ra WHAT'S NEXT FOR MIDDLE-EARTH
E» The #1 Videogame Mag for PS2*Xbox* GameCube: PS One*GBA...
ELECTRONICĂ
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Í LAYS 27 z5 ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA | Issue 162 | 7 42 J 2003 $4.99/$6.50 Canada | | | | p 14024 SEU |
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. Designed and developed by Killer Game. ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. ^
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With more than 30 arcade-
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN OURS”
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EVERYONE
Comic Mischief Suggestive Themes
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d and developed by Killer Game. ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. “Live In Your World. Play In О a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Ame!
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"NO TRESPASSING" SIGNS.
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Blood
Violence
© 2002 New Line Productions, Inc. The Lord of The Rings and the characters, names, and places therein, TM The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All RightsReserved. Electronic Arts, EA GAMES. the EA GAMES logo and "Challenge Everything" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc, in the U.S, and/or other countries. "PlayStation" and the "P" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox kx are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, ©, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. EA GAMES" is an Electronic Arts™ brand.
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Meet the world's most notorious drivers Choose from the latest performance enhanced There are no rules - drive anywhere in the on the streets of LA, Paris, and Tokyo. vehicles and compete to make a name for yourself. city. Find the fastest route to win.
"PlayStation" and the ^PS" family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Angel Studios and the Angel Studios logo are trademarks of Angel Studios. Rockstar Games and the Rockstar Games logo are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. Copyright 2002. AII rights reserved.
! Violence
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The Future Of Illegal Street Racing
, MmowiGHT CLUE U
LOS ANGELES / PARIS / TOKYO
The Midnight Club is now open to motorbikes. Take The cops know you are out there - Use tricks to gain an edge or just to advantage of the speed and control - but watch out, don't get caught. show off. Style is almost as important a wrong move will send you flying. as winning.
JANUARY2003
WWW.ROCKSTARGAMES.COM/MIONIGHTCLUB2
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CONTENTS
January 2003 Issue 162
194 112 194 13 126 173 96-98 194 173 86-88 100 102 92-94 102 173 196 176 126 210 212
174, 210
114 187 198 200-202 214 184-186 126 178
210 102 176 176 118-120 128 188-190 122-124 180
176
114
204 206-208 110-111 210 90-91 182
194 112
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Black & Bruised
Colin McRae Rally 3
Contra: Shattered Soldier Dark Angel
Disney's Treasure Planet Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Dragon's Lair 3D
Dr. Muto
EverQuest: Online Adventures Final Fantasy X-2
Galerians: Ash
Getaway, The
Guilty Gear X2
Haven: Call of the King James Bond 007: NightFire Jet X20
Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Four Swords, The
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The
Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter Mario Party 4
MechAssault
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance Metroid Fusion
Metroid Prime
Midtown Madness 3
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
NBA Inside Drive 2003
NBA Street Vol. 2
NCAA March Madness 2003 NHL 2K3
Panzer Dragoon Orta Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Resident Evil 6
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Rygar: The Legendary Adventure
Simpsons Skateboarding Skies of Arcadia Legend Steel Battalion
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell True Crime: Streets of L.A. Unreal Championship War of the Monsters
WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth
X-Men: Next Dimension X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge
@ вона 12
@ Letters 20 i Press Start 32
Hyped for The Two Towers? Find out what's next in gaming for The Lord of the Rings. Plus: Find out what it takes to be a real-life game designer and get the scoop on the next Resident Evil.
ere GMB: Previews 65
PS2 gamers can look forward to a ll group quest with EverQuest: Online Adventures, battlin' giant beasts with War of the Monsters, and bustin' chops Guy Ritchie-style in The Getaway. GameCubers bust criminals with True Crime. Finally, Xbox owners jump aboard a dragon in Panzer Dragoon Orta and punch holes in Nazis with Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
Review Crew 112
The Crew takes a stab at holiday hits like Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, and MGS2: Substance.
@ Tricks 218
Think you know Vice City? You don't know nuthin' till you've read our Tricks section, complete with
EGM’s HOLIDAY
BUYER'S G
Pick the perfect gaming gifts for the sports fan, gal gamer, grizzled grown-up, and other species of player on your list with our Santa-size roundup of this holiday’s biggest titles on page 148. Or just use it to make your own damn wish list, Scrooge McJerk.
Е
Talk about too hot for TV. Humor-writer Seanbaby plays the games our parents wouldn't let us and tells about all that seedy, steamy, downright silly pixel-on-pixel action in our naughty-games feature on page 134. Adult situations are most definitely included.
Think you've
got what it codes ’n’ secrets for Vice, Shinobi, takes to bea Star Wars Bounty Hunter,
game SmackDown! SYM, and more. designer? M
"o — @ The Final Word 230
See the movie. Then see what Lord of the Rings games you'll soon be playing on page 32.
additional mailing offices. Single ine, POSTMASTER: Send address vag.com (for customer service) or
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By Dan "Shoe" Hsu шо
иген this magazine.
But you know, this talk about violence and happy days as a gamer...it's got me thinking. Videogames make me damn happy (no, this isn’t the thesis of the editorial—I’m still rambling). In their virtual world, | like shooting things. | like stealing cars. | like skateboarding where I’m not supposed to be skateboarding. | like playing the hero, mobster, robot, or monster. Hey, I’m a grown-up, but | still like playing make-believe —so what? Slowly, because of sickos like the D.C. sniper or the Columbine kids, an atmosphere that makes us feel guilty for enjoying our Grand Theft Autos, Unreals, and BMX XXXs is creeping across America. Well, screw that. I’m gonna go have fun with my videogames no matter what people tell me. I’m not going to go out and harm anyone, so I'll keep on playing my Mature-rated games (note: I'm over 18); watching my American Pies; and eat- ing greasy, half-pound burgers.
EDITORIAL No Point At All oy, do | hate writing the editorial. No one B really reads this drivel, right? Hello? Anyway,
1 gotta do it just because it's expected of a magazine (and of me). Great.
So I’m sitting here, wondering what the heck | should be writing about.
How about the gaming violence controversy, in light of recent events surrounding the D.C.-area sniper? Nah. The subject of videogame violence is sooo last decade. Anyone who really believes Mortal Kombat or Doom is the cause of society's ills isn't reading our magazine anyway, so I'd be preaching to the choir. (Oh, and if some of you are reading the magazine, | just got this to say to you: Gimme a break.) Besides, one of our readers (a parent, no less) puts some good perspective on this subject in our letters section this month.
How about something clichéd like how this is Such a great time to be a gamer? Barf. If you need me to tell you that, then you're probably dead on the inside, and therefore, drooling on, rather than
—Shoe
Contributors -
Jonathan Dudlak
Honestly, sometimes we get so busy we just don’t have time to be funny. That’s when we call Jon here. Comedy is his only escape from his day job at a paper-tube factory.
Darren Gladstone
When he’s not busy shooting clouds in the latest version of Die Hard: Vendetta, Darren keeps busy with more entertaining activi- ties, like stapling his tongue to his lower lip.
Jeanne Kim
Jeanne handles our interaction with the outside world, like the Man on the Street section in news, so we don’t have to leave Í the confines of our warm bunker.
David Kushner
A writer for Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly, David dove into the world of game development this month to learn how to get 7 the world's coolest job: game designer.
Dan Leahy
Although he still does a few sports reviews for us, Dan left a cushy job at GameNOW to train for the World Strongman Competition. He’s up to 20 feet on the keg toss.
Demian Linn
The schoolyard kids kept teasing us, “If you love Demian so much, why don’t you marry him?” Because legally, we can’t. But we can hire him, starting next issue. So hah!
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Joe Rybicki, Chris Baker, Gary Steinman, Todd Zuniga, Sam Kennedy, Saddam Hussein, and John Davison—which of these names isn’t from our awesome sister mag? Hint: It’s not Gary.
GameNOW
When protesters appeared outside our offices chanting, "What do we want? TO PLAY GAMES! When do we want it? NOW!" our sis- ter-in-law mag was created to shut them up.
Xbox Nation
Our stepsister magazine has that great Greg Orlando taste, and Evan Shamoon works on even the toughest stains. Now, new and
¥ improved with 89 percent more Che Chou!
Scott Steinberg
Like Jeanne, Scott's pleasing appearance and bowel control make him indispensible when we need to talk to people, like for our Tony Hawk and War Games interviews this issue.
Damon Brown
Getting paid to make games is tricky, but anyone can craft home-brewed titles for the fun of it. All you have to do is read Damon's article in our Press Start section.
David Hodgson (Prima Games) Dave does such a great job on the tricks sec- | tion every month, if it weren't for the fact that he and the band Oasis come from the same country, we might even call him "friend."
Looking for love, in all the write places
Want to work for us, America's N NI 1, most-read, most Pu -ass Ded magazine? Of course you i Ho: Мете looking for experienced videogame controllers,
preview/review writing samples to egm
equal ally e for freelance or Грыу even full-time work. Inte avis.com with the subject heading And watch how quickly we delete your email if you actually use “Freelancer: Your Name’
| News Editor
| Art Director
| Bi E itors
| International Editor
| БІНЕ Editor ап
| Мапарїп
| Features Editoi
ELECTRONIC
Number 16.1 January 2003 |
egm.ganers.com
GAMING == MONTHLY
Editori Chief Я п "Shoe" Hsu е shoe@ziffdavis.com
Macponatd * mark_macdonald@ziffdavis.com Jenifer 100 * jennifer_tsao@ziffdavis.com Crispin Boyer e crispin_boyer@ziffdavis.com
Chris % |" Johnston • chris johnstonGziffdavis.com Previews Editor
Greg Sewart е greg. sewartGziffdavis.com Reviews Editor
Shane Bettenhausen e shane_bettenhausen@ziffdavis.com Web Content Editor,
james Mielke • james mielkeGziffdavis.com Tricks Editor David Hodgson • tricks@ziffdavis.com
Monique M e monique martinezGziffdavis.com Associate Art Diret Stefan Belavy e . ЖЕЛ \_belavy@ziffdavis.com
Со | Py niet Salvatore е kristen_salvatore@ziffdavis.com
g Ford e ford@ziffdavis.com Т) Бопе? Е wards tom_edwards@ziffdavis.com
Contributors
Chris Baker, Қар Bernstein, Damon Brown, Johi
Brandon, Chou, Jonathan Dudlak, Ethan Einhorn,
Darren Gi gastone, Sam Kennedy. Jeanne Kim, David
Kushner, Dan Leahy, „ Demian Linn, Miguel Lopez, Greg
Orlando, ое бүр Rybicki Mike Reisel, Gerty Serrano, Rey ott stein erg, Gary Steinman, Phil
Theobald, Todd Zuniga
ohn Ricciardi Japanese Correspondent Yutaka Ohbuchi
Manufacturing Director
Senior л Manager Anne Marie Miguel Art Production Manager Michele Kellogg-Manousos Assistant Production Manager Teresa Newson
| vice president /Game Group | Editorial ШОО John 0;
Davison
| Creative Director $i C
Simon Cox Business Director
Cathy Bendoff Senior Newsstand Sales Manager
оп Galen | Advertising inquiries Contact
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Call 1 un elemental forces to hattle enemies. heal injured friends, and destroy barriers.
Utilize special attack combos and Combine items to create new and more powerful weapons.
"e © 202 Sony Computor Entanainmont ine. Published undor ease Әшір 2802: Lo беа a adamak ony Entoranmart ine. Fresh Gare, uos Edes ао аата Es lego aro facem e Eo group of omar састы PS amy одо are esed adeat Sony
Mild Violence
PlayStation.e
Add hours of gameplay with multiple side-missions and mini-games.
LWW PLAYFRESH.COM
"MORE MODES THAN-YOU CAN THROW A STICKSHIFT AT." — PSM, OCTOBER '02
Xbox" video game system screenshots shown.
Tear up the terrain in a multitude of modes, including Follow the Leader, Elimination, Relay and Rallycross.
cTIVISION.
activision.com
7 Tackle hazardous weather and real- Jockey for position-and even collide-with ruthless accurately affect performance. competitors in chaotic packs of cars.
Visit www.esrb.org or
call 1-800-771-3772 x PlayStation.2
for Rating Information
RACE OF CHAMPIONS and RACE OF CHAMPIONS EVENT TM © 2000 International Media Productions S.A.M. © internationat Motorsport Promotions S.A. Licensed by International Media Productions SAM. and Licensing Management International Ltd, RALLY FUSION: RACE OF CHAMPIONS GAME © 2002 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. under license. Activision is a registered trademark and Rally Fusion is a trademark of Activision, inc. and its affiliates. Licensed for play on the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems with the NISC U/C designation only. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Xb id the Xbox logos. are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. The ratings ican is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
RED-EncTIDn.I
COMMONWEALTH COUP
The Red Faction is using their entire arsenal in the latest attempt to
FROM THE AIR
The Red Faction customized Aesir is a maneuverable air assault vehicle equipped with optical zoom which allows for precise hits on enemy targets.
в ©
Drop Point 5:37am Troops assemble at the Sopot Harbor.
CIVILIAN UPRISING
After Sopot's forces withdrew from the main city, several Red Faction rebels raided Harbor Island and desecrated the symbolic statue of the dictator.
Blood and Gore
Violence
For more up-to-the-minute coverage of the conflict, go to www.redfaction2.com
© 2002 THQ Inc. Red Faction?" Geo-Mod™ Technology, Volition, THQ and their respective logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
BREAKDOWN
D'ETAT
overthrow the Dictator Sopot.
Public Information Building 6:05am Commonwealth Elite Guards attempt to fend off the attacking Faction soldiers.
The Slums 6:22am Rebel soldiers continue to fight despite rumors of growing animosity between Faction leaders.
E volition www.thg.com
PlayStation.e
^" P BRUTE FORCE
C 0798666 © XBOX ° MICROSOFT XBOX
XBOX GAMING BUNDLE #229958-4 © XBOX MICROSOFT XBOX 22,
5 “Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logos are registered 1 МІСГОЅОЙГ trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States *INCLUDED IN HARDWARE BOX
and/or other countries.
mem
ТЕ RE. EN GAMECLIBE/ € ( (^,
«PlayStation
HIP SCREEN ; . #230722-1 © PLAYSTATION 2 ACCESSORY ; HIP GEAR
PLAYER BATTERY PACK | | | 74. #247524» POE 2 ACCESSORY КЕИ
-— (їй ir only. Typographical errors е responsibility loutique. Not all items may appear at our outlet I РРР ices may vary by location. At time of printing, all e Some pac pricing, an ffers may differ in Conado. Я es ond availability are subject 10 change. Manuf e onsibility of Electronics Boutique. ©2002 Electronics Boutique.
LETTER OF THE MONTH
| raised my son (24 now) оп my own as a single parent, and we basically grew up together playing and enjoy- ing videogames. Often, games were motivational tools or rewards for school and work well done.
With the recent D.C.-area sniper ter- ror, we all had to endure so-called “profilers” giving their interpretations of what and who they thought the sniper was. One particular profiler claimed the sniper was a “20-уеаг- old, white, freaked-out videogame player" who used videogames as a training simulator. Right, and because I can play Flight Simulator, | can fly a Concorde, too. Anyway, as we all now know, his profiling skills left some- thing to be desired.
Too often when some loony goes on arampage, videogames get blamed. And as the politicians and media jump on the bandwagon, they conve- niently forget to mention that games have a rating system designed to keep violent content out of young and impressionable hands.
We don't need more censoring. We need folks to be aware and be responsible for themselves. We would really like to see EGM severely chas- tise these nimrods and their narrow-
Congratulations, James Arnott! You win an InterAct GameShark for PlayStation 2, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, or Game Boy Color. Hopefully, you'll put your GameShark to good use. Try entering the "fun" code!
23?
Gran Turismo Griping
OK! I'm fed up with it! Gran Turismo must end! Is it me or do you compare every type of racing/car game to Gran Turismo 3? If | made a monster truck game where I shoot out dishwashers at cows, you would say, “If you want a watered-down Gran Turismo with cows, then this is your game." Not every car game should be compared to Gran Turismo 3! The only reason it's on the top 10 sellers list every month is because of your hype!
Matt Beaumont
A watered-down Gran Turismo with cows? That sounds awesome!
"Blast ’em!!!”
minded views. As | mentioned, my son and | have played videogames for all these years, and we don't have any of these "freaked-out" tendencies— never have, and would venture to guess, never will. Our view is that videogames are entertainment—and distractions from blockheads like “profilers” on the daily talk shows.
So please, in video game terms...
James Arnott via e-mail
Well, you did a pretty good job of blasting 'em yourself, James. We could go on at length about this topic, but we'd be preaching to the choir. Stopping psychos from going psycho is pretty tough.
But it sure
seems like stricter gun-control laws
ning Grand Theft Auto.
game of Mario Party?
Seriously, though, GT3 is the most realistic driving game there is, and it's a game almost everyone is famil- iar with. That's why it gets all the name-checks. Look at it this way— if we're reviewing a football game, don't you want to know how it stacks up against Madden?
A Sequel Too Far
It should be apparent by now to most Kingdom Hearts players that there's a super-special secret trailer at the end of the game when you seal all the worlds, get the 99 puppies, and beat the crap out of the Hades Cup. So is Squaresoft giving us something to
le 20
Isn't it funny, though, the reporter-types want to beat this "story" further into the ground, they always pull out these ancient clips of Doom and Mortal Kombat? When was the last time you played Doom, anyway? If the pundits would just extract their heads from their respective...wait. We're going to sit down now. Anyone for a nice
would do the job better than ban-
whenever
Lint from the pocket of the pants of the mind of the crew at EGM....
Is it possible to make a Metroid Prime for the Game Boy Advance, but with lower reso- lution?
Bmxdirto99 Maybe. But we
sure couldn't do it. Next!
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- JUSTICE LEAGUE COMES тп THE GAME ВПУ ADVANCE
When global catastrophe strikes and the world is in peril, the call goes out’ for the Justice. , League, the greatest super heroes of all time. Fighting ‘for truth, justice and freedom, "Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter have banded together to fight for the common good against the /njustice League іп an all-new action adventure title for:the Game Boy Advance. Featuring 12 levels of non-stop action, gamers will overcome dangerous obstacles, àn onslaught .of T yang and | discover power-ups on the path to victory! “
р GAME, PREVIEW AT: ШШШ. JUSTICELEAGUE.mIDWAY.cOM
game © 2002 DC Comics and Midway Home Entertainment Inc. MIDWAY ed trademarks of Midway Amusement Games. LLC. All rights reserved Home Entertainment. Inc. TM. © ang Game. Boy Advance are trademarks.
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your mailing address and system preference for Letter of the Month prize consideration).
drool and dream about, or is this an actual game they’re working on? The trailer looks a little more dark and un-Disney like. Chad Pierce chadp@eznet.net
The hidden trailer shows a mysterious white-haired swordsman in a neon-lit city. He wields two keyblade swords and asks, “Where’s Sora?” Then you see a girl ona beach (Kairi?) watching a shooting star. This is indeed a trailer for the next Kingdom Hearts title, but don’t start hold- ing your breath just yet—it'll probably be a PlayStation 3 game! Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura told us he's busy up until 2005 with other projects, and that Disney and Square know better than to take Kingdom Hearts out of his hands....
This e-mail is probably going to sound a bit insane, although if | sent this to you three years ago about another certain company...it would still sound insane. In my opinion, Nintendo is slowly going the way of Sega. Here's how | see it: They shot themselves in the foot with the Nintendo 64, putting out a quality console with too few must-have games too late. And now, not only did they give up their contract with Rare, they let Microsoft have it. That time they shot them- selves in the freakin' eye. Nintendo still puts out great games, but I think that within two or three more console generations, Mario and company will be pleasing us gamers on a console that Nintendo didn't produce. virax@linuxmail.org
Let’s face it: As time goes on, games get more violent. Not that games weren't violent before, because | can clearly remember play- ing Mortal Kombat years ago and ripping a man's head and spine off his body.
But with all the hubbub over Grand Theft Auto and now BMX XXX, | think the gaming industry is shooting itself in the foot. At least with GTA, the violence was cartoonish, but XXX is clearly pushing the envelope just to shock people. Why would | want to buy a bik- ing game where topless women shout at me and people threaten to cut off certain key parts of my body?
I'm glad the game is being banned in all of these stores, because it doesn't deserve to be made. The industry seems like it's going to push and push until parents or the govern- ment push back. And for what? Just to say
m did this game Bm an М rating бап? Oh yeah, the breasts. And the swearing, the strippers, the dogs humping, and so on. But shouldn't that chick at least wear socks?
GO STRAIGHT FROM THE SLOPES TO A SLAB IN THE MORGUE.
“
Its Evolution Snowboarding, where every run is a fight to the finish. To stay alive,
UTION
: ч you've got to shred the course as well as the competition—with a sick sélbctidd of
Шы “өле | clubs, chains, and swords that prove just how cold winter can be. Of course, it % ow DE тм Lem ua А
should be pretty warm in the crematorium.
= eue
TRAVIS BICE
: DESTROY ENEMIES. 7 is 068+ жт. "^ E = Е мотет aT a M ALL-OUT SNOWBOARDING COMBAT. PLAY HEAD-TO-HEAD. BUST TRICKS TO BATTLE OPPONENTS.
Blood
Mild Lyr
Violence
PlayStation.?
KONAMI
PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. TM, ®, The Nintendo Game Cube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. KONAMI ®, the KONAMI ® logo and EVOLUTION SNOWBOARDING™ are either trademarks or registered trademarks of KONAMI CORPORATION. © 2002 KONAMI & Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka. All rights reserved,
Vazhar by Full Sail Student Brian Germain
Real World Education
School of:
Game Design Computer Animation Digital Media
Film
Audio
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800.226.7625
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©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.
LETTERS
that we shocked people with pointless sex and gore? I think a line needs to be drawn somewhere. XXX was a big eye-opener: Stop pushing the envelope, because it's clear off the table by now.
Ryan Latimer
| bought Madden 2003 and love it, even more now that | have the Network Adaptor. But why hasn't there been a CFL football game? | know that a lot of Americans hate the CFL, but we invented the sport, and most of our players are American anyway! | real- ly don't understand it —EA Sports puts in the damn NFL Europe teams (who suck) but not the CFL!
Brad Vermette (one angry Canadian)
Chevy. el caminoGhotmail.com
We were totally going to ridicule you, but then we got a second letter calling for a CFL mode in Madden. Whoa. Hey EA, maybe this is crazy enough to work?
Middle-Earth Maligned
What kind of idiotic a******s do you have editing your magazine? On page 287 of the December issue, there is a horrible error. You write, “When the Balrog is stunned, use Clamdring...." Clamdring?! In The Hobbit, the sword's name is Glamdring. We are talk- ing about a sword, not a shellfish.
Luke Jandreski
Good eye, Luke, but you're wrong. During the course of our exhaustive fact-checking process, we consulted Tolkien's heirs and they said *Glamdring" was actually a typo in The Hobbit. The correct spelling is, indeed, *Clamdring." Apparently, Tolkien was going for some sort of maritime feel.
Whether battling the Balrog or just puttering around the house, Gandalf is never far from his trusty blade,
Clamdring. According to appendix XII of The Silmarillion, you can hold the hilt up to your ear and hear the ocean.
UESTION
of the Moment
Where do you think games will he 30 years from now?
Three words: virtual reality Halo. DontSteponPeterGaol.com
PlayStation 9, XXXBox, GameTriangular- Prism, a Final Fantasy VII sequel (c'mon, a sequel to FFX and not М//?), huge TVs with subwoofers as big as houses, and lickable TV screens.
Salamander Strike
| don't really think it matters because the Mayans said the world would end in December of 2012, and they have predict- ed every astronomical event and have only been off by a few seconds.
Mitch Hedberg
All games will be virtual reality —no con- trollers. You'll stand in a huge transporter in your room and you will actually be inside of the game. Now | realize that's kinda way out into the future, but in 30 years | really think games will be truly unbelievable. If it's not done by someone out there now then | will do it myself, so be prepared world —! am coming. ZALES15@aol.com
Computers will have taken over the Earth, and they will be storing humans under- ground. They’ll use us for entertainment purposes. Revenge! RABIDMONKEYNO6@aol.com
On the moon. How’s that for brief? T777jubileeGaol.com
| think games will be too realistic in 30 years. So when we want to play a fighting game, we might as well just walk outside and beat the crap out of each other. KINGTATER@aol.com
Just ask Billionaire Bill. By that time he would have bought out Nintendo and run Sony out of the videogame business! Once again, M$ monopolizes another industry! Mwahahahaha!!!
Eddie Rivera
Next Month’s Question of the Moment:
Has БИЛ ЛАХ gone too far, or will games get even more explicit?
Send your brief, coherent responses to: EGM@ziffdavis.com with the subject heading:
Someone think of the children!
“HANG TEN" IN HAWAII
PlayStation.
- WIN A TRIP TO V" SURF САМР ІМ HAWAII!
8 Hit www.activisiono2.com/slater.html today to enter the “Hang Ten in Hawaii" sweepstakes for your chance to win the ultimate surf camp experience in Hawaii and other cool stuff. Register today.
PX KELLY. SLATER' S PRO/SURFER;
ZU] No purchase necessary to enter or win. Sweepstakes. 2777 ends 11/29/02, Open to legal residents of the 50 United 5 à, States excluding Florida at least 13 years old. FE Void in Puerto Rico and where prohibited. Go to ques HT aa жағ www.activislono2.com/slater.html for officia! rules BS Un Sony Computer Entertainment America takes no 7 responsibility for this offer.
EVERYONE Mild Lyrics
Mild Violence
CONTENT RATED BY ESRB
© 2002 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates, Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision and Pro Surfer are registered trademarks and Activision 02 and Sports Revolution are trademarks of Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Kelly Slater is a trademark of Kelly Slater. PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube versions developed by Treyarch. Game Boy Advance version developed by HotGen Studios. 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 the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, ®, Game Boy ‘Advance and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo, The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association, All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners,
ӚТНЕ SAME WAVE TWICE.
Visit 15 of the most popular surf spots from around the globe.
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Drop in with 6-time World Champion Kelly Slater or one of 8 other top pros in the ultimate surf experience, Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer? Play a total of 30 levels at the most challenging surf breaks from around the globe. Pull off big air and fantasy tricks like Rodeo Flip, Knack Knack and Hangman that let
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` YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE MOST ELITE COMMANDO UNIT ON THE PLANET. -
LETTERS
Game Boy Science
Did you know you can toggle color on and off while playing a Game Boy game on a Game Boy Color/Advance? At the opening screen where Game Boy pops up, just tap left or right on the D-pad. Hayes Owens
Actually, you can hold any direc- tion on the GBA's or GBC's D-pad as the logo pops up to choose between different color palettes. And if you press L or R for any original GB or GBC game, it will stretch the picture to fill the GBA's bigger screen. It's magic!
SPOILER ALERT
| love your magazine and all, but | have a slight problem. You should really be careful with what screen- shots you show in your magazine. | was looking through issue #160 and came upon a screenshot of Fox fighting Andross. | was really disap- pointed in seeing it clear as day; | wanted to find out for myself who the final boss in Star Fox Adventures is. If you are going to show anything that would spoil something for us, please consider putting in bold letters “SPOILER ALERT” or taping the pages togeth- er or something. Thank you for your time. Chevelle Abad yuffie@hotmail.com
ж
Dude, it's the cheats section! The whole thing is spoilers.
Man With A Plan
| recently picked up a copy of EGM and noticed an article about Final Fantasy | & II being rereleased...in Japan only. That's just not right. So l've started a petition, located at: http://www.PetitionOnline.com- [finalfan/petition.html. Sign it!
Jeff Daniel
Your petition must've worked. The games are arriving here in early 2003.
WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?
MISSING AN ISSUE? SUBSCRIPTION DELAYED? Then don't bug us! We're all huddled together in an igloo on the North Pole making this mag every month. Talk to the subscription
folks who get paid to deal with people like you! Phone toll-free: (800) 779-1174 Website: http:/ /service.egmmag.com Snail mail: Р.О. Box 55722; Boulder, CO 80322-5722
Primed for Metroid
I'm confused. Metroid Fusion takes place after Super Metroid? And Metroid Prime after the original Metroid and before Metroid Il on Game Boy?
What happened to your letter art section?
Fred Askare
If this is true, it would be a mis- We had to cut it take to buy both on the same day. | inis monto might as well get Prime first, then, Will it be back when I’m done, get Fusion so | can next moth?
go by the story line.... Zz Badnusty
Ray Hard to say. Why'd you cut letter art? It was my favorite part. of the mag! Lance Vance
After a long discussion between our resident Metroid scholars (well, the two dorks who've been humming the music from Prime the most anyway), it seems you are correct. Metroid happens first Hey man, me too! Some peo- ple around here don't care for it, though. Power- ful people...
What about my Dragon Ball Z art?
Tatori Jr.
Try the fridge.
ita
Er...small prob- lem with last month’s Letter Art winner. Guy already won for that letter in issue 159. We swear, it’s the last thing we’re going to blame on that tumul- tuous move we
Mr. Chozo statue sez: “Those who don't know their Metroid history are doomed to repeat it. Be cool, stay in school! Here, have some missiles.”
on Planet Zebes, then Prime on
Tallon IV, then Metroid II on SR уш! мап: i 388, then back to Zebes for e ds ie Super Metroid, and, finally, the below.
remote space station where Fusion takes place. As far as A 7 what order to play Fusion and RREA
Я 2 shot of NBA Prime (since they were both Live and NBA released on the same day), we'd 2K3 on pages suggest doing it the other way 212 and 204
last issue?
around —you can get through Same one. Did
Fusion fairly quickly on the we mention GBA’s tiny, dark screen, then dive that we had to move offices
into Prime's deep, rich, choco-
lately world. a TWICE? No lie!
playstation.com,
You can't see them, of course. After all, they're SEALs, a commando unit legendary for its ability to penetrate enemy territory undetected. And then strike with surgical precision. Enter the world of SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs, where stealth, intel- ligence and teamwork are the ultimate weapons.
ОД. Developed in association with the U.S. Navy SEALs, SOCOM is unconventional warfare the way it's really fought. That means hostage rescues, reconnaissance, ambushes and demolitions. Hoo-yah.
Whether you're in single-player mode or playing online with and against up to 16 total players, your SOCOM headset is critical. It'll help you communicate and strategize with your unit, so everyone returns in one piece. Remember: “No SEAL left behind.”
Combat terror in extreme environments like Turkmenistan, Alaska, Thailand and the gnat- infested Congo. Should be a walk in the park. Next to Hell Week, that is.
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN OURS”
PlayStation.2
Blood and Violence
» ә} pue ,uonegsfeid,, 'panzasay ieuopen әәә e sr sana / 11 //7%.
Unlimited adventures.
Thousands of players.
One phenomenon.
Blood Suggestive Themes Violence
а) Game experience may - change during online play.
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SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT
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BLOOD AND GORE VIOLENCE
»
Шен еттен P HE'S BACK '
March 2002, Kain returns to video gaming's high-throne of bloodthirsty bad-asses.
When battle-ax and sword edges dull, Kain turns to Dark Gifts such as rupture and possession.
ion
Sony Comput from Microsoft. TM, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo
Whether in pursuit of power or just for the thrill of the kill, Kain's lust for blood is inspiring.
TATE
09)
intend mature
ONI
for
nces
www.LegacyofKain.com
Press Start
lings on a quest for Middle-earth things had
only three options: a) Read J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy for the hundred-and- eleventy-first time; b) Watch 1978's mythically bad animated adaptation; or c) Crank up Led Zeppelin and inhale the Hobbitine references.
But now that Director Peter Jackson's trilogy of Lord of the Rings flicks—the second of which, The Two Towers, is just assaulting theaters—has hoarded box-office treasure that'd make a Dwarf drool, Hobbit-heads have a bazillion new Rings things to keep them busy. And amidst the blitz of toys and T-shirts, they have—of course—videogames. “It’s an amazing time to be a Lord of the Rings fan,” says Michael Regina, head of TheOneRing.net (www.theonering.net), the Web’s slickest site devoted to Tolkien’s fantasyland. “While some people despise all the merchandise, games,
| used to be that wannabe Middle-earth-
The Hottest Gaming News on the Planet
We rally the Lord of the Rings games that'll make your Middle-earth move in 2K3
to the limit: Universal’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will deliver bigger battles, so don't be surprised when the Orcs have you surrounded.
and so on, | think it has only helped bring the books more into the spotlight.”
It’s also enough stuff to frazzle the hair on Frodo’s feet. So, we’ve rounded up and com- pared all the Rings games out now (see the chart on the next page), and made like that hottie Elf Galadriel by peering into the future of halfling-heavy titles.
The next game based on the movies The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King EA Games * December 2003 * PS2, GC, Xbox
If you’ve already hacked and slashed your way
through EA’s recently released Two Towers
game, you’ll know what to expect from this fol-
low-up, which is based on next year’s final installment in New Line Cinema’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. The same internal team at EA is
developing the game, and they're sticking with
their fast-paced formula: Players take Middle-
32
earth's mightiest through the film's most spec- tacular action sequences, including a massive battle at Minas Tirith and the big finale show- down at Mount Doom's footsteps. The devel-
7 ы.
Hobbit-forming: Sam and Frodo will be playable іп EA's Return of the King, along with the three warriors you control in EA's current Towers title.
opers say they're tweaking the gameplay by giving characters the ability to jump and climb, thus adding more multilevel areas to the envi- ronments. EA is also shooting for a simultane- ous release of King on all three systems (right when the third movie opens in December 2003), so PS2 owners won't get a head start this time around.
What's it got that the other games don't? Once again, EA and New Line Cinema have clasped gauntlets to forge a game that's 100- percent faithful to the flick. The movie's actors will record dialog, giving this Rings title higher production values than the competition.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Universal • Fall 2003 • PS2, Xbox
To put it delicately, Universal’s Fellowship of the Rings game, out now for PS2 and Xbox, is not exactly a magical experience. It's more like something Gandalf could “conjure up" on the crapper. So, why would gamers want to gird their loins for this follow-up quest from Surreal Software, the same guys behind the blah PS2 version of Fellowship? Universal is stressing that this time around, Surreal isn't stuck port- ing an Xbox version, like they were with Fellowship. Instead, they're making this new
The fast-paced, movie-based Orc slashing of EA's recent The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is no longer reserved exclusively for PlayStation 2 owners. In December, EA is releasing exact ports of the game for GameCube and Xbox.
PS2 and Xbox action-adventure from scratch, focusing much of their moxie on the combat system. "In Fellowship, the enemies basically come up and maul you," says Surreal Designer Todd Clineschmidt. *Now, we're trying to make it so if you have four bad guys around you, you can attack them all at once. Mark of Kri is one game we're looking at for the combat sys- tem, although that's a bit more tactical than we want to go. We still want fast action." Surreal also wants to bring that fast action to life on a super-duper scale. About a third of Towers is set at Helm's Deep, the colossal fortress where Saruman's swarming Orc army
Scamper from your Hobbit hole and you'll find two major Middle-earth titles in stores today, but which is the Rings leader? We pit EA's game
EA Games’
GC, Xbox
Playable characters:
Sample boss:
the rules ’em all
ғ ET Aragorn, Gimli,
Two Towers
Universal's
* PS2, * PS2, Xbox
The first and second Lord of the Rings flicks
lg? and Legolas, ЕЧ each with his own moves
WI The towering & Troll in Balin's 9 Tomb
The Lord of Rings: The
33
/ The sweetest art ever air- brushed on the side of a van
[RY Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn, & each with his 1 own levels
/ А narcoleptic Balrog (hint: attack him when he falls asleep)
against Universal's, and toss an oldie-but-god-awful Super NES Ringer into the fray just to make Tolkien turn in his grave.
ки
Interplay's T
* Super NES
16-bit graphics at their most spectacularly mediocre
All Fellowship dudes, т g in sync like lil Solid Gold dancers
A Balrog sprite 5 Frodo could
Ey 4 crush with one Жыл
fuzzy little toe
Elf quest: Universal's Towers game will feature
many more playable charac- ters-"Everyone and their moth- ers," says the developer-than Fellowship. The newly designed Legolas here is just one of them.
besieges Aragorn's holed-up forces. That bat- tle has already been done—and done beauti- fully—in EA's Two Towers game, out now for PS2. But Clineschmidt figures that Surreal can go one better. “If you look at the Helm's Deep levels in EA's game," he says, "they basically have a movie in the background of guys run- ning by and fighting each other. We want to do something a lot more interactive and realistic than that. We want to let players run anywhere they want in Helm's Deep and attack whomev- er they want." The trick, Clineschmidt says, is figuring out how to make the PS2 hardware pump an army of enemies onto the screen. "We're looking at games that do that well," he says, "like [PS2 riot title] State of Emergency." Of course, Surreal's game will pack more than just hacking, clashing, and slashing. After all, half of Tolkien's Two Towers novel follows Sam and Frodo's sneaky flight to Mordor. “What we've decided to do is interweave the book's two paths," Clineschmidt says, “so you might play a little bit of Helm's Deep, and then it will switch to Frodo and Sam's side of the story. You'll be doing sword combat one level, then sneaky puzzle stuff the next." What's it got that the other games don't? Since Universal has the Tolkien book license, its Towers will have all the little details — including a finale battle with Shelob, a sinister she-spider the size of a Ford Taurus—that'll likely be missing from the flick (Director Jackson has said he's saving that confrontation for the third film). *Our goal is to contain all the major events that happened in the second [book]," Clineschmidt says, “so it would be safe to assume that we have the whole thing with Sam battling Shelob."
STICK AN ORC IN IT
Artists created a Tolkien Enterprises- approved style tome for Universal's
games. These sketches of an Uruk-
Hai super Orc (far left) and hill Troll (left) will come alive in Universal's
Two Towers game.
The game based on The Hobbit
The Hobbit • Sierra * Fall 2003 * GC
If developer Inevitable Entertainment's take on The Hobbit—Tolkien’s 1937 Rings-prequel that put Middle-earth on the fantasy map—looks candy-coated compared to the other games here, there’s a reason for that. “We thought The Hobbit was a younger book,” says Ken Embery, the game’s executive producer, “so we thought our game should have a younger, styl- ized look.”
But Embery says you don’t have to be a halfling-size tyke to have fun in Hobbiton. "We're trying to make a game that has the exploration, puzzle-solving, and quests of Zelda," he explains, "but also has the action and combat you'd expect from a platformer." Players guide Bilbo, Tolkien's original Hobbit hero, on his adventure with Gandalf and a band of Dwarves as they trek across Middle- earth to confront the dragon Smaug. Along the way, Bilbo will nab the invisibility-granting One Ring from groveling Gollum; pick the pockets of a Troll trio; spelunk an Orc dungeon; sneak past forest Elves and other “big folk”; and just try to keep his furry feet dry. “It clearly says in The Hobbit that Bilbo doesn’t swim,” Embery says, “so there’s a lot of platforming and puz- zle solving for him to get past water.”
It all adds up to an adventure with as much potential stuff to worry about as the three Lord of the Rings games combined. “Of the four primary books, The Hobbit is [most] packed end-to-end with adventure and inter-
34
Bilbo will һе The Hobbif's only playable character.
HT
esting confrontations for Bilbo," Embery says. “| think it has everything you'd want as а guideline for the creation of a game." What's it got that the other games don't? The cursed magic ring that causes so much trouble in The Lord of the Rings books and movies is a lot less prickly in the The Hobbit, which is set 6o years before the evil Sauron awakens from his millennium-long dirt nap and starts hunting for his all-powerful knick-knack. “In The Hobbit book," Embery says, “the ring didn't have any negative effects on Bilbo. It didn't suck energy from him or cause any health damage. But the book did say the ring would hop off his finger at inopportune times." So, imagine this scenario: Bilbo has just slipped on his ring and is sneaking invisibly through an Orc dungeon when the damn thing pops off his finger. "You'll suddenly be naked to the world," Embery says, “and then you have to move quickly—and think fast." ge
— Crispin Boyer
Miracle blade: Early in The Hobbit, Bilbo will find Sting, the glowing, Orc-slaying short sword he later gives Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring.
Evil Returns to PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2 owners, start boarding up those windows and stockpiling ammo—the zombies are headed back to your system. The main Resident Evil sequels may be GameCube-exclusive, but that’s not stop- ping Capcom from bringing two new Evil spinoffs to PS2 next year, one of which takes survival horror to a place it’s never been before: online. So get those broad- band adapters fired up—the T-virus just found a new way to spread.
Resident Evil Online
Ever wondered what it would be like to roam the zombie-infested streets of Raccoon City in the midst of the total chaos we glimpsed in RE2 and RE3? With RE Online, due sometime in 2003, you'll get your chance.
REO is a four-player network game (think Phantasy Star Online) with a simple goal: Get out of Raccoon City alive. You start by choos- ing your alter ego from a cast of eight people (characters include a police officer, a sur- geon, a plumber, and a waitress), each with their own background story, individual traits, and abilities. The weapons and items you can use and the areas you can visit will vary depending on which character you choose to play, as will your starting point (all four play- ers start alone). However, unlike most online games of this sort, you can't always chat freely with the other three players in your game. Much of the communication will take place via preset menu choices, where you choose from a list of different things to say. And since computer-controlled side charac- ters communicate in the same manner, you won't always know if the person you're talk- ing to is real or not. Trippy, eh?
Non-player characters will react to you differently, depending on which persona you choose.
N j 1
Resident Evil Survivor 4
REO will have about 18 scenarios, set in a motel, a subway, a hospital, and a lab, among others.
T2
Gameplay appears similar to that of the offline RE games of the past. Among the more unique features: When any player triggers a cin- ema, all four participants see it regardless of where they are in the game.
So, what about the all-important price factor? According to Capcom, the monthly fee to play online in Japan will range between 500 and 1,000 yen (roughly $4 to $8, although there's been no word on U.S. pricing). The good news is that REO will support both broadband and nar- rowband play. #%
Hot on the heels of Dino Stalker, Capcom's Dino Crisis-themed shooter, comes yet another RE- based installment in the Survivor light-gun game series (which doesn't actually support light guns in the U.S....go figure). Survivor 4 is due out in Japan early next year, but Capcom hasn't made a decision on a U.S. release yet.
Three days after the T-Virus is stolen from Umbrella's Paris laboratory, a luxury liner filled
with VIPs from all over the world is suddenly sea- jacked (yeah, it's a word —trust us). Enter Bruce McGovern, cheesily named Umbrella operative and all-around curious guy. Learning that the boat actually belongs to Umbrella, Bruce decides to investigate who's behind the incident and what they've got against his company. That's where the intro story ends, but we're going to guess that Soon after, he runs into a buttload of zombies.
These zombies want to feast on brains, but they're gonna get lead instead.
35
Sunny World IT’S A SUNNY WORLD AFTER ALL
And the mud continues to fly! If you were quick on the draw and kept your finger on the pulse of the Internet’s gaming community, then you
saw the Flash animation Microsoft posted on xbox.com (it’s since been taken down) called Double Super Sunny World, which shows charac- ters that bear a striking resemblance to Mario and friends getting scared by an Xbox robot. Hey, we'd be scared, too—the Xbox is heavy!
MAN ON THE STREET
Say Anything...
We love going to our local game store and freaking people out by asking them random questions about gaming. This month, we asked folks, “If you could say anything you wanted to Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft, what would it be?” Here’s what a few of them told us:
Gulf War hero takes a shot at today's hottest military sims
Lost. Afraid. Desperate for a tall glass of lagér. All are thoughts that crossed former British Special Air Services (SAS) Sniper Teafn Commander Chris Ryan’s mind while the A.I. is stupid, and the controls are terri- he was stranded behind enemy lines during — ble—bad enough to cause flashbacks.” the Gulf War. As the sole remaining member
of mission Bravo Two Zero, which saw three Prisoner of War
comrades killed in action and four captured, (Xbox, Codemasters)
British SAS Sniper Team Commander Chris Ryan and his controller of choice for real-life combat.
*Nintendo's doing a great job revitalizing their classic games, and I'm glad they're j starting to go into mature games. Sony is losing
Ryan undertook an eight-day sojourn across “| got to Syria after traveling over 200 miles ground to the Xbox. And the desert in search of freedom. The with no food or water. But if | had been cap- Microsoft needs to get some more solid resourceful recruit managed to escape tured, boy do | wish it would have been like titles." — Devon Johnson, Skokie, IL Saddam's clutches...but he couldn't evade this. It's a cool concept...reminds me of [the ours. Now that Ryan's a best-selling author movie] The Great Escape. Talking to groups of “| think Nintendo needs to and game consultant (on Codemasters’ |Gl2 characters is fun, and the stealthy gameplay focus more on adult games. for PC), EGM couldn't resist putting the is great. The being-fired-upon part | could do I'm looking forward to screws to him on the latest wartime wares. without. Been through enough of that." Resident Evil Zero, but other Here's what this real-life soldier has to say than that, all | have is Mario abgut the latest in military gaming. SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Sunshine, and I'm about to
à (PS2, Sony CEA) get rid of it." [laughs] Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon “Looks nice, but | wouldn't call it outstanding. —Eric Porter, Chicago, IL (GC/PS2/Xbox, Ubi Soft) Team controls are good, but the A.I. is dodgy. “NOW, this is good—nice graphics, quite realis- Enemies try to club you, not shoot you. Friends “Drop the prices, please! I'd love to get a
tic. The weapons are suitable and fit the sce- never pack the right weaponry [in the default PS2 or GameCube, but I can't afford it. nario. The team-play component requires É some getting used to; there’s a lot to think
By the time they drop the price to where І can afford it, it's too late and some- thing else will already be out."
— Christopher Koch, Des Plaines, IL
"Nintendo —don't sell out.
They sold Rare, and they shouldn't have done that. | just hope Nintendo doesn't Ч end up merging with 7! Microsoft, too. I'd rather see them make it on their own. They also need to focus on better titles. I’m
loadout] for the mission, either. But then, that looking forward to Metroid Prime. | hope always seems to be how it goes in real life, they didn’t screw that up.” about before you start, but that’s how it is in too. It’s all right, but | wouldn’t keep at it.” —Akhtar Samani, Chicago, IL real life. Getting shot in specific [body] parts really slows you down, too. | like that—the Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2 “Microsoft should get out realism, | mean, not the getting-shot bit.” (PS2, 3DO) of the videogame industry. “Er...kids might like it, but the game's ugly as Conflict: Desert Storm sin. It stutters like hell and doesn't excite me good games and the fact (GC/PS2/Xbox, Gotham Games) at all. You can tell it's rubbish. Frankly, if I'd is, they don't really know “You get to play as the SAS, so I'm biased. had the choice of playing with this or myself as what they're doing. A The game’s got good level design. It’s a nice a kid, l'd have ended up choosing the latter. [laughs] They're in over their heads." mix of environments; it's pretty realistic, too. It'd have been more enjoyable." —Joe Friedenson, Des Plaines, IL Reminds me of what it's like to kill a man. But —Scott Steinberg
onic Gaming Monthly - 86 - egm.gamers.com
IT BEGINS AS A DREAM. THEN 1T GETS REAL.
HAVEN! CALL OF THE KING'S FREEFORMER™ GAMEPLAY MOVES SEAMLESSLY BETWEEN RACING, SHOOTING, FLYING, GLIDING, BOATING AND DOG-FIGHTING GAMEPLAY IN A SEEMINGLY BOUNDLESS UNIVERSE!
Fall 2002
HAVEN! CALL OF THE KING DELIVERS AN EPIC EXPERIENCE OF MULTIPLE GAMEPLAY STYLES SEAMLESSLY BLENDED TOGETHER IN A MASSIVE UNIVERSE:
YOU MUST FIGHT TO SAVE YOUR PEOPLE FROM AN ANCIENT EVIL. DRAW UPON EVERYTHING YOU'VE EVER LEARNED TO FIND THE HERO WITHIN AND ANSWER THE CALL OF THE KING TO FREE YOUR PEOPLE FROM THE TYRANNY
OF ENSLAVEMENT:
Coming 2003
Mild Violence M d PlayStation.e
NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
Whether you're an action-sports fan or not, you've probably wondered how Tony Hawk's Pro Skater developer Neversoft continues to up the ante year after year. We did, too, so we sat down with Producer Scott Pease to get the inside story on the fourth game (and how they got Jenna Jameson on a skateboard).
EGM: It must be challenging to expand on such a winning formula year after year— how do you do it?
Scott Pease: We simply try to reinvent the game every year. We know that if we give players the same game year in and year out, they're gonna quit buying it, so we try to find a new angle, a new way to make the game fresh. We don't want to be the next Tomb Raider. [laughs] Plus, there's all the stuff from Tony Hawk 3 that got cut near the end-we throw all of that in there, too.
EGM: Or, in this case, you lose something that's always been standard —the time limit. How did that come about?
SP: It was something we always wanted to do, but never had the time. Last year, we were So caught up in making the transition to PS2 that just getting the basics— physics, control, animation, rendering, networking, scripting— took so much time that we didn't really have the manpower to rework some of the core mechanics. On this version, with a lot of that stuff already worked out, we were in a better position to experiment and mix things up.
EGM: The new two-button tricks definitely do that, but now it seems like any bozo can get decent scores with some proper button mashing while grinding.
SP: That depends on what you call a decent
Nose Manual +
ghioughts: Tony
Noseorind
+ Impossible » FS
score. Every time you mash like that, you affect your grind balance, so if you really want to work a combo that spans across the whole level—and scores a million or more—button mashing isn’t going to get it done. But for less-experienced players, it’s a nice way to build small combos.
EGM: Which brings us to the question of difficulty. How do you decide whether some- thing is too hard, too easy, or just right? SP: It’s a team thing. We also do a lot of focus testing...we have local kids in to test almost every week without fail. We watch them play and adjust the game accordingly. At first, we might see kids getting stuck or blowing through the game too easily, but week after week, we start to see the bumps smooth out and the game ramp up nicely.
EGM: The voice acting adds a lot of flavor to this version. Do you have real-life models upon which those characters are based? SP: The pro voices you hear in the game are the pros in real life. They all got really into it and were constantly rewriting the script on the fly to make what they said true to skate- boarding and their own personalities.
EGM: Jenna Jameson modeled a secret character. How'd you hook that up? SP: It wasn't hard. Until after she came in. That's all I’m saying. [laughs]
EGM: You obviously get tips from the great- est skaters in the biz. What are the best stats to upgrade first?
SP: It totally depends on the kind of player you are. | like to skate fast and not worry about being switch, so | go for speed and switch first. We have one guy here who likes
38
HIDDEN TREASURE
Producer Scott Pease's favorite THPS 4 secret: "There's this one place in the back ofthe Carnival where there's this roadie and this goat hanging out, and if you just watch the roadie’s animations...”
VIRTUAL REALITY
Is It Real, or THPS?
Every virtual skater knows that realis- tic moves like the ollie and the tailgrab aren’t the most fun—or the most lucra- tive in terms of points. But have the “special” moves in Tony Hawk lost all basis in reality?
“All the moves are worked out in conjunction with the pros them- selves,” Pease explains, “and they’re really all over the map—from realistic to ridiculous. For example, one of Tony’s tricks is the 360 Varial McTwist. Near the end of the game, Tony told us he was working on the trick and he sent video of a few attempts. We put it in the game and about a week later, he landed it for the first time.
“On the flip side, Eric Koston’s got a move [in the game] where he pulls out a pizza box and takes a bite from a slice. He actually did something similar in the Skate video Chomp on This-he ollied an old couch lying in the street with a pizza box in his hand. So, it plays off of that."
to score almost exclusively through lip tricks, so he ups that first.
EGM: One last question: You've done four Tony Hawk games in about five years. Is there really more room for improvement? SP: Always. We get asked that same question every year. Every year, people doubt us. We feed off of that. So, just keep on doubting us. When the next one comes out, hopefully, you'll be surprised once again. #%
2.
E IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN DURS:
One cunning devious thievius raccoonus.
Stealing is never condoned, unlessiyou're Sly Cooper. A notorious raccoon thief on a mission to steal back his family's most
prized possession. Using a repertoire of sneaky moves, you'll go from one impossible job to the next using cunning skills and
maneuvers to infiltrate the most secure places in the world. Spotlights, alarms, infrared lasers and tripwires are no match for this ` raccoon. Because when you're as good as he is, grabbing priceless jewels and emptying casinos is like taking candy from a baby.
PlayStation.2
Mild Violence www.playstation.com "Playstation and the "Р" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment inc. "Live In Your Word Play In Ours” is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Developed by Sucker Punch Productions LLC. ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
These days, it's hard to find a blockbuster film that isn't immediately turned into a game. (Thank God Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood wasn't a blockbuster.) So it's not exactly a surprise to hear that Quentin Tarantino's Uma Thurman/Liu Liu actioner Kill Bill, the tale of a scorned female assassin going after her boss and his cronies, is going digital. Universal's Black Label Games divi- sion will handle development of the game, which is set for release on undetermined platforms in
early 2004, simultaneously with the DVD release of the film. The movie hits theaters in fall 2003.
Celebrities are people, too—just incredi- ТН: | never considered it, even though it is bly rich ones. You like games; they like a blast to play. | thought it would only games. Each issue, we'll talk to a differ- reach a skating audience.
ent celebrity who plays games, is
involved in their creation, or is lucky
enough to be in one. This month's gam-
ing celeb needs no introduction; the Pro
Skater titles that bear his name have ТН: I’m a closet Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer been some of the biggest hits of the fanatic. It's awesome.
modern-console generation. But can Tony
Hawk really beat his own game?
TH: Definitely not, considering the different Tony Hawk: Nah, | rate somewhere between terrain elements like water or snow, and the good and excellent. | can finish every goal possibilities of each sport. The game genre without using cheats. The only problem is for our sports has finally come of age. that by the time a game's finished and | can explore ways to get big points, we're already testing the next version. TH: PS2— I've grown used to the controller over the years, and | like that it doubles as a DVD player. TH: Not at all. | knew it would be a great game from the start.
TH: That depends. | usually finish the game
40
Believe it or not, Tony Hawk actually does play as himself when he's getting to know a new version of Pro Skater.
with my character so I’m prepared for the inevitable questioning [from the media] that ГЇЇ get once the game is released. | then move on to the other pros or secret characters.
TH: A Survivor-style version of THPS. Britney would make a sweet character, though. #%
ENTER THF EVERYBODY RUNS SWEEPSTAKES
STEVEN SPIELBERG'S ‘FUTURISTIC THRILLER EXPLODES ONTO ALL NEXT GEN
GAMING SYSTEMS. Minority Report™ the movie took you on a futuristic thrill ride. Now Minority Report™ the video game will do it again. As Precrime Officer John Anderton, you've been framed for a pre-murder, but there's an even graver conspiracy lurking in the shadows. Now you're on the
Tun, fighting A life through 40 levels of non-stop action. Take оп enemies with hand-to-hand combat and futuristic weapons and
devices straight from the movie as you try to prove your innocence and stop the co
асу before it's too late.
77 VISIT MRGAMESWEEPS.COM TO ENTER!
HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN THE ULTIMATE MINORITY REPORT PRIZE PACKAGE:
GRAND PRIZ , One (1) randomly drawn
£ winner will receive: * Official Minority Report movie prop—Spyderbot e Xbox” video game system
* Minority Report video game for the Xbox” video game system
Minority Report movie DVD * The Apex Theory's CD “Topsy-Turvy”
Fl RST PRI ТЕ. Jti 09 randomly бат * winners will each receive: Minority Report video game for the Xbox” video game system
* Minority Report movie DVD s Du * The Apex Theory's CD "Topsy-Turvy"
оа, RR | س SWEEPSTAKES BEGINS NOVEMBER 2002
No purchase necessary to enter or win. Sweepstakes period 11/1/02 to 1/3/03. Open to legal United States residents, at least 13 years old at time of entry. Void where prohibited. Go to www.mrgamesweeps.com for full official rules. To enter go 10 www.mrgamesweeps.com and follow the directions online. Limit one entry per person per email address, during the duration of the promotion. Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received. Winners will be selected by random drawing on or about January 3, 2003. One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive one (1) Spyderbot — an Official Prop from the Minority Report’ movie including certificate of authenticity, one (1) Xbox" video game system, one (1) Minority Report" movie DVD, one (1) Topsy Turvy CD by The Apex Theory and one (1) Minority Report Xbox video game. Approximate Retail Value ("ARV") of Grand Prize is $541. Twenty-five (25) First Place winners will each receive one (1) Minority Report "^ movie DVD, опе (1) Topsy Turvy CD by The Apex Theory and one (1) Minority Report" Xbox" video game, ARV is $91 each. Total ARV of all prizes: $2,816.
(GAME BOY ADVANCE
PlayStation.e ж
"SENS EIE
TEEN RN m . | шшш ACTIVISION.
Minority Report TM & © 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Dreamworks LLC. All rights reserved. Fox Interactive and their associated logos are trademarks of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Published activision.com and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. under license. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. АП rights reserved. Licensed for play on the PlayStation"2 computer entertainment systems ы
with the NTSC U/C designation only. "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 the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. Licensed by Nintendo. Nintendo, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube and the Official Seal are trademarks
of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. АП rights reserved. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
INSOMNIAC RIPS THEMSELVES OFF
Before creating Spyro the Dragon, Insomniac made Disruptor, a sleeper-hit first-person shooter for the PS1. If you’ve played it, you might recognize a few things in Ratchet. “If you go into Qwark’s Headquarters, you'll see these patrolling spheres, and when they get close, spikes will come out,” Insomniac’s Ted Price explains. “Well, that was the first enemy that we ever created for Disruptor. And we ripped ourselves off and put it right back in. The little spiky-ball mines are actually the same thing as well. We love those.”
Gaming’s had a lot of dynamic duos—Banjo and Kazooie, Mario and Yoshi, ToeJam and Earl, Jak and Daxter.... Add to that growing list the team of Ratchet and Clank, who star in Sony and Insomniac’s latest PS2 platformer, Ratchet & Clank (what did you think it was going to be called?). We sat down with Insomniac President Ted Price, who tells us about weapons left in Gadgetron R&D, why there isn't more Clank and how the Morph-O- Ray got its name. Read on.
EGM: This game's mostly all about Ratchet, which leaves Clank seeming a bit neglected. Why isn't Clank used more?
Ted Price: We spent a lot of time debating Clank's gameplay sections, and we were pretty excited when we came up with the concept of Giant Clank—it makes people here very happy to just go in and bash stuff with him. But we wanted to keep him fairly different from Ratchet as far as his gameplay. We couldn't give Little Clank weapons; otherwise, it would just be the same thing all over again. So we had to create a more mentally challenging set of tasks for Little Clank. | suppose we had fewer ideas for those than we did straight-on action ideas for Ratchet. Therefore, Clank is—and | think rightly so—a secondary character when it comes to game- play. But | think we made up for it because Clank is a pivotal and well-developed figure in the story.
EGM: What was the most difficult part of the game to get right?
TP: l'd have to say it was the weapons. We started out thinking that the game was going to be much more strategic than it ended up being. In other words, some weapons just wouldn't
work against certain enemies, and that became fairly frustrating [in early testing]. We took a step back and said, “Well, why don't we make it so that every weapon will be effective against enemies, but some weapons will be more so."
EGM: Which weapon is your favorite? TP: It's a toss-up between the Morph-O-Ray and the Gold Devastator.
EGM: Speaking of the Morph-O-Ray, why is the gun that turns enemies into chickens not called the Cluck-Cluck Gun or something? TP: Well, most of the weapons have fairly high- tech-sounding names, and we wanted to stay within that general area. We stuck with it because it's morphing enemies into something else. We also wanted to surprise players. Even though everyone will probably have heard about the Morph-O-Ray, for those two players who haven't, it should be a real surprise when they see that first enemy turning into a chicken.
EGM: Thanks to this article, even fewer peo- ple will be surprised. Sorry about that. Now, were there any weapons you designed but scrapped during development?
TP: We came up with maybe 60 different weapon ideas when we started and distilled those down to 16. A couple examples were the Shrink-O-Ray (shrinks enemies down into little enemies, so you can take care of them easily) and the Gigant-O-Ray (blows up enemies into a big balloon, so you could pop 'em). Another one we prototyped but dropped early on was called the Revolverator—a drill that you'd use kind of like the Walloper. You'd stick it into an enemy, and he would spin around on the tip and then fly off. It had such a narrow attack range and wasn't that much fun—so we cut it. iy
42
Ratchet & Clank
PICKING THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB
Not sure which of the 16 weapons and five gadgets you should attach to Ratchet's eight-slot QuickSelect? Please allow Insomniac's Ted Price to suggest the perfect menu to satisfy your appetite for destruction:
Keep It Simple (And Cheap): the Bomb Glove, Pyrocitor and Blaster
*The Bomb Glove is a great weapon against any single enemy. You can do a lot of damage from a safe distance with it. The Pyrocitor is really good for swarming enemies. And the Blaster is good for picking off difficult enemies from a distance." If money's no object, Price suggests the pricier Tesla Claw, Visibomb and the Glove of Doom.
Setting the Perfect Trap: Mine Glove and Taunter
“Many players don’t realize this, but you can create some fun setups by toss- ing a few mines in front of some ene- mies and then using the Taunter to either wake up the mines or taunt the enemies so they walk into them."
Most-Wanted Gadgets
“l usually reserve the other slots for some hand gadgets like the Swingshot, the Trespasser and the Hydro Displacer. Those are things that you use fairly fre- quently throughout the game, so it's nice to have them accessible."
AVENGE HER PAST. ® | DISCOVER HER FUTURES bo
Dark Angel iS the stony of Max, а genetically, 4 = enhanced soldier, who cunningly fights EO песа = lier manipulated past and avoid capture through CHE underground landscape ороор варосат рис ораеоте а
+ + ы |! Original story progresses Beyond the эм television series and features voice-overs by Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly;
7 НАСЕ System: Unleash oven 5O fighting moves by unlocking the soldier within Max:
— Stealth Mode: Utilize unigue EVASIVE moves, plus enhanced vision. f>
Utm Ys MES IL ТІГІ
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RATINGS SCANDAL
Wonder where the idea for the li’l ESRB rating оп the front of your game boxes originated from? Well, the Sega CD is partly responsible. In 1993, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) led the Senate in an attempt to ban violent games. Along with Mortal Kombat, one of the most talked-about titles in that hearing was Night Trap on the Sega CD. The bad publicity led Sega to create a rating system for its own games, eventually leading to ratings on all videogames.
Sega CD Turns 10 У
EGM pays homage to the ІГІ add-on that couldn't
Ten years ago (in November 1992), Sega intro-
duced the Sega CD in North America. The sys-
tem was an add-on to Sega's popular Genesis
console, putting games on CDs and adding a
few neat-o scaling and rotation tricks that were
already built into Nintendo's competing Super
Nintendo. The Sega CD was supposed to give
Sega the advantage in the 16-bit console war.
But instead, success eluded the overpriced add-
on, which catered only to hardcore Sega fans and
received very little third-party publisher support. The Sega CD had a few excellent titles, but they were so rare that justifying the machine's $299 price tag was tough for most gamers. With such lackluster sales and little support, the Sega CD didn't last too long in the U.S.—Sega stopped manufacturing the system in 1995. (Even so, with its three- year shelf life, the Sega CD lasted longer than the Dreamcast..
LANs Fueled By
©
GUARANA 12/01/02 World Chess Network Online worldchessnetwork.com 12/05/02 First Gamers LAN (MS) firstgamers.net 12/06/02 Web2Zone (NY) web2zone.com 12/07/02 Uberfrag 1 - SLLAN (TX) ubergrag.conmy; f) MemphisLAN (IN) memphislan.com Indiana University/Gaming (IN) indiana.edu/~gaming 7 .WPALAN (PA) / " wpalan.co ~ 12/18/02 4 : Тһе CPL (TX) thecpl.cóm CE & 12/29/02 4 ( Seattle Nights (МА) * shifkorg s SlayFeSt(WA)
Not even a second, cheaper model of Sega CD (above) could save
it from obscurity.
©2002 Hobarama LLC All Rights Resereved.
45
12/31/02
slayfest.org Evoke Gaming (PA) i 7
santafrag.com - wOrdtothat (ME)
w0rdtothat.com |
44/0
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*Dates are subject to change
For moreinto on LANs and to (ind out how you can get a бес )2-рле(62 to tawlsgamingzom
Now available at
Sonic CD (Sega) Sonic CD is consid- ered by some to be the best Sonic ever. It played almost exactly like the orig- inal Sonic on the Genesis, but with new levels, kickin’ 3D bonus stages, and time travel.
Lunar (Working Designs)
This incredible RPG (later remade for PS1 and GBA) chronicles the story of a young boy named Alex as his dreams of becoming a hero come true.
Snatcher (Konami) A slick cyberpunk adventure in the vein of Blade Runner, developed by Hideo Kojima (the man behind Metal Gear Solid). Its main character even looks like Harrison Ford.
A New Citizen...
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Sega CD, Good Deal Games (www.gooddealgames.com) and Older Games (www.oldergames.com) are releasing another disc for the long-dead system — Citizen X (available via their website for $25). It's an old, unreleased title by defunct developer Digital Pictures (Night Trap and several other bad
Night Trap (Sega) Night Trap was a full-motion-video game, starring Dana Plato (Diff'rent Strokes), in which ` you protected a group of scantily- clad, slumber-party- ing girls from vam- pires called Augers.
games). But Citizen isn’t just some point-n-click full-motion-video game. It’s actually a side-scrolling action title in which you chase down a terrorist bent on unleashing nerve gas.
T d
All else has failed. The lines between good and evil have been drawn: There's you and there's everybody else. Your weapon is a 40-foot-tall walking death machine. Your mission is destruction. Tanks, helicopters, buildings, the planet itself. Welcome to war in the 31st century, where peace is опе of those things you read about. Nu
For added destruction play online with Xbox Live. Engage others on a massive scale. Download new 'Mechs, new missions, even enemies. This is epic devastation taken to a whole new level and it's only available on Xbox Live.
Violence
www.xbox.com [2r studia
www.mechassault.com
Xeox LIV
IT'S ABOUT AS CLOSE TO. “GOING PRO” AS A GAMER CAN GET. |
YOU AIN'T GONNA RULE THE ULTIMATE ARENA WITH A NAME LIKE BUNNY23
| Use your unique Gamertag to build your rep across all games. After all, you'll need it to grow your legend in this arena.
THOSE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD ARE VOICES IN YOUR HEADSET
E With the hands-free Xbox Communicator, you can talk trash, call plays, disguise your voice, and even mute the sucker that won't shut up.
DOES RUINING SOMEONE'S DAY MAKE YOU DO THE DANCE OF JOY?
Well, for $49.99* you can dance the dance all you want with Xbox Live. This is the arena where dreams are crushed.
USE ОРТІМАТСН" AND QUICKMATCH TO SEE HOW YOU STACK UP
Quickly find opponents on your skill level, so you won't waste your time - with rookies or get schooled by grizzled veterans.
DOWNLOAD NEW CONTENT, SO THE GAME NEVER ENDS
| Get different weapons, new characters, additional levels, and more with downloadable content that will extend your game like never before.
$49.99" INCLUDES: 49 99° 1 YEAR OF XBOX L/VE SERVICE XBOX COMMUNICATOR HEADSET
` WHACKED! AND MOTOGP ONLINE GAMES*
www.xbox.com/live |
* Manufacturer's suggested retail price.
PlayStation.2
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN DURS?
Wild Arms is a registered trademark of So Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family log World. Play In Ours." is a trademark of Son
mputer Entertainment А registered trademarks of S е nputer Entertainment America inc. www.playstation.com
Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772
Take on the cutthroat Ya dnd mafia as a top-level
cop or spy in 40 INSANE MISSIONS
Blast Bey ee with new CAR-! : ; E an blast away friends in >) | showdowns, — :
Fore even more high- pad action, D ) Now if they get in your way,
ША 're gonna pay. ` ALL-NEW FOR THE PLAYSTATIO COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT ‘SYSTEM AND
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Drive down the mob in high-speed pursuits, then en piore the city at your 9208 іп
Screenshots taken from PlayStation*2
computer entertainment system gameplay. ORIGINAL HIT AVAILABLE ON ХВО BUNKASHA ACTIVISION. |
activision.com
ibuted by Activision Publishing, nc. Activision is a registered trademark, and
tems with the NTSC U/C designation only. “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family icrosoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademark ftware Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective
rademarks of Nint tered trademark of the Interactive Digit
Violence
“...smash into pretty much anything you see...get that euphoric feeling that comes rarely in life."
Illustrations by Andre Sibayan
When you compare the average salary of a game designer ($76,000) with that of a
you need to make it happen
‘Game Designer’ is the one job title most EGM readers would love to have on their husiness cards. We tell you everything
5. Academy of Interactive
pre-business-school graduate ($50,000), it's no wonder that students are begin- Entertainment * www.aie.act.edu.au ning to declare themselves as “pre-vid.” To keep up with the times, such vaunted AIE is known for its degree programs schools as Georgetown University have begun offering courses in videogame pro- in computer modeling and game ani-
duction. Still, for our tuition money, we'd enroll in one of these schools, which offer ^ mation. The only catch: Its campus is the top five game-degree programs in the world. We rank 'em from fifth to first.
located in Canberra, Australia.
oper of the PlayStation 2 platformer Ratchet & Clank, when the chickens break loose. Up until this moment, the place has been quiet. Game developers hunch over their desks. The blinds are drawn to keep the California sun from glaring on TV monitors. A few Nerf guns rest on shelves, waiting for a spontaneous bat- tle that never erupts. There's good reason for the quietude: Ratchet & Clank is due for deliv- ery to publisher Sony Computer Entertainment America within a matter of days. And if the game is going to make it, the chickens better get their act together. The birds in question have just flooded the screen of Peter Hastings, one of three Hastings brothers who work as programmers at Insomniac. Hastings and Design Director Brian Allgeier are testing the effects of the Morph-O-Ray, a weapon that mutates enemy robots into frantic poultry. “At first, | wanted a gun that turned them into toasters,” Hastings says, “but chickens are funnier.” Yep, this guy has a cool job—one that you, too, can land if you heed the advice in this article. But hear us now and believe us later: The first step to landing a job as a game designer is to be a team player. “Everyone here contributes to the game,” Allgeier says. “I’m just a funnel for the ideas.”
| t's midday at the offices of Insomniac, devel-
Evolution of a dream job
In the world of videogame development, it seems like everyone wants to be the designer. But many people don't seem to know what
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 82 - egm.gamers.com
being а
game designer really means. If you ask most gamers, they'll tell you that the designer is the person in charge of
a game's "vision," the one who kicks back in a hammock and dreams up just what sort of fantasy- adventure or first-person shooter or whatever to unleash upon the joystick nation. Truth is, being a game designer is a lot of work. He or she over- sees the entire game-design process, includ- ing its art, programming, level and mission designing, etc. Often, the lead designer is the person who came up with the game concept to begin with.
When thinking about designers, certain indi- viduals inevitably come to mind: Shigeru Miyamoto, designer of Mario; Hideo Kijima, designer of Metal Gear Solid; Will Wright, designer of The Sims. These are the Spielbergs of the game industry, the people whose names alone can hypnotize legions of gamers into forking over their lawn-mowing money for their latest software. But these guys are the exception to the rule. The days of a singular “game god" are pretty much over. Back in the 19805, when the industry was just getting in gear, a gamer could simply plop down in front
4. The Art Institutes • www.aii.edu Master the arts of storytelling, level design, and animation at Al, which offers a Bachelor's degree in Game Art & Design. The school has online cours- es and campuses across the U.S.
of a Commodore 64 or Apple ІІ computer and make an entire game from start to finish: graphics, sound, programming...the works. But as games grew more complex, so did their requirements. Today, a major videogame can cost $5 million to produce, and the size of the team it takes to produce it can easily spill into the dozens. As Chad Findley, lead designer for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater developer, Neversoft, says, “It’s unrealistic to have one person in charge, since the games are becoming so huge." The future, then, is all about team- work—teams of gamers working together to design compelling virtual worlds. And, with teams growing in size, that means more room for people like you.
Tools of the trade That's why a company like Insomniac, which has perfected the art of collabora- tive game design, is a model for anyone who wants to design games for a living. Its approach dates back to the company's roots, when 34-year-old President and CEO Ted Price first set out to break into the gaming business. “I was doing all the art, sound, and music,” Price says. “Al [Allgeier] was doing the graphics engine, and Brian [Hastings] was handling the enemies. From the very start, the design was a collabo- ration." Hastings is a programmer by trade, making him the team's go-to guy when it comes to figuring out what can be technically accomplished. When a game designer is not a programmer —or does not have a working knowledge of the craft—he can find himself in tricky situations. Once Ratchet & Clank was underway, for example, Allgeier had the design idea to feature a battle on a moving train. “I wanted to have this section that was like something out of an action film,” he says. “| thought it would be pretty straightforward.” But because of the unique physics of the situa- tion, it turned out to be, as Allgeier puts it, “a programming nightmare.”
3. Full Sail « www.fullsail.com Located in Winter Park, Fla. (just 20 minutes from Disney World), Full Sail offers an Associate's degree in Game Design, which will drill you in C++, 3D modeling, and physics.
2. University of Advancing Technologies www.uat.edu
Enroll at UAT's Tempe, Ariz., campus and you’ll get an outstanding educa- tion in the multimedia arts and at least 200 days of sunshine per year.
1. DigiPen е www.digipen.edu Considered the Ivy of gaming schools, the Redmond, Wash.-based campus prides itself on its rigorous, four-year Bachelor of Science degree program. —Rob Bernstein
This is why Allgeier and Price both recom- mend that aspiring designers verse them- selves in the holy trinity of game skills: pro- gramming, art, and production. Because design is so collaborative, the person leading the process has to interact frequently with all of the members on a team, making sure that things like the story arc and character devel- opment remain coherent. Allgeier says that when he first started out, he—like many young game developers—suffered from some basic misconceptions about how games are designed. “I thought that a game designer cre- ated a plan and gave it to the art and program- ming machine,” he says, “and a game was just created. | was surprised to see that a game designer had to ensure that the design func- tions, and, if not, to problem-solve on the fly. There are always thousands of details that need to be taken care of. Even though you plan, lots of things break.” It’s up to the lead game designer to run around the office and make sure everything is fixed.
At this moment in the Insomniac office,
what needs to be fixed is the Morph-O-Ray. At Peter Hastings’ desk, Allgeier is putting the weapon to the ultimate test: turning a robot into a chicken and then trying to lay that chicken to waste. But the more rapidly he fires into the bird’s wings, the more his own health oddly ы decreases. Allgeier raises a brow as he watches. “So | take damage when | destroy a chicken?" he asks.
Hastings, inventor of the chicken ray, replies, “Don’t worry, we can change that.” The Morph-O-Ray is his design, after all. And he won't let anything ruffle his feathers.
(Continued on page 54)
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 88 - egm.gamers.com
Y Master of his domain: Insomniac's Peter Hastings is one of the new breed of game design- ers. He's a programmer by title and trade, but he's also part of the collaborative design effort that produced such stellar games as Spyro the Dragon (PS1) and Ratchet & Clank (PS2).
(Playig§ God continued)
—Game Design 101
Baby steps for the wannabe designer
personality blend of a rock star and a
rocket scientist. You’ve got to have the gumption to imagine a wild, robust virtual world, and the technical chops to know what it takes to make it happen. “Good designers have a good blend of right brain and left brain,” says Insomniac’s Ted Price. “We are our own unique beast.” Looking to be a little beastly yourself? Here’s how to pump up your odds of making it in the competitive world of game design.
B a game designer requires the
Play games (smartly)
It follows reason that the best way to learn how to design videogames is to play them. A lot. But we're not just talking about jacking a billion cars in Grand Theft Auto. *Think about what games you dislike and why," advises Neversoft's Chad Findley. “For instance: ‘This game was not fun because the controls didn't work or the enemies weren't realistic.” Brian Allgeier of Insomniac agrees that it's all in how you approach the interactive experience. “You need to have an analytical eye,” he says. “Take apart the game and try to figure out how it was constructed, what the design philosophy was. You have to be able to dis- sect something in order to put it together."
Hit the books
The days of game designers who skipped higher education seem to be on the wane now that тоге and more schools — from
DESIGN
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DigiPen in Redmond, Wash., to Full Sail near Orlando, Fla.—are offering game-develop- ment programs. Allgeier recommends that students not skip the basics: Game design- ers should have at least a basic knowledge of the various aspects of the craft. That means a computer programming course, an art course, and some kind of literature class that studies the elements of a narrative. “It’s good to be well-rounded,” he says.
Make a mod or demo
The catch-22 of console game design is that you can’t make a game unless you have a special (and expensive) game-development system, and you can’t have a game-develop- ment system unless you're already designing games professionally. What to do? Make a mod, which is a modified version of an exist- ing computer game. Classic hits like Doom, Quake, and Half-Life have spawned vibrant communities of would-be designers who use the games’ free software tools to create their own titles. Some of the most successful game creators got their start in just this way — by making mods and sending them in with their resumes. You can also strike out as a hobbyist game developer and make a demo game (flip the page for tips).
Write a design document
A design document is basically an outline of your game, detailing everything from charac- ters to weapons, enemies to levels. Though
1 practice [Theory в P
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If knowledge is power, skim these books to build your game-biz health meter:
Game Design: Secrets of the Sages by Marc Saltzman (a good overview of design basics); Game Over by David Sheff (a thorough look at how Nintendo became what it is today); Game Design Theory & Practice by Richard Rouse III (a step-by-step look at the game development process, highlighted by excellent interviews and in-depth game analysis); and Game Design: The Art & Business of Creating Games by Bob Bates (it looks at the whole games business, including licensing, marketing, and team management).
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 54 - egm.gamers.com
Comic genius: These illustration-heavy plans for Capcom's PS2 game Maximo show that design docs don't have to be 100-page-thick novels full of dull text. In fact, being a visual thinker is a must for all would-be game designers.
7
some designers end up throwing their design doc in the trash once development gets underway, professionals know that it's cru- cial (particularly when dealing with big- name publishers) to put your ideas down on paper. For the skinny on the art of writing a design document, surf over to Game Design Documents (www.ihfsoft.com/index.htm), a site dedicated to this craft.
Knock on doors Since it's way easier to get work at an exist- ing game studio than to start your own com- pany, hit the streets once you have a mod or demo and start hunting for jobs. Your best bets for finding out who's hiring are these two sites: www.gamejobs.com and www.gamedev.net. Both contain more how- to articles for would-be game designers than you can shake a joystick at, and —more important— both feature comprehensive job lists. GameJobs even has direct links to the appropriate human-resources page for each company, so you know precisely where to send your resume. — David Kushner (Continued on page 56)
INCLUDES "SHENMUE: THE MOVIE"
Use of Alcohol Gambling Violence
©2003 Mi Shenmue
SITES T
www.flipcode.com
A website full of com- prehensive tutorials and info for advanced game coders
www.game- developer.com
A powerful search engine to find game- development articles
0-it-Yourself Game
Three ways to play game god just for the fun of it
ot a team player? Don't give a squat N about building a career in game
design? No problem. Amateur game- construction is a booming hobby, with lots of cinch-to-use software packages that make game building a breeze. And the best part is that you only get as involved as you want. Depending on your available brain power (and cash), choose one of these holy-moley power levels....
Minor deity The quickest way to get started is to get a game- development kit. These rely | on pull-down menus and icons, so you can concen- ^ trate on designing actual gameplay instead of program- = ming. Agetec has the RPG Maker Аа series for PS1 and (available in 129 2003) PlayStation 2, letting you make your own private Final Fantasy. Both programs are surprisingly complex and flexible. And don't discount nifty extras like the park editor in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. You can glean a surprising amount of game-design know-how by simply trying to craft the slickest park on the block.
If you have a PC and want to get a lit- tle more in-depth, you'll find plenty of free- ware (read: no cost) and shareware game- making software, such as Adventure Maker 3.0 (www.adventuremaker.com), DC Games Toolkit (www.dcgames.com), and DigiPen's
Wanna make a wacky first-person shooter like Pencil Whipped here? Go to www.pieskysoft.com to buy the $70 software that makes it possible.
own Project Fun software (www.projectfun.digipen.edu). All of these packages let you create graphics-rich comput- er games without having to learn complex programming languages.
And just because it doesn't require program- ming skills doesn't mean your game has to suck. Take ChiselBrain Software's Pencil Whipped, a finalist at the 2002 Independent Games Festival. It was created using Pie in the Sky's Game Creation System ($70). Though the software can create only first-person shooters, this package is still a great training tool for anyone getting start- ed in game design. “If you were doing [this type of] raw coding from scratch," says Pencil Whipped creator Lonnie Flickinger, *you'd most likely have to have a huge team of developers, and it would take many, many hours, or even years, to see results."
Zeus Jr. If you've got some time and extra dinero, Sony's got the package for you. This past ,, May, it released a limited- 12 14 edition kit that allows PS2 ж: owners to use the Linux oper- ~~ ating system to make games. “ыы At $200, it's not too hard оп your 2-5 pockets, but you'll also need a VGA “Ў monitor (another mz “J couple hundred). Check out the offi- cial website— playstation2- linux.com —for a compre- hensive FAQ and loads of other details.
On the PC side, you'll find options that require programming but still give relative newbies a good starting point. We especially like PTG Software's Game Programming Starter Kit 6.0 ($50), which comes with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 for programming, 3D GameStudio Standard 5.12 for level design, and the book Game Design: Secrets of the Sages as food for thought. Bear in mind that this isn't kid stuff: Both the Sony Linux package and the PC gaming kits require patience, focus, and time. However, these packages come with
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 56 - egm.gamers.com
Don't know your sprite from your text parser? Click here for the answers, young grasshopper....
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ab;
www.programmersheaven.com Resources for all major programming languages dir.yahoo.com/recreation/games/computer - games/programming
A superlong list of game-programming sites
low-level libraries that will help you do the dirty work. For instance, Sony's Linux suite comes with premade routines that make 3D effects easier to use.
O holy omnipotent dude Now we're talking the hard stuff— raw PC cod- ing not recommended for anyone without previous programming experience or unprepared to do some research. The upshot of your hard work is control: You'll be able to eke out a little more speed or fur- N S ther manipulate the visuals in your games. You also have plenty of 3 options. You can take the free- ware route with packages such as DJGPP C/C++ (www.delorie.com/djgpp), which works well with the freeware game-software library Allegro (www.talula.demon.co.uk/allegro). Or you can get the popular Microsoft Visual C++ (about $110) or Borland C++ ($70 and up), both of which are well supported by many game-programming books. C and C++ are the most popular game languages, but you can use whatever language you want— Microsoft's Visual Basic, Pascal, JAVA, etc.—as long as it gets the job done.
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Above all, have fun!
Visit the recommended websites at the top of the page to learn more about programming options. And when уоите up at three in the morning trying to get the last bug out of your funky-fresh game, realize that there are hun- dreds of thousands of other coders doing the exact same thing at the exact same time. Welcome to the club. #%
— Damon Brown
ix tac Home-brewed games Timba (left) and T'ALVI (right) were created using Adventure Maker, which is perfect for making Myst-like adventures.
It's what's inside that counts.
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CONTRA SHATTERED SOLDIER™ and CONTRA ADVANCE THE ALIEN WARS EX™ are trademarks of KONAMI CORPORATION. KONAMIG is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. © 1987 2002 KONAMI & KONAMI COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT TOKYO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. TM, ®, and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. The ratings icon is а Ша of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
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Legends of Zelda (Solution on page 232)
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Nintendo GameCube thriller, for short Temjin
Microsoft and Sega figured out a way to sell 999 more Xboxes in Japan... release a limited-edition Panzer Dragoon Orta system! This stylish model features a white plastic shell bearing Panzer-style markings, and 5 NT v comes with a white controller, the game, and a special necklace, all * °° “ог about $325. Oh, you want one? Sorry—all 999 of 'em were sold on the first day of November to gamers in Japan through Sega's website.
While we may have to wait awhile for the next live-action Batman movie, the caped crusader's videogame adventures continue. In fall 2003, Ubi Soft will release a sequel to their multiplatform bat-game, Batman Vengeance, for all three next-gen consoles. Currently called Batman 2 (a title that will very likely
16. Found in the middle of a Mario Tennis
court 1 chan: h 18. One of Link’s new moves in the ange), the game 5 based on the New GC Zelda Adventures animated series and will include
29. Endgame (PS2) locale the ability to play as multiple characters.
21. PS2 platformer Monsters 22. Game genres: flight _ or dating 25. Asks you to gamble in NES Zelda 26. Timothy almost becomes one (to Dan) in Xenogears 27. Ys hero 28.Enemy 29.Zone ofthe _ (PS2) 32. The "D," for short, in GTA3's LCPD 33. Metal or Guilty 34. What Baby Mario does when he falls off Yoshi in Yoshi's Island (GBA/SNES) 36. NES Zelda baddie -hat 38. Opposite of 23-Across 39. Silent Scope or Solid Snake
'Yes, we are working on [Metal Gear Solid 3].
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1
Quartermann —
Happy ho-hos and holidays to y'all out there in Q-Land. The foot- steps you hear on yonder rooftop belong to none other than yours truly, The Quartermann, purveyor of all that is rumorific on the globe. The Q's sack is overstuffed with carefully wrapped tidbits this month, so may І suggest you break out the size-18 stockings, friends...The Q's about to bust a hole in this one. (Translation: Prepare yourself for rumors in—3...2...1...)
The Q's geeked-out about a lot of the fresh games set to debut in 2003, but if there's one that I’m most curious about right now, it's Amusement Vision's collaboration with Nintendo on F-Zero for both Cube and arcade. Imagine if you will, the Nintendo 64 F-Zero X, only faster, and with more-detailed backgrounds and more eye candy than you can shake a stick at. When you hit a boost panel, lightning-like flashes emit from the rear of the car | as you lunge forward with = great speed. Much like the i N64 X, tracks can be in'tubes, B on the outside of tubes, or
1 over see-through metal grates, and all include jumps E hazards aplenty. One of the big differ- ences between this and the old F-Zeros will be the emphasis on the characters and their rivalry. And there's one-detail | want-all you Q-disciples to check out: Take a look at the screenshot above: Focus on it. Be the screenshot. Now, see that li'l robot there? Ten points to the man (or lady) who can give me the name of that famous 'bot. Yes, it's R.O.B., the cool-but-not-practical 8-Bit Nintendo accessory that The Q is currently using to hold his can of Vanilla Coke (yum). That lil detail is something that perhaps only die-hard-4-life N-fans will appre- ciate —and let's hope the final game has more of that kind of thing. Now, kindly wipe the drool off of this page and continue reading...
Not terribly surprising comes word that the Next Box (that's a play on words, ya see) will supposedly show up before Sony's PlayStation 3 debut (still a few years away— 2005 or 6 at current estimates). This news came direct from main man Ed Fries over at Microsoft. Just remember, folks, the earliest bird doesn't always get the worm (other- wise we'd still be Dreamcastin’).
Electronic Gaming M
onthly
MMORPG! No, it's not some word | pulled outta Webster's Zebulonese Dictionary. It's an acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Role ede Games, and if The Q's Magic 8-Ball is correct, "it is decidedly о” that you'll see loads of them for Xbox by Microsoft and others in ihe new year. You already know about True Fantasy Online and Star Wars Galaxies, but there's a total of four or five of these babies.in development for 2003 (some may slip to 2004). Even Rare is producing their own (1 can already see it—create your character by sticking googly-eyes.on everyday household items. Fun!):... Also оп the MMORPG front (but Tot Xbox) is Final Fantasy ХІ. Good: news: It's “outlook. good” on a U.S. release. Bad news: It may still be a long wait before we see it...
True Fantasy Live Online
In hopes of keeping the series fresh, The Q has heard that the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series may take a year off. That could mean you won't be grindin’ new railings/in Tony 5 for a |1 while, so fill up on the fourth game for now. And in a somewhat-related-so-I’ll-put-it-here item, EA Sports Big is working on SSX3 after a similar break (also in hopes of keepin’ it fresh). Mum’s/the word; уо....
: New GBA or Not?
Would Nintendo divide the handheld market and alienate gamers who bought a GBA just one year ago by introducing a new, more powerful version of the hardware, just to incorporate cell-phone technology? That’s the question now, with buzz cir- culating that the Big N has such a device in development (which 1 mentioned during last month's visit), and some even reporting it will happen next month in Japan! Lemme just say this: Nintendo’s not one to push the technology envelope so soon after a launch. Years separated previous versions of their handheld hardware....
And that’s it, baby! ZING! Now back to my Animal Crossing game. Oh, and for those of you playing AC, too, lemme let you in on a Q-secret: hidden NES games, baby, that haven’t been reported in any “guidebook.” They exist. Want one? OK, here’s the pa—oh! I’m all outta room. Until next time, gaming buds — latah!
—TheQ
66 - egm.gamers.com я
Charts - Sentember 2002
TOP 20 BEST-SELLING GAMES TOP 10 RENTALS
1 Madden NFL 2003 жен 1 Madden ІН 2003 — -— EA Sports p T
EA Sports
2 SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs
Sony CEA eo
DanL Dean jonathan
2 Kingdom Hearts
Square Electronic Arts
/ Ec Nintendo 85 85 85 г x Greg S Milkman Shane E > 4 Dead to Rights x
3 Super Mario Sunshine 2 Namco n: ж? 4 |5 Street Hoops — -— 95 35 9.5 ся n (7 = Activision 02 қа 4 SOCOM: US. Navy SEALs 5 escis db
1 Medal of Honor: Frontline
6 Star Fox Adventures 8 Stuntman — -—
Nintendo қ Atari
Т Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories 9 NFL Blitz 20-03 — -_.
Konami Midway
8 Animal Crossing ie ў 10 ІН 263 — -=
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19 Grand Theft Auto Ш : TOP 10 BEST-SELLING GAMES IN JAPAN 10 үнін! Forbidden Memories 1 Star Fox Adventures — | whenthe
Konami Nintendo PlayStation’s the cock of the walk,
11 Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny 2 Yoshi's island: SMA 3 cum | it’s nothing less
Capcom Nintendo than a miracle to see three 12 NGAA I Foothall 2003 3 Legend of Starfi SEES | Nintendo games Nintendo atthe top of the 18 meri Hawk E] Pro Skater 3 ред " Japanese chart. Activision 0: Koel А , ze 1. ы ү es 'arfi you ask? It's 14 Super aris Advance 3 T а new platformer Nintendo =r=_ | (reminiscent of the Kirb: i 15 Gran Turismo 3 A-spec wee sate ode” Sony CEA Н else?) a star
16 Dead to Rights Banda кеге} prince who has
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it’s U.S.-bound. 18 NBA Street
EA Sports Big 19 Medal of Honor: Frontline
Games 20 Street loops Ж мді Volume 2
Activision 02 Source: Weekly Famitsu, week ending 10/6/02
3 Super Mario —
Sega Sports Source: Blockbuster Video, September 2002
Legend of Starfi
Source: NPD TRSTS Video Games Service. Call Kristin Barnett-von Korff at (516) 625-2481 for questions regarding t
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 67 - egm.gamers.com
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> е б.
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PR ST
ESS ART
ATV: Quad Power Racing 2 (Racing) Xbox BattleBots (Action) PS2, GC BMX XXX (Sports) GC, Xbox Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO (Fighting) Xbox Colin McRae 3 (Racing) PS2, Xbox Crimson Sea (Action) Xbox Dragon Ball Z: Budokai (Fighting) PS2 E.T.: Return to the Green Planet (Adventure) PS2 Fila World Tour Tennis (Sports) Xbox Frogger Beyond (Action) PS2, Xbox Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land (Action) (
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Adv.) GBA Little League Baseball 2002 (Sports) GBA Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Action) GC, Xbox Lunar Legend (RPG) GBA MLB Slugfest 20-03 (Sports) Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (Fighting) GBA
Motor Trend Lotus Challenge (Racing) Xbox Mystic Heroes (Action) PS2 NCAA College Basketball 2K3 (Sports)PS2, GC, Xbox NHL 2K3 (Sports) PS2, GC, Xbox Nightcaster 11 (Action) Xbox Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Action) PS2 Steel Battalion (Action) Xbox Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Fighting) GBA Super Bubble Pop (Puzzle) \ Super Bust-A-Move 3000 (Puzzle) GC Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon (Action) PS2, GC Whiteout (Sports) PS2 January
Aquaman: Batle for Atlantis (Action) Xbox Army Men: Air Combat (Action) GC ATV: Quad Power Racing 2 (Racing) PS2, GC, СВА Battle Engine Aquila (Shooter) PS2, Xbox Black & Bruised (Sports) PS2, GC Dark Cloud 2 (RPG) PS2 DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball (Sports) Xbox Devil May Cry 2 (Action) PS2 Digimon Battle Spirit (RPG) GBA Disney Sports: Basketball (Sports) GC Dr. Muto (Action) GC Dynasty Warriors 3: Xtreme Legends (Action) Р52 Fuel (Racing) Xbox Galerians: Ash (Action) PS2 The Getaway (Action) PS2
GT Advance 3: Pro Concept Racing (Racing) GBA
^|
Dragon E: Budokai
Guilty Gear X2 (Fighting) PS2 Haven: Call of the King (Action) Xbox, GC Hypersonic Xtreme (Racing) PS2 Kung-Fu Chaos (Action) Xbox Jeopardy! 2003 (Misc.) PS2 Malice (Action) PS2, Xbox My Street (Misc.) PS2 Panzer Dragoon Orta (Action) Xbox RoboCop (Action) PS2 The Sims (Misc.) PS2 Skies of Arcadia Legend (RPG) GC Summoner: The Prophecy (RPG) GC Super Puzzle Fighter 2 (Puzzle) GBA War of the Monsters (Fighting) PS2 Wheel of Fortune 2003 (Misc.) PS2 Worms Blast (Strategy) GBA February
1080 White Storm (Sports) GC Conflict: Desert Storm (Action) GC Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Flight) Xbox Freaky Flyers (Action) PS2, Xbox Gladius (RPG) PS2, GC „hack (RPG) PS2 The Legend of Zelda (Adventure) GC The Lost (Action) PS2, Xbox Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter (Action) GC, Xbox Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Fighting) Xbox Pride Fighting Championship (Sports) PS2 Pro Race Driver (Racing) Xbox Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (RPG) Xbox State of Emergency (Action) Xbox Vexx (Action) PS2, Xbox Wario World (Action) GC Whiteout (Sports) GC Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists Of The Roses (RPG) PS2 Yu-Gi-Oh! Dungeon Dice Monsters (RPG) GBA
IMPORT CALENDAR
КІ (Sai) Go
Import Pick of the Month: A few years back, a little-known PS1 puzzle game called Devil Dice (aka XI in Japan) passed through the EGM offices. And some (our current editor-in-chief included) became hopelessly addicted. The United States never saw the sequel, X/ Jumbo, so we're pretty sure it won't see this li'l gem, called X/ Go (pronounced “sai-go,” which means “final” or “last” in Japanese). The basic premise: You play a 11 devil stand- ing atop giant dice, flipping their sides to match an adjoining die, then chaining all of them together to create huge combos.
PlayStation 2
11/28 Dark Chronicle, Sony СЕ! (RPG)
12/12 Point Blank Collection Plus Time Crisis, Namco (Shooting)
12/19 Bomberman Jetters, Hudson (Action)
12/19 Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, Konami (Action)
12/19 Unlimited Saga, Square (RPG)
12/19 XI (Sai) Go, Sony CEI (Puzzle)
12/26 Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, Square (RPG)
Game Boy Advance
11/21 Pokémon Ruby, Nintendo (RPG)
11/21 Pokémon Sapphire, Nintendo (RPG)
12/6 Kururin Paradise, Nintendo (Puzzle)
12/13 Klonoa Heroes: Legend of the Star Medal, Namco (RPG)
12/19 Sonic Advance 2, Sega (Action)
GameCube
12/13 The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo (Adventure)
12/19 Bomberman Jetters, Hudson (Action)
12/20 Mr. Driller Drill Land, Namco (Puzzle)
*Schedule subject to change without notice. Consult
your local import-game store for the latest release info. And consult your doctor for more info about Rogaine.
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ANY KNOWLEDGE OF MY EXISTENCE.
I AM SAM FISHER.
LAM A SPLINTER CELL:
You make the rules in the high stakes game of covert espionage. Work alone, outside the boundaries of the law, to thwart cyberterrorist attacks against the United States. With thermal goggles, fiber optic cameras, prototype guns and other dirty tricks, you redeiine justice and punishment. Rappel, split jump, glide along ziplines, force iniormation from your enemies, even use them as human shields. and remember - a dead witness is not really a witness.
Blood and Gore o EE X А Ubi Soft Violence . АМАН г уу
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Blood
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www. ubi com
© 200% Paramount Pictures, All Rights Reserved. Software © 2002 U
Soft Entertainment, All Rights Reserved. Red Storm and Red Storm Éntertainment are trademarks of Red Storm Entertainment, Ine. Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. is а Ubi Soft Entertainment company. Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears ix a trademark of Jack Ryan Enterprises, Lid. under license to Ubi Soft Entertainment. Ubi Soft Entertainment and the Ubi Soft logo are registered trademarks of Ubi Soft Entertainment. ‘TM, %, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
& Tom Clancy's
SUM FEARS
www.sumotallfears.ubi.com
" Q0 WE ARE Pd THE NATION’ S “CHOSEN. FEW.
WE ARE SWIET, SILENT, AND INVISIBLE.
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Command the ‘Ghosts, an elite handful of specially-trained Green Berets, in a deadly, realistic campaign waged on the war-torn battlefields of tomorrow's headlines. Use cutting- edge gear and guns to lay waste to the enemy, or your multiplayer opponents. A total battlefield experience that only Tom Clancy and the makers of Rainbow Six can deliver.
MATURE m Blood and Gore Ubi Soft (2 Violence envervatnucn? abo pil Ze www.ubi.com fed Storm GAMECUBE. PC LIVe
© 2002 Red Storm Entertainment, Ine. Red Storm and Red Storm Entertainment are trademarks of Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. Red Storm Entertainment, Inc. is a Ubi Soft Entertainment company. All Rights Reserved. Tom С f Rubicon, 1 ee to Ubi Sof Entertainment. Desert Siege s trademark of Red Storm Entertainment, Ine. TM, Ф and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. All ther trade US.
Xbox, Xbox Live and the Xbox Logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in th Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
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—
GAME OF THR Ық
NOW FOR NEXT-GENERATION CONSOLES
A Tom Clancy's
PlayStation. 2.
www.ghostrecon.com
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The father of 811 tactical shooters returns, in an all-new game locked and loaded to change the face of action gaming. Advance to a new level of gaming realism with “new high-tech gear to hunt the Tangos and 57 weapons to take them down. Experience unmatched . graphical realism and high velocity multiplayer action powered by next generation Unreal™ technology. We wrote the book on tactical squad-based combat. Now we're rewriting it. Study up.
Violence
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bi Soft Entertainment company. All Rights Reserved.
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XOOX
PFEVIEWS тиѕ Month in Previews
PlayStation 2
86-88 EverQuest Online Adventures 90-91 War of the Monsters 92,94 The Getaway
s | sit here watching my cM playing Metroid Prime
on GameCube (see our review on page 184), | have to wonder: Does Xbox stand a chance in 2003?
| mean, I’m a big supporter of the sys-
tem. | think Xbox is capable of the most incredible games on the market. It's got the hard drive, the built-in broadband symbols may adapter, and gobs of power to boot. К CELLA Xbox definitely enjoys great titles here War of the Monsters is the best game
released in the й 15. They are and there, too— Splinter Cell and Unreal You've never heard of. Check out our
apa Championship are the latest examples. Preview starting on page 90. The Getaway Japanese And one of the games l’ve most antici- queued up, plus they can always mine ا негі pated, Panzer Dragoon Orta, is hitting their treasure trove of franchises. What's 96,98 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Import at next month. (Check out the PDO preview Xbox got that'll sell systems? Halo 2. 100 Final Fantasy X-2 Jew owe HE On) page 118, by the way; the game is And it's a late 2003 release. 102 Guilty Gear X2 gorgeous.) Or take MechAssault—a rela- Who cares about the mass market? Galerians: Ash tively low-hyped game that turned out Anyone who loves their Xbox should — NBA Street Vol. 2 к n е Ў : to be a very solid, worthwhile purchase. bigger sales drive bigger games, and The problem is, there just aren't many тоге of them, to any console. Appeal to А blockbusters on the horizon that аге only hardcore gamers and you'll eventu- аааз то Соте: Streets ofA: guaranteed to get everyone—the mass ау find yourself іп the bargain bin. market—into Xbox. PS2's got just about Maybe Microsoft's purchase of Rare every big third-party title there is: Final will give them the punch they need in Fantasy X-2, Devil May Cry 2, and of 2003. But | have a feeling it'll take a lot course Grand Theft Auto IV. Nintendo's more to stay in the race. £f got The Legend of Zelda and F-Zero — Previews Editor Greg Sewart
TOP 5 Preview Picks
iiie 1. War of the Monsters PS2, January 2003 тие Crime: Streets of L.A.
2. The Getaway PS2, January 2003
i X-Men: Wolverine’ ines 3. Panzer Dragoon Orta Xbox, January 2003
ES oo ы 4. Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire GBA, 2003
ОЛО. 5. Dragon Ball 7: Budokai PS2, December 2002
118-120 Panzer Dragoon Orta
$ M
۳ EL All the Review Crew wants for Christmas is: |
KP
mt Ee. Panzer Dragoon Orta
122,124 Return to Castle Wolfenstein
126 Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis Midtown Madness 3 Dark Angel
Game Boy Advance j
128 Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire
Ld с=
PREVIEW
Sony Online Ent. Sony Online Ent. CHEN Lots
Massively Multiplayer
Online RPG % Done: 85% March 2003 СТИ None
www.station.sony.com It'll be the first RPG
of its type for consoles.
No one enjoys paying
a $10-a-month fee. ГЕЛЕ Just try to make a hot-looking female Troll charac- ter...we dare you.
EQ:0A'S FUTURE
Expanding
ابا
EverQuest hasn't become the PC phenom it is today by remaining stagnant. In order to rope in new fol- lowers and to appease early adopters, Sony Online Entertainment has crafted four successive expansion packs to inject fresh content (like new areas, classes, and races) into the evolving world. The PS2 EQ will feature similar updates, and the first one’s already in the planning. “Design and art is already underway for our first expansion,” explains producer Rod Humble. “But | had best not say more before I get into trouble."
е
Welcome to Skaldi Runehoof's undead disco dungeon-actually, this is an example of the game's massive group battles.
owners received a highly addictive substance in
the mail: the insidious, life-eroding drug known on the streets as EverCrack. That's right — your social life could be in jeopardy. EverQuest is coming to the PlayStation 2. Sony Online Entertainment's massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) pio- neered the genre on PCs a few years back, and now this all-new console version is getting its kinks ironed out by a crew of brave beta testers. While those lucky souls take on hordes of Orcs, read ahead to see what all the fuss is about. There has never been a home console game like this before. Sega’s Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast, GameCube) offers Net role-playing, but not in a persistent world with hundreds of
| late September of 2002, а handful of lucky Р5>
Ж
simultaneous players. Unlike traditional RPGs, EverQuest has no “on-rails” plot forcing you to progress your quest in a certain direction. Here, you determine the adventures, and when you're not around, the world and hundreds of other human players continue on without you. Want to go on quests for fame and riches? You can. Want to spend hours just chatting with and annoying other EverQuesters? It's your call. Want to spend your time setting up a profitable business trading bat fur for rat whiskers? Go for it.
Entering the realm is easy. You create your alter ego for adventuring in the world of Norrath by picking your race from among the various types of Humans, Elves, Trolls, and Dwarves, then choosing your charac- ter class (warriors, magic-users, rangers—there are 13
The land of Norrath offers some serious geographical diversity, from vast arid deserts to slimy, stagnant swamplands.
THE FATE OF FFXI?
The U.S. release of Square's MMORPG, Final Fantasy ХІ, has been in limbo for a while, but cur- rent info points that it should hopefully land here sometime in 2003. Keep your fingers crossed.
NORRATH: THE EGM EDITORS’
REVIEWS EDITOR:
CHARACTER: Thray
RACE: Elf
CLASS: Druid
My experience with Online Adventures reminded me of my dangerous affair with the PC version years ago, but on a more manage- able scale. | love that death has become a
TRAVELOGUE
JENNIFER TSAO,
MANAGING EDITOR AND
RESIDENT EQ FANGIRL:
CHARACTER: Jett
RACE: Erudite
CLASS: Wizard
Norrath has a strange, seductive quality. Just as you're about to log off, you suddenly feel compelled to wander just beyond that next
nonissue here. If you die, you can just turn off the game without worrying about your rotting corpse and unscrupulous thieves. The first-person-shooter control setup (you have to use both analog Sticks to move around and look) took some getting used to, but overall, it’s faithful to the PC hit. Now, if only І could convince these antisocial beta testers that grouping is more fun than taking
everything on solo.
It's much easier to enjoy НДА in small, manage- able chunks
in all—and customizing your look with various faces and hairstyles. Your options run the gamut from a mullet-sporting Elven enchanter to a beastly, pink- haired Troll shadow knight.
Once you've designed your avatar, jump onto a server via your Network Adapter (56k dial-up or broadband) and begin interacting with a colossal, living world that's populated by thousands of other players. The core gameplay experience allows you to team up with other real people to fight mon- sters, explore dungeons, and find cool, new equip- ment. It's open-ended, rewarding, and lasts as long as you're willing to stick with it. If interacting with Earthlings in the real world is something your anti- social (or weird) personality just doesn't allow for, you can go it alone, but you'll have greater success if you make the friendly leap and actually talk to the other players. Most of the time, you'll find that it's rather easy to form some cyber friendships. In fact, if the PS2 version of EverQuest follows in its PC forerunner's footsteps, you'll likely be hearing
EQ wedding bells between some lovestruck Halflings sometime in the near future.
Your chosen race and class determine your starting city, but the designers made sure that gamers would- n't be overwhelmed by being dropped into an unfa- miliar environment. “The early pace of the game is much faster than the PC version, with quests guiding you through the first levels," Executive Producer Rod Humble explains. "We also went out of our way to insure that each class is self sufficient to a large extent." This is great news for newbies who have never ventured into an online RPG before, and indica- tive of the serious thought that went into adapting EQ for the console audience.
Character death created the most frustrating aspects of the PC EverQuest. You would often have to trek across the land to retrieve your fallen corpse and belongings (all the while hoping that someone else didn't find it first), and if you logged off after dying or got disconnected during a fight, your corpse and belongings would eventually rot away. Thankfully, the developers completely elimi- nated those problems in the console version.
"We redid the death system to insure there was never a real penalty to logging off in a hurry, like when you hear ‘Dinner’s on the table!" says Humble. “We removed corpses and introduced an
TS.COIT
ridge, lake, or mountain to see if maybe, just maybe, there's a cool quest item or battle awaiting you. And then, there's the experience curve. As you get better weapons and spells, you naturally have to deal with better, more challenging enemies on which to use them. They say junkies have to ditch their old friends before they can truly kick the habit. In Norrath, you'll always find a group of bud- dies looking to share the action. Addictive personalities, beware.
TAKING CONTROL
Net Play
Now this is the most styl- ish way to enjoy EQ: Online Adventures. Logitech's NetPlay con- troller combines the func- tionality of a USB key- board with the sleek stylings of a Dual Shock 2 controller for maximum chat-while-you-play versa- tility. You can also break it down into a separate key- board and controller. The official release date remains shrouded in mys- tery at this time, but expect to see it looming on store shelves by the time you journey to Norrath. Logitech hasn't decided on the final price either, but hopefully it will ring up at far under the $80 mark (its Japanese retail price).
You'll find an insane variety of weapons and armor in Norrath. Scope the crazy claws on Calanin.
experience penalty system instead, although you never lose levels.” This feature makes it much easi- er to enjoy Online Adventures in small, manageable chunks.
The traditional battle system from the PC game has also been scrapped in favor of a more action- oriented setup in which you attack with the X but- ton and select spells on the fly with a real-time menu, á la Kingdom Hearts. Gamers who don't care for the slow battles of most role-playing games might be pleasantly surprised. “It’s not really turn- based,” Humble explains. “We wanted a fairly fast- paced game with the ability to coordinate strate- gies with your friends during combat.”
The PS2 hardware actually allowed the develop- ment team to make some surprising technical improvements over the PC original. That version's world was broken up into small segments called zones, and incredibly long loading times awaited you
When going up against big enemies
Electronic Ge
the right shot), bring some allies, oi
when you walked from one to the next. Online Adventures for PS2 has no zones, and the physical world itself is incredibly huge. “The world is 500 square miles—a larger landmass than all of [PC] ЕО plus its expansions combined,” says Humble. “If Online Adventures was on the PC, it would have shipped on at least seven CDs! For the PS2, we fit it snugly onto a single DVD."
So far, the beta-testing phase has been smooth. "Stability is our number-one concern," explains Humble. *Happily, the servers proved more robust than we thought, and now, most of the testing is aimed at content and play balance." We acted as trailblazing Norrath pioneers for a few weeks, and witnessed a few improvements over the course of our adventures. It's a constantly evolving experi- ence that will hopefully be ready for prime time in the spring.
—Shane Bettenhausen
у - 88 - ‹
М0” Р52 MMORPGS
Are there even more online RPGs on the PS2 horizon? Yep, Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition Online (pic- tured) is currently beta testing in Japan, and Square's rumored to be working on a follow-up to FFXI.
|
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CONTROVERSY
EQ has often snagged media attention for the wrong reasons. Recent scandals include:
* AWisconsin mother sued Sony Online claiming that EverQuest con- tributed to her son's sui- cide. (Her claim was even- tually thrown out.)
* An EQ-playing Florida man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after killing his infant son (he locked him in a closet as not to disturb his online roleplaying).
* In 2000, some £Q play- ers were banned for life after posting racy fan fic- tion stories about the game's characters. Apparently, Sony Online doesn't take kindly to tales of sultry Elf prin- cesses getting it on with Troll shadow knights.
e
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD PLAY IN OURS?
uu
STIR UP THE BIRDS, YOU'RE DONE.
б ESCAPE ROUTE, YOU'RE DONE.
- HE SMELLS YOU, YOU'RE
Mens HIS SWORD, Y | 52 x 4 p :
Де T pm : ^. HE TURNS AROUND, YOU'RE DONE.
Violence, Blood and Gore
' = War of
СОИ Sony cea Incog Inc.
12 C Fighting
80%
January 2003 CORR Non: www.scea.com ИЛ Giant robots and
monsters-what more could you want?
The Bad: A few classic movie
monsters would be nice.
[TEETH No Gamera-inspired
character? How can there not be a flying turtle?
watching the best parts of the greatest schlock
sci-fi movies, all condensed into one epic battle. Except it's better because nobody has to wear the stinky rubber Godzilla suit, and you can't see any of the wires.
It's not hard to pick out the influences behind War of the Monsters. Take a little Ultraman, some Shogun Warriors, a huge helping of kaiju movies (featuring the men in rubber monster suits previous- ly mentioned), mix in some old comics, and there you have it. But thanks to the wonders of technolo- gy, those lumbering monsters that crushed so many cardboard buildings and Matchbox cars just got a lot more coordinated —and destructive. “I recently watched one of the classic [kaiju] movies," says Sony CEA Creative Director Mike Giam, “and | kept wanting the monster to pick the other one up and throw him into a building or smash him on the head with a piece of rubble. I'd like to think that maybe the way we have our monsters fight is a little like the way the
M War of the Monsters in action is like
MEN IN TIGHTS
We're not usually much for perfor- mance art, but we'll make an exception for the kaiju-based wrestling league you probably haven't heard of, Kaiju Big Battel. Let's face it: Men dressing in rubber suits and whaling on each other is a dying art form, but Big Battel characters like Club Sandwich, Silver Potato, Uchu Chu the Space Bug, and the nefarious Dr. Cube are keeping the dream alive—and settling their differ- ences in the squared circle. Check kaiju.com for upcoming Battel dates and broken-English-based hilarity. Danger can happen!
T Cars, building spires, passing helicopters... they can all be used as lethal weapons in War of the Monsters.
Congar loses control when Preytor just = won't pick a @%$*! station!
directors of those classics would have done it if they were in our place today."
And the way the monsters fight is quick, brutal, and very entertaining. The resulting mayhem mixes the speed and twitch gameplay of something like Super Smash Bros. Melee (GameCube) with huge, totally destructible environments. You've got a tar- get-lock option (vital in keeping track of your oppo- nent, considering how big the levels can be), strafe moves, and a fairly basic hand-to-hand combo and grapple system. Counter moves add some variety to melee combat, and all characters have a ranged attack, along with two unique special moves you can execute if you're packin' a full energy bar. Sounds pretty standard so far, but you can also use the envi- ronment to your advantage in battle, and that's where War of the Monsters begins to show some unexpected depth.
Basically, if it’s standing, you can knock it down. Then you can pick it up and start swinging. Steel girders can be wielded like clubs, chunks of concrete
ULTRA-V
MAZINGER Z
X Br This Shogun Warrior's detach- able fist introduced the term “choking hazard" to chil- dren's toys.
This robot's detach- able fist grabs foes from across the level and drags them back for easy pummeling....
can be thrown or used as a shield. Cars, trucks, tanks, and helicopters can all be scooped up and chucked at your enemy. But your foes can also catch whatever you're throwing and send it right back atcha. Nothing sucks more than being done in by your own projectile. Or, if they're wielding a girder, they can swing it Barry Bonds-style and hit away
incoming projectiles. You can even impale your oppo-
nent with a radio antenna, and then wade in with melee attacks while they button mash, frantically try- ing to pull out the offending object. Producer Dylan Jobe sums it up like this: “If you aren't holding a piece of debris or an |-beam or a tanker truck, you should go get one." You can even knock whole build- ings onto rivals for a quick kill, although it's very difficult to do.
We got hands-on time with six monsters, and it looks like there should be at least 10 when the game is done. As expected, there's the usual big and burly one, the super-fast but fragile one, the one with the great special moves, and many varia- tions in between. Some can kinda-sorta jump, while others can get way up there and glide halfway across a stage.
The main single-player mode is Adventure, which takes you through a series of monster-based alter-
This giant primate enjoys climbing Las Vegas' Strato- sphere Tower to swat at Apache helicopters....
express his envy of monsters with actual bodies.
PREYTOR
primate enjoys climbing the Empire State Building to swat at flimsy biplanes.
cations and some boss battles. Then there's also a Free-For-All slugfest vs. up to three CPU-controlled monsters and an Endurance mode. Unfortunately, there's no two-player co-op option—at least not yet, although you can beat up on each other or a pair of CPU monsters. War of the Monsters also includes a few cool minigames, but we won't spoil 'em for you. Two-player games use a splitscreen most of the time, but when both monsters are near- by, a "unified camera" kicks in and you get a single viewpoint. This doesn't always work smoothly, but there's still time for Incog to fix it before the game's final release.
War of the Monsters' retro sci-fi feel extends to the music and to details like the Start screen—the menu options appear on a drive-in movie screen, with '5os- era cars parked in front. Even the loading screens— which feature mock-ups of movie posters that might have been—are cool. Graphically and gameplay- wise, War of the Monsters already feels very pol- ished, and if Incog can make the single-player Adventure mode compelling and add a few tweaks here and there, we've got high hopes. After all, the only thing better than giant robots is giant robots vs. giant monsters. gfe
— Demian Linn
the only way Kineticlops knows to
This quick and nim- ble mantis was mutated by radioac- tive goo and a mad scientist bent on world domination...
mu e
PREVIEW
This not-so-quick and nimble Kama- kiras was mutated by a radioactive storm in Son of Godzilla.
жет ped
PREVIEW
Publisher: Sony CEA
Sony Team Soho Рае. Ш
[селе Action
85%
January 2003 jason: None www.scea.com
You play an ex-mob-
ster who's pulled back into the world of crime in this very cool, Guy Ritchie-style story.
It'll take some time to get used to the lack of onscreen indicators.
COA The main character's
dry-cleaning bill after getting shot up.
Anything can be used for cover, even the guys who are shooting at you (below).
The Getaway
Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and especially Swept Away...not) is going to really enjoy The Getaway. This GTA3-style action title set on the mean streets of London truly feels more like an interactive movie than just another videogame. Before you start moaning about how you've heard that a dozen times before, pay attention. Developer Team Soho has been very careful to make sure that, from the instant the game boots up, nothing on the screen screams “videogame.” You won't find life bars, timers, targeting reticules, direction indicators, or inventory screens in The Getaway. So, how do you find your way around London? Easy. Your car blinkers go off while you drive, indicat-
A nyone who loves a good Guy Ritchie film (Lock,
MEET THE CAST
D
MARK
Mark is a retired mobster, or so he thought. He finds
out how hard it is to get out of the life and go straight when his wife is murdered and son kidnapped by...
92
ANM
ing which way you should turn. What about knowing how much damage Mark (the main character) has taken? Let's put it this way: If his jacket is blood- stained and he's staggering around like he's about to fall over, it ain't good.
And even though using professional actors to voice videogame characters is nothing new, Team Soho went one step further in that department as well. Instead of designing characters and assigning voice actors to them, Soho signed the actors first and cre- ated the characters around them. Every character you see in The Getaway is modeled after the person doing the voice acting, including their build, manner- isms, and movement.
Of course, gameplay is king, and The Getaway’s is
YASMINE
.. Yasmine and her washed-up group of gang- sters. This cold- as-ice hit- woman is the one that grabs Mark's kid on
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BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, TODD JORDAN, PUTS HIS CAMERA DOWN TO RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL ART FORM . NOLLIE NOSE GRIND & NOLLIE BACKSIDE 180 REDA BLACK AND WHITE PRINTS . BEAUTIFUL . EST 3.0 IN STORES NOW . BEAUTIFUL . NEW WINTER 2002 DECKS OUT NOW . BEAUTIFUL
m N e
PREVIEW
shaping up very nicely. Much like True Crime from Activision (see our preview on page 110), this game is similar to Grand Theft Auto 111, but it's not exactly the same. While you can steal cars and generally cause havoc in The Getaway, that's not really the point. Usually, you're set on very specific missions and start off each one in your own vehicle, stealing cars only if yours gets wrecked somehow.
But most of your time in The Getaway will be spent infiltrating buildings around London. And we don't mean just running into a room, guns blaz- ing—that's a good way to come down with a bad case of death. No, in this town, the only way to work your way into hostile territory is to use stealth. When entering a structure, the first thing you should do is find some cover, 'cause chances are, you're already being shot at. Remember, Mark's not Superman. He can't take too many hits, and there are no medipacks or health power-ups lying around in this game.
You'll get hurt if you wreck your car in The Getaway, so drag racing through a light isn't the smartest move.
Once Mark's behind some cover, peek around the corner and evaluate the situation. Figure out where you have to go next and how many thugs you'll have to take out to get there. Then work out the safest way to do it. That's the only way to play The Getaway. The pace of this game is really slow— it's a lot like Metal Gear Solid 2.
The one problem people could have with this title is that it's very linear. While you're playing in a living, breathing city, you're set on one task after another, and really have no room to deviate from the set course of the story. At least in other games of this ilk (Vice City and the aforementioned True Crime), there's a bit of variety to be found in side missions and minigames. But that's not a knock on this game— just a warning to those expecting more GTA-ness. Otherwise, The Getaway is going to be another great addition to this fledgling genre come January. #%
—Greg Sewart
MEET THE CAST (CONT.)
CHARLIE
...Charlie, an old-
Instead of attempting to shoot the guy
perched on this fire escape, just shoot the
oil drums below him. Boom!
FRANK
...Frank, a dis-
school mob boss who figures the only way
graced detec- tive trying to Clear his own name. Now he's hot on the tail of Charlie's unwilling new stooge, Mark.
to bring Mark out of retirement is to threaten his son's life. Charlie's every move is being closely watched by...
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PREVIEW
Dragon Ball 2: Budokai -
СТИ Infogrames
bins
LEE >
[селе Fighting БЕН 20%
December 2003 mn Hoe www.dragonballz.com Fans of the show will
appreciate the attention to detail in character design and story.
Long-winded exposition
One of the more popular Dragon Ball matchups: Frieza versus Goku. A
boot to the marauding alien's noggin is just what the doctor ordered.
before battles? Oh yeah, that's Dragon Ball.
ШАЛА ИЙ Android #19. He
embodies all that is just plain weird
about DBZ character designs.
HARDCORE FAN
Otaku no DBZ
v.
Since Dragon Ball Z is a very popular anime series, and many fans of Japanese animation like to hear it in the original tongue, we had to ask: Will Budokai feature dual languages? The answer is no. “We decided to include the U.S. voice actors to create something special and familiar to the majority of Dragon Ball Z fans," Associate Producer Chris Lundeen tells us. “It was something that hadn't been done on this scale before, and never in a Dragon Ball game. In the end, we had a full disc of dialogue and didn't have the room for both English and Japanese." Elite fans...you’ll have to buy the import.
almost six years since Dragon Ball GT hit the
PS1—for the day their favorite series would once again be made into a console game that didn't require modifying a system and learning to read Japanese. That wait is over, now that Dragon Ball Z: Budokai is entering Earth's atmosphere at an incredible rate of speed, and with a formidable Power Level readout (read: Surprise! It doesn't suck like previous DBZ console games).
As one might expect, Budokai is a 3D fighting game, but it's not just any ol’ Virtua Fighter. You'll begin your training in Story mode, which strolls through the main events of the Saiyan, Namekian, and Android chapters of the Dragon Ball Z saga. The convoluted story's been abridged, but there are loads of cut-scenes, all using the in-game graphics and character models.
You begin playing as Goku, trying to rescue your son Gohan from intergalactic kidnapper Raditz. That's where you'll get your first taste of Budokai's combat. The buttons are very simply set up: Punch, Kick, Guard, and Energy. For the most part, you'll use Energy to throw a fireball at your opponent, but stick it on the end of a punch combination and you'll throw a Kamehameha Energy Blast (or anoth- er more powerful attack, depending on your charac- ter) at your stunned opponent. Pull off a couple of
D: Ball fans have waited a long time—
those and Raditz'll be beaten to a bloody pulp. But wait—if you've seen the show, you know the battle isn't over yet. You've gotta hold Raditz in front of Namekian warrior Piccolo so he can help you finish him off. To do that, you'll have to turn one of the analog sticks clockwise or counterclockwise to keep yourself in the blast area while Piccolo charges up. Once he lets loose, Raditz is toast—and uh...well, you are too, though you come back to life soon enough.
That beginning scenario gives you a good idea of what to expect in the rest of Story mode. The action is divided into chapters, but the story doesn't always progress via one-on-one fights. Sometimes, you'll have to meet special conditions (deflect a cer- tain number of projectiles, for example). Highlights
No one Will mind if you play
naked.
Sit ИГЕ.
BROADBAND AND DIAL-UP |
Look for this icon оп ATV Offroad Fury" 2 and other PlayStation.2 games with online capability.
4
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN DURS:
www. playstation.com. Online play requires Internet connection and Network Adaptor for PlayStation 2 (sold separately). "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. ATV Offroad Fury is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Developed by Rainbow Studios. ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "Live In Your World. Play In Ours." and the "Online" 1090 are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
— pee
PREVIEW
Loyal Dragon Ball Z fans will no doubt be
pleased with the number of characters in Budokai— 23 in all. You'll start with five characters, and have to play through Story mode to unlock the rest of them.
STARTING LINEUP:
* Goku * Piccolo * Kid Gohan * Tien
* Krillin
UNLOCKABLE CHARACTERS:
* Android 16 * Dadoria * Raditz
* Android 17 * Frieza * Recoome
* Android 18 * Great * Trunks
* Android 19 Saiyaman * Vegeta
* Captain * Hercule * Yamcha Ginyu e Teen Gohan © Zarbon
* Cell * Nappa
FULLY RENDERED
When loading up a Dragon Ball Z game, you'd expect to be treated to a video of the show's opening right off the bat. After all, what developer
wants to spend time redoing the whole intro with in-game graphics? Well... Budokai developer Dimps, for one. You'll see the fully 3D intro several times when playing through Story mode (or you can skip it if you've already memorized all the words to the opening theme).
When you fight Raditz as Goku, you'll have to hold the squirmin' bas- tard into the line of Piccolo's Ki Blast (top left). But go back into Story mode after finishing it the first time and you'll face the same challenge from Piccolo's perspec- tive and charge the Blast instead (bot- tom left). This is just one example of how the Story mode is extended after you've completed
it once.
to look forward to include fighting the mini versions of Cell (you've gotta defeat six Cell Jrs. in a row with one life bar) and the battle with the series' first major enemy, Frieza. You switch characters throughout the game, too; you start with Goku, but change to fight as Vegeta, Gohan, or Piccolo as you progress. Each character controls similarly, but each has his own signature moves (Piccolo has a Ki Blast instead of the Kamehameha, even though it's almost the same thing).
Even after you've finished Story mode for the first time, Budokai's not over. You can revisit different chapters and play scenarios not available during the regular game, seeing events from other characters' perspectives. For example, remember that fight with Raditz at the very beginning of the game? Well, you can do it again, but this time as Piccolo rather than Goku, charging up your Energy Blast by twirling the analog Sticks as fast as you can.
In addition to the one-player story, there's a one- or two-player Duel mode for quick battles, a solo World Match tournament mode against the computer, a practice arena, and an option to edit your fighters' skills—or buy them new ones. Editing your favorite fighters has its advantages, especially when playing against a friend. "Visiting Mr. Popo's Skill Shop with enough Zeni to buy capsules allows you to create a character that matches your fighting style," explains Associate Producer Chris Lundeen. "Are you a better defender? Buy a Senzu Bean to gain full health automati- cally after being beaten to a pulp. Do you want to inflict maximum damage in one shot? Grab Goku's Spirit Bomb. If your friend uses a Viral Heart Disease attack (which constantly drains your energy), you'd better make sure you have the antidote!"
Excited? Then what are you waiting for? Hop on the next cloud and get ready to begin your Super Saiyan training. ж
— Chris Johnston
hooking it onto a punch or kick combo Goku charges up his patented Kamehameha attack. will send out a regular fireball.
Download. pload. Reload.
СЭГ Гг Е.
BROADBAND AND DIAL-UP
Look for this icon on Twisted Metal:Black. ONLINE and other PlayStation. 2 games with online capability.
4
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN OURS
www. playstation.com. Online play requires Internet connection and Network Adaptor for PlayStation 2 (sold separately). Twisted Metal:Black is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The "Online" logo and "Live In Your World. Play In Ours." are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
po qu
PREVIEW
ГЕП Square Electronics Arts
Squaresoft Co с 50%
Release: Fall 2003
һеш
мер Аййгеѕ: www.squaresoft.com
It's an actual, honest-
The Good: to-goodness sequel to a Final Fantasy game.
Square's keeping a tight
lid on most of the game's characters.
ШААЛ Yuna's new hoochie-
mama look might be too much for her
old fans.
)
У: d га FK. Yuna will explóre all-neW areas of Spira, like this ethereal tower.
BATTLES
This sequel’s combat system appears to be much like FFX’s, with reassuring standbys like hit points and magic points displayed onscreen. It’s nice to know that even though she’s now packin’ two pistols, Yuna can still toss a spell or two when she needs to.
Final Fantasy X-
ter stage in
she's not a summoner
Yuna takes cen-
this sequel, but
anymore. Now,
not make direct sequels to its epic Final Fantasy
games. Sure, you'll find a different guy named Cid, a feathery Chocobo, and the occasional Moogle in each new chapter, but the story lines of these role- playing games have never linked to the previous game in the series...until now. The deepest wishes of any gamer who reached Final Fantasy X's bittersweet ending will soon be fulfilled: Square will release a direct sequel in 2003.
Final Fantasy X-2 focuses on the further adventures of Yuna, the sweet, endearing heroine who helped Tidus overcome the ancient evil known as Sin. The first thing you'll notice about the game is, well, Yuna's
A GLIMPSE
Д пу RPG fan will tell you— Squaresoft simply does
TÎ she uses guns.
ass. It appears that the traumatic events she's under- gone have inspired a total fashion makeover. This lib- erated Yuna has tossed aside her classy priestess garb in favor of sultry hot pants, handguns, and one extremely long braid of hair. The details of her quest remain foggy, but it appears to be set about two years after the end of FFX. Her main goal is to discover a way to reunite with love interest Tidus, who vanished from the world of Spira after defeating Sin. We'd love to go into greater details about what to expect from FFX-2, but frankly, it's just too early to reveal more. See below for a sneak peek at what Yuna will experi- ence in this landmark sequel. ж
—Shane Bettenhausen
REBUILDING
FFX-2 takes place in Spira, the same world from the first game. You'll find that the denizens have flour- ished since the defeat of Sin and rebuilt their homes. Here you see Kilika, the seaside vil- lage that was obliterat- ed in FFX, restored to its tropical splendor.
OF WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
YUNA RAIDER
This is a biggie—Yuna will be able to jump over pits and pull herself onto ledges on the field maps. Incorporating action elements into standard RPG gameplay seems like a good idea to us, but will diehard Final Fantasy fans be aghast? We'll see.
100
OLD FRIENDS
Hottie-come-lately Yuna's the main attrac- tion, but Final Fantasy X's Lulu and Rikku will also show up. It's unclear if they'll be playable party mem- bers, but expect nearly every character from FFX to make at least
a cameo appearance Sooner or later.
ROBOTS
After Yuna and co. debunk the technology- fearing religion of Yevon at the end of FFX, the general populace embraces the previously forbidden concept of machinery. You'll now find robots chilling in the temples, and hovercrafts, not Chocobos, will be carrying people around.
If you suck, at least no one Will know who
you are.
ON | ,ІГТЕЕ.. _BROADBAND ONLY:
Look for this icon on SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs and other PlayStation. 2 games with online capability.
4
LIVE IN YOUR WXRLD. PLAY IN DURS:
www. playstation.com. Online play requires Internet connection and Network Adaptor for PlayStation 2 (sold separately). "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SOCOM ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. "Live In Your World. Play In Ours." and the "Online" logo are trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc.
La
PREVIEW GALLERY
Galerians: Ash
Sammy * January 2003 * Also On: None— Picking up directly after the events of the PlayStation cult- hit Galerians, this sequel reunites Rion, the pill- popping psychic hero, with Lilia, his waifish girl- friend. Together, this heroin-chic duo must once again battle the evil supercomputer Dorothy and her legion of psychic assassins, aka Galerians.
The gameplay mixes elements of action, role- playing, and survival-horror into one trippy, creepy adventure that borrows heavily from the classic anime flick Akira. It's twisted, gory, and deep, and the ambiance feels kind of like /co meets Silent Hill
in Blade Runner. If that sounds like your cup of drugged-up tea, check it out.
Guilty Gear X2 Sammy * January 2003 * Also On: None—Just in time for this winter's Guns "М Roses tour, this heavy metal-themed 2D fighting game strikes the PS2 again. As sequels go, this one falls squarely into the Super Street Fighter II camp, meaning that it's more of a “substantial upgrade" than a true “next chapter." Even so, GGX2 Sports six cool, new char- acters, additional stages, a cinema-heavy story mode, and subtle gameplay tweaks like the new Burst Gauge. Expect the same smooth animation and quirky character designs the series is famous for, and of course, tons of wink-wink references to '80s hair bands like Testament and Enuff Z'nuff. Seriously.
NBA Street Vol. 2
EA Sports Big * Spring 2003 * Also On: GC, Xbox We've been waiting too long for a sequel to EA Big’s awesome Street hoops game. Vol. 2 adds co-op multi- player to the mix, along with even more tricks (like the ability to dribble off your opponent's head), and a fresh crop of old-school ballers whose nicknames are still legendary: Magic, Dr. J, Pistol Pete, and Wilt the Stilt.
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There goes the neighborhood.
Spyro: Enter The Dragonfly. With all new breath weapons: fire, ice, electricity and bubbles, someone better slap a warning
label on that dragon.
www.spyrothedragon.com
“Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly” interactive game © 2002 Universal Interactive, Inc. Spyro the Dragon and related characters are TM and © Universal interactive, Inc. All rights reserved. TM, @ and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
DROP IN
rome ULTIMATE
SKATEBOARDING CHALLENGE!
YOUR CAREER Is WHAT YOU
MAKE OF IT...
14 of the world's top pros challenge you to prove
your skills. TONY HAWK'S л | Featuring songs by N.W.A., Offspring, and System of a Down. CATER Official Strategy Guide available from Brady Games.
* Online play exclusive to PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system.
TEEN
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Comic Mischief © 1999-2002 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark and Activision 02, Pro Skater and Sports Revolution are trademarks of omic Mischie’ Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Tony Hawk is a trademark of Tony Hawk. PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube versions developed by Neversoft Entertainment, Inc. PlayStation and Game Boy ild Lyri Advance versions developed by Vicarious Visions Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logos are either registered
Mild yrics trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and/or other. countries and are licensed under Microsoft. тм, ®, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. The ratings icon
Suggestive Themes
is а registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners, CONTENT RATED BY ESRB
PlayStation® 2 computer entertainment system screenshots shown.
"Groundbreaking and brilliant..." "Neversoft has another masterpiece on its hands."
-Official PlayStation Magazine (#60)
1165 X1 Skitchin
Tons of new goals in the All new tricks - skitch behind New multiplayer and online modes
deepest career mode to date. cars, skate on moving objects, including Score Challenge and and transfer over spines. Capture the Flag!*
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater™4 is the ultimate challenge. Pros challenge you to make your mark in huge free-roaming levels, taking on 190 progressively harder goals with no time limits to hold you back. Decide when you're ready to take on your Pro Challenge and move into the pro ranks, where it's a whole new game. Build your skills, earn respect, and show that you've got what it takes to Go Pro...
Compatible with Playstation® game console and compatible
: Ве L with Playstation® 2 computer entertainment system TEM С Vicarious ү ЕСӨРГ лер INEVERS@E
Visions"
activisionO2.com
Keep your thumbs happy. Play video games. Get them at EBgames.com.
(EB Games Online, Inc. 2002. All rights reserved.
` ££? GAMES...
AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY OUR GAMES
~ %
PREVIEW
WWW. idit com — It's like a John Woo
flick in videogame form. ТТТ People might think
it's simply г a Grand Theft Auto III Clone.
Jj Being the guest of honor at a Russian Mafia bullet festival
Executive Producer Chris Archer
Unlike the Grand Theft
| Auto series, True Crime takes place on the actual, honest-to-goodness streets of L.A., not some fictional city. “What we have accom- plished is effectively a real-time map of Los Angeles," beams Executive Producer Chris Archer, “complete with hundreds of landmark buildings like the L.A. Convention Center, Staples Center, Capitol Records, Hollywood and Highland, Rodeo Drive, and Santa Monica Pier, just to mention a few.”
m
True Grime:
Streets of L.A.
Theft Auto III clone” immediately comes to
mind. But those working on the game don't seem to be worried. "I think it's great to be com- pared to the biggest game of last year," laughs Executive Producer Chris Archer. “And while we don't mind the nod, True Crime offers a much different experience for the gamer. In this game, you're the star of a Hong Kong-style action movie that takes place in L.A." In other words, True Crime is still a drive-anywhere, shoot-anyone game, but with much more emphasis on hand-to-hand combat and gun- play than GTA3.
And that's not the only difference. Instead of being
a young mob-hopeful slowly working your way through the ranks of the underworld, you play as Nick Kang, a rather destructive cop (sorta like Riggs from the Lethal Weapon flicks) with a martial-arts
U pon first viewing True Crime, the phrase “Grand
THE SEARCH FO!
RESERVOIR DOGS (1992) Director: Quentin Tarantino Five strangers team up for a diamond heist, but every- thing falls apart when they discover they have a rat in their midst. One of the grittiest, goriest, swearingest crime movies ever to hit the big screen.
Quote: “You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize.”
“Ouch! All 1 said was I wanted a Zima!”
background, a Hong Kong upbringing, and a father who died in the line of duty. Who better to assign to the special antimob task force of the L.A.P.D.?
Your time is spent shaking down informants, tail- ing mob bosses, and infiltrating gang hideouts. (The prominent gangs in True Crime are the Russian and Chinese Mafias.) But remember—first and foremost, you're a cop, so no matter what you're doing, if you get a call on a break-in or stolen car, you should real- ly help out in any way you can. If you're close to the scene, assist the boys in blue and chase down that perp. It's the only way to earn "cop points," which in turn is the only way to unlock the various dojos around L.A.
Yes — dojos. See, True Crime isn't all about car chases and drive-by shootings. Once you get where you're going, you'll have to get out of the car and take thugs on in face-to-face fights. And while it's
ITTTITT SIT]
HARD BOILED (1992) Director: john Woo Cops, bombs, babies peeing...all the spectacular things you'd expect in a John Woo film. Chow Yun-Fat reprises the role he always plays: КОК pakeni badass who kills lots of people.
Quote: *Give a guy a gun, he thinks he's Superman. Give him two and he thinks he's God."
110 - egm.gamer
Romaine
usually much easier to pull a piece on a bad guy, that's not always an option. Therefore, you've gotta have fists of fury. Luckily, L.A. is a mecca of martial- arts instruction. “Nick can learn moves from senseis in numerous dojos spread throughout the city,” explains Archer. “We have numerous fighting styles in the game, including Wu Shu kung fu, Kenpo, tradi- tional karate, and wrestling.”
Wait...wrestling? “Yeah. The wrestling has to be my favorite fighting style in the game,” Archer says
Or, if you happen to be a pacifist, simply take him to the ground and cuff him. But where’s the fun in that?
Just know that every action has a consequence. Unlike the recent Grand Theft Autos, in which failing to protect someone or killing the wrong guy leads to a Mission Failed message and a chance to start over, the world of True Crime never stops, even if the play- er makes a mistake. Let a suspect escape, and the story will simply branch off to a different plotline—
“Pretty much anything directed by John Woo, Michael Mann, or Quentin Tarantino...well, maybe not From
Dusk Till Dawn.”
—Executive Producer Chris Archer on what movies inspired True Crime
with a smile. “While this wouldn’t normally be the case—l’m a huge Hong Kong cinema fan—when we did the motion-capture session with professional wrestlers, it was, simply put, awesome and power- ful. It’s not pretty, but incredibly brutal to watch. All the moves are motion captured and look amaz- ing.” We'll back that part up. Fighting in True Crime looks just as good, if not better, than many of the fighting games out there. Plus, you can throw oppo- nents into and through just about anything around you. Some scumbag giving you static? Throw him through a table and watch him shut the hell up.
LETHAL WEAPON (1987) Director: Richard Donner Suicidal cop Riggs teams up with officer Murtaugh (who's too old for this s***) to take downagroupof . former Vietnam War mercenaries turned heroin dealers. Much property damage ensues. Quote: *Have you ever met anybody you didn't kill?” “Well, I haven't killed you yet.”
probably one that ends with said criminal returning and making Nick’s life quite miserable. The streets of L.A. offer no second chances, but the game does have multiple endings, so wasting someone or failing a mission isn’t the end of the world.
The best part? Well, by the time True Crime comes out this spring, you’re likely to be all Vice City-ed out, which means this new take on the genre should be exactly what the doctor ordered. At the very least, it’ll be a solid action game with a sweet fighting system. #%
—Greg Sewart
HEAT (1995)
Director: Michael Mann De Niro meets қ Pacino in this styl- ish action-drama about a crew of high-stakes thieves and an obsessed cop trying to take them down. Best known for its thrilling bank-rob- bery scene with the million-bullet shoot-out. Quote: “Cause she's got a great ass, and you got your head all the way up it!”
ning Monthly - 111- egm.gamers.com
SHOOT TO KILL
Since gunplay is such an important part of True Crime, you'd better believe the developers at Luxoflux are taking their targeting system serious- ly. Streets of L.A. features a cool, Max Payne-ish stow-mo effect, making aiming easier than in Vice City. And when Nick learns the precision-tar- geting technique (above) ..look out. “The game goes into a slow-motion close-up of the enemy, with a targeting reticule that can be moved to the specific location on the enemy you want to hit,” says Executive Producer Archer. “It’s the player's choice and skill that determines whether or not he can nail the guy with a single shot.”
Nick goes all Max Payne as he redec- orates a Russian bathhouse in dark, crimson hues.
~ (9
Black & Bruised
Majesco • January 2003 * Also On: PS2 Arcade boxing games are as old as dirt, but Majesco plans to bring something new to the ring with Black & Bruised. The cartoony design style stands out, and the power-up system is deeper than Ready 2 Rumble's, but the biggest innovation has to be the Boxer's Life mode, in which between-bout movie clips advance each fighter's unique story. And these fighters aren't all coming up from the mean streets; the 14 characters (with at least four that are unlock- able) include an opera singer, a socialite, a cowgirl, and a wannabe actor. The usual Versus, Survival, Training, and Tournament modes round out the pugilistic action.
z L| X-Men: Wolverine's Revenge Activision * Spring 2003 * Also On: PS2, Xbox Wolverine's Revenge changes the pace of X-Men games by placing the ol' Canucklehead in a solo adventure. Wolvie's healing factor and adamantium claws both play major roles, but so do his more forgotten powers —for example, you can sniff out what's ahead using his height-
ened sense of smell. The comics-faithful story comes courtesy of veter- an Wolverine writer Larry Hama, and Mark Hamill voices the feral one.
| М
%
^ ALINK TO THE PAST
Travel two parallel worlds to fight evil and restore peace in the land of \ e Hyrule. Or, try the depths of the Four Swords dungeons in a new challenge : where you take on the ultimate Wind Mage with up to four players. Link with up to
4 Players
EVERYONE
Mild Violence
1002 Nintendo, ndo WWW.Zelda.com
CONTENT RATED BY А EN E 5 Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. e) 2002 Ni
Ghost Recon
NCAA College Basketball 2K3
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai
Butt Ugly Martians: Zoom or Doom
Malice
The Sims
NCAA College Basketball 2K3
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Capcom vs SNK 2 EO Brute Force Malice
Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Dead to Rights
Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius
NHL 2K3
NCAA College Basketball 2K3
Ghost Recon Dr. Muto
Resident Evil 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3
MLB Slugfest 2003 Road Rash - Jailbreak
Battlebots: Beyond the BattleBox
Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance
The Recruit Disney Sports Football
Downforce
PUBLISHER RELEASE DATE Ubi Soft 12/5/02 Sega 12/12/02 Infogrames 12/19/02 Vivendi Universal 12/31/02 Sierra 1/1/03 Electronic Arts 1/15/03 Sega 12/12/02 Electronic Arts 12/12/02 Capcom 12/12/02 Microsoft 12/24/02 Vivendi Universal 1/1/03 Tecmo 1/15/03 Namco 12/3/02 THQ 12/5/02 Sega 12/5/02 Sega 12/12/02 Ubi Soft 12/19/02 Midway Games 1/5/03 Capcom 1/9/03 Capcom 12/3/02 Midway Games 12/5/02 Destination Software 12/5/02 Majesco Sales 12/8/02 Midway Games 12/8/02 Ibam entertainment 12/12/02 Konami 12/20/02 Titus 2/19/03
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PREVIEW GALLERY
Skies of Arcadia Legend
Sega * January 2003 * Also On: Dreamcast — Sega's air-pirate fantasy didn't exactly fly high on the strug- gling Dreamcast, but hopefully, more fans will discov- er its riches when it lands on GameCube. Here, it's the biggest fish in an RPG-starved lake. You assume the role of Vyse, a swashbuckling teen with a thirst for adventure and the keys to his very own airship (which is great for attracting some perky female com- rades). The gameplay borrows a few pages from Final Fantasy's library, with turn-based battles, cavernous dungeons, and majestic airships. Hey, if you're gonna pilfer some great ideas, take from the best.
[ EIS
Mace Griffon: Bounty Hunter
Black Label Games е March 2003 * Also On: Xbox
Crave's recent move to exclusively producing budget titles has left the long-delayed Mace Griffon in the hands of Black Label (aka Universal Interactive). So what makes this stand out in the crowded first-person-shooter genre? Seamless transitions from space dogfights to interior combat— you can pilot a spacecraft one minute, then dock it and enter a corridor shooter the next, all with no loading screens. Fly six different ships, infiltrate alien cattle-farms (you read that right), and salvage parts from wrecked outposts.
EACH X-MEN HAS EXPLOSIVE AND UNIQUE SUPER HERO™ POWERS TO TAHE оп OTHER X-men—rT's THE MOST INTENSE FIGHTING YOU'VE EVER EXPERIENCED.
lence
USE INCREDIBLE COMBINATIONS " ™ AND UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS TO BRING 2ч DIFFERENT X-MEN que x MUTANTS TO LIFE! NEXT DIMENSION
PlayStation.2 | Ж MARVEL
e Themes E 2 Hee ACTIVISION ® MARVEL, X-Men, and all Marvel characters: TM and © 2002 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved. www.marvel.com. Game code © 2001-2002 Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Published activision.com
and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc. and its affiliates. Licensed for play on the PlayStation*2 computer entertainment systems with the NTSC U/C designation only. "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 the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. Licensed by Nintendo. Nintendo and Nintendo GameCube are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
Violence NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
w 4
M 1
HAT DO THE GALAXY’S MOST DANGEROUS FUGITIVES SEE WHEN THEY HAVE NIGHTMARES?
You're Jango Fett, the most ruthless bounty hunter the galaxy has ever seen. They made you the genetic template of the clone army for a reason: you're fast, you're
lethal and nothing comes between you and your prey.
Fly, fight and tear your way through 18 levels on
, we wu six unique worlds that make up the seedy underbelly
of the Star Wars universe. And teach the galaxy's most
wanted that in the end, there's no place to hide.
STARWARS HountTt почтен : WWW.STARWARSBOUNTYHUNTER.COM
Official Star Wars Weh Site www.starwars.com
PREVIEW
Sega
Smilebit
1
Shooter
9096
January 2003
None
www.sega.com
Panzer Dragoon returns from the void!
So few people under- stand how awesome that fact is.
It's been almost five years since the last Panzer game.
ae
New to the Panzer Dragoon series is the Glide com- mand. Basically, it accom- plishes one of two things. You can use it as a speed burst to position yourself properly against large ene- mies (or you can just use it as a ramming attack). Or, you can have it act as a brake, to keep from running into obstacles or to get enemies off your back.
Panzer Dragoon
Panzer Dragoon series was one of the most
beloved on Sega Saturn, developer Team Andromeda split up after the third game in the fran- chise was completed, making a fourth game highly unlikely. Hardcore Sega fans were bummed, since they'd never again revisit the gorgeous, mythical lands of Panzer Dragoon; take on one of the screen- filling bosses; find out what happened to Lagi (their faithful mount); or hum along to the absolutely beau- tiful music that was the series' trademark. But even though the Panzer titles were supposed to be a thing
Т his wasn't supposed to happen. Although the
We're sure you're not very familiar with the Panzer Dragoon saga. The games were all released on the Saturn, after all. So here's a quick ’n’ dirty rundown of the first three games in the series. Pay particular attention to the first two games, since they're both shooters like Orta.
118
Full:360-degree awareness will keep you from getting dead in Panzer Dragoon Orta.
of the past, here we are, just a month away from playing the fourth chapter.
Aside from having stunning graphics (it's one of the prettiest games you'll see on Xbox), Panzer Dragoon Orta is one of the most frantic shooters you'll ever play. You have to be constantly aware of everything happening around your dragon steed, and know how to deal with it. But while “dealing with it” would normally mean shooting anything that moves, Orta introduces new play mechanics that make it much more than a run-of-the-mill shooter. (Not that any past Panzers have been run-of-the-mill; just
This Saturn launch title might not look like much now, but back in the mid-'9os, this was the game that con- vinced a lot of people Sega's new console was the bomb. A fully 3D, on-rails shooter with incredible music, Panzer Dragoon was very innovative.
BURST OF 3
8
HITS EVERYTHING ONSCREEN
GLIDE ATTACK DOES DECENT DAMAGE
WAVES OF REGULAR ENEMIES AND EARLY LEVEL BOSSES
Glide Wing
check out the Dragoon Classics sidebar.) You now have a bit of control over your speed (with the new Glide move), and can choose the form of your drag- on (a throwback to the dragon evolution feature introduced in Panzer Dragoon Il Zwei...kind of). No longer do you simply turn and shoot at whatever you see; you're now forced to think through each situa- tion. Do you switch to a different form to take on that wave of tough enemies coming from the front? Or do you slow down to let that rear-approaching wave overtake you? You also have to gather experience points for each form of your dragon— yet another thing to keep in mind during those nail-biting firefights.
But don't get the impression that Panzer Orta is all about micromanaging special abilities and upgrading your dragon. Each facet of the game is so smoothly implemented into the classic shooter- action formula that after a couple levels, they'll
This follow-up im- proved on the cult-hit launch game in almost every way. It played the same, but added the Berserk attack (wiping out everything onscreen) and an evo- lution system where your dragon grew based on your perfor- mance in every level.
119
٤
A
BURST OF 3
3
CONCENTRATED LASER THAT NEEDS TO BE AIMED
CAN'T GLIDE
BOSSES WITH MAJOR DEFENSE AND LOW MOBILITY
Playing through Orta multiple times will unlock various goodies such as extra levels, movies, and concept art. The best secret, though, is the full version of the original Panzer Dragoon.
HOMING SHOTS
NONE
CONCENTRATES ON INCOMING FIRE
VERY POWERFUL SHOT: REGAINS HEALTH
LARGE SWARMS OF ENEMIES OR BOSSES WITH MANY TURRETS
The Glide Wing's Berserk attack will make short work of those missiles.
Saga took the evolu- tion system from Zwei and ran with it in this most unique of role- playing games. That's right. This was no shooter, but a full-
л fledged RPG with a
turn-by-turn battle sys- tem and a story that brought the whole tril-
=, ogy to a close.
к
TAKE CONTROL
This is the fire button. Tap it to unleash bursts of fire from rider Orta's handgun, or hold it down to lock on to multiple enemies, resulting in your
dragon unleashing homing lasers from its mouth (depending on its form).
become second nature. You won't be think- ing about which dragon form to take— you'll simply be doing it.
Imagine flying along and noticing three radar blips coming from behind. You jam on the shoulder buttons for a quick turn and see that the approaching trio of baddies is shielded from the front. Fair enough. Just hit the Glide button to slow down and watch them streak past you. Now, lock on all three rear ends to take 'em out. But don't get too comfortable; there are 20 new enemies charging at you from 12 o'clock. Time to transform to the Glide Wing and use its homing shot to destroy that flock of bogies in record time. Even if they manage to fire off a bunch of missiles, just use your Berserk power to take care of all the incoming projectiles. Hey, you'll even get a little health bonus to boot. Such is a regular battle situation in Panzer Dragoon Orta.
As in most shooters, though, the boss- es are the most impressive part of Orta. These screen-filling monstrosities will
ар ym
120
Use these to look at all four quadrants of the radar. Simultaneously hitting both buttons looks directly behind your current view.
Use this button to transform your mount into one of three forms.
Glide with these colorful little buttons.
The Berserk attack but- tons. Just make sure your Berserk meter is full before you try it.
have you saying “holy crap" as you dismantle them piece-by-piece with your lasers and Berserk attacks. And learning to use the Glide ability is the only way to beat them. (You starting to notice a pattern here?) See, getting alongside or in front of different bosses is the sole way of exposing their weak points. To get alongside them, you need to aim to the left or right of the creature and speed up or slow down depending on their flight pattern. Having to think through each boss encounter helps Orta further transcend the average shooter.
And to think, five years ago, most Panzer Dragoon fans thought they'd never again see their beloved series. It's nice to see that as old-school games are revived (like Contra and Metroid), some of the more niche titles aren't getting overlooked. Hopefully, the Xbox will mean that a bigger crowd of gamers will get to experience Panzer. After playing Orta, they'll understand why a lot of us old-timers have such fond memories of the Panzer series. £f
— Greg Sewart
Bagel Bites SB hunger for
Like snowboard lessons for ч, їтош a prO a Sony Big Screen TV,even a PlayStations2 TUM the кш: ERU 143 Bagel Bites' ПЗП online auction. | Check out berum marked boxes of Bagel Bites. |
The more you scart, the better your chances. —
с cow
www? age
D \ т" PlayStation.e
uf A^. PREVIEW
Activision
Nerve Software, Raster Productions, and Id Software
1-4 (1-12 online)
First-person shooter
65%
Spring 2003
PS2
www.activision.com
Put simply, the innovative multiplayer mode rules.
The fantastical
elements (zombies, magic) might turn off hardcore WWII nuts.
Getting fragged by the leather-clad Nazi chicks... it hurts so good.
Castle Wolfenstein
Returr's single-player game revives the same timeless thrills of the old Wolf games-filling Nazi brains with lead.
Not all of your enemies are drooling zombies, wicked magicians, and evil Nazis. Some are HOT evil Nazis.
ein Lieben! It’s been 10 years since Id M Software's Wolfenstein 3D pioneered the first- person shooter (FPS) genre. Without its bare, gray corridors; floating keys; and rabid Nazi dogs, we'd never have seen the likes of Doom, Quake, or Noah's Ark 3D. The great-grandpappy of the FPS has finally strafed back for another round in Return to Castle Wolfenstein, a modern-day update that offers a complex single-player adventure and a ground- breaking online multiplayer mode. The wafer-thin story line of the old Wolf game was
something like “shoot lots of Nazis," but Return actu-
ally sports a deep plot that might shock purists. This game centers on a fantastical Indiana Jones-meets-X- Files scenario. SS commander Heinrich Himmler is
The Xbox version of Return boasts four useful items you can carry with you and use when the situation demands. They're all new to the console version except for the wine bottle, cause B.J's always enjoyed fine vino.
Use this to emit an electromagnetic pulse that will stun certain nasty types of creatures.
B.J. hits the sauce when the goin' gets rough to regain some health. Look for them in Nazi wine cellars.
122
trying to use dark magic to resurrect Henry the Fowler, the 1oth-century warrior whom Hitler believed to be the genesis of the Aryan race. It's some pretty far-out stuff, and it leads to all sorts of weird encoun- ters with magic-wielding foes; genetic monstrosities; and creepy, undead freaks.
You may be thinking, “Wait a second! This game isn’t new, | saw it for PC last year!” But rest assured, this isn’t a quick-and-dirty port. Serious improve- ments take it a step above its PC cousin. “The Xbox is an extremely powerful console,” explains Director Brandon James. “There have been optimizations across the board.” Console players get new cinemat- ics, reworked character models, and killer Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. “Playing the game with a
Pull out this shimmer- ing shield when you're surrounded by those aforementioned EMP- fearing baddies.
B.J. borrows a page from the Castlevania canon with this relic— it obliterates evil with a blast of holy light.
z-- ПІН Champs Sports All-Star Game Sweepstakes. Visit your local Champs Sports store ar log on to champssnorts.com
EVERYONE
[еа designs and oiher forms ot intellectual property of NBA Properties. Inc. and the respective NBA member teams and may not be used, in whole or in part, without the prior (Хбох logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The ratings icon is a trademark ot the interactive IRPORATION. Ali rights reserved, NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. перет в from 9:00 am (РОТ) оп 10/18/02 unti 11:59 am (PDT) on 10/30/02, is open only to. 5. res
nd is Subject o the official rules at participating Champs Sports locations and at www.champssperts.com. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries received. Void where prohibited.
AN
PREVIEW
surround-sound system takes the audio to an entirely new level,” James divulges. “Bullets impact all around you, zombies moan and growl from behind you, and the positions of enemies are even more apparent as sound cues are picked up from all directions.”
Technical upgrades are nice, but adding new levels, monsters, and weapons is even cooler. You'll find plenty of all three here. In fact, the game now sports a new playable prologue explaining how our conso- nant-heavy hero, B.J. Blazkowicz, ends up back at the castle. You'll also find two new guns scattered throughout the game's later levels, and you'll need "ет to handle the nasty new foes lurking in the shadows.
You might expect the single-player experience to hearken back to the simple find-the-key setup of the old Wolf games, but it's actually much
more varied. “Players can take a tactical approach to every combat situ-
ation, choosing to use stealth, sniping, a frontal attack, or (most often) a combination of all of these styles," says Id Software co-owner Kevin Cloud. “Some combat situations have an element of style similar to something like Metal Gear Solid." Hardly the mindless blasting one might expect from a Wolfenstein title. Oh, and the Xbox version fea- tures another new way to play: Cooperative mode. “Hootin’ it up next to a buddy while storming your way through the single-player cam- paign is just immensely satisfying," says James. Remember the fun you and your friend had with Halo at 3 a.m.? Yep, it's time for that again,
Ls me | Back before Wolfenstein 3D | brought Nazi-blasting to the masses, a series of computer games carried the Castle Wolf-
| enstein name. Id later bought the rights and carried on the legacy.
everely vounded t
Above: Himmler and Co. have been dabbling in some shady genetic experiments in their hidden laboratory. When you encounter these grotesque monstrosities, knock them out with the EMP generator to avoid being swarmed.
but with Nazis and zombies instead of Covenant and Flood.
As solid as the main adventure is, Return to Castle Wolfenstein's Xbox Live combat just might overshadow it. It's not the kind of online fragfest you might expect. "Going into the design of multiplayer, we all really wanted to stay away from the classic deathmatch concept," explains James. "Developing an Axis vs. Allies team-based experience just made better sense." Each player chooses from one of four unique classes (see below). In each match, two teams race to complete a series of objectives while trying to impede the opposition. For example, in one level, an engineer must bomb a safe, extract the documents, and pass them off to a teammate who then runs them through a secret passage- way to safety. Team-based strategy demands a steady flow of voice contact, and the Xbox Live communicator performs admirably.
The multiplayer stages offer a wide variety of locales and objectives, and the developers have tweaked them for the Xbox. *Most of the lev- els from the PC version have been redesigned or turned into multiple maps to maximize the fun for tighter 4-6 player squads," explains James. "We've also added exclusive maps just for the Xbox version."
It's obvious that tremendous effort went into moving Return over to the Xbox. Once the wizards at Id are finally pleased with their creation, expect legions of gamers to inundate the servers with WWII mayhem. ж
—Shane Bettenhausen
È
HV
al} “A AN
He can toss out a limited num-
He’s the only member who
You'll need an engineer to These guys can toss out medkits
can wield the really heavy weapons, but he lacks other specialty skills. Adds some much-needed brawn to a team.
ber of ammo refills to his com- rades, call in fiery air strikes by tossing out flare grenades, and use most of the same guns as the soldier.
complete many of the level- specific goals in each map. He can't use many types of guns, but he can operate some turrets and reactivate machinery.
14
and revive fallen players before the timed respawn (usually, you must wait about 20 seconds to get revived). Not much of a fight- er, though.
10 stages of frantic action featuring multiple paths with unique encounters
Enemies attack from all sides in a 360 degree theater of combat.
lordo.
High-quality cut-scenes weave a compelling story of war, hope, and resurrection
Master multiple dragon powers and attacks
Here's what you could win: qi)
*1 Opened copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga signed by Smilebit
1 Sega Saturn
*1 Sega Saturn 3D Control Pad
*1 Signed Panzer Dragoon ORTA “movie-style” poster
*1 Panzer Dragoon ORTA t-shirt
(4)
e Unopened copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga for Sega Saturn *1 Signed Panzer Dragoon ORTA “movie-style” poster *1 Panzer Dragoon ORTA t-shirt
(10) *1 Panzer Dragoon ORTA t-shirt
ENTER ONLINE AT:
Animated Blood J JM 1: П DOLBY Violence ? | YS DIGITAL
Sega Is a registered.jn the U.S. Patent and асе Осе Sega, the-Sega logo, Panzer Dragoon, and) Panzer Dragoon. ORTA are either registered trademarks or trademarks. of. Sega Corporation, Original game (с) SEGAYGORPORATION| 1994, 2002. Panzer Dragoon ORTA (о) SEGA/SMILEBIT CORPORATION: 2002) Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or in other
countries and are used Under license IO Microsoft. Dolby апа (fê double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby) Laboratories. All Rights Reserved. vawWisega,com/panzer
ay
PREVIEW GALLERY
ark Angel
Sierra е December 2002 • Also On: GC— The TV series may have been cancelled, but genetically altered super-soldier Max lives on in this beat-'em-up, which features voiceovers from sci-fi pinup girl Jessica Alba herself. Max has a few spe- cial combo moves at her disposal, but nothing espe- cially spectacular, since this is mostly your typical brain- less brawler. Mash buttons, grab keycard, open fence, then mash more buttons.
jurassic Park:
Universal Interactive « March 2003 * Also On: PS2— Finally, instead of trying to survive in the post-movie Jurassic Park, you actually get to run a park on your own. Fund digs around the world for dino DNA, collect what you find, grow dinos, and place them in the park. But be careful— placing natural enemies near each other will result in expensive dino-casualties. And be pre- pared to bring out the choppers and tranquilizer guns, should a stray raptor or T-Rex decide to hunt some tasty tourists. Can you do accomplish what John Hammond couldn't? Can you control Jurassic Park?
Microsoft • Spring 2003 * Also On: None Street racing may be the theme du jour in dri- ving games, but Midtown Madness has been doing it on the PC for years, and now it's com- ing to Xbox. Race licensed cars, from the BMW Mini Cooper to the new Hummer, through the streets of Washington, DC or Paris. Play by yourself or against friends (or enemies) online through Xbox Live. And to keep the Madness from getting old, you'll be able to download new content and missions.
126
football [aerobics ts uuu. ymca.net
gymnastics [swinning|volleyball camping |sodcer
basketball softball working out baseball yoga TEENS — ШЕ И ЫА о Ыла еа
PREVIEW GALLERY
g
| This time around, the cover creatures are the leg- | endary Pokémon that Team Magma and Aqua seek | to capture. The “red” version, Ruby, features Graadon, and the “blue” version, Sapphire, fea- tures Kai’ooga. Don't get attached to these names; | they may end up changing for the U.S. version.
Ruby and Sapphire
Nintendo • 2003 * Also On: None Your friendly neighborhood Pikachu is headed back to gamedom in 2K3 when the next addiction for Poké- maniacs hits the United States in the form of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. The two games were released in Japan in November, so we've got a good peek at this next generation of Pokémon. And if you don't mind trip- ping over a few minor spoilers, take a gander at these new features:
Team Magma. М ) ^ Depending on which version you play, you'll encounter different vil- lains, each with their own plans for world domination. In Ruby, Team Magma is out to expand the amount of land on Earth and claim it for themselves by capturing Graadon, a legendary Pokémon who saved the world from a cata- strophic, continuous rain (think Noah's Ark). And in Sapphire, Team Aqua wants to flood the Earth and turn it into their own private Waterworld by catching legendary water Pokémon, Kai'ooga.
f ou-e paren Holt! ELT врбе ов?
2 Team Aqua
ТЕКСІН EOI adi 3T
| A
| You've been to Johto and trav-
| eled the beaten paths of Kanto in the previ- | New Рі
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ous games. In Ruby and Sapphire, you’ve got an entirely new world to explore. And to help you on that quest is а new map function called PokéNavi (shown above). You can zoom in and out on the map, and if you select a town, you'll even be able to see if there's a Pokémon center, store, or gym nearby.
In earlier Pokémon games, you could return to your room in your hometown and deck it out with all sorts of crap. Well, now you can even claim an area for your own "secret base." If you find holes in a desert hill, for example, you can make your Pokémon dig an entrance and create your own li'l hideout. You can trade these between cartridges so your hide- out will appear in your friends' games and vice versa.
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HERSE IEE ELT ане д
When you begin the game (in Mishiro Town with the Japanese version), before you can go get your very first monster, you'll witness the Professor being attacked by wild Pokémon. And you can't very well collect your first Pokémon without his help. To save him, you grab one of the three beasties the Professor was carrying in his now-abandoned backpack. Once you've saved him, the 'Mon you chose will be your starting Pokémon.
$-0* £20 39% RINT BO-2tty
| Nev 2 Your rival this time around is the Professor's kid. Is it a dude ora
| chick? The gender of your number-one opponent is the opposite of what you choose for yourself. So, if you choose "boy," your rival's a girl (and vice versa).
ІШІНЕ
Unfortunately, that team of level 99 Pichus and Рікасһи you totally kicked ass with in Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/ Crystal will have to stay in its cartridge Е prison. You can't trade Pokémon between the new GBA versions and the old GB/GBC games, so you've no choice but to rebuild your team from scratch.
METROID* PRIME * JAMES BOND 0077" NIGHTFIRE™ | MADDEN NFL 2003 * MEDAL OF HONOR FRONTLINE™
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PRODUCTS RANGE FROM 5 EVERYONE ro TEEN
MORE THAN 180 GAMES. WHAT A RUSH.
CONTENT RATED BY
Game trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners. € 2002 Nintendo. Games and system sold separately. www.nintendogamecube.com
4 V | draws nee
their weapor
your cutlass and grappling hooks and steel yourself for battle.
l'add To Be Continued...
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SEGA © OVERWOgRS LER RP Б >з:
AMERICA'S UNLUCKIEST COP IS HAVING ANOTHER VERY BAD DAY.
John McClane is back ... this time in an all out battle to save his daughter. Rely on the killer instincts that made McClane a legend. Use your wits - and everything else at your disposal - to blast your way through L.A.'s seedy underbelly. Take out a multitude of bad guys and save the day as the
Die Hard saga continues.
Blood Strong Language
Violence
NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
GAME FEATURES:
- New and original film characters. - Hero Mode for heightened intensity and
quickened reflexes.
- Dual weapons and an awesome arsenal including a sniper rifle, Tun thrower
and more.
- Take enemy hostages to save civilians and
neutralize threats.
http://diehardvendetta.sierra.com
VIVENDI JNIVERS
SIERRA
©2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Fox Interactive, Die Hard and their associated logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Sierra and the Sierra logo are trademarks of Sierra Entertainment, Inc. Vivendi Universal Games, and the Vivendi Universal Games logo are trademarks of Vivendi Universal Games, Inc. Game Engine © 2002 Bits Studios. TM, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. Any other trademarks, company and/or product names are the property of their respective owners.
ant gaming gifts for pals who've been ШЕ Skip ahead to the cover story,
St. Nick, Jr. Right now, it's time to— awww, yeah! —get naughty. And if you think recent games like BMX XXX or the Grand Theft Auto series are the first adults-only titles to ramp up the raunch, buckle the heck up, choirboy. Sand paintings show that as far back as ancient Egypt, primitive man was mixing pornography with Zaxxon. This arti- cle, formed by months of painstaking and throbbing research, ranks the nine (plus one) naughtiest titles. It doesn't matter how old or obscure the game is, or whether it was unlicensed or imported; if it belongs deep behind the counter at a game store for the criminally insane, you'll find it here.
Heed this one warning: Some of the things
discussed in this article may confuse and frighten younger readers or people with sheltered lives. If you are one of these, please stop reading and skip ahead to any of the reviews of games in which you splatter alien heads with a rocket launcher. Reading
this article will require some semblance of maturity and open-mindedness, so don't go calling the police about the filth that Satan sneaked into your videogame magazine.
On the other hand, please note that just *cause this article requires maturity to read doesn't mean it took maturity to write. We're not pretending that what you're holding in your hands is anything more than an imma- ture, hokey, funny, frightening look at gam- ing at its sleaziest. (And for God's sake, we hope all you're holding is this magazine.)
Each game will receive an Eroticism rating computed by expert pelvises, which describes how likely it is that playing it will take you from cold and clammy to hyperven- tilating with desire. And, though most of the actual gameplay in these naughty titles involves sexual content, the majority of the pornographic material has to be earned. That's why each game also gets a Nudity- challenge score, which describes how much work it takes before you and your joystick see some hoo-ha.
9. Bubble Bath Babes
i 55 ke @ ^ Nintendo Entertainment System d One day, a game designer was playing Tetris and BUBBLING BUNNY said, "What if | were playing this type of game, but WANTS YOU TO POP MY f atthe same time was sporting a chubby?" Thus, BUBBLE NOW! I BET б ‚| " EAN маена е Bubble Bath Babes was born. It's a lot like Tetris bukat: with a naked woman on the screen. If you do well, | А the game shows screenshots of sluts surrounded by
flowers and screaming about bubble baths. For example, one chick in a bikini shrieks, “Way to go, hotshot! Care to lather me up?" If that doesn't put you in the mood for sex and Tetris at the same time, you're either a robot or a gay robot.
Eroticism: 2 (out of 10)
Bubbling Bunny, you might have an
ЕТИУ When а badly rendered woman who clearly can't easier time getting Tefris enthusiasts speak English is trying to seduce someone with into your bathtub if you shaved off puns about soap bubbles, she's clearly fighting an some of that blue armpit hair. uphill battle, no matter how attractive she is. She
could be playfully washing your car with a group of topless cheerleaders, but when the words “Pop my bubble now! I bet сап make yours burst!” come out of her mouth, you'll probably be too busy backing away cautiously to worry about any- one's bursting bubbles. -
Nudity Challenge: 7 (out of 10)
Every two levels, the game displays a progressive-
ly more-naked picture of a woman making pro-
gressively more-insane comments about her geni-
tals and soap. Trouble is, before you start seeing
serious skin, the levels become almost impossible . to beat. In fact, getting to the point at which you see any actual nudity requires such a high level of hand-eye coordination and rapid reflexes, you'd get more out of deciphering the scrambled images on late-night Skinemax.
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 135 - egm.gamers.com
^ The 9 Naughtiest Games
8. Strip Fighter 2 ^ Ж TurboGrafx-16
As you can see, winning battles gives your fighter the honor of
If all the fighters in Street Fighter II were women, and the game sucked, you'd have Strip Fighter 2. In it, several karate women face off in some kind of pit-fight- ing tournament, where the prize is to see naked pictures of women. The warriors come from varied backgrounds and cultures but are all bound together by an ancient martial-arts technique that mostly involves showing
7. Burning Desire
A Ф Atari 2600
In Burning Desire, you play the role of a rescuer swooping in to save a woman from cannibals who've tied her to a burning pedestal. You dangle from a helicopter and drip liquid onto the fire with one of two rod- shaped thingies coming out of your pelvis. We'd like to think the rod squirting the flames is a fire hose, but because this is supposed to be an "adult" game,
What pants-free rescue expedi- tion into a fiery cannibal camp would be complete without a crudely rendered sexual position
victory. And also boobs. their panties to each other.
Eroticism: 3
We're all used to seeing half-naked females in fighting games, so nothing in Strip Fighter 2 will turn you on until you win a picture of a naked girl. But that's when things get creepy. Before the camera pans down the girl's strategically blurred body, you see a pasted-on eyelid slide over one of her eyes then disappear. We dunno if you've ever seen a girl wink without moving her face, but it looks less like flirting and more like a baby doll that's about to come to life and kill you.
Nudity Challenge: 7
You only earn nudie pictures if you beat the game on Hard. But Strip Fighter 2's control is so bad, it's tough to tell which gal you're actually moving. You often don't even know you've lost until you notice no picture of a naked woman is revealed.
E ы - Another angle, better à F m illustrating the daring
cinematography. Thank you, Japan.
In The Yakyuen Special, you select from a stable of Japanese girls
ranging from cute to beastly. After you make your selection, the girl
comes on the screen (next to a chart of her name, measurements, and ,
age) and politely greets you. Then you play rock, paper, scissors against her, and she takes off a piece of clothing each time you win.
| Simple enough, right? But here's the weird part: Each time she
loves something, the girl stars in a dancing video— but this is no
iy, stripper kind of dance. Instead, she prances around like ап
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 136 - egm.gamers.com
we should probably just be pret- that we can't show you here?
ty grossed out right now.
Eroticism: 4
Once you slowly, drip by drip, put out the fires that are cooking the woman alive, you lower yourself down to her. She will grab your previ- ously unused non-dousing rod with her mouth and hold on with her teeth as you fly away. Solve the mystery that these bad graphics have given us and you'll realize that something painful and non-erotic is happening on the screen. Plus, your character seems to have double the normal amount of reproductive organs: one is a handle and the other is a fire extinguisher. Whatever fantasies this game is trying to create, good luck getting turned on by any of them.
Nudity Challenge: 2
The actual rescue is simple, but your only reward is a blink-and-you'll- miss-it animation of a half-monster woman showing you and your "safety rope" some X-rated gratitude. Then just to show you how bright she is, this bimbo takes about three seconds to find her way back to the cooking pot and start the whole ordeal over.
adorable bouncing princess. That's fine, if she's dressed in a little ten- nis outfit, but when a woman is stripped down to her panties, some- thing is horribly wrong about her dancing like a 10-year-old in a cookie commercial. Of course, this is a game from Japan. We should just be happy that an octopus demon doesn't slither into the room and take a dump on the girl's forehead.
Eroticism: 1 The innocence never leaves these dancing girls' faces. It's like they don't actually know that they're in an adult game and think they're putting on a talent show for their grandmothers— which means that no matter how naked they get, the player is the one who ends up feeling dirty.
Nudity Challenge: 9 Each showdown lasts until someone loses five rounds. By that time, it's either game over or you're watching a nude girl hop up and down. Unfortunately, we suspect this game cheats, because winning five rounds is amazingly hard. For every short video of a prancing naked girl, the game cheats you into watching several hours of par- tially clothed dancing. The Yakyuen Special is like buying a stack of adult magazines and letting yourself enjoy them only if you've flipped a coin to “heads” 50 times in a row.
INTRODUCING THE BEST LIGHT EVER MADE
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Prices valid in U.S. only. Typographical errors are not the responsibility
of Electronics Boutique. Not all items may appear at our outlet locations. Prices may of printing, all products are be available. Some packaging, fers moy differ in Canada. Price bility are subject fo change. not the responsibility of Electronics Boutique. ©2002 Electronics Boutique.
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A The 9 Naughtiest Games
5. Gigolo “ Atari 2600
Note: For censorship reasons, we've replaced all the names of private parts in this write-up with the name of a vehicle. For exam- ple, what was once the word “penis” might now be described as "riding lawn mower." If this choice of code leads to any groin- related disasters, be sure to send us a postcard from the road after you join the retard circus.
You, the naked veteran street- walker, carefully decide which random door to burst through.
With your Gigolo game cartridge and a little imagination, you and your Atari 2600 can go on an exciting journey into the world of street prosti- tution. The object of the game is to go from door to door and “do busi- ness" with any men you find inside. When you encounter a customer, the game switches to an action sequence of you riding his dune buggy in his unfurnished apartment. Press the joystick up to shift your hover- craft to the tip of his fire truck, then press the joystick down to slide your roller skate to the base of his speedboat. For each successful maneuver, you receive one dollar, which you'll need to return to your pimp's walk-up window.
4. Choaniki fe PlayStation
It was inevitable that a Japanese game designer would follow his Japanese/English dictionary down a trail of mistranslation from “happy” to “whimsical” to “gay” and finally to “It’s raining men —hallelujah!" That's appar- ently what happened with this oddball installment in an even more oddball Japanese series. Choaniki is a cross between the classic shooter Gradius and oily men having fun with each other. You start the game as a nine- story flying man in a Speedo, fir- ing lasers out of your Viking hat. Soon you're transported to a dimen- sion of pure homoerotica. As you swim through the air with your two nude male assistants, you blast hordes of chariots filled with naked men; rocket-powered, shaft-shaped objects crawling with naked men; and giant naked men using other giant naked men as pogo sticks. And if you think that sounds awesome, maybe you oughta take the money you were about to blow on Cher tickets and import Choaniki instead.
Your naked-men helpers will fall in love with the stage boss and abandon you. No words describe the betrayal you'll feel when you're left for an insane pile of homoerotic space flesh.
Eroticism: o
Let us try to paint this oil massage of a mental picture: The first boss is a monstrously huge man wearing a metal sphere for a codpiece. As you blast it, a second phallic-shaped man comes out of his crotch and tries to jab you with his stretching arms and head. While this is all going on, humpy jazz music is mixed with the sounds of a woman panting. That other sound you're hearing is you screaming.
Nudity Challenge: o n if you're terrible at Choaniki, the game's intro features all the grinning, posing naked men you could ever want.
The only challenge of the game comes from the many random homes of people unwilling to solicit a prostitute —they'll throw you into the street and call the cops. Then it's a mad scramble to escape by ducking into houses and hoping someone in there will let you lie low while they pay you to bounce up and down on their John Deere tractor.
Eroticism: 1
Even if this wasn't the Atari 2600, and the graphics didn't look like two oatmeal robots humping, there's
still nothing that desirable about
running from house to house and
jumping on strange naked men.
Nudity Challenge: 5
You only get three lives, and you lose one every time the police arrest you. That means that if you're unlucky enough to stumble upon only uninterested cus- tomers, a lot of Gigolo sessions end without even one opportunity to sell your sweet paddleboat.
As you can see, this customer has spent so much of his money on your Big Wheel that he couldn't afford a bed.
3. Custer's Revenge
P 6 Atari 2600
Custer's Revenge is a dra- matic historical recreation of the battle of Little Big Horn, slightly rewritten to appeal to our adult fantasies. Instead of being killed by the savage, godless Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, Custer wades through a hail of arrows to get it on with a woman tied to a cactus. We know what you're saying: Finally, | can use our coun- try's bloodiest military disaster as foreplay!
Get ready for liberty, lady, because God's Great America has just dropped its pants! Yee-HAW!
Eroticism: 2
If you're wondering how to explain this game's level of intense sexual- ity to your children, the Custer's Revenge instruction manual advises, “If the kids catch you and should ask, tell them Custer and the maiden are just dancing." This advice is pointless, though: If you're the kind of parent who gets off on a pink-scarf-wearing cowboy romancing what looks like a hot dog stuck on a toothpick, you're probably playing the game far away from the safe location where the local authorities have moved your children.
Nudity Challenge: 7
Getting across the screen to score points with your pelvis is mostly a matter of luck, since, if you see an arrow coming at you, you usually can't move fast enough to dodge it. Also, cacti appear randomly and Skewer your manhood without warning. These are both formidable obstacles on your noble quest, but the real challenge must have come when Custer had to convince the Seventh Cavalry to go through with this ridiculous military operation, just so he could get some action.
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 140 - egm.gamers.com
ОТ IN MY HOUSE’, PLAYBOOK DESIGI
%
112% МВА
Апуопе сап give 110%. МВА Inside Drive 2003 is now loaded with а 25-season dynasty mode that includes player management, timely trades, intense drafts, play design and stars that improve with age. Will purple reign? Will the windy city rise again? It's your team, kid.
IEE
More basketball than basketball www.nbainsidedrive2003.com
EVERYONE i X Е ; www.xbox.com | ХВО) XOOx'
CONTENT RATED BY ESRB www.nba.com
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/ or other countries. Other products and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their. е owners. Тһе МВА and Individual МВА member team identifications used on or in this product are trademarks, copyrighted designs and other forms of intellectual property of NBA Properties, Inc. and the respective NBA member teams and may not be used, in whole or in part, without the expressed written consent of NBA Properties, Inc. ©2002 NBA Properties, Inc. All rights reserved.
А The 9 Naughtiest Games
2. Boong-Ga Boong-Ga ж M e Arcade
Developed by Koreans for Japanese arcade- goers, Boong-Ga Boong-Ga is absolute madness. You select from eight characters, like “Gangster” and “Child Molester" and then— better sit down for this—you ram a 1 plastic finger into a 3 plastic butt that pro» Everyday life in Japan: A distinguished trudes from the arcade businessman prepares to violate an unit next to the words arcade game's rear end. “HAVE A FUN!! ENJOY.” This game does more than threaten the future of the world with an army of highly trained madmen proctologists; it shames America's industrial complex. Japan and Korea have completely beaten us in the virtual-rectal- stimulation-simulation race.
Eroticism: ???
Since the entire idea behind this mess confuses us, we couldn't give it a fair Eroticism rating. So come up with your own personal score by rating the likeli- hood you'll ever say this sentence: “I’ve been at the arcade pretending to jam my finger up a gangster's buttocks all day. Boy, am I horny.” Boon-Ga Boon-Ga's corporate masc Nudity Challenge: o turd in pajamas.
There's really no nudity to earn in this
game, but a card pops out of the machine
after every match and explains your sexual behavior. And after imagin- ing the kind of people who would assault a toy ass in public, it's a safe bet that each and every card reads, "Your sex life is a big disaster of freakish criminal behavior."
. Miss World '96 Nude 4 Ф ke 4 Arcade
The object of Miss World ’96 Nude is to draw on areas of the screen and uncover a picture of a naked woman. The chal- lenge comes from the creatures who try to ram you while you're drawing. It all works kinda like the classic game Qix, only here you get to “meet hot beautiful girl," quoth the game. Depending on which girl you select, the pictures come in varying degrees of nudity. One woman may be covered in lingerie, while another looks like she was photographed by a man trying to climb up her birth canal.
Before turning (left): Note how every- thing in the world is starting to seem better. After turning (right): Aiiieeeeee!
Eroticism: -16
Almost all the women in this game look good; that's not the problem. The problem is that, at random points during gameplay, a little girl's head appears, shouts “Turning!” and transforms into Dracula. Then the nude photo you're uncovering switches into a scene of absolute horror. What was once a seductive, stretching woman is now a pile of blood- soaked screaming corpses. Growling demon heads grow smaller demon heads out of their faces. The fact that this hellish picture even- tually turns back into a hot topless girl is moot— you're still done thinking about sex for a while.
Nudity Challenge: 3
While it will probably take a few quarters and a strong stomach for demonic terror to make it far enough in this game to reveal an entirely nude picture, you at least see each woman's body in silhouette before you uncover it. So, if you have a thing for a certain body part— say, the armpit—it's pretty easy to figure out where her armpits are and draw out the area around them. But keep your quarters. If an armpit that transforms into Pinhead and then back into an armpit can arouse you, chances are, you'll be aroused by anything.
And the game that's just too naughty for EGM...
Beat 'em & Eat 'em : Atari 2600
We wanted to let you read all about Beat 'em & Eat
If you study this screenshot very closely, you might just guess the object of Beat ‘em & Eat ‘em, but you'll probably live a longer, healthier life if you just avert your eyes.
"em, the bona fide nastiest game of all time. But the truth is, if you had been directly exposed to the following text, demons would have dragged us straight to hell. So we’ve censored the more offensive bits. Read between the lines at the risk of your mortal soul.
The object of Beat ’em & Eat ’em is simple: You control two naked women who run back and forth trying to catch I You might ask why some- one would do something like that. Well, the manual says that each “could have been a famous doctor or lawyer.” The problem with that—and this is a medical fact—is that it doesn’t matter whether you ШИ or let it splatter all over the sidewalk. It’s still going to give you the same number of famous baby lawyers: none.
There’s something nonerotic about skipping past the fore- play, past the HJ and getting straight to the NNI INE. They might as well have skipped right to sleeping on the Mil spot.
Nudity Challenge: 8
As the game goes оп, the Ш falls like rain. Catching it all RG requires a miracle of perversion and reflexes. For each falling wave of future doctors you man- age to ЕШ, however, you're rewarded with an anima- tion of the women licking their lips. And thanks to the primitive graphics of the 2600, these lip-licking women look like they have full beards. Even more horrifying: Now you must deal with the realization that these women are actually men who will carry your lawyer spawn to term. 4%
Electronic Gaming Monthly - 142 - egm.gamers.com
£n
The fates of three opposing heroes are forever altered in a battle that will determine the destiny of the entire land. Uncover the 108 Stars of Destiny, create a homeland castle town, discover the secrets of the 27 True Runes, and save the world from destruction.
Mild Violence
>
| KONAMI
Suggestive Themes
le
PlayStation.e
SUIKODEN is a registered trademark of KONAMI COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT TOKYO, inc. ©1995, 2002 KONAMI COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT TOKYO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
(кое! 1 .
www.koeigames.com
= Lesion encite ment ea
Heart-pounding, cinematic-quality, real-time graphics. Feel the rush as you decimate swarming enemy masses! The visual and sound effects of these tremendous battles push Xhox" to the limit!
Fight for your life as you are surrounded by the hoards! A new and improved "Group Control Engine" puts more than 1,000 enemies in your sights at once! "Liquid" aliens change shape as they attack! Watch as these enemies of unknown origin morph before your very eyes!
Mild Language
Mild Violence À PlayStation.?
CONTENT RATED BY
Game and Software © 2002 THQ Inc. © 2002 BattleBots® Inc. All rights reserved. BattleBots and related logos, characters, names, and distinctive likenesses thereof are the exclusive Licensed Property of BattleBots Inc. and used under exclusive license. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Warthog. Warthog and its logo are trademarks of Warthog. THQ and its logo are registered trademarks of THQ Inc. All rights reserved. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.™, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo.
POWER STEERING. PRECISION HANDLING. GRIPPING, CIRCULAR
20 BattleBox" Arenas of Destruction 3 Modes of Gameplay – Tournament Mode, Arcade Mode and Multiplayer (1-4 players)
Choose From a Variety of BattleBotse Seen on the Show 3 Build Your Own BattleBot
Kiek Bat! [TEHE]
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www. battlebots.com
8
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Flectro
HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
This invaluable guide could save your sanity this holiday season. If you're charged with the task of shopping for a game-loving friend, family member, or loved one, youll need some pointers, because the game shelves are riddled with crap-filled pitfalls. Buy your pal a сору of Portal Runner, ant youll see his holiday cheer crumble into spiteful disdain. Trust us—all the stuff recommended here will foster good
will and joy. if you're too cheap to actually buy games for imolhers, you can also use this guide to help form your | ӨШІП Massive wish list, you greedy bastard.
А EGM'S HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Gamer on a Secret Mission: It's best to stay on the good side of gamer friends who own their own stealth suits and can kill you six ways using only their thumbs. Play it safe by giving these gifts.
Xbox • Ubi Soft
Review scores (out of 10): 9.0, 8.5, 9.5 Secret-agent wannabes will swoon the second they slip this spy simulator into their Xbox. Oh, the gadgets—everything from a micro-camera to a PDA. Ah, the graphics—the hyper-realistic environments pack plenty of shadows to lurk in. Ooooh, the gameplay— you can chimney-climb up walls and use enemies as human shields. Everything great about MGS2— minus the hokey plot. And its star, Max Fischer, is the kind of guy Snake would go bowling with after a mission.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell жай
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance Xbox * Konami
Scores: 9.5, 9.5, 9.5
Speaking of Señor Snake, he's rappelling onto Xbox in a deluxe redux of last November's PS2 hit MGS2. Now, you can play as Solid Snake in the main game, and Konami has added new minigames, special missions, and skateboarding (no, really).
Frontline
For the Gamer Who Kicks Ass:
Grab one of these fighting games for a friend who's full of pent-up rage. You know, the one who's doing Karate Kid crane kicks when nobody's looking.
VirtuaFightera — PS2 * Sega Scores: 10, 10, 9.5
The deepest, most fun-to-play non- weapons-based fighting game around, VF4 beats down its compe- tition with its incredible Kumite mode, which awards special items and ranks to players for beating the toughest computer opponents. This is one of the few fighting games that can provide hours of one- and two-player entertainment, making it the best bang you can buy for the fisticuffs buck.
Tekken 4
PS2 * Namco Scores: 7.0, 6.5, 7.5
Virtua Fighter 4 is the better game, but some people just gotta have their Tekken. And really, what's the harm in it? With a huge, hardcore following, Tekken 4 boasts mad combos, cool characters, impres- sive fighting arenas, and the usual smattering of Bonus modes and Sexy cinemas. Plus, its gameplay is more accessible than VF4’s, making it a safer gift for most gamers look- ing for quick, easy thrills.
Super Smash Bros. Melee GC е Nintendo Scores: 9.5, 9.5, 9.5
If the GameCube gamer in your life has lots of friends, you can't go wrong with a gift of Smash Bros. It's the most exciting, most frantic four- player fighting game around, fea- turing an orgy of Nintendo charac- ters, old and new. Where else can you see Samus Aran delivering a massive plasma blast to Pikachu? Even solo-gaming types will find lots to like here, with a ton of modes and characters to unlock.
150
Medal of Honor:
PS2, GC, Xbox * EA Games Scores: 8.0, 8.0, 9.0
With all holy hell breaking loose on Frontline's WWII battlefields, it's easy to forget that you do your fair share of covertly stick- ing it to der Fürer in this game, too. You'll don Nazi uniforms, pass off phony ID papers, and creep through German bases.
James Bond 007: ightFire
PS2, GC, Xbox * EA Games Scores: 8.0, 8.5, 9.0
Jimmy Bond's staying busy in Die Another Day, but the mac daddy of all spies still has time to chug martinis and chase tail (oh, and save the world) in NightFire. It's a mission so secret, you won't see it in any theater, but it's still 100 percent 007 fun.
Let the stocking icon be your guide to these gift supple- ments for extraworthy pals....
If you give 'em Splinter Cell, throw in Shadow Warriors (530) — Tom Clancy, the maestro of gung- ho military thrillers, takes you inside the Special Forces in this hardcover book.
If you give 'em
Tekken 4, throw in Bumfights DVD ($20, www.bumfights.com) Videogame brawling is cool and all, but noth-
ing compares to the
stark horror of watching two homeless dudes beating each other to a pulp over a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. A holiday treasure.
METAL GEAR SOLID?
UBSTANCE
350+ VR MISSIONS 150+ ALTERNATIVE MISSIONS 5 SNAKE TALES EUROPEAN EXTREME MODE CASTING THEATER BOSS SURVIVAL MODE HIDDEN PLAYABLE CHARACTERS ENTIRE SONS OF LIBERTY™ GAME! MERYL RETURNS!
Blood and Gore
Partial Nudity Violence
CONTENT RATED BY ESRB
METAL GEAR®, METAL GEAR SOLID®, SONS OF LIBERTY™ and SUBSTANCE™ are either registered trademarks or trademarks of KONAMI COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT JAPAN, INC. © 1987 2002 KONAMI COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT JAPAN. KONAMIG is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 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 used under license from Microsoft. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
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#EGM’S HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Gamer Who's Getting Some:
So you've got a significant other and are getting lucky? Lucky you. But we figure couples who stay together should play together, and these are the
For the Gamer Low on HP:
These
Animal Crossing GC * Nintendo Scores: 9.0, 9.0, 9.5 Nintendo's quirky town simulator offers three things that make females go gaga: It's cute, it's ridiculously cute, and its horrendously, stupidly cute. Oh, and your gal's nesting instincts will hit overdrive as she gathers stuff for her abode. Guys will love the hidden NES games (Donkey Kong, Punch-Out!!, and more), as well as the abil- ity to tour their gal's town. Just don't deforest her neighborhood and declare yourself Dictator for Life—unless you like sleeping on the couch.
Kingdom Hearts PS2 * Square EA Scores: 8.5, 8.5, 8.5
Chicks dig Disney. And Kingdom Hearts is so full of Uncle Walt’s characters—from Tinkerbell to Monstro—that if this game doesn’t make a Dumbo-bellyflop splash with your girlfriend, she must be goofy. Plus, guys can be a Herc-style hero every time they beat a boss for their gal.
that'll curl your special friend's fingers—and toes.
will enrich the life of anyone craving epic adventures
packed with saucy sorceresses, roving ragamuffins, and long Summon spells.
Wild Arms 3 PS2 * Sony CEA Score: 8.0
s SN E EN
ін a This uniquely stylish Wild West quest breathes some much-needed variety into the swords ’n’ sorcery obsessed genre. Solid gameplay; attractive, cartoony visuals; and a nontraditional plot help to set this one apart from the norm. Imagine if Final Fantasy crossed over into The Wild Bunch and you'll get the idea. Don't worry if they've never played the first two WA games—this one stands squarely on its own.
Morrowind Xbox * Bethesda Scores: 7.0, 7.5, 8.5
Sick of that guy who's always hang- ing around with nothing to do? Give him this game and you'll be rid of him for at least 100 hours. The Elder Scrolls Ill: Morrowind is so open-ended and nonlinear that gamers can literally play it for months. It plays like a full Dungeons & Dragons campaign brought to life in gorgeous 3D, minus the bagful of dice and the face full of acne.
GC • Activision Scores: 7.5, 8.0, 8.5
It's a little bit Magic: the Gathering, a heaping spoonful of Final Fantasy, and a dash of Pokémon, all mixed up and poured into GameCube's first (and, to date, very best) RPG. As a sprightly young lass, you must travel the world in search of magical cards adorned with summonable critters. The speedy, action-packed battles should appeal to gamers who find most role-playing warfare a bit too slow.
152
€
Super Bust-A-Move 2 PS2, GC * Ubi Soft Scores: Not yet reviewed
Easing your girl into gaming? A SOCOM bloodbath will only scare her away. You need a gentler experience, and the PS2 puzzler Bust-A-Move 2 (called Bust-A- Move 3000 on the 'Cube) is just the thing. This game will lure her in and never let go, as long as you're not a jerk in multiplayer.
Super Monkey Ball 2 GC • Sega Scores: 7.5, 8.5, 9.0
See monkey run. See monkey fall. See monkey flail around in his little ball. It's a fun formula for his-and-hers gaming, and this sequel perfects the monkey madness with nuttier stages and minigames. It also encourages leaning in your seat, so couples will likely get nice and close.
If you give 'em Animal
Crossing, throw in
Nintendo's e-Reader
and Animal Crossing
e-Cards ($40 for the
e-Reader; cards are $3 per pack) Hook this wacky gizmo to your Game Boy Advance, then link it up to your GameCube and swipe these cards that unlock new stuff in
Animal Crossing. Convoluted fun for the Animal nut.
If you give 'em Morrowind, throw in George R.R. Ma
Sang of Ice and Fire
series (S@ per paper-
back book)— Nothing
works up an RPG fan
like a good fantasy
novel, and Martin's
dark, brutal /се and Fire
series is the hottest
thing in the genre. It all
begins with A Game of Thrones and continues through two follow-ups. The fourth book hits in April 2003.
усна
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E spell effects Hordes of D&D® creatures
Шым, ZE б Ж
Violence Use of Alcohol
SOFTWARE
&awecusee. XBOX
Baldur's Gate: Dark Aliance ©2002 Interplay Entertainment Corp. Al rights reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dark Alliance, Forgotten Realms, the Forgotten Realms logo, D&D, the Dungeons & Dragons logo, and the Wizards of the Coasts logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast inc., a subsidiary ої Hasbro, Inc., and are used by Interplay under license from Infogrames Interactive, Inc. Black Isle Studios, the Black Isle Studios logo and the interplay logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Snowblind Studios and the Snowblind Studios logo are trademarks of Snowblind Studios. High Voltage Software and the High Voltage Software logo are trademarks of High Voltage Software, Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association, All rights reserved. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, © and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Screen shots are from the Xbox"™ video game system.
e
ZEGM'S HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
M
For the NC-17-Rated Gamer: When cutesy characters and bouncy music just ain't cuttin' it anymore, get the grown-up gamer on your list some- thing a bit more adult, like these
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City PS2 • Rockstar • Scores: 10, 10, 10 4 If you have a grown-up pal who hasn't gotten Vice City yet, give 'em a good slap, then give 'em this living, breathing metropolis overflowing with bad drivers, coke addicts, violent cops, and ‘80s glitz. The open-ended gameplay means just about anything goes, and we mean anything— from offing an unwanted spouse for some rich businessman to blowing up buildings to fix the real-estate market. The fantastic '8os tunes and deep, Scarface-inspired story line make Vice City this holiday’s hottest adults-only gift.
BMX XXX PS2, GC, Xbox * Acclaim
Scores: Tune in next month
Acclaim spices up the action- sports genre by adding dick jokes and boobs. Think of this as Dave Mirra BMX with naughty bits that make Vice City seem like Disney World. The hard part will actually be finding the game this holiday season. Hint: Don't look in Wal-Mart or Toys R Us.
For the G-Rated Gamer:
Eternal Darkness GC • Nintendo Scores: 9.0, 8.0, 7.5
Eternal Darkness proves that survival-horror doesn't need cheap scares to supply a solid freak-out. And if you're looking for a gift that can drive its recipi- ent insane, you've come to the right place. A creepy story line, tons of playable characters, and weird visual tricks abound.
Resident Evil Ø GC * Capcom Scores: 8.0, 8.0, 9.0
What holiday would be complete without flesh-eating guests? (Well, besides the in-laws.) In this Evil prequel, players find out just what went down before Chris and Jill discovered the mansion in Raccoon City. Plus, an innovative dual-character sys- tem fleshes out the gameplay.
The heroes of these
Super Mario Sunshine GC е Nintendo =
Scores: 9.5, 9.5, 9.5
Those bright, colorful graphics; those simple but wonderful controls; that funny accent— only evil, bad men like Saddam Hussein or Hitler could not love Mario. In Sunshine, a mysterious person posing as the famous plumber turns a tropical paradise into a cesspool, and it's up to Nintendo's main man to clear his name (and to clean up the island). The perfect gift for any youngster— just make sure he/she doesn't already own it.
prove there's more to gaming than blast- ing off zombie heads or running over bystanders in a stolen Ferrari.
Sly Cooper PS2 ° Sony CEA Scores: 9.0, 8.5, 7.5
Sly Cooper may technically be a criminal, but hey—cut him some slack, Jack. He's stealing back something that's rightfully his: his family’s book of thieving secrets (aka the Thievius Raccoonus). In this old school-style platformer, Sly hops ’n’ bops past booby traps set by the world's most nefarious vil- lains. Cartoon-like graphics illus- trate the action nicely; it's one of the neatest looking games around.
Blinx the Time Sweeper Xbox * Microsoft Scores: 8.0, 7.5, 5.5
What happens when you arm cats with vacuum cleaners? You get Blinx, a feline janitor who can con- trol the flow of time by collecting time crystals. Use VCR-style controls like pause, rewind, fast-forward, slow-mo, or record to wipe out ene- mies across 30-plus levels in this simple-but-addictive action-puzzler. It's a cool little game with a great concept; just don't expect an epic, Mario-style adventure.
194
If you give 'em GTA:
Vice City, throw in
Vice City soundtrack
albums ($12 each,
$50 for the box
set)—Each of the
game's seven music radio sta- tions has its own soundtrack CD, courtesy of Epic Records. Buy
'em separately based on the music your giftee likes, or buy 'em all in a box set.
If you give "ет Super
Mario Sunshine,
throw in
Voice-activated
Talking Mario Phone
($85 from
alifunkystuff.com)
Polyconcept USA pro-
duces this animatronic desk phone in the shape of Nintendo's loveable plumber. He talks! He moves! He'll frighten small children!
SPOOKY TALES of TERROR THAT WILLMAKE YOU SHIVER!
"ROUX OF
4
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І
WWW.SEGA.COM/HOTD3
THE RULES REMAIN ' "0% THE SAME: ©
20 gET'EM “Оо IN YOUR SIGHTS.
eios HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Cyber-Ballers:
For players who're feeling tough but can't get busy and dirtied up in the rough, we've got the sports games they need to get physical without the physical.
NBA 2K3
Scores:
sions)
Madden NFL 2003
PS2, GC, Xbox • EA Sports
Scores: 9.0, 9.5, 9.5
The king of pigskin takes NFL 2K3’s threat seri- ously and one-ups the competition with a combi. nation of great graphics, superb control, and some of the deepest play mechanics ever seen in a sports game. If you're a PS2 owner, the best part about giving Madden to another PS2 fan is you'll have a guaranteed partner to pummel online. Or owners of any version can gather up three pals and make playing together on one sys- tem a new pre-Monday Night Football tradition.
PS2, GC, Xbox е Sega Sports 8.5, 9.0, 9.5
Basketball lovers never had it this good, what with 2K3's blend of up-tempo gameplay and Miller Time dunks. The fluid player animations don't hurt, either. Online play (available only in the PS2 and Xbox ver-
makes the question “Who da man?" a nationwide debate.
Hot Shots Golf 3
d
PS2 * Sony CEA Scores: 8.5, 9.5, 9.
For the Gamer Who Smokes the Half Pipe:
Extreme sports sure look cool, but grievous bodily harm is always only one fall away, and the recovery time's a bitch. Keep it on the safe side— give these games instead.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 PS2, GC, Xbox, GBA * Activision Scores: 9.0, 9.0, 10 =
Many assume that skateboarding fans are sooo over Tony Hawk. Guess what: They're not, and this year’s model— the best ever—will exceed the expec- tations of jaded skeptics. Huge levels, fiendishly tough goals, and unlockable pro challenges go hand in hand with a couple of vital new moves to make the game both challenging for experts and accessible to newbies. A killer sound track—AC/DC, System of a Down, etc.— rounds out the package.
Aggressive Inline Р52, GC, Xbox, GBA е Acclaim Scores: 8.5, 8.0, 8.5
Inline skaters will love shredding through seven well-crafted levels (plus bonus areas) that offer ramps, rails, and half-pipes up the wazoo, while creative challenges keep it interesting. This ain't no Tony Hawk rip-off, either! Inline-specific tricks and a cool experience system give this game a feel all its own. Some of THPS4’s innovative features (like a Bail button) actually showed up in Aggressive Inline first!
Jet X20 PS2 * Sony CEA Score: 8.5
Grinding rails and tricking down snow-covered mountains is 50000 1997. Change things up a bit with Jet X20 (or, as we like to call it, SSX: Tricky on Water). The graphics are pretty, the game is plenty fast, and the tricks are sick. Plus, you can unlock slew of sassy characters and souped-up jet skis. Blast ahead to our reviews section if you want the full scoop on Sony's wet-’n’-wild new kid on the block.
156
Hot Shots Golf 3's wacky charac- ters may lure players in, but it's the gameplay that makes them stay. Ultrarealistic ball-flight physics, lavishly crafted courses, and supertight controls make it the game to play for that special someone looking to swing a nine-iron on foul-weather days.
World Series Baseball Xbox * Sega Sports Scores: 8.5, 9.0, 9.0
Baseball may be tedious to watch, but baseball games are a different matter, a theory proven by WSB. What's WSB's secret? Its fast (and intelligent) fielder response, its excellent pitcher/batter interface, and its dead-on ambiance of a day at the ol’ ballpark.
B-B-B-BONUS
If you give "ет Hot Shots Golf 3, throw in
Tim Conway’s timeless
comedic take on golfing
is the perfect compan-
ion for Hot Shots’
freaky fairway action. A guy pre- tending to be really short playing golf...genius!
If you give 'em Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, throw in
This rad documen- tary chronicles the evolution of skate- boarding, from its early days in the SoCal underground right up until Tony Hawk made it all mainstream. Hear it all from the guys who made history.
DOGTOWN `
шө Z-BOYS
PREY ON THE DEAD... қ OR THE DE WILL PREY ON YOU.
Fight zombies, vampires and ghouls on your own as one of 4 unique Hunters, or battle cooperatively with up to 4 players on a single screen.
Attack 20 types of creatures in swarms of up to 30 at once using 20 melee, ranged and spell weapons — from swords to axes and flamethrowers.
Slay in brutal single- and multi-player action through 23 huge environments, including a prison, gothic church, cemetery and torture chamber.
УК . THE RECKONING
LET THE HUNT BEGIN ON NINTENDO GAMECUBE" DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
WWW. INTERPLAY.COM/HUNTER
ж
RINTENDO Xeox GAMECUBE.
‘SOFTWARE
Blood and Gore / >)
Violence
‘CONTENT RATED BY
ESRB Hunter: The Reckoning © 2002 Interplay Entertainment Corp. All rights reserved. AtlasTech Game Engine trademark 2000 High Voltage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Developed for Interplay Entertainment Corp. by High Voltage Software, Inc., under license from White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Hunter The Reckoning is a registered trademark of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Interplay, the Interplay logo, Digital Mayhem, and the Digital Mayhem logo are trademarks
of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, ®, and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other copyrights and trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Li HE HOLIDAY BUYER’S GUIDE
For the Blockbusting Gamer:
Gamers looking to live out silver-screen fantasies after the lights go up (and they unstick their feet from the theater floor) will love these games that bring the
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers PS2, GC, Xbox е EA Games зет Scores: 8.0, 8.0, 8.5
Peter Jackson
the royal treatment in this challenging slash-'em- up that stars Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. The game's frenzied action should appeal to both mainstream gamers looking to kick some ass and Renaissance Faire revelers buzzin' on mead. As a cool added bonus, EA stuffed a ton of special
features onto with the movi
mer's biggest
have you reac
movie's stars,
behind-the-scenes info on the game's creation.
Spider-Man PS2, GC, Xbox е Activision Scores: 6.5, 6.5, 6.0
Activision's take on last sum-
miss web-slinging thrills, even if navigating the indoor levels will
Dramamine. Web-heads will dig the slick graphics, voices by the
by villains from the comic book.
home.
's phenomenal film series gets
the game disc, including interviews е actors, production art, and
9% Wo. 2 hit offers can't- hing for the
and appearances
9 . . e For the Gamer Who’s a Robot in Disguise: They’re normal by day. But at night, they shed their birthday suits and boogie down to the sounds of Cybertron. These
MechAssault Xbox • Microsoft Scores: 8.5, 8.0, 9.0
si SS
CE
a
Some gamers want a detailed mech game with tons of customization and upgrade options. Some gamers just want to blow crap up. For the latter crowd, there’s MechAssault. Now peo- ple can experience the thrill of piloting 40-foot-tall walking tanks without hav- ing to worry about all the little details (just pick a pre-packaged mech and move out) or waiting till the 31st cen- tury. Also perfect for the Xbox Live player who craves online destruction.
Robotech: Battlecry
will flip their switch. Steel Battalion
PS2, GC, Xbox е TDK Mediactive Xbox ° Capcom аар: Scores: 8.0, 9.5, 8.0
Scores: 8.5, 8.0, 7.5
Transform seamlessly from jet fighter to land warrior and let those missiles fly in this slick videogame rendition of one of TV's most beloved cartoon series. A side story to the original plot, Battlecry combines harrowing twitch-action combat with the narra- tive fluff of a space opera. Hardcore fans might even deserve the special Limited Edition package that includes a soundtrack, t-shirt, and other goodies.
Quite possibly the most complex mech simulator ever made, Battalion is a no-holds-barred excursion into the world of robot fetishism. Featuring a 40-button controller and audio-visuals mod- eled after real-life war footage, this game is slow, detailed, and awe- some. But make sure you really love (not like—love) whomever you'd be giving this to, 'cause all this realism comes at a steep price: $200.
158
Harry Potter: CoS PS2, GC, Xbox е EA Games Scores: 8.5, 7.0, 6.5
The überwizard's next-gen debut has arrived, and it's a great mix of Zelda-style gameplay and author J.K. Rowling's magic world. As a second-year student, you explore the depths of Hogwarts, play Quidditch, and ditch class to investigate sounds coming from the girls' bathroom.
Rocky PS2, Xbox е Ubi Soft Scores: 7.5, 7.0, 6.5
Much like Rocky himself, this game came from behind to win the hearts of our Review Crew. It's a stunning example of the power of deep gameplay and the mere presence of Mr. T. It's also one of the best boxing games in years, and it's packed with refer- ences to the classic flicks.
If you give 'em
The Lord of the
Rings: The Two
Towers, throw in
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Platinum Series Extended Edition ($40) Even if they were duped into buying the non-extended DVD released over the summer, your pals will still want this four-disc behemoth. It's bursting with deleted scenes, making-of clips, and other Hobbity goodies.
If you give 'em Robotech: Battlecry, throw in
Robotech Battlecry action figures (550) —AIl five of the game's Veritech fighters are featured in this set of Toynami's superposeable figures.
‘© 2002 THQ Inc. © Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved. Nickelodeon, SpongeBob SquarePants and all related titles, logos and characters are. fae of Viacom. International Inc, pysauarep ANES,
b Create by Sepen Hilenbura, Ec published by THO по THO and ie THA од ав radars anor erg айепаксі THO ГЕ. A ighis reserved, ™, @, and he Nintendo ч GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. PlayStation“ and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Another thought Ful, intelligent conversatio From the : ew SpongeBob videogame.
NE FLYING DUTCHMAN
EVERYONE E HH n &лмєсиве. ^0 wwwinickcom® ESRB
eios HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Gamer Who Reaches Out and Touches People: If the gamer on your list is one of those tech-savvy types who's merged their console with the information super- highway, grab 'em one of these
PS2 • Sony CEA Scores: 9.5, 9.0, 9.5
Phantasy Star Online Ep I & Il * GC ° Sega Scores: 10, 9.0, 9.0
This package includes the origi- nal Dreamcast versions plus an all-new episode that features an entirely new game to explore. And three new character classes inject some funky-fresh style into the proceedings. Remember that it costs nine bucks a month to play online, though.
For the Gamer Who Waxes Nostalgic:
“Back in my day, we had parallax scrolling and we liked it!” Sound like a gamer
The soothing aroma of pine will be overpowered by the stank of napalm come Christmas morning. Sony's killer app for the PS2 Network Adapter plunges players into the fray with a team of real- life comrades, either as the heroic Navy SEALs or the dastardly terrorists. The online play gets a serious boost from the voice headset that's packed with the game. You stay in contact with your teammates with real-time chat—as long as you watch their backs and keep 'em alive.
Ghost Recon Xbox * Ubi Soft Scores: 8.0, 8.0, 7.5
This game takes the Rainbow Six concept of elite tactical ops into the great outdoors, as online allies face off against opposing teams across deserts, plains; forests, and bombed-out cities. It's tense and addictive —the per- fect way to blow off steam after a long day of boring reality.
you're trying to shop for? Then pick up these
for veteran players.
to further their quest for world domination.
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs F^ %
лшы»
Unreal Championship Xbox * Infogrames Scores: 8.0, 8.5, 9.0
With its mix of complex levels, cool weapons, and bizarre char- acters, this white-knuckle shoot- er offers the freakin’-best frag- gin' on Xbox Live. The really rad part: Opponents' victory taunts and whimpers of defeat come through loud and clear on the Xbox Communicator headset.
If you give "ет SOCOM, throw in Richard Marcinko Navy SEAL figure (540) — Manufacturer Blue Box Toys offers a full line
of hyper-authentic SEAL fig-
ures (never call them dolls!),
but you can't go wrong with
the figures based on Dick Marcinko, a legendary real-
life SEAL and true man's
Metroid Prime GC • Nintendo Scores: 10, 10, 10
Contra: Shattered Soldier PS2 * Konami Scores: 9.0, 9.0, 8.0
Sonic Mega Collection GC * Sega ] Scores: 7.5, 8.0, 6.0
3
(9) n Mes pi y
man who was keeping democracy safe while you were busy saving the princess in your damn Nintendo tapes.
Remember those last two PlayStation Contra games that came out a few years ago? They
Ask any old Nintendo fan about Metroid, and they'll tell you the sci- fi action series hasn't had a bad
Now, when you feel the need for Sonic speed, you can leave your ancient Genesis system up in the
If you give 'em Sonic Mega Collection, throw in Activision Anthology
(PS2, $30) —Relive the
glory days of blips, bleeps,
and two blocky images onscreen at once in this compilation of 40 classic
Atari 2600 games, com-
plete with hit ’8os tunes for |, background noize. zs
sucked. Well, put those out of your mind because with this new Contra, Konami returns to what made the series so good —blasting aliens from a side-scrolling perspective with a wide array of artillery. Like any good old-school blaster, this one is thumb-blisteringly difficult — just the way old-timers like it.
game yet, then probably launch into a half-hour-long story about their favorite Super Metroid memories. Shut them up by giving them Prime, the GameCube update that retains all the great classic gameplay they were so crazy about years ago, with the look and feel possible only on a modern system.
attic. Sonic Mega Collection's got 12 games, enough to satisfy any clas- Sic gamer's hunger for blast pro- cessing. Almost all of them show Sega's blazing blue hero in tip-top form; just ignore the few stinkeroo titles. Plus, the disc is loaded with extras like comic book art and movies of Sonic's past.
160
TAR WARS JEDI OUTCAST”
Jedi. Outcast. Rebel. Mercenary. You have one lightsaber and eight Jedi Force powers, including Jedi Mind Tricks, Force Lightening and Force Ср... With a devastating arsenal of weapons like disruptor rifles, thermal detonators, trip mines and a Wookiee bowcaster you must battle a hoard of new enemies. Fight in single mode or go lightsaber against lightsaber in split-screen multiplayer Jedi arena — or die trying. Learn more at jedioutcast.com
pum
ен
ae NINTENDO d GAMECUBE.
LU BE HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Gamer Who Goes Kicky Fast:
Speed limits holdin' them down? That AMC Gremlin in the garage crampin' their style? Sounds like you're shop-
ping for a gamer who can't drive 55. Get 'em one of these
For the Gamer Not Worth Full Price:
Why buy a pricey gift for your third cousin twice removed when you could get him instead? Happy holidays, cheapskate.
these
The Italian Job PS1 * Rockstar Score: 8.5
A $10 game based on an obscure 1969 Michael Caine movie sounds like just the thing to prop under that wobbly end-table in your living room, but The Italian Job is a sur- prisingly fun and polished Driver clone that would still be worth buy- ing at full price. The extremely var- ied levels offer plenty of cool sce- narios, including the famous rooftop-hopping car chase in a Mini Cooper from the flick.
Project Gotham Racing Xbox * Microsoft Scores: 8.0, 9.0, 8.5
Fast and cheap is a winning combi- nation in our book, and this Xbox launch title—recently relegated to Microsoft's new budget line—goes from zero to 60 in under 30 smack- ers. It's also a good-looking racer that rewards stylish drivers with special Kudos points they can use to unlock cars and tracks. The envi- ronments tend to be kind of barren, but the focus here is more on the cars than on the scenery.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 PS2, GC, Xbox * EA Games
Scores: 9.5, 9.0, 9.0 (PS2 version) Know someone who's dreamed of tearin' up the streets in a car that's worth more than their house? Give the next best thing: Hot Pursuit 2. It truly lives up to its name by delivering an absurd feeling of speed, while its Hot Pursuit mode lets players rev high as either speeding crooks in a getaway car or the diligent coppers trying to catch 'em. Jumping into a high-speed cop car and ramming your buddies off the road or laying spike strips is oh-so-satisfying.
Burnout 2 PS2 • Acclaim Scores: 8.5, 8.5, 8.0
If running from the law isn't their thing, how about streaking down the highway into oncoming traf- fic? Burnout 2 is the perfect game for those precision drivers who like to thread the needle at high speeds. Plus, the crashes look simply fantastic. It's a total adrenaline rush.
to feed their every speed need.
NASCAR Thunder 'o3 PS2, GC, Xbox е EA Sports Scores: 9.0, 9.0, 9.0
Sega GT 2002 Xbox * Sega Scores: 8.0, 8.5, 8.5
192
зїн
NASCAR ain't just a redneck thing anymore, so fans don't need to hide their love for the sport or for this incredible sim- ulator. Race door-handle to door-handle with the likes of Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin on every track on the circuit (plus a few fantasy courses).
Gamers who pine for Gran Turismo 4 will find plenty to love in Sega GT 2002. Buy and sell cars, upgrade 'em, or just take photos to hang in a virtual garage (seriously). All the game needs is virtual beer for gamers to knock back while working on their dream hot rods.
If you give 'em Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, throw in
Cobra ESD6060 Radar
Detector ($65) —We reckon hard-revvin' gamers have a
tough time staying under
55 in the real world, so
help encourage them to drive "safely" with this gizmo. It detects several bands of the fuzz's speed-
Red Faction PlayStation 2 ТНО Scores: 8.5, 9.0, 8.5
freak-busting radars and lasers. After all, just having this thing in the car will remind leadfoot drivers to obey speed laws, right? Just nod your head and agree.
Now that the original Red Faction is
a greatest hits game—and thus sells for a mere $20— blowing stuff up has never been so affordable. Gamer pals who missed this futuris- tic first-person shooter when it first hit will dig its sci-fi story and explo- sive gameplay: Nearly every bit of the environment can be blasted to tiny bits. Plus, it's a cheap way to get up to speed for the recently released sequel.
162
If you give 'em The Italian
Job, throw in
The Italian Job on VHS ($10 at www.amazon.com)
This heist flick is the perfect movie to get gamers into the offensive-driving mood. Or, if f you're really cheap, just toss
a pine-tree air freshener into the stocking.
AGAMER'S PARADISE
uM. — 2
PlayStation. «р PlayStation.Q NINTENDO
©2002 Hollywood Management Company
LC BME HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Gamer on the Go: Gamers facing a long ride to work or school every morning need thrills that fit within the snug confines of their pockets. Give “ет these
to help keep their commutes from being a drag.
Castlevania: Harmony of
Dissonance
GBA * Konami ax Scores: 10, 9.5, 9.5
Gamers can spend countless hours exploring every chamber and tower of Drac’s castle (twice!) and be totally enthralled the whole time. And when you see them trying to uncover that last 0.1 percent of the castle map, you'll know that Castlevania has gotten into their bloodstream. The graphics, gameplay, and supercool (yet easy) bosses come together to create one of the best experiences оп the GBA, ажа)
Super Mario World GBA * Nintendo Scores: 9.0, 9.0, 9.0
When a title is listed 10th on EGM's Top 100 Games of All Time (issue #150), you know it's something every gamer has gotta play. It's Mario, it's got 96 levels, and— best of all— it's now portable. The cart even packs the four-player Mario Bros. as a bonus game.
For the Gamer Who Deserves a Lump of Coal:
SBT” لا“ [ _] 558 costes " @
Zelda: Link to the Past GBA * Nintendo Scores: 9.5, 9.5, 9.5
In this portable version of the Super NES Zelda: A Link to the Past, players journey back to Hyrule and experience the pure old-school glory of exploring labyrinths and skipping through the Lost Woods. It delivers an all-new four-player battle/co-op game, as well.
Metroid Fusion GBA • Nintendo Scores: 9.0, 9.0, 9.5
This sequel to the hallowed Super Nintendo classic Super Metroid packs so much morph- balling, space-jumping, and wave-beaming into a handheld, it's flabbergasting. It's also the prime side-gift for Metroid Prime on the GC— link both games up for cool bonuses.
You want to kick his ass, but he’s got a restraining order against you. Do the
next best thing: Send hima than a gift like this:
. Nothing says, “I hate you” more
Mortal Kombat Advance GBA * Midway * Scores: 0.5, 0, 1.5 Imagine the E
watching a deserving recipient try- precem cd im m ing to play this turd of a fighting game: “Hey, | think this cartridge that you gave me is defective. Nothing seems to work properly. Sometimes, the spe- cial moves will pass right through the enemies. The amount of damage you do is erratic and inconsistent. The graphics are glitchy and missing ani- mations.... Do you still have the receipt?” Then after rubbing your hands together in sadistic glee, enjoy watching as your “friend” waits ina long, postholiday line to exchange this sucker for a new copy, only to realize that it wasn't a defective cart—that's just how bad this game is.
164
If you give 'em any GBA game, throw in GameGizmo GBA TV Tuner ($67
at www.gamegizmo.com)
This gadget brings network TV
right to your GBA's LCD screen.
It's a great way to keep up with
the televised commentary at a ballgame while playing
Baseball Advance during com-
mercial breaks.
If you give 'em Mortal Kombat Advance, throw in
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation,
the novelization (56 at www.amazon.com) Now that
you've stabbed a buddy in the
back by putting the immensely
crappy MK Advance under his
tree, twist that dagger by slip-
ping this book adaptation of the second MK film into his stocking.
A likely excerpt: "Sonya kicked Scorpion in the head. Yada, yada, yada. Scorpion punched Sonya in the neck. Blah, blah, blah. Oh yeah — MORTAL KOMBAT!!!”
тд САМЕ SHOW
THE ВАрДЅ ЕЕ THE BED-WETTERS,
Whacked! — Game Show A wild, multi-player, free-for-all combat game. Players must sab > one anothe unique VIOLENCE characters plus one sick and twisted host in 13 di ents 30+ w and power-ups.
Whacked! — Game Show VIOLENCE (Now online)
Mature Sexual Themes Violence Strong Language
JEGM'S HOLIDAY BUYER'S GUIDE
For the Gadget Gamer There's more to life than games. No, really! Here's a roundup of alternate gifts you should consider for the gamer who has damn near everything we recommended in the last dozen pages. Some of this stuff is pricey. Some of it's wacky. And some of it you may want on your wish list, so we included tips on how to let your loved ones know what you want to see under the tree this year. — Darren Gladstone
Samsung SPH-As5oo cell phone $300 with Sprint PCS service plan
Compact and stylish, this is one of the first U.S. phones to play games that aren't crap. Sprint has partnered with Sega (for a baby version of Super Monkey Ball), THQ (MotoGP), and others, so you'll have no shortage of games to download. Plus, you can grab crazy ringtones, odd pictures, and screen- Savers, or just go nuts and actually call somebody. Convince loved ones to get this for you by asking: “Don’t you want to be able to get a hold of me whenever you want?"
Archos Multimedia Jukebox * $400 Got a mountain of MP3s on your computer and— ahem—a couple of videos as well? That's where this 20-gigabyte monster comes in. It can play all the music you can throw at it, while the tiny LCD screen plays your videos. You can also plug this into your home theater for a big-league effect. Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: "Think of all the money l'Il be saving on CDs." (Disclaimer: Distributing digital audio files over the Internet is illegal...wink, wink.)
Tob Төлей Med Sees
Sony CLIE PEG-T665C PDA Toshiba e330 PDA $400 $450
Here's a pair of new personal-data assistants that are colorful, sexy, and a bunch of other adjectives you wouldn't normally associate with PDAs. Sure, you can stash digits and important dates, but both these suckers are also built for playing games. Sony sells an optional game controller ($40) that turns the Palm OS-powered CLIE into a Game Boy from the year 2099. Toshiba's hand- held is a turbo-charged multimedia machine that uses the mightier Pocket PC operating system, letting it play fancier games and emulate ye olde hits. Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: "This will make sure
| don't forget any anniversaries or birthdays.”
ULTRACADE е Around $3,500
This full-size home arcade unit may cost as much as a '94 Honda Civic, but it's absolutely the best gift you could ever give a gamer (or receive yourself, natch). San Jose, CA-based HyperWare's ULTRACADE comes loaded with 86 classic arcade games— everything from Mr. Do! to Berzerk and just about any Capcom coin-op that was in arcades before '92 (including Street Fighter II and its many variations). You can buy either an ULTRACADE kit ($2,500) to install in your own arcade cabinet or order the whole thing pre-assembled (about $1,000 more). You can also order separate game packs filled with beloved hits from the good ol" days. Call 408-895-0323 to find a local ULTRACADE dealer or check out www.ultracade.com. Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: “| won't waste my life and all my quarters at the teen center anymore."
166
Sharp Aquos Liquid Crystal Television * $3,800
HDTV is the wave of the future. (Need proof? See our super-TV buyer's guide in EGM #160.) But the big sets can really cramp the style of gamers stuck in dorm rooms or tiny bedrooms. Fortunately, this slim and
sweet-looking 22-inch widescreen HD monitor
doesn't need much room at all. The only real trick here is finding a rich relative to front the money for it. Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: "All my other friends at the country club have one."
vaa in
SongPro ° $100
If the Archos Jukebox is too rich for your blood, check out this alternative gift for the Game Boy-owning music kook on your list. Plug it into a Game Boy Color or GBA to turn the portables into full-fledged MP3 players. (It also supports WMA tunes and the propri- etary SongPro Audio format, which displays album art, lyrics, and other scrolling visuals on the Game Boy screen.) In addition to headphones, the SongPro comes with a USB cable and software that lets you jack the thing into your PC and download music from the Net (did you read our disclaimer for the Archos Jukebox?). You also get a 32MB SD card that you can upgrade to 512 megs if you really want to weigh this thing down with tunage. Can't find the SongPro in your local game store? Order it from www.songpro.com. Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: "Hey, it's cheaper than most regular MP3 players."
Retractable hoody
Collar loops To hide face in shame
Keeps headphone wires from strangling you
Back pocket E Holds a small laptop (we're not kidding)
GBA pocket
ж Headphone pocket
Secret inner pocket
Removable sleeves For the street-thug — gee Hidden ID pocket
“Hello, my name is
4gth-level nerd" Stylus/Pen pocket
лықтан Magnetic wind flap
EGM pocket Holds other mags, too, we guess
Digital phone card Connected to
cell phone through jacket's internal wiring
Key chain
Personal-area network Hidden conduit system to manage and conceal wires
Mesh pockets у For memory cards, 20-sided dice, etc.
INTERIOR VIEW
Front pocket For cameras or batteries
SCOTTeVEST Version 2.5 * $130
OK, so it may look like a Members Only special from 1983 (does that mean it's back in style now?), but this jacket is made for the heavily armed geek. With more pockets and wire compartments (21 in all) than Jackie Chan's tuxedo, this thing can stash everything from your PDA, Game Boy Advance, cell phone, and MP3 play- er to the latest issue of EGM (yes, it has a spot in which to store your magazines).
Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: “I can walk around in public carrying my GBA in my GBA purse, or | can keep it hidden away in the SCOTTeVEST. You decide."
Sony MDR-DS8000 Surround Headphones ° $700
For those with the burning desire to strap a six-speaker surround set
to their heads, the 058000 is the perfect gift. It supports every major surround technology — Dolby Digital to Pro Logic 11 to DTS—and pipes it directly into your melon. And it's wireless, so you can deafen yourself up to 33 feet from the infrared transmitter. Comfy, too.
Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: "You're always complaining about how noisy my games аге....”
Sony SVR-3000 (TiVo) $450 plus TiVo service (about $12 a month)
Never again let a 12-hour gaming marathon keep you from watching The Sopranos. The TiVo Series 2 recorder records your favorite TV shows for later playback. The best part: blowing through commercials when you take a
break from GTA: Vice City to catch up on your soaps.
Convince loved ones to get this for you by saying: “Less time wasted watching TV commercials equals more time studying/ cleaning the house/being with you.” ж
[Od ‚су. ©
nic Gaming Monthly - 167
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© 2001, 2002 Dream Stage Entertainment, Inc. Exclusively licensed to THQ Inc. worldwide, except in Japan. THQ and.its logo are ыны trademarks of THQ Inc. All Rights Reserved. “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
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Our Philosophy
EGM rates games based on how they com- pare 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
At the other end of the spectrum sits the low- est score a game can receive: a о.о. This is the kind of game you want to avoid at all costs. It’s pure crap. In the middle lies the average
made—a revolutionary title that truly stands grade, 5.0. We repeat: Simple, ain't it?
above everything else in its genre for its time.
Platinum Awards go to games that get all 105, the best and rarest review a game can get.
This Month in Reviews
This time last year, our cover screamed “Too many games!" in blazing 3-inch letters. Now, it might as well screech “Too many golds!” Our review section's jammed with so much metal— Platinum for Metroid Prime (GC), Gold for Splinter Cell (Xbox), Silver for The Two Towers (PS2), and more—that our lawyers
The Crew Shane Bettenhausen
Reviews Editor
Shane played so much of the two spectacular Metroid games this month that he claims to have actual- ly written the book on it. Or at least to have doodled sexy Samus fan art in the margins.
Favorite Genres: Action, Fighting, RPG Current Faves: Metroid Prime and Fusion, PSO
|] “ 35 Dan “Shoe” Hsu Editor-in-Chief G shaped furniture. Madman? Yup. Animal Crossing addict? That, too.
When Shoe dreams, it’s not about being a GTA mobster or a Lord of Favorite Genres: All of 'em Current Faves: GTA: Vice City, Animal Crossing
Gold
score
the Rings hero. It’s about filling his home with traffic cones and fruit-
James "Milkman" Mielke
Whirling Dervish
Milky was so preoccupied with
Splinter Cell this month that he's
sworn off clothing with any sem-
blance of color in it. Now that the
Milkman is back in black, it's
even harder to find him at work. Favorite Genres: Action, Fighting, Role-playing Current Faves: Splinter Cell, Metroid Fusion
games whose average
higher.
5.0 IS AVERAGE.
Awards go to ir TU Games that average at
П HEGM | least an 8.0 (but lower E SILVER Н i than 9.0) receive Hl Silver Awards.
equals 9.0 or
advise you to lift this issue with your legs, not your back. But we also give garbage games their due with a special new section devoted to the stuff no one here really wanted to play. Humor-writer Seanbaby, now a regular EGM contributor, handles this delicate duty—and makes Mary Kate & Ashley cry—on page 216.
Crispin Boyer
Features Editor
Crispin’s mom was so impressed when he reached the rank of captain in Steel Battalion, she made him his } own flight suit. He wears it to work half the time. Er, we mean he wears half of it to work all the time. Favorite Genres: Action, Adventure
Current Faves: Steel Battalion, Metroid Prime
News Editor
Young CJ has been servin' hard time after stealing items out of the lost and found (and trash) in Animal Crossing. Of course, he could leave "HU his cell any time he wants, cuz
in AC, grand larceny ain't a crime. Favorite Genres: Action, Adventure, Music Current Faves: PSO Ер. 1811, Metroid Prime
Greg Sewart
Previews Editor
Sewart got so into Zelda for the GBA | this month, he decided to show us
| how well he could play his ocarina.
| He was so terrible that we didn't
_ have the heart to tell him he was actually playing a flute.
Favorite Genres: Racing, RPG, Action
Current Faves: Zelda GBA, MGS2: Substance
Metroid Prime pg. 184 Like its battle-battered star— citrus-colored she-warrior Samus Aran— Metroid Prime for GameCube faced astronomical odds when it touched down in our offices this month. Here was a new installment in our favorite made-in-Japan side-scrolling series, but molded into a 3D, first-person platformer (blah) by a bunch of untested guys in Texas (Austin-based Retro Studios). We didn't know what to expect. A few hours later, we knew the Retro crew managed to lock down the series’ gameplay, sound, and feel. And, just like the star of their masterpiece game, they’d just saved the universe.
Che Chou
Executive Editor, Xbox Nation Che will be scarce now that he’s gone to sister mag XBN. So we got a pic of him before he was a rock star, before he had hair down to his ass, back when he was just a wide-eyed kid we called “Fresh Meat.” Favorite Genres: Action, Fighting, Giant Robots Current Faves: Steel Battalion, Resident Evil Ø
Mark MacDonald Executive Editor
It may have been over a year since Mark maliciously and intentionally led their people to various deaths solely for his own amusement, but as the Pikmin well know, revenge is a dish best served cold.
Current Faves: Metroid Prime, Steel Batallion
More Gurrent Faves: Metroid Fusion, MGS2:S
Jennifer Tsao
Managing Editor
Subject: Jennifer Tsao. Group #14А.
” Experiment results: Tsao seems impervious to cuteness levels that drive other subjects mad. Will increase dosage next round, perhaps adding Kirby and Moogle vectors. Favorite Genres: Action sports, Adventure
Current Faves: Tony Hawk 4, Animal Crossing
Dr. Muto
| Publisher: = r= Midway
Developer:
Midway
Players:
1
Also On:
GC, Xbox
Features: Ugly
Best Feature: Quirky
main character character designs Worst Feature: Annoying Website: main character www.drmuto.com
Pity poor Dr. Muto. Not only did he blow up his planet in some mangled ecological experiment. Not only does he have to muddle through dingy, poorly designed locales in search of parts to rebuild his world. Not only must he morph into some spectacu- larly uninteresting creatures, like a mouse, a spider, and a squirrel. But—worst of all—he’s also forced to star in this disastrously dull dud of a game. In a sea- son when quality platformers are proliferating like a harem of hares in heat, Dr. Muto fails to impress. Granted, Muto offers plenty of platform elements spread through enormous levels, but games like Ratchet & Clank and Mario Sunshine.do.it so much better. The control, the camera, and the graphics are a muddy mess that conspire to wring out almost all the fun. Worse yet, the mutating aspect— arguably Muto's only fresh point—is just a meaningless gim- mick that brings nothing new to the gameplay. What difference does it make if, say, you turn into a mouse to enter small places, and end up experiencing the same dreary gameplay on a smaller scale? Gary
SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
9 9 4 9
VISUALS
Haven: Call of the King
| Publisher: — m= Midway
Developer: Traveller's Tales Players: 1
Also On:
GC, Xbox
Lamest Mascot Hairstyle:
Best Feature: Amount of
different gameplay styles Bright-red cornrows Worst Feature: Annoying Website: aiming issues www.midway.com
At a time when so many top-tier platformers are available on the PS2, Haven stands out by offering a metric ton of gameplay modes: On-rails shooting levels, off-road races, stationary first-person blast- fests, jetpack missions, aerial dogfights, boats, bi- planes, huge weapons, obstacle courses, twitchy action, and thoughtful puzzles add to the standard Mario formula. The problem is, in the attempt to be all things for all kinds of gamer, each little mode lacks polish. From the atrocious aiming in the plat- form bits to the convoluted controls in some of the vehicle segments, the frustration factor is immense— this is one of the most difficult platformers you'll play. Stick with it and you'll be rewarded with the occasional | edge-of-your-seat, blister-inducing, adrenaline-fueled thrill-ride of a level—although you'll suffer through just as many torturous bits that'll have you crying foul. Still, hardcore types will love its challenge, and justabout anyone else should appreciate Haven's diversity. It's a solid game, but with more balance, it could’ve been great. Gary
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
1 1 1
Publisher: Konami Developer: Konami CET Players: 12
Also On: None
Featured Іп: ЕСМ #160 BestFeature: Contra done right!
Worst Feature: No spread gun...are you kidding? Website: www.konami.com |
OK, I'll be a nice guy and tell you what you want to hear: This game rocks. All you hardcore Contra vets can rest assured that Konami did this bad boy right. Just like the grand Contras of yore (Alien Wars, Hard Corps, and the original), Shattered Soldier is a straight-out, side-scrolling, one-hit-and-you're-dead, insanely old-school shooter. With each new level, you'll be humbled as you try to live longer than a few seconds. But that’s OK. Practice. You'll soon learn that every enemy, miniboss, and magnificently inspired end-level boss has a pattern. And after dying a bunch more times, you will learn those patterns, master them, and burn them into your brain. And you know what? It won't matter. You will still die. A lot. Some of the battles require such a high degree of precision, jf you so much as breathe the wrong way, it's over. But it's this unrelenting intensity that will keep you coming back. You just can't let it beat you— not until you've destroyed.every last alien monstrosity..One minor complaint: For sucha twitch game, there are too many controls. With three chargeable weapons to switch between (adding a strategic element) and buttons to | lock your gun and feet, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. As for the Contra-staple two-player co-op mode, it's fun as hell while remaining ultra-tough. Besides the mysterious lack of the spread gun(D, | Contra is back and in fine form. &. Ford
Disney's Treasure Planet
EVERYONE
Publisher: Sony CEA са гс Developer: Bizarre Creations
Players: 1
Also On: None
Featured Іп: ЕСМ #156
Best Feature: It’s Jak and Daxter Lite
Worst Feature: It’s...Jak and Daxter Lite
Website: WWW.Scea.com
For a game that's almost certain to get lost in the holiday shuffle, Treasure Planet has a lot to offer. Sure, you're better off sticking with Sony's Big Three (this fall's Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank, and last year's Jak and Daxter), but once you're done blasting through the best of the bunch, this movie-to-game adventure offers more solid platforming action. From the sharp graphics to the tight control to the intricate level designs, everything here is remarkably well done. The problem is, there's almost nothing new, different, or especially exciting in Treasure Planet. Is that necessarily a bad thing? It all depends on how you approach the game. If you require every videogame experience to be massively different from the last, then don't even think about this game. It can get so derivative that at times it feels almost like a direct, shameless rip-off of Jak and Daxter. But if you simply want a fun diversion that ties nicely into the Disney film (with great CG cut-scenes and solid voicework from the film's cast), this comes recom- mended. It's easy to play, easy to enjoy—and equally easy to forget about once you're done. Basically, it’s the perfect weekend rental. Treasure Planet is also a solid choice for younger kids, since the play mechanics are fairly straightforward — but it’s also got enough tough moments to challenge
It may look fancy, but Shattered Soldier is old school in every possible way. It’s got old-school level design, old-school challenges, and most importantly, kick-ass old-school gameplay. Contra fans will be beside themselves when they see just-how cool it looks'and plays оп the PS2. There's far more depth here than ever before, thanks to the on-the-fly selec- table weapons (with secondary super shots) and the new Hit Rate percentage. Muster up your patience, though—these pattern-based boss encounters demand extremely precise play. In fact, this ends up being my only real qualm with the game: I wish it had more simple, run-and-gun Contra gameplay. Sam |
should ask yourself before playing is, “Did | like the movie?" Cuz chances are, your opinion of the game hinges on that answer. Planet feels as if a gallon of solid-but-derivative, action-platforming gameplay has been dumped into a Treasure Planet-shaped glass. This game is basically a series of collect-a- thons: Get 100 Gold Drubloons and 10 Green Energies, ride your sailboard through rings around a level, and maybe finish one or two other level-spe- cific objectives. But unless you thought Planet was the "best movie ever," it won't be long for you to wonder why you're still playing this. el
Hey you, Mr./Ms. Hardcore Gamer. You better be buying this game. Not renting. Not borrowing. Buying. You've been complaining about how you miss the good ol' days and how "games aren't like they used to-be" and "2D is better.than. 3D" and “Contra sucked when it went to the Р51.” Well, Konami listened to all your complaints and delivered exactly what you've been looking for. Of course it's linear. Yes, it's full of easy-to-memorize patterns. But that’s old-school for you, baby. You asked for it—you got it. | will say, though, Soldier is disappointingly short, and | wish it had the traditional Contra trait of |
getting new weapons as you progress. Shoe VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY Electronic Garr Aonthly - 118 - egm.gamers.com
Over an hour after quitting Treasure Planet, | still have Disney-movie music swelling in my head. Maybe that's because this game really hits you over the head with Uncle Walt's aesthetic: whimsical car- toon graphics.and cut-scenes, a cast of extremely tra- ditional characters (including the hero and wacky sidekick), and an extraordinarily predictable plot. But as anyone who's played such games can tell you, the Disney vibe doesn’t necessarily translate into magnif- icent gameplay. That's not to say TP is bad. You can run, jump, and hoverboard to your little heart's con- tent, and each level contains new challenges. It's just not going to rock your planet. Jennifer
VISUALS 500 INGENUITY REPLAY
1 2
The
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ка
Publisher: EA Games rfe
Developer: EA/Stormfront Studios
Players: 1
Also On: GC, Xbox
BestFeature: Looks and sounds as amazing as the movie
Worst Feature: Website:
Cries out for a multiplayer mode lordoftherings.ea.com
Tolkien's masterpiece is the only one based
on Peter Jackson's blockbuster film adapta- tions. It combines elements from last fall’s The Fellowship of the Ring movie and this year's The Two Towers into one sprawling slash-a- thon. From the shocking opening stage (in which you learn the combat basics as guest- star Isildur by fighting Sauron's armies at Mordor) to the climactic brawl at the gates of Helm's Deep, the riveting, engrossing game- play never lets up.
The production values of this game match the cool look of the movies perfectly. Film clips frame each level, the soundtrack hails directly from the movie's original score, and all of the principle actors have recorded new dialogue exclusively for this game. EA made extensive use of the movie's sets to create the game's environments, and the resulting stages look remarkably lifelike. And, as you'd expect, the characters look and behave like their silver-screen counterparts: Aragorn is a good, all-around fighter; Gimli is a dwarfen powerhouse for up-close brawling; and Legolas excels at archery and speedy, skillful swordplay (you get to choose which charac- ter you play before each level).
Some fans might lament the fact that EA chose not to make its LOTR game into an RPG, but realistically, this beat-'em-up action title holds much wider appeal to fans. It's fast, fun, and approachable, yet ultimately deep and rewarding.
E: officially licensed, action-game stab at
ES
Each character can learn special moves that will instantly defeat various evil races, such as Goblins, Orcs, and the nefarious Uruk 'Hai.
BEHIND THE SCENES
m^ »
Lando. Bloons The Two Towers includes a bevy of spe- cial goodies for players to unlock, like production art and behind-the-scenes clips about the game's creation, includ- ing interviews with the film's actors about their voiceover work. These DVD- like special features offer great incen- tives to replay the adventure.
174
ord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Sometimes, it seems like all that inspirational talk about teamwork and fellowship is a crock. Two of your allies often seem to be mysteriously absent when the Orcs attack. Luckily, on some levels (like this one, below), you'll һауе the help of some con- veniently unbeatable, nameless human warriors.
Huzzah! Now this is how a movie-to-game adaptation Should be done. EA has boiled down the complex fan- tasy films to their wildest, ass-kickingest scenes: colos- sal battles against hordes of Orcs, Goblins, and Trolls. It might seem like just a button-mashing brawler at first, but the addition of multiple characters and experience- based upgrades infuses much-needed depth into what could have been Final Fight with Hobbits. Mastering the timing for combos and parry maneuvers takes practice and, more importantly, skill. You won't be able to suc- ceed on the Normal difficulty level by simply jamming on the strong attack buttons, which | find commend- able. The gameplay might be the real hook, but | can't deny the graphics: The Two Towers looks positively fan- tastic. Honestly, few PS2 games can match the sheer eye-candy overload offered here. Transitions between film footage and in-game graphics meld with shocking seamlessness. Amazingly, the audio matches the imagery: The film's incredible music heightens the drama here, and the real-actor voice clips only add to the real-movie feel. Although there's muchtto praise, not everything is entirely peachy in Middle-earth. First off, the game really should support two simultaneous play- ers. It’s an obvious choice that was grossly overlooked. Also, the game's short, so resilient players will be able to blast through it in a day or two. Finally, some of the levels suffer from a frustrating lack of restart points when you die. Minor grievances aside, it's a winner that fans of the flicks will dig. Shane
The idea of taking the Lord of the Rings movie license and twisting it into an arcade beat-em-up might seem like the ultimate Middle-earth money- making scheme. But this thumb-blistering brawler—which.is as beautiful .as.it.is.intense—is no rush job. In fact, it's actually surprisingly deep; random button mashing won't get you far. Sure, some levels are tedious, and the more crowded bat- tles have you playing Where's Waldo? with your war- rior, but the game is so chaotic and stunning that you're tricked into ignoring its flaws and thinking, “This is awesome!” even as you're screaming, “My thumbs are freakin’ killing me!” Crispin
The graphics and presentation in The Two Towers are exceptional. Certain parts look like they’re right out of the movie. In fact, it’s enough to keep you from noticing that you’re basically doing the same thing over.and.over again. Sure, you.can buy new combos for your three characters; and the levels are varied = from exploring Fanghorn Forest to fighting off wave after wave of enemies, But when it comes down to it, this iña basic hack-’n’-slash game, albeit a really good one. Any big Lord of the Rings movie fan will find thissgame worth buying for the solid gameplay combined with all the extras you can unlock as you play. Greg S.
INGENUITY REPLAY
VISUALS.
THE MANIA IS BACK
\DAY QOLAY SANS there will be 45)
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Challenge • All-new storyline career mode • DVD bonus footage and wrestler interviews Legendsofwrestling2.com
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X PlayStation. È хәох > М GAMECUBE. acclaim.com
s Legends of Wrestling™ 2 and Acclaim & & © 2002 Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City. All Rights Reserved. Violence “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 the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. Game Boy and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. Screens shown were taken from the Xbox version of the video game.
Publisher: = r= Sony CEA Developer: Killer Game Players:
12
Also On:
None
Also Try:
SSX Tricky Website: Www.scea.com
Best Feature: It's SSX Tricky on water
Worst Feature: Too many blind jumps
Over the past year, we've cruised through a hand- ful of Jet-Ski racing games, and although some were really good, Jet X20 is by far the coolest. Basically, it’s SSX Tricky on water, from the flyby of every track before each event to the shoulder- button trick system. And trust me—there'll be plenty of trick opportunities as you work your way down these super-long, shortcut-filled courses. My only complaint? Too many blind ramps break up the fun. It's annoying to be in a groove, flying down the track, only to land on an island and have to reset my craft or wait for it to slide back into the water. It really disrupts.the flow of the race, Still, that's the only ;problem with Jet X20. Everything else is exceptional, and learning the tricks for each char- acter (as well as upgrading and unlocking the vari- ous vehicles) kept me coming back for more. A ser- viceable multiplayer game sweetens the replay fac- tor. Splitscreen's nothingsspecial, but it’s enough for you and a friend to have some fun. Bottom line:
Pick this up. Greg $. SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
8 1 3 9
VISUALS
NCAA March Madness 2003
Publisher: = r= EA Sports Developer:
EA Canada | Players: 1-2 | (2-8 w/Multi-tap) Also On: None Perfect for:
Best Feature: Awesome
Dynasty mode Keggers Worst Feature: Blocky graph- | Website: ics can't hang with Live's www.easports.com
Seeing the vast improvement in NBA Live this year, | was moderately hopeful that March Madness would follow suit. Well, those hopes weren't entirely dashed, but they weren't quite fulfilled, either. Judged against last year's Madness, this is a serious slice of roundball. The inclusion of the Maui Invitational, custom tourneys, and the ever- popular Dynasty mode make for plenty of dream matchups. Those dreams, however, take on more of a Freudian quality once you take the court. It's like you tried to really get into it, but the subconscious pull of *NBA Live looks and plays better" keeps gnawing„at„the recesses of your. mind. If you can quiet the voices in your head, March Madness suc- ceeds on quite a few fronts. The recruiting interface is excellent (like NCAA 20053's), the strategic Coach's Council enhances the play-calling, and defense is actually better than Live’s (уой сап block dunks, for instance). It's just an overall final layer of polish that
keeps ^March Madness from the National Championship. Give it a shot. Dan L. VISUALS so INGENUITY REPLAY
NHL 2K3
Publisher: Sega Sports == | Developer: Treyarch
Players: 1-2 (2-8 w/Multi-tap)
Also On: GC, Xbox
Featured In: EGM #161
BestFeature: Awesome Franchise mode Worst Feature: No online play (except on Xbox) Website: www.segasports.com
For years, I've been a big fan of EA's NHL series, but Sega's NHL 2K3 skates circles around NHL 2003, gameplay-wise. When you first fire up 2K3, it doesn't immediately impress; the presentation, graphics, and commentary can't match EA's level of studied slickness. But then, you check out the various con- trol options and realize you've never had this much freedom in a hockey game. On defense, the poke- check is very effective, plus you can slide across the path of a shot and have a fair chance of making the block. Of course, this means that having your star player hog the puck is a good way to screw up a scor- ing chance—deft passing is the key to putting the puck in the net. The whole game is just so versatile. If you find any aspect of 2K3 that's not quite to your liking, gameplay sliders let you adjust everything from collisions with the referee to the friction of the ice (unfortunately, there's no slider for the length of Mike Ricci's-hair—it defaults to long and. greasy). Treyarch and Visual Concepts have nailed the feel of hockey; all they need to do is work on the.look and sound, cuz better graphics and more entertaining commentary will put 2K4 over the top next year. Oh, and online play for every platform:..that'd be nice. By the way, these Americans need to hire Canada’s Don Cherry for some color commentary. That man is a god north of the border.
a defining hockey game storms the public every four years. NHL 2K3 is the latest entry into that hallowed class. It's a hockey lover's dream and, at the same time, has.the-mass appeal of the.legendary.NHL ’94 for the Sega Genesis. It blends the blazing speed and pick-up-and-play fun of a videogame (big hits, lots of action) with the serious simulation aspects of real hockey (lots of mucking it up on the boards). Maybe the character models look a little weak, but who cares? You'll never be close enough to the ice to notice their blocky mullets. This is the only hockey game to buy this year. Todd
The Simpsons Skateboarding 1
irse
Publisher: EA/Fox Interactive г == Developer: Code Monkeys
Players: 12
Also On: None
Featured In: EGM #156
Best Feature: Solid skating engine
Worst Feature: Craptacular music
Website: www.eagames.com
The Simpsons do skateboarding! OK, I'll admit that phrase scared me at first, too. | mean, The Simpsons Road Rage and Simpsons Wrestling put the license in deep d'oh. But this Tony Hawk-clone turned out sur- prisingly well. Besides the obvious draw of grind- ing all over Springfield and hearing the quips of the actual voice actors from the show, we get a solid foundation of objective-based boarding. The Skillz School challenges are reminiscent of SSX's Trick Book, which sure beats a tutorial, and the game has an open-ended level design. You're free to cruise the stages until you hit a timed challenge, and then it's back to exploration. And the levels are a pleasure for Simpson-philes; | was psyched to find one based on one of my favorite episodes, Itchy and Scratchy Land. The most important aspect of any action-sports game controls — work well here. Unfortunately, you don't get nearly enough points for vertical tricks, turning all.score-based objectives into grind-a-thons (luckily, there's an abundance of edges 'round town). Also, the combo-connecting manual move needs to be more forgiving. Simpsons Skateboarding definite- ly doesn’t compete with his Hawk-ness as a true boarding game (no innovations here), but it delivers enough to please fans оҒ the TV series. Now, give me Family Guy Stealth Adventure (Starring Stewie, naturally) and I'll be even happier. G. Ford This game made me want to release the hounds. Didn't anyone care enough to make this more than merely an average skateboarding game with the Simpsons license plopped on top? My biggest com- plaint.is.that.the.characters don't actually.move by default. Instead, they stand still until you push them, and jumping. has. the buoyancy of Homer after a big box of glazed doughnuts. Plus, Kent Brockman's voice narrating every move is creepy and annoying. Still, if you learn the mechanics and accept the fact that repetitive grinding=rather than the few fun tricks—is the key to success, it's nota terrible game,
just a disappointing one. Jennifer
Finally! A hockey game that will have fans everywhere sportin' big—and in some cases toothless— grins. NHL 2K2, one of last year's most under-appreciated Dreamcast titles, gave new meaning to the word "sim." Sega Sports overhauled all the little flaws in.2K2, cook- ing up а board-checkin’, glove-flashin’, biscuit-in-the- basket of a hockey game. The rock-solid gameplay has been tuned to perfection and no other game sweats the details like this. (Try pinning guys up against the boards while fighting for a loose puck and you'll see what | mean.) Plus, the crazy-deep customization lets you tailor every facet to your specifications. An absolute must-buy for puck enthusiasts. Dan L.
VISUALS OUND INGENUITY REPLAY
1 1
This game might be a lot of fun if they took all the skateboarding parts out. As it is, the skating is really just an excuse to toss in locations, characters, and quotes from the TV series. This approach was fine enough. in-The Simpsons Road Rage,-but.here, it's not enough to counteract the awful play mechanics of the skateboarding itself. The controls are stiff and spotty (why do ! get big air on one side of a half- pipe and then barely clear the lip on the other?). In order to clear each level, you must do one of those collect-the-letters-to-spell«out-a-word. things...only you have to do it in order, and with a ridiculously short time limit. No fun—no thanks. Joe
VISUALS E INGENUITY REPLAY
3
AFFIX OWN JETPACK BEFORE ASSISTING OTHERS
OUT OF AMMO
@ kiss ass
GOODBYE
© 2002 Sierra Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Sierra, the Sierra logo, Tribes, and the Tribes logo are trademarks of Sierra Entertainment, Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony
Computer Entertainment Inc. Developed by Inevitable Entertainment. € Geffen Records.
IF YOU CANNOT PERFORM THESE FUNCTIONS, PROCEED DIRECTLY TO TRIBES.SIERRA.COM FOR A TRIBES VIDEO FEATURING TRUSTcompany’s “DOWNFALL”
DON'T FLY ALONE. PLAY WITH UP ТО 16 PEOPLE OVER MODEM OR BROADBAND USING SONY’S NETWORK ADAPTER. SHARE THE PAIN.
JETPACKS LET YOU TAKE THE CARNAGE AIRBORNE. THE FORECAST CALLS FOR RAIN—OF BLOOD.
CAN'T GET IT UP WITH YOUR JETPACK? JUMP IN A FIGHTER, BOMBER, ARMED TRANSPORT OR GRAVBIKE.
PlayStation. |
SIERRA
Mort
€
Publisher:
Midway mJ Developer: Midway Players: 1-2 Also On: GC, Xbox Featured Іп: EGM #155 Best Feature: Lots of secrets to unlock Worst Feature: Unbalanced gameplay Website: www.mkdeadlyalliance.com
despite all its cardboard gameplay mechanics and cheesy digitized graphics,
gave Street Fighter ІІ a real run for its money in arcades everywhere. Now, more than a decade after the release of the original and following a few years of retirement, the series is back.
Gamers who missed the last few install- ments (and who can blame them? MK3 and 4 were disappointing) will be especially sur- prised at the leaps Mortal Kombat has made to compete with modern fighting games. Take, for instance, the free-roaming eight-way move- ment system and heavy use of weapons highly reminiscent of one of our favorite fighters, Soul Calibur. Or the enclosed arenas you might be familiar with from recent Tekken and Virtua Fighter titles. And the incredibly lengthy Konquest mode, in which players take on hun- dreds of challenges, learning the intricacies of the gameplay system and simultaneously
8 ack in the early '90s, Mortal Kombat,
SY —— Ё Y,
AE Жерге. Finish Him! Fans will be happy to see that Deadly Alliance features a gaggle of new gross-out fatal- ities that spray oozing piles of gore all over.
earning "kurrency" to unlock up to 676 secret items (Soul Calibur again).
All of these features bring Deadly Alliance up to speed in terms of modernizing the ancient franchise. Unfortunately, the one thing that hasn't gotten with the times is the series' stilted, unbalanced gameplay that has a ten- dency to induce severe button mashing. But we're getting ahead of ourselves; as you can see, Review Crew opinions clash over Alliance. Milky, who happens to be the master of unlocking (secrets), loves the game with an intensity that downright baffled our other two players. Read their reviews to find out why.
won't win many new ones.
Although Deadly Alliance's mood seems gravely serious (Liu Kang does get brutally murdered in the opening, after all), you'll still find pockets of the tongue-in-cheek silliness that led to stuff like Babalities, Animalities, and Friendships. Here we see Sonya Blade blowing a silly-yet-deadly kiss.
Since the Mortal Kombat franchise seemed dead and buried, | approached this game with a mixture of apprehension and perverse interest. For me, the series peaked with MK2, but | respected that game's attempt at pushing the genre (at the time) with a deep skill-based system. Of course, that was years ago, and it doesn't take some sort of video black belt to see that the fighting genre has evolved way beyond those days of yore, leaving MK pitifully behind to play catch-up. That's basically what Alliance feels like: a declaration that Sub-Zero and his posse are back, ready to kick ass again in the 21st century. Well, old Sport, | need more than that. Strip away the surpris- ingly excellent graphics and gimmicky bonus material and you've got a 3D fighter that's derivative at best, and at worst, the same game we got tired of years ago. The ability to switch between three different fighting styles on the fly is cool, but there are a ton of moves that сап be easily abused, flushing both honor and skill down the toilet. Then there are the dreaded Tekken-esque multistring combos that are less about reflexes and more about hard memorization. | know that for a lot of nostalgic gamers, the selling point here isn't the depth of gameplay, but rather the out- rageous fatalities, nonchalant gore, and truckloads of hidden secrets. Those fans of the series will be appeased, but I’m barely impressed. Che
It's a shame, really. Alliance is an ambitious attempt at turning this franchise around, but underneath its slick new veneer, you'll find the same problematic gameplay that has plagued the series’ recent incarnations. The multiple fighting styles and weapons seem cool at first. Too bad these styles are horribly unbalanced and all rely on a handful of special moves and unintuitive, dialed-in combos. In its defense, the game does offer tons of unlockable secrets and surprisingly attractive backgrounds (no praise for the laughably janky anima- tion, though —Johnny Cage's bicycle kick looks 100 per- cent stupid). It'll be acceptable to current MK fans, but
І never expected Deadly Alliance to be the best fight- ing game ever made—1 just wanted it to be a good MK game. And it is. I'd go so far as to say it’s damn good. Why? Because it's just a hell of a lot of fun. Sure, MK:DA is Steven Segal to VF4's Bruce Lee: less tal- ented, less finessed, less handsome, but still able to kick butts. All of the classic MK characters have been gorgeously reinvented for maximum cool factor, and the number of unlockable bonuses (over 600!) will have fans playing for eons. The best part (and the thing that makes DA (һе best MK game since MK2) is that it isn't an over-the-top schlockfest like the last
few installments. Toasty. Milkman
VISU. SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
Violence
© CAPCOM CO., LTD. 1998, 2002 © CAPCOM U.S.A., INC. 1998, 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM LOGO are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. STREET FIGHTER is a registered trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTD. STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 is a trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTD. Nintendo, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association
Street Fighter? Alpha 3 scores a triple K.0! It's the most accurate translation-of an arcade сате to grace the circuits of the Game Boy” Rdvance\video\game system... featuring-all.new enhanced modes of play — including 3 fighting styles for-every character. Maybe nobody's perfect. But as of CAPCOM, today, at least one fighting game is. ¢apcom.com
Publisher: Tecmo rfe Developer: Tecmo
Players: 1
Also On: None
Featured In: EGM #161
Best Feature: Awesome Diskarmor mechanics Worst Feature: Spazzy camera Website: www.tecmoinc.com
Snake, Dante of Devil May Cry, and
Hotsuma from Shinobi, is there really room for yet another action hero? It doesn’t look like the other guys have much of a choice—Rygar is exploding back onto the gam- ing scene for the first time in over 10 years.
Arguably the hardest-working man in the
action-game business, Rygar comes ready to party with his trusty Diskarmor, the shield/weapon he keeps strapped to his right arm. The Diskarmor is Rygar’s money- maker, and he shakes it whenever he can. Useful for dismembering his enemies, accessing hard-to-reach areas, blocking incoming attacks, and rappelling from fantas- tic heights, the only thing this yo-yo-like device doesn’t do is cook Rygar breakfast. Not that he has time to worry about that, since obliterating everything in sight is his
0 na platform already occupied by Solid
Who's this guy and what's his damage? Here's a hint: He's named after a famous Greek philoso- pher, and he’s always giving Rygar a hard time.
first priority. The game features a buttload of galleries, music tracks, movies, and other well-hidden secrets you can find buried in the extremely destructible environments. Breathtaking landscapes, gigantic boss fights, a fantastic sense of exploration, anda cool lead character make Rygar a must-play.
180
During the game, you'll find three powerful Diskarmors: Hades, Heavenly, and Sea. Each has its own powerful moves, especially when equipped with ability-enhancing mystic stones. One secret Diskarmor you unlock after beating the game once is the mighty Pizzarmor. We kid you not.
didn't expect The Legendary Adventure to end up so unbelievably fun. Unless you actually play the game, you won't be able to grasp just how cool it is to hurl Rygar's Diskarmor at an enemy, and then whip your impaled victim around on a chain. Slamming the monster to the ground and causing it to shatter into little bits is merely icing on the cake. Does this make me a sick bastard? | don't think so. But | do think this makes Rygar an excellent game. When you're not swatting down the vast selection of bugs, floating sack-things, mythological deities, and uh, plants wearing boxing gloves, you're tearing the visually stunning landscape to bits, possessed by the urge to dig up every last secret bonus. Thankfully, this isn't a chore, since the controls are spot-on and the game's physics have a satisfying sense of gravi- ty —not typical in а lot of today’s floaty action games. Few games can.compete with Rygar's.awesome visu- als—creative levels, flashy effects, and smooth movement put it at the top of the PS2 class. One graphical blunder does burden the action, though: Weird Devil Мау Cry-like fixed camera angles get awfully distracting. Still, the game's forgiving check- points and unlimited lives-help keep frustration lev- els low. Simply put, Rygar is one of the finest action
SHADE Milkman
What’s up with a Rygar remake coming out of nowhere and being all fresh? Not only does it look unquestion- ably superb, Rygar also plays better than most of the action games out there. Smashing the amazingly ren- dered environments to bits is unbelievably satisfying, and combat with actual monsters is even more dreamy. The fact that the game is exploration-based makes it that much better. If you've ever wished for a Symphony of the Night-style Castlevania game in 3D, this is about as close as you're gonna get (for now). You'll have a hell of a. time plowing through the game multiple tímes in order to unlock all the cool hidden items. Simply put: Rygar is hot! Miguel
Like Devil May Cry before it, Rygar proves that you can pull off a true action game in 3D. This game plays like an absolute dream; the Diskarmor is a superfun weapon to use, and its many moves and combina- tions give Rygar plenty of depth. What surprised me most, though, were the incredible, lush visuals. Environments drip with an almost hand-painted qual- ity, and the game is light years ahead of most in terms of its cinematic approach. It's even more impressive when you factor in the fact that good chunks of the scenery can be laid to waste; Red Faction's Geo-mod engine has nothing on Rygar. My only real qualm with this one is its slightly confusing camera. Sam
VISUALS 5 INGENUITY REPLAY
HOW TO BE A BETTER
AMER
USE COMMON SENSE Anything claiming to be free has
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EVERYTHING EXPIRES Open your fridge and take a big fat whiff of your milk. Nothing lasts forever. So get your butt movin’.
KNOW YOUR CODES | Open all levels with this cheat? | Maybe. If not, try dialin’ it. You
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WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth
Publisher: THQ E E Developer: Yuke's
Players: 1-2 (2-6 with multitaps)
Also On: None
Featured Іп: ЕСМ #160
BestFeature: Deep Create-A-Superstar
Worst Feature: Attempt to make story more RPG- ish falls flat
www.thq.com
ish you could've been in the driver's W during the draft between Raw and
SmackDown from last April? Well now you can in THQ’s latest WWE game, SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth. It all begins with that fateful day in April when the two shows split their lineup of Superstars, and it continues with you playing through the last season of programming (including pay-per- views) on your way to the championship belt. Most fans will come seeking the chance to live out the life of their favorite WWE Superstar, and luckily, Career mode receives the lion’s share of improvements this year. It's much longer, and matches are broken down week- by-week. Between bouts in the ring, you can
Web Site:
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Between matches, you can take a break from all the violence and go for a leisurely stroll around the arena. It's presented in a first-person mode, kind of like a dungeon-crawling RPG. Who knows what you'll find; maybe a wrestler will ambush you? Or visit the ShopZone and use your pay-per- view experience to unlock more goodies.
explore the arena in a first-person view, talk to your manager, and maybe even run into unex- pected “trouble” with other wrestlers. Are you Tough Enough?
MIGHTY MEN-AND-MONSTER MAKER
The amount of parts you can use to create your own wrestler in Shut Your Mouth boggles the mind. Just look at some of the fighters we were able to create— Harry Potter, Darth Vader, Spider- Man, and everyone’s favorite, The Tick. (Hey, he’s a little pissed his TV show was cancelled and decided to get some vengeance in the ring.) Of course, when we weren’t messing around with making crazy fictional charac- ters, we created unrealistically buff likenesses of ourselves, too.
182
Commentary from ringside announcers Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler are still limited to announcing specific moves or throwing out com- ments on the various Superstars. It's common to hear the same one-liners over and over during a match-“Whoa, did you see that?”
The Hurricane
JM 5. 5
(N^ "Та T РЕША Like football games, a new wrestling title comes out on each system every year and rabid fans gobble it up. The difference is that competition between multi- ple pigskin games forces those developers to inno- vate or be left in the dust. Wrestling is unchallenged when it comes to the all-important WWE license (and without it, you may as well not show up). So we get a game that plays, looks, and is "just fine," but deep down we long for something better. And this year's SmackDown is an example of that. Changes to the in- ring gameplay itself are barely noticeable. It's good, but if you're not a hardcore fan, you'll tire of it quickly. The Story mode's much longer than in previ- ous games, but the RPG elements added to flesh it out just feel like padding. For example, the shoddily pasted-in dialogue text between wrestlers totally fails to capture the energy of the real WWE. Exploring the venues in first-person perspective is interesting at first, but you're.never sure if anything is. going to hap- pen, so it's mostly aimless wandering. Thankfully, SmackDown's Create-A-Superstar is all.a.fan could ask for andmore, It's got so many parts and options, putting yourselfin the game is easier than ever. And it goes without saying that this is'a fün'multiplayer title. Even with its faults, Shut: Your Mouth is good. But the stale wrestling genre needs to really think outside the gameplay cage to evolve. e
1 can sum it up pretty easily: If you'd love to go to a live WWE match, odds are that you'll like this game. It assaults you with a cavalcade of match types and multiplayer options, clips from the TV shows, and a billion. ways.to.create your own "rassler— basically, all the stuff fans want. As in many wrestling games, the collision/detection is spotty and the matches drag on for waaaay too long, but overall, the controls and play are solid. | do agree with С) about the RPG-like elements, though. And your dialogue choices are laughably bland — nothing, like what the real WWE superstars would ever say. Next time, THQ, hire the real WWE scriptwriters. Shane
As wrestling games go, Shut Your Mouth is one of the best. Any oiled-up Superstar you could want is here, and the Create-A-Superstar mode is unbelievably deep. The controls are simple, too, although having to cycle through.opponents with the.Focus.button gets annoying. And just like in real wrestling, the presen- tation here is spectacular. That said, the,action in the ring plays /almost exactly like last year's... which played ап/ awful lot like like the old PSX Smack- Downs. Shut Your Mouth is justam all-around solid game that somehow manages to survive a lack of evolution year after year. It's fun, but it's the same
old thing. Greg S.
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
8 6 4 1
© cuvmy 330092. 590110
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Publisher: Nintendo owe
Developer: Retro Studios | 1
Players: 1 i E
Also On: None
Featured In: ЕСМ #160
Best Feature: Incredible new aesthetics, same great gameplay
Worst Feature: Control scheme can be bothersome Website: www.metroid.com
about playing Metroid Prime: You're
going to lose sleep for a couple weeks. Your garbage will not get taken out. The kitty litter won't get changed. You may even lose your appetite when it's time to put the con- troller down for meals, but that's OK, because the dishes wouldn't get done any- way. A game this incredible doesn't wait for when you have some free time—it hooks right into your brain and won't let go, suck- ing your life away just like the infamous Metroid alien parasites themselves. You just will not want to stop playing. So after a cou- ple weeks, you're going to be one tired, hun- gry, sorry-lookin' (and possibly a bit smelly) mofo, but you'll be smilin' ear to ear like you just won the lottery and the Super Bowl on the same day. Metroid Prime is that good.
Д: words of warning before you think
As it did with Zelda and Mario before it, Nintendo (with its partners at Retro Studios) has taken one of the most beloved franchises of all time (Super Metroid was Number 1 on EGM's own top 100 games list last year) and brought it into full 3D in a way that is faithful to the games before it and a stunningly origi- nal experience.
Prime is definitely not your typical first- person shooter; it's about platform-jumping your way through a vast world; exploring; solving puzzles; and locating new weapons, power-ups, and secrets along the way. But when it does come time to exchange fire with the bad guys, Prime is among the very best. You need to constantly think in order to avoid the strengths and take advantage of the weaknesses of the different enemies, from the truly frightening boss monsters down to the tiny alien flies. Combat is a deeply satisfying mix of reflexes, and the kind of strategic thinking that requires you to ask: Which gun will inflict the most damage, or any damage at all? Should | wear a differ- ent visor to better see what I'm shooting at? Is that enemy vulnerable only from the back? Do | need to wait until my foe opens its mouth or charges right at me or retracts its
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You explore an impressive range of different areas on the planet, from snowy mountains, to lush forests, to fiery caves.
EXTRAS! EXTRAS! READ ALL ABOUT THEM!
f a Finish Metroid Prime to open a harder difficulty level, or link up with Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance to unlock a new suit of armor for hero Samus. Not a big deal, but neat.
Finish Fusion and link up to play the full original Metroid on your GC. A very cool bonus, especially for those who've never seen it before. Hey, it was once state-of-the-art!
ff zoom ff Ө pan 6? Legend
You can open galleries of concept art and renders by scanning a certain number of monsters and locations in the game, so analyze everything!
- Ж
Boss fights in Prime, like good ol' Ridley here (left) require figuring out a pattern, then deciding how to
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take advantage of it (what weapons will work best), and having the reflexes to pull off your plan.
spikes? Am I better off rolling into a ball and getting the hell out of town?
It's so damn friendly, too—the game eases you into the action like a doting mother, teaching you about all your controls within the game, then slowly adding abilities, tougher enemies, and new areas to sustain an impossibly high level of excitement from the opening scene until the final credits roll. Before you have a chance to get stuck, a helpful report always comes in detailing where you need to go next. It never tells you how to get there or what to do once you arrive—it just gives you the location of the next major event. (Hardcore purists can turn this hint system off in the Options menu.) And along with an ingenious and indispens- able 3D map, you can make your way
through the complex interwoven levels with minimal hassle.
And not only does it play great but, oh my, does it ever look good doing it. No game has ever approached the level of graphical detail found in Prime. On any system. Ever. Period. Every chamber, every hallway, every single room is unique and fully fleshed out. No repeat or cookie-cutter tools were used here. A breathtakingly exotic yet eerily believable alien world has been created as your giant playground to explore. In terms of style and technical ability, Prime is an absolute thrill just to look at.
Oh, and you'll want to crank your stereo. Whether it's screeching monsters, the whir of your gun charging, or the fizz of sparks on a busted computer, the effects are excellent
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Each direction on the D-pad selects a
different visor on Samus' helmet, each with its own unique (and very cool) graphical effect filtering everything you see. Here's why you'll need them all:
into two f
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Used for gathering information; great for finding hints about enemy weak- nesses and discovering how to get past tricky puzzles.
E I 7 9 : Essential for fighting bad guys in dark
places, but also helpful for locating power switches by the heat they emit.
| ШІ. Necessary for seeing certain enemies
and locating secret passages blocked by destructible walls.
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across the board. Along with great remixes of old Metroid tracks and new haunting favorites you'll find yourself humming, Prime's audio is more than just good— it demands, and keeps, your attention.
Our only real complaint is with one aspect of the controls. The creators were trying to simplify things when they decided to use one button for looking up and down and another for strafing side to side, but actually, this setup often becomes more complicated and time consuming than the standard practice of using the second analog stick for both tasks. The excellent lock-on tracking system and otherwise great button layout minimizes most problems, but now and then, a particu-
the half-pipes you'll find on Tallon IV.
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larly stressful fight or steep platform path will make you wish Nintendo had implement- ed the dual-stick setup—or at least included the option. To be fair, the scheme here does work better for simple jumping maneuvers, but a button to lock auto-centering on and off would have given all the benefits, and much less of the finger fatigue, of constantly holding in the shoulder buttons.
Ordinarily, we would penalize a game for that sort of thing, but the rest of Prime is so above-and-beyond the quality we all expect from even triple-A titles that its strengths more than make up for its one debatable weakness. Get this game—even if you have to buy a GameCube to play it.
Folding up into a sphere with the Morph Ball allows you to get through tight spaces and tubes, or lay bombs to open new passages. Add the Spider Ball to magnetically climb on certain walls and the Boost Ball for an added burst of turbo speed — especially fun on
In case you're still wondering if the new Metroid stays faithful to the series’ platforming roots, check out this room (left)-they ain't afraid to go all vertical on you. The grapple beam (right) returns as well.
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186
Recognize the nasty little guys below? A few new varieties of Metroids, the energy-sucking jellyfish aliens of death, pop up from time to time in Prime, from little babies to the big bad momma. A hint: Don't bother switching guns near the end. Try using a super bomb instead.
The intense yet strategic combat of Halo. The inge- nious level design and devious puzzles of Zelda's best dungeons. The intriguing story, moody atmosphere, and spooky thrills of Resident Evil: The new Metroid stands with the very best of modern games in almost every important respect. Well, except sound and graphics, where Prime surpasses them all. The amount of time, skill, and dedication that obviously went into crafting and polishing this game just com- pletely blows my mind. Videogames, regardless of what system they are for, just aren’t supposed to sound this good, look this detailed, be this large in scope and this fun to play all at the same time; it's like the best title from six years in the future fell through а time warp. Besides one aspect of the controls (why not include the option for a dual-analog stick setup like most other first-person games?), it's hard to imagine any complaints even the most cynical gamer could have with Prime, right down.to its impeccable pacing and difficulty level. 125 a joy to play and nearly impossible to put down until it’s all over, and even then, a stash of secrets and cool unlockables await. Whether you're new to the series or (especially) if you're an old fan with lofty expectations, Prime is bet- ter than you can imagine. An absolute masterpiece, a modern classic, and probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing a videogame. Mark
| never thought it would turn out like this. My wildest hopes for a U.S.-made Metroid first-person shooter peaked at *passable." Well, Retro Studios, | owe you an apology— Prime is the best GameCube game yet. First, know that it's not an FPS. Mark might wish it controlled like one, but | don't—the Zelda-style lock-on combat is spectacular, and jumping feels surprisingly natural. Amazingly, it plays like Super Metroid, only in full 3D. | could ramble on about the spectacular boss fights, ingenious power-ups, and amazing music, but instead Гуе gotta go buy my friend Chris a copy of Prime. | bet him two years back that this new Metroid wouldn't even earn a Silver Award. I’m glad | was wrong. Shane
Man, | really don’t know what to say. | was totally ready to hate on Metroid Prime prior to experiencing it first-hand, but the minute | set foot on Tallon IV's lush overworld, | was a believer. If you're a fan of the Metroid series, you'll be happy.to.know that Prime embodies everything you love about it: the amazing atmosphere, the sprawling world, and, most impor- tantly, the seamless flow. But even if you've never played a Metroid game before, Prime will still impress you; the visuals are untouchable, the gameplay is tight, and the mood is hauntingly captivating. It is simply mind-blowing on so many different levels — you must experience it. Miguel
SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
10 1 9
VISUAI
Publisher: Nintendo ^.
Developer: Hudson T A Players: 1-4 ж
Also On: None
Featured In: EGM #160
Best Feature: Heated multiplayer action Worst Feature: Dull single-player, as usual Web Site: www.marioparty4.com
Mario Party games on Nintendo 64, you know exactly what to expect from 4: a sim- ple, quality party game. (Mario Party is what all the Sonic Shuffles, Crash Bashes, and Pac-Man
Fevers of the world strive to be.)
Gather three of your closest friends (or three computer-controlled players if you’re the anti- social type), roll the virtual bones, and move around one of multiple game boards. Along the way, you'll play a variety of carpal tunnel-induc-
played any of the previous three
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ing minigames, purchase items (used mainly to screw your opponents), and collect enough coins and stars to win the game.
That's how it's been since the beginning of this series, and that's how it remains today. Mario Party 4 may not be the most original game out there anymore, but it's still oodles of fun. The game boards feature so many twists and turns, and the items are so varied, that the current leader can change nearly every turn. And since come-from-behind victories are fairly common, there'll be tons of trash talkin’.
That's the best part of Party 4, really: sitting around and screaming at your buddies while you jam on the buttons. (Speaking of which, if you're still looking for an excuse to pick up a few Wavebird wireless controllers, this is it.) If only you could play online when your friends weren't around...
A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE GAMES
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You're standing on the pages of a giant book. Falling pages threaten to flatten you, but luckily there are plenty of holes in the paper to escape through. The last person standing wins. As
This game requires teamwork aplenty. It seems like a sim- ple button-masher at first, but that button mashing has to be perfectly timed with your teammate’s plat- forming skills. If you don’t work
the game progress- together, you'll es, the pages fall never make it faster and there though this crazy
are fewer holes. obstacle course.
STAMP Ойт!
BoB-OMB BREAKERS
This one’s all about the land grab. Players stand on giant rubber stamps and hop around the screen, stamping their color on the board. Whoever colors the most space wins, so the key to victo- ry is to move fast— and, of course, to color over your opponents’ spots.
At first glance, you'll think this game is a Tetris clone, but those in the know will dis- cover that it’s much more like Puyo Puyo. Match the falling shapes to make them disap- pear while messing up your opponents’ stacks. Once you reach 100 points, you win.
187
Who wants some minigames? There's not only a plethora of multiplayer pastimes-like trying to trace a line more accurately than your opponents (below)-but there's some single-player fun, too. Check out Waluigi and his Goomba-stomping mech (left). A perfect game when you're goin’ at it alone.
The original Mario Party was a fantastic party game, and each subsequent sequel has been better, thanks to a few badly needed tweaks. The only problem was, by the time Party 3 rolled around, the formula had become so refined that very little need- ed to be fixed. That's where Mario Party 4 comes in. Sure, the graphics look a lot nicer now that the series has hit GameCube, but it's pretty much more of the same. Still, it’s hard to complain about a lack of innovation when you're having this much crazy multiplayer fun. Most of the enjoyment comes from the ample new minigames. Granted, the contests are all rather simple, but there's just enough variety to make you think you're experienc- ing something new when you're really just mashing buttons or playing simple memory games. Of course, you'll want to try these minigames (and the big game that surrounds them) with some friends— Party 4 is frightfully dull as a single-player experi- ence. The Story mode spices things up a bit by allowing you to win prizes and decorate tiny doll houses, but it's not enough to drive you to go at it alone. Multiplayer, however, is a hoot and a holler, and makes the game well worth picking up. A word of warning to Nintendo, though: Now that we have our GameCube edition, the whole Mario Party thing is dangerously close to becoming stale; next time, it'll need something new. Phil
Mario Party 4 will definitely be out at my holiday get- togethers this year. I'll admit to being a bit of a party- game junkie. Pictionary, Cranium, Charades— you name it, I'm that person who starts dividing up the teams while the turkey is still on the table. So, Party 4 is right up my alley, and it delivers. The minigames vary just enough to stay interesting without ever becoming too complicated. And the different types of gameplay, from the straightforward (puzzle and racing games) to the utterly random (blowing up bub- bles or scaling a windswept cliff), let everyone be good at something. It may be formulaic, but if the for- mula works, why change it? Jennifer The Mario Parties are some of my favorite multiplayer games (right up there with the Bomberman series), and this fourth installment is as good as ever. But after three previous titles, it's kind of a letdown that the only major difference in MP4 is the sharp GameCube visuals. The new minigames are wicked fun, yet most are just variations of those you played in the earlier titles. And Nintendo still hasn't found a way to make Party an enjoyable single-player game. But when you've got three friends to play with, it can be the most fun you've had around a TV. Just make sure you don't choose that 5o-round game, or you'll be there for all eternity. [H |
SOUND
INGENUITY
2
REPLAY
Publisher: Capcom 25, Developer: Capcom | f е Players: 1 Р Also On: None
Featured in: EGM #161
Best Feature: 5роооооо-Кау! Worst Feature: Feels a lot like the last RE Website: WWW.capcom.com
we were playing the first Resident Evil for
GameCube...hold up, it was just a few months ago! No wonder the excitement that usually surrounds a new edition of Capcom's popular survival-horror series just isn't in the air this time. If you're not charging out to immediately jump on RE, we can't blame you, but it would definitely be a mistake to let Ø completely pass you by.
In many respects, @ follows the same path that the previous zombie thrillers have trod: explore room to room, gather items and keys, Solve a puzzle now and then, and save up ammo for big boss fights. This newest RE does
Д: it seems like just a few months ago that
MATURE
@ does involve supervillain Albert “Future’s So Bright | Gotta Wear Shades” Wesker and evil scientist William “T-Virus” Birkin, but only in a very limited fashion. Those hoping for an in-depth lead from this prequel into the rest of the series will have to look elsewhere— perhaps to one of the many fan fictions available from those lonely, obsessive souls on the Internet.
Remember that time in RE2 when, like, you were on like this big elevator and this, like, big mutated freak
thing attacked you, and the elevator was moving, and you were like "WHOA, LOOK OUT!"? Well, you see that elevator again in Ø (left). Also, an improved map lets you know exactly where you drop items.
188
Besides the standard stuff you always get for finishing an RE game within a certain amount of time (new outfits and a rocket launcher), Ø includes the unlockable minigame Leech Hunter. Sadly, it's about as lame as it sounds: You run through rooms from the stan- dard game that have been remixed with different monsters and items, and collect colored leech pendants. Once you finish the game...oh, sorry, we dozed off there for a second. Once you finish the game, you're ranked based on the number of leeches you found and on your completion time. Get good enough and you can unlock special weapons and features, like unlimited ammo, for the main game.
And Fm tog) sex: ) there's no way i'm disco dartci
before realizing everything: abi has been blown off by a
bet ya just can't Wait t6 Play. this.
Official Star Wars Web Site www.starWars:com
STAR. WARS.
THE
Where Episode Il ends, your battle begins. Defend the Republic on the ground and in the air across the battlefields of six different worlds. Battle through four multiplayer modes, including team-based strategy, deathmatch, king-of-the-hill and co-op endurance. Or lead your clone troopers to victory in an epic single-player campaign as Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Your directive: crush the Separatist armies! Battle through 16 missions on six vast worlds.
NINTENDO GAMECUBE.
www.swclonewars.com
Violence
manage a few fairly significant alterations, though. Controlling two characters at once cre- ates a few interesting puzzles (and, it must be said, a few tedious ones) and some fun com- bat moments, as you and your ally take on groups of enemies back-to-back, like a cop- buddy-film duo.
The ability to drop items (and subsequent lack of storage boxes) is another big change, although our three reviewers disagreed about whether or not that feature is a good or bad thing. Some found it refreshing to no longer be limited to certain rooms for placing and retrieving items, while others missed the abili- ty to access stored objects from any storage box location.
A final, more subtle improvement can be found іп 05 room layout: Everything is merci- fully more convenient this time, and shortcuts usually appear the few times you need to do serious backtracking. In the end, these changes aren't so radical that they'll change anyone's mind about the series—if you already love or hate RE, you'll still love or hate this опе but they are improvements anyone can appreciate.
As for difficulty, a scarcity of ammo and heal- ing items for the two characters you take care of makes Ø a good challenge on Normal (about as tough as the RE1 remake). Also, Easy mode is available from the start this time, for those who get tired of seeing "YOU DIED" on screen all the time.
NO LONGER A DA
IN THE
The biggest addition to Ø is the Partner Zapping system, which lets you switch back and forth between the two main characters, Billy and Rebecca, at any time. Just press a but- ton and the screen blurs out; when you come to, you're in control of your new body. In each of the situations described below, this gives £ a bit of the fresh gameplay RE so badly needs.
SOLVE PUZZLES
You'll need to split up and use both characters from time to time— like when Billy cranks open a cage so Rebecca can grab the item under it.
SWAP ITEMS
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„ As long as your team- mate is close by, you can | trade items or ammo | directly
“ between your inventories, so who's carrying what rarely becomes a problem.
FIGHT TOGETHER
With a quick press of the Start button, tell your part- ner to follow or stay put. You can also set their А.І. to attack or hold fire anytime they spot a bad guy. Two guns are definitely better than one, especially since the other player can knock off that zombie chew- ing on your neck with a well-timed shot.
190
Here is Monsieur leach-obsessed scientist himself (below-he dresses like a wizard now for some rea- son). It's too bad the story for Ø focuses more on his history than more directly dealing with the events that lead into the first Resdienf Evil, but his leechy henchmen and their eggs are creepy.
L-
For a series that benefits so much from the unexpect- ed, RE@ is sadly predictable—the mutated animals (killer frogs? sigh), the crate-pushing puzzles, the self-destruct countdown during the final boss fight. And yes, it was just recently we were blasting zombies in the Cube's RE1 remake, so a good deal of the “wow” factor is gone. But even if the game is large- ly formulaic, Capcom still pulls it off better than anyone else out there. The razor-sharp visuals and lifelike backgrounds (including a few truly amazing scenes atop a moving train) add to the chilling atmos- phere that makes RE games worth playing. It's all about the glorious decay of dusty floorboards and darkened secret labs that create that wonderfully spooky feeling. One especially cool enemy—a gooey man-blob made of leeches—along with eerie music and a decent number of interesting puzzles pop up amongst all the shooting action. Personally, | love the lack of storage. boxes; you can drop items anywhere to make room for what you really need, eliminating much of the backtracking that slowed this series down. And it's nice not always going it alone, although managing your second character takes get- ting used to. | was hoping for more backstory rather than the lame new plot, but fans will appreciate a few key historical moments. 2 doesn't defy any expecta- tions, but it doesn't disappoint, either. Mark
The Resident Evil games have always been about spooky atmosphere, and @ is arguably the creepiest yet. The music, monsters, and environments leave you feeling tense and uneasy throughout; every time you open a new door, your right forefinger will be twitching, ready to spray some lead. But while this title has the mood aspect down pat, its new play mechanics leave a lot to be desired. You now have to control two characters (often simultaneously —think /co for PS2), which can get messy; it’s often too hard to keep your secondary char- acter out of harm’s way. And the elimination of the stor- age boxes makes inventory-handling a hassle. All said, Ø is a flawed but engaging frightfest. Ethan
Capcom’s latest RE feels more like a sidestory than the all-revealing prelude that | was hoping for. Yet, | found @ to be the most fun—gameplay wise—of the series. In addition to the strategies introduced by "zapping" back and forth between. characters, the new weapons (especially the Molotov cocktail) give this RE refreshing ways to dispatch zombies and leeches. Taken on its own, @ is an excellent adven- ture loaded with atmosphere and inventive boss fights. But | couldn't help but feel a tinge of disap- pointment with how little the game contributes to the overall RE mythos. Guess Pll have to wait until RE4 to get the next real dose of the story line. Che
VISUALS so INGENUITY REPLAY
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X-Men: Next Dimension
==
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Publisher: Activision raft Developer: Paradox
Players: 12
Also On: GC, Xbox
Featured Іп: ЕСМ #159
Best Feature: Vastly improved game mechanics Worst Feature: Lightweight physics
Website: www.universeofheroes.com
Finally, an X-Men brawler that fighting-game purists (and not just fans of the comic book) can sink their teeth into. | have to give developer Paradox its props— Next Dimension is a vast improvement over its previous efforts (X-Men: Mutant Academy 1 and 2). Unlike those PS1 games, just jamming on one button over and over won't get you through Next Dimension. Yes, the computer is wise to your tricks now. No matter which of the fan-friendly modes you take your favorite X-Man through (the innovative, branching Story mode being the game's high point), it's actually the impressive fighting mechanics (and not the license) that make this worth play- ing. Dimension cleverly mixes expansive, Dead or Alive 3-style levels, Tekken-esque combos, and Marvel vs. Capcom's aerial juggles. Plus, with 24 characters to choose from, the fighting variety goes on and on—everyone should be able to find a fight- er they feel.comfortable with. The game stumbles a bit by putting the block move on a shoulder button when simply pulling back would have sufficed. Also, the floaty physics don't give the characters (especially larger guys like Juggernaut) the sub- stantial, weighty feel that they should have. Still, for X-Men fans who dig on videogames, Next Dimension is the ultimate souvenir. For everyone else, it's still a very fun fighting зате. Milkman
|
Dragon's Lair 3D
Publisher: Ubi Soft
Developer: Dragonstone X Players: 1
Also On: PS2, GC
Featured In: EGM #156
Best feature: Snazzy animated intro and ending Worst Feature: Sloppy controls
Web Site:
The idea of throwing Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne into a fully interactive 3D world is a great one—these are wonderful characters, and old- school gamers have wanted to explore Singe’s Castle in real-time since the original Dragon’s Lair debuted in arcades 20 years ago. Lair 3D was even handled by the same guys responsible for that classic laserdisc game—which is both good and bad. It’s good from a style standpoint; this release really captures the look and feel of Dirk's cartoony arcade exploits. But it’s bad from a gameplay perspective—the developers obviously had no idea how to make a character con- trol smoothly in a 3D environment. Running, jump- ing, and climbing are real headaches; poor Dirk moves with the grace and speed of a snail draped in chain-mail armor. It's too bad—the crappy play mechanics spoil what would otherwise be a solid game. Most of the puzzle-centric stages are cleverly designed, and the boss fights are handled well, but that’s not enough to salvage a game with busted play controls. If you’re a hardcore fan of the series, this release is worth at least a rental—you'll get a kick out of seeing classic scenes from the arcade game reworked to fit into the new 3D template (the Lizard King sequence is particularly cool). But if you've never heard of this series before, you're better off avoiding Lair 3D altogether. Ethan
www.dragonslair3d.com
As with its PS1 predecessors, Next Dimension means well. It offers up a sizeable roster from the X-Men universe and a fairly solid fighting system that does- n't completely ape the other brawlers out there. Unfortunately, despite a commendable combo setup, the engine itself has plenty of frustrating ele- ments. The controls are stiff, and confining throws and counters to the shoulder buttons just doesn't seem right. Plus, collision detection is iffy at times, and the game suffers from an overall lack of bal- ance between characters. Factor in obscene load times and overly difficult enemy A.l., and it's a game that only rabid X-fans will enjoy. Sam
You'd expect Next Dimension to be a step up from the PS1 Academy games, but it's actually more of a mutat- ed shuffle sideways. It's not crap—X-fans will enjoy the easy moves and massive environments, plus familiar heroes, villains, and locations. Even Professor X himself, Patrick Stewart, lends his voice. If you look below the surface, though, you'll find a merely pass- able fighting game. Too many characters play almost identically, and orchestrating movement with both the D-pad (for horizontal) and analog (for 3D walking) cre- ates crazy exploitable mistakes, like blocking while moving in for a throw. This one’s for fans only; Milkman's just got a crush on Psylocke. Shane
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
In 1983, people would line up just to watch the original arcade version of Dragon's Lair. Control a cartoon? Impossible! Now, it's back in vogue with cel-shading technology. That's why I’m torn about the 3D version. It looks nice, plays reasonably well, and gives a king's ransom worth of true-to-the-original arcade levels to explore. The lack of polish, though, keeps Lair 3D from standing above the crowd. Take the vertigo-inducing camera control and targeting system, for example. It had me spinning around some rooms, running into walls, and missing enemies. What this new Dragon's Lair boils down to is a merely decent game that's bank-
cards, books, dice, pointy sticks, the arts (including finger painting), dirt, air, sock puppets, broken glass, all other videogames, every form of human and animal companionship, rust, cheese, hammers, rocks, and yodeling—why, then Dragon's Lair 3D might be the most fun you could have and still be conscious. We heartily recommend slamming hero Dirk the Daring into walls to watch him recoil, as this is the best part of the game. A camera system that hates you domi- nates throughout, and the only real challenge here is trying not to openly weep while “savoring” this game's overly simplistic run-jump-slash play. Greg 0.
VISUALS REPLAY
SOUND INGENUITY
1 6 9
1
Dark Alliance
E eq
3 Publisher:
Vivendi Univ. X Developer: Snowblind Studios Players: 1-2 Also On: PS2, GC Also Try:
Best Feature:
Breakneck pace Gauntlet: DL Worst Feature: Website: Catatonic А.І www.interplay.com
They just don't make games like this often enough. Dark Alliance is as deep as any RPG, but its focus on fast-paced gameplay makes it as visceral as the spazziest beat 'em up. Don't let its Dungeons & Dragons roots fool you, either; all the hardcore rules are kept well behind the scenes, so if you weren't reared on 20-sided dice, you should still be all good. Dark Alliance is a straight-up dungeon crawl, and for the most part, all you've gotta do is jam on the attack button. Enemies come at you en masse, which makes the proceedings hectic and exciting. Luckily, you have a nice variety of ways to dispatch them, helping offset one of the game's biggest faults: the feeling of monotony that sets in after you've killed your 10,000th Dark Elf. The fact that these ene- mies are as intelligent as cinder blocks doesn't help; you'll often be able to kill the strongest ones by sim- ply running around them in circles and striking their flanks. In spite of this, this game is easily worth checking out (especially with a friend for co-op play), assuming you missed it on the Р52. Miguel
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
Publisher: Codemasters Developer: Codemasters Players:
14
Also On: PS2
Better Than: RalliSport Challenge Website: codemasters.com
X
Best Feature: Great graph- ics and control
Worst Feature: The loneli- ness of rally racing
You can always count on Codemasters to push the envelope with the Colin McRae series, and Rally 3 is no exception. As you fly down treacherous, winding roads, you'll be amazed at how realistic the world around you looks. It's easy to mistake Rally 3 for a television broadcast. Gameplay-wise, Colin drives like a dream, making you feel like you're actually in control of your car as you approach that scary hairpin turn surrounded by those very unforgiving trees. And you can't just go balls to the wall the whole time, either. Your car can only take so much damage before it craps out, and you've only got two chances to fix it during each rally. | really like that, since it sets up a nice risk/reward system where you might have to take a hit on your completion time to keep your car in one piece. The only reason you might not get into Colin McRae 3 is if racing against the clock—and never other cars—sounds boring to you. But then, you're not really a rally fan, so this game wasn't made for you anyway. You won't find a better offroad racing simulation anywhere. Greg S.
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
8 4 8
PlayStation.
WWW.ROCKSTARGAMES.COM/VICECITY
SOUNDTRACK ALBUMS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON EPIC RECORDS WWW.VICECITYRADIO.COM
MATURE
Violence Strong Language
Blood and Gore *
Еттщ Strong Sexual Context ESRB
[]
"PlayStation" and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. © 2002 Rockstar Games, Inc. Rockstar Games, the Rockstar Games logo Rockstar North and the Rockstar North logo are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Rockstar Games and Rockstar North are subsidiaries of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. "Epic" апа ® Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. ОН. Marca Registrada /C 2002 Sony Music Entertainment Inc Al other marks and trademarks are properties of their respective owners, All Rights Reserved. Note: Rockstar wil be following IDSA guidelines for M rated games in the marketing of this дате. This game contains violent language and behavior and may not be appropriate for persons under the age of 17. Iis a comic interpretation of gangster activity and the story, names and incidents portrayed herein are fictitious, No identification or similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is intended or should
condone or encourage this kind of behavior.
е inferred. Any resemblance is coincidental. The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse,
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li EA Games Eurocom/ EA 479 1-4 Р52,6С EGM #160 Extremely varied gameplay It's too short 007.ea.com
Bond flick, Die Another Day, EA launches an
all-new adventure for the suavest agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service. NightFire doesn't offer any digital encounters with Halle Berry, but breakin' free from a movie plot allows the game to really go over-the-top with explosive action sequences, missions featuring Q's souped-up vehicles, and a triple dose of Bond-girl sexiness. The shooting stages derive obvious inspiration from Rare's Nintendo 64 classic, GoldenEye, but take the concept of a Bond first-person shooter much further. Both guns-blazing and super- stealthy approaches can succeed; depending on your style, you'll often find two totally different paths through a level. Slipping through silently demands that you master the clever uses for the game's array of Q-gadgets. And tinkering with goodies like a tiny spy camera, watch laser, grappling hook/cell phone, and an exploding electric-razor bomb actually makes it feel like you're Bond, not just a Doom marine in a tux. Plus, the game keeps mixing it up with driving,
Te: to coincide with the launch of the new
Ф
: 11 Remote Torpedo
Your Aston Martin V12 Vanquish performs remark- ably well off-road...way off the road, as in under- water. Sadly, it attracts no mermaid Bond girls.
flying, and underwater stages tossed in between FPS bits. In terms of pacing, visuals, and variety, it's a massive improvement over last year's Agent Under Fire oo; title.
A robust Multiplayer mode helps keep
the action shaking and stirring once | you've finished the main game. It’s clas- | sic split-screen mayhem for four bud- | dies, but the lack of Xbox Live support
(or even LAN network play) means the
fun will be localized to your living room.
-
NightFire's driving levels aren't just some tacked- on extra-the team behind Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 crafted them using that game's awe- some engine. The Spy Hunter-esque weaponry, cop evasion, and thrilling jumps will make you forget all about the vomitous 007 Racing for PS1.
After last year’s ambitious but ultimately disappointing Agent Under Fire, | was ready to bury the whole Bond game concept under a tombstone that read “At least GoldenEye was good.” But | judged too quickly— NightFire is a rousing success that should revitalize 007’s gaming career. The super-slick presentation (fea- turing a CG title sequence complete with a vocal NightFire theme song and copious glamour shots of Pierce Brosnan’s cyber-scanned face) really makes it feel like a real Bond movie. Each gameplay mode—like the shooting, driving, and flying parts—sports solid, speedy graphics that look a little snazzier in this Xbox version compared to the PS2 and GC ones. But it’s not the nice visuals that make NightFire worth playing— the amazing gameplay is the main draw. You can tackle the FPS levels with either a take-no-prisoners, shoot ’em up philosophy, or a stealthy gadgets ‘n’ eva- sion style. Your experience will be vastly different depending upon which you choose, inviting lots of experimentation and replay. Very cool. The vehicle- based stages offer more straightforward action, but they're still fun (if a bit too easy). One caveat, though— it’s all over way too quickly. You'll blast through the game in a weekend, no problem. Luckily, the enjoyable split-screen Deathmatch (don't expect online or net- work play) will draw you and your friends back for some classic Mayday vs. Oddjob action. Shane
The best 007 title to come around since GoldenEye, NightFire takes all the gameplay elements that Agent Under Fire fouled up last year and polishes them till they shine. The first-person sequences now offer branching paths, and the intense driving stages— handled by EA's Need For Speed team—totally steal the show. Heck, even the on-rails shooting stages are a blast. Every part of this game is frantic, fast-paced, and fun, and that includes the fluid four-player, splitscreen face-offs. Provided you're not expecting a game as deep as Halo, this is definitely one to check out. The characters, gad- gets, humor, and pacing all come together to capture that indescribable James Bond feeling. Ethan
Bond is a lot like Batman: a great license that only seems to get a good game once in a very great while. Well, it looks like 007’s time is now. The FPS sections in NightFire are really open-ended for this style of game, letting you decide how to infiltrate each new area, when to get into a firefight, and when to avoid detection altogether. And since Bond's always globe-trotting, the levels vary great- ly, with loads of gadgets at your disposal (most of which are actually useful this time) to keep the gameplay fresh. On top of all that, the driving levels interspersed throughout are really fast and fun, like a shootin’ version of Hot Pursuit 2. Greg S.
VISUALS $ D INGENUITY REPLAY
we
BEFORE THE MANSION. BEFORE THE DISASTER.
Fight for survival in this action-packed thriller with an all-new story line!
d К l Use more strategy as you switch between R cca and Billy for collaborative gameplay.
Introducing anew playable character, nightmarish beasts and non-stop terror.
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MATURE
Blood and Gore NINTENDO
Violence GAMECUBE. capcom.com
© CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2002 © CAPCOM U.S.A.. INC. 2002. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM LOGO are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTO. RESIDENT EVIL is а registered trademark of CAPCOM CO,. ЕТО; e ratings icon ig а registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Softyvare Association. LICENSED BY NINTENDO. Nintendo. Nintendo GameCube and the Official Seal are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo,
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EGM #160
Almost fully destructible environ- ments
Sometimes overwhelming odds www.mechassault.com
style. Twenty-story-tall bipedal machines are
getting together to bring the house down in MechAssault, a fast-paced shooting game that’s at least a couple tons of fun.
An army of more than 20 mechs is at your disposal, and each has its own unique build, handling, and weapon payloads. For the sneaky bastards out there, check out the quick Puma, which cloaks itself while stalk- ing prey. Or, if you'd prefer to wade into bat- tle and just crush the enemy, nothing beats a bullet barrage delivered by the heavy Mad Cat or Thor mechs.
The single-player mode is varied and chal- lenging (too challenging, sometimes). We had the most fun, however, gunning each
|: time for some urban renewal, giant-robot
other down in the various multiplayer modes.
Most were exciting (Destruction —your basic free-for-all Deathmatch), though some were pointless (Not It! —essentially everyone teaming up on one guy), but all played near flawlessly either splitscreen or over a LAN. Even the Xbox Live online experience was smooth and lag-free. The voice-chat (with headset communicator) worked just fine and left us wishing we'd never again have to use à keyboard for online talk. You can vent your frustrations to the entire battlefield by yelling into the mic or send team-only info to your friendlies with one button-press—an invaluable feature. Expect the airwaves to erupt with some colorful language, though, because war is truly hell.
You're not just fighting other mechs. You're tak- ing on helicopters, men in battle suits, battleships, and foot soldiers-whom you can just step оп.
The stages in MechAssault have an amazing amount of detail. Fire a missile at a building and you'll smash through the wall and windows, exposing the structure's now-on-fire innards. Keep fir- ing, and the building will come crashing down. And it's more than just blowing stuff up for the sake of blowing stuff up; you can use it all to your advantage. See a Cougar walking underneath a rocky overpass? Don't just shoot him; hit the stuff above him to bring it crashing down for extra (and oh-so-satisfying) damage.
198
While we're saddened by the fact that we won't live long enough to see the 3154 century (when we get to drive these beasts to work and utterly destroy anyone who cuts us off on the highway), we do like playing MechAssault, with its hulking mechs, destructible stages, and massive firepower.
Some will salute MechAssault's crisp graphics. Others will talk about the variety of mechs at your disposal. Me? I like blowing everything to hell. The detailed and destructible environments keep you on your toes in this game, as you really get a feel for the size and scope of your mech. You can squish soldiers underfoot, hide in large hangar bays, or run between buildings in dense- ly packed cities. There are a few annoying things that keep Assault from earning true MechWarrior status, though. The tiny radar gives you a heads-up on nearby threats, but why no satellite map in single player? If they have the technology to build giant mechs, you'd think they'd be able to get a snapshot of the hot zone you're dropping into. The other issue is the difficulty. Tanks sur- round you, helicopters swarm, and enemy mechs blast away—new recruits will undoubtedly be overwhelmed. At times, | didn’t know where the hell incoming fire was coming from. That's when | almost wished | were in a slow-moving sim like Steel Battalion. Still, the great multiplayer matches will shut up most complainers (which reminds me: "Editor's Death,” wherever you аге, you're officially my bitch). | do have to throw in one pub- lic-service message, though: The vibration feedback works almost too well. My favorite weapon, the PPC cannon, causes the controller to shake as it charges, but charging too long caused a 5.5 Richter-scale quake in
my hands. Darren
In direct contrast to Steel Battalion, MechAssault is flashy, fast, and instantly gratifying. There aren't any fancy gyroscopes, reticules, heads-up displays, or ammo counts to worry about—this is the land of fire-and-forget, and you're the king of short-term memory. Still, for such quick-paced arcade action, MechAssault does a great job of making you feel like a 40-foot-tall behemoth as you trample and blow the crap out of just about any building in town. And the game really shines on Xbox Live, where the various online modes become addictive. It isn't the deepest action game around, to be sure, but that doesn't mean it's not a helluva lot of fun. Che
Don't lie. If you were to get into a 100-ton walking tank in real life, you're not going to want to fiddle with using complex controls or customizing your ride; you're gonna want to blow the living heck out of everything around you. For that, MechAssault deliv- ers. It's a fast-paced action game that makes you real- ly feel like you're firing huge weapons with seriously heavy ammunition. The pyrotechnics are impressive (ust wait till you see the final mech's special weapon), and the resulting damage in the environ- ment looks incredible. Multiplayer is a lot of fun, especially online, but only if you can get a large group game going (two player is boring).
From DVD movies to DVD players, even plasma TVs. You'll find something fun for everyone.
Look for the special MGM movie section in most Best Buy stores.
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Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami CET Players: Я
Also On: PS2 (2003)
Featured In: ЕСМ #160
Best Feature; Incredible gameplay Worst Feature: Lame story Website: www.konami.com
ost of us didn’t really expect to be that blown away by MGS2: Substance. After
all, we play every major game that
comes out, so we were already familiar with the trials and tribulations of Snake and compa- ny from the PS2 version last year. But the
moment we dove into the VR training missions added for Substance, or when we tried the main game again, for that matter, we were hooked on М652 all over again.
Simply put, this was a great game before, and now it's changed for the better. Sure, the ridiculously complex and silly main story is still there, but the new VR missions that challenge you to learn every nuance of Metal Gear Solid (from bomb disposal to photography) are entirely new and incredibly entertaining.
And then there are the Snake Tales—a col- lection of minimissions starring series' super- star Solid Snake. (He takes а back seat to...a
MATURE
new character in main game, in case you somehow missed that whole controversy.) Don't get your hopes up too high, though.
e the challenges are neat (and hard!), they don't really add to (or fix) anything from the main game's story line. In fact, the pages of text that thread together the different Snake Tale missions might even have a fruitier plot than MGS2 proper (parts of it seem like a Sta Trek holodeck episode gone awry). It's like a parallel universe, where Snake is thrown into various situations that are pieced together with different playable sections from the rest of the game. You have goals like taking a pho- tograph of a giant monster or playing throu: some modified VR missions.
All three of our reviewers agree: Whet or not you've played MGS2 before, Substance has enough...well, substance, to warrant checking it ou
So let's say, hypothetically speaking, that you think the hero of MGS2, Raiden, is a bleached-blond, whiny, wussyboy stupidhead-hypothetically speaking, of course. Well, in Substance, you can play as Solid Snake in a huge collection of m
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Just to give you an idea of the wide variety of actions and occasional humor included in Substance's hundreds of VR missions, we picked a few of our favorites:
Once you play through 50 percent of Raiden's VR missions, you unlock his ninja outfit and some all-new missions. Not only does he look cool, but the ninja also gets plenty of quality slicing and dicing time with an artery-severing sword (that can also be used to block bullets — too cool).
Did you know you can catch ledges as you're falling in MGS2? Grabbing on demands precise button-pressing accuracy. One mission takes this obscure skill and forces you to master it, starting you at the top of a 20-story structure and daring you to get all the way down. Watch
that first step.
Raiden's final challenge is to get through five levels in two minutes without being spotted — while buck naked. This bashful pretty-boy can't bother to attack while in the nude, so you'll have to evade everyone. The best part is when you get caught: You hear approaching police sirens as the Game Over screen appears.
Snipe approaching guards before they can reach the front of the playfield. What are they after? Usually, it's your buddy-with-benefits from MGS1, Meryl, but when you play as Snake's alter ego, Pliskin, it's a plate of delicious curry. Sure, this plate of food won't be your constant companion, but it won't up and die on you, either.
A few missions feature gigantic, 80-foot-tall guards stomping around and screaming like Godzilla (they even have the trademark spines on their back). Bringing these colossal dudes to their knees requires a volley of well-placed Stinger missiles. You're better off just sneaking
past them.
Once you get your assignment (either a descrip- tion or a picture of a certain object), you need to locate it and take a picture. The shot above is of а crewman's ghost— you need to shoot the lights out for it to appear. While it's not quite as bone chilling as Fatal Frame, it's at least 500 percent more cool than Pokémon Snap.
The game boasts a bevy of hidden characters, but in reality, most of them are just different versions of Raiden and Snake. Here, we see good old Dave (Snake's real name, y'know) masquerading as the mysterious Pliskin by wearing a headset. Lame.
Let's not beat around the bush: The story in Metal Gear Solid 2 is all sorts of messed up. But for every sappy exchange or ridiculous plot twist that has me rolling my eyes in disgust, there are a dozen things | love about this game. In my opinion it's still the one of the greatest action games out there. Substance is filled with tense moments as you break cover in order to move through each area, taking out enemies and trying to avoid detection. The controls are so spot-on that avoiding confrontation is a matter of skill rather than luck, and fighting off an attack is equally enter- taining thanks to all the weapons at your disposal. The best part about Substance isn't that Xbox owners finally get one of the biggest titles on the Р52, though. It's that they're getting a deluxe version of it. The dozens and dozens of added VR missions guar- antee that you'll be playing this one for quite a while. Plus, they're about the coolest tutorials you could ever have in a videogame, teaching you how to do every move, use every weapon, and master every advanced technique you might not otherwise think of. Then you can apply them all to the new Snake Tales. As anyone familiar with MGS2 knows, Snake didn't play quite the role most of us expected, so including His Solidness in these non sequitur minigames feels like Konami's way of saying "sorry" for something that
.. Greg 5.
Xbox owners who missed out on all the MGS2 action last year will be happy to know that the core game is perfectly intact in Substance. Is that a good thing? Yes, because all its fabulous stealth gameplay carries over perfectly. No, because the graphics haven't been upgraded, which is a shame. Thankfully, Substance makes up for it by adding a massive collection of VR missions, extra modes, and costumes to unlock and enjoy. Does this make the main character, Raiden, any less of a Backstreet Boy? No. Will players continue to have a love/hate thing with Substance's twisted, unnerving story line? Most definitely. Essential gam- ing, regardless. Milkman Almost everything great about MGS2 on the PS2 holds up on this rerelease: The sharp graphics, fantastic sneaking/fighting/shooting mechanics, and attention to detail still amaze. Plus, all the added VR missions take advantage of the game's biggest strength (gameplay) and cut out its one real weakness (silly story line); challenging and addictive, many stages are so intricate they become almost like little puzzles. Controls don't work quite as well as on the PS2 con- troller the game was designed around, especially in the new first-person missions, but they soon become com- fortable. A must-play for MGS2 newbies, but at least worth renting even if you already beat it. Mark
VISUALS E D INGENUITY REPLAY
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Lap-busting controller Bank-busting $200 price tag WWW.capcom.com
ever wanted to pilot vehicles for the U.S.
military but couldn't because of lousy eye- sight or crummy grades or grotesque obesity or...well, we won't ask if you don't tell. This game—which seals you inside monster "vertical tanks" (VTs) with enough firepower to level Toledo—is the ultimate simulator, making even high-end PC combat games seem like kiddie rides. The only trick: You gotta buy your way into Steel Battalion's army. The game costs $200, thanks to a packed-in, 3-foot-long con- troller bristling with 34 candy-colored buttons, two joysticks, three pedals, and a six-speed gearshift. And, yes, some assembly is required.
The controller, price, two instruction manu-
als, and mondo learning curve all make for the most niche console game ever. But if none of this terrifies you, or if you think all other mech games are for girls, lock onto Steel Battalion — quickly (Capcom is releasing it in limited quan- tities). It's got the right stuff if you do.
6 teel Battalion is the game for anyone who
*—Anytime this button flashes, hit it! I'll spoof any enemy missiles homing in.
Battalion's controller i is too o0 big for your lap, so buy a cheapo card table and set up shop in front of the TV. Oh, and wear shoes or the stiff pedals will tuck- er out your toes. Homemade flight suit optional.
RIE ШІ
Missions range from sneaking through a pitch- black base to an assault on a battleship, although we're happy just grabbing enemy livestock with our manipulator claw and taking 'em on rides.
—Ups the evel in your targeting computer, making long-distance hits more likely.
)VER — Jam it for a speed boost in Second: and third-generation VTs.
Г— Bail out when all is lost. Save
“data’s nuked if you go down with the ship.
204
VT Cruiser: Sleeker vertical tanks open up later in the game. The cockpit to the left is from a second- generation VT, which is less cramped and has a color monitor, compared to the black-and-white first-generation jalopy below. Third-generation mechs have cup holders and lumbar support.
ШШШ
It’s a million little things that make Steel Battalion the most immersive robo sim this side of the year 2050: the pre-mission mech start-up sequences, the claustropho- bic cockpits, the lack of a pause button (hint: Unplug the controller if too much Code Red soda has pushed your bladder to code yellow). And then there's one mighty big thing: the included controller, studded with buttons that glow and react to what's happening onscreen. Expect to invest a full day of play to become a true mech warrior, because manipulating two sticks and three pedals is tantamount to driving a manual transmission while juggling. The experience is really a trial by fire: If, by the fourth mission, you haven't mas- tered your mech's systems and started tailoring your arsenal, you're scrap. Foul up a few times and you have to start the whole game over—a prospect that made me sweatin later missions. Battalion does have a few loose bolts that wobbled my suspension of disbelief. Terrain pops into the picture in some environments, which is a shame considering how amazing everything looks oth- erwise. Your computer-controlled squadmates are use- less in battle and even get in the way (you can make 'em behave by issuing orders halfway through the game, when maps start to repeat). If only Battalion was online and those were real pilots | was screaming at. Let's hope Capcom brings a networked version (currently announced only for Japan) to the States. Crispin
Steel Battalion's obsession with giant mechanized war- fare borders on fetishism, and for a mech junkie like me, it's heaven. Sure, it costs as much as an Xbox, but you get what you pay for; and in this case, your return value isn't just the deep gameplay or photorealistic visuals— it's also a very physical sense that you're pilot- ing an 8o-ton robot. In the midst of an intense firefight, you'll feel the sweat on your palms, stiffness in your shoulders (from working both arms on the control sticks), maybe even a leg cramp from working the three foot pedals. Battalion is a dirty little slice of hyper-reali- ty that will forever change the way gamers view not just mech games, but simulations on the whole. Che
Anyone who sees Battalion’s awesome, massive con- troller cannot resist giving it a test drive—but 10 min- utes later only the stubborn, the hardcore, and the truly mech-obsessed will have the desire to continue. It’s slow, it’s difficult, it’s unapologetically complicated...but it's also incredibly realistic, unique, and engrossing. When you play, you are in a gigantic robot, lumbering into real-world combat. | was a little disappointed the camera zoom doesn’t reveal more long-range detail, and that my moronic teammates all seem to idle with the enemy when you aren’t within sight. But for those who can appreciate it, Battalion offers an experience
like no other. Mark
VISUALS
OUND
SBG1000
Ubi Soft
Ubi Soft Montreal Studios # 7% 1
PS2, GC
EGM #161
You ARE a silent assassin Missions get can get pretty tough www.splintercell.com
and defined by Konami's Metal Gear Solid
series, Splinter Cell (and more precisely, Sam Fisher) has walked onto the playing field and damn near leveled it. High praise, you might think, for a publisher best known for the armless, legless wonder, Rayman — and yet, it's true. Splinter Cell is the second coming of the stealth-action genre. Whereas most Tom Clancy games have revolved around the strategic use of an entire squad of specially trained tactical agents, Splinter Cell is different. Specializing in delicate covert ops, you quickly grow fond of the gruff hero Mr. Fisher (expertly voiced by Michael Ironside), who threads his way in and out of danger, often without firing a shot.
Unlike the drab, dreary world of Solid Snake,
the Eastern Bloc, where tiberagent Fisher plies
U: Soft has nailed it. In an arena created
his trade, is a place bathed in shadow and light.
Light, of course, is bad, but the shadow is oh- so-very-good. It's the place where Fisher disap- pears at the blink of an eye and where he func- tions at his best. The trouble (for the bad guys) is, Sam can see you— you can't see him.
And since light is such a key element, it helps at Splinter Cell's lighting effects are truly
he most realistic and dramatic ever seen in a videogame. While screens do a fair job of conveying it, you really need to step in front of a floodlight and have it cast a long, striking
t t
shadow to really understand how drop-dead gorgeous it looks in the game.
Because the lighting is so effective, you're able to use shadows to sneak right under the nose of an enemy guard facing your direction. Then again, if you choose to circumvent his position, climb a terrace, and scoot over him, well, that sort of organic, environmental
<> Б du Ў Tar и? Ree A coun 9 Tom Clancy's Splinter Сеп 4; $ 2 ғ 7 os "s c» 75
Picking locks offers some of the coolest moments in the game. After the first few tries, you'll be a master locksmith, breakin' into enemy hideouts (and, if it's more your style, the ladies" room).
No, the screens to your right aren't of some grimy, underground European club. They're savvy hints to 1) help you through a tricky point in Splinter Cell and 2) show you how open-ended the game is. There are multiple ways to overcome most obstacles. Take, for instance, the sewer sequence in the Chinese Embassy mission: You have to tail three guards, and you're not allowed to kill any of them. This is quite tough, because if they catch a glimpse of you, you're worm food, guaranteed. So, how can you make your life easier? The moment you step into the sew- ers, pull out your smoke grenade and lob it
into the smoke and conk all three of ‘em in the head with your elbow. That way, you can
unde ected,
at the guards. When they start coughing, run
breeze through the underground area totally
206
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Screenshots taken from Xbox version of the game. ©2002 Terminal Reality. Developed by Terminal Reality. Licensed to and published by Majesco Sales. Inc. ©2002 Majesco Sales, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "PlayStation and the ‘PS’ Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. TM, © and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. ©2001 Nintendo. Microsoft, Xbox and the Xbox logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft; The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
MATURE
CONTENT RATED BY RB
www.majescogames.com
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mark by which all future Xbox titles will be judged
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gameplay is possible, too. In fact, most prob- lems in this near puzzle-like game can be solved in any number of ways (see Dancing in the Dark sidebar).
Aiding Fisher in his exploits is a stellar control set. After a mandatory training session (it's over with quickly, don't worry), the initially complex controls soon become second nature. Everything feels just right. The way Sam jumps, the way he crouches, the way he rappels down buildings — you'll find little fault with the con- trols. The camera is completely manual (and managed by the right thumbstick) but is user- friendly and is almost always able to give you the perfect angle.
But what would a supersecret agent be with- out a host of fancy techno-gizmos? Thankfully, Sam's array of weapons, fiber-optic cables, smoke grenades, thermal goggles, and more are all easily accessed by an organized and sen- sible interface. No struggling to equip the right item in the heat of battle. Likewise, when Fisher Switches on the infrared or the night-vision, the
We really cannot stress enough just how amazing Splinter Celf's visuals truly are. It's raised the bench- -Metal Gear Solid 3 now has something to shoot for.
whole screen is filtered without switching to the prohibitive first-person view.
Not everything is perfect, though. When you trigger the close-up third-person targeting mode each time you pull out your weapon, Sam always hangs to the right, exposing himself whenever he needs to peek around the left cor- ner of a wall. This often gives him away to secu- rity cameras and eagle-eyed guards. Another lit- tle gripe is the weak 5.7mm pistol Fisher packs during the first few missions. Since it's equipped with a silencer, the gun's stopping power is considerably weak, often rendering point blank head shots to approaching enemies ineffective. Man up to a omm, Fisher!
Still, over the course of nine tension-filled missions, there is never a dull moment. Cut- Scenes cannot be skipped, but the story is so good, you'll want to savor the game's every politically driven nuance. Basically, Splinter Cell is a game that magically makes everything come together— graphics, gameplay, innovative new ideas, and dazzling execution. You feel like the world's supercoolest stealth machine every time you complete one of the game's objec- tives.
Especially for the virgin effort of a brand-new franchise, Splinter Cell comes up smelling like roses on all fronts. The fact that Cell 's Xbox Live compatibility ensures additional down- loadable missions, costumes, weapons, and enemies, makes this an even greater value for black-ops wannabes. Don't hesitate to buy this amazing game.
Some missions require apprehending a particular target and using his retinal pattern to get past checkpoints. The thrill is in the hunt; using feathery footsteps to successfully sneak up on preoccupied punks is totally cool.
gr ій AGES Usually, the name Tom Clancy on a game box means you'll be orchestrating a small army of spec-ops soldiers using complex PC controls. Not this time. Splinter Cell, in no uncertain terms, is the new definition of stealth- action games. Its hero, Sam Fisher, uses the darkness so effectively, even Solid Snake better watch his back. Being able to sneak up on a guard who is staring right in your direction adds a tension so tangible, you'll breathe a sigh of relief upon clearing any level. You'll also pump your fist since the game imparts a feeling of real triumph every five minutes. And, of course, nearly every mission enables you to accomplish your tasks in multiple ways. It's not as open-ended as something like Grand Theft Auto ІП, but Splinter Cell offers enough leeway for differing tactics that it never feels forced or scripted. The generous checkpoints ensure that backtracking is kept to a minimum, which is espe- cially helpful during the tougher missions. But for every lesson learned (read: every time you blow your assign- ment), the repeat visit is almost always a more efficient affair. This keeps the replay incentive high and gamer involvement that much richer. Clocking in at nine levels, even the best players will take a good while to finish the game. To be perfectly blunt, the world of Sam Fisher is So taut, so complete, it makes Metal Gear Solid's stealth elements, as good as that series is, seem more like a big
ol' game of Pac-Man. Milkman
Splinter Cell is a graphical powerhouse; the title’s visu- als set a new benchmark for console games. And its story is gritty and compelling—every event plays out realistically. A man like our hero, Sam Fisher, could actu- ally exist in our world, and if he did, he'd use the same battle techniques and artillery that we see on display in the game. At times, the title almost feels like a simula- tion. But fear not, action fans; this adventure definitely delivers in the gameplay department, too. Once you master the hero's stealth tactics, you'll feel compelled to run through missions multiple times, trying to kill as few people as possible. My only gripe: Some levels are outrageously difficult. Ethan
Splinter Cell is a perfect example of style meets sub- stance. While the audiovisuals are cutting edge in their pursuit of realism, what sets the game apart is how both aspects are integrated into gameplay. In true stealth- action fashion, sticking to the shadows renders you invisible to enemy guards, allowing for some truly clas- sic moments where you actually feel like a predator stalking his prey. Throw in a wide assortment of useful (and fascinating) gadgets with responsive, no-fuss con- trols and you've got an adventure that's both inventive and fun. But | have two complaints: You can't skip cut- scenes, and the story isn't really all that exciting. Nitpicks aside, it's a must-buy for Xbox owners. Che
VISUALS
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Publisher: Atari
Developer: Digital Extremes ж Players: 1-4 (2-16 Online or LAN)
Also On: None
Featured In; ЕСМ #161
Best Feature: Dangerously addictive online play Worst Feature: Weak single-player game Website: www.unrealchampionship.com
Before we begin, please fill out this handy checklist: (Check the box if the statement applies to you.)
I'm the proud owner of an Xbox and an Xbox Live online account —rarin' to frag fools in the online arena. I'm willing to spend the phat cash required to get my Xbox online. Broadband or bust!
1 don't have broadband, so | can't get on Xbox Live. But | still like Unreal!
Allright, if you checked either of the first two boxes, go buy this game. (Third-box checkers, hold tight.) Unreal Championship delivers a phenomenal online shootout— lush graphics (with only a hint of Net lag), an atmospheric soundtrack, and stunning level designs show off the attention to detail that this series is legendary for. Tight, responsive con- trols make dodging, double-jumping, and even cir- cle-strafing a snap. Variety is the key to any good online first-person shooter, and UC doesn't disap- point here. Team Deathmatch and Capture The Flag never get old, and the two creative new match types, Double Domination and Bombing Run, demand some intense teamwork. Truly awesome stuff. | also can't stress enough how much strategy and fun the Communicator microphone adds to the online game. OK, back to the third-box guys. The splitscreen game is fine, but the single-player matches against bots get old really Gsm
I'm twitching right now. My fingers ache, yet | still want to play more Unreal Championship. As first-per- son shooters go, UC gets nearly everything right. The choice of weapons, variety of mutators, and multi- tude of gameplay modes will have me logging online often. Without a doubt, this title will inspire would- be fraggers to sign up for Xbox Live. The online action, however, isn’t completely smooth, due to occasional slowdowns, but the only reason it’s even noticeable is that I’ve been mercilessly playing the latest PC installment, Unreal Tournament 2003, for months. Oh hell—so long as my Link Gun has ammo,
Pil still be a happy атр г Darren
ls it consideri a bad thing when the Xbox inherits a PC franchise? When it's stuff like UC, fail to see the problem. With smooth graphics, fast action, and intuitive controls, plus Xbox Live or network multi- player matches, UC's easy to enjoy. The various Deathmatch and team modes are all highly entertain- ing—talking smack while leading your team to victory over Shane's gang in Double Domination never ceases to amuse. UC might as well be online only, though, since it lacks a Story mode and "features" chop-tacu- lar splitscreen play (four players is brutal). But if you're Live and kicking (and don't mind the occasional hiccup of lag), prepare for some intense fraggin'. G. Ford
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY _
8 1 1
Publisher: Microsoft
B Developer:
p High Voltage Players:
14
Also On: None
Also Try: NBA2K3 Website: www.xbox.com
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Best Feature: Deep player customization Worst Feature:
Where's the online play?
Among this year's b-ball crop, NBA Inside Drive 2003 Sticks out like a sore thumb due to its lack of upgrades. While Live is completely redesigned and NBA 2K3 pushes the online envelope for the Xbox, /nside Drive has, uh...downloadable shoes. That's just one example of the frilly extras being pawned off as significant updates of last year's Drive. Gameplay has remained largely the same, albeit with a couple fixes. The speed burst, completely out of sync last year, has been toned down to offer a more realistic feel. And blocking shots is now more challenging. This time around, you won't see a 6-foot-1-inch guard holding his ground and swat- ting Shaq down low. Drive's Dynamic Player Performance system offers some much-needed depth with its biorhythmic ups and downs based on how well you play. It's a nice feature, but most of this year's games offer something similar, so it's hardly unique. Online play would really have helped, but it's mysteri- ously absent. Why couldn't it have been ready for the launch of Xbox Live? As it stands, Inside Drive just can’t quite compete with the big boys. Dan L.
REPLAY |
VISUALS SOUND — INGENUITY
The Lord: of the Rings
n Two Towers
Publisher: QY EA Games ^
Developer:
| Griptonite
Players:
1 (2-4 Linked) Based On:
The hit movies Does Not Support: Gimli
Website: www.lord- oftherings.ea.com
Best Feature: Detailed character customization Worst Feature: Too much mindless slashing
Forget about Universal's problematic LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring game; this one’s better. The Two Towers smushes together strategic RPG ele- ments with the simpleminded hack-and-slash game- play perfected by such gems as Diablo and Gauntlet. Players can choose one of five heroes (Frodo, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, and Eowyn—a sixth is unlockable) and chop their way to glory, all the while collecting goodies such as foodstuffs, weapons, pieces of armor, and so on. Strategic RPG elements greatly augment play and have the added benefit of balancing out the game’s more mindless moments. Killing equals experience, and heroes can be buffed up by selecting special skills, abilities, and spells; there’s nothing quite so cool as selecting Aragorn’s Wield Dual Weapons skill and then wading into a cluster of enemies with two Orc-slaughtering blades. To top it off, Two Towers is a decent-looking game; the characters and levels actually resemble their cin- ematic counterparts. Though it may not rule them all, it certainly has its moments. Greg 0.
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY
| | | | | | | |
кіпу: Nightmare _ in Dream Land
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: HAL Laboratory ADNANE] Players: 1 (2-4 Linked)
Also On: None
Featuredin: EGM #160
Best Feature: Old-school Kirby fun
Worst Feature: Too short
Website: www.kirbykirbykirby.com
Don’t let the new name fool you— Nightmare in Dream Land is a remake of the old 8-bit Nintendo classic, Kirby’s Adventure. Revisiting that gem is a great idea— just don’t expect much new content to go with a major graphical overhaul. The attention to detail in the back- grounds and character animation is stunning. The game no longer slows down at certain points, and the bosses are much larger and more impressive this time around. In case you're not a Kirby veteran, this is old- school platforming at its best. Every minute | spent with Nightmare, inhaling enemies and taking on their powers, was extremely satisfying. The level design is tighter than the sprawling, unfocused stages seen in the pink guy's recent adventures. And I'd forgotten about the level taken from the original Game Boy Dream Land, faithfully reproduced in glorious black and white. Unfortunately, Nightmare doesn't last long. Finishing the game takes just a few hours, and after you're done, there's little incentive to play again. It's a shame they didn't add more, maybe from other Kirby games, to extend the replay value. The four addictive minigames help (the Samurai Duel, taken from Super NES Kirby's Super Star, is the best), but it doesn't make up for the main game's short length. Even so, Nightmare is still great fun and better than most platformers out there. And hey—if you're a Kirby fan, you "re used to short games Ey now. e
“The sun shines on this parasol of mine. Where І ie enemies balk, and | float gently down.” Not even the game's bad poetry can pothole the tirelessly precious puffball Kirby, star of the cute and rather intriguing Nightmare. Kirby at once sucks and blows, using his cavernous maw to inhale enemies and mimic their pow- ers. Sometimes, it’s a cheery drug trip (the Kirbster floats on clouds and must vanquish a killer alarm clock). More often, it’s just a solid platformer with a dreadful soundtrack. Nightmare offers cool minigames with graphics that suggest there may be a better life for us all, provided we imbibe the proper substances in their proper doses. Hallelujah. Greg 0.
Kirby will риант КЕСЕНІ to Hello Kitty fans, Pokémaniacs, and anyone else who can appreciate a lovable pink blob. It's a simple game, and therein lies the appeal—you float Kirby around colorful, straight- forward levels, meeting and beating on other cute little blobular enemies. It's so easy, you can just sit back and enjoy the high cuteness factor without having to repeat sections over and over to get past them. The stages are short and manageable, so you can fly through them pounding on every baddie or just choose your favorites to pick on. The game doesn't last long, but maybe that's good: Before His Puffy Pinkness has the chance to get annoying, you're done! Jennifer
VISUALS SOUND INGENUITY REPLAY |
6 2:7 54
Gaming Monthly - 210 - egm.gamer
Blood and Gore Violence
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| fademark of SEGA CORPORATION. 2222... 2: ‘CORPORATION. Orginal Game. - 2002. ALG Reserved, www.sega.com. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo'are registered trademarks of Sony SO ыы йс. All Rights Reserved:
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Nintendo
Nintendo, Capcom
1 (1-4 w/ Link Cable) None
EGM #157
One of the greatest games of all time in portable form, and Four Swords is an absolute blast
Link’s annoying yell with every sword attack
www.nintendo.com
its Super Nintendo incarnation years ago, but what about the new multiplayer game Capcom added to Nintendo’s classic, Four Swords? Here's a quick Q&A to get y'all up to speed.
ү: may remember A Link to the Past from
It's a two-to-four player quest to save
the Princess Zelda. Oh, and it's completely sepa- rate from A Link to the Past (like the Mario Bros. mode you find in the Mario Advance games).
Simple. You explore six unique Zelda levels on your quest. The person who gets the most rupees (gems) in each level wins.
Well, yes and no. See, most of the obstacles in Four Swords require teamwork. Sure, you can go
Electronic Gaming
Defeating most enemies in Four Swords requires teamwork. Here, two Links grab each side of a baddie and pull him apart.
around throwing each other off cliffs and hogging all the items, but you won't get very far that way.
They require teamwork, too. Especially the level bosses. They're color-coded in order to help you see which player needs to swing his sword at which spot.
All the rupees the team collects go into a pot. If anyone dies, a certain number of rupees are subtracted in order to revive him. As long as your team has enough rupees, you're safe.
No problem, as long as you have at least one other person (sorry, you can't play Four Swords alone). What's even better is that the levels change to accommodate teams of two or three. Of course, it's riotously fun with four players.
It's fantastic. We didn't really think a multiplay- er Zelda game would succeed, but boy are we glad to be proven wrong. Four Swords perfectly mixes co-op and competitive gameplay.
Monthly
212 - egm.gan
ers.corr
Left: Each boss will give you a hint about how to beat him, and they're almost always color-related. Just before this ugly dude's arm blossomed, the left side of it was colored red, while the right was green. The blue and purple players just get to sit back and collect the rupees.
If there’s one thing Four Swords has taught me, it’s that CJ and | simply cannot work as a team. He's always trying to throw me off a cliff or into a burnin" ring of fire. Big jerk. Anyway, on with the review. First of all, A Link to the Past is an amazing game. Heck, it was third on our all-time top 100 list (EGM #150), so you know it rocks. And this GBA version is a carbon copy of the old classic (with the added bonus of being able to save anywhere). All the great action, gadgets, and mind-bending puzzles | remember from my youth can now be enjoyed by an entirely new generation of gamers. This overhead adventure pulls you in right from the opening and doesn't let go until you've defeated the mysterious evil that's causing so much unrest in the land of Hyrule. It'll have you hunched over that little screen for weeks. Plus, playing through A Link to the Past actually unlocks power-ups in the new multiplayer Zelda adventure, Four Swords. For instance, finding the Magic Sword in Past earns you the ability to throw swords in FS. Speaking of Four Swords, l've never played a game quite like this. It forces you to work as a team while simultaneously rewarding competition. It's raucous fun to screw with your fellow players. You'll probably be cussing out your linked-up pals, but having so much fun that you'll play till the batteries run out. You simply cannot
miss this game. Greg S.
If you've ever played the Super Nintendo version of A Link to the Past, then you've already played this portable version. Except, of course, that the original wasn't as cool. Sure, the classic 16-bit Zelda (still my favorite game in the series) is here in all its glory, and that alone would earn this title a high score, but the inclusion of a fabulous new multiplayer game, Four Swords, adds major replay value. It's a wicked-cool blend of Zelda and Gauntlet, and you'll have to use some clever co-operation to defeat enemies and solve puzzles (or you can just smack your buddies around). Required playing for absolutely every GBA owner, no excuses accepted. Phil Ten years ago, when | had to put down A Link to the Past for a family vacation, | remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if | didn't have to wait till | was home, in front of the TV, to play more?" And now, that childhood dream's been realized —1 can play this classic Zelda anywhere, with its huge quest, mind-bending dungeons, and sharp graphics that stand the test of time. And to make it an even sweeter deal, | can link up with friends to play Four Swords, which is the most fun I've ever had with a four-player GBA game. | swear, throwing Sewart into the flaming pit of fire he deserves (or off a suitable cliff) is incredibly cathartic. If you own a GBA, this Zelda should be in your collection. el
VISUALS T
ыз
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Don't just play your game be a PART of th KINYO GAME ZONE SURROUND SOUND and PULSATING HEADPHONES make you feel | аге
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$ D k 4%. ^
Nintendo
Nintendo
1
GBA-to-GC link cable
EGM #160
Flawless gameplay
Navigation rooms limit exploration www.metroidfusion.com
Game Boy Advance games are simply ports of preexisting Super Nintendo hits. Revisiting vintage gaming chestnuts on the go is cool, but
where are all of the new classics? From the blackest recesses of space, Nintendo has finally delivered the answer to that plea with Metroid Fusion. This is the direct sequel to Super Metroid, the 16-bit Super Nintendo adventure that we named the number 1 greatest game of all time. Big boots to fill, that's for sure.
In many crucial ways, the gameplay remains true to the series' established norms. You slow- ly amass a cool arsenal of weapons and power- ups that allow you to tackle harder enemies and explore more remote areas. It's still necessary to investigate walls and ceilings for hidden pas- sageways and secret goodies, and some big, Scary bosses still stand in your way. A few new twists, however, do make the game feel new. For one thing, the plot takes center stage thanks to a series of cinematic cut-scenes nar-
l: disheartening that so many of the best
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rated by heroine Samus Aran. This rare glimpse into her character is unexpected and cool. Also, Fusion gives the player incredibly specific instructions on where to go next. Navigation rooms always reveal precisely where on the map Samus should be headed, so there is less time spent wandering around than in earlier versions of Metroid. Surprisingly short, but sweet all the same.
Samus learns a few new maneuvers in Fusion to help wipe out the X parasites (although she doesn't glow green and can't suck the life from living things, despite her crazy Metroid DNA.)
Charge up your beam and drop into a ball to release a wave of low-flowing energy.
| Samus’ Metroid- enhanced body can't cope with a traditional Ice Beam, so she uses some frosty-tipped missiles instead.
This upgrade causes a wide spread of freezing missiles to bellow from her projec- tile. It's perfect for stopping large groups of monsters.
214
You'll get to know our heroine, Samus Aran, through cool cinema scenes like this. As you can see, she's sporting a fresh new look. It's not real- ly a fashion choice, though-her body has been irrevocably altered after being infected with the X parasite (and then cured with Metroid DNA).
Playing through Metroid Fusion stirs up the same gushing emotions that | felt with Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance—they're both spectacular updates to classic franchises that leave you wanting more. It's a tough call to choose a victor between them, but | feel that Fusion has a slight edge over its batty peer. The excellent graphics (for a GBA game) perfectly paint a desolate space station marooned in orbit. Massive bosses fill the screen and Samus' smooth animations impress. It certainly looks just as good as, if not better than, Super Metroid. Musically, the game stumbles slightly. The eerie, droning tracks aren't awful, though | won't be humming them any- time soon. Luckily, the gameplay didn't disappoint at all. As expected, the control is perfect. Samus' myriad moves activate with precision and ease—all games should feel this good. At first, | was concerned about the game's seemingly rigid map system. It appears that the game is going to be divided into six distinct levels, but further investigation proves that you'll trav- el freely between them, exploring every shadowy nook along the way. Thanks to the in-game map system, you will never get lost, but this also means that you can reach the end in about four hours. Finding all of the Cleverly stashed items will easily take another four, so don't rag on the length that much. Fusion is a rare treat that begs to be played over and over.
Fusion is proof you can never have too much of a good thing. The artwork is fantastic, with all sorts of cool effects, and of course the classic Metroid game- play remains as entertaining and rewarding as ever. It even boasts a top-notch story that includes some genuinely surprising moments —not very common in a handheld game. Sadly, like a shimmering rainbow or a shooting star, it's all over way too soon. Yes, the ability to link up with Metroid Prime to unlock extra bonuses is cool, but after waiting so many years for a new 2D Metroid game, | wish the main quest could've lasted longer. Still, | wouldn't trade those
hours for anything. Milkman
This game almost got me killed. Rather than stop playing Fusion while standing on the bus to work, | risked keeping both hands on my GBA, almost flying out the front windshield at a sudden stop—that's how bad you'll want to continue this game once you start. Like Super Metroid it’s packed with hidden pas- sages, fun boss fights, and cool power-ups, plus everything looks and plays just fantastic on the GBA. I'm split on the navigation rooms—they minimize the frustrating time wandering, but at the same time, would've loved for the Fusion experience to last longer, even artificially. Regardless, this is one of the best original GBA games yet.
Mark
video game t «s 1 characters 4 ' come to Ше
SY Behind these walls exists the most technologically advanced studio ever created for the game industry. They call themselves JoyRide Studios. They've developed the resources to take the hottest game characters and vehicles from every platform and transform them into reality.
Using super computers calculating trillions of 5-D details per second, each collectible is articulated to the finest detail...a detail never seen before in the 2-0 world of your television.
They didn't stop there. Through their advances in game play capture, JoyRide was able to unlock the most coveted tips, tricks, and secret codes for each game and will include this intelligence with every collectible figure and vehicle sold.
Come experience the next level in collecting...
JoyRide calls it Reality! www.joyridestudi
Available at these and many other fine retailers for a limited time: А SPORTS, EA other
tendo, EA and |: : А
SPORTS BIG and associated logos are trademarks or registered 2 1 " =
trademarks of Electronic Arts . and/or Walgreens €5GAMES f GameSion [ 0:29: лу.сом B SUNCOASTcow
countries. EA SPORTS BIG™ 'onic Arts™ brand.
© 2002 Racing Спатріо!
REVIEWS
The Rest o
Reviewing the games no one else bothered to 3 Electronic Gaming Monthly has been a
veiled excuse to torture me. First, there was the 20 Worst Games of All Time. Then they locked me in a room for 30 days with a Blockbuster Games Pass to see what it would take to make a man crack. After that, it was the 9 Naughtiest Games of All Time. My research for that took me into the dark, per- verse world of adult videogames where eroti- cism never comes without a generous helping ofthe grotesque.
So naturally, when EGM asks me to do a monthly reviews column outside of the official Review Crew, | get the games about Mary-Kate and Ashley teaching each other about bird- house construction and friendship. | get the games that practically have bad reviews writ- ten into their titles (like The Scorpion King’s Unplayable Marketing-Side-Effect Adventure). Trust me—this column is not going to help one single person make a game-purchasing deci- sion, but if all goes according to EGM's sinister plan, it just might make me cry.
very assignment I’ve had here at
—Seanbaby
- Sabrina, the Teenage — Witch: Potion Commotion: ~
Control " 7 Буран МОТ T | Publisher: GYE Ubi Soft ^
Developer:
A If you're still confused by these instructions, don't worry. The damn cat slowly demonstrates every tip | he gives you, including how to move left and right. |
This is the story of a lonely witch who, while trying | to magically create a man to boff in her kitchen, turns herself to stone. It's your job as Sabrina the Teenage Witch to find the four ingredients in the house to unfreeze her. This is impossible for two reasons: 1) You have the sense not to play this game and 2) A talking cat is so busy giving you instruc- tions, you'll die of old age before you finish the first level. The game uses two buttons: run fast and hop. The cat somehow stretches this fact into a six-hour seminar on how to play the game. Let me | tell you something—if you need a cat to tell you how | to use a control pad to move left and right and deci- pher a two-button control scheme, you're going to be just as happy pounding your special-needs hands against an empty Game Boy Advance, or even a bowl of yogurt.
f the Crap
Publisher: Universal Interactive Developer: Knowledge Adventure
А A revealing look inside Barbie's head, shortly before it's melted by your big brother's magnifying glass.
Before Barbie Groovy Games even starts, it makes one thing clearto the player: The color "Barbie Pink" is owned and trademarked by the Mattel Corporation. If you or any affiliated parties prance through a meadow in this copyrighted color, you are subject to Barbie princess prosecution. Once that's out of the way, it's clear that all the time Barbie's people spent running around buying colors could have been better spent working on this videogame. It's nothing but a collection of old games you used to play in the car as a kid, but hit over the head with a sack of fairies (e.g. tic-tac-toe played with butterflies and flowers, Connect Four played with ice cream, etc.). And trust me— it does not sud- denly become fun if you get to drive to that game of tic-tac-toe in a pink Ferrari while launching hearts and rainbows out of your face.
gamers
216
lectronic G
|
isher: (6% Publisher: GAREY Developer:
Art Co.
A This is obviously a game designed for pre-teen girls, which means we're going to need an explanation on exactly for whom Britney is wearing those see-through pants and tiny, tiny panties.
A lot of games let you simulate playing football or annihilating the head of something from beyond the galaxy. However, the Game Boy Advance version of Britney's Dance Beat takes fantasy simulation to exciting, new levels: It puts the experience of tap- ping your fingers along to music in the palm of your hand! The gameplay begins and ends with you pressing a button to the rhythm of Britney songs. That may not sound like much (because it isn't), but at least the game's kindhearted. In an effort to make any musically inept players feel better about them- selves, the animators decided that Britney herself should have no rhythm. No matter what song she's gyrating or pawing at herself to, not one of her pelvic thrusts hits a beat. Of course, this review might be totally unnecessary since, guessing what | can about age and gender demographics, you decided Britney's Dance Beat was an atrocity before you finished read- ing its title. But, like | said, this column is not here to help you complete your Christmas list. It's here to reassure you that you were right.
Publisher: (620424 Ubi Soft ACIE] Developer:
Planet
Interactive
A A street thug's bullet takes on my heaving chest in the never-ending fight for justice.
Females take a much different approach to fighting crime than males do. Knight Rider and the Incredible Hulk never once had to go undercover as strippers or hookers, but that's the first thing TV heroines think to do. You might think it's a clever reason for the show's writers to get the women into bikinis, but that's non- sense. It's just easier to take down drug dealers if there's more of your breasts showing. This game fol- lows that train of thought. It's a lot like the classic game Rolling Thunder, if there were two Thanksgiving turkeys attached to the hero's chest. And in case you're wondering, yes, in VIP, the anima- tors made the brave decision to have your breasts smack against your face every time you jump. If, in this column, the £GM editors allowed me to give games official ratings, VIP would receive the Presidential Boobs Award for 100 Percent Awesome.
n ©
ioni:
үз,
ша
www.konami.com EVERYONE
Mild Lyrics
La BEEMAN
DANCE DAN ©1998 2
KONAMI e ® ICE REVOLUTION™, DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION KONAMIX™, ООВМАХ DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION" and BEMANI™ are trademarks of KONAMI CORPORATION. KONAMIO is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. 002 KONAMI & KONAMI COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT TOKYO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Product covered under one or more of the following U.S. Patents: Des. 433,717; Des. 431,267; Des. 435,604 (Patents pending in U.S.) "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association.
П Tricks in Partnership Turning Tricks (Semi-finals) lo i with Prima Games P) Vote now at Gamers.com! In our last round before
the incredibly exciting finals, we pitted massive
Tricks, strategies, and swollen mammaries against massive swollen crani- ^ á outrageous game antics PRIMA ums, and you picked a preference. The results may from Star Wars: Bounty
GAMES surprise you. If all your gaming friends are Amish. By David S J Hodgson Hunter, Bloodrayne,
қ Shinobi, Red Faction Il, and Godzilla: а | пе fanale * | АМ The кеселге: As GTA: Vice City shoots to Number 1 on all sales Destroy All Monsters Melee are taken ІП ee ЫЫ 2 charts, we tear open the game and have а good from their respective Official Prima | tation or visible [) over-done” huge rummage around. Then there's the intriguing matter Strategy Guides, all on sale now! 7-79 panties" code. | head code. of a Beast Handler’s potato sculpture. Don’t ask.
ЕЕ? A full-on madcap glitch- ка fest video by Regus (part ite. Mario glitches through fruit and ; sits on an invisible light: r behind him; S a S ? a Can-
non with a Ріг bove; rides inderwater; stands under
Aragorn Te pregis i 4 kyward Бу a Dune Bud! 4 1 Te tioning [
Tri. Refill Health X, Up. Oh, ar at
ne with all th
Complete HOTD2 Hidde Wreckless m une Going for gold...
is you boot up your : the Unlimited Time option, and press L2+R1 on the D-pad«Cir (PS2), or L on the D-pad+Z (( buttons all at once é than you
to unlock the Free Play phys
House of the credits option. Gold rati
Let's start this double secret- character revelation by letting you know how to play as
Morits (a), the demon-pos- sessed madman. Now that he's better, he's yours to unlock once you collect 30 Oboro clan coins.
Screen 1: There's 55 Dark Horse comic book pages to unlock, and three pages appear for every mission you complete, with the rest activated after the game ends. Screen 2: Similarly, each of the 23 trading cards appear once you locate a Mandalorian Feather (there's one in each level), with the final
The Morse code is actually a declaration of allegiance to a game designer, and the Power Droids in Dark Forces 2 and Obi- Wan are also programmed this way. Screen 5: Ready for a Beast Handler's close encounter? When you follow the handler back into his seedy apartment dwelling (yes, that
Snag this swag, and Moritsune joins your fight from the main Title screen. Moritsume is stronger and faster than Hotsume, but takes a hammer- ing when wielding Akujiki, lead- ing to a faster-paced game. But
TRADING CARD паме.
bn nucibus РО cards showing up on game com- pletion. The outtakes? One series per chapter completion. Screen 3: But what about those 110 pages of concept art? Aha, there's one page opened for every 2,500 credits you collect on a secondary bounty. This means that you'll need 275,000 credits for the whole shebang!
means you don't shoot him), you'll uncover a picture of Devil's Tower on the wall, sculpted out of whatever passes for mashed potatoes in the Star Wars universe. Yes, it seems this handler's sad little exis- tence is to pray at the altar of LucasArts Easter Eggs; astute gamers will have seen the
what's truly rockin' is the inclu- sion of Joe Musashi (2) from the original game! What's more, he's got unlimited shurikens and no cursed blade—the only way to play! Nab до Orobo coins and choose him at the title screen.
Now onto the loony series of mad-cap Easter Eggs hidden in the game. Screen 4: Locate a Power Droid (the type known as a “gonk”) and bump into him а total of five times. Why? Because if you don't, you won't hear him exclaim a series of beeps. Hey, that sounds like Morse code...and you're right!
Devil's Tower in Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (bonus level), and Battle for Naboo (Sanctuary mission). Finally (Screen 6), let's not forget the phrase “I’m selling these fine leather jackets,” which appeared in almost every LucasArts game, including this one. Except it’s in Aurebesh.
у to unlock all tl in zoomZOOM
Nematode. Now
NBA Ins
Dusty Dusty
Flowery
GREATEST HITS REVISITED
Crazy Taxi Rickshaw! At Character Select, hold L1. Hold R1. Release L1. Release R1. Hold R1. Hold L1. Release R1. Release = then begin.
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MARIJUANA. HARMLESS?
біо1<1Е|%
THE ANTI-DRUG. freevibe.com
TRICKS
* One Bad Muthaf
Fel Forgotten —
What's this? Diamond Dallas Page is in WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth despite suffer- ing a career-ending injury? Kevin Nash, Maven, and Rhyno are playable characters even though all three have been out of the ring for months? Shawn freakin’ Stasiak makes it into the game when he's already been given his walking papers?! These are the hazards of making wrestling games. Fortunately, Shut Your Mouth has that handy Create-A- Superstar mode, and EGM's here to help put even more of your fave wrestlers back in the ring. Except maybe Road Dogg.
This month's created Superstar is Tommy Dreamer. Gone are his early WWE Barbasol-drinking “Tommy Knoxville" days. The Innovator of Violence has returned to his ECW roots, with trusty Singapore Cane in hand. Follow the instructions to add Tommy Dreamer to your WWE roster (if there are no directions for a particular Create mode option, leave it at default ):
All the Faction 2 Cheat Facts; including the wacky ones! Lm
The first code unlocks the whole shebang! Unlock АП: Tri, Tri, X, X, Squ, Cir, Squ, Cir. Super Health: X, X, Squ, Tri, Squ, Tri, Cir. Infinite Grenades: Cir, X, Cir, Squ, X, Cir, X, Cir. Director's Cut: Squ, X, Cir, Tri, Cir, X, Squ, Tri. Walking Dead (1): X, X, X, X, X,
Tommy Dreamer!
iab Appearance: HEAD: Hair: #16 (dark brown) FACE: Eyebrow: #9: (dark brown) FACE: Eye Color (dark brown) FACE: Mustache: #14 (d. brown) BODY: T-Shirts: Blank: #1 (black; shorten sleeves) LEGS: Pants: #8 (black) WAIST: Belt: #42 (optional) FEET: Shoes: Blank: #14 DESIGN: Patt: Body: WWE: #64 FIGURE: Height: 6' 1" FORM: 260 Ibs., so slightly
“Roses are red, violets are lame,
How about I beat you with my Singapore Cane?"
X, X, X. Gibby Ammo: X, X, X, X, Squ, Cir, X, X. Extra Chunky: Cir, Cir, Cir, Cir, Tri, X, Cir, Cir. Infinite Ammo: Squ, Tri, X, Cir, Squ, Cir, X, Tri. Wacky Deaths (2): Tri, Tri, Tri, Tri, Tri, Tri, Tri, Tri. Bouncing Bombs: Cir, Cir, Cir, Cir, Cir, Cir, Cir, Cir. Rain of Fire: Squ, Squ,
HUIT YOU 3 POUTA n
increase Width and Thickness of Neck, Chest, Shoulder, Abdomen, Arms, Thigh, and Legs FACE/HEEL: Face
CALL NAME: Tommy Dreamer ABILITY (Attack/Defense): Powerful: 2/2
Speedy: 2/2
Technical: 2/2
Roughneck: 4/4
MOVE SET: Roughneck
LOGIC 1: Brawler
LOGIC 2: Striker
BASES: Taunt: Replace Taunt Train with Shouting 1 SMACKDOWNS: Raven Effect, Double Arm DDT
READY MOVES: Grapple: Replace DDT2 with Jeff Jawbreaker and Wrist Clutch & Elbow with Shoulder Thrusts
READY MOVES: Back Attack: Replace Bulldog with Pendulum Backbreaker 2 and Facecrusher 5 with Bulldog
TURNBUCKLE: Grapple: Replace Toss to Turnbuckle with Big Chop TURNBUCKLE: Back Attack: Replace Beat Head 1 with Illegal Pin. Now Tommy’s ready!
with the
(one type
Squ, Squ, Squ, Squ, Squ, Squ. Rapid Rails: Cir, Squ, Cir, Squ, X, X, Tri, Tri. Gibby Explosions: Tri, Cir, X, Squ, Tri, Cir, X, Squ. Unlock Levels (3): Cir, Squ, X, Tri, Squ, Cir, X, X, Win Game: Squ, X, Squ, X (can be entered multiple times).
54 years of history. 161 racing titles. 38 models.
1 game.
CLIMB IN, BUCKLE UP AND POP THE CLUTCH ON ONE OF 38 STYLISH CARS, Rip through 28 races or 22 stunts in 5 thrilling game modes: collection, championship, single play, multi-player and challenge.
SPANNING LOTUS' PRESTIGIOUS S4-YEAR RACING HISTORY. PUT YOURSELF TO THE 38 licensed Lotus cars all featuring realistic vehicle damage.
TEST AS YOU TWIST THROUGH MOUNTAIN PASSES IN THE ALPS, FLY OVER THE Revolutionary controller system designed for a more realistic driving
RAINBOW BRIDGE IN TOKYO OR LEAP A TRAIN IN A HOLLYWOOD STUNT. experience - tested & approved by the Lotus test drivers.
So, PICK A LOTUS, SLAM IT INTO HIGH GEAR AND TAKE THE LOTUS CHALLENGE. Brought to you by Motor Trend? - the #1 automotive authority.
MOTOR TREND PRESENTS ОО SC PISA ЕТЕ
Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. |
MOAL
Where games meet reality. www.XICAT.com
CD-ROM
CONTENT RATED BY. ESRB
nsed by Classic Team Lotus Limited. All Lotus trademarks used within Lotus Challenge are
© 2002 Kuju Entertainment Ltd. Published by Xicat Interactive, Inc. Lotus Challenge™ is а rdemark of Group Lotus pc Team Lotus monoposto racing soft Xbox and the Xbox Logos are ether registered rademar or trademarks of Mirosot
trademarks of Group Lotus plc used under license by Kuju Entertainment Lid. Motor Trend © & © 2002 PRIMEDIA Specialty Group, inc. All rights res Corporation in the US and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft
TRICKS 2 à
ALL-POINTS MULLET-IN
American Idols - Packing іп the Packages |
There's 100 Hidden “idol” | Packages scattered about
in hideously outof-the- | way areas, like on top of planes and buildings, so use your chopper to find some (above). Initial
prizes appear at the
Ocean View or Starfish | Island (when it's yours). | Packages 10-19 gets you | Body Armor. 20-29 gets you a Chainsaw. 30-39 gets you a Python Magnum-style revolver. A Flamethrower is yours for 40-49, and 50-59 (a
nets a Sniper Rifle wi
"mu wuss ¥ 100 EX
laser shot. 60-69 awards you a Mini-gun— instant vehicle detonation (above)! | A Rocket Launcher (great | for chopper takedowns) is. | for 70-79. A Sea Sparrow
mm
заа
shoots) on the Starfish
Island helipad is yours | with 80-89. 90-99 gets | you a Rhino (above), an 100 nets you a Hunter— an attack helicopter! The last two are at Fort Baxter.
You do now.
Blood
ggestive Theme Я pummel fest. There are no rules, no weapons and по 1 www.xbox com powers. And with the most realistic graphies ever
wwwikakutochsjin;com ey very. well be the video game your mother was warned Xue 52
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights. reserved. Microsoft, Xbox, the Xbox loses: ied Kakuto Chojin are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft стои in the United States andlor other countries. Other products and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.. E
: expe Godzilla: Hot DAMM! TO THE ACTION-PACKED a а
ZONE OF THE ENDERS: IDOLO ORIGINAL VIDEO ANIMATION MOVIE
Hold L, B, R. Release B, R, L. A code entry box appears. Use the D-pad to choose numbers, and use A to move on.
567980 Black & White mode (1) 661334 Technicolor mode (2) 760611 12 continues
986875 ayer 1: micro monster $ 971934 ayer 2: micro monster $ 895636 ayer 3: micro monster 795735 Player 4: micro monster 174204 are micro monsters 843901 ayer 1: damage-proof 706149 ayer 2: damage-proof 188522 ayer 3: damage-proof Ё 286552 ayer 4: damage-proof 505634 are damage-proof 511012 ayer 1: quad damage 815480 layer 2: quad damage 212454 ayer 3: quad damage 698206 ayer 4: quad damage 817683 deal quad damage 492877 Health regenerates 756287 Everything throwable! 112122 Buildings indestructible 316022 Monsters are invisible 650867 One-time energy 649640 Player 1 always Rage (3) 122224 Player 2 always in Rage 548053 Player 3 always in Rage 451242 Player д always in Rage 256806 Turn Military On/Off 135984 Player indicators On 677251 Super energy player 1 435976 Super energy player 2 603696 Super energy player 3 291680 Super energy player 4 562142 Мо health power-ups 134615 Мо Mothra power-ups 413403 Мо energy power-ups 119702 No rage power-ups 841720 Мо freeze tanks (4) 225133 Unlock Godzilla 2K 612633 Unlock Gigan
877467 Unlock King Ghiodrah 104332 Unlock Rodan
537084 Unlock Destoroyah 557456 Unlock M. King Ghidorah 131008 Unlock Mechagodzilla
2 696924 А! beasts but Orga (5) Based on the Best Selling 480148 Unlock all cities
Playstation 2 Game 443253 Мо status HUD
This game gets especially insane if both monsters are invisible 6), although it’s almost impossible to play. Not even their beam attacks show up! While a mini-monster fight looks one-sided (7), the shrunken beast presents a smaller target, but those stubby little arms are no good for grappling! The best code combo is “mini monsters” and “throw all objects” (8). Classic
003 ѕа "sweaty-man-in-suit" action! Sz: Game "goody
>ооооцо>оооо>
SUGGESTED
ANIMATION FOR A NEW GENERATION Zone ol he Enders: іші © 2001 sut = WWW. ADVFILMS.COM 9 INFO@ADVFILMS.COM
AVAILABLE AT THESE AND OTHER FINE RETAILERS:
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Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Un-Fett-ered access to the four toi
hest 11055
By now you'll have deduced that a lifetime of Sarlacc ч rue is more un than hunting the game's 150 Secondary Bounties. Alas, limited space means we're only able to take out the game's more troublesome bosses....
Boss #1: Longo Two-Guns Mission: Chapter 5: Longo Two-Guns
EE Plan of Assault:
When Longo's finished twirling his pistols, try to mark him, then run over and mark (and tag) the final Jawa bounty. When com- bat begins, use the pod engines on the left side of the arena as cover, and take out all of Longo's thugs that enter this zone. You can snare Longo, but it's almost impossible, and the dam-
age you take is Ш horrendous. Instead, circle- strafe around
Longo and whittle him al 5 down (4),
p
Boss Abilities:
preferably with Heavy Blaster fire. Or, stay at distance and tag him easily with the Sniper Rifle (2).
Mission: Chapter 6: Moon of the Dead
Boss Abilities: ME H2H F/T [s
Plan of Assault:
Although he looks slightly cooler than you do in his Mandalorian battle armor, there's little time to inspect him at close range as he's vicious with the blast and missiles, and can put the boot in when you fall over due to his blasts. Instead, stay at range, 4 p flying to the 5
rock columns |
and collecting
the fuel. Then,
hit Montross
with the twin
or heavy (5)
blasters and
finish him
with missiles
while flying at
range (6). Use
altar columns
as cover.
#9
. Krayt Dragon Mision. DN 5: Gardulla's Palace
m IE Plan of Assault:
As soon as Gardulla's been snacked on, you'll need to boost to one of the narrow ends of the arena, grab the jet-pack fuel, and blast the four guards on the turrets (3), each of which is carrying a rocket launcher. Let's try not to fall into the mouth of the Krayt Dragon or get hit by a rocket, eh? Then, start
your assault i. РЕ
on the scaly w |
Boss Abilities:
one: Jump when the Krayt | pounds the ground,’and launch a mis- sile into its mouth. Follow it up with any remaining weaponry (4), re-arming from more thugs on the turrets.
a pee
Boss #4: Kom
Mission: ыы рі Final. Confrontation
Boss Abilities: MC в ME gs.
Plan of Assault:
Komari Vosa is one sick puppy, and her Jedi mind tricks make her infuriating in the combat zone. Boost over her head into the left alcove, claim the Mandalorian Rage, and escape up the steps to the doorway and through to the arena, where she's eas- ier to hit. Wait т
until she's
coming down
from a charge
or move (7),
and snare her
(8). Switch to ГІ your blasters
and unload on
her. Continue
this plan until
one of you
falls over
dead.
Preferably her.
J^
T READY TO BEAT YOUR FRIENDS ЕМ "Bossometer" AND EVERYONE ON THE NET
What's this boss all about?
Massive Constitution BIP ROT GE Grip to Rip!
Long-Range Coward
Hand-to-hand Mad
Berserker
Magically Empowered
Flying/Teleporting Ability Ludicrously Imposing B Eye-Poppingly Speedy Throbbing “Weak Spot”
ін Joypad Hammering
6 Bling-Bling After Battle PATENT PENDING
1 set $5.99 Order Now!
2 sets $10.99 | S&H $1.50 in СА add sales tax
CODEX QUICK TRICKS
Terminator Dawn of Fate Gungrave а Mad Props to Lobotomy Software Heads up for the aiming Happy trails and sleepy play m ps "n 1 Zoom in with turrets using L3. Remember to auto-face and tar- and their awesomely addictive minigame! Use L1 and R1 to zoom the get a foe, and once you beat the f you were one of the
options. Aim at heads for Skynet game on easy, try the slow-mo hree people to visit
points and easy kills. and character-select options. Sega's disastrous 1997 ECTS
booth, you'd be able to make out the sounds of whistling rockets (a) just audible over the sobbing. This cacophony came from one of the finest party games you've never played: Saturn Deathtank! Developed by the lamentably defunct Lobotomy Software, this featured the classic “tank on a
NASCAR Thunder 2003 Tekken 4 hill shooting other tanks on a
Driving with Dale Iron Fisting new-stage action hill" gameplay (2) and was more Unlock the fantasy drivers by Craving some dojo action? Beat addictive than crack. To play the naming yourself Extra Drivers. Tekken Force for the Dojo. game, you need a copy of the Unlock the Dalester by naming Complete Story with Steve for seminal Poiwerstave: Locate all your driver Dale Earnhardt. the statue stage. 23 "team dolls," and the game
Fx T Gamer
EL Yos ve unlocked a new Thunder PT opens up. Or, remap the controls
and change A to C, X to Z, and L to R. Got Duke Nukem 3D? Then go play the sequel (Deathtank Zwei! (3)) with an Exhumed or Quake save game, or once you break every urinal in the game. Lobotomy, we miss you!
229
FINAL WORD
camel O Than ani Шашы
Chris: Last year, we did an intensive comparison of the two new systems on the block—Xbox and GameCube. We put them through their paces, weighing their launch libraries, third-party sup- port systems, future outlooks, and other factors (see EGM #149 to get the full story). To com- memorate that matchup, we thought we'd take a look back at our decisions a year later and see if we'd stick with them today.
| picked GameCube, and I'd definitely stick with that choice into 2003— not because the GC has the best third-party support (cuz it doesn't), but because Nintendo makes the games | want to play, and the Cube is the only place to get
don't mind, I’m gonna go play some Sewer Shark on my Sega CD. Screw technology.
Mark: You still didn't answer the question.
Greg: Fine. Yes, my Xbox is hooked up. You happy now? | notice you haven't really chosen a side yet, Halo-boy!
Mark: Yeah, you just hooked it up yesterday for Panzer.... Anyway, | love Halo and am not happy with the Cube's small library and online plan (or lack thereof), but Nintendo just has more great exclusives now (Mario, Metroid, Resident Evil)
A year later, do we stand hy our console?
them. Mario, Zelda, Animal Crossing, Monkey Ball, Metroid...sorry Microsoft, but your lineup just ain't that strong. | think I've bought one Xbox game in the last eight months (Blinx), and | don't see many on the horizon that get me as worked up as Nintendo's lineup, even down the road.
Mark: Ah, how | have waited for this day. Sewart, for example—| know you've been play- ing your GameCube way more than your Xbox this past year... Is your Xbox even hooked up at your new apartment? Eh? Is it? IS IT?!? ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!
Greg: Just calm down. | have played my Cube more than my Xbox these past few months, but i1, lstillhave way more Xbox games than GC games. | stand by my original choice of Xbox! Now if you
and coming soon (well, hopefully with Zelda and F-Zero). I'll have to stick with the GC.
Milk: Last year | picked GameCube, and while I still have yet to play anything on it as compelling as Halo, my time spent playing Animal Crossing alone is more than double the time l've played all my Xbox games combined. Of course, that may change once Panzer Dragoon Orta hits. I’m also looking forward to spending some hours with Splinter Cell.
Che: Last year, | picked Xbox based on how much third-party support and horsepower it had. While | haven't played anything near Halo- quality for a whole year, l've still spent more time with the Xbox than with GameCube. In fact, | didn’t feel compelled to buy a Cube until Mario Sunshine hit the scene (and it's actually the only GC game | own). | know | made the right choice because GC games (excluding the Resident Evil and Nintendo titles) just don't interest me all that much.
Crispin: | picked GameCube last year, and now
I wanna switch my vote. Only a couple of games— Mario Sunshine and Eternal Darkness — have kept my Cube from gathering dust. While Xbox doesn't have any gee-whiz titles besides Halo, it does have a better variety —more sports, racing, and shooters. And what everyone 'cept Mark is ignoring is that Xbox beats the turd out of GameCube in the online department. Xbox Live is easily the most feature-packed online service of the three consoles.
Shane: | wasn't around last year to pick GameCube, so I'm picking it now. It's just been an awful year for Xbox. First-party games are nowhere to be seen, and exclusive third-party stuff has been disappointing. Aside from Halo and a few good Sega titles, there's still no rea- son for me to dust off my hulking black behe- moth. Sure, they got ex-Nintendo developer Rare recently, but that doesn't change the here and now. Xbox just doesn't have much exclusive, engaging content. Meanwhile, l've had a spec- tacular time with Mario, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros., and Phantasy Star Online, plus Zelda, Mario Kart, and more are on the horizon to make next year just as good.
Shoe: | took a chance and picked Xbox last year. Yeah, the machine's had a crappy 2002. Are we really that quick to give up on it, though?
Just like 12 months ago, | still think both machines are viable. It just depends on what you're looking for as a gamer. (How's that for a safe, non-committal response?) But as 2002 winds down, Xbox owners are gonna get the juice with Ghost Recon, Steel Battalion, Splinter Cell, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and more.
But gotta admit— after I’m done playing those, I'll probably still be checking in on my little village in Animal Crossing.
' (. Mark: You are such a wuss.
230 - egm.gamers.co
Turbo Shock 2 ашыса Controller Controller
| tti қ . . Programmable Allows Up To 12 Difficult For AutoFire Capability Game Screen Multiple ps wee Programmed Into ne Button!
Full Color Game Screen Allows You To Play Games, Home Videos & DVD's Anywhere!
DVD Remote, Multitap Game Sound System & Horizontal Stand
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Add A Blast To Your Gaming and Favorite CD's!
Аса
Си
Advertiser Index
A.D. Vision Inc. 226 www.advfilms.com
Acclaim Entertainment 175 www.acclaim.com
Activision 14715, 25, 41, 50-51, www.activision.com 106-107, 115 Advanced Cybertech 223 www.xicat.com
Bam Entertainment 95 www.bam4fun.com
Best Buy 199 www.bestbuy.com
Blockbuster Entertainment 181 www.blockbuster.com
Capcom U.S.A., Inc. 179, 197 WWW.capcom.com
Chips & Bits 227 www.chipsbits.com
Columbia House 34a-b
www.columbiahouse.com
CompUSA 114, 191 http://gamefixx.compusa.com
DC Shoes, Inc 11 www.dcshoecousa.com.com
Ecko Unlimited 93 www.ecko.com
Eidos Interactive, Inc 13, 30-31 www.eidos.com
Electronic Arts 45
www.ea.com
Electronics Boutique 18-19, 138-139, www.ebgames.com 138a-b, 168-169
Electronics Boutique/Ebworld
www.ebgames.com 108-109 Full Sail Real World 24 www.fullsail.com
Game Music Online 22 www.gamemusic.com
Grip Action 229
www.gripaction.com Н. J. Heinz - Foodservice Division
www.heinz.com 121 Hobarama Corp. 44 www.bawls.com
Hollywood Video 163
www.hollywoodvideo.com
Infogrames, Inc. 6-7, 68-69 www.infogrames.net
Intec Inc. 231 Www.inteclink.com
JoyRide Studios 215 www.joyridestudios.com
Kellogg Company 219
www.tonythetiger.com
Kinyo 213 www.kinyo.com
Koei Corporation www.koeigames.com
Konami America 23, 58-59, 123, 143, 151, www.konami.com 217,233 LucasArts Entertainment 116-117, 161,
1447145
www.lucasarts.com 189 Majesco Sales, Inc. 207 www.majescosales.com
McVan's Video Games 228 www.mcvans.com
Microsoft 45, 46-47, 55, 141, 165, www.microsoft.com 203, 225 Midway Home Entertainment 21,37, www.midway.com 65, 74, 103 Motorola - BCS 205 www.motorolabroadband.com
Namco Hometek 201 www.namco.com
Nintendo of America 113, 129
www.nintendo.com Office for National Drug Control Policy
www.whatsyourantidrug.com 221 Pepsi-Cola Company 127 www.pepsico.com
Radica USA, LTD. 137
www.gamesterusa.com Sega Of America Dreamcast 8-9, 62-63, 125, 130-131, 155, 183, 186a-h, 211, sega.com 235-238 Sony Computer Entertainment 2-2с, 24-3, 26-27, 39, 48-49, WWW.Scea.com 89, 97, 99, 101
Sony Online Entertainment 146-147 www.sonyonline.com
THQ 16-17, 60-61, 159, 170-171, www.thg.com 192-193, 209 Take 2 Interactive Software 28-29, 195 www.take2games.com
Target Stores 66a-b www.getintothegame.com
Ubi Soft Entertainment 73-84
www.ubisoft.com
Vivendi Universal-Sierra Entertainment
www.sierra.com 43,177
Vivendi Universal Games Inc. - Universal 104-105, 132-133
www.universalinteractive.com
Vivendi Universal Games Inc.-PPG
www.interplay.com 157,163
Wizards of the Coast 57
www.wizards.com
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United States Postal Service
Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation
рст [2 Publication Number I Fang Date o|o|s|- o| 57 10/1/02
[S Number of issues Publshed Annually |6. Annual Subscription Prise
Electronic Gaming Monthly "esos Frequency
Monthly - 12 $24.97 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication (Not printer) (Street, cl. сооту; state, and ZIP+4) [Contact Person
Charles Mast
Telephone 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016 212-503-5361
E Complete Maling Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher (МОГ prior)
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Jennifer Tsao, 50 Beale Street, San Francisco, СА 94105
10. Owner (Do not leave blank. If the publication is owned by a corporat jiva the name and address of the corporation immediately followed by th ames rd odd asses of a socios nig or hating arco a mare of bo ial amount d e Meet wind бу а corpua ie be гате and addresses ol ha Intl артат i nod by а partnership or othar unincorporated fm, give fa name end adress as well as Those of ‘ach һәй owner. V бе poblcation ts publshed by s попугай л, give 18 name and вда)
Full Name.
‘Complete Malling Address
Ziff Davis Media Inc. 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016
Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016
TT. Known Bondholders, Mortgages, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount o Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Secures. H none, check box ws D None.
Fill Name Complete Malling Address
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PS Form 3526, October 1999 (бог instructions on Reverse)
Ti Pican Tae Tii Oat Ta Crean Байа Below
Electronic Gaming Monthly November "02 5
Extant and Nature of Ck Retos Ne. Coples Each Issue à Tobi Number of Copies (Het press ли) 734,058 | 722,498 PaisRequeses Outide County Wal Subscriptons Sed (| Fam SS01. (лезде адетин proot and CENGE apes] 390,235 380,303 2 Pos androe |] inde sivo tie prn aid оида Gd ито * Sales Through Dealers and Carters, бешеп (оу cantar Sales, and Cher Now USPS Рам Ooo 142,583 149,100 | Other Classes Mailed Trough the USPS
С. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 5
Sum of 15b. (1), (2),(3),апа (4)) » 532818 iude: z
Diebus |0)) Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541 8,642 3,133
oyman
(Sampes, Гај in-Couny as Stated on Form asat
compliment
ET Over cassee ans Trough me USFS E Free Distribution Oute е Wal
{Степ or otor moans) T
Total Free Dstibiton (Sum of 150, and 162) > BUS 3,133 D
Total Distribution (Sum of 152. and 15) ERES 532,536 к
Copies not Disrbuted 192,598 189,962 т
Total (Sum of 155. and h) » 734,058 722,498 T Percent Paid andor Requested Cic
(ise cided by 169. mes 100) n 98.40% 99.41%
16: Publicason of Statement of Ownership
О Pubscatlon required. Will be printed in he January 2003 issue of this publication. C) Publication not required. 17. Signature and Tite of Editar, Publisher, Business Manager. or Owner р
ЕТІ s Mas Vice President, Consumer Mkt. Әм Ай
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PS Form 3526, October 1939 (Reverso)
THE ONLY THING THAT
CAN STOP THE ВАСЕ 16
GOON WEATHER
Experience the thrills, spills and sub-arctic chills of authentic snowmobile action. Careen along snow-packed trails in blinding blizzards. Bust big, frosty air with over 30 different tricks. And pray for endless winter storm fronts. It's Whiteout. And it's got racing down cold.
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Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. KONAMI® is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. © 2002 KONAMI CORPORATION. All rights reserved.
TN u
NEXT MONTH
February 2008 issue #163, on sale lan. 7
ELECTRONIG CAMING
MONTH DV,
World Exclusive!
Driver à
Before Grand Theft Auto hit superstar status with СТАЗ, there was Driver. The megahit Series pioneered the open-ended, drive-anywhere, be-a-bad-guy gameplay that we're all crazy about today. Now, as it prepares to enter the PS2 big house, will it have what it takes to compete with the likes of Vice City, The Getaway, and True Crime? Find out next month as we take the world's first look at Driver 3. Then help us ring in the new year with reviews of the biggest games that didn't make the 2002 holiday season, including The Getaway and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai on the PS2 and Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox.
PlayStation
Jan. 2003 WAR OF THE On sale Dec. 10 MONSTERS
It’s the new game
Demo Disc from the developer of Twisted Metal: Playables Black—and it kicks • SOCOM: U.S. ass! Play the demo, check out the Navy SEAIS feature, and read the * War of the review. Plus: OPM's Monsters annual peripheral * Rygar: The supertest. Legendary Adventure * Burnout 2 ә Shinobi * Legaia 2 * Minority Report * Haven * Reign of Fire * Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003 Videos
* The Getaway
The Getaway
All e content is subject to change.
Jan. 2003
On sale Dec. 17
* WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth
* Metroid Fusion Age of Mythology
Previews:
* Dragon Ball 7: Budokai
• Star Wars Galaxies
* Devil May Cry 2
The Two Towers
Reviewed Next Month:
* War of the Monsters (PS2)
• ATV Offroad Fury 2 (PS2)
• Skies of Arcadia Legend (GC)
e Superman: Man of Steel (Xbox) * The Sims (PS2)
Previewed Next Month:
* Tenchu 3 (PS2)
* Universal's Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PS2/Khox)
• Backyard Wrestling (PS2)
e Midnight Club Il (PS2)
e КепоЅада (Р52)
• 1080” Avalanche (GC)
= nine
GAMING
WORLD
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Find out how good a game based on a movie can be...then
Jan. 2003
On sale Dec. 3
TRON 2.0
learn all the ins and outs of fighting enemies and get a How can a 20-
е Roviaws opie re
more could you * No One Lives into a slick-
wr How about Forever 2 bonnete un
gy blowouts for e >
Uc BE
Gra Vice y? We Ve e Age of Mythology the straight scoop
got those, too! e Hitman 2 А e Battlefield 1942 meeting a digital • America’s Army Bruce Boxleitner. Previews
Asheron's Call 2 * PlanetSide * Hannibal
& 2/
Metroid Prime 1
Battlefield 1942 ..
234
Sega is registered in the U.S. Patent am s ther re www.segasports.com. The NBA and is product are d the prior written consent of NBA
rtainment Inc. ™, © and the Nintendo Gam
and the respective NBA member teat tries and are used under license from Micro
PlayStation“ and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of oft Corporation in the U.S;
registered trademarks or trademarks of Mick
It's time to play with the big boys.
Experience the joy of flight. Control your body and your rival.
| Author]
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