МЕ No.1 VIDEOGAME MAGAZIN WARIOWARE: SMOOTH MOVES LOST PLANET MASS EFFECT ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY MERCENARIES 2 HOLIDAY WINNERS AND LOSERS From Mario to Metal Gear, Halo to GTA.... Over 50 games that will rule this year! 2 BLU-RAY WS. HD-DUuD Which movie format will win? We talk to the experts > HEXT-GEN REVIEWS Wii, PS3, & Xbox 360 games reviewed inside! WEIRD SCIENCE A meat-grilling PS3? 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BATILESTATIONS. net x HJ КЕ ТР ENS OS рәни əy; ur uoneod1o5 1)0 0290] ТООК Әй pue ‘ArT ROGX обо ходу әш '09£ ходх“хоах обо! soipnjs awed POSON ә! 105022104 `рәлләзә.! ҢЫ ио! Int 1ou10 Jo/pue sexes рәџип au} ur PII SPHOM әш) Jess JO әрешәрел әзе OHO} spom auti jees ay} pue ’ OSUN 401 `р31 5рро/д Sul} jeey Aq рәдојәләр ,, UMop»pe1) “рәлпрәл роо .,.9Ar] ходу 'eAup peu ,, 09€ Xak 8207 1050131N:900€. обо uwop»pe15 aui © parasas 22536) Intense Violence Sexual Themes APA» Blood and Gore М WWW.CRACKDOWNONCRIME.COM realtime Werds 5 а = 5 3 Vl A Е al 5 Strong Language түшү] Use of Drugs Carry the scales of justice in one hand, and a two-ton sedan in the other. You're a genetically enhanced agent of justice authorized to do whatever it takes to sweep the criminal scum out of Pacific WALA AE City. From the streets to the rooftops, use anything you can P f ТІГІ! ¢ i= get your hands on to show the : = thugs that crime doesn’t pay. ) “2. = And for the ultimate payback, = P combine forces in co-op play > 18 for twice the destruction and double the retribution. All Justice. No Restraints. INCLUDES INVITATION TO HALO” 3 MULTIPLAYER BETA Limited time offer—look for specially marked boxes.” CONTENTS w: issue 212 * february 2007 = Weirdest Science Cover Story: Best Year Ever From Halo to Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear to Super Mario, = e Blu-ray vs. check out all the games that will make 2007 unforgettable. HD-DVD + LETTERS 34 Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD 88 Full Auto 2: Battlelines + GAHE OVER VE ЫНЫ 10 Now 100% bomb threat-free EE corner, weighing in at gg NCAA March Madness 07 102 Seanbaby's Rest of the Crap i 2 ood dust Planan EGS The BK Lounge. Now at 1080p + PRESS START 36 Take This Job ad: e К Condition 104 Retro Afterthoughts: The next presentation at Career У 16 Launch Wrap-Up 2 : Final Fantasy Ш Day: production designer 94 Rogue Galaxy 1 н Why it wasn’t a November to We dissect the innards of North remember for everyone 38 Afterthoughts: The Legend of 95 Karaoke Revolution Presents: America’s final piece of the : Twi i A i Idol е өтем ҚАРТ) жан rom 96 Phoenix Wright: Асе 22 Afterthoughts: Gears of War to end, and here's why oenl: igl а 106 Crossword/Grudge Match 2 Attorney—Justice for All 2 e What's next for this 360 shooter? 42 Rumor Mill 107 Sixteen Degrees of Mii 7 Hotel Dusk: Ri 215 i е 26 Weirdest Science 9: lotel Dusk: Room rm Bacon and Uwe Boll as Combining a George Foreman Seige 98 Metal Gear Solid: Miis? Mmmm; bason.: grill and а PS3...is that legal? Portable Ops 108 Final Word 30 Online Scene доо Reviews Intro/Blos 99 Star Wars Lethal Alliance 110 Hsu & Chan 32 Afterthoughts: Castlevania: 82. WarioWare: отери Moles 100 Reviews Wrap-Up Portrait of Ruin 86 Wii Play i lood The creator spills the bloo: 87 Super Swing Golf ZIFF DAVIS M! ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP COPY D PUBLISHING Duma of Ad Operations Yóinator MARKETING ng, Research ch Director May Tong PR Manager Jason Freidenfelds Drew Hathaway Promotions Graphic Designer Robyn Uyeno 2007 Preview: leos You've read the previews in our “2007: Best Year Ever” cover story. Now see some of the games in action, courtesy of GameVideos.com. EGM Live* Podcast: Holiday 2006 We discuss the winners and losers of this past holiday season. ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA INC. Chairman & CEO Robert F. Callahan Chief Financial Officer Michael J, Mille Executive Vice President, Licensing and Legal Affairs, General Counsel & Secretary Gregory Barton Presidents Lost Planet SuperGuide Lost on the Lost Planet MyCheats.com’s guide will help you through the cold. Gears: Magical Glitches Invisibility, self-mutilation, long-jumping, and more! Celebrities’ Mi GameVideos.com shows Also check out our podcast at EGMLive.1UP.com and our message boards at EGMboards.1UP.com. you how to create your own celebrity Mi Business Group) Senior Vice Presidents Kenneth Beach (Corporate Sales) Ira Becker (Game Gro John Davison (Editorial Di е Group) Jim Louderback (Editorial Director, Consumer/Small Business Group) lo Mandarano (Sales & onsumer/Small р) Martha Sch Solutions Gro tz (Custom Michael Vizard (Editorial Director, Enterprise Group) Priscilla Ng (e-Events) Paul O'Reilly (Event Marketing Group) Beth Repeta (Human Resources) Thomas Rousseau (Corporate Sales) Neil Young (Consumer/Small Business Group) Vice Presidents Aaron Goldberg (Mar Barry Harrigan (Internet) istin Holmes (International. sing) Chris Stetson (Research/Market Michael Krieger (Market Experts) Intelligence) keting, Research Stephen Sutton (A oup) Development, G mel) Business) Eric Lundquist (Editorial Director, Stephen Veith (Enterprise Group eWEEK) Publishing Director) Chris Maginn (Internet) Monica Via (Event Marketing Group) Jim McCabe (PC Magazine) Marci Yamaguchi (Sales Baby Games , and if my recent maternity leave is any indication, they're right. First of all, having a baby in the fall was a bad call—I missed out on our reviews of all the blockbuster holiday games. And having a baby during a launch year? Not too smart, either; people generally frown upon camping out in line with a newborn. What's really changed, though, is my perspective. For the first time in years, | experienced the holiday onslaught as an outsider. | hung out with stay-at-home moms and learned that they’re none too thrilled at the thought of their babies growing up to be gamers. | watched the evening news and learned that mainstream media outlets tend to completely miss this industry's true depth. | failed to preorder and learned how genuinely frustrating it is to be left empty-handed when all you want is a shiny new next-gen system. So while the baby was certainly worth the trouble, my time off made me eager to get back to EGM. | want to show my new mom friends our stories on Zelda, Castlevania, and Viva Pifiata (whose makers we interviewed this month) and see if they’d really mind their kids spending time with those games. | want the mainstream press to scope our massive Best Year Ever feature—the sheer quantity and variety of games proves this medium can’t be summed up by one label. And | really want to dig into the latest Wii and PS3 games we've been reviewing. By the time you read this, | hope you've gotten yours, too. —Jennifer Tsao, Managing Editor ‘SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE Subscription Service 800-779-1174 Game Group) Neil Young (Consumer/Small Business Group) Canada 303-604-7445 Web: wrw zamere com. IT West Coast All content copyright © Senior Technical Analyst 2007 Ziff Davis Media Inc. Bill Schmelzer Reproduction, modification, or transmission, in whole or in part, by any means, without written permission from Ziff Davis Media Inc. is strictly Desktop Administrator. Nick Kalister (Contact anyone on this masthead via е-тай using: davis com) аза x ы prohibited. All rights. Ed 10Р тәті LESE ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 9 * TRIVIAL ISSUS This month’s EGM question: What was the lowest- rated game to win the Game of the Month award in EGM? E-mail the answer to EGM@ziffdavis.com (subject head: Trivia: EGM #212) for a chance to win something potentially spectacular. You guys weren’t kidding when you complained of crappy load times in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw for the Xbox 360. Before every match, | find myself staring at a loading screen emblazoned with half-naked men for what seems like five minutes. After playing the game for three hours, I’m pretty sure that I'd spent at least опе of those hours waiting for the damn thing to load. What gives? —Alex C. Muniz We're not the only whiners com- plaining about obnoxious load times recently—several letters like this one have poured in from gamers fed up with the glacial pace of many next-gen games. Sure, patience is a virtue, but when you're waiting several minutes to suffer through a few disappointing seconds of Sonic the Hedgehog, it's enough to make you want last gen back. Or, in Alex's 10 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com EN WNBA hotties, fangirl name-calling, and our good pal Fabio case, when you’re forced to stare at greased-up dudes locked in a flesh pretzel for hours on end...you write into EGM to brag about it. Do videogame consoles have souls? I'm only 13 years old, but every night | find myself wondering about whether ІЛ still be able to play my PS2 after | die. Will my console’s afterlife depend on what kind of games | played on it? | mean, if you played Grand Theft Auto on it all day, will it end up in hell? If | played kiddie crap like Bratz and SpongeBob, would it go to heaven? | have cancer, so if you publish my let- ter, | would be very pleased. —Eduardo Gutierrez Wow, this one’s kind of rough. If an underage kid like you has been playing lots of GTA, odds are your PS2 will be headed straight for an eternity in the fiery abyss. The good news? It'll have plenty of Xboxes Move over, unrealistic DOAX ladies...this reader prefers the heroines of the WNBA. Are SpongeBob games the secret to eternal redemption? Probably not. (for the system's M-rated games) and Jaguar CDs (just on general principle) to play with in Hades. Гат writing to thank all the Sony fans who made asses of themselves on PlayStation 3 launch day. | watched on the news as those in line were shot, trampled, and stabbed just so people could get their hands on a PS3—and most of these folks weren't even buying it to play games, but only to make a profit on eBay. All this chaos has given [antigaming attor- ney] Jack Thompson more ammo for his argument that videogames make people violent. When the Wii launched two days later, it sold out and did extremely well, but since no one was shot or stabbed over it, the Wii launch didn't get as much attention as the PS3. Still, the difference between the gam- ers buying the Wii and the PS3 was mind-boggling. Nintendo fans were all pleasant and polite, and it seemed like most of the people who got a Wii actually wanted to play it. We Nintendo fans are often criticized for playing "childish, kiddie" games, but at least we know how to act like civilized human beings. —Katie Bailey Sure, the PS3 launch got a little more press due to high demand, extremely short supply, and a few bouts of isolated line violence (a shooting, a stabbing, and a BB-gun EVIL KNOWS THE HELGHAST ARE BACK And they’re taking hostages. Set out on an impossible mission to save them. Use the terrain to your advantage, as you navigate the battlefield from a new third-person perspective. The Killzone war rages on. Exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. Blood d mL e Violence y PlayStation Portable LIBERATION This Nintendo fan’s improvised bullet-proof vest was totally unnecessary in the lines for the Wii. drive-by), but the PS3 debut hoopla wasn’t far removed from that of the PS2 or Xbox 360. Yet many firsthand reports (like Katie’s letter) charac- terize PS3 buyers as either opportu- nistic eBay peddlers or violent low- lifes while canonizing Nintendo fans as altruistic saints. Can’t Wii own- ers enjoy their funky new console without acting like holier-than-thou elitists? Do you think PS3 fans are getting a bad rap? Let us know. | was perusing EGM #211 when a picture on page 39 distracted me. It was a screenshot for The Darkness showing some ghoul grabbing at a guy's head. Scrawled on the wall lyrics from the song "Rosetta Stoned" on Tool’s newest album, 10,000 Days. Check it out. —Seth Our readers don’t miss a thing. We got more letters about this Tool lyric than anything else this month, fur- ther cementing our popularity with the all-important “disaffected loner” demographic. And really, are you surprised that the guys at Swedish developer Starbreeze enjoy the gloomy musical stylings of Maynard Keenan? We’re lucky the whole soundtrack isn't by Entombed. $h > LOW BATTERY Fabio’s loins: thoroughly girded. > CONTACT шам E-mail: EGM@ziffdavis.com Snail mail: EGM Letters 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Subscription help: Web: www.zdmcirc.com; Phone: (800) 779-1174 Back issues: back_issues@ziffdavis.com Jeremy "Norm" Scott nearby was, *Me? The Chosen One? > OOPS They Chose Me. | didn't..." Naturally, | finished that last part in my head: “and | didn't graduate from f***ing high school.” Developer Starbreeze must be pretty big Tool fans. Those are In Issue #211, we said that Fox McCloud wasn’t part of the Super Smash Bros. Melee roster. Our bad—the furball was indeed a playable character in the GameCube fighter. For the mistake, Fox, we'll stop poking fun at your high-pitched, prepubescent sidekick, Slippy...for exactly seven minutes. If The Darkness is even half as disturbing as a Tool video, we're officially terrified. 12 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com RATING PENDING БЕДЕ Visit www.esrb.org for updated rating н x .. үр information. W ae © SEGA. SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent ай тайетагк Office. SEGA, the SEGA logo, Sonic The Hedgehog and Sonic and the Secret Rings are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA forporation, All rights reserved. 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КЕЛТЕ Fe EI] OL 6Z2SS9 OL А b'A-i2E p B5 4H FRES= =TART > gaming news, previews, analysis, and the latest іл pee-to-play technology Seasons EBEATINGS EGM analyzes the winners and losers of 2006's holiday gaming season By Shane Bettenhausen 16 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Who let the dogs back out? Nintendogs pranced proudly back onto charts with a “new” Dalmatian and Friends version. PAGE == Gears of War keeps on grindin* THE 2006 HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON played host to a particularly brutal videogaming conflict: Amidst two new system launches, a solid line- up of triple-A current-gen titles, and plenty of top-quality portable diver- Sions, competition for your gaming dollars felt fiercer than ever. Overall industry sales were definitely up from the previous year, but not everyone came home a winner. Here's a closer look at what went down. Nintendo beats everyone Nintendo managed to pull a star- tling coup—the combined appeal of Nintendo's wildly popular portables (DS Lite and GBA) and the freshly launched Wii vaulted Mario's handlers to the top of the crucial November sales charts compiled by the NPD data research firm. Over half of all hardware purchased during the month hailed from Nintendo, with the DS Lite selling a stunning 918,000 units and the aging Game Boy Advance moving another 641,000 systems. This victory validates the corporation's controver- sial “blue ocean" strategy—creating unique, affordable products to attract new gamers rather than directly engaging Sony and Microsoft in a competitive high-tech arms race. “I’m more surprised by the success of the GBA than either of the other two,” explains analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities. “It implies that when the DS comes down in price to $99 and $79 we'll see a huge sales spike there as well." The Wii's impressive debut (a 476,000 unit sellout) easily trumps the PS3's supply-strapped launch and nearly bests the Xbox 360's half-million November sales. A solid attach rate of two games with every Wii (compared to an average of only one game with each PlayStation 3) bodes well for future software sales, and roughly 65 percent of all new Wiis went home alongside a copy of Nintendo's own The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. And despite a free pack-in (Wii Sports) and the unavoid- able appeal of Zelda, third-party titles such as Red Steel, Monkey Ball, and Rayman Raving Rabbids performed remarkably well. Nintendo's wand-waggling console remained a hard-to-find Xmas-list Weirdest Science: geek chic ` must-have throughout December, with analysts predicting another million units would be sold by the close of 2006. Early in the month, a voluntary recall (overzealous Wii players were breaking the Remote's wrist straps) proved harmless, serving only to keep the console in the news. So, what made the Wii such a huge hit? Positive word of mouth, glowing praise from mainstream media, and a comparatively low price point all contributed to this instant success. The affordability factor could be what pushes the Wii even further forward in the coming months. “I believe that the masses really like low price points with great software, and Nintendo’s success speaks to the health of the industry overall,” adds Pachter. PlayStation 3’s paper launch After suffering numerous painful delays and plenty of nasty critical backlash for its hefty price tag, Sony's next-generation PlayStation finally arrived in stores on November 17th. Well, at least a few units did...despite promises of 400,000 Р535 for the U.S. debut, a scant 197,000 systems actually made it to store shelves. Or, more appropriately, they went directly into the hands of lucky campers, prepurchasers, and crafty eBay entre- Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD: im format fight preneurs hoping to turn a quick 'n' dirty profit. The miniscule initial ship- ment and high price directly impacted software sales—the most popular title, Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man, moved only 66,000 units, and the average PS3 buyer went home with only one game. Ouch. But these meager sales don't necessarily reflect consumer indiffer- ence to the console. To the contrary, demand for the console far out- stripped supply, making the PS3 an elusive, luxurious piece of high-end hipster tech. Sony's production prob- lems unfortunately made it an unat- tainable goal for nearly every shopper. "The sell-through of the PS3 is irrel- evant,” explains Pachter. “They sold every unit shipped—had they shipped 800,000, they would have sold out, and you would have asked if Sony's head start over the Wii was defensi- ble." And it certainly continued to sell out through the month of December: Analysts predicted that Sony would manage to get another 600,000 sys- tems into the hands of eager buyers. But that still leaves the PS3 firmly trailing the Wii and 360 in the sales race. Sony has become its own worst enemy by allowing crippling produc- tion delays to hamper its chances for impressive out-of-the-gate success. Ж Jonathan Mann, aka GameJew, seized control of L.A.'s first Wii, upsetting Mel Gibson, Borat. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 17 Until the console is readily available, it’s basically impossible to gauge just how much impact the lofty price and limited game library will have on sales. The long-term outlook for the PS3 remains tentatively rosy, assuming that Sony is serious about its predicted 10- year life span for the system. As more games appear and the price comes down, the chances of repeating the past PS1 and PS2 successes will seem more realistic. “We won't see a $599 price point on the PS3 forever, after all,” reminds Pachter. Microsoft’s lofty expectations As planned, Microsoft cleverly inter- cepted the big Sony and Nintendo launches with Gears of War, Epic’s highly anticipated (and unabashedly gorgeous) postapocalyptic Xbox 360 shooter. Over a million gamers quickly snapped it up, instantly making Gears the best-selling 360 game of all time. Plus, Gears also triggered a rush of Xbox Live Gold sign-ups, with a 50 percent increase in the paid subscrip- tion rate in the wake of its release. New third-party Xbox 360 titles fared well, too—Call of Duty 3, Need for Speed Carbon, WWE SmackDown, and F.E.A.R. all performed admirably at retail. Yet, despite tons of success on the software side, November hard- ware sales fell decidedly short of both analysts' and Microsoft's own predictions—gamers snapped up roughly 511,000 consoles, a figure noticeably short of the 750,000 to 1 million forecasts that many analysts predicted. Supply certainly wasn't a problem—Xbox 360s were read- ily available everywhere. “I think that most of us, myself included, thought that there would be a lot of substitu- tion, with people buying 360s because they couldn't find Wiis or PS3s," says Pachter. "Instead, it appears that the substitution favors the GBA, DS, PS2, and PSP, so | can only conclude that people are opting to go cheaper while waiting for their Wii or PS3.” Still, never count out the pos- sibility of a holiday miracle. Two consecutive months of the Xbox 360 underperforming at retail didn't keep the analysts from making optimistic December sales predictions of 1.3 million units. It's a plausible scenario, considering the platform's strong soft- ware lineup and rampant availability. But with 360 stock levels already high, critics wonder whether Microsoft may simply be flooding the channel with hardware in an effort to reach its long- promised global sales goal of shipping 10 million systems before the end of 2006. Will these unsold systems lan- guish in stores until Microsoft makes that inevitable price cut? "Microsoft will continue to do well with the 360, and it will continue to be a steady sell- er," Pachter predicts. “But it doesn't look like the 360 will be the dramatic winner that many predicted." Game over for the PSP? Although Sony's PlayStation Portable saw a sales surge in the month of November with 412,000 systems sold, it's still taking a royal beating at the hands of the DS. Nintendo's quirky dual-screen handheld is now beating PSP in every territory, with a particularly insurmountable lead in its Japanese homeland. With its par- ent-friendly price and growing library of kiddie games (what's a Hannah Montana, anyway?), the DS is quickly inheriting the GBA's younger audi- ence. Plus, left-field games such as Brain Age, Nintendogs, and Animal Crossing continue to draw throngs of nontraditional gamers to the DS fold, further widening the gulf between the two portables' markets. “Рт not sure it's a handheld war," says Pachter. “Sony is trying to make a portable console, and Nintendo has a handheld gaming device—this has the effect of segmenting the market, with more advanced gameplay on the PSP attracting more advanced (that means older) consumers, and less advanced gameplay on the DS attracting less advanced (that means casual, which could be younger or quite a bit older) players." So, while Nintendo successfully courts kids, hipsters, and grannies, Sony struggles to convince the PlayStation genera- tion to pony up $200 to play portable versions of PS2 games. Frankly, that strategy doesn't seem to be working. "Sony is doing something wrong," says Pachter. “Their PSP could play more simple games, but they don't seem to know how to get those to market...and the price point on the PSP (still $199) is too much higher than [that of] the DS for people to seriously consider as a gift for a 10- year-old." Given the PSP's unfortunate situation, one has to wonder if we'll see either a full redesign or all-new follow-up from Sony in 2007.... бл. more about 2006's big winners and losers? Our editors delve even deeper with a special EGM Live* podcast available at EGM212.1UP.com. THE ELUSIVE PINATA OEMOGRAPHIC How to dismantle an Xbox 360 bomb Microsoft's critically lauded Viva Piñata had both a killer pedigree (it was created by Rare, developer behind GoldenEye and Banjo-Kazooie) and a high-profile licensing deal (a Saturday-morning cartoon, toy line, and Halloween costumes), but Xbox 360 owners steered clear of it this holiday shopping season. Ignored by the space marine-loving Xbox populace, Piñata did find a home with a handful of lucky gamers. Here's a look at who actually bought Viva Piñata. EM Papier-máché fetishists -.. zo Hip high-school Spanish teachers Fans of the lowly rated Fox TV show zo Grabbed by the шен Child predators The staff of EGM Mexico Ghoulies apologists 18 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Want to hear NAVY x COMBINED Lm Drug Reference Violence (Really) classic controllers Sure, Nintendo offers its own control- ler for the Virtual Console, but noth- ing compares to wrapping your mitts around the original NES and SNES joypads. Thankfully, retrousb.com is selling adapters that let you use your old controllers on the Wii. FYI: We didn’t have time to try "ет out, so blame the manufacturer if they suck. Shrunken-down Sims Crafting a virtual life just got a helluva lot cuter—EA's celebrated people pop- ulator, The Sims, is setting up shop on the Wii with a new, Mii-too makeover. Right now, the game (entitled Boku Sim) is only set to invade Japan, but it shouldn't be long before EA cashes in on its cuteness here, too. WHO 20 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com TOPIX 22400 22 ө ¥1,000,000 EDI “т Æ БЕ P B3000 | + FOREIGN OBJECT-JIAFAN Kabu Trader zHLIF From the nation that even makes day-trading seem sexy Platform: — What's this? Michael Milken: How is a stock-trading simulator Nintendo DS Ace Investor? Well, yes—except fun? By being a spiritual successor Likelihood this is опе of Capcom’s Japanese to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, itll come adventure games, so instead of a of course. Like the spiky-haired here: Phoenix н F Wright prob- balding, pudgy white guy, you’ve defense attorney, Shun gets to run ably wouldn't 904 Shun (pronounced "shoon"), an around the city adventure-style, object.and 18-year-old whiz kid with goofy hair meeting up with businessmen and Capcom proi and magical anime-style stock-fixing figuring out his strategy for the crazy ahy Жар |. methods that'd get him 20 years іп trading sessions. Trading either hap- the federal pen anywhere else. Shun leads a pretty sordid life—his dad disappeared after losing it all in the stock market, some weird rich girl challenges him to “trading duels,” and he’s shown the ropes by a top trader who looks a little like a pre- Matrix Keanu Reeves. pens solo (where Shun has to make а certain amount of money within a time limit) or “versus,” where he’s pitted against a rival trader in a real- time trading contest that combines Wall Street with something like a strategy-RPG—complete with goof- ily named special moves. à : -S0 FREEDOM CAN. You're tasked with commanding the most feared fighting force on the planet; With 4-player co-op campaigns that reward teamwork, new weapons and an intense, relentless enemy that's smarter than ever before, you'll be challenged to the fullest at every turn. The battle awaits, the mission is clear. Now the only question is: have you got what it takes to stand alongside the best of the best? www.us.playstation.com wwWw:seal.riavy.mil www.socomeseals.com “ы. | | | ту ==? COMBINED ASSAT лшн. | PlayStation 2 ІЗГІ, bs! SOCOM:U,S, Navy SEALs Combined Assault: ©2006 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Developed by Zipper Interactive, Inc. “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment inc. “Live їп Your World, Play In Ours? is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Online play requires Internet connection, Network Adaptor (for PlayStation®2) or PlayStation@2 with internal network connector, and Memory Card (8MB) (for PlayStation®2) (each sold separately), Online icon is a trademark of Sony Computer EntertalflmentAmerica Inc. The U.S. Navy provided'technical support, but does not officially endorse this product. Cliff Bleszinski is Gears of War's lead designer at devel- oper Epic Games. Не enjoys torturing his foes, lots of attention, and long walks with Optimus Prime. Shootin’ the s IT'S SORTA GOT A ІСОМЕ-НАТЕ THING GOING ON, One minute, you're having a grand ol' time playing Gears of War with your friends, the - next you're spewing curse words faster than your onscreen persona's losing his blood and internal organs. Why is this game so much fun and so problem-ridden at the same time? Will the developers fix anything? And what's up with the inevitable sequel? We ask. Cliff Bleszinski answers. EGM; Gears of War is the best- looking game for any console right now. Сап you outshine it with. Gears of War 2? Cliff Bleszinski: Well, first off, we haven't actually committed tó saying that we’re doing a sequel yet. So | see what you're doing there.... EGM: But Gears’ ending says there's going to be a sequel. CB: Well, | don't know about you, but | want to kill more stuff. | think there's a pretty good chance that we might be doing something after this. 22 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www. 1UP.com ЕОМ: Graphically speaking, is there room to improve? CB: | think there's more that we could squeeze out of the 360. You get used to the limitations and potential that this console has, and then you can really start exploring. І guarantee that, in the future, the technology of what we do here will squeeze every bit of coolness out of [the 360]. If there's a follow-up, it'll definitely look better than the first. EGM: The “Mad World” trailer is pretty cool, but you never have that big encounter in the game, and you never really explore the human, emotional side of the story like the commercial hints at. False advertising? GB: | think those themes are there in the game; they’re just very secondary as far as the sense of desperation that occurs with the war, massive displacement as far as these stranded guys that are cast off from humanity. The thing is, we didn’t want to beat people over the f***ing head with the story elements in the game and have them sit there watching four hours of cut-scenes in a row before they can go down the next hallway. We believe that players can infer a lot about what's going on in the universe, that it gives them reason to explore the ancillary marketing materials that we made available on the website [gearsofwar.com]. Ultimately you buy the game to play it and enjoy it and have fun, and if our biggest problem is that people want to know more about the universe, that’s a good problem to have in my opinion. EGM: You're a big fan of Resident Evil 4, but just how much influence did it have on Gears? Blind enemies, the camera, the mine-cart sequence, a boss that you kill by sinking him into *lava".... Did we miss anything? CB: There's a fine line between what some people claim is paying homage and what some people claim is just a straight rip-off, right? When | go back and play RE4, its pacing was actually a bit more methodical than what we wound up with. Gears has a kind of crazy pacing...more of an action-movie feel—we wound up leaning on the action side more than the suspense side, whereas RE4 swung back and forth more quickly between the two. Ultimately there’s definitely overlap between the two, but we’re not the [only other] game to have blind enemies or a third-person camera. It's just a matter of evolving what things you think are cool and taking them to the next level, introducing them to a new generation that might not have seen these experiences. EGM: Are artificial triggers unavoidable? Like when Locusts pour out after you take over a turret, or that box that blocks the train that magically disappears. only after you clear out all the enemies in the area. How do you deal with these situations as a game designer so they don’t feel too fake? CB: The key is misdirection. It's like magic, right? Just like a magician uses a pretty girl. Any time the player sees something interesting in front of him, you can have all sorts of stuff going on behind the scenes. You have to have what are essentially “gates” to make sure a player doesn’t just sprint through the entire game, a la Quake done Quick. The areas where the players don't notice this are the ones that have the most whiz-bang action, and everything just flows together seamlessly. As a designer, you use misdirection and make sure there's all sorts of cool stuff with choppers and explosions so that the player is preoccupied and doesn't realize that he’s carefully being “gated” along throughout the cinematic experience. ЕСМ: What's up with Dom? He sure needs a lot of saving.... CB: In hindsight...Dom got a little eager in spots. We probably should have made him ease up on the caffeine a little bit. EGM: Do you think assigning “solve puzzle" to the Y button underestimates the audience’s intelligence, where you make it too easy to track whatever they need to track at the time? CB: It does and it doesn’t. We wound up having different timers on different difficulties for a lot of the Y- point adventures. So if you’re playing on casual, the tip on where to go would actually come up relatively quickly, whereas on hardcore it would appear later or not at all. We're using the different difficulty methods to separate those who want a slightly more spoon-fed experience versus those who don’t. A lot of gamers are so used to this arbitrary definition of what “challenge” is that they’re used to being beaten down as if they’re the most hardcore gamer, and they’re OK not knowing where to go and like spending hours just trying to figure out what the hell they’re supposed to do in a game. I’m OK with giving players tips. This is how we expand our audience. We're a business. We want everybody to buy the game. EGM: Is there a lot of concern over how violent the game is? CB: Funny thing is, I’ve heard more complaints about the language than about the violence. Some people are OK with the fact that you’re shooting and chain-sawing them, but they don't want to hear the words “s***” or “goddamn.” It’s such a funny standard of where your average American gamer is. Who am | to say what people want, though? | mean, the customer is always right. But | find it incredibly amusing. You can cut people's heads off all day long as long as you don't show a breast or By the time you read this, updates for Gears of War may already be available. Epic's looking to make grenade tagging harder to do...thank god. say a dirty word. It's a catch-22—it's the fear of the language that makes that language powerful, so if nobody cared about the cusswords there wouldn't be any cusswords, right? EGM: Why so few modes in multiplayer versus? And the three that are available are essentially the same.... CB: It’s one part wanting to keep it simple and just one part time [constraints] and making sure...the game had to ship at some point. We're talking about some possible extensions to the versus [via downloadable content], but nothing's been officially announced yet. EGM: Do you think melee attacks are too useful in multiplayer? They all stun on that initial hit. CB: If the players mash A fast enough, they can actually dive away from the stun occurring. If you’re actually that good and can get that close to enemies, then you deserve to kill them. At that point you could have chain-sawed them, you could have grenade tagged them, you could have shotgun blasted them— you could have used any number of different attacks. If you keep the enemy at a distance, then it’s basically a nonissue. That’s where teamwork really comes in. If people are watching your back and checking your corners and everything, you'll > > Some people аге OK with the fact that you’re chain-sawing them, but they don’t want to hear “s***” or “goddamn.” —Cliff Bleszinski ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 23 APTER THOUGHTS: GEARS OF ШАК con) be OK. If you just start lone-wolfing it, well, good luck. EGM: Grenade taggers often die in the act of tagging, but since taggers are awarded a kill and taggees aren’t, the game actually doesn’t discourage suicidal play too much. CB: Well, the next step right now is to just make grenade tagging a lot harder to do. From my own experiences online, I’ve found grenade tagging to be very frustrating—people grabbing it and then just diving and the game devolving from there. So we're nerfing that back a bit, but we still want it to be a viable tactic. You take the risk of getting that close and you Bleszinski favorite map? Train Station. Favorite kill- ing ways? Sniper head shot and Torque Bow with perfect reload (which makes it 30 percent faster to aim). get the reward. But keen players who really know how to aim, they can keep players with shotguns and grenades at a distance very, very easily, because they just aim for the head, have an active-reload clip, and take them down in a nanosecond. EGM: Can you talk more about why Gears doesn’t support friends in ranked matches? CB: It’s basically a rule from Microsoft. They wanted to prevent players teaming up and padding the ranked matches and getting on top of the leaderboards. EGM: We talked to the Xbox Live team, and they told us it’s really up to developers—that if they really want to build it, they can. It seems like you guys are blaming Microsoft, and Microsoft is saying it’s really up to you guys. Their upcoming Shadowrun will support team ranked matches with friends. So what gives? CB: There’s been enough of an uproar іп the community. I’ve seen relentless amounts of comments on message boards about it. As far as | know, it was not allowed [by Microsoft]. It could just be a left hand not talking to the right hand type of situation, but gamers aren’t going to let the damn thing die. If it keeps coming up...you know how we are as far as supporting our community. We commit to our products; we don’t let it go. EGM: Does that mean you will incorporate team rankings in Gears of War if you can? CB: Those talks are ongoing. EGM: Did you deliberately design Gears’ multiplayer to favor chance or chaos in order to make the game more accessible to a broader base? Like when two chain saws go head-to-head—it’s а coin toss as to who’s going to win that fight. Why not make the game more tactical, so a player knows exactly who’s supposed to win in that situation? CB: For me a lot of those scenarios ultimately boil down to the X-factor. When you're playing a real-time strategy game, and you have two evenly matched players, the one thing that can push it away from a stalemate is that random crate that appears on the battlefield and gives one player an advantage. | think it’s good for players who are generally better to be able to defeat other players, but if there’s a little bit of a random factor in there to allow the s***ty guy to occasionally beat the guy who’s really good, | think that, in the name of fun, it’s an occasional trade-off that’s OK to make. EGM: Epic Games has a history of making competitive shooters like Unreal Tournament. Gears is fun to play with friends, but it probably won’t see major action with the pro leagues.... CB: The game was never designed to be Unreal Tournament. It was always designed as one-third single- player game, one-third co-op, and one-third versus multiplayer. The fact 24 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com that versus has taken off as such a success is a pleasant surprise for us, but it was never something that we had planned to be CPL- [Cyberathlete Professional League] or World Cyber Games-worthy in that regard. It’s always been just a “jump in, kick around, and have fun with friends” game. It’s not really the kind of versus that we designed for people to play for six figures. That’s why we do Unreal Tournament. EGM: Still, can’t you make a game that appeals to the casual audience and is precise enough for tournament-level play? CB: | think that’s something we could potentially iterate on [for a sequel] and nail everything perfectly for extremely high-level competitive play, with high yield for players. There are always ways around it. The superweapon in your classic shooter is that X-factor of chaos that allows the s**tiest of players to occasionally kill the best players. And what do they do for tournament play? They just disable the superweapon. You can always make small changes—this is the rule set for the hardcore, and this is the rule set for casual players...something that’ll maintain the hardcore but invite the more casual to play. But we try to keep them in separate pens whenever possible.... ж Go to ЕСМ212.10Р.сот to see videos of some crazy Gears of War magic—invisibility, long-jumping, self- mutilations.... Epic’s looking to fix some of these glitches any day now. Weirdest Eight new far-out experiments in gaming geekery Great games can make you think, sure, but sometimes great thinkers can make games, too—especially if your idea of games is a pee-powered gear-shifting simulator and a ver- sion of Tetris that builds your biceps. So, for the third year in a row, we travel the globe in search of scientists and students who clearly have too much time on their hands. 26» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Pee in a pod Here’s a game where the strategy tip, straight from the designer, is to drink a lot of beer before playing. “Liquids aren't used much in today’s interfaces and | found it an interesting idea,” says John van Terheijden, a Leiden University grad student in the Netherlands (where else?). “One thing led to another and the idea of using pee came to mind.” His concoction is TopsPEEd (the pun kinda hits you like a bucket of warm liquid, huh?), a game where you urinate on four tiny seesaws in an enclosed urinal to shift gears on a racecar, which appears оп an overhead monitor and shows rpm and mph. The faster you switch gears, the more the car accelerates. There’s even an engine sound that roars louder as you race but, thankfully, there’s no force feedback. Block party Two Milan, Italy, grad-school guys with names like Victor Szilagyi and Tristam Sparks must be quirky cool, right? Their xBlocks 3D project is like the bastard child of Tetris and Super Mario Bros., projected on a large 3D sculpture and controlled with standard console joypads. The interconnected blocks form a maze in physical space crawling with flickery blue mon- sters. “There are two ways to win,” says Szilagyi, “either by getting to your opponent's base, or by catching them in the maze.” Power-ups increase your Speed or upgrade your weapon. But if you wander the maze too long, the monsters will eat you for lunch. TopsPEED: Don't go number two. Kicking the habit The Wild Horses Center in the Netherlands (yes, those guys again) is like a detox facility for addicted gamers. The recovery program lasts up to six weeks and treats afflictions of mostly the PC variety. *The most addictive games are World of WarCraft, any role-playing game, Counter-Strike, and Quake," says Keith Bakker, director of the center, which opened just last year. “The symptoms of addiction are loss of friends, bad grades in school, loss of self-control, and mounting debt from all the online-gaming fees." Bakker plans to build an online game-addiction center soon and wants to hear from players with stories to tell about their own game addictions. Just send an e-mail to danielle@smithandjones.nl. And if you don't get help at Wild Horses, please, get help somewhere. өл E Perfect for lofts and small warehouses. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 27 While benching the bulky PlayStation 3 may seem like a sensible workout for your average muscle-nerd, Tim Tucker blasts his lats old-school. To cap off his Master’s of Science in Human-Computer Interaction at Indiana x 7 University, he rigged up an “exploration in the area of / entertainment fitness"—basically, a sweaty version of Tetris. After spending 650 bucks and a few months tinker- ing with a computer, some pulleys, remote controllers, and weighted buckets, Tucker had his phys-ed killer app—and the muscles to prove it. He realized that the simple mechanic of lifting weights to shift the onscreen pieces made people forget they were working out at all. Just take care to lift that extra-heavy straight piece with your legs. Seven-block biceps : | | | қ Е Tired of getting sand kicked іп your face? Hmm. Well, this thing probably won't help. Lean, mean grillin’ PS3 Who says your PlayStation 3 has to collect dust once you've beaten best-of-the-batch launch game Resistance: Fall of Man? Not Aussie 17-year-olds James Kingham and Brendan Foley, who noticed something very as-seen- on-TV about the system's concave casing. "Ever since the final design of the PS3 was announced, people have been joking that it looks like a George Foreman grill," says Kingham. One long Sunday afternoon later (not to mention $1,000 blown on grillin’ parts and an imported PS3), the duo had completed their 2,000-watt, meat-heatin' mas- terpiece. It's roomy enough for two bloody T-bones, four kosher wieners, and a few whiskey-lathered memory cards. 1UP.com Ghost buster We think students at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan must have played too much Luigi's Mansion. Their Shadow Chaser game is part ghost- sucking gun, part psychological experiment. As you race around capturing the projected virtual ghosts—which look like tiny Pokémon—with a special vacuum cleaner, your backpack fills up with their “weight” and the gun’s barrel gets clogged. You can hear the goblins’ footsteps through a headset as they try to evade your capture. “The purpose of the project is to give users another way to perceive the existence of objects,” says student Yoshinobu Nakano. Sounds deep and fun. Ehhh, we think. Space clamp Forget driving wheels: The Control Freak lets you use any physical object as a game controller, including bus seats, recliners, tree limbs—any- thing you don’t mind clamping it onto. "I had the idea of a device that could turn objects into controllers by sensing movement,” says Haiyan Zhang, a graduate student at the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy. “I'd like to eventually add a gyroscope for more precision in the sensing." The clamp prototype uses something called an accelerometer and transmits movement coordinates over a wireless signal. What's next? Home-console controllers that sense movement? That'll be the day.... жй This game sucks. Head game To quote one famously tongue-twisted former vice president: “Not to have a mind is being very wasteful.” Enterprising engineers at Washington University in St. Louis are picking up what Dan Quayle put down. They hooked up an Atari 2600 to the brain of a teenager with epilepsy, allowing him to control Space Invaders with nothing but thought patterns. Amazingly, the system provides precise back-and-forth control in fine increments. “The patient's electrode array on the surface of their brain is wired directly to a biosignal amplifier," explains Tim Blakely, who helped design the interface. “The computer detects a specific pat- tern of neuron firings." Blakely found Atari electrical circuit maps on the Internet to get the thought-reading matrix working, and he has expanded the system's compatibility to include simple online games. Here's a thought: Will Nintendo pick up this technology for its Wii successor? i We don't know where this guy stuck his Space Invaders the old-fashioned way. H 1 [Fr _ motion sensor. And we don't wanna know. The brain scanner's inventor plays ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 29 From future blockbusters like Halo 3 to...Space Giraffe, we’ve got your game-related video needs covered over at GameVideos.com. This month, marvel at a hamster trapped—like а furry Tron—in a game, and see what happens when a Wii sensor bar has | an unfortunate run-in with peanut but- By Michael Donahoe ter over at GameVideos.com/EGM. What Nintendo game do you What game do you NOT want 5 2 н pant online the most? to see on the Virtual Console? 1337: Halo 3 ad discussion Halo übernerds Mark MacDonald Bros. Brawl Superman 64 Super Smash (GameVideos) and Luke Smith (10Р .com) deliver a frame-by-frame break- down of the recent Halo 3 TV ad Who is charging too much Drooling not pictured. i for the classics? Wii ($5-$10) (Nintendo 64) What’s the most annoying part of Xbox Live? Online games riddled pile азор аз ирер ө WTF: Space Giraffe ۴ "ia right—super-s****y, You may be wondering what a Space with childish Giraffe is. Turns out it's a super-psy- i chedelic shooter with Tempest 2000 i What PS1 download do you What's the coolest thing about overtones by cult-famous developer f want the most? Xbox Live? Jeff Minter, and it’s “mental.” A| Final Fantasy VII Can easily invite friends into online games What PS1 download do you What’s the most annoying part about NOT want to see? Nintendo’s online service? A| Any Army Men game A| Friend Codes LOL: 8-Bit Wonder Hamster Screw hamster wheels—any hamster H RER aM cena 8-bit- What’s the most annoying part of in is obviously deprived. style platformer Habitrail to run around PlayStation Network No Achievements Can’t see what friends are playing Can’t do other things г when downloading stuff FTW: Wii-Speriments 8 1UP Labs puts Wii under the micro- Н Сап" invite friends їо play your scope, stress-testing the Wii-mote, i game from the Cross Media Bar showing you how to jury-rig a home- i made sensor bar, and more. 30 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.corr PLAYER 1: Got the latest tirs & tricks at the AT&T blue room. PLAYER 2: ‘Me бої vaporized Ф“ by Player 1. 7%----< ы ©2006 AT&T Knowledge Ventures. All rights reserved. AT&T is a registered trademark of АТЕВ КП Ғы 7 Shallow software MIHIS "d Second chance to suck Great, just when our wounds started to heal from Red Steel's wonky samu- rai slashing, publisher Ubisoft put up a job posting on its website looking for developers to take a stab at sequel. Maybe some extra time will keep this Wii shooter from missing its mark the second time around, but even so, we'd rather this series lay down its sword and surrender. Classic cop-out While we're all wild on the Wii, it didn't exactly launch with any long-last- ing games other than Zelda. But the Virtual Console makes up for it...or at least it does in Japan—the classic lineup overseas tragically trumps our shoddy collection. While we're play- ing Pinball (NES) and Soccer (NES), they're enjoying Super Castlevania IV (SNES), Contra IIl (SNES), and a hand- ful of other hits. 32» ELECTRONIC GAMING МО w.1UP.com The bonus Sisters mode is unlocked after obtain- ing the good ending...you know, killing Dracula. LA y UGHTS Castlevania: FORTRAIT OF RUIN Talking secrets with Castlevania's count DAMN THAT DRACULA! No mat- ter how many times the nefarious neck-biter gets whipped to death, the bastard always seems to rise from his ashes to set up another sprawling house of horrors. So after slashing down Drac's for the umpteenth time in Portrait of Ruin, we asked series producer Koji Igarashi to spill the secrets on his latest vampire game. EGM: Where did Jonathan's hilari- ously awesome, but completely useless “paper airplane” and “cream pie" attacks come from? Koji Igarashi: After we had brain- stormed the initial list of sub-weap- ons and magic spells, we noticed that they were all pretty standard and wanted to spice things up. I’m sure there are some people that are against it, but I’m not afraid to interject a little bit of humor into Castlevania series. By Michael Donahoe EGM: Is it possible to complete the bonus Sisters mode without get- ting the bad ending (i.e., Brauner chomping down on both sisters)? KI: Sisters mode is a special side quest to the main game, so there are no additional endings. EGM: Unlocking the Old Axe Armor nice. But since he was an unlock- able in Symphony of the Night, did you consider choosing a different enemy? KI: Absolutely. There are several other enemies that we considered, includ- ing the Merman and different types of Skeletons. We had to leave them out in order to complete the game in time, but | certainly won't rule them out for other games! EGM: OK, let's go over all the unlockables that are in the game: ? SECOND SYMPHONY | Portrait of Ruin continues the non-lin- ear style set by the last four portable Castlevania adventures. But before these recent titles took to the road, Symphony of Night (PS1) was actually the first game to radically change the series’ castle-crawling. Instead of the into this killer exclusive. So we know Richter Belmont, a young Maria Renard, the two sisters (Stella and Loretta), and the Old Axe Armor are playable, but what about Eric Lecarde? He totally has to be an unlockable character, right? KI: | agree that Eric would make sense to be an unlockable character as well, but he is not. It is a shame that such a dashing man, so skilled with spears and magic, has to meet his end in Portrait of Ruin. EGM: We know you’re a big fan of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES), and we noticed how Portrait of Ruin tried to throw in more levels, but some folks are complaining the different stages aren't challenging enough. Will the next Castlevania game incorpo- rate more early NES-style levels with an increased difficulty? straightforward levels from the earlier games, SOTN incorporated the fig- ure-it-out-yourself level design made famous by Metroid. And now that Konami is bringing SOTN to Xbox Live Arcade, both Vania vets and series newcomers can revel in its return. But what other secrets is Konami hiding in its coffin? Big ones! Check back here next issue to get the exclu- sive scoop on the next Castlevania installment. Trust us—if you're a fan of SOTN, you'll want to sink your fangs KI: One of our goals for the game was to bring a greater variety of environments to the series, and think we succeeded with the differ- ent motifs and new locations. | feel it is the richest-looking game we have made since Symphony of the Night. As for the difficulty, we have to be very careful about how hard our games are. We absolutely do not want to freeze out anyone new to the series with a game that is incredibly difficult, but we also want to provide a challenge that has been with the series over its 20 years. This is why we include bonus dif- ficulty settings in all our games. There is a hard version of Portrait of Ruin that is really very difficult to complete. In our office, anyone who finished this hard version of the game received a standing ova- tion, so please try it and then let me know if there are still issues with the game's challenge level. іф > THE GAME OF LIVES 5 Lives: Ted Price If you own a PS3, you don't have to be a genius to know Resistance: Fall of | Man is the only launch game that mat- | ters on that system. But you've gotta have brains to tackle our tough questions. Since devel- oper Insomniac's CEO Ted Price is pretty smart, we asked him to be the first person to play our game of 5 Lives. Here's how it works: We test a developer's knowl- edge by asking them five random questions. If they get one right, great. If they get one wrong, they lose a life. And if they answer every question correctly, they get a special prize: Their self-esteem remains untarnished. 1: Name the three types of insomnia. Ted Price: The kind of insomnia you get when you drink 12 Diet Cokes, the kind of insomnia you get when you're up all night worrying about something at work, and then that kind of hereditary insomnia that you can't do anything about. EGM: Correct. Lives remaining: 60000 2: What's the name of the evil dragon in Dragon's Lair? TP: Haven't even played through that—l’ve played that game like three times. Didn't get very far...Homer? EGM: Incorrect. It's Singe. Lives remaining: 60005 3: Put these three levels from your first game, Disruptor (PS1), in order: Antarctica, Dream Circle, and The Chemical Factory. TP: Chemical Factory was the earliest. Antarctica was next, and then the dream sequence was closer to the end. EGM: Correct. Lives remaining: 9990 4: What recent game completely ripped off Ratchet & Clank? TP: Ruff Trigger. EGM: Correct. ы” Lives remaining: 0000 5: So Ted, is the Price really right? TP: If you ask Insomniac, they'd probably say only sometimes. EGM: Correct. Lives remaining: 0000 Game Over: Congrats Ted, you’ve set the high score! You should totally write the strategy guide for our game. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 33 Not another one! China has announced its own high-defini- tion-disc format, bound to outsell all the others based on that nation’s popula- tion alone. HDO-—OWD TEAL Is Blu-ray winning the high-def disc jam? DON’T WASTE YOUR POPCORN ON HIGH-DEFINITION VIEWINGS of Fantastic Four or The Devil Wears Prada. The real entertainment comes from watching the two high-def disc formats—Blu-ray and HD-DVD—slug it out for home-theater supremacy. And the stakes couldn’t be higher. Sony is counting on the PlayStation 3 to drive massive market penetra- tion of its Blu-ray format, thus earn- ing a killing in home-movie licensing cash. Microsoft—which released a $200 movie-playing HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 in November—is backing the other team. So far, manufacturers of stand- alone players have not been forth- coming with sales numbers for either hardware or movies. Bill Hunt, editor of online DVD resource The Digital Bits (www.digitalbits.com), believes that’s a sign that both formats are underperforming compared to expectations. 34 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com And in this battle, sales numbers— rather than picture quality—mean everything in establishing the domi- nant format. “There are tiny differ- ences,” Hunt says, “but overall, it's a wash. Once you get to the level of 1080p video [the ultra-crisp resolu- tion supported by these discs], both formats deliver.” Seeing blue Blu-ray player delays and the PS3's low initial release numbers aren't expected to factor much into the format's long-term future. PS3s will continue to be in high demand, and the system easily represents the largest single installed player base, which bodes well for the Blu-ray for- mat. “Blu-ray is in a better position because more people are interested in purchasing a PS3 than in purchas- ing a stand-alone HD-DVD player,” says Wedbush Morgan Securities Analyst Michael Pachter. “That inter- est will continue for several years. That means that the studios will see a Blu-ray installed base much larger than the HD-DVD installed base, and they will ultimately be compelled to make the best economic decision, which is to support Blu-ray.” At this time, only one studio— Universal—hasn’t committed to the Blu-ray format, while HD-DVD has yet to attract Fox, Disney, MGM, Sony, and Lionsgate. Hunt adds that the bigger-name electronics manu- facturers, such as Sony, Panasonic, and Pioneer, are still supporting Blu- ray over HD-DVD. Once more titles become available, the higher-quality hardware will likely attract consum- ers who remain on the fence. Right now, however, the movie catalogs for both formats are roughly equal. In the middle of December, Amazon.com had 203 HD-DVDs and 196 Blu-ray discs available for sale or preorder. Hunt expects many E E] E Е 5 © 3 A 8 Н 3 2 significant studio announcements at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, with studios increasing the frequency of both new releases and high-profile catalog titles. Still, you can predict where many high-profile movies will land just based on studio support. Disney blockbusters, such as Toy Story айй The Incredibles, as well as Fox’s Star Wars saga will likely make their appearance exclusively on Blu-ray. Other hits, such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Matrix films, and the Indiana Jones series, should appear on both formats simultane- ously, assuming there isn’t a clear winner once the studios get around to giving consumers the films they really want. Whether those movies come now or later, Pachter says the outcome will be the same. “Blu-ray wins in a landslide,” he says. Paying the renters Major video-rental chain Blockbuster isn’t ready to side with Blu-ray just yet. The chain’s online store carries every title released for both formats, as well as in 250 of its retail loca- tions. “At this time there are about 40 titles in each format in our par- ticipating stores,” says Blockbuster spokesman Randy Hargrove. “We will move forward based on con- sumer acceptance.” Mail-order video-rental giant Netflix is adopting a similar stance, offering HD-DVDs and Blue-ray titles as part of its standard subscription plan. “We support both formats and will continue to do so,” says spokesman Steve Swasey, “although we wish there was not a format war, since in this case the consumer loses.” Even game developers who work with both standards and Blu-ray discs aren't sold on Sony's format, despite it being the only megastor- age disc available on the consoles. (PS3 Blu-ray discs can hold more than five times the content of the standard dual-layered DVDs used by the Xbox 360.) “Most games still use a ton of compression—not just to fit on a disk but to load faster,” says Todd Howard, executive producer of Xbox 360 role-playing epic The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is also coming to the PlayStation 3. “So drive speed matters more to me, and Blu-ray is slower." (The PS3 Oblivion team compensated for the slower drive by duplicating data across the Blu-ray disc, making it faster to find and load.) “Now, with games that have a lot of prerendered [high-defi- nition] cut-scenes, Blu-ray is key,” Howard adds. “Those types of things eat a lot of disk space. But we tend to stay away from [that type of con- tent] anyway, so it’s not much of an issue for us.” Blu-ray’s vivid future Ultimately, the final arbiter in the for- mat fight may go to the one industry that drives technology the most: porn. The backing of the adult video biz, after all, helped determine the outcome of the VHS vs. Betamax battle in the late 1970s, lit the Internet ablaze in the early '90s, and propelled DVD to the title of fastest- selling consumer electronic product of all time. And when it comes to adult enter- tainment in high definition, the future looks blue. Vivid Video, one of the world's top adult entertainment com- panies (like you don't know who they are) has fired the first volley, commit- ting to its first Blu-ray release—due in early 2007—and deciding to wait a while longer on HD-DVD. Of course, maybe seeing those adult stars in so-crisp-you-can-see- every-pore-and-pimple high-def isn’t such a good thing. Eh, we don’t really feel hungry for popcorn any- more. sh DISCS С" TECH The nuts and bolts of both discs... $500/$600 for the PS3; $1,000 and up for stand-alone players 50GB (dual layer) $200 for the Xbox 360 add-on; $400-plus for a stand-alone unit PRICE STORAGE 30GB (dual layer) NUMBER OF AVAILABLE More than 200 Up to 1080p Sony, Matsushita (Panasonic), Philips Sony, Panasonic, Philips/ Magnavox, LG, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp Sony (Columbia Tri-Star and МОМ), 20th Century Fox, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. ^ ? құлар м fad CORPORATE BACKERS MOVIES FOR 2006 More than 200 RESOLUTION Up to 1080p Toshiba, NEC Toshiba, Sanyo, Onkyo, Kenwood, Mitsubishi HARDWARE MANUFACTUR Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros. й 2 STUDIO SUPPORT BEST FLICKS TO SHOW X-Men: The Last Stand, The Wild, Kingdom of Heaven, Pearl : Harbor, Alien vs. Predator, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, The Princess Bride : King Kong, Batman Begins, Serenity, Apollo 13, Miami Vice, The Bourne Supremacy, U-571, The Adventures of Robin Hood IT OFF (SO FAR) РІНЕН WS. PLAYER Wired magazine AV-gear reviewer Daniel Dumas pits PS3 against Xbox 360... The 360 HD-DVD player After an easy set-up and navigation via the familiar Xbox 360 dashboard, flicks like Serenity and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift played lag-free even when in-movie special features were activated. Colors, however, were slightly muddled and fine details were a little fuzzier compared to other HD-DVD drives. Bottom line: Among the worst players out there, but what do you expect for only $200? (Stand-alone units cost twice that.) The PS3 Blu-ray player The image quality is fantastic—sharper than the 360's HD-DVD counterpart. After subjecting ourselves to the hellish landscapes of Silent Hill and (shudder) Little Man, the color contrasts were nigh flawless—you could almost feel blood splattering in your face. Still, the interface suffers from Sony's counter-intuitive lay- out, but it's definitely improved from the PS2 as a movie player. Bottom line: A good player compared to stand-alone units. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 35 > CUTTING- Viva Pinata | Even though Viva Piñata is packed with tons of pretty piñatas, not all of the planned animals made the candy cut. So we asked Lead Designer Gregg Mayles at developer Rare what content had to get whacked. м FLOOR Piñatas: “If we had managed to incorporate all the originally planned pifiatas, there would have been 166 of them, but the game would still be in production now—and for several more years. We originally had many i subgroups of species—several types E of Spider, for example—that we sim- ө ply reduced back to a single example 4 when we quickly realized there was ў по way we could justify having that 4 many and retain the level of quality we ө desired. The 60 that were chosen from the 166 remained unchanged through- out development, but even so, work- ing out how ‘only’ 60 species interact with each other and their environment thly (010,4 at the jobs you want was a real jeu | | Ву Еуап Shamoon Other stuff: “One of the first ideas we cut was the ability for your garden to run in real time even when the Xbox 360 was switched off. Although this sounded like a very cool idea, we felt that, in reality, it would offer very few positives but many negatives, due to the ‘anything can happen’ nature of the gameplay. Bad ele- ments like fights, weeds, pests, and ruffians would reduce the garden to a wasteland with the player unable to deal with them due to [the player] not being there. Other cut elements we had plans for were piñata training, more piñata special abilities, imaginary offline gardeners (for players not on Live to trade with), and a Helper that grew on a tree." 36 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com HORROR Scrutinize Silvio Aebishcer’s wall of work for a glimpse of next-gen Golden Axe. v THE ЧОМЕ Attack of the auction 14,675 Р53% sold on eBay from the Nov. 17 launch to Nov. 24 1, 186 issn. 26, 708 / Wii's sold оп 3. from the Nov. 19 launch to Nov. 24 Average price in dollars of Wiis sold | Lazy bums who bought 360s from Nov. 12 to Nov. 24 on eBay į for an average price of $420.62 SONG SELECTION Forced Feedback: It's hard to mistake Master Chief's No ма ЇЙ famous mug. But it's even harder to get those damn Halo monks out of your head. We discov- ered that the man behind the monks—Bungie's Audio Director and Halo Series Composer Marty O'Donnell— really hates Xbox 360's custom-soundtrack feature. So we asked him what songs and artists he would never want gamers to play over his precious Halo music... Custom songs he'd hate to hear played over Halo 3 "Fergalicious" — Fergie “The Birdie Song" — The Tweets "PopoZào" — Kevin Federline "Oopsl...I Did it Again” — Britney Spears “Milkshake” — Kelis “Snoop's Upside Your Head” — Snoop Dogg “Measure of a Man” — Clay Aiken “Tiny Bubbles” — Don Ho “Chateau Lafitte "59 Boogie" — Foghat “Alone Again (Naturally)” — Gilbert O’Sullivan “Uh! All Night" — Kiss “Anything by Neil Diamond” “Any song by Meatloaf, since it would run longer than the game played on Legendary.” Bands/artists he’d hate to hear played over Halo 3 “Well, poor K-Fed has taken enough beatings, so let's stick to the [artists] | think would feel the most out of place, not necessarily bad songs. Let’s see: ABC (Another Bad Creation), Kriss Kross, Cher, Weird Al Yankovic, and Vanilla Ice. Maybe not Cher now that I think about it....” ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com « 37 Bill Trinen is one of Nintendo's top local- ization managers. Although he claims that the eerily familiar. Twilight Princess character Shad (above) isn't based on him, he also insists that the Ooccoo (see page 40) doesn't The PACKED WITH GIANT DUNGEONS, HIDDEN DOODADS, and a cast of freakshow characters, Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess thrusts players into elf-teen Link's most engrossing quest ever. Venturing through Hyrule left us with plenty of burning questions, so we sat down with Nintendo of America Localization Manager Bill Trinen for the behind- the-game details on Link’s many loves, Midna’s hot bod, and if the GameCube-quality graphics do the job. Warning: loads of spoilers ahead. EGM: This is the first Teen-rated Zelda. It must have been tempting to just roll up your sleeves and make with the dick jokes. BT: [Laughs] Well, we kind of reserve the toilet humor and fart jokes for the WarioWare series. | think it was pretty obvious once the graphical shift [to a more realistic-looking game] occurred that it would be difficult to get an E [for everyone] rating. But | don’t think that means we want to change the focus of the game, the core of what Zelda is and has been. 38 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com Legend EGM: We can't help but think how much better the game would look on the PS3 or 360. Wouldn't that power help convey the story better? BT: ...I'd rather see Twilight Princess with the graphics it has—with the visual direction and the art direction that the art team has gone with— rather than a shiny bump-mapped [rendering technique to create realistic surfaces] Link face that's reflecting light off it in all directions... It’s a question of, if you've got a beefed-up, more powerful system, do you want to spend a lot of that processing power on creating...graphics, or do you want to take advantage of that power to create a better interactive experience? | think that with the Zelda team, they're always going to choose to take advantage of this processor to do what we can to make the interactive experience better. EGM: This game has more narrative than any other Zelda, yet Link remains the silent hero throughout. Do you think we'll ever see a Zelda where Link speaks? of Zelda: BT: Part of what the development team has always felt is that Link the character is the link between the player and the game, and as such they never really want to give him too much personality, because they feel that trying to impose too much personality on him would just distance the player from the character... And | also just feel that Zelda is really a triple-A franchise and a world-class game. If we were to try to do voice acting, | would expect not just the best voice acting you get in videogames, but really high-quality, movie-caliber acting, and obviously that's very difficult to do. Part of that is because of the way the development team is continually working on things right up to the end, and using every last minute to continue to make changes and refine the story. EGM: Speaking of the story, Midna's a great character—the perfect foil for Link. Did you know she would become so hot at the game's end? BT: [Laughs] We knew pretty early on that she was going to be changing form.... When we were getting early versions of the game, we would use the debug menus to skip through and look at all the character models. We kept going back every week, trying to find when they added the final Midna model. We were just like, “Wow,” when we saw it.... [Laughs] EGM: Were you afraid she'd almost steal the show, because she's so fun compared to Link? BT: She does have a really fun personality, and that was something that we really tried to highlight. When we talked with [the team] about it, they were very clear that she is—up through the first three dungeons of the game—very mysterious. EGM: Her motives are suspect. BT: Yeah. And she’s not willing to share information with Link, and when she does...she doles it out bit by bit. It was really important to build up this idea that perhaps she is just using Link for her own ends. EGM: I think all players feel that, “Well, maybe I’m just a pawn in Midna’s game here.” BT: Exactly. | think that was the intent from early on. And then [the team] kind of told us that once you get past this point in the game, then at that point she starts to warm up a little bit toward Link. And then, from there, they gradually get closer and closer. The writers and the development team really wanted us to highlight that as well in the English version. We spent a lot of time going over the text, and of course meeting with them, talking with them during the process. EGM: Another crazy new character that we love is the postman. He's bringing sexy back to Hyrule with his short shorts. What's his story? BT: Well, he's gotta have short shorts, because he does a lot of running. You know, hardcore distance runners all wear short shorts. It's kinda what they do. Hyrule's a big land, so he's running pretty long distances. WHát-to order. мао order EGM: He's actually hidden all over Hyrule, chilling in different places. BT: Yeah. The first time | went back [into the game] | was just kind of putzing around town, seeing what all had changed while | was gone. | find this mailman. I'm like, “What is the deal with this guy? This is crazy.” And he’s sitting there like, “Aww—this letter is too hard to read. I'll just throw this one away." | think it's almost the secret life of mailmen, what they do with the mail. EGM: Another great new character is Telma the barmaid, and we were kind of feeling this weird, unresolved sexual tension between her and Link. Admit it: It's there in the game and you guys put it there. BT: [Laughs] | don't necessarily say that's a sexual tension between her and Link so much as she's a flirtatious woman. Because, you know, Link's obviously a handsome young man. EGM: We're not used to feeling these feelings as Link. He's a very innocent, pure boy. She's old enough to be his mother. BT: Well, [Twilight Princess Producer Eiji] Aonuma said early on that, you know, with the more realistic graphics you're going to have to deal with more realistic themes in your game. [Laughs] And at the same time [Telma] tells you outright at one point that she's actually interested in Renato. EGM: So she's just toving with Link. BT: Yeah, she's just being a little flirtatious. EGM: But that was in the Japanese version, too? You didn't add that? BT: Oh, definitely not. There are certain moments where Link takes glances at her that sort of caught us off guard as well. EGM: Maybe this means you can look forward to some Telma cosplay—maybe even some mailman cosplay—in the future. BT: [Laughs] The mailman...! don't know if | would look forward to that or not. Е Busted: Saucy barmaid Telma seems keen on teaching Link some lessons. EGM: The guy who dresses up as Tingle [see our review of Twilight Princess in EGM #211], he'll probably now dress up as the mailman. And speaking of Tingle, he's not in this game! What's with that? Were you upset? BT: | dunno. | mean, Tingle comes and Tingle goes. He's got his big balloon, and he kinda floats around in the sky. You never know where he might land. EGM: On a serious note, the beginning of the game in Ordon is too slow—the tutorial just takes too long to wrap up. BT: For people who are probably long- time Zelda fans, | can understand why they would say that. But | think what they may be missing in that tutorial is that it’s not so much that it’s teaching you the game—it’s also setting up the situation of what exactly is going on in Hyrule. It’s setting up the idea of the story of the twilight pushing out.... To be honest, this game has done that setup a little better than Ocarina of Time, which was obviously a fantastic game and fleshed that out very well... And | also think that, given that this Twilight Princess is obviously one of the first games on Wii...the tutorial serves a dual purpose: One is to take people who have been playing games for many years, who are accustomed to a standard controller, and try to bring them over to the new style of interface that's offered by the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk. At the same time [it must take] people who maybe are buying a console for the very first time—and have never really played videogames—and try to teach them both how to play videogames, as well as how to use this controller. > * Hardcore distance runners all wear short shorts. It's kinda what they do. —Nintendo's Bill Trinen on the postman's "sporty" look ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • ЗӨ EGM: So you do consider the Wii version the definitive version? BT: Correct. We had to go back and do screenshots for the manuals in the GameCube version, and at one point | sat down with the guys to capture the screenshots. | was trying to play the game and get some footage, specifically of the aiming with the distance weapons like the slingshot, and for the first five minutes | couldn't even do it. The aiming with the analog stick just felt so bizarre and foreign to me all of a sudden, despite the fact that | played Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wind Waker with that kind of control. EGM: Back to the new characters, who do you find creepier: Fyer the cannon guy or Ooccoo the chicken-like teleport thing? BT: Uhhh, yeah, the Ooccoo are pretty weird, and Fyer | find to be kinda funny, because he's a depressed clown. But the one that | found creepier was Falbi [the taller depressed clown to the left]. EGM: But those Oocoo...why do they have breasts? BT: Those aren't breasts—that's plumage. EGM: C’mon—it doesn't look like breasts to you at all? ВТ: | dunno what you're talking about. EGM: Like a giant pair of women's breasts on a chicken? BT: No! It's plumage. They have them on the back, too, if you look at them. EGM: So is it our sick, twisted minds that see breasts every time we see the chicken things? BT: Well, you guys are videogame- magazine editors. [Laughs] EGM: We also have to wonder after the ending: Are Link and Princess Zelda ever gonna hook up? It is a Teen-rated game, after all.... BT: [Laughs] Well, you have to wonder, how unrequited is it really? Just because a scene doesn't necessarily happen on screen before your eyes, that doesn't necessarily mean the scene has never happened. EGM: You just totally revealed that Link and Zelda are having premarital sex. BT: You know, like a lot of times a book will end, and the ending is kinda left up for the reader to interpret. You have to fill in the holes yourself. Ж Twilight Princess is the Energizer bunny of videogames: It just keeps going and going until—poofl—you've lost 60 hours of your life and burned through a half dozen double-A's in your Wii-mote. But let's hope you have a little juice left for these bonus Hyrulian hijinks.... Cuckoo cuccos—Attacking chickens in previ- ous Zelda games has always driven the tempera- mental foul absolutely mental. But whacking them with your sword in Twilight Princess produces a more interesting result—a literal bird's eye view of what it's like to be the cock of the walk. Catch 'em all—You probably wasted an after- noon casting for bass and catfish in the Hyrule fishing hole (in the Upper River area). But when you're done reeling in minnows, it's time to land the biggest fish of all: the monster Hylian 40 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING | Five Tasks that'll extend your Hyrule hang time Loach. But first you'll need the frog lure, which you win by beating the ball-rolling minigame found in the fishing cabin (examine it on its shelf). Then leave the fishing-hole area and keep returning until you hit the summer sea- son (seasons change every time you re-enter). Rent a canoe and cast the frog lure into the lily pads at the north end of the lake. With enough patience—and some serious fishing skills— you'll land the big опе. Talk to the animals—Wolf-form Link is the С-ЗРО of the animal kingdom, capable of conversing with every creature great and small. Be sure to talk to Epona, Link’s horse, for some translated neigh-saying, and chat up the ducks at the fishing hole to help score a valu- able prize. Hole in the ground—Still got some fight in ya after your sword duel with Ganon? Load a save before the final battle and head to the aptly named Cave of Ordeals, a grueling 50-stage monster-bashing marathon located in the southeastern Gerudo Desert (see Link’s map location in the screenshot). And if you’re really hardcore, you'll go through it twice—the second version has even more foes. Soul search—Gathering 20 Poe souls for Castle Town's creepy Jovani is a cinch. The hardcore get all 60 (and you need to complete the Cave of Ordeals to find the final few). What's the payoff for all that work? Infinite Rupees—if you do this trick after delivering to Jovani the 60th Poe soul. Simply enter his now- deserted hovel in Castle Town, collect the 200 Rupee gem there, leave Castle Town, return and collect another 200 Rupee, leave town, and so on. Repeat until you’ve maxed out your wallet. Found your own bonus business in Twilight Princess? Show the world at www.MyCheats.com. Just bring up the game’s cheats page and start adding your own tricks and secrets, Wiki-style. Or just see what discoveries other Zelda gamers have made. © ‘Twentieth Century Fox Home Entert LLC. All Rights Reserved. “Twentieth Centur Special Features “Fox,” and their associated logos are the pror Not Closed Captioned. Twentieth Century Fox Film Со е Resurrected rumors If you think my rumors record ain't great, then check out this oldie: A few. years ago, | success- fully guessed the PC classic Half-Life 2 would eventually makes its way to the Xbox long before anyone else knew. 42 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www. Digging th After a hectic year (and an even crazier holi- day) | now have time to feast on all the fall games | missed out on now that the winter drought is sucking our sys- tems dry. But no need to worry—one thing sure isn't on reserve. Yep, you guessed it: My never-ending supply of scuttlebutt. Even though the gam- ing landscape is barren the next few months, I’ve managed to scrounge up a nice big heaping of winter rumors for y’all to rummage through. So enjoy my fresh 2007 gossip while | enjoy last year’s old games. If you remember a few months back (October issue if you're a little brain- dead), | had a tidbit that the reanimat- ed return of Dead Rising would land exclusively on the PS3. Well, seems Sony's plans met an early grave. Yep, my undead sources tell me Microsoft delivered a marvelous moneyhat to Capcom in order to keep Dead Rising 2 a 360 exclusive. 2006 was not a good year for the PSP. Between the steady stream of terrible games and competition from 1UP.com the impossible-to-touch DS, it almost seems like the PSP should pack its bags. а be ready to help out, too, if | hadn't uncovered that Square Enix is whipping up a wild lineup for the PSP this year. These guys are serious, too! I'm talking new games, remakes of old classics, and an all- new, unexpected Final Fantasy spin- off that will make fanboys flip. Before the PS3 joined the console race, Sony's beefy system gobbled ир a bunch of great exclusives like Metal Gear Solid 4, Devil May Cry 4, and Virtua Fighter 5. But now that publish- ers are seeing the system sales, the thought of exclusivity ain’t so lucrative ? O-TIFS gh the dirt By Quartermann anymore. In fact, | caught wind many PS3 “exclusives” will either be pushed to 2008 or will also appear on the 360 to cover both the develop- ment costs and small user base of the PS3. Retro junkies may be drooling over the Wii’s Virtual Console, but let’s face it: The games are just ports. Sony, on the other hand, is getting publishers to create new content. Capcom, for instance, looks to be making sev- eral interesting games for the PS3's service. What games? Well, I've heard rumblings of a remake of Street Fighter 2 (with all new sprites) along with an updated NES classic. 4% (%) Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch has been pretty quiet. But not quiet E Nenougn—! discovered its first PS3 game isn't Sly, but something new. e) Guitar Hero has to drop its current developer, Harmonix, but | heard dirt on its 2 Nnew one. One of Activision's tricksier studios will handle the next GH. %) Developer Epic's next frag-heavy shooter is currently а PS3 exclusive. Or at least Ne was—1 learned Unreal Tournament 2007 is also heading to the Xbox 360. 9 out of 10 1 “ „even better than the original” -Game Informer 9 out of 10 “Mizuguchi has done it again” -IGN 5 oUt of 5 “Lumines ІІ comes out of the gate strong and never lets up in creating а perfect puzzle game...” -GameDaily.com “One oF the best puzzle games of the yean..” -Game/pot ALL NEW: STAGES, SHINS, MUSIC AND AVATARS ENHANCED GRAPHICS WITH STREAMING VIDEO. Mild Violence Suggestive Themes wusw.luminesEEE.com — Га www.bvg.com PlayStation. Portable Wanna see 2007 in motion? Head to EGM212.1UP.com for videos of several of the games previewed in this feature. enoneyo cupuefely Ха uoneasniir THE YEAR ПЧ ЕНЕГЕ Best year ever? Sounds like something an overzealous high- school cheerleader would write in her friend’s yearbook. But after surveying this year’s monster-game lineup for the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, we can't help but wave our pom-poms and scream, “Go, 2007, go!” Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Mario Galaxy, Metal Gear Solid 4, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid Prime 3, and many more heavy hitters...oh yeah, 2007 is gonna be the big one. Actually, make that the best one. Ever. Let's begin with this winter and Virtua Fighter 5.... * ECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com е 45 Virtua Fighter 5 PS3/XB360 * Sega A full 14 years after Virtua Fighter gave birth to the whole 3D fighting scene, Sega's franchise remains the most respect- able way to get your face smashed in at the local arcade. While button-mashing noobs can achieve a modicum of success at the Tekkens and Mortal Kombats of the world, a skilled VF player can eviscerate uninitiated foes in seconds flat. This lat- est installment, VF5, doesn't tinker with the winning formula much at all—two new competitors, agile Mexican luchador EI Blaze and spunky Monkey-Fist gal Eileen, join the diverse returning cast for another round of realistic 1-on-1 martial- arts action. Looking back at the previous arcade-to- console VF ports, you'll notice that none of them truly replicate their coin-op cousin. УҒА and VF4: Evolution (both for PS2) 46 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com came awfully close— visually, these games suffered only a slight downgrade during the trip home, and a bevy of new, clever single- player modes helped extend the games’ appeal. But . "With the technological capabilities of the PS3, we really think we did a great job making it look exactly like the arcade version," explains VF5 Producer Noriyuki Shimoda. "Plus, we were able to add some features that are not included in the arcade version, such as the commentary mode and quest mode." Commentary mode adds real-time play-by-play by two announcers to either single or versus play. Some might find these quips a bit distracting, but the often funny and insightful wordplay actually personalizes the proceedings while dishing up trash-talking fodder. The quest mode brings back all the best aspects of VF4's beloved single-player game (А.І. opponents based on top VF players, plenty of tourna- ments to complete, and oodles of unlock- able outfits and accessories). Sadly, fans' most requested feature— online play—isn't a possibility here. “Our stance still remains firm in regard to online play," Shimoda explains. "We are really focusing on making this game the perfect arcade conversion, which is unfortunately not possible with complete online yet because of the latency issues." Couldn't we at least have some sort of online lea- derboard system to help expand our VF5 bragging rights? Maybe that'll show up exclusively in the 360 version, which is due out this summer... Think you’re trigger happy? This HDTV fires 2 million pixels 60 times a second. Get unprecedented gaming realism. Mitsubishi HDTVs feature 1080p MITSUBISHI * A ELECTRIC DLP* imaging—the definition of high definition. And to put you even . deeper into the action, screens up to 73 inches. Mitsubishito80p.com DIGITAL TELEVISIONS™ LP% and the DLP logo are registered trademarks of Texas Instruments. шу 3% Xbox 360™ screenshots courtesy of Activision Publishing, Inc.© 2006 Activision Publishing, Inc. Mass Effect XB360 • Microsoft The final frontier sure ain’t fantasy—while on Mass Effect’s intergalactic voyage, you won't find апу effeminate elves or dangerous dragons. Rather, you'll find space...and lots of it. "Mass Effect kicks off to a jaw-dropping opening gameplay prologue," says Project Director Casey Hudson of developer BioWare (Stars Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), “and by the end of it you'll be face-to-face with a spectacular interactive map of the Milky Way.” Scoping out the solar system is definitely one of the main attractions in this massive role-playing game. But even though the ride may seem like a virtual vacation, your trigger finger sure won't be relaxing. “There are four classes of conventional weapons that you can equip, in addition to vari- ous types of grenades, tech weapons, etc.,” says Hudson. “All of your equipped weapons fold up into compact shapes for storage directly on your character, and can be retrieved with a press of the D-pad.” Don’t get too cocky with your cool space weapons, though— all your actions (good or bad) play a major role in the outcome of not only this game, but also the planned sequels. “Your style of play throughout the game will result in diverg- ing endings that determine the fate of humanity itself,” says Hudson. Man, as if saving our own ass weren't pressure enough. deos a A ' а | WGhost Recon 2410? Nope, but Mass Effect | does have a bit more shooting than most RPGs. ЕСЕ апа the Secret Rings Wii > Sega Coming in the wake of Sonic's disastrous self-titled next-gen offering, Secret Rings seems like a godsend. While Sonic the Hedgehog painfully juggled a cavalcade of overly ambitious yet underdeveloped elements, Rings aims to rethink the gameplay of classic Sega Genesis Sonic with a Wii-mote twist. Here, you hold the control- ler horizontally as you steer the titular mammal through all manner of platforming perils. “Our goal was to cre- ate a simple, engaging game that brings Sonic's speed and personality alive in an entirely new way,” explains Director Yojiro Ogawa. “The game is very fast-paced and Sonic is using his speed to constantly run forward, but there are alternate paths players can take within levels and different ways to complete the levels.” At first, Rings’ fixed camera, narrowly focused level design, and largely on-rails gameplay might seem oversimplified, but it’s far more instinctive, addictive, and fun than any 3D Sonic game in recent memory. Plus, Sega plans to augment the single-player action with over 30 multiplayer minigames that make use of the Wii’s controller in creative new ways. 48 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Crackdown XB360 * Microsoft If you think you're sick of hearing Grand Theft Auto comparisons, you've got nothing on Crackdown Producer Phil Wilson: “Too many mediocre rip- offs of an outstanding franchise have definitely .' made people wary, but it's still annoying when it's assumed that any open urban action game will . play the same,” һе says. So what’s his game do xf differently? Gears of War-style jump-in- and-out-whenever co-op play for one. Additionally, the developers have intentionally kept the main mission structure simple for you and your supercop pal (both of whom have * upgradeable abilities). Though taking out gangs always involves assassinating the leader, “Crackdown is all about the free-form experience," Wilson says. "There is no correct way to take out a gang boss because there are never any failure " 5 conditions other than death.” e Medal of Honor: Airborne PS3/XB360 * EA Games The History Channel called: It wants its war back. But that ain't gonna happen in '07, as this year issues in yet another glut of World War II first- person shooters. So what's the hook in the latest Medal of Honor? Aerial assaults. These aren't dogfights or B-52 bombing runs, though. Rather, these are real para- chute-in-and-watch-your-feet-dangle moments while dropping into a German-stuffed war zone. The jumps are dynamic leaps out of planes and onto the battle- field, where troops— both friend and foe—relocate and adjust to your position. Airborne also offers a lot of freedom as to where you touch down; you can drop in behind enemy lines and fight back to your platoon or land near your buds and help them pave the streets with Nazi blood across the five true-to-life military aerial operations. I Forza Motorsport 2 XB360 * Microsoft Gran what's that? Who knows how many months or years until the next real Turismo game comes out, and it’s hard to care when Forza is just around the bend. "Forza Motorsport 2 will deliver the most realistic racing simulator available," says Dan Greenawalt, and while we expect that kind of potential hyperbole from the game's lead designer, the Xbox 360's new force-feedback rac- ing wheel will definitely help Greenawalt and co. deliver. Forza's got a lot going on off the track, too. “We’re planning to break new ground by mak- ing the community site a true extension of the game itself," says Greenawalt. Players will be able to organize a race series with their friends and trade custom-tuned and -painted cars, then swap over to the Forza online site and post pictures of their in-game exploits or do some old-fashioned scoreboard and stat browsing. Any volunteers to design the Team EGM livery? ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY Burnout 5 PS3/XB360 > EA Games Car carnage-happy developer Criterion isn't just lifting the hood on the Burnout series and adding some prettier motor oil (like the studio did last year on the 360); it’s completely rebuilding the engine. “There’s no restrictions on what we do,” says Lead Designer Alex Ward. “We’re only restricted by our own stupidity.” No. 5 will be an open-ended affair (think Test Drive Unlimited, except with a lot more wreckage), where Ward promises, “There’s something amazing to do around every corner.” You can also expect pileups that are worthy of being called “next gen,” and neck-breaking crashes that result in vehicles literally snapping in half. “Cars are being built from the ground up,” says Executive Producer Matt Webster. “And that’s just for one reason: so we can tear them apart.” > PLAYSTATION = Still kickin’ The Xbox and GameCube may have prematurely called it quits, but the PlayStation 2, last generation’s con- sole champ, still has some fight left in it. Here are the games that'll help keep one of the best consoles ever alive during the best year ever. Lumines Plus (Buena Vista * February 2007) The PSP continually samples from the PS2 library. But now it's time for the taker to become the giver, as the techno-laced puzzler Lumines Plus will come to the console with skins not found in the original. MVP 07 NCAA Baseball (EA Sports * February 2007) The lack of an MLB license hasn't stopped EA's ball- players from innovating on the baseball diamond. MVP 07 introduces some new pitching mechanics, which we're already diggin'. Dawn of Mana (Square Enix * March 2007) The long-standing role-playing series says buh-bye to the PS2 with a game that reminds us a lot of Kingdom Hearts, thanks to its fast-paced fighting system and stylish cartoon graphics. God of War II (Sony CEA * March 2007) For his videogame debut, the pasty white Kratos proved to be a force in and out of the bedroom. We expect nothing less here, as GOW2 will have a heftier supply of boss battles, plus all-new weapons and items (wind bow, Icarus wings, and more). 50 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com Persona 3 (Atlus * April 2007) Atlus’ cult role-playing series (which falls under the Shin Megami Tensei umbrella) gets even weirder; Persona 3 takes place at a school, and you gotta adhere to its rules (in between battling shadow crea- tures, naturally). Burnout Dominator (EA Games * Spring 2007) If you don't have enough dough for a PS3 or 360 to play Burnout 5, Dominator does boast one feature from its next-gen big brother: You can build rivalries with other drivers populating the streets. Guitar Hero Il: 1980s Edition (RedOctane/Activision * Spring 2007) This expansion hasn't been officially announced yet (trust us; it’s coming), but just the thought of jamming to all '80s tunes has us itchin' to rock some spandex. Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Eidos * Spring 2007) Anniversary isn't just a spiffier version of Ms. Croft's 10-year-old PS1/Saturn raid. It'll also pack a deeper narrative, more complex puzzles, and some of her new moves (like the grappling hook) from last year's Legend (XB360/PS2/XB). Wild Arms 5 (TBD * Summer 2007) This RPG's combat promises to be user-friendly, not to mention more forgiving (it lets you pick up right where you left off after dying in boss battles). Kingdom Hearts Il: Final Mix (Square Enix * Fall 2007) Well, you'll definitely give a crap if you're a Kingdom Hearts nut; Final Mix not only adds some new cut- scenes and boss fights (Sora will go 1-on-1 with his doppelganger, Roxas), but it also includes a 3D version of Chain of Memories, the card-filled strategy game inally released on the Game Boy Advance. ‘THE NEXT GENERATION NG WITH FRIENDS OX LIVE or ‘No matter where your friends ‘are, they're still only a corner ‘kick away. Play what you want, with whom you want, on your terms and your couch. Video chat, play, compete, ‘gossip, play, love, play. Enjoy. xbox.com DISTANCE TEARS FRIENDS APART. XBOX LIVE” BRINGS THEM TOGETHER. "a Def Jam: Icon a” PS3/XB360 • EA Games Rocking jaws in /con takes more than a pair of hurtin' bombs—the real pain belongs to the beat. “The music driving the environment is not just a visual effect," says Executive Producer Kudo Tsunoda. "It's a core element of our gameplay." Each level houses a slew of dangerous booby traps that are triggered by the tempo of the tunes, so throwing punches is only half the ass-kicking. "Every environment plays differently depending on what music is playing while you are fighting," says Tsunoda. "Since the music is different, and since the environmental hazards are triggered by the music, the rhythm and beat of each environ- ment changes when the music changes." You can even upload your own songs, in case you ever wanted to bash heads to Barbra Streisand or Britney Spears—your pick. Lair PS3 • Sony CEA Gamers may not be sold on the PS3 joypad's motion-sensing capabili- ties just yet, but Julian Eggebrecht sure is. *The flight controls in Lair feel so much better via motion control," says the Factor 5 president about the developer's first non-Star Wars game in many years. “The Sixaxis also gives you much more precision than you could ever have with the limited range of an analog stick." Outside of the flight mechanics, the dragon-on-dragon action has also been expanded to include a greater variety of attacks, which you'll really need when facing several different species of fire breath- ers and other aerial beasts. MotorStorm PS3 > Sony CEA That launch-day downloadable demo gave PS3 owners a brief taste of MotorStorm's filthy off-road action, but the finished product reveals plenty of last-minute polishing. Improvements abound: The eerily photorealistic visuals now zoom by at a smoother clip, and the surprisingly adept enemy А.І. (which was basically turned off in that demo) pulls some truly nasty tricks, like having two opponents team up to box you in and send you hurtling over a cliff. The touchy (and thankfully optional) Sixaxis motion control isn't for everyone, but the ample variety of vehicle types, ranging from dirt bikes to massive trucks, means that you'll find something here that fits your driving style. Plus, the addition of online play (for eight players) highlights the wickedly fun Road Rash-style dirt bike/ATV fisticuffs and high-risk shortcuts through the peril- ous Monument Valley courses. 52 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com FLY AWAY, WIRE. FLY AWAY. THE NEXT GENERATION IS A WIRELESS WORLD. Stand up for freedom and sit down wherever you want. With the Wireless Headset, Wireless Racing Wheel with Force Feedback, Wireless Controllers, and more, all optimized for the Xbox 360," you can play around while you move around. xbox.com 54 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Plug in out with the Xbox 360” HD DVD Player. times the reso! six times the disbelief, for one erything else and tune ever g а 3 2 Е © с. © © er m с & а 5 5 Eo im ДЕ) og > ч в 5 = > о = © 5 ك‎ = ш = Experience six ADD HD DVD TO YOUR XBOX 3807 THEN ADD SALT TO YOUR POPCORN. m EJ "HOLS "a, Blue Dragon XB360 % Microsoft Sure, the 360 has been having a good run over here, but it didn’t even make a dent in Japan until the release of Blue Dragon, an actual Japanese-bred role-playing game made by bigwigs like Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi (the father of Final Fantasy), artist Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball Z), and composer Nobuo Uematsu (the father of FF's music). With that power.trio behind it, Blue Dragon looks like a fine fusion of old- School and modern RPG mechanics, which includes turn-based battles (old school!) but no random skirmishes (new hotness!). Blue Dragon's signature, the use of “shadows” (unique creatures for each party member that perform the actual 56 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com fighting during combat), is pretty snazzy. “By ‘charging’ the shadows, you'll have more effective magical abilities and various Skills," says Sakaguchi. *This puts the characters on the back burner, but they will be able to make good use of numerous battle strategies, such as recovering right after an enemy attack. We placed a lot of emphasis on the speed and the tempo of combat. The game is turn-based, but because of this particular development, the game offers more fluid gameplay experiences." The battles here will also receive a new wrinkle—you can now select (via pressing the right trigger) just how many of the enemies in a particular E group you'd like to fight. It sounds kinda weird, but it also sounds like a way to streamline the combat when level-grinding (consequently, you can easily avoid these fiends when needed). Now, for a game designed with the Japanese market so much in mind, some may worry that Blue Dragon’s kiddie art style might alienate U.S. gamers. But not Sakaguchi. “1 think we were able to achieve a real-time graphic quality that is fairly close to that of the Pixar movies,” he says. “| also believe that we created a beautiful worldview that will resonate with people of all generations." EXPRESS YOURSELF THE WAY NATURE INTENDED. THE NEXT GENERATION 15 SEEING FRIENDS FROM MILES AWAY, The WITH YO U R FAC E. future of gaming is here, and it looks like your buddy Keith. Video chat with family. Personalize your gamer picture. Practice your smirks. With the Xbox Live™ Vision Camera, those closest to you get even closer. "a. Pokémon Battle Revolution в" Wii • Nintendo By now, first-generation Pokémaniacs are declaring majors and guzzling beer bongs at frat parties, yet somehow the franchise is still hot with the kiddies (recent DS outing Ranger broke the top 10 in videogame sales). Battle Revolution could be another weapon in this arsenal of slow-but-steady domination. Besides offering a battle-based game system (à la Pokémon Colosseum), the online component could make this the Wii game everyone's talking about. It's one of the first Wii titles to feature online play (and annoying, game-specific friend codes) — you can spar with other trainers on the Internet and customize your trainer's look and costumes. Battle Revolution will also use the Wi-Fi link-up with the DS— you'll be able to import your pocket monsters from the upcoming Diamond and Pearl handheld games). "s Shadowrun s" XB360 • Microsoft Microsoft is conducting its own civil war: Mystical first-person shooter Shadowrun is the first title to let gun-loving 360 and PC gam- ers take shots at each other via the Live Anywhere service.The PC competition may scare off some (because of the expected advan- tage of using a mouse and keyboard), but devel- oper FASA promises a fair playing field. “We started with a standard mouse/keyboard control scheme and a controller setup similar to Halo,” says Lead Designer John Howard. “At first, the controller actually had an advantage, but we figured out what was going on and spent a few weeks dialing in the balance.” And if the game looks different from its earlier showings, it’s because FASA ditched the cartoony characters. “Originally, we'd tried a more exaggerated style,” says Howard, “which we decid- ed wasn’t right for the game.” We agree. Ц F3 sime: ~ ZFR ^s. Metroid Prime 3: * Corruption Wii * Nintendo If Hollywood director John Woo ever gets around to bringing Metroid to the silver screen, the open casting call for Samus Aran will now list a few more prerequisites. First-person adventure Corruption introduces some impressive Wii-specific moves to the bounty hunter's repertoire, such as unlocking doors with a twist of the Wii Remote and knocking away an enemy's shield with a flick of the Nunchuk. The actress also better be able to memorize her lines; this will be the first Metroid game to have spoken dialogue (well, at least the kind that wasn't some incomprehensible alien babble). And lastly, she should forget Echoes' (GC) multiplayer because 1) it really sucked, and 2) the developers recently mentioned such a feature would be very different here...if they do multiplayer. 58» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www. 1UP.com І ^. Mercenaries 2: World іп Flames a" PS3 TBD Mercenaries 2 should probably carry a big, fat disclaimer stating “not for structural engineers who are faint of heart"—thanks to the PS3 and its bajillion processors, you can blow the crap/rivet/scaffold/rebar out of any building in the game. Additionally, since World in Flames takes place in bright and beautiful Venezuela, you'll get very col- orful explosions to boot. While the folks at developer Pandemic were proud of delivering a solid, open- ended experience in the original (PS2/XB), they also realized that the game was lack- ing in factors like story, character, and even setting. "In our first game, the North Korean setting was a pretty interesting, surreal environment," says Senior Producer Jonathan Zamkoff. “But in the end, we didn’t feel as we though we’d developed a world that felt like a living, breathing place. In contrast, Mercenaries 2 is jam-packed full of life, from bustling urban epicenters to exotic locales juxtaposed with military encampments.” Zamkoff admits that the three playable characters in the previous game had mostly cosmetic differences, and he swears this new trio will have more unique characteristics, including how the various factions (we're guessing that'd be the Venezuelan madmen who've taken over, the rebellion against said madmen, and people who want to make money off of both the madmen and the rebels) will treat the players. Factions will issue missions. (ranging from capturing fugitives to smug- gling in guns to initiating prison breaks) and will offer different types of equipment to the player (one will give you a bunker-buster, while the other will let you drop the Mother of All Bombs), which in turn makes each play session unique as you decide whom to work for and when. As much as we love tearing apart buildings with explosives, it’s actually the game's co-op fea- ture that has us the most excited. If some crazy Venezuelan renegades are holed up in a bunker, you can smack them with suppressive fire while your cowboy- not-domestic-partner flanks them. Or one guy drives while the other mans the turret, or perhaps one plays chicken with the enemy while the other sneaks by and plants C4. Zamkoff promises that “almost all of the free-play jobs" in World in Flames can be completed Tango & Cash-style (minus the horrendous dialogue). ELECTRONIC GAMIN a Y e www. ОР. t =то JER Із - po — “ЕЕ. * GRUDGE MATCH Made for TV We're not just getting bombarded with blockbust- ers like Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV in 2007; Hollywood's following suit. And you know what that means—lots of licensed garbage. So, do any of these games have a chance to outperform their big-screen counterparts? Let’s take a look-see: Spider-Man 3 Movie: Sandman, Venom, some form of the Gobli how can it be bad? Game: Let's face it—it's going to be the same as the last two Winner: Movie Transformers Movie: Have we learned nothing from Garfield about turning cartoons into live-action/CG hybrid movies? Game: Hey, if they can spin this beast into some kind of coherent game, god love 'em Winner: Game Harry Potter Movie: Harry Potter and the Mountain of Cash Game: Harry Potter and the Mountain of Cash: The Game Winner: J.K. Rowling Ghost Rider Movie: Nick Cage takes his Face/Off again, this time with sweet flaming-skull effects Game: Can we possibly stomach another superhero beat-em-up? Winner: Movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Movie: Film based on a ride Game: Game based on a film based on a ride Winner: Movie Shrek the Third Movie: Given its pedigree, this one's bound to be worth the $10 Game: It's gotta be kid-friendly, so don't expect any hardcore fights, puzzles, or naked ogres Winner: Movie 60 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com "a, Command & Conquer: 7 Tiberium Wars XB360 * EA Games OK, real-time strategy has never been the sexi- est of genres. But EA is looking to build off the momentum it garnered with its 360 RTS The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth Il (which nabbed our Game of the Month award last August) with its latest in the legendary Command & Conquer series. “Tiberium Wars still follows our philos- ophy of ‘One Button to Rule Them АШ,” says Senior Producer Mike Glosecki, “by allowing players to do all of the basic commands—select- ing, moving, and attacking with their units— by just using the A button." Keeping it simple, in addition to some multiplayer modes not found in the PC version, is what EA hopes will help rope in more casual but cerebral-minded gamers. | T Ninja Gaiden Sigma PS3 • Tecmo Man, talk about milking a game for all it's worth—Sigma will mark Tecmo’s third take at the spectacular Ninja Gaiden. So why does a PS3 port deserve your atten- tion (and recognition as a game that'll help make this year so awesome)? Well, because it isn’t being treated it like an ordi- nary port. For starters, developer Team Ninja has built an all-new graphics engine for Sigma that’s com- pletely customized for the PS3’s powerful innards. And, as you can tell from these screenshots, the game is look- ing even better than the already dazzling original and remixed edition, NG Black. But what veterans of the series will salivate over is even prettier: The buxom blonde sidekick, Rachel—who was previously eye- candy only—is now a playable character (her portions make up roughly 20 percent of the game). Plus, she’ll have her own upgradeable weapons (just like main ninja Ryu Hayabusa) and unique options such as customizable hair. You know, in case you didn’t like her ol’ granny beehive. Beyond the visual overhaul and playable blonde bombshell, Sigma offers expanded combat opportunities, pitting Hayabusa against soldiers on motorcycle and fully implementing the water-running and aquat- ic battles hinted at in the first Gaiden. Also redone are the cinematics, but for game- play purposes. CG sequences now run in real-time for the sake of adding interactivity to what were previously static events. So now after witnessing a cut-scene, play- ers can jump right into the fray instead of impatiently waiting for the game to load. 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Mobile Power Pack UPB10 % Provides extended rechargeable runtime for Sony PSP, Nintendo DS Lite, Gameboy — any USB compatible game devices as well as cell phones, iPods, and cameras. % Recharges in 3 hours and maintains 80% capacity after 300 cycles. 2x more playtime and up to 55 hours runtime* on iPod Nano. Universal Notebook Battery UPB70 * Up to 6 hours additional runtime. * Includes tips for most popular notebooks. * Charges and powers USB compatible devices like cell phones and iPods. Legendary Reliability р = т n ГД 4 a a , BioShock XB360 * 2K Games BioShock’s concept of “an underwater city started by an Ayn Rand fanatic and for- merly populated by superpowered people before they wiped most of themselves out in a civil war" sounds pretty damn refreshing compared to games about either interstellar soldier dudes or inner-city bang- bang bad boys. On top of the great setting, developer Irrational will also be giving us plenty of emergent gameplay to comple- ment the story. That phrase, *emergent gameplay," gets thrown a lot by gaming eggheads, but BioShock provides some of the clear- est examples. Just taking down a Big Daddy, one of those crazy Jules Verne-era deep-sea divers, is an exercise in seizing opportunity from random situations. For 64» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • v example, say while running from a Big Daddy you trip the alarm, which then sends security bots after your ass. One option is to disable the alarm, hack the robots, and use them as new buddies to fight that tin man. Or maybe you'll shoot a conveniently placed propane tank, use your telekinesis (one of many powers, or “plasmids” in the game world) (Irrational President Ken Levine's term) at the Big Daddy. Or maybe some bad dude who tosses grenades wanders on to the scene, and you use telekinesis to redirect the grenades toward the towering enemy. Oh, by the way—the Big Daddy is SO, er, big that it could conceivably take all of the above to put him down. None of those situations are scripted affairs—they're examples of simple things that could just happen and how a smart and resourceful player responds. Levine's goal with BioShock is to make players think, “Hey, why the hell wasn't | able to do these things in a first-person shooter before?" Or, "If l've been able to do some of these things before, why wasn't | able to do them all in one game before?" Since Levine followed through on an old promise to make psychic monkeys some of the scariest enemies in gaming (for the PC- only System Shock 2), we have good confi- dence that BioShock will make you wonder the same thing about the last few games you've played. AT LAST, AUTO INSURANCE THAT REFLECTS YOUR NEEDS. TAKE A FRESH 985 . Advance your auto insurance to the next level. Compare & save instantly online: (ес ICE www.esurance.com/try Quote. Buy. Print" Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors Wii * Square Enix Although Square Enix recently stunned fans by reveal- ing that the next proper Dragon Quest installment, DQIX: Guard of the Starry Night, would land exclu- sively on Nintendo DS, the Wii will play host to its own slime-smiting adventure іп "07. Just don’t expect tradi- tional DQ fare: Swords pares the RPG franchise down to a firs “ыа " has vor а r attack: Mucio the | previ- IET rote DQ combat into something this wildly inter- active has a price, however— your progress through this world takes place on predetermined “on-rails” paths. So, while it'll never replace Final Fantasy as bus | your RPG epic of choice, Swords’ madcap battles апа ES m stylish visuals could make it a thrilling diversion. Blacksite: Area 51 PS3/XB360 * Midway “Just look up the term ‘black site’ on Wikipedia," responds Harvey Smith, executive creative director of this aliens-versus-soldiers first-person shooter, when we ask about the game's grim setting and story. After our online check brings up photos of Abu Ghraib and other plausibly deniable U.S. government installa- tions, we know this politically charged game casts a dark mood —опе felt by the squad you order around with one-button context-sensitive commands. “We want the intensity of a combat situation, as driven by the player's actions, to influence the mood of the squad members," Smith says. 2 YA.” (Don't get it? Hit up Wikipedia for “Cover Your Ass.”) ИЕ Rogue Warrior 1 PS3/XB360 * Bethesda Having already played plenty with trolls and elves in Oblivion, publisher Bethesda is moving on to jj seals...er, SEALs. Tactical shooter Rogue Warrior casts you as an elite Navy soldier whose North Korean vacation is cut short when Kim Jong-il decides the Korean War deserves a do-over. But while the story mode combines elements of SOCOM and Rainbow Six, it's the multiplayer that really makes Rogue Warrior stand out. Besides supporting up to 24 weekend warriors, maps are put together like a jigsaw puzzle, as E each of the two teams pick a tile (ranging from еее m tight indoor backdrops to wide-open battlefields), > | and the game randomly chooses the middle ground. As a result, you'll find mo 1 ibinations, with promises lof additional tiles available for down- load later. 66 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Half-Life 2: Orange PS3/XB360 * EA Games/Valve “I'm not going to lie to you and tell you there are a million reasons to go back and play [Half-Life 2] again,” Valve Director of Marketing Doug Lombardi says of this spiffed-up but downplayed version of the acclaimed and atmospheric first-person blaster. “It’s optimized and tuned, but it’s the same game.” Wait, what? That’s no way to hype one of the titles that'll make 2007 so tip-top for gam- ers. But fortunately, you'll find a lot more than a 2-year-old Xbox 1 game in this citrus-tinted rerelease (so named because orange, along with silver and black, is a box color con- nected to the series). Orange also packs bite- sized follow-ups Episode One and Episode Two (which, when combined with the third episode due in eight months, will comprise what Valve is unofficially calling Half-Life 3), as well as far-out first-person puzzler Portal and the online squad-based multiplayer war zone of Team Fortress 2. Episodes One and Two pick up right after Half-Life 2’s finale, with you clearing citizens out of about-to-be-demolished City 17 while working more closely with a chattier, feistier Alyx (she joins you in combat). Episode Two puts you in more vehicles to traverse a for- est complete with a tweaked physics system (unlike before, enemies can take out entire buildings—with you in them). “E i don't consider Half-L. of thi | » Team Fortress 2. Our friends at EA think we're putting too much in here." XB360 * Eidos Well, here's a first: a game developer who actually hates his leading men. "I think Kane is a lying traitor," says Lead Level Designer Thor Frolich of IO Interactive (Hitman). “| don't like Lynch, either. | think he's a pathetic opportunist that puts other people's lives at risk.” Yet it's the dis- turbing history of this extremely , Kane & Lynch: Dead Men odd couple (Kane is a troubled mer- cenary, while Lynch is a pill-popping psy- chopath) that's got us curious about the buddy game. Just don't call it that around Frolich. “I really, really hate Kane & Lynch being called a ‘buddy game.’ It sounds so Lethal Weapon-like, with all funny antics,” he says. "Also, it isn't just about the two A = а of them. Most of the game, you control a larger crew that follows you.” In addition to covering your six, these guys will offer up their weapons and items throughout any mission. So what does Frolich think about K&L’s backup? If how he feels about everything else is any indication, then not too highly... ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 67 Warhawk PS3 > Sony CEA It was supposed to take off with the PlayStation 3. Instead, Warhawk—a next-gen remake of the PS1 game of the same name, which mixes soar- ing dogfights with down-in-the-mud vehicle and infantry combat—was grounded until June. Even worse: Rumors flared that the all-new ground- bound bits were getting nixed. “That’s 100 per- cent false,” says Director Dylan Jobe. “The full scope of warfare is a key aspect to our next-gen re-imagining of Warhawk.” Jobe admits that the prolonged incubation period will see some “edits” to the game, but they’ll come with plenty of bal- ance and polish. In particular, developer Incognito is tweaking the motion-sensing controls that drew so much initial attention to the game (Warhawk was the poster child for the Sixaxis controller). Still, Jobe admits that pitching and yawing your joypad to 68» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com fly your Warhawk gunship will take some getting used to. “I think of it as the same ‘paradigm pain’ we all went through when we played PC shooters and switched from keyboard to mouse,” he says. “Keyboarders started getting schooled by mous- ers—and eventually, mouse control won. | think we'll see the same thing with the Sixaxis and the flight genre.” So you have until June to get used to the idea of using your joypad like a flight stick (or just play Blazing Angels, which offers that feature now). And if nothing else, the game's failure to launch at launch will give you that much longer to invest in an up-to-snuff high-def boob tube. “The added pixel resolution that HD provides makes a big difference when spotting targets,” he says. ПАШ * CHALE TALE The best Madden ever (...if we have anything to say about it) OK, Mr. Madden, we know your football sim sells, like, a gazillion copies every year. But ever since acquiring the exclusive NFL license, your performance on the virtual gridiron hasn’t exactly matched those sales figures. So how can this season’s Madden (due out some time in August) return to form? Our sporto know-it-alls offer a win- ning game plai Stop experimenting and start innovatin While Vision and Precision passing and posi- tion-specific camera angles were great fea- tures in theory, both ended up being extremely flawed. Whatever the next big thing may be (our guess is a new receiver-related mechan- ic), make sure it doesn't just alter gameplay, but improves it. Give 'em something upstairs: Piss-poor pass coverage, big ol’ lineman continually lost in space and missing assignments —these guys wear helmets for a reason, so why not supply them with some brains? Show some emotion: If we're playing in the Super Bowl—from the announcers to the fans in the stands—it better damn well feel like a special event. Also, how about finally bring- ing out the personalities of those prominent NFLers and their coaches? Online leagues or bust: 2K's now-defunct pro-football franchise included online leagues...back on the original Xbox! And with this being Madden's third year on the next-gen consoles, the excuse of “these are complicat- ed machines" just doesn't fly anymore. Stop putting players on the cover: The Madden curse is absolutely killing in-game rosters, fantasy-football teams, and—most importantly—the real thing. For the love of Vince Lombardi, enough with the freakin’ cover athletes! ELECTRON > GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 69 > [4 Га) Е i к u > [s ) Halo 3 XB360 » Microsoft It’s the final act in Bungie’s “epic trilogy.” The developers have likened it to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It's the sequel to the Xbox 1 game that made more money in a day than blockbuster movies make in a weekend. With Grand Theft Auto going multiplatform and Sony pumping the brakes on Gran Turismo, Halo 3 is unquestionably 2007’s biggest exclu- sive gun. And Microsoft wants you to know that fact...now! The marketing bonanza for this first-person shooter has already begun, with its preorder campaign in full swing, a mystery-filled CG trailer, and this spring’s multiplayer beta (for which you may have to pay to participate). 70 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Now, about some of that trailer’s ambi- guities: Cagey Bungie reps posted on the Halo.Bungie.org message boards about the Chief’s pistol, which in some images looks to be the overpowered M6D pistol from Halo: Combat Evolved. When one poster believed that the pistol was just the Magnum from Halo 2, a Bungie employee replied: “You sure? I’ve seen some other angles supporting the contrary belief which are far more convincing.” The good pistol returns? “The official name for it is actually the MJOLNIR Spherical-Shield-that-bursts- from-Return-of-the-Jedi-like-thermal-deto- nator. It doesn't actually roll off the tongue, so there's a high likelihood that the name will change." The "it" Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrard is talking about is the trailer’s greatest enigma: a big bubble that protects the supersoldier from an incoming salvo from one of the retooled Wraiths. Is this shield generator the secret to the X button? Is it just one item from a new school of ONI-powered gadgets? Ninjas from inside the “Pimps at Sea" (a codename for Halo 3) alpha said that, right now, "the X button is just Teamspeak." Expect that button's functionality to change...if Bungie wants their trilogy to end as strong as Mr. Jackson's did. ien Master Chief's done saving Earth, be starring in the Bubble Boy sequel. ©2007 BMG Columbia House. 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DVD508 КИЛЫ ea ата PS3/XB360 • Atari A a Alone in the Dark The grandfather of all survival-horror games felt more like a dinosaur in its most recent console iterations (not to mention its craptastic movie). But Alone in the Dark’s next-gen debut should be chilling. The game’s story revolves around Edward e Carnby's investigation of paranormal elements linked to the 5 afterlife, but the setting—New York City’s Central Park, which is already full of fright at night—is paramount. “People will feel disrupted because this game happens where people usually feel at peace,” says Producer Nour Polloni. “It’s a city in the city, and we wanted to create a myth around Central Park and е raise the question of why there is such a vast space right іп the middle of one of the most densely populated cities in the world.” And, surprisingly, creepy creatures won't be the cata- lysts for all of the scares here. “One of the approaches we're using to create fear is to work on people's phobias,” says Polloni. “Like fear of heights, suffocation, animal bites, and drown- ing. Those things that paralyze them from reacting." Skate PS3/XB360 * EA Games With Tony Hawk's stranglehold on cyberskating, the creation of a competing thrasher makes us wonder if EA's banged their collective skull on a vert ramp one too many times. But the publisher is smartly creating a skater that is everything Hawk isn't. And it starts with more realism (meaning no easy-to-execute 9005), which is derived from a physics-driven anima- tion system where the analog sticks do all of the trick work. "Skate isn't about frantic button mashing and memorizing button combos," says Executive Producer Scott Blackwood. "| hate memorizing things." Instead, the game relies on "feel," according to Blackwood, who adds, "You'd be hard-pressed to find another next-gen game that gives the player such a visceral and rewarding rush." Question is, can Skate capture the counterculture spirit that Activision's franchise has nailed game in and out? With a development team consisting of several for- mer pro skateboarders, it's possible... I Devil May Cry 4 PS3 * Capcom If you thought no one could be as badass (both in gameplay and hairstyles) as the wisecracking demon hunter Dante, prepare yourself for a young chap named Nero. DMC4's new kid on the block (who belongs to some kooky religious order) also likes to showboat with two weapons, a sword named the Red Queen and a gun named the Blue Rose. But he's also got another tool of destruction, the Devil Bringer. This supercharged right arm enables Nero to grab and attack enemies at greater dis- tances, so it'll surely come in handy when plowing through legions of demons. And speak- ing of foes, don't expect DMC4’s group (at the onset) to be as controller-smashingly difficult as those in the last game. “We'll teach you to use the gun, sword, and Devil Bringer to their fullest,” says Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi. “The diffi- culty curve will start below that of DMC3, but by the end, we hope to have guided users step by step up to that level.” As Dante would say, “Bring it on.” 72» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Turok PS3/XB360 » Buena Vista Start penning those ticked-off letters now, paleontologists: Developer Propaganda Games is growing its thunder lizards larger than life for this set-in-the-future reboot of the tarnished Turok first-person-shooter franchise. “At sev- eral points in the game,” says Propaganda УР Josh Holmes, “you'll engage a T-Rex creature that has grown beyond what would be realis- tic based on scientific data.” But even if this futuristic shooter's titanic dinosaurs— products of genetic engineering run amok on an alien world—don't do you in, their little brothers will. “We have physics-based grass that allows you to creep up on enemies for stealth kills,” says Holmes. “But the grass also has lizards and mini-raptors that'll run away if you encounter them. If enemies see them scatter, they'll know there's a threat and turn their weapons on you." Fortunately, you can “convince” the dino- saurs to fight on your side. Pricking them with arrows makes them take out their anger on the nearest enemy. Even cooler: Your shotgun has a dino-luring-flare launcher. Cool, but the thought of dino allies also brings to mind reptile-rider Tobias Bruckner, the cyborg cavalry captain boss of 2002's Turok Evolution, a game that put the "terrible" in "ter- rible lizard.” “1 guarantee we have no Tobias Bruckner," says Holmes, quick to distance his game from the character who's become the mascot for crappiness in our annual Game of the Year Awards (see next issue). "And no machine guns mounted on the heads of dinos, either." Super Mario Galaxy Wii e Nintendo Nintendo's mascot sure has gotten the shaft during the company's last two console launches (his bro stole the GameCube spotlight in Luigi's Mansion, and then some mute elf took the Wii center stage in Twilight Princess). But when you're about to go intergalactic like the plumber intends to here, maybe some extra prep time isn't a bad thing. Thanks to the Wii's funky new control scheme, this . You'll use the Wii-mote to interact with these high-in-the-sky backdrops in all sorts of crazy ways, such as waggling it to hurl yourself from planet to planet and using the onscreen cursor to snatch items far out in the Milky Way. The dev team is even tinkering around with how using this joypad in tandem can enhance multiplayer (they've mentioned how one person could move Mario with the Nunchuk, while another provides aid with the Wii Remote). ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 73 Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 * Konami Even with the scraps of info we've gleaned by rooting through the trash bins at developer Kojima Productions’ offices (according to a note scribbled on a Moss Burger napkin, MGS4 takes place in South America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe!), a ton of details are still oh-so-mysterious (what's the deal with that younger-looking Snake? How does Raiden hold a sword in his foot?). This semi-gag order on MGS4 only gets us more excited for its eventual release. It seems like Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (check out the PSP review on pg. 98) and its recruitment mechanic was a sampler plate for MGS4, . In fact, not only can you pick an ally (and consequently an enemy), but you can also totally be a Metal Gear misanthrope and choose to take down both sides. Your allegiance doesn't just affect the soldiers, as even the Gekkos (the term for the weirder and smaller hybrid organic/ mechanical Metal Gears seen in the trailers to date) will either attack or cease fire, depending on where your loyalties lie. We also noticed that the spiffy Octo-Camo (which changes Snake's appearance based on what he's touching, which helps a lot with the "you're either in sight or out of sight in battle" motif that series cre- ator Hideo Kojima is pushing) appears to be used much more "organically" than the heavily menu-driven camouflage system in MGS3. This actually reflects the overall control scheme, as Kojima wanted to make the mechanics less complicated than MGS3’s, and give the player more natural and direct control. With his promise to support the Sixaxis' motion sensor, we're giddy to think that stealthily leaning and aiming around corners can be accomplished with gentle tilting and triggering as opposed to making some weird gameclaw on your controller due to holding down 72 buttons at once. Another potential use of the Sixaxis sensor is to steer the little Metal Gear MK II robot that tags along with Snake— perhaps a flick of the wrist is all it takes for the little bot to send an electric jolt to the enemy's junk. WHOLS Wa 74 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com Fable 2 XB360 • Microsoft Fable 2 is going to be an unprecedented life simulator, one that lets you grow your character from a small, impressionable child into a compli- cated adult (complete with emotional baggage) who affects the world around him or her in ways big and small. Riiiiiiight. Gamers may remember that the original Fable (XB) promised something quite similar but ended up being mostly an action-RPG—heavy on the action and fairly light on the roleplaying and simulation elements. Yes, you could run through a town and people would cower in fear if you were a bad guy or gaze admiringly if you were a hero. But it hardly qualified as a revolutionary videogame representation of the passage of time and life as we know it—as the game was touted during its years in development. Lead Designer Peter Molyneux, however, is nothing if not ambitious, and he’s again promis- ing great things for Fable 2. . Strike down its inhabitants at the outset, and all that will remain at the end of the game are the hills as nature left them. The combat will be more realistic, too—no more wildly swinging your battle-ax with no conse- quence. You'll be able to accumulate wealth, real estate, and belongings—or live life as a pauper. And this time around, your character can be male or female. You can now procreate, and your kids will love you no matter how evil your character gets. > GRANDO THEFT AUTO ім Separating the real s*** from the bulls*** For a series defined by its open nature, it's ironic that getting even the slightest info about a new GTA is more difficult than 100-percenting San Andreas. Here's what we know about GTA4 so far: It'll hit the PS3 and the Xbox 360 on October 16, with each version getting some unique downloadable content. And that's it. Still, that doesn't mean theories about this biggie aren't swirling around the Internets. Let's take a peek at some of the rumors: * In late 2003, GTA parent company Take-Two Interactive registered the trade- marks GTA: Bogota and GTA: Tokyo (in addition to GTA: Sin City and GTA: San Andreas...hmm ). Particularly, the historic Bogota, Columbia—sometimes called the Athens of South America—has amazing potential, with a mix of colonial architecture and skyscrapers, a diverse culture, and large socioeconomic rift. Oh, wait...there's a Bogota, NJ, too? Let's just move on. * Network-programming job positions posted on Rockstar North's website led to rumblings that GTA4 may be a massively multiplayer online game. Yeah, an MMO is just what the series needs, because it doesn't have enough jerks filling its streets to begin with. While we are certain online will be a huge part of GTA4 (those PSP modes were just a testing ground), it won't be the game. * Regardless of location, the next game will focus on one city instead of a sprawling region. With the new systems offering so much more power, thoughts of bustling intersections and myriad unique interiors abound. A city as alive as New York certainly hasn't been done justice yet. Done with enough detail, less could be a hell of a lot more. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 75 AXOLS УЭ > EIGHT FOR ZES We may be billing the next 12 months as the ыг. ie? шч Alan Wake (XB360) DC Universe Online (PS3) Final Fantasy XIII (PS3 Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3) 76 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com È R STO ever,” but 2008 is al Halo Wars (XB360) Resident Evil 5 (PS3/XB360) White Knight Story (PS3) ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 77 e Run all your gadgets quickly, seamlessly and simultaneously. • Run all your applications at the same time with increased performance. AMD PowerNow!™ technology for longer battery life. e Enjoy superb video playback, edit videos on the fly and deliver * Super - fast graphic performance - all while on the go. = NVIDIA® nForce™ SLI Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard + GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium - Targan % A380 Gaming Case = IBuypower* CPU Liquid Cooling Technology = Corsair 1024MB DDR2-800 Memory = 320GB SATA 11 7200RPM 3Gb Hard Drive + 16x Double Layer DVD+R/+RW Drive = NVIDIA® nForce™ SLI Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard * GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium = NZXT® Apollo Gaming Case = |Buypower* CPU Liquid Cooling Technology ~ Corsair 1024MB DDR2- 800 Memory - 250GB SATA Il 7200RPM 3Gb Hard Drive = 16x Double Layer DVD+R/+RW Drive = 6-in-1 Media Card Reader - 16x DVD-ROM Drive AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 dual-core Processor = 2X NVIDIA® GeForce™ 760065 256MB 5600+ (Socket AM2) $1379 - 2X NVIDIA® GeForce™ 7900GS 256MB 5600+ (Socket AM2) $1689 16X PCI Express - SLI Enabled 5400+ (Socket AM2) $1359 16X PCI Express Video Card ~ SLI Enabled 5400+ (Socket AM2) $1669 ~ 8 Channel Surround 3D Premium Sound 5200+ (Socket AM2) $1149 ` 8 Channel Surround 3D Premium Sound 5200+ (Socket AM2) $1449 ~ 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN 4800+ (Socket AM2) $1079 ` 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN 4800+ (Socket AM2) $1379 Е 600 Watt Surround Sound Speakers 4600+ (Socket AM2) $1049 ^ Logitech X-530 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers ассо (одеа AMa) 51240 = Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse - Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse - Free Wireless 802.110 54MBps Network Adapter | 42007 (Soat AM2). S s. Free Wireless 802,119 54MBps Network Adapter ЖАН Gomes AM) ӨЕ 3800+ (Socket AM2) $959 | 3800+ (Socket AM2) $1249 Color Options [ |] Е AMD Athlon™ 64ЕХ-62 (SocketAM2) $1649 Color Options E AMD Athlon™ 64FX-62 (SocketAM2) 51949 iBuypower recommends Windows Vista™ Home Premium BATTALION 5550 TURBO Ж 15,4” Wide Screen 16:10 WXGA TFT LCD 1280x800 Display GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium ` AMD? Turion™ 64 Mobile Technology - AMD® PowerNow! Technology - HyperTransport Technology 5 . Enhanced Virus Protection Technology Mobile ATI® Radeon" X700 128MB DDR Video 512МВ DDR-400 Memory - Removable 8x DVDS R/£RW/CD-RW Drive 7 40GB 5400RPM Ultra-ATA100 Hard Drive 10/100MB Ethernet LAN & 56K Modem - Wireless 802.119 54MBps Міпі-РСІ Network. 4x USB 2.0 & 1x Firewire IEEE-1394 Ports АМО Turion™t64 MobileTechnology MT-34 Processor 3-in-1 Built-in Media Card Reader AMD Turion" 64 MobileTechnology MT-37 Processor ` High Performance Li-lon Battery AMD Turion” 64 MobileTechnology MT-40 Processor .. 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Seriously, the PSP and DS lineups this month mostly shine. From litigation edutainment in the form of the DS’ second Phoenix 0 85 Wright, to Pokémon -like addiction і 6.5 4.5 2.5 from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (which helped it achieve Game of the Month status), to the out-of-nowhere film noir masterpiece (according to one of our reviewers), Hotel Dusk: Room 215, portable games are hitting a sweet stride to kick off the new year. One more thing, our Wii Play and WarioWare: Smooth Moves reviews are based on the Japanese versions of the games, which, aside from the text, will be the same when they hit Stateside, or about the time you'll be reading this issue. —Greg Ford, reviews editor 80 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com We give awards to games based on their scores. Platinum: all 10s; Golds: 9.0 average and up; Silver: 8.0 average or higher. Game of the Month goes to the highest-scoring game with unanimously "Good" scores, and Shame of the Month is the reverse. Simple. Keep in mind that a 10 does not mean a game is perfect, but rather it's the best Score we can give. Also, 5.0 is average. 21 Want more? Looking for a review of a game we didn't have enough time or room for? We've got you covered. Check 1UPcom for all your up- to-date review needs. It's where you can also find the lead EGM review. The second and third reviews, though—you'll find those here. PAGE Wii Play: But we won't like it p" THIS MONTH'S REVIEW CREW Sadly, what you see is what you get Dan “Shoe” Hsu Edi After Shoe saw how little competition was online in Full Auto 2 (see pg. 88), he decided to dedicate his life to becoming the No. 1 Full Auto 2 player in the world. It'd be the first time he’s ever “won” something.... Now Playing: Twilight Princess, Castlevania: Portrait, Full Auto 2 Blog: egmshoe.1UP.com Jennifer Tsao Managing Editc As anew mom, Jen supports games as learning tools. She's teaching her kid about biology (Viva Piñata), music (Karaoke Revolution), and reading (Hotel Dusk). But she has to draw the line somewhere—no World of WarCraft (PC) before naptime. Now Playing: (see above) Blog: egmjennifer.1UP.com Bryan Intihar After spearheading this issue’s cover story (and looking at Crispin’s new calendar), Bryan has no doubt that 2007 will be the best year ever! Now Playing: The Legend of Zelda; Twilight Princess, Elite Beat Agents, Resistance: Fall of Man Blog: egmbryan.1UP.com Michael Donahoe ws/Features Edito Michael was so impressed with Hotel Dusk’s supersleuthing that he decided to become a gumshoe himself...now if only he can choose the right gum for his new kicks. Bubble Yum or Bubblicious? Oh, the choices.... Now Playing: Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Twilight Princess Blog: egmhoe.1UP.com Jeremy Parish atures Editor, 10Р,сот Jeremy's reviews were ghost- written this month as he's currently in chocobo-holic rehab. “No one can eat just one!" he weeps. (We hear they taste like chicken.) Now Playing: Final Fantasy VI Advance, Ristar, Rogue Galaxy, Final Fantasy XII Blog: toastyfrog.1UP.com БЕ ” i Golf: A nice swing...but a miss Shane Bettenhausen If videogames are ever going to gain true mainstream media acceptance, our industry celebs are going to have to step it up. Note to developers Cliff Bleszinski and David Jaffe: Stop wearing panties immediately. Now Playing: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, Virtua Fighter 5 Blog: egmshane.1UP.com Crispin Boyer nior Editor Five steps to awkward silence: 1) Play Wii Bowling. 2) Decide to go bowling for real. 3) Head to the bowling alley's karaoke bar. 4) Shout, "Are you ready to rock?" to the sullen drunks in the audience. 5) Voilà. Now Playing: WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Lost Planet Blog: egmcrispin.1UP.com Greg Ford Greg went the opposite route from Crispin. Applying his real-world "throw the ball as hard as you can through the pins" technique to Wii Bowling only resulted in him landing on his ass. He's just happy the cameras weren't rolling. Now Playing: Assault Heroes Blog: egmford.1UP.com Demian Linn Hoping to get Sony a piece of the Wii-injuries hype action, Demian's gotten increasingly reckless with his PS3 Sixaxis. He nearly caught Bryan right in the groin after an enthusiastic NHL 2K7 check, but no dice. Now Playing: MotorStorm Blog: egmdemian.1UP.com Todd Zuniga Todd accidentally broke his bedroom window (and his ego) when his Wii-mote tragically flew out of his sweaty hand during a heated game of Wii Golf. He managed to save par, but at a terrible price. Now Playing: Winning Eleven, Wii Sports, Elebits Blog: opiumtodd.1UP.com Room 215: ^, Check into ıl this hotel Also on deck... Garnett Lee Andrew Blister Jenn Frank ; Scott Sharkey: Karen Chu Mark MacDonald Andrew Fitch Brooks Huber Thierry Nguyen Giancarlo Varanini ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е www.1UP.com • 81 998280 Wii WARIOWARE: SMOOTH MOVES W Publisher: Nintendo Ш Developer: Nintendo/Intelligent Systems W Players: 1-4 Ш ESRB: Everyone THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) JEREMY: d 8.0 GOOD: 'CRISPIN The Good: Fun for the whole family, if they're kinda weird The Bad: | hold the controller how? Eww: World's first toenail-clipping minigame Not as smooth as advertised + JEREMY: When you buy a new house, you get housewarming gifts. When you buy a new Nintendo con- sole, you get a WarioWare game. It’s the same basic idea: a meaningless but pleasant little something to liven up your new purchase and entertain the guests. Smooth Moves is an awful lot like everyone else’s gifts this time around, though—a collection of minigames strung together to show off the ins and outs of the Wii Remote control- ler. Like Rayman. Or Monkey Ball. Or Wii Play. Or...well, not that it matters, since they're all biting off WarioWare's style in the first place. And Mario’s tubby doppelganger still does it best. It’s the random sur- realism of the game that does the 82 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com trick. Or maybe it's the frenetic pace; you wouldn't think a fat guy would be so fast, but almost every minigame here lasts about five seconds or so, rewarding those with the ability to pro- cess a dozen new situations, deter- mine their solutions, and complete them in a split second. Unfortunately, Wario is uncharac- teristically graceless this time around. Smooth Moves is really anything but; in all, the game features 19 different ways to hold the controller, many of which are completely ridiculous. Intentionally ridiculous, no doubt, but WarioWare's strength has always been instantly intuitive gameplay, which is somewhat lost when the game stops to tell you how to reorient yourself every five seconds. Ш Forklift fatties beware: Some games actually make you—gasp—exercise. Mostly, though, WarioWare delivers. It may not be the only game to put the Wii Remote through its paces, but it’s certainly the most entertaining. + CRISPIN: Sure, Smooth Moves does overload you with goofball ways to interact with the controller. And yes, the game grinds to a halt and hits you with lengthy explanations of each control type the first time you encoun- ter it. But once you've digested the basics, you'll have reached Nirvana for the attention deficient. Manic, diverse, often old-school, and always hilari- ous, the minigames here are easily the most fun and funky in what's becom- ing a booming minigame industry on the Wii. Here's hoping Smooth Moves' fine line between innovation and > The definitive FINAL FANTASY experience remastered for Game Boy Advance. DY ANCE Previously released as FINAL FANTASY III for the Super NES, enhanced with new features! A power-hungry empire threatens to enslave the world by reviving the dread power known as magic. An unlikely band of rebels is all that stands in its way... * Explore never-before-seen dungeons. ШӨ ш {| * Summon powerful, all-new espers to aid you in battle. “ Command over a dozen unforgettable heroes, each with unique skills. T * Study your foes in the Bestiary, or enjoy your favorite songs Е == with the music player. * Also playable on Nintendo DS. SQUARE ENIX. Mild Fantasy Violence Mild Suggestive Themes GAME BOY ADVANCE SP AVAILAB LE: 22707 © 1994, 2006, 2007 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Illustration © 2006 YOSHITAKA AMANO. FINAL FANTASY, SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. TM, ® and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2007 Nintendo, Controllerpalooza With nearly two dozen controller positions, many of which overlap rather point- lessly, it’s safe to assume that not every one is a winner. And in fact, if you did make that assumption, you’re right. Hold it like a sheathed samurai sword and...unsheathe it like a samurai sword. Huh? Arms clutched akimbo, stand up, hula-hoop. (Or just sit and shake the controller—that works, too.) Toss-up! Whether you’re holding the Remote at the tip of your nose or atop your head, the result’s the same: You look stupid and someone’s going to punch you in your face. Half the controller positions make it impossible to wear that wrist strap Nintendo’s so fussy about. Smashing your TV? Well, pilgrim, that’s the smoothest move of all. insanity (using the controller as your schnoz, for instance) inspires other developers to conjure new uses for the Wii-mote. It's too bad that—considering Smooth Moves’ gawker-drawing mag- netism—the game doesn’t encourage more group participation. Most of the multiplayer modes are competition- based, forcing everyone to take turns 84 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY in the same minigames from single player (although you do get a mean game of darts). The lack of simultane- ous play certainly isn’t a deal breaker. You'll just be wishing for something a little more to do once you burn through the main game in a weekend. Jeremy’s right in saying Smooth Moves lacks the frantic pace and momentum we’ve come to expect from the series, but I’m going to cut it some slack in that department for being the new kid. As soon as | got familiar with the various controller grips, | took a whack at the lightning- quick elevator mode—that’s when the good ol' WarioWare madness came rushing back. My beef is with the lack of game variety. The ones that are there cer- tainly are fun and off-the-wall, but the game just doesn't have many of them (and some are just variations on the same theme). I’m especially disappointed in two things: the lack of Nunchuk/Wii-mote combo games (only one stage), and the relatively tepid selections for the Nintendo-nos- talgia stage. Smooth Moves is a fun game, but | expect major improve- ments in the next Wii Ware. ih Wil PLAY @ Publisher: Nintendo Ш Developer: Nintendo Ш Players: 1-2 Ш ESRB: Everyone Anybody can play it, including grandma You'll probably be bored in minutes, regardless of the game Play alone Fun, until it suddenly isn’t Did you like Wii Sports? Hate it? Want to marry it? You’re going to feel the same about Wii Play. Play comes bundled with a Wii Remote for 10 bucks extra ($50 total), so ratchet your expectations accordingly. Like Sports, Play is a Wii Remote tech demo barely concealed by a thin layer of minigames. You’ve got your fishing (yank up on the Remote when you've got a bite); your cow racing (hold the Remote hori- zontally, tilt forward to speed up, flick upward to jump); your Duck Hunt- esque balloon-shooting game (light- gun style); your laser Pong/air hockey (move the Remote to control the pad- dle); and your Combat-like tank battle game, which was my favorite and the only game to use the Nunchuk 86» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com controller. And then three other not terribly remarkable minigames that | don’t have room to describe, but trust me—you're not missing much. Play is for people who don't really like games, and as someone who really does, that's a problem. Sure, most of these minigames are fun... for about 10 minutes. But hey, maybe your grandma will want to marry it. Demian's either feeling incredibly generous (most are fun?) or he's got some grandma in him. The majority of these minigames are most un-fun...even if you only give them 10 minutes. I'd only give two events a halfhearted thumbs-up—and only if you're playing them with a friend. Searching for or matching up Miis in a crowd is casually entertaining (assum- ing you're also entertained by those games you'd find in the comics sec- tion of your newspaper). And playing 9-Ball works well with a friendly inter- face that lets you thrust the Wii-mote like a pool cue. Demian pretty much nailed it. For someone who barely under- stands what a videogame even is (Mom!), Wii Play is probably the best playable instruction manual ever. But for anyone who's, uh, ever played a videogame, more than half of the nine minigames are about as much fun as a Remote calibration test. Still, even the suckiest games are OK in multi- player, and, for that reason alone, it's ideal “family gathering" material. ж THE VERDICTS {OUT OF 10) The Good: Swing feels like the real thing The Bad: Jumpy backswing, excruciat- ingly slow pace Reminds Us Of: The Hot Shots Golf series Real golf feel—boredom included + TODD: As a “sports guy,” what nonjocks might find amusing—like people hitting a golf ball with a ham- mer or a cricket paddle— find idiotic. But once desensitized to Super Swing Golf’s cutesy Japanimation elements (which are nowhere near as clever as Hot Shots Golf's), | had a great time throwing my back out using the Wii controller as a virtual golf club (you can use a more traditional button-con- trolled swing if you'd prefer—though what’s the point in that?). But while the forward swing has a great feel and turns flaws in motion into virtual hooks and slices, the inconsistent backswing had me wiggling the controller above my shoulder trying to get the proper amount of power. The backswing issue is forgivable when compared to the game's molasses pace, though. | was forced to watch every computer- controlled golfer shot, and the game criminally offers no way to fast-for- ward things once |, or my opponent, hit the ball. Considering | had to stand to play, the waiting wore me out. + GARNETT: Golf boils down to grooving a swing, and Super Swing Golf's mechanic approximates the real thing pretty well. | got swing power down easily enough by cocking my wrists at the top of the backswing. But a lack of feedback to help you under- stand what caused an errant shot makes it more frustrating than fun to perfect your motion. And as satisfying as striking a good shot can be, the puzzling system for reading the break Office of National Drug Control Policy/Partnership for a Drug-Free America' SUPER SWING GOLF W Publisher: Tecmo Ш Developer: Ntreev/Tecmo W Players: 1-4 Ш ESRB: Everyone 10+ on greens makes it next to impossible to drain a putt of any length. + BROOKS: Todd's right; the "true" swing mechanics work great—which incidentally caused childhood flash- backs of my golf instructor shouting, "Keep those arms straight, bend your knees, and keep your eye on the ball!" Once you look past the nearly fluid swing, however, you realize Super Swing Golf lacks any real depth beyond traditional game modes, including story, stroke, and match play. More minigames—aside from the mediocre balloon-popping mode that focuses not on a low score but on how many balloons you and up to three others can pop in a round— would have been a welcome addition. Уоч disa Ро; E above the imfluence.com FULL AUTO 2: BATTLELINES B Publisher: Sega Ш Developer: Pseudo Ш Players: 1-8 Ш ESRB: Teen Arcadey fun in short spurts, new cars and tracks Poor level design + overly fast cars = @$%&*?! A virtual ghost town Crash, burn, and swear a whole lot | never got why some read- ers thought we overrated the original Full Auto on the 360 (8.0 to 8.5 range). Fast cars and big guns—guys gotta like it on some primordial level, right? This hybrid car-combat/racing sequel (if you even want to call it a sequel—most tracks here are recycled) introduces some ideas that work, like power-ups that really inten- sify the action. Do you take that risky shortcut in order to pick up the health icon that will bring your shot-up ride back to showroom condition? Other ideas would give an Allstate agent some serious heartburn, like the faster overall speed. These tracks don’t work that well for balls-out racing with fun-ending obstacles (poorly placed pillars, walls, alcoves, et cetera) that'll 88» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com put your engine block on your lap and make you go from 130 to zero and first to worst in an instant. The arena battles can be frustrating, too, with smart A.I. that unfairly gangs up on you. But still...fast cars, big guns. I'll keep playing.... | missed the first one, but this Full Auto is no 8.0 in my book. Shooting up a building/tanker/rival definitely looks good as you drive by at 135 mph, or maybe reverse time to get a second, closer glimpse, but both the combat racing and arena-style battles have been done to death and back by other games, and better. The weapons get cooler as you go (rear- facing flamethrower, | choose you!) but never touch the distinctiveness of, say, any of Twisted Metal’s car- specific special ordnance. Do it again, беда-- know you will, no matter what | say—but this time, with feeling. If they’d just called a spade a damn shovel and sold this as a port instead of sticking that pesky “2” on there, | think Га have felt a lot less jerked around by this one. Plenty of new cars, tracks, and multiplayer modes make for a stellar port—but | didn’t find nearly enough new content here to justify calling it a sequel. If you're one of those too-much-money- having bastards with a 360 and a PS3, this is definitely the better version, but not really worth the trouble if you bought it the first time around. ж THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) TODD: ‘GIANCARLO: 5 AVERAGE The Good: Crowd, defense The Bad: Clunky free throws, rebounding, limited online features Thankfully Nothing Like: EA's pro baller, NBA Live 07 Office of National Drug Control Policy/Partnership for a Drug-Free America“ Final Four crowd, Sweet 16 gameplay + TODD: The next-gen debut of EA's March Madness series serves up some serious January delirium by delivering, hands down, the best crowd in any sports game (humbling College Hoops 2K7's impressive show). | felt like a witness to a real college game as players pumped their fists after dunks and the crowd hol- lered "three!" when a home-teamer chucked a long-range bomb. But while the atmosphere rocks, the gameplay—like the UConn Huskies— is still a year away. The fast-paced action is fun, and, unlike in other hoops games, defense (a foreign word to cover athlete Adam Morrison) plays a role because of the still effective “lockdown stick.” But the goofy flaws include the ball magically warping to a player's hand on rebounds, overly plentiful fouls, and maddening free- throw shooting. It's a solid effort, but it just doesn't have the minute-by- minute gravity of 2K7's college game. + BRYAN: March Madness has always done a superb job of reproducing the college b-ball atmosphere. But man, when | saw a UNC player—after his team’s intensity meter got maxed out—walk over to the Blue Devil faith- ful and taunt his rivals’ rabid fans, | knew 07 had taken it to the next level. But, like Todd says, it’s too bad the gameplay doesn’t quite match the ambience. Uncharacteristically, fouling is out of control here (even when you jack down the in-game slider), and you can’t help but look like Shaq at Xbox 360 NCAA MARCH MADNESS 07 W Publisher: EA Sports Ш Developer: EA Sports н Players: 1-4 Ш ESRB: Everyone the free-throw line—in the words of Dicky V, "It's brick city, baby!" + GIANCARLO: March Madness defi- nitely has the framework for a great college basketball game. It does an excellent job of tying in the exuber- ant college atmosphere with player performance thanks to its composure feature, which also makes it really feel like you can control the flow of the on-court action. But, overall, the game is just too sloppy in other areas. The controls lack precision, forcing you to constantly fight the game to be a decent ball-handler, shooter, and defender. Also, someone get announcer Dick Vitale some glasses, because he’s watching a different game than | am far too often. above theimfiuence.com Xbox 360 LOST PLANET: EXTREME CONDITION E Publisher: Capcom Ш Developer: Capcom lil Players: 1-16 Ш ESRB: Teen THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) G:FORD: 6.5 AVERAGE The Good: Gorgeous visuals, killing bugs The Bad: Uneven mech play, dumb enemy A.l. The Ugly: A rocket launcher plus an alien in the wrong place Misdirection “Ес. FORD: As one face among many, you work your way through darkened hallways, automatic gun at the ready. After blowing open a door, you and your crew rappel down to a larger hangar. Immediately, a bus-sized, buglike creature rolls toward you as you leap out of the way and open fire. The beast loses its fight—and life— and turns to ice: It shatters as you put one final bullet into it. The next room has far less imposing enemies—flying, sleek-looking creatures with flagella- like appendages lining their bodies. Though numerous, they go down eas- ily. But the relative breather is short- lived. A gigantic, multilegged, horned grub of an alien—dwarfing that first pest—bursts through a wall and com- mences a devastating attack, wiping 90» ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com out most of your compatriots with one gust of its breath, which freezes and shatters them. It's all you can do to run and pray. Lost Planet starts at a gallop, as any good action-shooter should, and it keeps the upbeat pace going for a few more levels. Trudging through knee- deep snow and swapping through a standard arsenal of weapons, you take out scores of the insectlike alien Akrid. And despite the main charac- ter's methodical pace, Lost Planet manages to nail a nimble feel—for the most part. With the default control setup, tapping the controller's left and right bumper buttons quick-spins you 90 degrees in the corresponding direction, which isn't intuitive but is useful when you get the hang of it. کے W Lost Planet at its otherworldly best: small man, big-ass creature, a change of pants. Also, a handy grappling hook keeps things moving vertically (though sup- port for midair grappling would’ve sated our tingling Spidey sense). Quick feet are necessary, since the action has a very arcadey slant to it: Smaller critters pour out of genera- tors, and all the Akrid have glowing weak spots for optimal shooting, sometimes in multiple parts, allowing you to blow off some of a creature’s far-too-numerous legs. And graphi- cally, the game’s a stunner (at least in high-def—standard-def has more whiteout conditions). The backdrops consist of crumbling ruins, dilapidated warehouses, twisting caverns, and crisp, snowy landscapes— you're truly navigating a hostile yet beautiful land. For a while, Lost Planet completely чий Gatling Gun Bionic Commando's grappling hook satisfies. Similar to smashing zombie heads in Capcom's Dead Rising, squishing alien bugs proves undeni- ably enjoyable. But partway through the adventure, the momentum wavers, taking some of the game's charm with it. In addition to fighting Akrid, you start tackling snow pirates and ап evil corporation. While simple А.І. is understandable in the alien crea- tures, it's just embarrassing in the humans, who regularly don't react to soldiers being picked off next to them nor generally seem to care much for their well-being, given their mindless tactics. When you're stuck facing just these jokers, Lost Planet feels like a totally generic shooter at best. But the big change comes with the vital suits scattered about the land. These suits, made specifically to erad- icate Akrids (as explained in the over- Starship Troopers’ bug-killing insanity Equation for an extermination Creating Lost Planet in four easy steps x € ж б> Ww Bing Crosby's White Christmas wrought story), are essentially mechs, with interchangeable guns (which you can wield on foot...a nice touch) and different abilities depending on the model. They cover the typical spec- trum, from quick and long-jumping bipeds to tanklike mobile drillers. In limited quantities, taking control of these machines can be quite fun— kind of like the vehicle segments of PS3 first-person shooter Resistance. You feel a rush of power as you domi- nate smaller enemies and handily dis- patch with midsized ones. But as the game shifts into mech-heavy stages, the luster fades into plodding labor, especially as the Akrids thin out and you're stuck fighting other mechs (for you non-mechheads out there who feel betrayed, be thankful you don't have to deal with Armored Core-level robo-tweaking). Particularly painful: Gatling Gun MechAssault's assaulting mechs Lost Planet Whether on foot or in a mech, get hit by a powerful enough shot and you go into an uncontrollable stumble anima- tion that lasts too long. Worse, some enemies prey on this, timing shots to hit as soon as you regain control. Forgettable multiplayer (four generic modes...really?) and impressive yet usually easy-to-exploit boss fights, which the other reviewers have plenty to say about, don't help the cause. Sleek graphics and a fast start can't mask what's an entertaining but ulti- mately disposable diversion. Greg, | think you need to judge Lost Planet for what it really is: an overgrown arcade game. Bugs crawling out of monster generators, gigantic boss creatures with glowing weak points, weapons and power-ups scattered everywhere—on paper, ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY e www.1UP.com • 91 ê aa? Hand Grenade it'd be easy to confuse Lost Planet with the old-school games that made Capcom famous two decades ago. But in person, it’s undeniably state- of-the-art. Sit your ass in front of a nice television and sound system and Lost Planet will blow it right off with an audiovisual fireworks display only Gears of War can top. From its crum- bling cities to dank, monster-packed caves to pulsing lava pools, this game looks and sounds amazing. Of course, if you melt away all this gorgeous icy frosting, you’re left with a simple game about one thing: blow- ing stuff up. Sure, sometimes you might need to think, “What should | blow up first?” or "What's the best way to blow that up?" but that's about as in-depth as it gets. Lost Planet is more about dodging and survival than any grand strategy, more about reflex- 92 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY e es than thinking. Maybe that's why I can forgive the fact that sometimes the enemies aren't thinking either, like when they stand idly by as | snipe their neighbors or when they blow me off my feet as soon as | get up, over and over. Because, really, it’s hard to dwell on these things when the next minute I’m boosting my hulking mech 50 yards in the air, raining giant rockets and endless machine gun fire down on 18-wheeler-sized mutant insects and puny human foot soldiers. Whenever my complaints threatened to build up, a wave of adrenaline and gunfire washed them away. Likewise, competitive types may never get over the online game’s unbalanced weapons and maps (the inevitable by-product of repurposing parts of single-player levels), limited modes (post grab and team elimina- сот Multiplayer mayhem During our online playtesting of Lost Planet, we encountered a number of annoying quirks, nota- bly getting booted back to the multiplayer menu when a match ends. Capcom has told us that an automatic update on day one (fea- turing fixes based on user feed- back from the multiplayer demo) will address most of the problems. Among the changes, the devel- opers have added a postgame lobby where players can rematch (though game options can’t be changed), given the host the ability to reserve private slots for friends, 4: 7 Shotgun 584 Machine Gun tion are the only two worth playing), and questionable spawning system. But don’t come in expecting Halo—or even Gears of War—with multiplayer and you'll find enough to enjoy for a few days: mech versus on- foot battles, an interesting take on the grappling hook, and a unique post- grabbing mechanic, where you trade off the risk of staying in one place without a weapon with the reward of capturing the spot for your team and/ or extra health for yourself. The gre- nades alone—one of which sails like a Frisbee, another that's a decoy player and works as a booby trap—make it worth a try. | clamor a lot for more style in games. On that count, Lost Planet delivers in a very next-gen way. Not just high-res for the sake of high- and given players the ability to Switch teams in team matches. e .we can only use the grappling hook while grounded? .all the aliens have “shoot me here" bull's-eyes? ^ SER ¥ res, it puts the 360’s power to good use. With the wind howling all around through the surround sound, blow- ing snow obscuring my vision, and one of the best uses of the whiteout effect—simulating the experience as your eyes adjust to glare off the snow—l got completely drawn into this icy world. And while the star power of basing lead character Wayne on Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun may be lost on this side of the Pacific, its impact is not. This is a warrior you feel cool playing, which is critical in mak- ing the third-person style work. If only the story kept up. As Greg mentions, the scripting predictably declines into overwrought anime ter- ritory, with humanity as caught up in fighting itself as it is in survival on the inhospitable planet. But the bigger problem comes from the crimp put in We thought this was next gen, so how come... ...invisible walls still box us in? „the enemy A.I. is as idiotic as ever? the pacing by the emphasis on boss fights. Lost Planet hits its groove when you're in the thick of the adventure, working through the varied levels. On foot you use your rocket-propelled grappling hook to zip all around, look- ing for points with a tactical advan- tage and taking out enemies in all directions. In the mechs (yeah, vital suits—whatever) you tromp around, grabbing different weapons and blast- ing the hell out of everything. But this great adventuring gets treated as more of a prelude to the main events, and | had to keep reminding myself how much fun—and worth getting back to—it was every time | hit one of the boss fights. They come in two basic flavors. The human bosses offer mech-on-mech fights that amount to bouncing around and knocking down their health bar before they get yours—usually not too troublesome, but not too interest- ing, either. The real offenders are the Akrid. Being in an enclosed arena with a prehistoric-sized monster you shoot in a glowing weak spot feels tired the first time, much less the fourth. Greg dismisses multiplayer too quickly, though. True, you can find dozens of better games if you just want to play deathmatch, but in the team-based modes the strategic opportunities of mechs, foot soldiers, and foot soldiers wielding mech-sized weapons come into play. For anyone with Live, that should make up for the up-and-down ride of single player. $h Go to Lost Planet strategy guide. Among other tips, we show you how to nab all those hidden target marks in each level. to find our ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 93 ROGUE GALAXY W Publisher: Sony CEA @ Developer: Level-5 Ш Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Teen Cool spacefaring setting, user-friendly menus Mediocre story, never-ending dungeons Make them stop! Japanese RPG fun...without the androgyny It's refreshing to play a Japanese RPG where the men have facial hair, the women are the ones with the bare midriffs, and the robots are decidedly nonsexy. Rogue Galaxy’s space-pirate setting—a little Star Wars, a bit Skies of Arcadia—is bound to attract role-playing fans who are sick of the standard primp-and- preen metrosexual JRPG heroes. Unfortunately, the execution’s more Return of the Jedi than Empire Strikes Back. You feel like you're in for a grand adventure as you set out to explore the galaxy...only to find a ho-hum story and underdeveloped characters. Also, combat-balance problems and excruciatingly long dun- geons—both supposedly improved from the Japanese release—are still 94% ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com noticeable issues. Thankfully, the game’s streamlined ability system and menus help out greatly—they always let you know when you've found the right item to unlock new powers. And damn, the game looks gorgeous...but so did The Phantom Menace. Since Sega never got around to sequel-izing Dreamcast RPG Skies of Arcadia, | guess Level-5 decided to do it for them. Ah, if only Rogue Galaxy really were a true Skies follow-up...unfortunately, it doesn't reach those heights. They ripped the combat system straight from Kingdom Hearts, warts and all. The same too- close camera! The same brain-dead A.l. companions, more a liability than a help! Incessant button-mashing ran- 0/9 Hits! dom combat! Too bad, because the game /ooks lovely and can be fun. But it feels cobbled together from leftovers of other (better) games, which makes it merely pretty good rather than the classic it could have been. These guys are right— Rogue Galaxy attempts to plunder content from other RPGs. But even so, it manages to cook up some cool content of its own—the useful item synthesis, coupled with the two-weap- on combat, kept battles from getting too boring. Plus, | gotta give the visu- als some props: The sexy cartoony look made my eyes blush. Sure, the game isn’t a masterpiece, but until the Р53 raises its role-playing anchor, it’ll at least help keep the PS2 afloat. $h RFECT COMBO! Am... KARAOKE REVOLUTION PRESENTS: AMERICAN IDOL B Publisher: Konami Ш Developer: Blitz Games W Players: 1-8 Ш ESRB: Everyone 10+ Same old song Whichever goes stale sooner, American Idol or karaoke, this singing game will be there, ready to be looked back on as something that didn't represent either side exceptionally well. It's stronger on the karaoke front— Karaoke Revolution makes a pretty foolproof foundation for a game. Sing into a USB microphone and the game detects your pitch and timing, scoring you based on accu- racy. With 40 songs and lots of fun unlock- ables, it's as entertaining as any previous KR. In between those parts, however, things break down. The judging cut-scenes are enter- taining and realistic—as on TV, opinions have little to do with quality (I’m not sure what game Karen's been playing)—but they need to be more integrated into the gameplay. It's unclear how your progress in the competition is gauged, and it's annoying to hand in platinum-album-win- ning performance after performance but still get eliminated in the final rounds. Wait, did | just glimpse how William Hung feels about himself? Unlike Jen’s crowd-pleasing crooning, I’m a complete moron on the mic. But even though my lousy singing skills will likely induce suicidal tendencies in unfortunate onlookers, it’s always fun to ham it up. Too bad the American Idol implementation is about as ridiculous as Раша Abdul's reject replace- ment, "Laura." It's silly you compete against the made-up contestants, too. Had Konami saved this for the PS3 so you could compete against real people online, it'd feel more like the show. But instead, we get an OK Karaoke Revolution game with a sloppy license. Sloppy, Michael? Sure, the fake Paula took a bit away from the /dol fan- fare, but one can't deny how logical it is for Karaoke Revolution to implement American Idol's contest structure. Though it's not entirely seamless, the contest mode really captures the show's excitement of advancing to the next round and the anticipation of final results. Even the judges' criticisms seem genuine and accurate to each performance rather than ran- domly generated. It may not be the best party version of Revolution, but this game fulfills a lot of individual /do/ fantasies. Power ballads in full effect American Idol stuff is tacked on Replaced here by some random named Laura NETWORK 4 7, ә 52; СЯ % ,, a бо, n 2%, SF, ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY 11! PHOENIX WRIGHT: АСЕ ATTORNEY- JUSTICE FOR ALL B Publisher: Capcom Ш Developer: Capcom Ш Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Teen Clever writing, challenging puzzles A tad short, repetitive An all-new, DS-bred Phoenix Wright sequel Objection? Sustained Since the original Phoenix Wright first hit in 2005, Capcom's whimsical litigation simulation has grown into a bizarre cult phenom- enon, amassing a surprisingly siz- able fan base of wannabe defense lawyers. Justice for All picks up pre- cisely where that first caseload ended: Expect to enjoy the same charming characters, snappy writing, and quirky sense of humor here. Sure, the whole thing skates dangerously close to the “edutainment” realm by building its gameplay around reading comprehen- Sion and deductive reasoning, but DS gamers weaned on Brain Age will like- ly welcome the cerebral stimulation. Unfortunately, even Phoenix’s big- gest supporters will raise a few objec- tions about this slightly underwhelm- 96 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com ing sequel. While Capcom wisely added a new, DS-exclusive scenario (complete with cool touch-screen puz- zles) to the first game, Justice (also a GBA port) gets no such upgrade. And although it's a shorter game, annoying new “Psyche-Lock” puzzles force you to backtrack and hunt for clues. If it weren't for the new Psyche-Locks, Justice for All would be pretty much the exact same game as the first one (which I consider a good thing). Personally, | like having more investigative options when not in trial because it feels like I’m actu- ally working a case instead of reacting to everything around me. See, that’s what | find annoying about Phoenix Wright: The trials always pit him as the inexperienced underdog struggling to win against insurmountable odds. It’s part of the character’s charm, sure, but it also makes the cases repetitive and predictable. Toughen up, Nick. OK, guys. I’m split. I'm happy Capcom tried to make this sequel feel different with the Psyche- Locks (which make the exploration parts more difficult), but they don't really improve gameplay. Instead, they simply serve to distract gamers from how much of a retread this truly is. Still, | loved the original, and | don't feel the rehash rings hollow. The first Phoenix Wright game was a little bit better, a little more fulfilling, but DS owners looking to tackle another caseload will get a kick out of this. жй HOTEL DUSK: ROOM 215 E Publisher: Nintendo Ш Developer: Cing Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Teen A game to kill for The classic adventure genre has been woefully underrepresented on the DS. So old-time point-and-click fanatics should swoon over Hotel Dusk. Especially since it’s more about character interaction than “insert widget A into slot В” puzzles. You’ll come across your share of illogical and sometimes infuriating moments, sure—it is an adventure game—but the entire experience is rendered in a cool-looking film noir sketchbook style, and the real focus is on following clues and pursuing leads. While the plot feels contrived at times, it plays out like a great pulp detec- tive novel: a mysterious woman, secret pasts, missing persons, questionable motives...the works. With a cast of well-written characters, branching conversations, and a cool interface, this is the adventure the DS has been dying for. І сот- pletely agree—the style and character in this one make it a memorable adventure that uses the DS’ charms well. I'd have liked it even more if it let you advance the text more quickly. Gamers will have to slow. Down. And. Be. Patient. While. They. Wait. For. The. Text. To. Show. Up. | understand this pacing was intentional, but it makes the game drag in places. Still, the story is intriguing, and the puzzles nicely done. | actually didn't find this one required as many bothersome trial-and-error logic leaps as most adventure games. It's as linear as it can be without handing you the answers. And that pencil-sketch art style? Very cool. For such an amazing detective drama, it's a damn shame hardly anyone is clued-in on its brilliance—blame Nintendo for keeping this gem hidden. Playing Hotel Dusk made me realize why | love the DS: The game executes everything with such craft and creativity—you hold the system like a book, the puzzles make terrific use of the touch screen—that it pushes home how fun games can be when DS developers dare to be different. And, unlike other point-and-click adventures, Dusk does a great job of making sure you don't get lost fishing for facts. Factor in the twist-heavy story (I want a sequel, dam- mit!) and you have one doozy of a DS game. An intriguing story told with style The usual adventure game Шодіс Twice as gritty as Touch Detective (and twice as good) [ GEEKED AT BIRTH. | You can talk the talk. Can you walk the walk? Here's a chance to prove it. Please geek responsibly. GAME DESIGN DIGITAL ANIMATION ARTIFICIAL LIFE DIGITAL VIDEO WEB DESIGN COMPUTER FORENSICS NETWORK SECURITY SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT GAME PROGRAMMING www.uat.edu > 800.658.5744 METAL GEAR 5 PORTABLE OPS W Publisher: Konami Ш Developer: Kojima Productions Ш Players: 1-6 Ш ESRB: Mature It's a real MGS action game with a deep strategic layer on top Complex controls hurt hands Two Take a ride in Snake's mystery van This new portable Metal Gear installment finally gives us the tactical espionage action we expect from an MGS title...and a whole lot more. Kojima Productions took the classic stealth-action formula and added soldier recruitment, which makes it absolutely vital to knock out baddies and throw them in your mystery van to build an army. You can then assign these soldiers to vari- ous squads that do stuff like make medicine, find guns, or provide helpful backup during the oh-so-quick mis- sions (which you can now select from a map, making this a more free-form MGS). Portable Ops ends up being a bizarre Kojima chimera of MGS, Metal Gear Ac!d, and Pokémon, which is A- OK with me. Also, the game's varied 98 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com use of the PSP's online capabilities— snagging soldiers via Wi-Fi hot spots or the not-yet-released GPS attach- ment, and both local and online Wi-Fi multiplayer, which you can actually lose soldiers in—and fantastic graph- ics make this a stunning showcase for the system despite funky controls and occasional online latency hiccups. Finally, a game that feels like it belongs here—Portable Ops brazenly shirks the established PSP norm of lazily porting PS2 games to Sony's handheld by instead offer- ing an all-new adventure that actu- ally plays to the system's strengths. Stealthily maneuvering Snake through urban missions delivers bite-sized MGS thrills, but players who want to delve deeper can get seriously hooked on collecting, trading, and battling forces in the brilliant online modes. While | never felt the urge to trip on Ac!d, Portable Ops is just what | wanted—and what | never thought | wanted—from the series on the PSP. The classic sneaky game- play from the console titles remains wonderfully intact, yet | got strangely addicted to recruiting soldiers and sending them out to collect intel, items, and new members also will- ing to follow my cause. As Scooter mentioned, the PSP’s flawed design throws the occasional wrench into squad control, but it shouldn’t stop you from picking up arguably the handheld's most imaginative title. ж STAR WARS LETHAL ALLIANCE W Publisher: Ubisoft B Developer: Ubisoft W Players: 1-2 Ш ESRB: Teen Let the Wookiee play it Bad guys in the Star Wars mov- ies can't hit the broad side of a futuristic space-barn. While that's funny enough on the big screen, it makes for some brain-dead videogame gunplay in this third-person action- shooter. Sure, you've got fancy bullet-time acrobatics you can whip out (wasn't that your favorite part of the flicks?), but the risk of cartwheeling off of an instant-death ledge is greater than any threat posed by nearsighted morons who drop if you look at them funny. It’s doubly a shame since the game forces a bunch of jumping puzzles on you—which would've been fun if not for these problems. In fact, all the control and death-ledge issues remind me of Shadows of the Empire (N64), only it's 10 years later and we get a more attractive ass wiggling around in front of the spastic camera. Progress. Even if you're a Jedi-loving junk- ie, don't force yourself to play this cheapo Star Wars adventure. Sharkey is totally spot-on when it comes to the slippery controls. In fact, | was my own worst enemy—1 met my death more from stupidly falling off ledges than | did by the blaster of any baddie. But if you can actu- ally keep your feet on the ground, the combat can be kinda cool. Using your robo-buddy to get through levels makes for some interest- ing situations, but the constant teamwork gets way too repetitive...and annoying— what idiotic architect designed every planet in the galaxy with a bunch of switches that can only be accessed by a stupid droid? And too bad the autotargeting is way more harmful than it is helpful—accidentally shooting exploding barrels sure is a dumb way to die. Hey, I kinda like Shadows of the Empire, so that comparison isn't too trou- bling to me. | generally agree with Sharkey, but to a lesser degree. | like some of Lethal Alliance's ideas, such as using your droid for both combat and platforming purposes, but they're pulled off in a very mediocre fashion (due to the aforementioned brain-dead А.І. and instant-death ledges). Even with my “1 dig all things Star Wars” glasses on, | still realize this is an average-at-best game. Hot chick doing slow-mo robot-straddling cartwheels... ...right off a damn ledge and into a load screen You're out of luck—only blasters in this one Financial aid available to those who quality * Career deva REAMERS WANTED ә E: 5 El а т bi 2 E 8 = 5 E S a 5 > 2 = E: z 5 2 У 2 5 з > E 2 El E a в ә Ы 2 Ei 2 M m = A El z > E = Ы = = E z © = E] bi 2 v E M ә > = 5 S Ei z Ы т 5 E E 5 z = у E 5 5 8 E] = 5 > ЕЛ zl a v a 2 El = = 3 El E E 5 El El 2 Ld а а = з 2 5 SCHOOL OF ichool, ACC: sn Real World Education ONE OF THE TOP FIVE GAME-DEGREE PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD — Electronic Gaming Monthly © 2006 Full Sail Inc. All rights reserved. REVIEWS WRAP-UP The games that were too late...or too little Gc THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS W Publisher: Nintendo Ш ESRB: Teen Twilight Princess may be all the reason you need to buy a Wii, but it actually started life on the Cube, and the "lesser" version is just as good as its waggle-licious counterpart. The controls are old-fashioned, sure, and the game world is flipped (what was east is west now) and stripped of widescreen. But the gameplay is spot-on, and that's what counts. + BOTTOM LINE: We lavished all 10s on the Wii Princess last issue and, aside from some small technical details, this version is identi- cal. If you haven't been able to snag a Wii, here's your chance to try this masterpiece. BLAZING ANGELS: SQUADRONS OF WWII W Publisher: Ubisoft Ш ESRB: Teen Wait, what? Ubisoft is charging the full $60 for this mostly unchanged port (you get one new multiplayer mode) of a 6-month-old Xbox 360 game that barely looked next gen to begin with? Who cleared that idea for takeoff? Patient players will find fun single- player missions about halfway into the game, and the online multiplayer modes here are pretty cool. But the business-class frills here aren't worth the first-class price. “¥ BOTTOM LINE: Unless you're desperate for a PS3 game to play online—or one that uses the Sixaxis’ motion-sensing stuff—wait for Angels to land in the discount bin. 100 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com On the DL Some downloadable games worth your space bucks...or not ASSAULT HEROES (XB360) ROBOBLITZ (XB360) W Pub: Sierra 4 lli Pub: Naked E Price: $10 Sky This overhead E Price: $14.99 in-tank and on- Pd 3 What, this isn’t foot shooter has ^ NFL Blitz with e Geometry Wars’ controls and offers nearly robots? Just a forgettable actioner with as much fun as that Xbox Live legend. sweet graphics thanks to the Unreal Engine 3? Sorry, not interested. SMALL ARMS (XB360) Ш Pub: Microsoft TENNIS (Wii) E Price: $10 е Е W Pub: Nintendo Sure, Small Arms ш Price: $5 borrows (more With this ter- rible version of Tennis, the price like steals) the Super Smash Bros. formula, but of the game the four-player mayhem is superfun... equates to the amount of seconds you'll cially when you throw a bunch of friends spend playing it before you realize it totally into the fray. blows balls. PLUS: PLUS: > RISTAR (Wii) > COLUMNS (Wii) Bi Pub: Sega Ш Price: $8 B Pub: Sega @ Price: $8 > LEMMINGS 2 (PS3) > SPACE HARRIER II (Wii) Bi Pub: Sony CEA Ш Price: $2.99 E Pub: Sega Ш Price: $8 * MILITARY MADNESS (Wii) > WARIO’S WOODS (Wii) Ш Pub: Hudson Soft Ш Price: $6 i E Publisher: Nintendo Ш Price: $5 THE SALES CHART Amazon.com’s Top 20 for Nov/Dec PS2 Name Platform EGM Scores 1 New Super Mario Bros. DS 9.5 10 8.0 — This 8-month-old game ` isn't, well, new, but it's the r? first traditional 2D Mario since Super Mario Land 2 hit the original, impossible- to-see Game Boy. AR TONELICO Ш Publisher: NIS America Ш ESRB: Teen Been rejected on Match.com one too many times lately? Get your dating game up to snuff with Ar tonelico. This 2D Japanese role- playing game looks and plays like a decade- old PS1 title but spices up the gameplay with dating-sim elements: If you treat your anime- babe companions well, you'll gain access to their most intimate secrets...oh, and some 3 XB360 10 9.5 9.0 Gears of War isn't just chain-sawing the com- petition; it's also shootin’ up the sales charts—it recently sold a megaton 2 million units worldwide. Я Madden NFL 07 PS2 7.5 85 7.0 sexy unlockable outfits, too! 4 Final Fantasy XII PS2 8.5 9.0 9.5 “ЕВОТТОМ LINE: The game may have dated graphics and a botched localization, but the 5 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! DS 8:5 90 75 compelling “relationship” aspects make it worth a look...especially for dateless nerds. 6 Nintendogs: Dalmatian & Friends DS Not scored We hope to have a full review next month. 7 Pokémon Ranger DS Not scored In case you’re counting, Ranger has a grand total of 213 critters to collect. Not counted: the amount of time it takes to catch "ет all. Answer: too long. 8 Yoshi's Island DS DS 65 80 6.0 9 Call of Duty 3 XB360 65 7.0 7.0 У Call of Duty 3 can teach „ you a lot about World War Il, especially if you beat the game—a completed campaign earns you three interviews with WWII vets. PSP THE LEGEND OF lands HEROES lll: SONG 10 Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy PS2 65 7.5 8.0 OF THE OCEAN 11 Big Brain Academy DS 9.0 85 7.5 W Publisher: Namco Bandai Ш ESRB: Everyone 10+ 12 Final Fantasy III DS 8.00 80 7.5 This latest Legend of Heroes maintains the 13 Guitar Hero ІІ (Bundle with Guitar) PS2 90 90 8.5 "cute, but generic and forgettable" standards set by the previous two games (and closes 14 Animal Crossing: Wild World DS БООВ: out the overall trilogy). The story focuses on some kid named Forte, who, with his musi- 15 Mario Kart DS DS 90 85 85 cian friends, zips around the land looking for fragments of a song that could change the 16 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team DS 65 65 85 world. Per the previous games, you still have e 17 Madden NFL 07 XB360 7.5 8.5 7.0 traditional turn-based combat, lovable pets io help you, and a not-so-great translation. 18 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team GBA 6.5” 6:588 + ВОТТОМ LINE: It's a generic and harm- 19 Nintendogs: Labrador Retriever & Friends DS TSAO: less little RPG for the PSP, just like the other two games in the series. If you really need an 20 Guitar Hero I (Bundle with Guitar) ps2 90 90 90 RPG fix, you could do worse. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 101 i Seanbaby might look happy in this photo, but that’s just the trans fats talking. the corporation’s chilling embrace of terror and insanity (out now for Xbox and Xbox 360), you thought, “I’m glad it's not my job to play terrible games like that." If you were elderly, you might have simply been terrified to death. Well, either way, aren't you lucky. I’ve been dreading this day since | first accused my TV of making up fake commercials for impossibly lame Burger King stealth games. But І assure you they’re real, and they’re worse than you think. 3 : it's a simple idea— take the horrible monster Burger King calls its corporate mascot along 102 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY e www.1UP.com with all its other popular characters and put them on tiny bikes. You know what? Let’s take a look at these beloved characters! e e: Yes, {ву really got her! Brooke Burke! Tip: While racing with Brooke Burke, press the yellow button to make her shout, “Don’t you have any idea who | am?” Secret Tip: Press the red button on controller number two to make that biker reply, “Yeah...weren’t you judge number two on episode 309 of Pet Star? Holy crap—you gave the somersaulting parrot an 8! | knew | knew you!” Whoppe : A human head with а Же ғ costume. At least now we know what happened to the parts left over after they Frankensteined Mayor McCheese together. 1 in: Ha ha. Subservient Chicken. I bet the mer- chandisers over at McDonald's are still pissed that Burger King thought this guy up before they could. I һауе a question. When it's your job to create bikers, and your idea is Biker—a biker named "Biker"—do you get fired? His unblinking gaze sees every color of fear. B І know a lot of readers will be insulted that | even bothered to type this, but Pocketbike Racer isn’t very good. It’s not even $3.99 good. | sort of wish I'd spent my $3.99 on a dollar bill. Sneak King Game Concept: The object of Sneak King is to creep up on hungry people, then surprise them with a dance and a burger. Get to them on time or they collapse! Let's face it—that idea’s insane, even in this industry where Shaquille O’Neal can have kung-fu adventures and royal space fairies roll our belongings up into giant katamari balls. How could this have happened? Here's my theory: Sneak King was originally software developed by the FBI to reconstruct murder scenes and get inside the minds of predators. For years it was kept internal until Burger King corporate hamburglars hacked their database looking for the technology to turn teen runaways into soda cups. They came across this FBI ambush simu- lator and, through a comical mix-up, accidentally e-mailed the program to their marketing department. Then came nothing but tears and confu- sion until the marketers did what they were trained to do: push those feelings deep inside and crudely smash cheeseburgers into the con- cept they were given. Sneak King was born. Take a moment now and look at that theoretical table of cards | had to build to explain why this game exists. It’s possible I’m wrong, but one thing is for sure: If the makers of Sneak King are not lunatic murder- ers, then they have a lot of explain- ing to do. Game Execution: Whatever part of me stupid enough to worry this would be good was quickly reas- sured. It sucks. Burger King figured that as a purchaser of Sneak King | would be 4 years old (and rightfully so), so they adjusted the difficulty accordingly. I’m sneaking around people who can see about two feet forward and zero feet in either direc- tion, so it’s up to me to stay several inches to their left or right. This really took me out of the story. A world of legally blind hypoglycemics who die whenever madmen don't bring them \ Retro: Final Fantasy IIl Afterthoughts unexpected food requires a suspen- sion of disbelief | can’t manage, and I once saw a movie about ragtag oil drillers landing the space shuttle on an asteroid. The eerily realistic graphics of the game make it seem like it takes place in our world, which means instead of enjoying my burger-preda- toring, I'm constantly wondering why police aren't doing anything about me. Here’s what would happen in the real world if cops drove past this mess: Fizketti: “Look, a 7-foot man’s gig- gling Halloween mask is protruding from that garbage can.” Vasquez: “Roger that. When | finish this clip, hand me the shotgun.” Now, if we apply Sneak King logic to our policemen, here’s how their conversation would be different: Fizketti: “Do you smell Burger King?” Vasquez: “AAAHHH! Who said that!?” Fizketti: “AiiEEE! Where is that voice coming from!?” Vasquez: “There it was again!” Together: “It sounds like it’s coming from inside the car!” Vasquez: “AAAHHH!!!” Fizketti: “АйЕЕЕ!” To make the Sneak King world more confusing, each of your victims cheers wildly when you appear. This isn't a normal reaction for someone realizing that the hot breath on his or Before Burger f King's creepy mur- ll derer frightened children everywhere, Cna McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald tried to break into videogames. With titles that were almost certainly created by pointing at someone and saying, “Think-of-a- McDonald’s-game-name- GO,” they were Ronald McDonald in Magical World (Game Gear) and McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (Genesis). Someday | hope they get around to releasing Ronald's Magic Game Quests Through Land Place. Zio 00 „ШШ her neck is coming from the king of nightmares holding a sandwich. And no grown adults pump their fists in celebration at the world’s cheapest, most ordinary food item. No, this can only be the excitement of finding out that the masked intruder who got the drop on you ISN’T going to rape you. Big Bumpin’ Game Concept: Take the characters. you loved from Pocketbike Racer and put them in wildly uncontrollable bumper cars! Big Bumpin’ features several modes including Klutzy What Happened and That Game Was Shorter Than Its Load Screen. Game Execution: Of all the Burger King games, this is the least bor- ing. And since that came off a little nicer than | meant it, let me add that it’s still boring enough that doctors prescribe it to patients experienc- ing erections lasting longer than four hours. Only in extreme cases, though. Most times they still sug- gest an ice pack and pictures of old people vomiting. My point is, | can’t think about this game long enough to form sentences about it, which is why the next part of this sentence is: Playing this game will make you dis- gusted with yourself no matter what pills your dong has taken. I'm start- ing to get the feeling that staring into the face of Burger King for a week straight has melted the part of my brain that makes sense. Murglefluff banana ping! h Just like in Sneak King, | played these games with the idea that some- thing horrible was about to happen. Not. from actual evidence...Ronald never came right out and did something criminal...it was just a feeling. Also, one thing I'd like to never have to say to authorities is, "Yes, | saw those missing children earlier, unsupervised and play- ing with a clown that surprised them in the park. Everything seemed OK, though—he was only luring them into magical circumstances with prizes.... You say you found their faces stapled to a screaming hostage on a pagan altar? Yeah, no, that makes sense." PAGE 106. Grudge Match: It’s (c 0 electric! 7 BP id Comic antics in 1080p Pictured abo—bah... does it really matter which Burger King games these are? ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY e www.1UP.com « 103 ELECTRONIC 4 GAMING” = MONTHLY LEE It took awhile, >; Е У | butwe now have every frickin’ Final Fantasy. Of course, | picky fanboys will probably bitch about wanting an original NES translation of Final Fantasy ЇЇ now. 1U сот UP: The DS release of Final Fantasy III officially gives America every game in the long- winded series. Thankfully, we didn't get a shrunken-down console copy, either—the DS version is actually a spruced-up remake. But before pret- ty polygons replaced the pint-sized pixels, Final Fantasy Ill innovated on the Famicom—the Japanese version of the NES. We recently spoke with Hiromichi Tanaka, the director of the game (not just the remake, but the original as well) to find how this fan- tasy was born. : The Final Fantasy series employs an entirely different game system with each release. If you examine Final Fantasy I through ХІІ, you will discover that no two titles share the same exact elements. Although concepts such as swords, magic, and of course, the crystals reappear throughout numerous games, we always aspire to implement features that are highly attuned to each specific title. The job system in the original Final Fantasy Ill allowed players to customize their four-character party in strategic ways to face whatever challenge they encountered—be it a dungeon or certain enemies. Figuring out which job combinations to utilize in overcoming different obstacles was one of the most enjoyable parts of the game. HT: When the original Final Fantasy Ill was released, we decided not to add any individuality to the four main characters, to leave that up to each player as they saw fit. With the rerelease, we used well- rounded, defined characters to increase enjoyment of the plot and to help newer gamers to empathize with the story’s leading roles more easily. However, we also made sure to not define the characters as much as they were in Final Fantasy Il, whose story was largely character- based. We believed this was the best course of action to preserve the feel- ing of freedom from the original and to keep longtime fans happy. HT: That would most definitely be the job system. Additionally, Final Fantasy Ill was the first title to fea- ture summoning spells, which would become a trademark of the series. On the technical side of things, it also sported high-speed scrolling when aboard a certain airship, as well as a tremendous amount of data on the game cartridge. Both of these traits were deemed nigh impossible on the Famicom at the time. EGM: What was the inspiration behind introducing the adventur- ous vocations? HT: The original idea for the job sys- tem came from the power-up system present in contemporary scrolling shooters of the time, such as Gradius (NES) and Zanac (NES). Powering up with various types of weapons such as lasers or bombs allowed the player to deal with a variety of differ- ent situations. We thought it would be interesting to implement this into a role-playing game, to allow сһагас- ters to change jobs anywhere. EGM: With so many job combina- tions, do you think it was tough to fine-tune the difficulty? HT: The original version, unlike the DS remake, was designed so that many objectives would be difficult to face without using a predeter- mined combination of jobs. In the original, we mainly needed to focus on balancing the game around those specific job combinations, so the DS. version was more difficult to balance. EGM: OK, so how exactly was the job system rebalanced for the Ds? HT: In the original version, it was almost impossible to clear the final area of the game without using a party of Ninjas and Sages. When we developed the DS port, our ulti- mate goal was to allow players to complete the game using any job they wished. To allow players to fully utilize and enjoy the job system, changes were made to the difficulty level throughout the entire game. EGM: What made you decide to give the remake a fresh coat of visual cuteness? HT: When we decided to port FFIII to the Nintendo DS, the first thing we did was find the visual style most appropriate for using the full hard- ware capabilities of the system. Then we found a style that reached fans of both the original title and newer players—a style that retained the 2A FAIR COMPARISON Even though the DS remake sports a glitzy makeover, the game remains true to the 8-bit original. 1 NETS " SS W Final Fantasy III as it looked 16 years ago. ur E The new, touched-up Final Fantasy III. flavor of the Famicom version and skillfully integrated 2D graphics with 3D models. EGM: The remake is pretty darn faithful to the original. Why no crazy changes? HT: Due to the fact that FFIII had not been ported once in 16 years, the opinion of fans toward drastic changes was decidedly negative. We pursued a style for the DS version that would not betray the original’s fans and would also appeal to new users. As you can see, the cutesy character art infused some much- needed personality into the DS remake. EGM: Can we expect another remake now that you've tackled this one? HT: | prefer working on creating new games and new content, so | don’t have much interest in re-creating past titles. Because the announce- ment of FFIII for the DS was made before development started, | joined the project out of a sense of respon- sibility as the creator of the original. Although I probably won't have much direct involvement with the DS for a while, the development team from ЕРЇЇЇ is starting to work with a different producer on an entirely new project. | hope you'll look forward to finding out what it is. 9% ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 105 ызға SWE Capabilities Flush a toilet, Keeping critical signage lit all lift a house night long v i Human v 4 Interaction 4 > % wn 2 b ы | Will shock you with their feats Can shock you with 20 amps of of power alternating current Total Cost8 i са 1 4 2 Your Cost Nothing but time, patience, and One assload of cash per kilo- virtual points watt-hour e а 5 өзү р Power а Outages 6 P Ф T Start to work as soon as you can Managed to black out most of find or wake them New England HE سا‎ - uet Side Effects eoe General spikes of cuteness Nuclear runoff and love If they can recharge a hybrid car battery and respond to the Clapper, these little buggers just might be the future of American energy. > CALLING ALL CELEBRI Sixteen Degrees of Mii Tracing Kevin Bacon back to Uwe Boll UNLIKE THE PS3, the Wii can turn you into a celebrity—sans the money, fame, and good looks, of course. So try to guess our Mii-made celebrities as we play Sixteen Degrees of Mii. For videos on how to make these and START: other celebrity Miis, go to 1 Кей y B EGM212.1UP.com » Kevin Bacon 0 0 B mE FINISH: 17. Uwe Boll єк SAME ou 1. Kevin Bacon starred in A Few Good Men with 2. Jack Nicholson, who starred іп Prizzi's Honor with З. Anjelica Huston, who starred in The Royal Tenenbaums with 4. Bill Murray, who starred in Charlie’s Angels with 5. Drew Barrymore, who starred in No Place to Hide with 6. O.J. Simpson, who starred in The Naked Gun with 7. Leslie Nielsen, who starred in Spy Hard with 8. Hulk Hogan, who starred in Rocky III with 9. Sylvester Stallone, who starred in Demolition Man with 10. Jesse Ventura, who starred in Predator with 11. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in Twins with 12. Danny DeVito, who starred in Anything Else with 13. Woody Allen, who starred in Annie Hall with 14. Christopher Walken, who starred in Sleepy Hollow with 15. Johnny Depp, who starred in Donnie Brasco with Michael Madsen, who starred in BloodRayne, directed by 17. Uwe Boll. 4 ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 107 PlayStati E c Microsoft's four- year head start can't be denied—they've had plenty of time to work out all the kinks and develop Xbox Live into a tremendously feature-rich, easy-to-use service. But then again, they charge $50 a year for the privilege of playing online...and | think that sucks. Sony’s fledgling network offers all the same basic services—online matchmaking, messaging, leaderboards, shopping—com- pletely free of charge. Plus, you can browse the Web on the PS3—having the ability to watch YouTube or update your MySpace page will appeal to a lot of users. So far, the service still feels rough around the edges, but it does function properly, and the prom- ise of continual updates (look how far the PSP's functionality has come in two years) fills me with hope for constant improvement. Wii: Xbox Live Arcade admirably blazed the trail here, but it's losing ground fast. Sony's service serves up moderately priced PS1 games and meatier PS3 fare (Tekken 5: DR, Calling All Cars!) that outclass XBLA’s shareware-style offerings, but there just aren't enough games yet. Wii's Virtual Console simply offers the best (and fastest- growing) list of exclusive console classics. 1: The Wii's “unified” Friend Code system initially seemed like an upgrade the DS’ daft online plan, but it’s actually just more of the same nonsense. Once again, each game requires its own separate friend list...so get ready to input lots of 14-digit codes. Seriously, designing your entire online strategy around preventing child predators simply isn’t a good idea. 108 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com ‹ ive: Here’s the reason behind your insane (and very wrong) answer, Shane: You don't play enough online games to be able to appreciate how much better Xbox Live does everything—yes, enough to justify the price tag. Have you even tried going online with the PS3 to play games with your friends? It sucks. You usually have to coor- dinate outside the system by calling them on the phone to let them know where to meet. Xbox Live is worth it alone just for in- game messaging across the entire platform, no matter what you're doing or playing. And if you don't have friends, Live is set up better for you to make some. Just look at the recent players list, and you can befriend that stranger you just fragged with. PS Network has a lot of work ahead of it to catch up to Xbox Live. Wii: Maybe you're not as crazy as | thought. You're right...no one can beat Nintendo's classic library, so the Wii easily wins here. I'll have to donate some bodily fluids and maybe an organ to afford all those games, but to have them all on one machine is great. | have to admit, though, | do really like earning Achievement points on Xbox Live Arcade titles...even with the so-so games.... Doomed: Plus, even if we can play games like Mario Kart and Smash Bros. online, | can’t imagine them being perfect experienc- es. Will we be able to voice chat? | doubt it. Will we have a ton of multiplayer games from Nintendo to play online with and against our friends? Yeah, right. | just can’t see Nintendo doing it right this time around. It doesn’t seem to be a priority for them. rh THE COMPETITION HEATS UP IN 2007 All those months of patient waiting have finally paid off—the looming “next-gen” console war has erupted into a gaming blitzkrieg aimed directly at your wallet. But where do we go from here? Next issue, we’ll sit down with top executives from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft to discover what really went down in last fall's competitive holiday shopping season, what's being done to address gamers’ concerns about these new consoles, and what secret weapons they’re readying for their machines in 2007. And while last year may have ended with a bang, the real winners won't be revealed until you read our potentially shocking 2006 Game of the Year Awards. New categories include: “A**hole of the Year,” “Best Art Design,” and the triumphant return of the craptastic “Tobias Bruckner Awards." While a liberal dose of snarky mockery is to be expected, we promise that some legiti- mately brilliant games will also be honored. Probably. As if that isn't enough to stimulate your neurons, we'll also investigate the silent war that con- tinues to rage between those wildly different portable pleasures: Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS Lite. High-profile games like The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (PSP) guarantee that this battle won't be resolved anytime soon. Finally, we catch up with everyone's favorite Spartan (and master of three-ways), Kratos, in God of War Il, headed to the “not quite yet deceased" PS2 this spring. (All planned editorial content is subject to change.) > ADVERTISER INDEX 20™ Century Fox Home Ent. www.foxhome.com .......... American Power Conversion www.ape.com.... AT&T www.blueroom.att.com/gaming. . . BMG Music Service www.bmgmusic.com . . . Capcom USA Inc. WWW.CapCOM.COM ........... Disney Interactive Games www.disney.com. Eidos Interactive, Inc www.eidos.com ............. ..63 31 cath eSurance.com www.esurance.com..........-65 Full Sail Real World Education www.fullsail.com ............. 99 iBuyPower www.ibuypower.com .......78-79 Intel Corp. www.intel.com .............. 111 Microsoft.............6-7, 51, 53 www.microsoft.com....... 55, 57 Milk Processors www.gotmilk.com. Mitsubishi Electronics www.mdea.com .. Nintendo of America www.nintendo.com ........... 83 Office for National Drug Control Policy www.whatsyourantidrug.com . .87, 89 Sega of America мм/м/еда.сот............... 13 Sony Computer Ent... . 2-8, www.scea.com 11, 14-15, 19, 21 University of Advancing Computer Tech www.uat.edU................. 97 Ш Clive Barker’s Jericho (PS3/XB360) W God of War Il (PS2) Ш Pokémon Diamond/Pearl (DS) W The Wheelman (PS3/XB360) у REVIEWS E Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3) Ш Sonic and the Secret Rings (Wii) W Crackdown (XB360) Ш NBA Street Homecourt (PS3/XB360) + CROSSWORD SOLUTION Answers to Oldies-n-newbies on page 106 ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY (SSN #1058-918Х) is published monthly by 24 Davis Media Inc, 28 East 281 Street, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY 10016 and addtional mailing offices. For subscription service questions, address changes, or to order, please contact us at Web: Мір/ егіс. unsolicited materials. 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SOLUTION NY RONMENT NINTENDO DOESN EMBRACE MD, TRANGE AND D, Тесле” Чоо KNOW How THES GET THAT PICTURE? UAT C К AN ANT FARM FoR MAGIC ELVES, Leap ahead” MULTIPLY THE PWNING. Ў INTEL’ СОВЕ" 2 EXTREME DESKTOP PROCESSOR. my e THE WORLD'S BEST GAMING PROCESSOR. BATTLEFIELD It's your chance to multiply everything you love about gaming. Learn more about Intel® Core"2 Extreme at www.intel.com/go/gaming For more information on why Intel” Core"2 Extreme processors are.the world's best gaming processors, please visit м st gaming processor claim based on 3DMark*2006 ~ CPU test resul 2006. Act intelcom/performance for more information. ©2006 Intel Corporation. Intel, the Ir el Core logo, ahead. logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel d other count с о Digital Illusions СЕ AB. All rights reserved. Battlefield 2142 is a t or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries, ҒА Violence ns CE AB. Electronic Arts, EA and the ҒА ctronic Arts™ brand. EXTREME CON Е “...it simply rocks." "Capcom has another winner on its hands." -Game Informer -Hardcore Gamer “...plays like a dream..." "...an action game on full throttle..." -Games Radar -Play "...has been making us jump in all "Gorgeous graphics..." the right places..." -GamePro -G Spot “ m т ате ро & ...one lean, mean, addictive ag ...action packed... futuristic shootin' machine." -IGN -Official Xbox Magazine Animated Blood Mild Language Violence «АРСОМЕ XBOX lostplanet-thegame.com BHBBHBHNEBBIUHE LIVE Character Wayne'by ©Lee Byung Hun/FANTOM CO., LTD., ӘСАРСОМ CO., LTD. 2006 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM LOGO are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. LOST PLANET is а. trademark of CAPCOM CO., LTD. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, the Xbox logos, and the Xbox Live logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. XBOX [Xe WAN OTS (97