ЗАО SILKY [o ДИК УЧ ui LINE | MODIFIER GAIN РА NGE ШИТ PREVIEW * REV FWD i D CLIP ALT GENDER | САМ FLANGE — MIX SEND ОНСЕ YOL IE MASTERED THE ART OF REMIEIMG TRACKS FROM ARTISTS LIKE FUNK STAR DE LUXE, OJ G-BERT, THE CRYSTAL METHOD AHD HO DOUBT, YOU'LL HEED Я HAME THAT YOUR MOTHER DIDH'T CHOOSE FOR YOU. ® Pl ays ta tio п. e WWW.SCEA.cOm Frequency is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Developed by Harmonix Music Studios. ©2001 Sony SELECT AN EQUALLY AWESOME SUBJECT DX-2600 DUAL NAMING UNIT @ GAIN FLANGE LIST 6 С. ë REV LEFT MIX ~ING -ED MONKEY 997 23 Џ ©) TATUS: А TIPS BE SHORT PEOPLE CAN'T REMEMBER MORE THAN THREE WORDS. USE YOUR INTERESTS IF YOUR NAME IS JOHN AND YOU REALLY LIKE HOT- BUTTERED YAMS AND PING PONG, WELL, TRY AND USE THAT. FWD MIN МАХ MAIN VOL. 0Х-1700 NAMING PRG HAN THE IH PROGRE ОЦЕ HOHEEY OR Doma » ® ® SET-UP TEST TRACE SQUENCING ШШ, БЕ, ИШ ОКО PROG. TRACK TASK STEP TOTAL 8738 р OPTIONS CANCEL MIN MAX PHONES c. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family o HARMON? X EVERYONE Mild Lyrics ‘CONTENT RATED BY ESRB af the copyright holder, Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for more info. "hour inside one of the most danger ous machines on the planet. This is one game that looks, feels and almost smells like the real thing. O Ñ | PlayStation.2 2. gee 2 Get Your Diron | Е #tRATBAG o Ang reg 100 © If you need to escape the daily grind, come to Best Buy. You'll find tons of games and you can play all you want. Which beats working through lunch. YOU HAVE THE POWER! Can't get enough barbaric goodness? You're in luck. Rumors persist that Warner Bros. will produce a third Conan film in the coming years. Also, Mattel recently revived the sword-swingin" Masters of the Universe toy line. Huzzah! r E PREVIEW GALLERY When we think of barbarians, our minds fill with images of big muthas named Conan and Lothar bashing each other's skulls in with massive battle axes. That's why Barbarian, a four-player fighting game from Titus and Saffire, had us re-evaluating what it really means to be barbaric. Not only does the game let you play as that surly homo erectus with a battle axe, but the 10-character roster also lets you live out those melee fantasies as a wizard, a druid or an assassin. Similar to brawlers like Power Stone (DC) or Ehrgeiz (PS1), each fighter will have his or her own arena with plenty of background interaction. And although Barbarian is a four-player game, it also has a ton of single-player quests Titus is claiming over 300 of them —for you to embark upon. Check back next month, when we'll have the full scoop on this hybrid fighting game, slated for release February 2002. DES А AA EE a | Give mayhem a chance. $EOFF any video game software title or accessory $19.99 and up. 2 V-Rally 3 The V-Rally games are widely regarded as some of the best in the genre. So it's no surprise that French publisher Infogrames is continuing the series on the PS2 in 2002. This time around developer Eden Studios has assigned a separate designer to each race course, assuring a unique experience in every event. As of yet, Infogrames has not announced a U.S. release for V-Rally 3. Good only at Best Buy stores. Not good in combination with other coupons or offers Limit one per coupon per ttle or accessory per customer. Not valid on prior purchases. Valid on in-stock items only; по rainchecks. No dealers. Coupon must be presented at time of purchase. No copies. Coupon value is 1/100 of one cent. Good through И Cashier Instructions: Verify product qualifies. Scan coupon bar code. Scan product Бог code. Highlight qualified item. Press “Item Modify.” Press “Нет Discount." Press “Tab.” Enter "500" ond ps “Enter.” Write "VOID" on coupon and place in register media file. 1111101111 CBEST А III 71306 ^ s BUY © 2002 Best Boy mam mam mam - um mm mm um mm 9^ 4 ко mam ишш mamn шиш ныш Eum Hum mum Rum mum m m ы, “ы mam пын пан mam wam Om m == m m == m s TurnOntheFun BestBuy.com Electronic Gaming Monthly - 18 - egm.gamers.com НОТ GEAR, CIRCA 1991 | M | Everyone remembers the punky young John Connor of Terminator = | — > № | 2 who uses an Atari laptop to rip off an ATM. Well, if you have an { [interest in the computers of now-defunct Atari, check out www.atari-history.com for a wealth of information on the subject. PREVIEW GALLERY Tekken 4 Tentatively scheduled to arrive this spring, the fourth installment of Namco's Tekken series (not counting Tekken Tag Tournament or Tekken GBA) will soon make the trip home from the arcades to the PS2. Regarding Tekken 4's newly interactive 3D backgrounds, director Masahiro Kimoto says, "Depending on the character you choose, a stage can give you an advantage or a disadvantage." Sounds good to us. The Terminator In the first half of the 21st century, a satellite defense system called SkyNet achieves sentience and begins to wipe out mankind. Thanks to developer Paradigm, who brought us the rock-solid Spy Hunter, we'll get to see the rebellion against the machines firsthand. The rebel leader, John *No Problemo!" Connor, is the main character of this third- person action game. Expect it in spring 2002 from Infogrames. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 14 - egm.gamers.com d 4 you wold be as СТАР as Y d au te be able to enjoy ита Dark Legacy 3 ССА / 2. cooperative game pag. Check out Gauntlet Dark Legacy at: Gauntletdarklegacy.com FS ^c МЫ MIDWAY tWiSTeD gReETInG cARd dIviSIOn | Blood NINTENDO Violence GAMECUBE. TEE Gauntlet Dark Legacy © 1998 - 2000 Midway Games West Inc. All rights reserved. MIDWAY and the Midway logos are trademarks of Midway Amusement Games, LLC. GAUNTLET DARK LEGACY is a trademark of Midway Games West Inc. Used by permission. Distributed under license by Midway Home Entertainment Inc. TM, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. ks of Mid € "by FP. PT: k; trademari ей under li у С. GAUNTLET DARK LEGACY is a trademark of Entertainment inc. TM, @ and the Nintendo GameCube logo of Sony се Entertainment Inc. ` Gauntlet Balk Legacy © 1998 - 2000 Midway Games West Inc. All rights reserved. MIDWAY, and the Midway Games, k N N [е 620 үч Terrifying Boss Battles Violence Spectacular Magic Attacks e PlayStation.2 T ITS BEST . 4, 1-4 Player Co-operative Action NINTENDO GAMECUBE. Available March 2002 Sneak Preview at gauntletdarklegacy.com Er i ps PREVIEW GALLERY RUN 'N GUN 'N HUM Do you think a game about a do-gooder dolphin is weird? Check this out—the developers of the original 16-bit Ecco games went on to produce Kolibri, the world's only hummingbird-themed shooter. If you're the unfortunate owner of a Sega 32X, you owe it to yourself to track down this biological oddity. Virtua Fighter 4 Sega's bold claims that its PlayStation 2 version of Virtua Fighter 4 would look just as good as its arcade counterpart seem to be true. Take a close look at these PS2 screens and tell us you're not impressed. But it isn't just the incredible graphics that have us excited about VF4. With Tekken 4 posing serious competition on the home front, developer AM2 has tweaked the timing of the game to feel more like VF2 than VF3. In essence, VF4 will be less frustrating and more easy to pick up for novice players, while maintaining the depth the series has long been known for. The game also uses an artificial intelligence system that actually learns how you fight and mimics your tactics. Our kung-fu is good. Very good...and VF4 is just what we need this March to tide us over until Soul Calibur 2 in 2003. This tactical-espionage title from Sega was originally supposed to come out here last year for the Dreamcast. Of course, with the DC dying, those plans were scrapped. Now that Headhunter's been picked up for the Р52, however, we may yet see this cool little game on our shores. Think of it as sort of an MGS2-lite. The emphasis lies much more on nonstop shooting action than stealth. We'll let you know if a U.S. release is scheduled. Ecco the Dolphin If you missed it on Dreamcast, now's your chance to catch Sega's underwater adventure on PS2 (available now in the U.K., TBA in the U.S.). You play Ecco, a dolphin with stars on his forehead, as he uses his bottlenose to sniff out trouble and defend Earth from a race of aliens called the Foe. Along the way you'll solve puzzles, fight undersea enemies (like great white sharks) and acquire a taste for sushi. Yum! Electronic Gaming Monthly - 16 - egm.gamers.com ARE YOU IN CONTROL OF YOUR SHADOW? Don't be certain. At least, not until you meet Ап, a young boy from the village of Tenel who has lost control of his to the spirit of a 300 year old evil king. Now its up to you to join him on a quest to help win it back. Along the way, solve puzzles, decipher mysterious clues and fight battles in a bizarre adventure that will test your wits, skill and make you question the proof of your own reality. Comic Mischief Mild Language Mild Violence OKAGE: Shadow King ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. KAJE надом kiNg www.scea.com two heroes one hope -Tidus is a star Blitzball player. Yuna is the daughter of а summoner. Everything they know lies on the brink of destruction. No one who joins them will ever be the same. PlayStation.e SQUARESOFT www.playonline.com Published by Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. ©2001, 2002 Square Co., Ltd. All rights reserved, FINAL FANTASY and the SOUARESOFT logos are registered trademarks of Square Co., Ltd. Blood and Violence Character design: Tetsuya Nomura. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. CONTENT RATED BY ‘The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. ESR Ez THE ADVENTURES OF STUNTMAN The idea of a game starring a stuntman is not exactly a new one; like = many great ideas, it's come and gone before. Witness Codemasters" لسم‎ | = Ultimate Stuntman for the NES, published in the U.S. by the now-defunct = Camerica. Playing sort of like Spy Hunter, the game pitted you against : Dr. Evil (no, not the Austin Powers one) in a quest to rescue your girl. PREVIEW GALLERY Take a look at these new shots of Infogrames' March release, Stuntman. Developed by Reflections (the same team behind the Driver series), the game dares you to perform a series of automobile stunts for an action movie. The flashier you drive, the more points you get. It seems like a natural step for Reflections to make a game like this. After all, the best parts of Driver 1 and 2 were the chase-oriented minigames. TimeSplitters 2 All the exploding crates, monkeys and Play-Dohy enemies you could want =" are in the demo we saw of Eidos' shooter sequel, which is due out this spring. The game's opening sequence and gameplay reminded us a lot of N64’s GoldenEye, which could be a plus. And even though 752 looks plain, it runs smoothly on the PS2. Developer Free Radical is focusing heavily on the single-player game after 7575 mediocre solo offering. Triple Play 2002 Some baseball games try to impress with mountains of stats, every conceivable option, and details most could give a crap about. On the other side, EA's Triple Play shoots for a flashy presentation and friendly, arcade playability. It’s worked so far, so why mess with a good thing? Most of the changes in this year's edition are purely cosmetic and don't necessarily affect gameplay. They include more accurate player bodies and faces, additional camera angles (there's a ton already), plus play-by-play and color commentary by Bob Costas and Harold Reynolds (that'll be cool). The title is slated for a March release. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 82 - egm.gamers.com «0 мете cU D on m JUST BRING b IT ) PlayStation. PRIMA GUIDE, $14. #20058 m 99 Receive a FREE WWF “Smackdown! Just Bring it Prima Official Strategy Guide when you Ране the WWF Smackdown! Just Bring it game! *Coupon must be present in order to receive offer. Not to be combined with any other special or offer. While supplies last. See sales associate for complete details. Offer expires 3/15/02. Prices, offers, and selection may vary by store and in Canada. | и Y ff аута хеб \ d electronics boutique am =x 2 FOR A STORE NEAR YOU CALL SHOP BY PHONE 1-800-800-5166 1-800-800-0032 © 2001 Electronic Arts Inc. EA GAMES and the EA GAMES logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S, and/or other countries. All rights reserved. ©2001 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Fox interactive, The Simpsons, The Simpsons Road Rage and their respective logos are trademarks of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. ‘PlayStation’ and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment 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. Nintendo GameCube is a trademark of Nintendo. TM, @ and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. ©2001 Nintendo. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. ОН, MARGE, ROADS ARE JUST А SUGGESTION. LIKE PANTS! Мг. Burns' nuclear-powered fleet of critical mass transit is making Springfieldians catch "ride-share fever"! Help buy the bus system back by driving fares through rush- hour traffic, suicide shortcuts and unsuspecting buildings. Take the fastest possible route. Or just use the roads. thesimpsonsroadrage.com Mild Language = s No à z^ PlayStation. ELECTRONIC ARTS MORE К, LESS MEN Recently, 2oth Century Fox announced that the sequel Um м to 200075 hit film X-Men will be named X2. This oddly > ) titled film will open on May 2, 2003, and word is Halle Berry's Storm sports a sexy makeover. Rrrrow! PREVIEW GALLERY Activision's latest mutant massacre brings the frenzied action of the popular Mutant Academy fighting games to the PS2. Eight-way movement, complex combos and aerial raves flesh out the gameplay, and massive, multi-tiered arenas with destructible objects offer Dead Or Alive 3-style action. Favorites like Wolverine and Psylocke return from previous games, while nine muties make their debut in this installment. Visually, the game shines with glossy newness. Although not quite as sexy as Halle Berry in a bodysuit, the graphics represent a serious leap forward for the series. Our telepathic powers point to a September 2002 release. If you've found Capcom's Resident Evil series to be less than horrifying as of late, Tecmo has an alternative up their sleeve that they hope will put the bumps back on your goose. Fatal Frame follows the adventures of Miku, a young lady trying to find her missing journalist brother who went off to investigate the Blair Witch-y disappearance of a writer researching the old Himura Mansion. Will these young people never learn? Naturally the house is haunted by hordes of tortured souls, but Miku can blow them back into the ether by using her mother's special camera as a weapon. Miku can recharge her camera by finding extra-powerful rolls of film scattered around the mansion. The premise makes Fatal Frame seem like a goofy sort of Ghostémon Snap, but the game controls very well and does a great job of scaring the $#!@ out of you. Fans of Silent Hill 2's Sezen-esque graphics will delight in the similarity of Fatal Frame's aesthetics. Give it a shot when it ships in March 2002. Freekstyle Like SSX Tricky? Like freestyle motocross? Then EA Sports BIG has just the game for you. Freekstyle borrows the insane air and gonzo attitude of SSX and adds a pinch of realism by including some of the biggest names from the freestyle motocross world, like Mike "Metz" Metzger, Brian Deegan, "Mad" Mike Jones and the Flyin' Hawaiian, Clifford Adoptante. Imagine launching yourself off a 200-foot cliff and performing a Superman seat grab, a Saran wrap and a збо all before you land. The game's eight venues, including Crash Pad II and Big Sky, are packed with shortcuts and hidden paths. In addition to Circuit, Race and Freestyle modes, the game allows two to four players to compete in head-to-head, split-screen action. Death defiance is scheduled to begin this spring. Esa ЗОО Electronic Gaming Monthly - 86 - egm.gamers IN 47811-1173 1400 N. Fruitridge Avenue, Terre Haut Map spar YOUR DYD COLLECTION! SPECIAL EDITION 2647600 BLOW INFINIFILM 2637502 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2646206 LEGALLY BLONDE 2617207 INDIO ao PLUS ] MORE AT SUPER SAVINGS! i Details on iud other side. SPECIAL EDITION no lont Game a spider à, HORDE E ТЕ | А KNIGHT'S TALE SPECIAL EDITION 2648004 CHOCOLAT COLLECTOR'S SERIES 2622603 CROUCHING TIGER HANNIBAL ENEMY AT THE UNBREAKABLE GLADIATOR (2000) TIT LYNAN en ЕЛ SPECIAL EDITION GATES SAVE TIE LAST DANCE | | VISTA SERIES HIDDEN DRAGON 2659902 2677102 2617207 2520807 PHA 2610905 SCARY MOVIE 2539708 ROAD TRIP (UNRATED) 2544807 TWISTER - RESERVOIR DOGS. 1106905 CADDYSHACK- THE WIZARD OFOZ 2383602 TOMBSTONE 1254200 SPECIAL EDITION 2470003 BLADE... 22948090 20THANNIVERSARY — 2469708 THIRTEEN DAYS - GOODFELLAS 0069808 LOVE & BASKETBALL - PINK FLOYD - THE WALL - THE LEGEND OF INFINFILM 2617801 THEUSUALSUSPECTS 1479401 PLATINUM SERIES 2518009 DELUXE EDITION 2425205 BAGGER VANCE 2582906 RUSH HOUR 2301505 GONE WITHTHE WIND 2258309 THEFIFTHELEMENT — 2145506 THE LEGEND OF PROOF OF LIFE 2611200 SPACE COWBOYS 2566602 FRIDAY 1434406 THEPERFECTSTORM 2522407 DRUNKEN MASTER 2587509 LAWRENCE 0F ARABIA - BRAVEHEART 1491604 AMERICAN BEAUTY: FACE/OFF 2152007 HEAT 2005809 LIMITED EDITION 2582708 THE EXORCIST - 25TH ANNIVERSARY THE AWARDS EDITION — 2524700 — ALMOST FAMOUS 2562304 LITTLE NICKY - THE BROTHERS 2622102 SPECIAL EDITION 2230001 LEGENDS OF THE FALL - MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE2 2532901 PLATINUM SERIES 2683102 DOWN TO EARTH (2001) 2625903. ARMAGEDDON - SPECIAL EDITION 2519403 JFK: SPECIAL EDITION - SHANGHAI NOON 2531306 THE GOONIES 0608109 (LETTERBOX) 2284602 LIAR LIAR - DIRECTOR'S CUT 2540102 “APOCALYPSE NOW ШИЕ Иветта THE SIXTH SENSE 2448801 COLLECTOR'S EDITION — 2411908 CHICKEN RUN - PATCH ADAMS - ОТТ Т SCOOBY-DO0'S SPECIAL EDITION 2520708 COLLECTOR'S EDITION _ 2346401 COLLECTOR $ EDITIONS NEW ON DVD ORIGINAL MYSTERIES _ 2438703 “A CLOCKWORK ORANGE 2637106 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 2532802 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF i ЗАА LA EA THE FUGITIVE - SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE - SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, THE THIRD KIND - | SPECIAL EDITION 2611309 SPECIAL EDITION 2592400 LONGER AND UNCUT 2420503 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2205805 g EXT WOUNDS: ZOO GLORY - CARLITO'S WAY 1229301 RUSHMORE 2352201 || SEVEN- ко Му 28816 SPECIAL EDITION 2448900 AIR FORCE ONE 2160000 THE GENERAL'S | Еи necs 2887 | 10 THINGS | HATE FROM DUSK TILL DAWN - DAUGHTER 2420602 ММУ (1999): || THE ANIMAL - ABOUT YOU 2413706 COLLECTOR'S SERIES — 2539609 THE OUTLAW COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2388007 fi SPECIALEDITION 2048103 THE TRANSFORMERS: CONAN THE BARBARIAN - JOSEY WALES ШЕШШ FRING TON тон 2545101 HEARTBREAKERS - THE MOVIE SPECIAL - COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2462406 WONDER BOYS 2557304 SPECIAL EDITION 2660108 COLLECTOR'SEDITION 2399400 GETTYSBURG 1213305 MY BEST FRIEND'S j RAPSI РАК ОРТА | DRIVEN (2001) 2643203 APOLLO 13 - DISNEY'S THE КЮ 2557700 WEDDING 2146207 THETBESWORID: |. CITIZEN KANE 1953702 COLLECTOR'S EDITION) 1937200 “NOTTING HILL - ROCKY 0056309 JURASSIC PARK ` | DOCTORZHIVAGO — 0002600 BOOGIE NIGHTS - COLLECTOR'S EDITION — 2412104 “THE SHINING 0610303 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2513307 MEMENTO 2634301 PLATINUM SERIES 2469302 THE MASK OF ZORRO — 2281509 2001: А SPACE ODYSSEY - | 0571 - THE TERMINATOR - FREQUENCY - SHAFT (2000) 2533008 (REMASTERED EDITION) 1095108 Ü COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2521904 | SPECIAL EDITION 2660405 PLATINUM SERIES 2521201 ТНЕ ORIGINAL KINGS PLATOON 2497808 GOOD WILL HUNTING - | nccess: THE HURRICANE (1999) - OF COMEDY 2560704 TAXI DRIVER - COLLECTOR'S SERIES 2515104 SCHOOL'S OUT 2628105 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2480408 DAYS OF THUNDER 0827303 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2338903 CLERKS - | 2628402 THE DOORS - ONE FLEW OVER THE FINDING FORRESTER _ 2594703 | COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2351609 | B. ide rA UR OR PANAMA COLLECTOR'S EDITION — 2325405 CUCKOO'S NEST 0653402 PAY IT FORWARD 2596708 | DIRTY DANCING - | SPECIAL EDITION — 2620904 BEN-HUR 1510205 ENEMYOFTHESTATE _ 2345304 DEUCEBIGALOW: COMLECTOHISEDIION: “2320206 © ТОМСАТ5 2628303 CASINO 1922707 MONTY PYTHON AND MALE GIGOLO 2490704 AON LAMPOON $ ост Ее WHAT LIES BENEATH _ 2546307 ТНЕ HOLY GRAIL 0192005 CON AIR (WIDESCREEN) 2167302 PALL CIUS EDITIONE савезна š PRETTY WOMAN - 10TH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS NEXT FRIDAY - | THE LORD OF: ANNIVERSARY EDITION 2436608 (1956) 0202606 PLATINUM SERIES — 2469203 || MENINBLACK- THE RINGS (1978) 2625507 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2509305 Д ROMEO MUST DIE 24954 06 101 DALMATIANS 2057503 THE SHAWSHANK NUTTY PROFESSOR II: || ТНЕНОВВТ 0303403 TITANIC (1997) 2224608 402 DALMATIONS 2587400 REDEMPTION 1345503 THEKLUNPS С - jj DOUBLE TAKE 2619203 THE ROCK 2018406 TOP GUN 0426908 VERTICAL LIMIT - COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2550705 ERIN BROCKOVICH 2495307 AMERICAN HISTORY X 2320604 SPECIAL EDITION 2605806 MORE TO CHOOSE FROM ON OTHER SIDE. ===> ©2002 The Columbia House Company | SCARFACE COLLECTOR'S EDITION 1959600 GONE IN 60 SECONDS 2539807 THE MATRIX AMERICAN PIE 2622405 2424307 THE PATRIOT (2000) | SPECIAL EDITION 2520302 | PLUS 1 MORE AT SUPER SAVINGS K THE SILENCE OF ^ MEMBER THE TITANS | | MISS CONGENIALITY THE LAMBS COYOTE UGLY PM pese 2591402 2596500 SPECIAL EDITION 2557601 2611002 2660306 2582609 COLLECTOR'S EDITION BRIDGET JONES d GREENTMTLE BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY 2647709 THEGREENMILE [Ü | 2467009 | PULP FICTION 1430008 THEWEDDING PLANNER. 2617306 __ JOSIE AND THE 15 MINUTES - INFINIFILM 2195204 ТНЕ BEST MAN (1999) 2438208 РИСН BLACK - UNRATED THE BONE COLLECTOR _ 2449700 PUSSYCATS 2828501 KISS THE GIRLS 2195204 ВАР BOYS (1995) - DIRECTOR'S CUT 2521805 THECROW 1374206 THE LADIES MAN 2591600 O BROTHER, | SPECIAL EDITION 2478907 AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL HOLLOW MAN - POKEMON 3: THE MOVIE 2634707 WHERE ART THOU? — 2617405 LETHAL WEAPON MAN OF MYSTERY 2144509 — SPECIAL EDITION 2541001 RECESS: SCHOOL'S OUT 2628105 FULLMETALJACKET 2637205 DIRECTOR'S ar ` 2473601 AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO BLADE RUNNER: RUGRATS IN PARIS: MENACE И SOCIETY 1200609 LETHAL WEAPON 2 - SHAGGED ME - THE DIRECTOR'S CUT — 1097906 THE MOVIE 2572907 FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH- — DIRECTOR'S. cur 2473700 PLATINUM SERIES. 2423002 "STEEL MAGNOLIAS - SAVING SILVERMAN COLLECTOR'S EDITION _ 2424406 LETHAL WEAPON 3 - THE CELL - SPECIAL EDITION 2499606 (R-RATED) 2617603 INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE - DIRECTOR'S CUT 2473809 PLATINUM SERIES 2545002 THEBLUES BROTHERS - SEE SPOT RUN 2624401 SPECIAL EDITION 2469906 LETHAL WEAPON 4 - DUMB AND DUMBER — 1374107 (COLLECTOR'S EDITION) 2233203 KINGPIN - THE WATERBOY 2321404 PREMIERE COLLECTION 2273803 — ENTER THE DRAGON - "MESKULS- U о DIRECTOR'S CUT 2341105 FINAL DESTINATION — 2503407 ТНЕБТНОАҮ 2566701 25TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2516904 WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE АМУ GIVEN SUNDAY - SPECIAL JAWS ANNIVERSARY - SPECIAL EDITION 2208205 "BIG DADDY 2409803 FACTORY (P&S) 2626505 EDITION DIRECTOR'S CUT 2508109 COLLECTOR'S EDITION — 2489706 "A FEW GOOD MEN- DR. SEUSS: HOW THE GRINCH VALENTINE 2618403. МАПНАТ$- MENINBLACK- БРЕСТА. EDITION 2520005 STOLE CHRISTMAS (1965) 2516607 SWEET NOVEMBER (2001) 2622306 COLLECTOR'S EDITION 2355006 COLLECTOR'S SERIES 2509107 THEREPLACEMENTS — 2540300 CRUEL INTENTIONS — 2363703 | OWN THE BEST D i Build a Solectlon et vat ть movies on DVD! Just write in the numbers 1 ofthe 4 DVDs you want for just 49€ each, plus Send me these 4 DVDs for 496 each, plus $1.99 each shipping/handling (total: $9.92). 1 shipping and handling. In exchange, you simply I agree to buy four more DVDs in the BUY YOUR FIRST SELECTION NOW—AND HAVE LESS TO BUY LATER! QAlso send me my first selection for $14.95, plus $1.99 shipping/handling, which I'm adding to next two years at regular Club prices (which my $9.92 payment (total: $26.86). | then need to buy only [| 1 currently start as low as $19.95, plus shipping 3 more (instead of 4) in the next 2 years. FV6/8VD and handling)—and you may cancel member- ship at any time after doing so. What's more, Please check how paying: J My check is enclosed. (0 Charge my introductory DVDs and future Club purchases to: ЕАХ/Т1С Columbia House DVD Club, Dept.9QE P.O. Box 1173, Terre Haute, IN 47811-1173 Yes, please enroll me under the terms outlined in this advertisement. As a member, | need to buy only 4 more selections at regular Club prices in the next 2 years. you can get still one more movie for the low 1 price of $14.95 and have less to buy later І (see complete details in coupon). a MasterCard DJ Diners Club AMEX QVISA Q Discover | Free Magazine sent every four weeks (up to 13 times a year) reviewing our Director's Acct. No. Exp. Date. Selection— plus scores of alternate choices, 1 including many lower-priced DVDs. And you . 1 may also receive Special Selection mailings Signature. up to four times a year. (That’s up to 17 1 buying opportunities a year.) lying Name 1 Buy only what you want! If you want the 1 Director's Selection, do nothing—it will be Address. Apt. No.. City. State. Zip. Phone No. (. ) Email NOTE: Columbia House reserves the right to request additional information, reject any application or cancel any membership. Offer limited to residents of the contiguous United States. Applicable tax added to all orders. P-MAR02-EGM э E use this Savings Co IGITAL AUDIO sent automatically. If you ns an alternate selection, or none at all, just mail the response card always provided by the date specified. And you'll always have 10 days to decide; if not, you may return the selection at our expense. Money-Saving Bonus Plan. If you continue your membership after fulfilling your obligation, you'll be eligible for our generous bonus plan. It enables you to enjoy more great savings on the movies you want—for as long as you decide to remain a member! 10-Day Risk-Free Trial. We'll send complete membership details of the Club's operation with your introductory package. If not satisfied, retum everything within 10 days, at our expense, for a full refund and no further obligation. Over 1,700 titles! If you want a movie on DVD that you don't see here, just call us and ask or visit our website. DVD CLUB Use your credit card and order 24 hours a day: oui :Columbiahouse.com cal, 1-888-CHC-DVDS To ensure you get this great offer- ide when ordering. TAINTED LOVE Thanks to what must be a large pile of money, Smash Court is the only game to feature the lovely Anna Kournikova. But perhaps you don’t remember the not-so-lovely computer virus لس‎ | = that bore her name. The worm traveled via Outlook and deleted files on recipients’ systems. People thought they were [ getting a nudie pic of the tennis star but instead got wiped. 2 PREVIEW GALLERY Smash Court Tennis Namco will make quite a “racquet” this spring when it releases Smash Court Tennis for PS2. Playing as one of eight top pros, such as Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and —sha-wing!— Anna Kournikova, gamers will be able to compete in the world's top tournaments, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. The game will also support up to four players with a multi-tap for doubles competition. All-Star Baseball 2003 To quote Yogi Berra, “This is like deja vu all over again.” ASB 2002 came out not more than seven months ago, and now Acclaim is already releasing the 2003 version this February—it’s madness! New features include trading cards (they display players’ stats, just like real baseball cards), broken bats and two new stadiums. The big question remains, though, will it be bug free, or will those nasty glitches still be hanging around? тоолу S мАТСНОР. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin Sled Storm 2 Even thougn the original game was only for PC, Eidos and developer The original Sled Storm was the 10 Interactive promise the sequel will be just what console gamers snowmobile racing game to own want. In May, you'll take the role of an amnesia-stricken hitman as for PlayStation, and this PS2 you travel to exotic lands, meet interesting people, and kill them. sequel looks equally promising. This is a gory, globetrotting mystery. Be sure to pack a sweater and Developed at Electronic Arts some heat. Canada (the frostbitten freaks responsible for the SSX series), Sled Storm 2 has a distinct arcade look and feel. Racers fill their S.T.O.R.M. meters by smashing through objects ranging from signs to entire buildings. S.T.O.R.M. boosts pump up the action by providing increased power, invulnerability and over-the-top stunts. The game's seven environments range from an Australian mountaintop course to an iceberg in the Bermuda Triangle. The game's DTS surround sound and HDTV support will also make it a great way to show off your entertainment center, when it drops this March. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 87 - egm.gamers.com THE CARD-E CONNECTION In Japan, Nintendo is releasing a set of Animal Forest trading cards that utilize the new Card-e Reader peripheral for Game Boy Advance. Each card showcases a particular animal, and ~ 91 stores data that can be used with the Animal Forest GC game. We say, throw some NES games on them babies! Nintendo Nintendo 1 [CNN Communication Game TBD 2002 www.nintendo.com [те боой. | Innovative, fun, laid- back gameplay. Cutesy characters may offend image-conscious guys. Take care of your home or roaches'll invade (eww...). THIS OLD FOREST Animal Artistry One of the new features exclusive to the GameCube version of Animal Forest is the ability to create your own designs and logos for use on various in-game objects (clothes, umbrellas, wallpaper, etc.). Using the supplied paint program (top), we re-created an old plumber friend of ours and slapped his image on a flag. ибо! 13«U77"73»08t. I47h2A9-X^ TE! у 9 Са. time, using the GC's internal clock. Seasons change, holiday events take place, and so оп. ack in issue #144 last summer, we previewed a quirky little import N64 title called Animal Forest. Although this charming “communi- cation” game from Nintendo never saw the light of day in America, a recently released Game- Cube update —known as Animal Forest + in Japan— most likely will. As you'd know if you read our first preview, Animal Forest is a unique and different type of game in that it's not really goal-based. There's no main ob-jective to pursue, no evil dragon to slay, no princess to save. Instead, as a newcomer to a forest village, your only purpose is to live life as you see fit, communicating with the locals, doing odd jobs for cash or items, decorating and expanding your home, and indulging in such leisurely activities as bug- catching, fishing and playing video games. Or you can just be a lazy bum—the choice is yours. The laid-back atmosphere and open-endedness of the gameplay will surely intrigue fans of games like Harvest Moon or The Sims (PC). Furthering the communication aspects of the game is the fact that up to three other people can *move in" to your community (friends, family M'Sewart" guy who Ш} и${ moved here? ЯНе says he comes {тот "Canada" or um members — whoever) and co-exist in your little "hood, interacting with each other by leaving messages, sending letters, trading items and the like. You can even take your memory card to a friend's place and use it alongside his or her save data so you can "visit" each other's villages, just to hang out, or maybe to trade stuff like fruits or rare items. Players can make animal friends in another person's town, which could lead to said animals packing up and moving to a new "system." The possibilities are nearly endless, and this is what makes Animal Forest so addictive and fun. The GC version of AF sports a host of minor tweaks to the N64 game, in addition to some entirely new features like a design editor (see sidebar), a museum for donating fossils, fish and other rare objects. This disc also has a tropical island that you can visit if you have a Game Boy Advance hooked up to your “Cube. Nintendo has confirmed a U.S. release for Animal Forest on their Web site, but they haven't set a release date yet. With any luck, we'll be settling into our new woodland homes before the end of the year. —John Ricciardi Electronic Gaming Monthly - 88 - egm.gamers.com OFFICIAL VIDEO GAME www.olympics.com www.olympicvideogame: EVERYONE AVAILABLE FORMATS AVAILABLE FORMAT Published by —— c PlayStatione2 = = GAME BOY ADVANCE ESEE : 5 ractive logo аге ай ге trademarks of Ubi Soft, Inc. Game Boy Adv Poor Europeans. Thanks to trademark infringements with | an old Atari 2600 game, the original Super Nintendo Star Fox adventure was known as the unassuming Star Wing in the U.K. The N64 Sequel? Lylat Wars. Let's hope they get a real title for Sfar Fox Adventures- maybe it'll just stay Dinosaur Planet over there. ~ 47 Primal Fury Hey, furry fighting-game fans! Activision is bringing out a bona-fide brawler for the GameCube this March. BR: PF brings back the cast of the PS2 game, Bloody Roar 3, while adding a pair of new characters. Unlike BR3, which only let you destroy walls at the end of a round, you can knock ‘em down at any time now. But, the new two-tier beast meter that powers-up your fuzzy ass for double the damage is the main adjustment. With GameCube Zelda taking up its new love-it-or-hate-it Looney Tunes look, gamers hoping for a slightly more realistic-looking 3D adventure game may want to set their sights on Nintendo's upcoming Star Fox Adventures. It's no secret that SFA's main gameplay is heavily inspired by the two N64 Zelda titles, but according to developer Rare, there'll be plenty of other play styles as well, many of which have yet to be revealed (apparently those nifty Arwing flight scenes we've shown in past issues are just a taste of what's to come). Barring any more delays, expect it in stores on March 25. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 90 - egm.gamers.com PlayStation. ишн g b ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT. ANTI CORPORATE. ` = = АМТІ-ВВАМІТҮ. The next evolution of hoarding is here. No wheels. No snow. No surf. Just air, air and more air. See ya when you finally come down. Mild Violence < Mild Language 3 - n = m c e Criterion о WWW.NAMCO.COM БЫТ ^ Со “oN » _ ТИЛИП. иши! НЕ E id iil » it unm d Li nnne HII ини. | | mm үз 1. иш] nuum [Ж к | 1; ШО ЖЕ HI m ви mnia M £u | RATING PENDING ©) CONTENT RATED BY ESRB —_s EXDRESS YOURSELF па SS ини ni mm іц, a = "n Visit ww.esrb.org || or call 1-800-771-3772 for more info. TO THE EXTREME IN THE ROLLING REVOLUTION ФР | The setting: Tokyo. The year: 2024. Transportation mode: rocket-powered skates. JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future is all about extremes. Extreme ting. Extreme action. Extreme style. Just choose a d plunge into living, breathing cities teeming Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox Logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in ofher countries and are used under license. from Microsoft, SEGA is a registered trademark of SEGA CORPORATION. SEGA and JSRF-Jet Set Radio Future are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Corporation affiliates. ©2001 SEGA CORPORATION. All Rights Reserved. Dolby and the double- symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. س EVOLUTION WEB WORKS Those who can't get enough of the cute ragamuffin explorers of the Evolution series would do well to check out developer Sting's Evolution Web site. It has cool bonuses like screensavers and wallpaper, but unfortunately the site is mainly in Japanese. Click carefully at www.sting.co.jp/evo2/ to find what you need. PREVIEW GALLERY Soccer Slam This spring, Visual Concepts and Sega take a break from simulating reality to bring us Soccer Slam, a three-on-three arcade romp based on the world's most popular sport. Seeing that this is essentially the МВА Showtime of soccer games, expect plenty of wacky power-ups, special moves and effects. A quest mode allows your players to improve with each victory, as you gun for the Continental Cup. RE v E ЖЕШ QE Few play street-style basketball better than the crew at EGM. You should see Previews Editor Greg Sewart’s 360° behind-the-head jam—it’s a beautiful sight (yes, some white men can jump). When it comes to video game hoops, NBA Street is no slouch either. If you're unfamiliar, Street is a trick- centric, three-on-three contest where style points are weighed as heavily as the final score. You progress through several cities, challenging the local heroes as well as real NBA players (see Michael Jordan, top right). Gameplay is virtually identical to the PS2 version (once you get used to the small-ish GameCube controller, that is). An additional Washington, D.C. court and rewards system are the new features exclusive to this GameCube edition. EA Sports plans on releasing the game in March. Evolution Worlds Evolution Worlds, the latest from series developer Sting and publisher Ubi Soft, is purported to be a mix between the original two games in the series, although these screens closely resemble Evolution 2. Once again you'll be joining the hyper-cute anime kids Mag Launcher and Linear Cannon (yes, everyone in the game is named after weapons — don't ask) on their Indiana Jones-style adventures. Of course, /ndy movies never have three-hour sequences of Harrison Ford traversing a randomly generated maze; let's hope that Evolution Worlds doesn't have that either, for once. We do know that the series' excellent turn-based battle system will be back. Expect more mystic ancient CyFrame technology and twisty passages in spring 2002. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 94 - egm.gamers.com THE MANIA IS ABOUT ТО BEGIN ALL OVER AGAIN. hi 42 of wrestling's greatest including: Hulk Hogan, Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Rob Van Dam and many more! Dominate your foes with tlie all-new ISP system for letlial one-button combos! First-ever interactive wrestler entrances with announcer introductions! Never-before, in-depth career guid- ance by Captain Lou Albano and “Mouth Of The South” Jimmy Hart! ERE 3 $ ВУ uut s регу” Snuka, Road Warrior Hawk, Road Warrior Animal, Terry Funk, George "The Animal" Steele, Iron Sheik, Greg "The Hammer" King Kong Bundy, Ricky “The Dragon" Steamboat, Ted DiBiase, "Superstar" Billy Graham, Mr. Fuji, Captain Lou Albano, Tito Santana, The Sheik, Ivan Koloft rr в. P x انی‎ Hulk Hogan, Bret “Hitman” Hart, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Rob Van Dam, Jimmy " Blood Violence PlayStation.e E А а m www.acclaim.com Legends of Wrestling" and Acclaim & © 2001 Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Re Plays ion” and the "PS" Family logo aro registered trade, 2d. Developed by Acclaim Sony Computer Ent Lake City. All Rights Reserved. IN y. =, When we're not busy choking our video chickens at | EGM, we're off to www.valkyrievideos.com, a one-stop | wondersite of strength and beauty. Nothing's sexier | than a built chick whose neck is thicker than your thigh. PREVIEW b i | il n Wa | К y Fi e (AMM sega e Smilebit Piers: ÛJ ОШЕН Action СОИ 35% (EEE March 2002 ПИТ www.sega.com [пе Good, M Lash visuals and A big part of Gun Valkyrie's creative level designs. platforming action is learning to CCT Steep learning curve manage your jetpack's fuel reserve for the controls. while jumping from ledge to ledge. СЕТ Gv might be more It's clear that somebody over at Smilebit like Metroid than Retro Studios" upcoming Metroid Prime slated for the GameCube. Gun Valkyrie originally started out as a Dreamcast game that used both a control pad and a light gun. The previous incarnation gave you full 3D movement with the analog stick in one hand, while popping caps with your gun in the other. Heck, if it's better than Resident Evil Gun Survivor, we'll take it! à > This blue gauge, representing your 7 Valkyrie Fuel cells, drains each time | you use a desperation attack. watched Starship Troopers too many times. Yes, Hudson, GV is a bug hunt. milebit, one of Sega’s most talented development teams, is about to unleash a pair of its latest games on the Xbox. Опе—/её Set Radio Future —you've no doubt seen plenty of coverage on. But what's this about a mech- based 3D shooter called Gun Valkyrie? Well, Sega finally sent us a playable this month and we're here to spill the beans. For a straightforward action game, GV sure has a ton of back story. Its mad-scientist-corrupted-by- absolute-power motif is kind of over-the-top, but the industrial revolution-era premise does lend the game a unique flavor. So even while the individual missions feel somewhat disjointed, GV gives you plenty of reading material to tie it all together. Your targeting reticule will 240v. automatically lock onto | nearby threats. Hold down | 4 the right trigger Гог а more | powerful attack that hits multiple targets. een an eye on your -| jetpack meter. When = it hits zero, you're not ¿q long for the skies. Your life bar. Any questions? Your default, all-purpose weapon can receive several upgrades. |5 Use this electric hookshot and grapple upto | higher ground. As you can see from the screenshots, it’s hard to argue with GV's presentation. The game runs fast, looks gorgeous, and is ripe with creative vision. What these pictures don’t convey, however, is the steep learning curve of the controls. GV uses both sticks on the pad to control movement and targeting...but strangely enough, you can’t strafe. That’s right, no strafing. Instead, you’ve got to master your jetpack for evasive maneuvers. You dash from side to side by pushing in on the left stick together with a direction, and pull off quick 180-degree turnarounds the same way on the right stick. And these are just the movement controls; you’ve also got to worry about targeting, switching weapons, and keeping an eye on your jetpack’s replenishing fuel supply. True, Valkyrie’s overly complex controls had us stymied for a while. They’re manageable, and eventually, you do get good at it, but the game just doesn’t feel as intuitive as say, Zone of the Enders on the PS2. Of course, a lot of it may have something to do with the hectic battles. And at its heart, that’s what GV is all about. Too bad the controls probably won't change too much before the game ships. We'll reserve final judgement until we get our mitts on a reviewable copy. Until then, keep drooling. —Che Chou Electronic Gaming Monthly - 96 - egm.gamers.com МЛР =. әй УМ. 55 CIl | | the games. www.espnthegames.com NINE THRILLING EVENTS. AND CURLING. Which is not to say this sport of Canadian kings won't put a lump in your throat. After all, this is ESPN International Winter Sports 2002. And whether you're hucking ho-hos off the halfpipe, soaring off the ski jump, or reaching for records in any of the other eight events, your every triumph—and every defeat—is part of an authentic ESPN telecast. So smile wide and breathe deep. You wouldn't want to lose your cool on the ice. Sap International _ LUTTER. SITE Downhill | Slalom | Freestyle | K90 Ski Jump | K120 Ski Jump | Bobsleigh | Snowboard Halfpipe | Figure Skating | Speed Skating | Curling EVERYONE ps GAME BOY ADVANCE (g LN PlayStation.e AX | ESHE GAMECUBE А сох ©2001 Disney. ESPN and ESPN the games are trademarks of ESPN, Inc. Konamk is a registered trademark of Konami Corporation. ©2001 Konami. All rights reserved. The ratings icon Is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Associati РЗ” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. Xbox and Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries. ТМ, ® and the Nintendo trademarks of Nintendo, TM, ® and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo, INTRODUCING GUNVALKYRIE. An invaDIng aren army. А GuN-TOTING BLONDE мтжеп. A Lone screnTIST'S DEADLY от5сомегу. wetcome TO GUNVALKYRIE, мнеге ONLY your WITS ano CUTTING-EDGE агттььегу can save THe мог:р From TOTAL ANNIHILATION. Your mission: ехтегттпате a Deantv aLIen species, capture a map SCIenTIST апо re-esraBLISH огоег то an OuT-OF-CONTFOL реапет. тне многе мого IS COUNTING On IT. Blood and Gore Violence хеох BeLIeve IT Or пот, Her веѕт Fearure IS Her Trigger finger. Ж Control Buffy as you kick vampire ash all over Sunnydale High, The Bronze and anywhere else bloodsuckers raise their ugly heads. Seek out Giles, Xander and Willow for clues and cautions. But casting hordes of fang-freaks back from whence they сате is a Slayer's job. Use wooden stakes, fireballs or your surroundings to start taking the “un” out of the undead. Only on Xbox: Visit www.esrb.org or 2002 Tentu Century Fox Fim Comoran Fox nerve, tuy The "роо Vampire Slayer and th ted К istered trad жуын Lx /ampire Slayer and their associated logos are registered trademarks or trade- Gall 200-001-3072 тай of Tweet Century Fox Fim Corporation, A ris mamat. The for Rating Information ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digitial Software Association, Microsoft, Xbox Xbox oos ar trademarks of МЕН Со 08 inthe U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. FN S < PREVIEW Sega Smilebit 1-4 | Action-Adventure 75% Ш | February 2002 Tony Hawk 2X www.jsrf.com Ц d Streamlined control means that the rockin' ain't toppin’ for anything. [m i Concerned parents will condemn vandalism again. looks like someone's grandpa. Triple Treat Jet Set Radio Future carries on its forerunner's level design with three different types of stages. Paint the Town: When you first arrive in a new area, your only goal is to tag like mad. Unlike the first game, the police resistance during these stages is minimal. You can pull off some crazy tricks, explore the area freely, and locate secrets. Character Challenges: | As you progress, other | grinders will challenge you | toa duel of skills. If you can successfully mimic their tricks or beat them in a race, they'll join your team. Boss Attack: When the crooked cops corner you, it's time to get all arty on their faces. Tag huge crowds of cops while avoiding a beatdown. | | | | | | J| In 2024, Professor К There's nothing like pulling off a wild grind, and now grinding is easier than ever. You'll automatically slide up and down nearly everything. Sega canned the thumb-busting painting routines of the first game. Tagging is now accomplished with one speedy move. re you hyped for Jet Set Radio Future? Should you be? Instead of bemoaning the commercial failure of its predecessor or delivering a monologue about the value of creativity in gaming, we're letting you make up your own mind about this unique in-line skating/ vandalism/action game. Break out the #2 pencil and take this handy quiz to find out if Sega's hipster sequel is right for you. Question #1: Did you purchase Jet Grind Radio for the Dreamcast? a) Yes b) No, because I didn't have a Dreamcast. с) No, vandalism offends my moral sensibilities. Question #2: Do stylish, cel-shaded graphics (just check out the screens on these pages), huge, new environments, and dozens of on-screen characters turn you on? а) Yes...oh, yes. b) No, cel-shading is freaky and distracting. C) No, large levels intimidate me, so | only play Pong. Question #3: How do you feel about gameplay innovations like faster tagging, backward skating, turbo boosts, trick combos and easier grinding? a) Sounds sufficiently phat to me. b) | prefer my games to be convoluted, slow and incomprehensible. C) Rollerblading is a crime, even if it's fast and fun. Question #4: Does the prospect of controlling futuristic versions of playable skaters from the first game and hip, new guys and gals excite you? 8) Yep, | can't wait to see Cube's new outfit. b) No, 1 only have eyes for a certain Mr. Hawk. C) No, a great multitude of characters makes me feel insignificant. Question #5: Will you enjoy a bevy of multiplayer options, including both cooperative and competitive modes for two to four players? a) Yes, but | may have to sell my plasma to afford three more Xbox controllers. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 102 - egm.gamers.com Despite the massive controversy surrounding a graffiti-themed game, Sega has supported the graffiti-art community with both JSRF and its prequel. Aspiring artists were able to submit their tags to graffiti@jsrf.com last fall for a chance to have their work included in the game. You'll spy the lucky winners’ art in the final version. b) No, 1 usually just play single-player modes. с) No, | have no friends to play with. Well, no real ones, anyway. OK, time to tally up your Jet Set Radio Future excitement. Award yourself one point for each time you marked “А” as your answer. Each “В” and *C" you get absolutely no points. Add up your score. Question #6: JSRFs soundtrack is a wicked mix of punk, techno, rock and rap with dope remixes by the Latch Brothers and no sight of Rob Zombie's *Dragula." Do you dig? a) I'm down with that. b) Nope, I only play games with "Dragula." C) No, | hate music. Question #7: What is a baloo? а) A bear b) A small jacket C) Sculch Hideki Naganuma is the musical maestro behind JSRF. Whether he's composing funky, original tunes or remixing phat beats, his contribution to the game is integral. EGM picks his brain. Electronic Gamí o points: Perhaps this is not the game for you. Either you have EGM: What do you think about the ability to rip music to the Xbox hard drive as WMA files? Will JSRF use this feature? HN: For games, there will be various sorts of uses and possibilities. However, if it is a system in which everyone can obtain songs of near CD-sound quality without permission by creators or owners of copyrights, І cannot say it is a perfect function. Jet Set Radio Future does not utilize this function. EGM: You've included tracks from Guitar Vader, a Japanese indie punk band, in three of your games: Roomania (Dreamcast, import only), JSR, JSRF. Do you have a close relationship with 2 Monthly - 103 - egm.gamers.com extremely specific tastes in games or you're hopelessly unhip. 1-4 points: You're not a Jet Set fanboy, but you have some serious potential to bust stuff up on the mean streets of Tokyo. 5-6 points: Odds are that you enjoyed the first game, so you'll appreciate the myriad improvements to the sequel. 7 points: You bought an Xbox for this game, dressed up as Beat for Halloween, and fantasize about making out with Gum. In other words, you've had /SRF preordered for six months by now. m —Shane Bettenhausen these cool rockers? HN: Yes. | am on very good terms with them and often go to their shows. | am looking forward to seeing them make their way into foreign markets in the future, and if there is something I can do to help them out (remix, arrangement, etc.), | will definitely do so. EGM: When you chose to include Rob Zombie's *Dragula" in the U.S. Jet Grind Radio, were you aware of just how many other games have featured that song? HN: No, I did not know. This was an idea suggested by Sega of America for the American изег5—1 was not the one who chose the song. A ` PREVIEW WWF FANS SAY НО TO CRACK The recent “Kiss My Ass Club” storyline, in which a number of WWF personalities had to kiss owner Vince McMahon’s posterior to keep their jobs, was reportedly cut short due to viewer complaints. СТВ wrestling ТШШ 75% СНИ Winter 2002 [ИН SmackDown! (PS2) CCE www.thq.com (ET Most realistic visuals in a wrestling game to date. LITT only six wrestlers in the ring at the same time, com- pared to nine in SmackDown! (PS2) ПИ Ric Flair's flabby man-breasts. WWF Raw reaches a new milestone in unsportsman- like conduct by allowing you to attack your opponent before he even gets to the ring. But watch out—there’s a good chance he'll see you coming and reverse your attack, putting you at an early disadvantage. The SmackDown Hotel. Population: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. 5'8", 150-Ib. Spike Dudley launches himself at 7', 326-Ib. Kane with the reckless abandon of a mosquito about to tangle with a truck windshield. he WWF may be the one surviving pro wrestling organization, but competition for top wrestling video game honors remains as hot and sweaty as a boiler-room match. Acclaim's excellent Legends of Wrestling temporarily stole the spotlight from WWF SmackDown!: Just Bring It, but THQ is preparing to answer with yet another WWF title, Raw 15 War for Xbox. Because it's a brand-new game for a brand-new system, Raw is a bit short on extras. If Just Bring It is a fully loaded Cadillac, Raw is more like a stripped- down Honda Civic. It has no Season or Story modes, and there aren't many match types. More exotic gimmick matches, such as Ladder, Table and Hell in a Cell, are nowhere to be found. The game's 45- character roster is a bit bizarre, too, populated with such scrubs as K-Kwik and Haku instead of recent WWF invaders DDP, Ric Flair and Billy Kidman. Those shortcomings aside, developer Anchor (of Ultimate Fighting Championship fame) has created a robust, realistic (if that word can be used with a straight face in reference to pro wrestling) game. Collision detection is the most advanced we've seen in this genre, allowing you to break up moves in progress or take out two or three guys with a single haymaker. For the first time ever, players have the opportunity to assault opponents on their way to the ring. You can even add insult to injury by robbing their accessories, including sunglasses or bandannas, and donning them yourself! Graphically, the game looks even better than the sharp-looking SmackDown!. The grapplers have changing facial expressions, and the dramatic camera angles and picture-in-picture instant replays effectively mimic a WWF broadcast. There's even a lingering haze in the air (perhaps from all the pyro) for added realism. Although hardcore wrestling fans may be disappointed by its lack of extras, WWF Raw looks like it could be a contender. Ld —Gary Mollohan Electronic Gaming Monthly - 104 - egm.gamers.com RATING PENDING MN Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for more info. — Ë ‘CONTENT RATED BY ESRB SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA and Virtua Fighter are registered trademarks of SEGA Corporation. Presented by SEGA © SEGA-AM2 Co. LTD./SEGA CORPORATION, 2001. www. sega.com ‘PlayStation’ and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved BODACIOUS BAGELS Sure, you know that Tony can land a gnarly hand plant and pull off a wicked 900, but do you know what his favorite foods are? The birdman enjoys sushi and Bagel Bites. A. Р PREVIEW GALLERY 3 (o; mee Y T pite 1S | ` 4 ECT. RalliSport Challenge Microsoft knows that rally games are a dime a dozen nowadays, which is why this March release will feature two racing styles very uncommon to the genre: hill climbing and ice racing. We got to play a bit of RalliSport recently, and these two new modes are definitely cool. Overall, the game's running really fast and looking great. Unfortunately, MS has no plans for network support for head-to-head racing. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 First, Xbox owners were blessed with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X, a compilation of the first two Pro Skater games plus a whole bunch of extras. Next, they'll be receiving a retooled version of THPS3 in March, courtesy of Activision. The game's engine and special effects have been rewritten to take advantage of Xbox's hardware capabilities. Gameplay is faster and smoother, especially in the two-player split-screen. Test Drive This March the Test Drive series will be reborn. Since everyone from Microsoft to Sony’s done the exotic sports car-racing thing, Infogrames is trying something new with this title. In Test Drive you'll play a lowly driver trying to gain a rep in the seedy underworld of street racing. Every opponent you face along the way will have a unique driving style to - contend with, as well as some really sweet rides you can win from them. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 106 - egm.gamers.com Out here, amongst the clouds and the sea, a chain gun. a course for destruction 5 et 8 | š тм. p * torpedo-laden gunboat and while away your ES days destroying Devil boats, forts and shore Piko asao EE, Batteries. Paradise awaits in the Dragon Sea. WWW XBOX. COM >< —1| p< / PREVIEW GALLERY Knockout Kings 2007 If Will Smith's Ali has you itchin’ to kick some ass, then you'll be in luck this March. Electronic Arts’ latest brawler lets you fight with (or against) the legendary boxer and a slew of other modern-day punching bags (such as Lennox Lewis and Oscar De La Hoya). This year, EA is trying to get rid of the stiff, clunky feel that has saddled down the series. The early version we tried has boxers who respond quicker and move more smoothly. And who can blame them? A new, hip-hop soundtrack makes it easy to float to like a butterfly in the ring, and the suddenly chatty announcers give this game the excitement it sorely needed. NBA Inside Drive 2002 Much like NFL Fever, Microsoft’s new hoops game (out by the time you read this) ambitiously tries to deliver realistic gameplay at breakneck speeds. What really stands out to the baller in all of us are the sweet passes that include arcing lobs to the post and dizzying cross-court bouncers that would make Jason Kidd proud. But once you get to the hoop with those, how about the reward? Bill Nielsen, Drive’s product manager, says, “The Xbox hard drive and sound chips are letting us do incredible stuff with the audio.” In other words, the crowd noise, taunts and stadium music should sound just as good as being there. New Legends Designed by the mastermind behind Jedi Knight for the PC, New Legends, THQ’s great Asian adventure, offers similar hack-‘n’-slash action, viewed from a third-person perspective. With dozens of weapons and spells at Sun Soo’s (good guy) disposal, Xao Gon’s (bad guy) demonic forces don’t stand a chance. New Legends, which should be out by the time you read this, also features great character designs. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 108 - egm.gamers.com and iher елт fo be no hope E all. And as if that wasn’t enough, the young wizard had aged 30 years in а day and a pack of wild hell hounds was trying to devour him. He used his orb and a lava spell to torch the wretched beasts and ran for his life. He continues on his quest to become a master sorcerer, but he still has nowhere near the 45 spelis he needs to defeat the darkness. Not even near the епа orp. All rights reserved, Mica Xbox NEG (Corporation in the United States and/or othér countries: Oth d (РА TERRIBLE CONNECTIONS What do John Carpenter's The Thing, the made-for-TV movie Ewoks: The Battle for Endor and a toasty bowl of Quaker Oats have in common? Wilford Brimley. Yep, that kindly oldster hawks oats, dances with furballs, and gets brutally mauled by a killer plant. PREVIEW GALLERY Pro Race Driver Codemasters has set out to simulate the life and times of a professional racecar driver, not just the hours spent laying rubber on the track. While this doesn't mean you'll see your motor jockey making his morning coffee or getting his prostate examined, significant story elements will be dotting his path on the road to winning...um...whatever racecar guys win. Money, we guess, and maybe a nice trophy. These are the first in-game Xbox models we've seen for Pro Race Driver, which is due in June 2002. Aiming for photorealism in all the cars and tracks, the developers are mimicking real-world locations and showing damage on the vehicles as it occurs. What's more, the autos are all licensed, so if you've got qualms about busting up your real-life ride, you can simulate the experience with impunity on PRD. The Thing Universal Interactive is out to prove that even a 20-year-old horror film can still make a reasonably scary game. The Thing is the first console offering from London-based Computer Artworks, whose PC experience is helping this puzzle-laden action title look really nice on the Xbox. For all you dinosaurs who were around to enjoy the 1982 flick, the game takes place in the same Antarctic setting as the movie, just shortly afterward and without the thespian stylings of Kurt Russell. Depending on how you interact with the game's characters, you'll have varied success in solving puzzles and completing the objectives that lead to your ultimate goal of annihilating the alien “thing” that torments the frigid research base. Universal is shooting to get this Thing out the door by fall 2002. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 10 - egm.gamers.com PlayStation.e p МК А WARRIOR WORTH N THOUSAND! Кусы у сту" тм / BATTLEFIELD ACTION with over 20 intense Stages and 40 playable Warriors! Š TW / Brand new 2-PLAYER Versus and Cooperative Modes! / Even more bone-crushing moves; айй improved MUSOU Attacks! / Control your bodyguards with squad-level commands! / First in the series -- massive ELEPHANT TROOPS! коет www.koeigames.com RATING PENDING х Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 улау for more info. LET I PROTOCULTURE OVERDOSE It would require a small thesis to explain the saga of why both Robotech and Macross are now available on DVD. Looking for САМЕ BOY, "ZNDNVANECE. English voices? Check out ADV Films' Robotech Box Set. Want the original Japanese dialog? Try Animeigo's Macross discs. PREVIEW GALLERY Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 The wizards at Activision have once again aimed their shrink ray at Tony Hawk, and the results are sure to impress come this March. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 has everything that made its PlayStation 2 cousin a smash, including trick-linking revert moves and expansive, interactive environments. Los Angeles, new to this latest preview version, has its trademark Walk of Fame, lots of snooty pedestrians to knock down, and an entire movie set to wreck. But watch out for the punks loitering in front of the nightclub—they’ll kick Tony’s ass if they get the chance. The game also has a Kid mode that helps younger Game Boy Advance players shred with the best of ‘em and a slew of multi- player games (which don’t require multiple copies of the game), including Trick Attack, Free Skate, Tag, King of the Hill and the ever-popular H.O.R.S.E. Lunar Legend Game Arts’ Lunar seems an odd choice for a GBA port, considering how much the series relies on full-motion video cinemas to tell its story. Still, this game is looking great, and should play really well if the previous games are any indication. No publisher has been announced for Lunar Legend as of yet. Robotech A lot of us who grew up watching Robotech have always wanted to pilot one of those bad-ass veritechs against a horde of attacking Zentraedi. Now TDK Mediactive's gonna let us do it on the go with their first Robotech-licensed game. This is a side-scrolling shooter based on the first Robotech war (Macross), and is due sometime this spring. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 112 - egm.gamers.com | JEREMY MS Palla “supercross. World ы. MCGraTH Z7 BONN Wis. их Aro SINCE 1909 | BBEDPD HDLDBr. MOST Supercross wins Buer 110-TIME AMA БиРрегсгоБ55= шогьо CHAMPION LEU оя беџ ов = LBU 22 LBU 25 inooor + ouTrooor + Bava + FreesTyuLe + STUNT the only game featuring 10x world chompion 25 super-sized tracks: exclusive ваја racing, Freestyle mode featuring 24 tricks: пас- innovative “stunt advantage system" and Jeremy mearoth and freestyle phenom travis indoor supercross, freestyle and outdoor пос, supermans, fender grabs, 360s and head-to-head split-screen mode Pastrana motocross venues barrel rolls THERE ARE MANY RIDERS. BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE KING. аке City. All Rights SStation*2 computer entertain => {| Рјаузганоље EUM acclaimmaxsports.ci ie "PS" Family logo are regist nt system version of the video game, 1L Shield and the Stanley Cup are registered trademarks of the National Hockey League All NHL logos and marks and team logos and marks depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective HLPA, je Officially Licensed Product of the NHLPA. NHLPA, National Hockey League Players’ Association and the NHLPA logo are trades Sega. © NHL Segasports.com ragging rights are forever. Dreamcast. ЕМЕВУОНЕ Violence os, LP ©2002 МИА! rights reserved, Officially Licensed “The best мау to think of Maximo is that it's not a sequel or part of the Ghouls “n Ghosts franchise," says Lead Designer Scott Rogers, “but it's part of the same world.” Ah, that explains all the familiar faces, enemies and sequences that pop up in Maximo. Behold, just a few Maximo moments of gameplay greatness that harken back to Ghosts 'n Goblins and its super sequels... It isn't every day that American developers churn out a game with such cohesive vision and design as Maximo. To find out what CDS did right in the two years leading up to the game's release, you need look no further than their Sunnyvale, Calif., offices where it all took place. Tacked on every nook and cranny of wall space are endless sheets of picturesque design docs, posted as a daily reminder that this is how Maximo must look, feel and play. "We designed [Maximo] in a very Japanese way," explains CDS Director of R&D David Siller. “The Japanese don't use text to describe things in detail-they design through draw- ings and diagrams, by showing A, B and C. That's how 1 learned to do it 15 years ago." Similarly, when it came to conveying level designs to the 3D artists, Senior Designer Bill Anderson built clay models to bet- ter illustrate how the environments should look. "When we proposed Maximo, we had a lot of illustrations on paper,” says Anderson, “but we didn't have a lot of stuff for Capcom to look at. The clay models, along with the paper material, actually got the budget approved and everything rolling.” сезчу бш, (Ста) Date ot 703 CPC TEAM (Approved: DS -2 extus бео off tha edge, he doses ^ ec. coy ton and— presto!—the on-screen 3D model would assume the mon- key's pose. It was a time-consuming process that most 3D artists aban- doned when animation software became more powerful. But it's still a handy tool for Mark Rogers. “| keep this clunky, expen- sive thing on my desk to remind me how wasteful game development can be sometimes," he says, “how not to do things." Rogers, a laid- back Brit who could stunt-double for Val Kilmer, has been at this whole game-biz thing for quite a while, having worked with Euro publishers Ocean and U.S. Gold. In fact, the entire CDS team is staffed with veter- ans. The lead programmer worked on Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Double Dribble. The designers had a hand in Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee for PlayStation. The collective gameography of these guys goes on and on. They know how to make games. And for Maximo, the designers are tak- | Š Coss "s ^ Maximo's designers plotted every enemy, boss and move in cartoony sketches that actually pack as much personality as the game itself. Go to egm.gamers.com for a closer look at these mini works of art. ing the simple approach, using straightforward sketches and even clay models—rather than a novel-length design document—to get their ideas across to the art and programming staff (see sidebar above). It’s actually a very Japanese way of making games, which would explain why Maximo has that made-in-Japan look and feel. “Japanese developers tend to make the best games,” Siller says. “They’re very thorough. They’re very creative. They’re very artistic. But we didn’t sit here and say, ‘Let’s make a Japanese-style game.’ Our doctrine was, ‘Let’s make a Capcom game. Let's proudly be part of Capcom R&D.” That meant that CDS had to stand up to Capcom’s own standards. Every game developed by Capcom is subject to internal review by all seven of the company’s game-design divisions. “They go, ‘This power-up sucks, this area should be improved,’ stuff like that,” Mark Rogers says. But if Electronic Gaming Monthly - 121 - egm.gamers.com "Wwe guarantee you've never Played ° М уа а SUMMING game this Тт _— Ото] oe. тавга те så WM a best surfirig'expërjerice л to date Crosman обвинена з Mild Violence Strong Lyrics à ` : LSS Ý INFOGRAMES, Its library stocks TRECE. game magazines. d Its English courses teach creative writing for game design. Its cafeteria has arcade machines. Welcome to , Where students live and learn video games “sjsu ay} uo 5Јајзезецз әшеб quy Saqo 1əpeəluəaup елец Ajjeas },йәор. пәдїбїй "oyong 'paytoxe 00} 395 1,uog Photography by Allsport and Karen Moskowitz f you want to survive at the world's premier video game university, then you better get to know the Gulps. The Gulps are the suite of gargantuan sodas on tap at the 7-11 across the fence from the DigiPen Institute of Technology's main building outside Seattle. A reasonably thirsty person might spring for the wee Gulp, a 16-ounce cup. A Survivor finalist might suck down the 44- ounce Super Big Gulp. But the students at DigiPen will settle for nothing less than the Double Gulp, a hideous troth that, in some parts of the world, would make an adequate latrine for a family of six. The Double Gulp holds 64 refillable ounces of Mountain Dew, just about enough caffeine and sugar to get one through the 12- hour days of calculus, С++ programming and sexual deprivation that come with the school's $12,000 annual tuition. It's the bittersweet tonic of life at DigiPen. Playing games is a hell of alot of fun. Learning to make them is a fun lot of hell. Hang around the school for a few days and you'll hear this refrain from the students, who are busting their butts to make the grade, to the faculty, who are busting the students for the sake of giving video games a good name. “When | first got here," says weary 24-year-old student Drew Canitz, "they told me “happy boot camp." Canitz wrinkles his forehead and adds, "Yeah, right. A boot camp that makes you fat!" í AME Sca. p^ "SERIOUS SCIENCE" A funny thing happened on the way to the video game revolution: The games became too fun—so fun that gamers are shelling out $10 billion per year on the stuff. To keep up with demand, game companies need talented artists, designers and programmers who can not only create cool games but also with- stand the deadlines, deal with the chaos, and just plain get along. Problem is, where do companies go to find such ace coders? It was just such a question that inspired an entrepreneurial Lebanese gamer named Claude Comair to launch an early version of the DigiPen school in 1994. Since 1988, Comair had been running a computer- animation company under the same name in Vancouver, Canada. Short for “digital pen," DigiPen was a 10-person outfit that specialized in creating 3D simulations for everything from TV commercials to architectural walk- throughs. Business was good—too good, in fact, because Comair suddenly found himself at a loss for skillful and experienced new employees. So he scratched his head one day and thought about who he might call for advice. He dialed Nintendo, which at the time ruled over 80 percent of the game market. Surely they'd know where to find crack programmers. Turned out they didn't. Instead, they commiserated with Comair about how there was nowhere in the world, not any university, that was teaching how to make games. A light bulb crackled. Comair thought, "I'll start a school!" Electronic Gaming Monthly - Comair and his chief operating officer, Jason Chu, spent the next three years consulting and negotiating with Nintendo to transform DigiPen into something previously unimaginable: a school for gamers. With classrooms filled with equipment donated by Nintendo, Comair and Chu developed a two-year curriculum in 1994. The coursework would be necessarily intense: 13-hour days, Six days a week, covering all the essentials from math to game design. They planned to take in 30 students. By April, they had received 1,200 applications. It didn't take long to see that such a school wasn't the only thing in demand. Within months, 11 of the 30 students were offered jobs from companies such as Electronic Arts, Sega and Iguana Studios (makers of the Turok titles). Konami gave five DigiPen students the royal treatment: It flew them out for interviews, sending gift baskets to their rooms and whisking them around in limos. By the time the first class was ready to graduate in 1996, a third of the original students had already left for jobs in the games biz. "It confirmed our belief," says Chu, "that there was a need in the industry for a school that teaches people how to make games." But credibility was less easy to secure from the educational establishment. DigiPen in 1996 was still not officially authorized by an educational body. As they made the rounds, Comair and Chu began to see that, despite their success orthe size of the game industry, people on the outside simply weren't getting it. “Тћеу would not respect game-making as a serious Science," says Chu. The duo finally found respect across the border in Washington state. The Higher Education Coordinating Board in Olympia agreed to approve the school as long as it added humanities courses to the rigorous computer- science curriculum. In total, DigiPen would require a whopping 154 credits in video game studies compared to the 120 credits required by most schools for a four-year degree. Beyond that, the board had just one more demand: When talking about the school, lose the word "games." The Board was worried that if the school marketed, say, a bachelor's degree in Game Development, parents and students would get the wrong idea—that everyone just sits around and plays Final Fantasy all day. "If we put the word ‘game’ in the degree title," Chu says, "it would always require explanation, particularly to the older generation. So why not just call it something they understand?" DigiPen decided ultimately to grant degrees in "Real-Time Interactive Simulation." The younger students, Chu and Q^ "ТЕ I WERE ТО MAKE A BANNER FOR THE SCHOOL, ГО WRITE ОМ IT ‘KIDS FOREVER.” -DigiPen founder Claude Comaire (left) with co-founder Jason Chu Comair figured, would know what the degree really meant anyway. Today, 360 students are living the real-time dream. DigiPen now offers both a two- and four-year degree in not only Interactive Simulation but also 3D Computer Animation taught by professionals who have lived, breathed, and eaten games. Situated in the leafy burg of Redmond, Wash., next door to Nintendo of America and down the street from Microsoft HQ, DigiPen very much resembles what one might imagine a game university to be. Clusters of hair- dyed and baggy-jeaned students hang outside playing hacky sack. A library bulges with back issues of gaming magazines. A lunchroom bleeps with the sounds of arcade machines. “If | were to make a banner for the school," Comair says, “I'd write on it ‘kids forever. Being a kid, of course, is not always as easy as it seems. Six weeks into the semester, Christopher Erhardt decides it’s time to inflict The Stress Test. It’s 2 p.m. on a crisp fall afternoon. Inside a lecture hall on the second floor of the DigiPen building, Erhardt paces authoritatively in front of several rows of students hunched cautiously behind their PCs. Dressed in kryptonite-green glasses, dark jeans, a faded leather jacket, and a black leg brace (due to a recent spill down the steps), Erhardt looks less like a teacher and more like a recovering biker. Erhardt earned his scars from 14 years on the front lines of the game industry, culminating as director of U.S. development for Infogrames. Students respect him for his blunt, if not cynical, insight into what it really takes to make a game. Even better, he's got the gonads to parade around campus wearing an Xbox T-shirt—a fairly punk move for a school sponsored by Nintendo — and how cool is that? At the moment, however, the students aren't finding him very cool at all. Erhardt has just told them that they have exactly one hour to create a game animation using a program that had just been taught to them last week. They emit a collective groan. That’s just what Erhardt wanted them to do. Before class, he explained to us that this stress test is intended to catch students off guard and force them to code on the fly—just as they will inevitably have to do under high-pressure situations at a real game company. And out there it will be even tougher, he says, because real money will be at stake. “Here,” he adds dryly, “they can make mistakes without having to worry about not getting fed.” Most of these mistakes get made during the several semesters of Games Projects courses that Erhardt oversees. This is essentially the boiler room for DigiPen’s troops, the place where students learn the essentials of game production. In some ways, the trajectory of the classes emulates the evolution of the industry. The first year, students learn the basics of writing a game design document—the bible of a project—and create their own text- based and puzzle games. In subsequent years, they'll cover more sophisticated games from the old Mario Bros. side-scrolling style to the more elaborate 3D games of today. By the time they graduate, student teams will have produced up to a half dozen games from concept to completion, when they == [^ | 90800. can kick back and watch their very own game dudes jumping around their screens. John Corpening, a 28-year-old sophomore from Las Cruces, N.M., literally has dudes jumping on his PC. “The Dudes" is the пате he and his project team gave to the characters in their game, Geode. Down the hall from the Games 100 class, Corpening shows us their work-in-progress. About 20 students are slaving at PCs in this room. Because their days run from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., students at DigiPen spend the bulk of their time on site. With souped-up computers and T-1 connections at school, there really is no reason— let alone time—for the students to schlep home. Instead they hunker down with their Double Gulps and 7:11 hot dogs in their homerooms to work on their games. by on a puffy cloud to hurry them along. Hey, why not? Corpening taps the keyboard as the little Dudes, who resemble long-lost characters from a Ren and Stimpy cartoon, make their way across the screen. The game is clever and has its share of tricks. A needle in the upper right-hand corner of the screen shows which way the geode is lying within the rock bin. If the rock is, say, leaning to the side, the Dudes' gravity is affected, making the player feel like he's running up a hill when the floor in fact looks flat. Geode also runs a nifty little language-parsing program that randomly spits out proper names from dozens of languages. At the moment, the Dudes all have Vietnamese names like Khai and Ping. Corpening, who quit pursuing a master's in environmental engineering to attend DigiPen, says that game production warms both his left and right brain juices simultaneously. “There’s nothing "S[FOCUSES] ON INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING, THREADS, AND MULTIPLE END-GAME SCENARIOS. —From the catalog description of DigiPen’s ENG доо class Corpening’s game takes place within a hollow geode rock, in the mid-19405, just after the nuclear tests in New Mexico. The high concept, he tells us breathlessly, is that some kid was in a rock store and had buried his egg-salad sandwich in the stones right before the bombs went off. Triggered by the nuclear boom, the egg salad mutated inside the geodes, giving life to a tiny colony of so-called “Dudes.” They live to conquer and expand, taking over each other’s territory. To make matters more complicated, a fat naked god named Howard occasionally floats more intellectually satisfying that’s both technical and creative,” he says. “No degree gives you that like video game programming.” Make no bones about it, though: It’s the technical side that often wins out at DigiPen. Video games, certainly, are nothing without the programming code that tells the machine how to display graphics, produce sound, and respond to the gamer’s rat-a-tat-tat tapping of the controls. In typical classes, students might have to, say, interpolate a quaternion curve or wrestle with the concept of a cubic spline. And that’s the fun part. ELBEYBE ЖЕ LZBEC^ зан DigiPen, by necessity, takes pains to round out the mind- bending math work with humanities courses. Even the most ardent programmers, for example, have to suffer through the touchy- feely stuff of English, Art and Sociology. Still, these courses all bear the imprint of DigiPen's unique brand. A mythology class, for instance, is spun as Mythology for Game Designers. As described in the catalog, the class explores *the monomyth of the hero's journey and how a game developer may redefine the archetypal figures and adventures therein." In ENG 400: Creative Writing for Game Design, students "focus on interactive storytelling, threads, and multiple end-game scenarios." Even Erhardt's game-project boot-camp class mingles the brain freeze of code crunch with the high-minded pursuit of what makes a game a game. "Why do people play games?" Erhardt asks the students after they've completed their stress tests. “Bragging rights!" yelps a skinny kid in the back with two-tone hair. | Electronic Gaming Monthly - 128 - egm.gamers.com BOTH TECHNICAL CREATIVE." — DigiPen student John Corpening “То waste time!" volunteers another. *To think!" says a third. Erhardt stops in his tracks, raises an eyebrow and sways his head vaguely. “То think?" he repeats, then steers the discussion into a seemingly less sticky area: "What is the only thing someone needs to play a game?" “Hardware!” suggests one kid. “Eww,” Erhardt responds, "ever hear of Dungeons and Dragons? What kind of hardware do you need to play that? Again, what is the only thing someone needs to play a game?" A fat kid wearing a Korn shirt barks, "A brain!" DigiPen students design games of every type, including puzzle titles like Matrix Attack (left), and John Corpening's Geode (far left). — 92000 Nabisco, Inc. Y V | Schoo Erhardt sways his head again. “So,” he responds acidly, "you're saying that the only thing a game requires is that you're not brain dead?” Everyone laughs. But it’s hard to tell if Erhardt thinks the kid nailed the answer or missed the point. Without explanation, he limps to his desk in his black brace and taps a few keys at his PC. A raucous electric guitar suddenly rips through the room at full volume followed by a digital hip- hop beat. The students crane their necks. Unbeknownst to them, this is a tune Erhardt found online and decided, spontaneously, to stream into the classroom. It’s a song that, as the lyrics roll, speaks to the essential reason why everyone is here suffering through the math, the projects, the stress. The lyrics: “I'm a game designer and there ain't none finer/I spend most of my time dreaming/Got this idea, see, yeah it came to me/And it's gonna be the next big thing!/Yeah, it's gonna be the next big thing!" Throughout the room, young heads bop. "No GIRLS” “You want to see where we keep the time machine?" says Nicholas Phillips, co-leader of DigiPen's most ambitious group of game developers, Team Neinstein. Phillips, who sports a circular bicep tattoo and a green shirt that reads “| Enjoy the Taste of Beer,” is giving atour of the house Neinstein members share by a lake in Redmond. It's a fairly typical bachelor pad, complete with a makeshift weight room in the garage, a heap of N64 cartridges by the tube, and a 5-foot inflatable beer bottle leaning against the living-room wall. «ОК, there really isn't a time machine here," Phillips says, although we wouldn't be surprised to find it. Phillips and his group are pretty much the resident whiz kids on campus—a brainy and iconoclastic crew of seniors who were given the elite and exclusive opportunity to work on a Nintendo 64 game. Good grades, hard work and a flair for game design earned the guys the privilege of tinkering with Mario's wares. And what a uniquely educational privilege that is. It's teaching them not only how to work the hardware, but what they might expect from the real business and politics of the big- league gaming world. Nintendo, as they have quickly learned, is like the Area 51 of game development: so secretive and guarded that the students have to fill out reams of nondisclosure agreements just to get their hands on the goods. Even to get inside —Team Neinstein co-leader Nicholas Phillips, outside his top-secret DigiPen lab 130 the halls of DigiPen, visitors need special electronic security badges; if one forgets to return the badge after leaving, the school will E-mail immediately to get it back. Though the Nintendo of America office is literally right next door, students are barred from entering that domain. A double-door leading from the DigiPen wing to Nintendo is emblazoned with a staunch warning in large red letters: “Stop! Alarm Will Sound!” Students can't even sneak their way into Team Neinstein's lab without retribution. That lab, Phillips shows us back . on campus, is in a room called Einstein. All DigiPen classrooms are named after scientists or artists: Galileo, Van Gogh, Newton. Sitting in Einstein, as the name suggests, is an honor. Phillips' crew took their name because there were nine of them on the team originally, thus Neinstein. Though it looks like an extension of their home—Oreo wrappers, herbal-supplement pills and empty Double Gulps—the work here remains Nintendo's domain. For the past three semesters, the company has kept a stranglehold over Neinstein's project, a game called Fantasy Fighter. The students are not allowed to take any of their goods off campus. They can't invite friends in to check out their work. At the moment, they're battling with the school just to be able to show their game to Sputnik, a local group of professional game Ра s: j : Ort vift DiRT АМО ~ Е Youg FACE W OYING TH! Сри ы or Edge? Clean,a shaving gel with a built-in facial cleanser. It helps lift dirt and oil from your skin while you shave. So you get great skin care without thinking about it. Edge’ Active Care" save your skin” isit us @ www.insideedge.com mp [^ developers who volunteer to critique student work. Allowing the pros to see their games, they've been told, could leak out potentially damaging details about the classified hardware (believe it or not, Nintendo is still secretive about their N64 hardware — even after they've moved on to the GameCube and Game Boy Advance). For this reason, Neinstein won't be able to show prospective employers the game they completed because it has to run off proprietary Nintendo wares. Instead, Sputnik will have to settle for a complimentary videotape. “Мап,” says Devin Jorlett, another member of the team, “I'd pay the school $1,000 just to let me have one copy of the game to show people." Jorlett has reason to want to Team Neinstein at their December graduation flaunt the team's work. He and the other guys are already making plans to launch their own development company upon graduation. This dream to create the next big thing in gaming is what drew them each to DigiPen. Jorlett quit a lucrative gig to come here. Phillips bailed out of the University of Wisconsin. Such migratory paths are typical of the school's students. David Devaty, a 23-year-old from Cleveland, left the distinguished enclave of the University of Chicago. Jeremy Brown, an exceptional student from Pensacola, Fla., completed high school at age 14 to begin pursuing his love of game design. The hotbed of ambition creates a competitive atmosphere that separates the mere gamers from the game gods. Many students crack from the pressure. “Some kids out of high school, they just die here," Jorlett says. One prob- lem DigiPen has is its washout rate, which ranges between 15 and 30 percent —surprising numbers considering the incentive to stick around. Nearly 9o percent of all graduates have obtained game- related jobs upon departure. To make it, the seniors say, requires a staggering amount of focus and discipline—no hang- overs, no parties, no weekends off. “If | had too many distractions,” says Phillips, “I wouldn't be where l am now." By distractions, Phillips means more or less all the usual collegiate stuff that students take for granted: parties, football games, even, alas, sex. When we ask what's the hardest thing about life at DigiPen, a kid walking by with a backpack volunteers the answer: "no girls." "SEGAHOLIC" If you want to make it at DigiPen, then you better get acquainted with GameWorks, the sprawling arcade launched just across the bridge in downtown Seattle. Late one Friday afternoon, the place is a kaleidoscope of action. Two meaty guys in black Raiders jerseys wield prosthetic fire hoses in Sega's Brave Firefighters game. A giggling teen couple races laps under a real-life NASCAR vehicle suspend- ed from the ceiling. A wiry guy shimmies on the pads of Dance Dance Revolution. Meanwhile, a prospective DigiPen student named Brennan Sweeney is unleashing some rounds in a light-gun shooter. Sweeney, a 15-year-old high school sophomore, has traveled here with his father from Auburn, Ala., to check out the school firsthand. Though one might expect a kid's dad to be skeptical of a school devoted to video games, Sweeney's father proves that the times may be changing. He doesn't just approve of his son's potential collegiate track—he's giddy about it. "At home," he beams, "Brennan's always on the computer or his Sega Dreamcast. He's a Segaholic!” As for Brennan himself, he's not sure quite what he'll find at DigiPen. It's still a big mystery. “I figure they probably play a lot of games," he says, "but I'm sure it's also pretty intense." Maybe he'll make it after all. Ll Electronic Gaming Monthly 97 GET SCHOOLED So you want to be а video game star? DigiPen is not your only choice for this kind of high-tech higher education. Here's a look at some of ће other schools that offer computer-game- related studies or degrees. Extra controller not included. FULL SAIL REAL WORLD EDUCATION Location: Winter Park, Fla. (near Orlando) Skinny: Offers a “Game Degree Associate of Science” degree, plus extensive coursework in digital media, film/video production, and recording arts. Info: www.fullsail.com STANFORD UNIVERSITY Location: Stanford, Calif. (near San Francisco) Skinny: Dr. Henry Lowood offers Ivy League caliber courses such as “History of Computer Game Design: Technology, Culture and Business.” Info: www.stanford.edu EASTERN BUSINESS COMPUTER INSTITUTE Location: New Brunswick, Сапада Skinny: EBCI’s Interactive Entertainment Technology specializes in career training for educational and entertainment software. Info: www.ebci.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT IRVINE Location: Irvine, Calif. 1 Skinny: Assistant Professor Robert Nideffer achieved fame, and notoriety, for designing a minor degree in computer games and gaming here. If you're looking for a mentor, try him. Info: www.uci.edu CARNEGIE MELLON Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. Skinny: Offers а Master of Entertainment Technology through the school’s College of Fine Arts and School of Computer Science. Info: www.cmu.edu IS UNIVERSITY ОЕ NORTH TEXAS Location: Denton, Texas (near PEED] Skinny: Professor lan Parberry teaches courses in game programming amid the hub of Dallas game companies like id Software, Ritual Entertainment and Ensemble Studios. Info: www.unt.edu GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Location: Atlanta, ба. Skinny: Offers a game programming degree through the computer science department, including classes such as “Video Game Design and Programming.” Info: www.gatech.edu INDIANA UNIVERSITY Location: Bloomington, Ind. Skinny: Dr. Robert Appelman teaches a course on the educational use of video games in “The Impact of Games and Simulation in Instruction.” Info: www.indiana.edu UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Location: Los Angeles, Calif. Skinny: USC's Institute for Creative Technologies is a hotbed for computer simulation research, including work for the military. Info: www.usc.edu x 1 =. PARSON’S SCHOOL *- OF DESIGN Location: New York, N.Y. Skinny: Offers programs їп computer art and game design. Info: www.parsons.edu “Buy this опе now.” _ -Electronic Gaming Monthly —MIDWAY T | | l | | Xbox™ video game ‘system | PlayStation"2 computer entertainment system. The most powerful driving experience ever is blasting E—7 2 4 [47]. T r IF e its way onto the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox. Nintendo GameCube™ Top secret info at spyhunter.midway.com PREPARE TO BE HUNTED MARCH 2002 EEN AVAILABLE NOW AVAILABLE SUMMER 2002 icles fey MAN TEN 2 o >< => А чене ©) GAMECUBE. ox PlayStation. | GAMEBOYADvaNcE МА ESRB Spy Hunter © 2001 Midway Amusement Games, LLC. All rights reserved. SPY HUNTER, MIDWAY and the Midway logos are trademarks of Midway Amusement Games, LLC. Used by permission. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Fanily logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are under license from Microsoft. Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube logos are trademarks of Nintendo. EGM rates games based on how they compare with other titles on the same system. The highest score we'll give a game is a 10. When a game receives a 10, you can rest assured it's one of the best games ever made—a revolutionary title that truly stands above everything else in its genre for Platinum Awards go to games that get all 10's, the best and rarest review a game can get. Crispin Boyer Features Editor Crispin's angry outbursts during Halo sessions have become so R- rated that we've banished him to live under the sea. In a recent post- card, Cris said that Little Mermaid slut is one cheap 5#%8 пе sniper! : Action, Adventure Maximo, Halo, Pikmin West Coast Editor After watching Lord of the Rings, Che hit the local ren fair in search of hot elven babes. No such luck, but he did get to chill with Lord British, Gary Gygax and some fat guy who plays Magic: The Gathering. PS: Fighting, Racing, RPG : FFX, Maximo, GTA3, C-Strike Jonathan Dudlak Associate Editor Turning 24 means having to look out for your fragile, wilting body. So Jon stocked up on Vitamin C pills and has been downing them by the stack. Gotta live to see that sweet | auto insurance discount at 25. orite Genres: 2D Fighters, Shooters rent Faves: Maximo, Halo, Genma Onimusha Gold Awards go to games whose average H score equals 9.0 or H higher. ыы These are the sports nuts оп the Crew, but that doesn't mean they're not into all types of games. It just means you 10 9088 5 : o its time. At the other end of the spectrum sits the | lowest score a game can receive: a 0.0. This is the kind of game you want to avoid at all costs. It's pure crap. In the middle lies the average grade, 5.0. We repeat: 5.0 IS AVERAGE. Simple, ain't it? H Games that average at least an 8.0 (but lower than 9.0) receive zd Silver Awards. = | о Hot = Editor in Chief Lm It's been nine months since Shoe's = been back at EGM, and he still hasn't left the offices yet. He wishes he could find time to go play with the neighborhood kids, but alas, work and Halo keep him indoors. : Everything Halo (yes, still), Puyo Pop Chris Johnston News Editor Chris' addiction to Super Smash Bros. Melee continued this month when he decided to play through it again just to unlock everything in his U.S. copy. Will he be able to defeat Giga Bowser once again? s: Action, Adventure, Music : Halo, SSBM, Super Mario World | After battling her way through another crazy month at EGM, Jeanne found herself in the office’s haunted south hall, and like her boy Harry Potter, discovered (to her dis- may) one of EGM's terrible secrets. : RPG, Shooters, Adventure Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, FFX GAME BOY Executive Editor Mark took a well-earned vacation this month with his lady to that lit- tle island just north of the Donut Plains in Mario World. It was beauti- ful, he says, except for Luigi and his С tiny green Speedo. Damn Italians. : Action, Adventure, RPG Maximo, Super Mario World — West Coast /Web Editor Playing MotoGP 2 all month has rekindled the coals that fire Milky's furnace. If anyone out there owns a Ducati dealership and would just love to cut the Milkman a break on a Monster S4, give him a holler. Fighting, Action, Adventure tal Frame, VF4, Maximo, Rez Greg Sewart Reviews/Previews Editor Sewart rediscovered his love for everything Sonic this month. Sonic Advance, Sonic on GameCube, Sonic toys in Shenmue II and even Sonic | Meatballs! Sonic's the bomb, no matter what MacDonald says. 5: Racing, RPG, Action : Shenmue 11, Halo, Sonic Advance can be sure that sports reviews are being done by the sports enthusiasts and not by some schmucks. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 184 - egm.gamers.com Publisher: Namco Г == Developer: Criterion Studios Featured In: EGM #151 Players: 1-2 Try Instead: Dark Summit Best Feature: Lovely visuals Worst Feature: Fluffy controls Web Site: www.namco.com If | won a contest where | could invent any means of transportation and have it delivered to my door, an anti-gravity hoverboard would be near the top of my list. Lord knows | could get used to scooting around like those lucky kids in Back to the Future Part II pret- ty quickly. And while AirBlade almost makes my dreams come true, multiple factors keep my feet stuck in the mud. “Xtreme games with a story” is a micro-genre | hope goes the way of the dodo. Hoping to justify your playtime (and purchase) by weaving a sinister plot into the action, AirBlade stumbles where it could have soared. Each level's mission objectives require you to destroy a specific set of objects (spotlights, moving trucks, radar dish- es, limousines, etc.) by grinding on them, and to defeat enemies by performing tricks at/on them. It's a flimsy premise made worse by some crappy colli- sion detection and less-than-stellar camera work. Even the deep moves list and responsive controls are deadened by the completely floaty, magic carpet- style anti-gravity physics. Instead of feeling like the Silver Surfer, you feel like the Silver Slacker, lazily loafing around on your hoverboard. On the flipside, the graphics are nice, and the visually diverse back- grounds are large and (о? interactive elements. | can see that Criterion was trying to make something a little different than just the same ol’ same ol’, but that doesn't mean it's good. Milkman i! High Heat Major · League Baseball 2003 Y лат 0-0 UUUT НИЧ р: 1) Publisher: 3D0 ва r= Developer: Team .366 Players: 1-2 Also Try: The cool two-on-two mode Includes: Lots of geeky baseball stats BestFeature: Very realistic Worst Feature: Presentation still а bit ho-hum Web Site: www. highheat.com Руе always said that if 300 spiffied up this fran- chise’s graphics, they would have a winner on their hands. Well, they’ve finally done it. Better late than never, right? Now I’m not saying that this game looks so good that it re-creates Randy Johnson’s mullet like never before. Rather, I’m just happy that for once, High Heat's graphics won't scare you away before you get to enjoy the game underneath. That may not sound like a ringing endorsement, but the amaz- ing gameplay is what makes this worth the price of admission. This is the only next-generation title that realistically re-creates every facet of the game. There was nary a play that made me roll my eyes in disbe- lief (most baseball games have my peepers spinning like a slot machine by the seventh-inning stretch) and the post-game scoresheet was so detailed that it looked like it was ripped right out of Baseball Weekly, both literally and figuratively. I'd even go out on a limb and bet that this brainy game crunches more numbers than Rosie O'Donnell's dietician. Suffice it to say, this is one great simulation. If other games have.spoiled you by letting you smack 20 home:runs and 30 base hits a game, then уоште in for a rude awakening. You'll have to string together bloopers, sacrifice flies and steals to manufacture valuable runs. But don't let that scare you away. Baseball is much more fun when you don't have to aim for the fences at every at-bat. Kraig Jonny Moseley Май Тих Bog TET 819 Publisher: 3DO Developer: 3DO Featured In: ЕСМ #148 Players: 1 Try Instead: SSX Tricky Best Feature: Sprawling mountain courses Worst Feature: Disorienting gameplay Web Site: www.3do.com Let's see...trick-charging control scheme? Check. Pyrotechnic light shows? Check. Music that fades when you catch big air? Check. Yep, Jonny Moseley Mad Trix has copied SSX's formula in every way, right down to the white guy with the big “то. The only novelty here—besides the two planks of wood under your feet instead of a board—is the level design. Half the stages are set in real-world cities (like Las Vegas, Rome and Washington, D.C.) where Moseley himself always wanted to ski but couldn't because of pesky city ordinances and basic laws of meteorology. It's a neat idea, until you play it. You begin the game with plodding skiers; what's supposed to be а 50-тйе- per-hour rocket ride feels more like a brisk power- walk at the mall with grandma. The control system suffers from a serious case of "grind-suck," too: Jab the grind button anywhere near an edge—even 10 feet away—and you get yanked to it like you're caught in a tractor beam. It makes for loads of disori- enting moments when you catch air above multiple edges, which pull you to and fro as you try to grind. | figure the designers were trying to make the trick sys- tem as forgiving às possible (pulling off spins and flips jisyeasier here than in 55Х) Ви ћеп why does my skier tumble at random? And why did it take a day for me to score high enough to finally reach the sec- ond level? Maybe these guys shoulda borrowed a few more gameplay ideas from SSX. Crispin The more | played Airblade, the more | got the impression that the guys who made it must hate me. Why else would they craft such a slick graphics engine and fill the game with so much future-cool potential, then.run the whole thing into the ground with sluggish control and level objectives so frus- trating I nearly put my fist through the wall. The trick system-is basic: As long as you don't run into a wall in mid-trick, you won't wreck, so all you gotta worry about is the iffy collision detection. But it takes five freakin' seconds to recover from a tumble, which makes it that much harder to clear the objectives in time, which means—arrgh, my hand! Crispin Airblade’s graphics are so good, you're almost willing to forgive the game's terrible premise and execution. 105 too bad the lush, colorful environments and detailed character models are wasted on such a generic extreme-sports game. Airblade sabotages everything it gets right with gameplay problems. For example, the controls are easy to pick up, but the game feels dumbed down. It's like a Tony Hawk clone for scrubs. Airblade's mission-based goals might sound intriguing, but it's actually super-frus- trating. You've got to complete every goal on a single run; screw it up and you've got to do it over...and over...and over again. A real shame, this is. Ghe У! INGENUITY REPLAY 4 SOUND High Heat has always been strong on realism and authenticity. Its presentation, however, left a lot to be desired. That's not the case anymore. Рт not sure what technology 3DO used, but the players' faces look like they.were peeled off the real.guys. Overall, the graphics, animation and. sound are much improved. More importantly, the game is intelligent and relatively glitch-free. (Nothing ruins the fun faster than a fielding bug). | only wish the pitches were less arched, but with the option to speed up the delivery, it's not much ofiasgripe. HH 2003 is current- ly the most balanced and challenging baseball game you'll find for the PS2. Dean If there's one good thing you can say about Mad Trix, it's that the developers knew the only game worth ripping off is SSX. And rip it off they did, right down to the control setup and painted arrows on the turns. Unfortunately,they screwed up just about everything else. The first time I hit the grind button and watched my skier warp from one side of the screen to the other, that was it. In this game l've seen guys land on their heads and somehow keep going like nothing happened, but then land square on their skis and bail. Гуе been turned around. and found myself skiing back up the hill even faster than | was coming down. Jonny Moseley is just a mess. Greg True baseball junkies will get their fix from High Heat. Arcade enthusiasts need not apply here, as HH does a fabulous job of modeling real pitcher/batter duels. Working the count for balls and strikes, look- ing for the.right pitch, or throwing your-"out" pitch are not just clichés in High Heat. That satisfying level of strategy and depth is carried throughout the game. Realistic stats and outcomes are the norm here,and your managerial skills will be tested. If you long for the visual gloss of All-Star Baseball or Triple Play, then High Heat mightlook a little rough around the edges. If you're a fan of this series, or crave sim- ulation baseball, HH 2003 is a must. Dan L. VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 1 1 6 9 Electronic Gaming Monthly - 135 - egm.gamers.com At the outset of the game, Jonny conjures up a real noodle-scratcher: “What if it snowed in San Francisco?” By now, I’m sure he’s sorry he asked. Apparently when it snows in San Francisco, some poor skiing.sap tries to re-enact SSX as he careens off assorted debris and slowly oozes downhill (or uphill if you like, it doesn't seem to matter to the game). Meanwhile, to highlight your "sick" tricks, Bing Crosby belts out *extreme" clichés and street slang as eloquently as a Moviefone recording. The whole damn experience-is-like watching your dad perform “Who Let the Dogs Out?" —you want it out of your line of sight as quickly as possible. Jon MEI SO INGENUITY REPLAY 2 Publisher: Capcom r= ead Developer: Capcom Digital Studios Featured On: Pg.116 Players: 1 Also try: Dusting off your Super Nintendo Best Feature: Worst Feature: Web Site: Old-school gameplay Unresponsive camera www.capcom.com e’ve blabbed about how Maximo is W old-school this and classic that, but greenhorn gamers may wonder what the hoopla's about. So for all you PlayStation- generation whippersnappers, let's count the ways this game shows its old-school roots. Veterans can sit back and nod sagely.... Maximo keeps you on your toes: Like the best old-timey side-scrollers, every enemy, platform and power-up here is placed to keep you thinkin' and movin'. Only a well-timed double jump'll get you to that ledge in the dis- tance, but you better kill the zombie up there first. Fun? You betcha. But that also means... Maximo is tough: Sudden-death pits abound in later levels, and you will utter salty lan- guage. Especially because... Maximo: Ghosts to Glory L There ain't no free rides in Maximo: Unlike modern games that let you save every 10 foot- steps, Maximo makes you earn your contin- ues (by nabbing spirits) and game saves (by spending money). Want unlimited continues? Then you'll have to work for them. But it's worth it 'cause... Maximo's a big game: You get five hub worlds with five stages each —and plenty of secrets. Still, it all comes down to one move... Maximo can do a double jump: ‘Nuff said. MAKING OUT MAXIMO: THE MOST POTENT POWER-UPS By the end of the game, Maximo can lock seven power-ups to his belt and thus keep ‘em even if he croaks. But with dozens to choose from, which seven powers should you stick with? David Siller, Capcom Digital Studios’ director of R&D, gives us his picks: 69 Shield of Midas Mask of Sorrow Go on a 20-sec- ond invulnerable rampage Sucks up trea- sure from afar Increased Armor Because you can never have too much protection Throw Shield A must for nail- ing hard-to- reach baddies Long Sword ‘Cause in this game, size does matter Second Strike Adds a follow-up quickie slash to your moves list Gold Seeker Makes it easier to uncover hid- den chests ming Monthly - 186 - egn My, what big hands you have: Boss battles (left) are Maximo's main events. Most of the six big baddies worked us hard until we learned their patterns (and you really have to /ook at these guys to figure them out), although one left us saying, "Eh, that all you got?" It's the unofficial sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins. It’s res- urrecting classic gameplay in 3D. Its characters were designed by a famous Japanese artist. Blah, blah, blah—all that's nice. But the only thing you really need to know about Maximo is it's one helluva fun game. Enemies gang up and —smash!—you shatter three at once with a spin attack. Jump, double jump and—whew!— you barely stick your landing on a chip of rock above a toxic bog. Bosses thrice your size— gulp!—snatch a few lives before you figure 'ет out. No huge go-anywhere worlds or collect-'em-up crap here; Maximo just dishes out a good ol' time. And the slick power-up system (see below) takes the old- school fun a step further, giving you loads of tinker- ing opportunities. Some abilities build on others for added technique, which—along with enemies that have specific weaknesses— makes for combat that doesn't become ho-hum after the umpteenth fight. And the game's undead world comes alive with sharp visuals; funny animation and tunes that harken back to the good ol’ G’nG music. Things do drag a bit in the middle, with а series of swamp levels that seem a tad too Similar Wish camera control was tighter, too: Swinging the view behind Maximo requires that you bring himito halt—the last thing you wanna do with goons in pursuit. But these gripes won't deter you from slashing through the 29 levels—then playing it all again to open that secret stage... Crispin | like the name Maximo, but | think a more appropri- ate title for this game would be Polished. There’s just no other word for it. Gameplay? Polished to a shine. A killer set of moves, truly unique and valuable power-ups,.awesome use of offense and defense for combat, and laser-precision controls that leave only yourself to blame. (Not to mention the best.continue and save system I’ve seen in a long time), Level Design? Buffed “til it gleams. Intricately designed stages, with meticulously placed secrets, enemies, traps and rewards. Andsthe graphics? Razor-sharp. The only dull spots are the sometimes naughty cam- era and repetitive skeleton enemies. Mark 165 rare to see а 2D-to-3D conversion that isn't a pathetic hack-job these days, so | was busting out of my heart-patterned boxers for Maximo. True, it doesn’t have that can’t-put-it-down quality of a GTA3 or MGS2 (Maximo's levels are too formulaic), but you can’tfielp but get a little buzzed on the simple but elegant gameplay. | don’t know what kind of smack the graphics are on, but they just pop out of the screen at an almost unbearable intensity; it's a very cool effect. Best of all, the creative enemies and bosses are more than tough enough to keep you in your place. | was hastily reminded how much | can suck, and it actually felt kinda good. Jonathan SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 1 1 VISUAI e That was then... THIS IS NOW!! REVIEWS® PREVIEWS ® CHEATS NEWS е TRICKS © STRATEGY ® LETTERS Available at: • Borders • Best Buy * Waldenbooks ® Kmart • Barnes and Noble • Target * B. Dalton * Walgreens conss om SYST © Babbages • CVS RENEWS erasa ~ • GameStop • Kroger. m ° Funcoland * Safeway e Electronics Boutique * Toys В Us ` e WalMart • Comp USA Bringing you the best in multi-console coverage March Madness 2002 Publisher: Electronic Arts == r= Developer: Electronic Arts Big Afros: None Players: 1-2 (1-8 with Multi-tap) Unstoppable: Kansas Best Feature: Fight songs Worst Feature: Limited modes of play Web Site: www.easports.com EA Sports is jilting gamers by passing the baton from one average basketball game— МВА Live—to anoth- er: March Madness 2002. Before we go into the gameplay, the first question that comes to mind is "Where's the freaking Dynasty mode?" Every EA game in recent memory has made use of this feature, and it makes even more sense in a college setting. We need the chance to recruit new athletes, gradu- ate players, and fashion a team to our liking. EA has robbed us of that opportunity. Dumb. The other stu- pid part is that you can't even simulate one season of college hoops, as there are only two play modes. It's either Play Now, Tournament or get out. Definitely not what we expect of EA, the king of options. March Madness also suffers from the same droll gameplay that plagues NBA Live. Stiff, often overly lengthy, animations lead to a pretty lousy-feel- ing game of basketball. Rebounding and jump shots (sore points of Live) seem to have been tweaked for the better, but there's not much else to praise. Stealing the ball is almost comically easy at times, and I'm still not sold on the camera presentation for this one. Give me the opportunity to create our own, user-defined view (a.la Madden).and:be done with it. l'Il never have to bitch about ће camera again. It’s а shame that while EA’s other college product flour- ishes (the stellar NCAA 2002), this one is destined for no-man’s land. Dan L. MotoGP 2 Publisher: Namco ГЕ Developer: Namco Featured In: ЕСМ #147 Players: 12 Best Feature: Beautiful bikes, beautiful sights Worst Feature: The 'cycles steer like your old bike with the banana seat Web Site: www.namco.com Ever since | hopped on my first motorcycle (a 50cc Kawasaki) at the age of 9, bikes have been my true love. For years | have waited for a game that captures the spirit of two tires on tarmac, and while MGP2 comes close, it lacks the right stuff. That’s not to say MGP2 isn't decent. It's one of the better ‘cycle games I've played, but it's hardly comprehensive. Example: MotoGP 2 may double the number of tracks from the first game, but it still doesn't offer the full 16-track circuit of real GP racing. Likewise, the 500cc class (including riders and teams) is intact, but the 250 and 125cc classes are notably absent. Still, these are gripes only the anal would notice, and MGP2 actual- ly features a wealth of modes and challenges diverse enough to satisfy any gamer. What won't satisfy any gamer is the evil learning curve. Unlike car racing games, with all their wanton powersliding, the easily flippable nature of 'cycles allows little room for error or improvisation in finding the perfect line, and because of a small, but significant oversight, finding that line is a teeth-gritting experience. Ву substitut- ing a single brake for true front and rears, Namco's made controlling your ‘cycle doable, but not optimal. It's like playing Ridge Racer without the powerslid- ing. Against MGP2’s flawless CPU riders this small nuisance becomes a big headache in a hurry, making the game worth the trouble only if patience is a virtue you possess in spades. Milkman МВА 2K2 ГЕГУ | Publisher: Sega ГЕ Developer: Visual Concepts Featured In: EGM #149 Players: 1-2 (1-8 with Multi-tap) Funny: John Stockton’s stick legs Best Feature: Intuitive, addicting gameplay Cheerleaders: Oh yeah, hubba, hubba Web Site: www.segasports.com How many different ways can | say a sports game is insanely good? NBA 2K2 has turned into a legiti- mate dynasty. Look the word up—it means the series is large and in charge (I'm so street), and will probably remain that way for several years to come. For the sake of people who have never played past editions (not everyone bought a Dreamcast), | won't compare too much. It's important to note, however, that no other PS2 baller comes close. The presenta- tion is simply incredible: The flickering reflections on the shiny court surfaces, the rowdy fans in the front rows, the hot-momma cheerleaders—they all look straight out of a TV broadcast. The players appear realistic and move naturally; they don't trot around like robots as in certain other PS2 BB sims. And the variety of animation is huge. It seems like every phys- ical action is matched with the appropriate reaction. Two players collide, and it actually looks like there's real inertia at work (no human pinball here). To sum it up, NBA 2K2 does the little (and not so little)things so well, you're free to become totally immersed in the contest. | don't know how | could lay it out more sim- ply than that; but that's the main reason it's so good. Multiplayer contests are, as always, the most enter- taining way to play the game. Not to sound like a kiss ass, but it's great to finally have a high-caliber bas- ketball franchise like this. Now the challenge will be keeping it fresh from season to season. Dean No matter what collegiate paint EA stirs into this pot of crap stew, it still doesn't change the fact that Madness 2002 plays like this season's disappointing NBA Live. All of the floaty physics, bad player control and unrealistic play from that game have made it into this one, with the biggest difference being a bunch of college fight songs. Whoopee! At least NBA Live had some slick features that made it palatable. This, on the other.hand, has no season play, something stan- dard in sports games since Hoover was president. Half the fun of college sports is moving your team up the ranks, but EA seemed intent on draining every bit of fun out of this mundane game. Kraig MotoGP 2 may look and feel exactly like last year's prequel, but considering how good that game was, it ain't a bad thing. If you're into bike racing, there's really nothing on any system that comes close to MGP in regards to realism, handling or.graphics. In fact, the handling is so dead-on,that gamers who're used to racing on four wheels will likely find the learning curve here a tad steep. You really need to woah it down going into the turns, and not jam on the gas too quickly for fear of having the rear wheel jump out on you. But if-you've got the patience to master the nuances of bike racing, MotoGP 2 is a totally satisfying experience. Greg Basketball is a high-scoring game, which makes it ironic that most computer opponents don't have a clue on how to put points on the board. The 2K2 guys, however, can light it up with more ferocity than a pit bull at a beef jerky convention. First time on the court, they beat my cocky ass by 20. | made adjustments and still lost by 27. NBA 2K2 doesn't cheat to win. It makes that clichéd “extra pass" that TV announcers talk about to get to the hoop. The beauty of the game is that its sweet graphics and charged-up atmosphere make even losing fun. And if you can’t beat the Lakers before long, well, have your little sister play against you for chrissakes. Kraig If you have a soft spot for NBA Live 2002, you'll get a similar tingle for March Madness 2002. Both look and play about the same. Unfortunately, both still lag well behind NBA 2K2. The control in March Madness is solid, if a little fidgety. The players trot around the сошт акте baby steps. Other animations (like the two-hand push foul) also look a bit unnatural. The lack of a Season mode puts a cap on the replay value as well. Half the fun of a sports sim is taking your favorite team through a season, EA assures us next year they won't forget that important feature. Drawbacks aside, the title is good enough to have some yucks with. Rent it for a night. Dean VISI INGENUITY REPLAY 3 | have no doubt whatsoever that straddling a crotch rocket at speeds of 2oo+ mph in real life takes enor- mous skill and concentration. Why? Because MotoGP 2 told me so. This game is damn serious about the sport of superbike racing. All the official licenses, riders'and bikes are here in fabulous detail. But don't even think about playing this game unless you're willing to bulldoze its steep learning curve. It took me hours upon hours of nonstop playing just to win the first race in Season mode. If you can stay on your bike long énough to appreciate it, MGP2’s excellent weather effects and pervasive sense of speed will immerse you in its cutthroat reality. Che SOUN INGENUITY 1 4 VISUALS 138 - ес nthly It's a three-peat. This is the best damn basketball game out there, again. VC has owned the court since releasing NBA 2K back in 1999, and NBA 2K2 only takes the franchise to greater heights. Stunning play- er models and lifelike animation (aside from that silly steal lunge) grab your attention. Quick-hitting gameplay and a solid layer of depth keep you com- ing back for more. NBA 2К2 shines brightest in the multiplayer setting, but it's also a worthy single-play- er experience thanks to some nifty АЈ. My one com- plaint, as is the case with most VC games, is that the Franchise mode needs to be more user-friendly. Other than that, this game isso money. Dan L. SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 8 1 9 VISUALS ESPN International Winter Sports 2 Publisher: = r= Konami Developer: Konami CEO Also Try: ESPN Winter X Games Snow- boarding 2002 Players: ‚= / © ЈЕ Best Feature: Believe it or not, Curling! 12 Worst Feature: Figure Web Site: Skating espnthegames.com Something just seems wrong about taking control of athletes who spend their lives training to shave a half second off their downhill ski times, and crashing them into an orange safety fence five seconds into the run. Truly, hitting [1 at just the right time or tap- ping X and O alternately doesn't approximate the Olympic experience, nor is it really that fun as a video game. Winter Sports is more like being the hot-dog vendor at the Olympic park. You get to watch all the events, but don't really have all that much fun being there. | did, however, finally find out what the hell curling is and had some fun beating the European.tar out of the old Austrian dude.once | got the hang of it. Ski jumping was the other event | found to involve some actual skill beyond just press- ing a button at the appointed time. But a clumsy menu system and lack of event variety just added to my overall! apathy toward this game. It would have been more fun if it let you:skip а curling stone out of the arena once in a while or fling a snowboarder into а scotch pine...maybe next year. Jonathan VISUALS SOU INGENUITY REPLAY 3 ESPN's Winter X Games Snowboarding 2002 Publisher: = r= Konami Developer: Konami CEO Players: r2 Better than a: Snowball to the nuts Best Feature: Pretty graph- Winter X Games VI: ical package Feb 1-5 Worst Feature: Gameplay is | Web Site: pretty shallow espnthegames.com When gauging this latest entry into the highly crowd- ed snowboarding genre as a purchase, you must first decide among which two camps you belong. The first camp is that of the X Games devotee. If you rank among this lot, then Konami's latest snowboarding update might be of some appeal. The majority of things found in the real-life X Games (riders, equip- ment, courses) are found here. Want to play as Travis Parker? Go for it! Want to grind all over Truckee, Calif.? No problem, dude! The available options, modes and mountains are extensive enough to keep any X freak happy. Which brings us neatly to camp two, that ofthe fair-weather fan who cares.not а whit about ће X Games license. Casual couch-boarders will be hard-pressed to decipher the labyrinthine menu interface, struggle with the low-gravity physics, or bother with the no-skills-required grinds. This is a shame because the game boasts some delightful hi-resolution 1080 Snowboarding- on-crack graphics, and a fantastic create-a-player mode. Oh well. Milkman VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 1 6 2 4 ST RIDE D LUI E] Publisher: Namco Developer: Gaelco Featured In: EGM #151 Players: 12 Soundtrack: So bad, it's good Best Feature: Tons of crap to smash into Worst Feature: Tacky graphics Web Site: www.namco.com Take a look at the screenshot; | already know what you're thinking: “Oh great, another Crazy Taxi rip- off.” And hey, who can blame ya? Smashing Drive, with its gaudy pedestrians and perpetual rush-hour traffic, does look a lot like C7, but the similarities here are only skin-deep. For one thing, SD isn’t near- ly as complex—you don’t actually pick up or drop off any passengers. All you have to do is haul ass from point A to point B before the timer hits zero, a task that’s easier said than done. More so than any previ- ously released urban racer, SD's city streets are swarming with people, cars and other destructible smash fodder. And just because you're snaking through the crowds, collecting power-ups, knocking stuff over, jumping off ramps, terrorizing civilians and making a huge mess of everything, doesn’t mean the game lacks finesse. You come to appreciate the responsiveness of the controls, and through repeti- tion, you learn exactly when to slam that handbrake for the perfect hairpin turn. But wait, repetition? Yes, repetition. While it’s true that all the alternate routes in SD make the game highly replayable, there are still only a handful of tracks that add up to a total esti- mated. playing time of oh, let's say...15 minutes before you've seen just about everything. There's just no getting around the fact that SD is a no-frills port of a fun arcade game. Definitely one of Namco's weakest arcade-to-home conversions. спе Are you absolutely dying to play a new SF Rush or Cruis"n title? If so, Namco's wacky, arcade-style racer will careen right up your alley. Check your realism at the curb—racing through burning buildings, movie theaters and shopping malls is lighthearted, silly fun. Though, as with most arcade ports, the single-play- er experience is over too quickly, with only 10 short stages. You'll get way more mileage out of the fun Versus mode. Also, it's not much of a showpiece for the power of the GameCube. Weird colors and sim- plistic objects lend it an N64-ish quality that isn't flattering. Overall, it makes one helluva rental, but only a moderately satisfying purchase. Shane Since it's a pretty straight arcade port, Smashing Drive is over in a blink. The tracks are full of cool shortcuts and power-ups, but it's too brief to make much of a one-player game. So unless you want to replay repeatedly and find all of the secrets, you'll find yourself bored after half an hour. Thankfully, Namco has added a Versus mode, and that's what saves this one. The heated competition to reach the goal adds a lot to the game. Add its garish, boxy graphics and some strange music (Euro-pop techno rock-opera insanity, like something you might over- hear at a communist disco), and you have a strange package that's best rented. Christian VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 4 9 4 5 Electronic Gaming Monthly - 189 - egm.gamers.com Sonic Adventure 2: Battle Publisher: Sega Developer: Sonic Team — Featured In: ЕСМ #151 © Players: 1-2 Supports: GCto GBA Link Cable Best Feature: Cool Chao raising options Worst Feature: Too few Sonic and Shadow levels Web Site: www.sega.com Sega has a wonderful opportunity here. Being able to rerelease some of their biggest titles on different plat- forms means a whole new slew of gamers could become big Sega fans. So you'd think that Sonic Team might spend some time fixing all the camera prob- lems that plagued Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, or even balancing the game to the point where you'd spend less time flying around searching for emeralds, and more time playing as Sonic or Shadow. Don't get me wrong —SA2 is still an extreme- ly solid, playable game. But the niggling control prob- lems caused by the sometimes-erratic camera angles tend to keep you from falling in love with the experi- ence after they've caused the death of Sonic or his friends for the hundredth time. And I'm sorry, but the extra multiplayer levels they added for this ver- sion don't help matters at all. This series has always been about running really fast through lots of loops and cool obstacles. Changing the main focus to explo- ration and shooting-based multiplayer minigames was not the best move. | will give Sonic Team one thing, though: The new Chao raising option (where you can download your monsters to your GBA) works 50 much better than the old DC VMU option. | actual- ly care about raising those little buggers now. All in all, if you're craving a platformer on the GameCube, SA2 is still worth a purchase. Just be prepared for a lot of frustration. Greg Even with minor additions, the ‘Cube version of Sonic Adventure 2 is a letdown. Sonic Team, if you're lis- tening, this is what you need to do: Fix the camera! What's the point of letting you move around in 3D when the forced camera angles and relatively small paths would be better served as 2D? Copy Klonoa 2's side-scrolling style, and then you wouldn't have to worry about the piss-poor camera, because it's taken out of the equation. After you've done that, trim the cast list. Leave in Sonic, Shadow and maybe Tails but remove everyone else. Their levels are slow and bor- ing. Maybe then the blue *hog with the Чиде will return to his former glory. Chris l enjoyed this game when it was on the DC, but was irked by the uneven quality of the gameplay and the stubborn camera. Now that Sonic's on the "Сиђе, the game looks as good as ever, but the problems remain and irritate me more than before. The Sonic/Shadow levels are fun (straightforward, hi- speed platform jumping and racing), but the ultra- lame fetch-quests of the other characters bring me down. And though the new multiplayer levels are nice, fixing the horrible camera should have been the priority. My advice to Sonic Team is to put the spot- light back on Sonic, kick the supporting cast to the curb and be done with this nonsense. Milkman VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 1 5 5 6 Publisher: Nintendo Developer: Left Field Productions Ts < Featured In: EGM #145 i sp Players: 1-4 я Also Try: NBA Street Best Feature: Oh-so-sweet animations Worst Feature: Mars-like gravity Web Site: www.nintendo.com intendo’s here-again, gone-tomorrow sports lineup makes games like Courtside feel a lot like the ex-girlfriend you regret breaking up with: It comes around every couple of years, only to remind you of what you’ve been missing. This year’s Courtside has little in common with previous editions of the b-ball franchise, aside from Kobe Bryant’s mug on the box. Yet, this completely revamped baller manages to sport a polish that makes it feel like it’s been being refined for years. The surprisingly deep features set is more robust than even the most established basketball franchise. And when you’re tired of playing NBA hoops, you can dive into a three-on-three streetball-style contest, or tinker with a player creator so intricate you can field a full team of Ron Jeremys, detailed right down to their body hair. If that’s not a hoop dream, we don’t know what is. NBA Courtside | d СВЕАТЕ А ВОМ ЈЕВЕМУ Creating a player isn't ап earth-shatter- ing feature anymore, but being able to make a porn-star lookalike? Now that's truly something to cherish. Voyeurs take note: If anyone was doin' the nasty in the luxury-box suites, you could see it all. Street ball anyone? If you're tired of grinding it out with NBA regulations, a nifty Arcade mode offers a nice change of pace. This three-on-three match-up uses over-the-top slam dunks, brutal blocks and six-point shots to juice up the action. Think of it as NBA Street lite. First off, | want to thank the guys who did the rosters for this game. It's the first МВА game this year where my crappy Houston Rockets weren't rated as having less talent than the floorboards they play on. Because of those sympathetic (or drunk) roster writ- ers, | was able to take my Rockets to the champi- onship. But not because the game is easy. In fact, it took me awhile to learn how to out run-and-gun the computer in Courtside. The АЛ. plays well enough on defense to keep the scores realistic and will light up the board if you let your guard down. Sometimes 1 was tempted to step aside and let the computer drive in so I could watch it strut its stuff. Many of the jump hooks, fakes and elaborate lay-ups have to be seen to believed, especially the humorous stuff in the Streetballing mode. One special move includes a ballerina's spinning pirouette that's mesmerizing, yet easy to do thanks to the intuitive controls. In fact, the painless Practice mode gets you comfortable and playing like an overpaid NBA star in just minutes. Shame you can't pass like опе. Courtside's passes are so floaty that it feels like you're heaving change- ups cross-court. Defenses have more time to react to deflect the ball, occasionally creating an extra (and hopefully not costly) turnover. But it's nothing that will stop you aspiring John Stockton's from racking up the assists, and it certainly doesn't ruin an other- wise rock-solid hoops game. Kraig МВА Courtside is a game that tries to appeal to the arcade-lovin’ fans of NBA Street, while simultane- ously hanging on the shirttails of those who prefer a little reality in their ballin’. And while it features pleasant graphics and a good (but not great) set of features, Courtside lacks the electricity that defines the best b-ballers. Perhaps it has some- thing to do with the odd layout of the controller but- tons, the polite speed at which the players run around, or maybe it’s the repetitive, subdued com- mentary that kept me reaching for the caffeine. Not to suggest Courtside is a waste of time, but given the choice, I'd just rather play МВА 2К2. Milkman | may feel the urge to make a crack about Kobe’s mini- fro, but his game is no joke —it's serious fun. I'd have to put it in the same league as NBA 2K2. Maybe not as polished, but a smooth-playing, smart and intu- itive basketball game. It’s got a lot of neat features, too. The C-stick has replaced icon passing; simply point it toward a teammate and zap—the ball goes to him. Easy, eh? Another cool feature is the adrenaline button, which lets you control the intensity of your special moves and dunks. And the hyper-spastic Street mode, while no NBA Street, holds up well. I wouldn't buy a GameCube just for Courtside, but it's a gimme for GC jockeys. Dean INGEN REPLAY 1 S SOUND Universal Studies Theme Park Adventure Publisher: Kemco Developer: Nai’a Digital Works Featured In: ЕСМ #150 Players: 12 Best Ride: Backdraft Best Feature: Cool movie-music soundtrack Worst Feature: Extremely average in every way Web Site: www.kemco-games.com | think the developer of Universal Studios must be schizophrenic. On the one hand, this game seems made for kids: cutesy graphics, very simplistic con- trols and a tour guide in the form of Woody Woodpecker. On the other hand, the difficulty level is a little high even for adult gamers; especially the movie trivia section, which features questions about some flicks the biggest movie buffs on our staff have never seen. It’s easy to see that Kemco was hoping this would be “fun for the whole family,” but | doubt it'll really succeed in appealing to any age group. Instead, it’s mediocre for all—too hard for the youn- gin’s, and not nearly engaging or long enough for the pre-teen-and-up crowd. It’s too bad, too, because | think the whole premise is pretty cool: Travel around the (overly difficult-to-navigate) Universal Studios theme park and go on a bunch of different movie- themed rides (read: minigames). It’s just that the minigames are so dull. Even some of the best ideas—like the Delorean chase on the Back to the Future ride or the dino-shooting gallery from Jurassic Park—are far too slow and boring to keep you com- ing back for more. About the biggest things Universal has going for it are the authentic movie soundtracks playing during each level. In short, don’t bother with this one, no matter how much you might want a new GameCube game. Universal may be worth a rental for kids, but not a purchase. Greg When fellow reviewer Che Chou saw me playing this game, he said, "Have fun with that turd." He was right and wrong about likening this game to excre- ment. On one hand, no serious gamer will want to touch this with a 10-foot plunger. It's kiddie stuff, with bare-bones gameplay that poorly rips off clas- sics like Excitebike, Panzer Dragoon and others. But that’s the point: This is kiddie stuff. Theme Park Adventure is not meant for old farts or hardcore gamers. So even though it can take less than two hours to beat, this game should be plenty fun for the very young ones in your family. It's simple, col- orful and well-designed. Shoe Surprisingly, this is not as bad as | expected. Note that | didn't say "good." Underneath its exterior as an ad for Universal's theme parks are movie-themed minigames that are unpolished and simplistic, yet strangely fun. They don’t even look that good, with bland, washed-out textures that would be more at home on N64 than GC. But there's just something very satisfying about yelling, "Chomp on that, Jaws!" aloud while hurling boxes at the giant shark. (Or, “Eat DeLorean, Biff!” during Back to the Future.) It's a shame more time's spent just navigating the mean- dering park layout than actually playing. Plenty lame, but this would make an enjoyable rental. Ghris JALS SOUND EPLAY 3 VI: INGENUITY NFL Quarterback Club 2002 ME Publisher: || Acclaim J Developer: Acclaim Studios Players: 14 Weirdness: Player celebrations look bizarre—think a drunken James Brown Web Site: acclaimsports.com Best Feature: Quarterback Challenge mode Worst Feature: Poor overall presentation When Quarterback Club was first introduced on the Nintendo 64, its spectacular graphics blew us away. People were using phrases like Madden-killer and— gulp—best football sim ever (groan). But since its flashy debut, the series has steadily deteriorated. Hit-or-miss АЛ. and (at times) comical gameplay are not the best features to build a franchise around. And unfortunately QB Club 2002 doesn't complete- ly break from its past. When it comes to graphics, it Still almost looks like an N64 game. Isn't the GameCube supposed to be powerful? The sound and play-by-play could best be described as anemic, but passable. Gameplay and A.l., however, are actually better than in previous editions. The whole thing plays a little like an older version of Madden Football (lots of man-coverage and a big-time passing attack). The new QB Challenge is the best part, though. It's worth renting QB Club 2002 just to play these mini- games that have a bunch of quarterbacks competing in skilled events (throwing, agility, etc.). Otherwise, Stick with Madden NFL 2002. Dean INGENUITY REPLAY 4 ШЕП 50 The Simpsons: Road Rage Publisher: EA Developer: Radical Featured In: | EGM #148 Players: Jun] 1-2 Best Feature: Voice acting Try Instead: from the Simpsons' cast Crazy Taxi 2 (DC) Worst Feature: Shallow Web Site: gameplay and controls simpsonsroadrage.com | slagged the Xbox version of Road Rage a couple issues ago, not for its blatant plagiarism of Crazy Taxi, but rather for its many gameplay issues. | kept my expectations low going into the GameCube ver- sion this month and saved myself the disappoint- ment. This is the exact same game as its Xbox and PS2 counterparts, which means you'll still have to deal with irritating load times and janky collision detection problems (it’s easy to get your car stuck on objects and buildings). What’s worse is that RR still has very little in the way of depth. Like CT, the object is to make some dough by driving the denizens of Springfield around town. The faster you truck, the bigger the buck. But man, did these cats miss the point of CT or what? RR doesn’t reward you for weaving through traffic, pulling off jumps or caus- ing near-misses. In fact, there isn’t much technique here at all: Leave out these moments of skill and all you've got is a very bland rip-off starring the cast of our most beloved animated series. Sorry Simpsons fans, this is not the game it could have been. Che VISUALS z INGENUITY Electronic Gaming Monthly - 141 - egm.gamers.com Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom ^^ Featured In: ЕСМ #151 Players: 1 We Hate: That damn new little doll enemy Best Feature: Soul-sucking power-up system Worst Feature: Controls in the thick of combat Web Site: WWW.capcom.com Resident Evil in ancient Japan: That's a pretty good primer for Onimusha, in case you missed the original PS2 version released just one year ago. Оп?» lighter on the puzzles and heavier on the combat than RE, but wandering room to room, cleaving down undead evil creatures will definitely feel familiar. The story was silly then, and it's still silly now, but what | enjoyed about Onimusha was the combat: You can dart quickly in any direction and suck the souls left by fallen enemies to power up a nice array of different weapons (including three blades, a bow and a gun). So you'd think this new, improved version with added outfits, areas, enemies and a harder difficulty level would be even better, right? Wrong. Genma's tougher and more numerous bad guys do lengthen the game a bit, but they also highlight the flaws in the already weak controls. With no lock-on system (you attack whatever is closest) and a "left or right to turn, forward to move" scheme (like RE), things get con- fusing and frustrating when you are surrounded, which is now much more often. Plus, you can't use the analog stick, and must constantly hold in the Xbox controller's very resistant L and R buttons (to strafe and block) — it's an ergonomic nightmare. The graph- ics still look sharp, and striking down ninjas and horned demons holds enough thrills to make Genma a worthy rental for rookies, but if you already had your way with the PS2 version, don't bother. Mark | didn't get around to playing the PS2 version of Onimusha, but after playing Genma, I'm really sorry that | didn't. It's the perfect mix of Devil May Cry and Resident Evil—not as repetitive as the former and less sluggish than the latter. Genma is the kind of game you don't want to put down once you start playing. The constant action and comfortable pacing just make you want to block out the world and fin- ish it in one sitting. As in КЕ, however, the preren- dered backgrounds force you into some cramped camera angles; an axe-wielding demon's ass in your face is a bitch. Genma's not easy but well worth the day you'll spend on it. Jonathan This is my first time playing through Onimusha, so this review is for those of you who missed the PS2 version. You'll love this game if you dig all the ingre- dients that make up a typical Resident Evil: static backgrounds, finding items and clues in the environ- ments, constantly switching camera angles, and those RC-car controls (which a lot of people hate but work really well here). Genma's feudal-Japan setting meshes with the genre perfectly. If the game weren't such a sadist—you're gonna have to be tough and persistent to make it through this one—and if it weren't so short (about half the length of an average RE), ГА say it’s a must-buy for any gamer. Shoe P a: ib usi Publisher: Microsoft P4 Developer: Stormfront Studios | Featured In: EGM #151 Players: 1-4 Also Try: Cel Damage Best Feature: Worst Feature: Web Site: Oh, the sparkling water! Crappy hand-drawn level intros www.bloodwake.com amurais had it easy. They didn't have to worry about dodging missiles, napalm showers, or hails of gunfire when they were protecting the Emperor's butt. Their only concern was avoiding a sword to the groin or some other less vital body part. If only life were so simple as a Chinese sailor. Blood Wake rewrites the history books Бу making ancient Chinese naval warfare, well, not so ancient. The only clue that your vessels (or “junks”) are cut of a cloth woven in the past are their wooden hulls. The rest of their chassis consist of hardened steel and advanced weaponry (and occasionally a big, green decorative snake) that could easily sink a modern-day aircraft carrier. Or at least the one built in the early '8os that travels back in time in The Final Countdown. When the waves start crashing, you'll be thankful for the resilience of your hip, hybrid Electronic G Get into a big tussle, and expect massive ripples to follow. They don't call this Blood Wake for nuttin’, you know. rig (its uniqueness is more useful than for just reeling in the chicks, you know). No matter how many times you get flipped over, dunked or submerged, the only thing that'll ultimately sink you is another boat. And plenty of those are lurking around, of course. Like your ship, each class of enemy vessel has its own set of armaments, whether it be a speedy scout with pop-gun weapons, or a hulking transport that repeatedly blows its wad with obnoxious flurries of guided mis- siles and cannon fire. As you beat missions and progress through the war (as told through cheesy pen and parchment drawings that wouldn't make it on a PBS kids' show), your own fleet of selectable battleships increases as well. These boats can be used in multiplay- er battles fought in unlockable arenas. Before you know it, your armory will become so advanced that you'll be sinking your buddy in arig that looks like it belongs in a Thunder in Paradise calendar. How could you ask for any- thing more? onthly - M2 - egn / m mmo A >` p m N à __Воошмае ________ The waves may be thrilling, but the vanilla level design keeps BloodWake's multiplayer fun in check (below). It's not so boring that you don't want to torpedo your friend, so much as you would just rather play the more interesting sin- gle-player adventure. At first glance, it's easy to misjudge this as the latest Twisted Metal rip-off. But that would be like saying that Richard Simmons is just another personal train- er. Unlike other vehicular combat games, Blood Wake has an eye-popping hook: gigantic, Perfect Storm-worthy waves that flip and roll vessels realis- tically during combat. The foamy wakes rippling behind boats create wonderful chop—throw a well- timed torpedo or two into the mix, you can make boats do flips that would make dolphins envious (if it's possible for a game to make you seasick, this would do it). You won't need a barf bag right away, though. Blood Wake eases you into the captain's chair with calm seas and moonlit nights that make you want to break out the Chardonnay in between torpedo launches. But be patient, and the action will drop anchor on your ass with tough escort, protect, gather and stealth objectives that add a welcome twist to the standard "kill everything" fare. Don't worry, you can get your mindless blasting fix with multiplayer combat. But you'll have to work for it: To play with the cooler firepower and versus modes you have to finish most of the single-player game. And even with everything unlocked, the bland arenas make it more fun to beat the missions instead of your friend. That's a little unusual for a game in this genre, but then again, nothing is very ordinary about this surprisingly deep and original game. Kraig Avast ye mateys, Asian invasion starboard! Fire tor- pedos! Charge electric bolts! Scrub the poop deck! OK, so that last one's pushing it, but all (and more) preceding it lies at your wet fingertips in Blood Wake. Heavily arcadey, BW's fishy guts lie in its impressive water physics and wave-sloshing fire fights. But to get to the heartier ships and cooler weapons, you'll need to get at least halfway through the single-play- er mode, and repetitive mission-based gameplay risks players preemptively abandoning ship. Stay on board though, and both single- and multiplay offers a good amount of light shooter fun. Just be sure to ignore its cheesy sea war tale. Jeanne | love action games long time, but rarely do | wake up and think to myself, “It would be nice to play an ‘Oriental’ boat combat game today.” Despite my apa- thy, Microsoft must see a niche for Blood Wake’s Asian-charged Hydro Thunder-meets-Twisted Metal gameplay. Now, 1 could stomach this mundane premise if the controls didn't work my nerves. With enemy boats constantly zipping past you, targeting them requires responsive controls. But since the left analog stick bears the burden of controlling accelera- tion and direction (including reverse), it's an endless struggle to face the desired direction while your foes tear you a new one. Not fun. ктап REPLAY VISUALS 50! INGENUITY ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP immense yourself ПРЕТИЛИ, |] | gamers.com =] k ufu given у u everyibing.wou uu перје те Р? iow wi re’ EKD Your world. эн нүн tima йлн ИМ Ca oa cru Ñ Publisher: Sega Developer: Visual Concepts Featured In: ЕСМ #149 Players: 14 Bestmove: The Spin Best Feature: Fast-paced gameplay Worst Feature: No multiplayer Franchise Web Site: www.segasports.com Sing it with me, Blink 182 fans. “All the...small things..ba ba ba ba da da да..." —уоџ know the rest. It should be the theme song for the comparison between NFL 2K2 on PS2 and the latest, and best 2K2 on the Xbox. It's the small, almost transparent, changes that offer a real difference on Microsoft's black box. First off, everything just looks solid. Flicker, flutter, jaggies and interlacing aside, | knows me a good-lookin' game when | see one, and this 2K2 is the best of any console version. It gets even better once everything is kicked into action. The camera doesn't suddenly pan with the ball upfield as in the PS2 version. There's also none of the choppiness you might have seen on Р52. Here, everything oper- ates like Brett Favre running a two-minute drill. It's all about precision, baby. Control is razor-sharp and more suited to displaying some nice twitch skills. That's in stark contrast to Madden, where players respond as if they're in the gravitational pull of a black hole. NFL 2K2 tries to mix the best elements of sim and action-style football, and l'll vouch that it does so admirably. There are some features that need ramping up, and the single-player experience is one of them. Franchise menus and options aren't conducive to long-term fun, The passing game is also fickle; long routes often seem cut short. Other than that, this is a good reason to extend your football season. Dan L. Nightcaster Publisher: Microsoft X Developer: VR-1 Entertainment > Featured In: ЕСМ #148 ` Players: 1 Try Instead: — Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2) Best Feature: It reminds us of Gauntlet... Worst Feature: ...but it's not as fun as Gauntlet Web Site: www.nightcaster.com A part of me wants to believe that the crew at VR-1 Entertainment came up with Nightcaster by colliding into each other at the water cooler. Designer A says: "Hey, you got your Gauntlet-style hack-’n’-slash game in my Zelda-wannabe RPG!" Designer B retorts with the opposite and—voilá!—a turkey is born. But wait, NC could have been a decent game. It takes twitch-style arcade gameplay, where you run around shooting monsters with attacks, and fuses it to RPG mainstays like narrative, character development and non-player character interaction. №5 too bad that somewhere along the way, the game lost focus. As it is now, NCis too shallow to be an RPG and too com- plicated to be a quick-fix good time. You're not just hauling and kicking ass every which way with your magic wand; no, you also have to think about which spells are most effective against which type of crea- ture, and pick them by cycling through your list of spells—all in real time. Sure, this ain't so bad when you're'up against a few ісе slimes you can torch with fireballs. But take on a mixed cluster of baddies, each with a different weakness, and you're screwed. Rounding out NC's package of crap is a tedious back story you don't have to read, pathetic bystanders you don't need to speak with, a 3D world you don't have to explore, and a ton of squandered potential for what could have been a decent action-RPG. Another disappointing adventure on the Xbox. Ghe Digimon Rumble Arena | њЕ И | (Сомвој Publisher: Bandai Developer: Bandai Players: 1-2 Rips-off: Super Smash Bros. Best Feature: Fight your favorite Digimon against each other in real time Worst Feature: Zip originality Web Site: www.bandaigames.com Digimon card battles digivolve to...Digimon: Rumble Arena! Finally, the opportunity to pit Digimon against Digimon in paw-to-claw combat! Imagine, no more recycled attack animations in turn-based battles, no confusing cards to juggle, and no filler story-encum- bering action. In Rumble, see old-digischoolers Tai and Agumon pick a fight with season three's Takato and Guilmon, or choose any of the starting nine Digi- partners. Each stage guarantees a Smash Bros.-like display of punch and kick attacks, double jumps, ran- dom item power-ups and downs, out-of-the-ring-type stages, digivolving (designated by a meter), and special attack combos specific to the Digimon or its evolved form. Sure, DRA can't touch a game like Street Fighter as far as move complexity goes. In fact, its moves pathetically only require one button plus a direction to execute, but its fighting fundamentals, packaged in a super-simplified way, make it accessi- ble for almost anyone (especially young kids). Moreover, Arena works despite its generic fighting- game style, because it never purports to be original in the first place. Its one purpose is to'let fans fight Digimon in real time, and that's exactly what it offers. Only-gamers expecting more willybesdisappointed. Unlockable characters and. minigames (though only three) round out the gameplay satisfaction factor. Unsurprisingly contrived, but surprisingly solid and OK fun is Rumble in а nutshell. Jeanne | take back what | said about the Xbox being no bet- ter than the PS2 for sports games. After my encounter with this NFL 2K2, | see the ‘Бох in a whole new, glorious light. Seriously, this baller runs so well on the Xbox, ! doubt I'll pick up the PS2 ver- sion again. Its inspired mix of fluid animation, pin- point control, and big-play potential is just too attractive to dismiss. Kill-joys will complain that the players turn on a dime, but don't you listen to them. Once you get proficient with the control stick, you'll appreciate the exaggerated cutting ability. It's all about faking out would-be tackles with your crazy- quick moves. Xbox + NFL 2K2 = love. Dean Totally unremarkable and highly repetitive in both gameplay and level design, NC's strongest attraction—its hack-and-slash action —amounts to nothing more than constant uneventful cycles of attack and retreat. Having to choose the right magic attack (fire, ice, dark, light) to optimize damage against a monster with the opposite disposition also disappointingly fails to shatter the monotony, since what you fight just ends up being a different color- coded version of the same banal set of creatures. And with а cheesy skip-through story, all NC's got is its OK spell animations. Other than that, say nighty night to Nightcaster. Jeanne Without а doubt, this is the best Digimon game I've ever played, but it's still nothing special. At best, Arena is a poor man's Smash Bros. Melee. Control is awkward, combat is stiff, and the characters aren't evenly matched. Worse still, the difficulty takes a huge leap at the last boss, Reavermon (who's also the cheapest character). The only real fun | had was in Vs. mode, pummeling Jeanne's Renamon into the ground with Agumon. RESPECT THE AGUMON! Ahem, excuse me. But even Vs. has one super-fatal flaw: you can't both select.the same character. What the hell? Digimon freaks will love it just for the char- acters, but the game's pretty weak. Chris It's only taken a few months for the Xbox's football field to get more crowded than a Taliban bomb shel- ter, but this fantastic 2K2 game still stands out. Sega spent a few months improving upon the great (but flawed) PS2 version, and the result is more drastic than six months of Tae-Bo; this Xbox edition is a fine- ly tuned machine. The great АЛ. and lightning-fast game speed pulls off an uncommon balance of realistic football with an arcade edge. The only downers are the clunky menus and a Franchise mode that makes managing a fictitious team seem harder than the real deal. Luckily, the sweet gameplay makes these flaws very easy to overlook. Kraig G SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY 1 6 MEI The developers of Nightcaster probably hope you'll be so busy admiring the great-looking visuals that you won't notice the unbelievably bland and repet- itive gameplay. Here's a common setup: Find a group of enemies, quickly attack with whatever spell you can, then turn tail and run so you have time to choose the right spell to repeatedly cast on the remaining color-coded enemies. That's fun for, what, five minutes? Not even its RPG-style story can save NC from mediocrity. You stop caring around the 2oth time you hear about something terrible happening while you weren't around. It tries to be arcadey and deep, but it doesn't do either very well. Chris VISUALS REPLAY SOUND INGENUITY Џ 6 3 3 Electronic Gaming Monthly - 144 - egm.gamers.com When ! first popped in Rumble Arena | thought, "You've gotta be kidding me. Bandai made a Smash Bros. game, but with Digimon?" Then | played the game and realized that this was no joke, no sir. Rumble Arena isn't as bad as it could have been, but it's still not such a hot potato. While the ambitious Smash Bros.-styled arenas (complete with power- ups) are neat, this extravagance taxes the poor PS1's graphic capacity, making everything look grainy and ипкетрЕ Мом the aesthetics are forgivable, but the weak no-link combo fighting system makes this game the perfect button-masher for young ‘uns, and no one else. Milkman VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY Publisher: Nintendo у САМЕ BOY Developer: Nintendo ADVANCE! Featured In: EGM #149 Players: 1-4 (Linked) Try to Finish: In only 16 levels Multiplayer: Same as the last Mario Advance (you can even link MA2 with MA1) Best Feature: Refined and responsive controls Worst Feature: Same game as 10 years ago Web Site: www.nintendo.com h, that's right. This is why we were excit- ed about the GBA. Amidst the sea of mediocre and downright craptacular recent releases for the handheld, we had almost forgotten. Nintendo themselves revived our faith in the lil’ powerhouse with another updated classic—this time, the over- 10-year-old platformer Super Mario World. The Sheer variety of gameplay is astounding: Mario runs, jumps, grabs, throws, swoops, spins, dive bombs...well, just look at all the stuff below. What we have here is a true clas- sic, whose addictive gameplay bears out the cliché: Simple enough for kids and casual gamers, but deep enough for the hardest of core. This is Nintendo at its finest. пр wa Bo Canaan IT'S A-ME, AGAIN: Hey, you old farts who remember Super Mario World when it was first released for the Super Nintendo—drop the Metamucil and get out your reading glasses, ‘cause this is for you. It’s a list of what’s new and different for the GBA: longer jump, fire balls E bounce higher, etc.). * Stopping play to watch new Beverly Hills 90210 no longer necessary. * Map menu added to keep track of the different paths between levels (96 in all), and Yoshi coins (five are hidden in every level —get them all to turn them into Princess coins). * Being hit with the cape no longer makes Mario small; now he stays big and just loses the cape. * New opening and cutscenes after finding all 96 level paths and every Yoshi coin. * Need to beat the game to re-enter towers and castles (on the old version you just held R and L). * Can switch between Mario and Luigi at any stage by pressing the R button. * Princess' kiss at the end of the game less passionate (no tongue this time). * Luigi now plays differently than Mario (higher and * Original scored straight 9's way back in EGM #25, new version scores... well, OK, that's the same. Electronic Gaming Monthly - M8 - egm.gamers.com Our choice for most frustratingly difficult stage in Mario World? Special World's "Outrageous" level (below). Fear it. If you can finish it starting as little Mario (no Yoshi or power-up items), you have EGM's official permission to eat a whole package of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. This is the ultimate proof that 2D games will never die. Mario is simply a joy to play—effortlessly fun to con- trol, and nearly impossible to put down. Check out the collage of all your moves on this page. That's more than any other platformer, ever, and yet it never over- whelms you; everything just comes naturally. Graphics and controls haven't suffered one bit in the translation to the GBA, and other refinements (such as the added map menu) improve on an already top-notch title. Levels are honed to perfection: Every block, every enemy, and every secret is placed with devious preci- Sion, all in a variety of stages vast enough to explore every facet of the excellent gameplay. If I'd never seen it before, this incredible game would likely score even higher—but since | already jumped through every nook and cranny of this World years ago, much of the excitement of exploration and dis- covery | remember was lost this second time (and I can't be alone, given that SMW was a Super Nintendo pack-in game). Finding all five Yoshi coins each level and a few secrets time blurred from memory were enough to keep me playing until | unlocked everything (no small feat in a game this huge), but | guess I'll just have to continue waiting for the original Mario adven- ture that the GBA deserves. Still, whether or not you played it before, Mario World is a must-own cart that deserves a permanent slot (right next to Castlevania) in any GBA carry case. Mark Of all the Marios, World's my least favorite — but | still love it. It's like trying to decide which color of Skittles is best: They're all good. And even though Super Mario World is a 10-year-old game, it's still one of the best platformers ever, now perfectly ported to GBA. How can you not love it? Flying around with the cape, 96 stages (some with multiple paths), ridin’ Yoshi, uncovering secret areas like the Star Road— this is one hell of a game. The improvements are wel- come but unnecessary. Will anyone honestly play as Luigi? Maybe if you have to do everything, but he's too slow and awkward. In the end it makes no differ- ence; SMW is great. Chris One of the best platform games of all time is now available in handheld form for only $30...honestly, what more could you ask for? The GBA conversion of Super Mario World is almost flawless, with just a few minor quirks that only hardcore fans of the original will notice (such as the occasionally tinny sound). The few new features are mostly welcome ones (playing as Luigi is cool, though | miss the two-play- er mode), and the page that tracks your progress is a godsend. I'm a little disappointed that they made it easier, and it’s lame that the Mario Bros. multiplayer game hasn’t changed. Oh well—still a must-own game and a true classic. John R. INGENUITY REPLAY VISUALS SOUND Publisher: Midway Developer: Virtucraft Players: 1-2 (Linked) It’s Official: Lowest scoring game, ever Try Instead: Апу GBA fighting game ‘cept this Best Feature: Lots of kombatants Worst Feature: This kart is a buggy, unplayable piece of krap. It can kiss our kollective asses Web Site: www.midway.com No, this 0.0 score is not а misprint. Yes, МК Advance is that horrible. A lot of bad fighting games are out there; | can say without hyperbole that this one is a million times worse than all of them put together. MKA is the most incomplete, half-assed, piece of (insert any expletive here) I've ever had the misfortune of playing. An honest features list on the back of the package would read something like this: “Моге than 20 playable characters! Each one fea- tures a tiny handful of moves that you may or may not be able to execute! And once you do perform them, we don't guarantee that they'll work properly! Watch missile attacks pass right through your oppo- nents at long range! Also marvel at how your charac- ters move or fall in strange and awkward ways! You may call it sloppy programming, but we call it...well, sloppy programming! Take on advanced computer opponents that can play like idiots and cheaters at the same time! Check out three, count ‘ет, three completely unoriginal modes that you've seen count- less times before, and only one of them you can play by yourself! Contains the most number of problems, bugs, and unpolished or missing features of any game, ever! Bonus: This cart offers a couple of hid- den guessing games—try to figure out any combo- hit counts on your own (our display doesn't tally them correctly), and try to decipher our inconsistent and unbalanced damage system!" Ugh. Shoe EVERYONE 5 THO/Sega Developer: Dimps Featured In: EGM #151 Ж Play As: Sonic, Knuckles, Amy or Tails Players: 1-4 (Linked) Supports: GameCube to GBA Link Cable This is classic, 2D Sonic. The cool GC-to-GBA Chao raising is nice, too Not enough stages www.thq.com Best Feature: Worst Feature: Web Site: It sure is nice to see that the first GBA Sonic title isn't just a remake of some game we all played to death 10 years ago, yet still retains the fast, simple gameplay we remember so well. Sonic Advance definitely feels old-school—right down to a couple classic Robotnik boss machines in the final level—but it’s an all-new adventure that long-time fans of the series will love. One of my biggest fears going into this review was that Sonic and friends run so fast it might be hard to keep track of the action on such a small screen. Not so. The game is lightning-quick, but it’s also easy to play, even if you’re in a moving car. It could have a lot to do with the simplistic level design (let’s face it, exploring large, intricate areas has never been a hallmark of the Sonic games). But Sonic Advance does stray from the beaten path a little, thanks to the different play styles afforded by the four characters. They also add a bit of replay value to what is a relatively short game. In fact, that’s my biggest gripe with this game: It’s over way too soon. Dimps should have included about twice as many levels. And while the multiplayer games are sorta neat, they're not compelling enough to make you want to play them more than a few times. The Chao Garden makes up for it, though. Being able to raise your Chao from Sonic Adventure 2 using this GBA game is pure genius, and shows off the incredible promise of Nintendo’s GC to GBA Link Cable. Greg Since Mortal Kombat's roster is largely comprised of two dudes multiplied and color-swapped, Midway had plenty of space left to make MK Advance pretty. So if you can get away with just watching it from a distance, stop there. The designers apparently had zero time to complete it; between the bugs and intox- icated spaceman physics, no sane individual would have let this out the door voluntarily. It's basically a stripped-down MK Trilogy with a ton of mechanical glitches. If a circus train wreck was ever more accu- rately embodied in digital format, ! haven't seen it. Midway should have just ported MK2—it's a better game and a more realistic endeavor. Jonathan First the good: Sonic Advance is the best 2D Sonic game since Sonic CD. The redrawn characters are slickly animated, the backgrounds are bright and col- orful, and the stages are the most cleverly designed levels in a Sonic game ever. Dimps even managed to stick in some of the new moves for each character from Sonic Adventure 2. Sweet stuff. Problem is, though the game supplies four characters to play as, the only one worth bothering with is Sonic. (Thankfully, playing as the others isn't mandatory like in Sonic Adventure 2). The best part of the game, for me, is the Chao Garden GBA-to-GameCube fea- ture that lets you raise миша -Сћао. Milkman Hmm, | wonder why Midway didn't send us a copy of MKA early for a timely review? Ah, that's why— "cause it's a steaming pile of bloody dog krap. МК games have always been hit or miss (mostly misses since MKII), but this is ridiculous. Buggy, unbalanced gameplay, spastic computer opponents (who go comatose on lower difficulty levels), slowdown — you name it, it sucks. And where are the secrets and gore we all know and love? Why didn't they just port an old Super Nintendo MK? l'd rather watch the god- awful second MK movie, from inside a prison cell, while gargling cat piss than play this abomination any longer. If you bought it, return it. Now. Mark VISUALS So Finally, a real Sonic game. I’m an old-school fan of Sega's mascot, and Advance returns to the gameplay that made the series great. You know what I'm talk- ing about: Run, jump, lose all your rings, and repeat until you reach the end. Simple but fun—isn't it great? Levels are reminiscent of the old games' best, and with the fresh coat of paint, Sonic and pals have never looked better in 2D. Still, | could've done without Knuckles and Amy. They can't match the thrill of blasting through as Sonic or Tails. Hidden stages add an exploration factor, but in the end they're sorta lame. Those small grievances aside, for- get Adventure. This is what Sonic should be.Ghris VISUALS 50 INGENUITY REPLAY Pokémon Puzzle Challenge (GBC), ure: Power gems Tetris DX (во) that launch special attacks | Players ig ouch the | 12 (Unked) gameplay i is simple, cool $ combos take hardcore skills | www.thq.com You’ve probably seen Columns around at some point. In arcades, on the Sega Genesis, etc. You may have even tried it out. After all, it looks awfully simple and entertaining. But chances are, if you're not one of those puzzle-game freaks who spend half their life- times mastering Tetris-wannabes in order to outnerd their nerd friends, then you've lost interest right away. That's because the Columns formula really isn't that fun. The rigid gameplay mechanics force you to match pieces vertically (which won't get you far) or diagonally (the best way to set up combos). The latter necessitates hardcore puzzle-game thinking and plan- ning, and thus, makes this a rather ho-hum experi- ence for most average folk. (Though most hardcore puzzle-game players whom I know don't like Columns either.) This GBA version doesn't do much to make the recipe more tasty; it gives you Magic Gems (which you collect and trade) that let you attack your opponent's screen in different ways. But when the foundation is already soft, this extra Magic Gem fluff, innovative or not, can't make the Column any stronger. Shoe INGENUITY REPLAY VISUALS uc Sonic Team EGM шо es : It's easy to 14 (еш) play, easy to master А.К. Feature: One killer Stacking Turds combo from your opponent, Web Site and you're toast in no time www.thq.com Now here's a puzzle-game remedy that'll put the zowzers back in your trousers. Puyo Pop is an amaz- ingly simple concept. Even if good ol’ Tetris was a noggin-scratcher for you, you'll be able to figure this one out, no sweat (that is, unless you're color-blind). Just line up four pieces of the same color in any fash- ion, and you have yourself a match. The beauty of this formula is, it allows most people to set up rudi- mentary combos without a hitch. Even advanced players will dig this, as you can (with a little thought and planning) set up massive chain reactions that will make you look like Bad-Ass Gamer Supreme. This is why a previous edition of Puyo landed the #82 spot of our 100 Best Games Ever list (issue #150). This GBA version is a great deal too: Not only does it keep the original stuff intact, but it offers vari- ation on play (like junk blocks that take extra hits to get rid of) and even better, a four-player link mode using only one cartridge. Outside of Tetris, Tetris Attack and Pokémon Puzzle Challenge, this is proba- bly the best handheld puzzle game around. буре REPLAY VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY ctroni ming Monthly - 146 - egm.gamers.com Hints, codes, reviews, screen shots, release dates, movies, updated everyday. Don't hit start until you hit gamespot.com GAMESPOT G) сом Where gamers до to know. © 2001 CNET NETWORKS INC. © 1998 ARTDINK. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CHARACTER DESIGN ВУ © 1997 HAKUHODO INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. By Peter Felonk Hope you enjoyed last month's onslaught of new tricks. Peter stepped up to the plate and is well on his way to proving himself a worthy successor to "Trickman" Terry. Stay tuned to see what tips he'll come up with next! TRICK OF THE MONTH Max Payne UNLOCK EVERY LEVEL To unlock all levels, play through subway A1 then return to the main menu via soft reset (hold Start and hit . Enter the following button combination: Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Left, Down, Circle. This will open all levels and chapters. Choose any one of them in the Load Levels selection. Then, choose Continue and load away. ESPN NFL Primetime 2002 Enter all of these fabulous codes in the codes section of the main menu. Higher Jumps and Dives SUPERMAN Reliant Stadium HOWDY Ball Carrier Shield CAN’T TOUCH THIS Aloha Stadium & Pro Bowl Teams ALOHA Instant Fumbles READY TO FUMBLE (Note: Press L2 to fumble) Controller Scoring SCOREBOX Weather in Domed Stadiums SHAKE IT UP Show Everybody SHOW EVERYONE Enter each of these codes as your user name in the game to enable each of the following modes. Green Screen SNIPEME Front Camera XTRASEE Unlimited Ammo FALLOUT Rainbows DOROTHY Red Screen ANGRY Infinite Jet Pack 38HK Blue Screen UDDOIT2 Invincible MOLITOR Unlimited Mana BGDA All Missions opened MBPAUJP Cheat Menu ALPUN (Located in the Extras Menu on title screen.) All text is case-sensitive. Input codes into the Cheats section of the Options Menu. After enter- ing the code, choose Done and you will hear a swooshing sound confirming the code has been entered properly. Opens all levels to play GimmeGimme Easier landings on jumps StickiT Opens Steezy character ChillinwSteezy Electronic Gaming Monthly - 148 - egm.gamers.com Increased speed ZiPster Turns tree collision off buzzsaW Perform higher jumps MegaLeg Get a load of these cheats: Alien Unlocked Hold the Back + Start buttons and press Y, L, X, В, К, А, В, X. Now you will have challenges 43, 48, 49 & 50 unlocked and have bomb piece #5. All Boarders Hold the Back + Start buttons and press Y, L, X, B, R, A, R, B More Points Hold the Back + Start buttons and press Y, L, Х, В, К, А, В, A. Now you will have 9 million lift points and 9 million equipment points. Challenges Finished Hold the Back + Start buttons and press Y, L, X, B, R, A, R, Y. Now you will have challenges unlocked except 43, 48, 49, 50. You will also have all bomb pieces except #5. Slow Motion Mode Hold the Back + Start buttons and press Y, X, B, L. Then, press L + В in the air for slow motion. pomme Legends of Wrestling GET US ALL Ela Wrestlers To get all those sweaty wrestlers at your disposal, go to the main menu. Press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Triangle, Triangle, Square. OLD-SCHOOL PLAYERS Dory Funk Beat Career mode using Tony Funk. Robert Gibson Beat Tag Tournament. Jimmy Hart Beat Career mode using a "Loved" legend. King Kong Bundy Complete Career mode and fin- ish the Southeast Territory. Ricky Morton Beat Tag Tournament. Captain Lou Albano Beat Career mode with a hated wrestler. Michael and David Von Erich Beat Career mode with Kevin Von Erich. Fritz Von Erich Beat Career mode with Kerry Von Erich. Мг. Fuji Win the tag-team belts in Tournament. Sabu Beat Career mode with the Sheik. Ban Koloff Win a non-tag tournament. CAN YOU SAY "SWEET?" While playing the game, pause it at any point and enter these codes to enable them. E]Invutnerability L1,L1,L2,L2,R1,R1,R2,R2 NOTE: Invulnerability doesn’t always stay on. Watch your health after an auto save. This can get you killed. РЛА! Weapons, Full Ammo and Eight Painkillers Press L1, L2, R1, R2, Triangle, Circle, X, Square. THAT IS HOW IT’S DONE Complete these levels with the listed point amount or more to open special items. [Level 2: 50,000 Golden CH-6 Level 3: 70,000 Infinite missiles for the car Level 4: 70,000 Golden accuracy Level 6: 90,000 Golden grenades Level 7: 100,000 Lotus Espirit Level 5: 90,0000 Golden clip Level 8: 100,000 Rapid fire Level 9: 110,000 Golden armor Level 10: 120,000 Golden bullets Level 11: 130,000 Regenerating armor Level 12: 130,000 Unlimited ammo for Golden Gun HIDDEN WEAPONS You will need to earn point totals and certain medallions before you can access the fol- lowing hidden weapons. Level 1: 50,000 and all 007 medallions Rocket manor Level 2: 50,000 and all 007 medallions Golden Gun for multiplayer Level 3: 70,000 and all gold medallions Multiplayer Stealth Bond Level 4: 70,000 and all 007 medallions Gravity Boots Level 5: 90,000 and all 007 medallions Multiplayer Guard character Level 6: 90,000 and all 007 medallions Viper weapon for multiplay Level 7: 100,000 and all gold medallions Alpine Guard character for multi- player use Electronic Gaming Monthly - 149 - egm.gamers.com TOP 5 TRICKS The top 5 games of the last month for your tricked-out pleasure: 1. Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron И G Get Your Ships On Fly the friendly Star Wars skies with this bunch of unlockable ships. Slave 1 Ship Finish all missions with a Silver medal or better. Naboo Starfighter Finish the Tatooine Training in all four time settings. You must get all discovery items, all objects and two hidden bonus items in each zone. Times are 6 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m. (You must make sure your GameCube inter- nal clock is set.) Millennium Falcon Finish all missions with a bronze medal or better. TIE Fighter Steal а TIE Fighter and complete the Level Seven mission during the day- time and nighttime hours to unlock it as a bonus ship. Darth Vader's Tie Acquire 15 gold medals to unlock Darth Vader's TIE Advanced. 2. The Simpsons Road Rage =г= Holiday Road Rage Change your PS2’s inter- nal date to the following to unlock these secret Simpsons characters: New Year’s Krusty 1/1/02 Thanksgiving Marge 11/22/01 Halloween Bart 10/31/02 Christmas Apu 12/25/01 3. Half-Life Slow motion At the Cheats screen, input Right, Square, Up, Triangle, Right, Square, Up, Triangle. Maxed Ammo Head to the Cheats screen and press Down, X, Left, Circle, Down, X, Left, Circle. Alternate Gravity Get to the Cheats screen ЕЛЕ TRICKS (CONTINUED) 3. Half-Life (cont.) and press Up, Triangle, Down, X, Up, Triangle, | Down, X. | Invincible | While at ће Cheats | Screen, press Left, Square, | Up, Triangle, Right, Circle, | Down, X. | Invisible Go to the Cheats screen and press Left, Square, Right, Circle, Left, Square, Right, Circle. | Alien Mode | Go to the Cheats screen | and press Up, Triangle, | Up, Triangle, Up, Triangle, | Up, Triangle. | 4. WWE rr SmackDown! Just — Bring It | Play as Fred Durst | Choose Slobberknock | Match. Then pick the Undertaker. Eliminate 15 opponents before the 10- minute timer expires. This will then unlock the Limp Bizkit front man. | 5. Doom лч Cheat me up, Scottie | Pause the game before entering each cheat. All weapons, items, keys Hold | + В and press A, В(2), AG). Invincibility Hold L + В and press В(3), | A(5). | Advance levels Hold | + В and press A, B, | AG), B(2), AQ). You will | advance about five levels. Radiation suit Hold | + R and press B(2), А(6). God mode Hold | + R and press A(2), | B, A(5). | | | | | Berserk mode Hold | + R and press B, A, B, A(5). Level 8: Get 100,000 and all 007 medallions Calypso for multiplayer use Level 9: 110,000 and all 007 medallions Open the full arsenal modifier Level 11: 130,000 and every 007 medallion Poseidon Guard for multiplay Level 12: 130,000 and all 007 medallions Opens Carrier Guard Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance HACK AND SLASH, BABY! Chop your way through dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl with these tips: Unlock Gauntlet mode Finish the game using any diffi- culty setting. Unlock Extreme mode To play on Baldur's Gate's crazy hard setting, you'll have to fin- ish the entire game in Gauntlet mode. (level up Press and hold R3, Triangle, R2, L1, and then press Left on the D- pad. This cheat automatically takes you to level 20, and gives you access to all the feats (depending on the current num- ber of slots available). It also gives you level one feats on all of your character's class-depen- dent feats and an additional 75,000 gold pieces. Ed lnvulnerability and Warp Use anytime during game. Press and hold R2, L1, Left D-pad, Triangle and press the Start but- ton. This cheat when entered will bring up a menu. inks зма u) e FORMATION EQUIP MENT suta Electronic Gaming Monthly - 150 HERE’S HOW YOU DO IT Unlock Oscar Finish the game with an A rank- ing in all levels. Unlock JJ Sawyer Finish the game with an S rank- ing in all levels. Unlock Naomi Finish the game with a B ranking in all levels. Unlock The Insider Finish the storage level with a B ranking in all levels. New Kat outfit Finish Score Attack mode with high scores in all levels. New Ethan outfit Finish Stunt Attack mode. Batman: Vengeance ЕДРАКК KNIGHT CHEATS At the main menu of the game enter these codes. There is no time constraint so take your time. If entered properly, a sound plays. Cheat mode L2, R2, L2, R2, Square,Square, Circle,Circle Infinite Handcuffs Square, Circle, Square, Circle, L2, R2,R2, L2. Infinite Batlauncher Circle, Square, Circle, Square, egm.gamers.com La, R1, L2, R2. Infinite batarangs and electric batarangs L1, R1, L2, R2. 2 GAMECUBE Extreme 63 I HAVE THE NEED TO CHEAT If you entered the code correct- ly, a message will appear telling you what you have enabled. Note: All L and R references are to the shoulder buttons, not the directions on the pad. EJ Infinite shields and turbos At the Press Start screen, press L+R,Z,L+R, 2. Note: The effects of this code only last for one race and must be re-enabled before the start of the next race. Infinite ammunition At the Press Start screen, press L,R,L,R,L+R, 7. All teams and tracks At the Press Start screen, press L(2), R(2), Z(2), L+ R +Z. Double prize money At the main menu, press L, R, Z, L, R,Z, L+R. E Extreme lap challenge At the main menu, press L, R, L, RL,R,Z,L+R. StarCom team Successfully complete XG career mode to unlock the hidden StarCom team. Quick start Hold forward during the count- down without touching the accelerator. As soon as “бо” appears, hit the gas button to get a quick boost. NBA 242 Enter these passwords at the Code Selection screen. Please ре 0 are мир, rand Theft tto du š Must Be On [M] 72CB4343FoCi5EA4F 6F5E501F7FE05A78 Isaac Inf HP 53AFEE8C9FBDoD37 C3B5B9BD7890E182 Isaac Inf PP D65CD14AA516730D 46DC252AF33185E4 Isaac Max Lvl 2CAB311D4773E36C Isaac Max AT 9650CD4C11F2C6Eo Isaac Max DF F47C2E06556CAD85 Isaac Max AG B4584C506BF24634 note that all codes are case-sensitive. Hidden Team vc Extra Players on Hidden Teams Marrinson (Note: Be sure to enter the Hidden Team code first.) | Big Heads heliumbrain Monster Players alienbrain Infected Players tvirus Extra Taunting sohappy Freaky Commentary whatamisaying Isaac Max LK 66387СоЕб762569А баге Inf HP. 6C697CD97F47E001 B6979B9A34A7DB73 Garet Inf PP 47481F9E355400DC 7F1DFA4FC783FB296 Garet Max Lvl 5DFDEBF16CC5FC71 Garet Max AT FB38C1E857E55D9F Garet Max DF 9B041A9432D3899F Garet Max AG B5B620F28E9B4647 Garet Max LK CF7F12EA99DE5647 Jenna Inf HP E802A1C1BA9AA227 E3D0B7AEF256219D Jenna Inf PP AD815B89E324D718 417714BA509446A8 Electror Vazhar by Full Sail Student Ball Perspective Brian Germain betheball Cool Looks radical Groovy Clothes thezoslive PLAYSTATION Men in Black: The Series Crashdown 1 GOT THE HOOK-UP At the password screen, which is the last option at the main menu, enter each of these codes to unlock some goodies. Turbo RUNSLIKETHEWIND Blurry Graphics MENINBLURRR All Weapons MAGICPOCKETS Sunglasses TINTEDSPECS Overhead View ALIENSEYEVIEW One-Shot Kills ONESHOTSPLAT Unlimited Ammo UFO Jenna Max Lvl 9A36B7AECD3BBC63 Final Fantasy X Must Be On [M] OE3C7DF2 1645EBB3 oCo8E7C3 F8A9A297 Infinite Gil 3C28CEF7 85F19EFF Al Већа Translated 3C28CDBF FBFFFFFF Super HP/MP For All Characters 3C120FFF2FC6FEF2 3C120F3F2FC6FEF6 Max Stats 3C120727 A4FDFFFF 3C12073B F862CE11 3C12073F 2CBDFEoA 3С120747 2CBDFEoE nthly - 151 - egm.gamers.com а! World Education School of: Game Design Computer Animation Digital Media Film Audio Show Production 800.226.7625 www.fullsail.com 3300 University Boulevard Winter Park, FL 32792 * Financial aid available to those who qualify. * Job placement assistance. * Accredited by ACCSCT. ©2001 Full Sail, Inc. All rights reserved. The terms "Full Sail" "Full Sail Real World Education," and the Full Sail logo are either registered service marks or service marks of Full Sail, Inc. elcome to Halo's Inner Circle, where we delve into the secrets and strategy that will help you get the most out of Halo, both sin- gle- and multiplayer. If you've got a tip, game setup or any- thing else Halo-related, E-mail it to us at egm@ziffdavis.com (subject: Inner Circle), and you could see it here next month. Oh, and check out Bungie's Halo site at www.bungie.net for more great tips and tricks. With this issue we bid a fond adieu to the MGS2 Watch. Thanks for writing in—see you back for MGS3! Q: Can | pilot one of those cool Covenant tanks? Q: How can I play Halo against he EGM editors? ing with a cannon: When you meet back up with Snake near the end of the game, put away your sword and punch him (watch out when he gets back up —he's pissed!) until he passes out, then you can shake him down for his dog tags. In the tanker near the start of the game, in the same room as the Vulcan Raven doll casting a shadow, close the open locker door and take a picture of the what you like is your business, just get those Metal Gear pictures. By Mark MacDonald manly poster there. Turn it into Otacon for some funny com- ments. (Also, try tak- ing two or three pic- tures of that poster to really fluster him.) Fatman with the M9 tranquilizer gun a few times. He'll mock you with comments like “Is that a ВВ Gun?” For our sizeable audience of perverted readers: Equip a girly mag and go into one of the bathroom stalls on Strut C; call the Colonel for a hilarious exchange. Also, try pushing L1 and R1 while Snake is making Electronic Gaming Monthly - 192 - egm.gamers.com By Mark MacDonald ATCH his *o" face in the Tanker episode (look at the girly posters in first-person view and call Otacon on the Codec) to hear what he’s thinking. Sick! Finally, this isn’t a trick, but we just had to include it. sent us the above image, wondering if it was legit. This, “Mr. Zaidi,” is what we in the business call a complete load of horse manure. Nice try! 0 you've bought $ Nintendo's King of the Hill-style brawler but you're having trouble unlocking a few things? Well, we've put together some strategies for beating the hardest challenges, all the while giving you the low- down on a few secrets you prob- ably didn't know about. Who loves you more than we do? If you've got a fancy tip, game setup or anything else Smash Bros. related, E-mail it to us at egm@ziffdavis.com (subject: Smash Academy), and you could see it here next month. % Once you've unlocked all the secret characters in SSBM, you have a 1-in-251 chance of seeing Mew pop out of a Pokéball dur- ing battle. % And after you've unlocked the rest of the secrets, there's a 1- in-251 chance that Celebi will op out of a Pokéball. % Once you unlock a secret character or stage, it's added to the list that can be seen during the rolling demo of the game. * Having problems going yard with the sandbag in the Home FGM MAKES YOUR LIFE EASIER! Run Contest? Soften it up with stationary attacks (like Yoshi’s down + А in the air) before whacking it with the bat. If you do it right, you should be able to hit it over 1,000 feet no problem. The premise: * Turn off all items except Pokéballs and change their fre- quency to very high. The result: * Pokémaniacs will be in hog heaven when the fireworks start. With two to four people tossing Pokéballs around, it'll be chuck, duck, and cover as it's anyone's guess what will emerge from every ball thrown. Try turning the damage ratio up for extra flavor. Combatants уп Smashing Changes Check out the differences between the U.S. and Japanese versions of SSBM! The Japanese Proximity Mine (from Perfect Dark) has been replaced in the U.S. version with a motion-sensor Bomb (listed as from a “Тор Secret" game). Also, the Topis in the Ice Climber stage are seals in the Japanese game, but we got Sasquatch/goat-looking things in the U.S. version. Electronic Gaming Monthly - 188 - egm.gamers.com cademy By Chris “CJ” Johnston & James “Milkman” Mielke TRICKS Sound Test № Super Marlo Bros. 3 ORA) 4 NARRATION У * If you're tough enough to beat event 51 in the Event Match mode (see handy tips below), you'll unlock a Sound Test mode. Now you can listen to those sweet tunes whenever! The premise: ° Turn off all items except Bomb- ombs and Home Run Bats, then set them at very high frequency. x 39 > © Too hina >. > 20197 2674265 The result: * You make like the Babe and try to whack your buddies out of the ring. Of course, you could opt not to take up the wood and just go mano-a-mano with your oppo- nents, using nothing but manly throw moves. But watch out for the added danger of Bomb-ombs. TOPI MOTION-SENSOR BOMB FINAL WORD Old Games We'd Like to See Rematie...Or Not? a < Crispin Boyer Features Editor Mark MacDonald Executive Editor Chris Johnston News Editor Jeanne Kim Associate Editor Cyril Wochok Senior Art Director Che Chou West Coast Editor Dean: Call me crazy, but Га love to play an update of the 1985 arcade game Choplifter. It wouldn't be that tough to make, either. All it needs are a few decent 3D environments, battle-equipped choppers and some prisoners to rescue. Come on, someone make it. Crispin: Hey, dumbass, ever hear of Black Dawn? Dean: What? Hmm.... Crispin: Good ol’ Crazy Climber is пре for a remake. Pretty much all the systems have dual-analog joypads now to simulate the coin-op's twin-stick climbing controls. And if we learned anything from MGS2, it's that modern consoles can render bird turd with scientific precision. mm! = mm =a = " | Li = ш Mark: Hey, dumb-freaking-ass, ever hear of Hyper Crazy Climber? Crispin: Oh yeah...wait, no. Mark: Oh...well, it came out in Japan for the PlayStation a few years back. But since we seem to be wallowing in the ancient old-school for these suggestions, how about Frontline (with tanks that _ control like Halo’s) or Commando (the Capcom game, not the Arnie flick)? And don't make ‘ет into first-person shooters either. Alas, how | miss the old action/ shooting genre! Cyril: Most of the games | hoped would be given the 3D treatment have already been done and turned out like crap. Remember the bad Contra and Castlevania remakes? How bout the lame 3D Pac-Man, Pong and Centipede attempts? | think some games were only meant to exist on the X and Y planes. Chris: One of my favorite games of the old school that’s never gotten a sequel or an update is Atari’s Kangaroo. Yeah, it was sort of a Donkey Kong rip-off, but man, it was fun. Games today don’t have enough marsupials in ‘em, darnit! T Kangaroo Kraig: | dunno. I’m not into the marsupials anymore. That was so last year. I'd much rather see a Donkey Kong remake that actually plays like the classic, instead of an update on a two-bit rip-off like Kangaroo. Jeanne: I'd agree to being dragged by the hair into a cave just to see my favorite Atari caveman in B.C.’s Quest for Tires make a 3D comeback. Kraig: Sounds kinky. But l'd like to see a new Burgertime. l've played the old one for ages, and I’m drooling at the prospect of a great 3D burger-cookin' simulator. Maybe McDonald's could use it to train aspiring fryers. If not that, Herzog Zwei is another classic that never gets enough attention. Some hackers are prettying it up for the PC, but I'd like to see the real deal with all the fixings. 25000 Burgertime Che: Man, forget about your damn hamburgers. What we need is a 3D Contra game worthy of its name. The Metal Slug games are nice and all, but I need some of that Hans-and-Frans-in-the- jungle-armed-with-spread-guns action right about now. Z 22) ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer .........Ј Robert F. Callahan Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer . .Bart W. Catalane Senior Executive Vice President .................. Tom McGrade (Publishing Operations) Executive Vice President ......................... Peter Longo Executive Vice President .................... Stephen D. Moylan Executive Vice President and Editorial Director (Editor-in-Chief, PC Magazine) ... Michael J. Miller Senior Vice President (Circulation) . . . 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Carolyn Schurr Levin Wica presidenta МАДА К site ENE, Sloan Seymour (Publishing Director, Baseline) Vice President (Editor-in-Chief, Baseline) . . . Лот Steinert-Threlkeld Vice President (Internet Audience Development) . . . Stephen Sutton Vice; Presidentes ee E О. «a Stephen Veith (Publisher, CIO Insight) Vice President (Internet Advertising Sales)........... Jason Young Executive Vice President and General Manager .... | Mark Van Name eTesting Labs Chief Technology Officer ........................ Alan Bourassa (Internet Operations) Senior Director, Manufacturing . . Carlos Lugo Director, International ........................ Christin Lawson Advertiser index Acclaim Entertainment . . ........... 15, 57, 95,113 www.acclaim.com Activision: о ce rot ee 10717. www.activision.com | Best Buy: сасе ese sense ts vlone 725,73 | www.samgoody.com Codemasters Inc ..................... www.codemastersusa.com Columbia House .................. +... 86a-b www.columbiahouse.com DCShoes ...... ОСА E aa NI 27 www.dcshoes.com Eidos Interactive ................. 24-25, 62, 89 www.eidos.com Electronic Arts...... 8-9, 23, 30-31, 50a-50h, 84- www.ea.com 85, 100-101 | Electronics Boutique ........................ 83 www.ebgames.com Encore Software .................... +... 58-59 www.encoresoftware.com Full Sail Real World Education ............... 151 www.fullsail.com GameSpot i КАРАСОР О SO LESS dee da 143 3 з ја Cy ier g mman, www.gamespot.com | Infogrames ............ 20-21, 32-33, 70-71, 123 Е at Holiday 2002 www.infogrames.net Interact Accessories Inc. ............ 43, 45, 47 www.interact-acc.com Кое р аа ал а e rt www.koeigames.com Konami оЁАтегїса..........................97 www.konami.com GAME GUIDE FOR PC AND VIDEO GAMES Kraft ......... воо Овна 945129) www.cornnuts.com LucasArts Entertainment Company ...36-37, 54-55 www.lucasarts.com Metro3D ........... ВТА coBódando0oObdoS D) | www.metro3d.com Microsoft Corporation ............... 13, 107, 109 www.Xbox.com Midway Home Entertainment . 53, 74a-74d, 75, 133 www.midway.com Namco..... ОВОО 280 5097 WWW.namco.com S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. .. www.insideedge.com Sega of America ..... 4-5, 67, 92-93, 98-99, 105, www.sega.com 114-115, 160 Sony Computer Entertainment of America . . 2-3, 18- E 19, 40-41, 48-49, 60-61, 65, 68-69, 77-78, 158- [see or rins roro lacra iro rr 159 WWW.scea.com Square Electronic Arts ................. 80-81 www.squaresoft.com Take Two Interactive ..................... 67 www.rockstargames.com U.S. Army Command Headquarters ........ 29 www.goarmy.com Answers to crossword puzzle on p. 46 September ‘00 Pokémon Gold & Silver Seaman Jet Grind Radio Kirby 64 Smuggler’s Run Chrono Cross Dragon Warrior 1811 Dino Crisis 2 Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX Virtua Tennis Issue #134-$6.00 October '00 Zelda: Majora's Mask Final Fantasy IX Game Boy Advance Onimusha Ogre Battle 64 Quake || Arena Smuggler's Run Madden 2001 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Mario Tennis Issue #135-$6.00 тя November ‘00 PlayStation 2 Launch GameCube Game Boy Advance Grandia || Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 тис тагм ото т C с CAMS. 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Thanks :) ELECTRONIC а dG A РГ = MONTHLY NEXT MONTH April 2002 Reviewed Next Month: • (Xbox) Kombat V : 2 It's been nearly five years ° (Сатебиве) since Mortal Kombat left e (Dreamcast arcade goers feeling black and blue all over. Next • (Р52) month, £GM gives you the exclusive juicy ° (Кю) details on Mortal ° (PS2) Kombat V, the series' glorious return to the ° (dox) fighting-game arena. Can MKV pull off the * (GameCube) fatality it needs to put the e (Xbox) franchise back on top? We š drop by developers Midway to Previewed Next Month: find out the hard way. Also be sure to peep our Gamers’ Choice ° (PS2, Khon) Awards for the best of 2001! • (GameCube) • (PS2, GC, Xbox) COMPUT! PlayStation RA AIRC MAGAZINE WORLD March 2K2 March 2K2 The Official U.S. PlayStation Demo Disc Magazine will have e IM Contest * Wreckless March 2K2 The first-ever hands-on look at the most spectacular first-person shooter the folks at CGW an exclusive look at the next step in Lara • н Це у cons evolution; e Sied Storm 2 ера опѕіегѕ, Inc. And look for А Ë e Sheep aider continuing coverage * Mano Advance 2 Don't miss their e Twisted Metal: of Final Fantasy X _ e Shadow Hearts gameplay impres- s and a comprehensive а Ае Small Brawl hardware roundup. = e : * Scoohy Doo & Also featured: "mmm Next month GameNOW • Ghost Recon exclusive screen the Cyber Chase Maximo and Lees takes a look at some of • Return to Castle shots of the game • E.T.: Interplane- State of Emergency | $ the best Sega has to offer Wolfenstein that could redefine tary Mission in 2002. Look for pre- the genre. This jam- views on Virtua Fighter 4 e Battie Realms packed issue will (PS2), Gun Valkyrie (Xbox) © Wizardry 8 feature more than • Jak & Daxter and more. Cozy up to • IL-2 Sturmovik 20 WS, ап e Batman: reviews, where you'll find exclusive first look Vengeance verdicts on Maximo, : at SWAT 4, and a • Tony Hawk's Pro Blood Wake, Kobe Bryant ° ыы 4: hands-on preview of Skater 3 Courtside and NBA 2K2. lack Knig Heroes of Might & Оп the strategy side, we'll * Aliens vs. Magic IV. Plus: throw some Jak & Daxter Predator 2 nominees for our tips your way. Don't miss e Battle Realms rs oie as? 20+ pages of the latest ear. Be here for a ue A tips. • Myth lll this and more! - 187 - egm.gamers.com nd Be "PS Fly lare вам trademarks ol Sony Computer Entertainment lnc. EPA + | ! ЈАК (THE FIGHTER) AND DAX ABUT FEW DARE ATTEMPT. TO FIN EVERYONE ЕМЕВУОМЕ | 1 INTENDO Mild Violence © GAMECUBE. | ® and the Nintendo GameCube 1090 are trademarks of Nintond gitero 3 itid Trademark 0% d 0 na А CORPORATION or its ada EGA AMUSEMENT VISION 2001. All Rights Reserved. уту, sepa cor Design: