z ОТА ІМ ~ ARE | еко Ва“ for Wii REVIEWED!

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NINJA GAIDEN SIGMA REVIEWED

ALONE IN THE DARK

ARMY MEN... SUCK!

BOs ze 5-FPFAGE EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW

This underwater adventure is one of the most amazing games we’ve ever seen. See why inside

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Alcohol Reference | Mild Language | “> кР нї ч Е5 ТЕЧ Т1 =a Ə

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> issue 217 • July 2007

А у = ر‎ y һм e : Cover Story: BioShock . Plunge deep into this postapocalyptic abyss to discover SAU. _ ™ previously unknown powers, gadgets, and story details Conviction

44 Online Scene 84 Ninja Gaiden Sigma

12 You should see our paper cut: 86 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

46 Preview: Alone in the Dark

The grandpappy of the survival-horror genre 88 Spider-Man 3 16 Lost in Ваше Fetus from e dead 89 WarTech: Senko no Ronde ЕЕ 2 Why.are ме анып fn World War? 48 Preview: No More Heroes 90 Tomb Raider: Anniversary

The twisted mind behind Killer 7 explains

what not to expect from his new Wii effort 92 rimo molis,

22 Foreign Object 92 Odin Sphere

24 Preview: Splinter Cell: Conviction 52 Rumor Mill 5 ity DS

Stesith; reinvented О-Мапп breaks the silence on Silent Hill 5 S

34 Take This Job 94 Pokémon Diamond/Pearl

Animation directors make faces for a living 95. (Gomingisoon

The summer gaming drought approaches 95 Final Fantasy, 36 The Big Ones 96 PQ2: Practical Intelligence Quotient Halo 3, Resident Evil 5, and then some x i 97 Innocent Life: A Futuristic 80 Reviews Intro Harvest Moon ЗВ: Мева Врвен: ProStreet 82 Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition 98 Reviews Wrap-Up Making street racing legit

83 Escape From Bug Island

ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA

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Seanbaby's Rest of the Crap Ripping apart the Army Men games is more fun than playing them

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BioShock Video footage, user-submitted Q&A, and more!

Retro: Retro Resources Tips on how to own the classics

Grudge Match

Next-Gen Awards Need for Speed: Pro Street

Final Word Check out exclusive footage of EA's new racer.

Next Month Spider-Man 3 and Pokémon SuperGuides

Summer games got you down? Check out these two guides to get a leg-up on the competition.

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10 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.

shen Sutton (Audience Development,

of the editors over at gaming-journalism watchdog site Video Game Media Watch (www.vgmwatch.com). While outlining the ethical standards that we abide by here at the 1UP Network (which includes EGM, Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, 1UP.com, and more), | realized that | should just lay out everything for а// our readers. It's only right...

Game companies are always trying to send us free stuff. What are we allowed to keep? We do not accept any gifts—such as video iPods, World Series tickets, cash (in the form of contest prizes)...all of which were actually offered to us at one point. But we are allowed to keep cheap, promotional items, so you'll see game posters or XXXXXXXL T-shirts around our offices. We also keep the games that the companies send us, but EGM's rule is to put one away for the office library copy, and the rest get evenly distributed to staffers who will actually play them (absolutely no trading them in or eBaying them for profit or gain of any sort).

We do not accept flights or hotel rooms from the publishers, either—we pay for those out of our own budgets. And even if we do fly out to see a game, we never promise any coverage. We will accept meals (say, for a business lunch or dinner), but we often pick up the tab too, to keep. it fair. For example, during a recent Grand Theft Auto IV demo, we paid for dinner between Rockstar and us, since Rockstar paid for dinner the last time we met up.

All of this must seem pretty obvious to you, huh? After all, how can a magazine or website editor be totally objective if a company just flew him out to see their game? But you'd be surprised.

Help keep the industry honest. Read VGM Watch (we told them to keep an eye on us, too...because we have to be as accountable as everyone else), or better yet, ask your favorite magazine or website what their policies are. The more you know, the more you know whom to trust.

—Dan "Shoe" Hsu, Editor-in-Chief

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LETTERE

* violence, decapitated rhinos, and rock ’n’ roll

> TRIVIAL SE

This month's EGM question:

BioShock is the spiritual successor to what PC series?

E-mail the answer to EGM@ziffdavis.com (subject head:

Trivia: EGM #217)

for a chance to win something potentially awesome.

For writing this month’s winning letter, Timothy gets

a copy of Manhunt. Unless we don't have ‘one handy, in which case he gets something else.

Letter of the Month Jackassery Staying true to form, immediately fol- lowing the Virginia Tech shootings, dim-witted, hard-line gameophobe [attorney] Jack Thompson asserted that videogames in general, and Counter-Strike in particular, were the impetus behind Seung-Hui Cho’s mer- ciless attacks (a speculation that was soon proven dubious by testimony from Cho's former roommate).

Knee-jerk ideologues of all stripes swarm around tragedies like this one because it allows them to warp the event to further their agenda: The antigun lobby blames guns, gun nuts blame the victims' lack of guns, [antigay Kansas minister] Fred Phelps blames homosexuality, and Thompson blames Bill Gates.

What many of these simplistic, hair-trigger reactionaries forget is an ancient truism of the sciences: Correlation does not imply causation. Even if Cho played videogames con- stantly— violent ones, at that —to my knowledge, there is no hard evidence that doing so could or would stimu- late him into acting out something in the real world that he'd experienced virtually. (I wonder—if Cooking Mama becomes very popular, will kids start whipping up soufflés and paella?)

Millions of people play videogames, yet the extreme majority never come close to behaving violently. That seems evidence enough to let video- games off the hook.

—Timothy R. Graham

Well put.

To each his own...but you're still wrong | have recently bought Castlevania Double Pack for the GBA. | read all of the good reviews in your magazine, so 1 decided, "What the heck?" Overall, 1 was very disappointed. | was wonder- ing if | am missing something, or is the game really a cheap Metroid rip-off? —David Brubaker

Apparently, you are missing some- thing: taste. Sure, Metroid served as a source of inspiration for recent Castlevanias (series producer Koji Igarashi even admitted as much himself), but a rip-off? You're crazy.

12 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

~

Опе sad rocker | recently purchased Guitar Hero and a wireless guitar. Having sold my PS2 because | got a PS3 for Christmas, | thought that after | bought an adaptor for PS2 controllers, Guitar Hero would work. So | plugged in the adapter and the receiver and started the game, but it didn't work! | was confused, so I went online and saw that | had bought the wrong adapter! | needed the Nyko Play Adapter. You said in EGM #213, on page 97, that you could find it in stores, but | looked on Nyko's web- Site, and it wasn't scheduled to come out until Q2 2007! Please help! —Name withheld

It gets worse: Nyko's Play Adapter has now been put on indefinite hold. In a statement to gaming site Kotaku, Nyko said, “Current tech-

У FAREWELL. FAGIO

Ask an EGM cover mod

- B Cooking Mama says: "Remember, kids, don’t try to cook in real life!”

nology makes it impossible to prop- erly pass the special functions of the guitar controller to the PS3 with its existing protocol. We will not produce a product if it falls short of those expectations." Luckily, recent PS3 firmware updates are slowly edging toward full functionality with all PS2 controllers: As of the April update to version 1.7, the system

at least recognizes the existence of the guitar when you plug it in. Hey, baby steps, right?

Believe!

| read about Zephyr in the "Moore's Law 2" article (ЕСМ #214), so | researched it. The so-called "leak" about the future 360 is a five-sentence paragraph with no credibility and a Photoshopped picture of the back of a 360 with a black area where the new

After spending the last six months answering reader questions about love, life, and post-workout shakes, former EGM cover model Fabio, we figure, has done enough good. So we’re sending him off with a final reader question that has long

deserved answering.

Dear Fabio: How the hell did you wind up on the cover of

Ironsword and, consequently, EGM 19 years ago?

—Scott

Fabio responds: At that time, videogames featured mostly cartoon charac- ters or primitive drawings. My agency was Ford Modeling Agency, and they sent me to this casting where they were choosing two people to be on the cover of a game. One was me. The other was wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Starting next month, we want to hear about your biggest gaming mistakes. Did you buy an expensive racing chair that's now collecting dust? Did you get Vexx tattooed on your pri- vates? Send your story and a pic to EGM@ziffdavis.com, subject: “My Biggest Mistake.”

“00 anyowied-a126}05 1002 а A5۸8 ut sduis шана jo зруезпош.

> ORS!

Since it might not have been obvious in last month's preview of God of War: Chains of Olympus, we want- ed to clarify that Cory Barlog (below) is now the creative director of the God of War franchise as a whole. Ru Weerasuriya is the game director of Chains of Olympus.

B The Xbox 360 Elite—not so mythical after all.

ports would be. It doesn't look real at all, and people are believing it to be true. I’m sorry, my poor 360 brethren, but please don’t believe everything you hear.

Man, do we love printing letters like this. Where to begin the mocking? Should we just reply with a picture of the 360 Elite page at xbox.com? Go the sarcastic route by saying something like, “Apparently, there are folks out there with such mad Photoshop skills that they’ve man- aged to make us believe we actu- ally have a 360 Elite in our office right now”? Or take the lowbrow approach and just make fun of this guy’s name? So many options!

Don’t let’s start

Why do we always “press Start” at the

title screen of games? Pretty much every game you play has you press

Start or “press any button” to start the

game. I’ve asked around, and nobody

knows why this is. Is it a technical rea- son, so the game doesn’t have to load

more info than it has to before you start actually playing? Is it so gamers don't screw things up by accidentally hitting random buttons when they’re doing who knows what? It’s such a

standard thing in gaming | just have to —"Swinger913"

know!

Deep thoughts, Swinger. Deep thoughts indeed. But we actually have an answer for you: The tradi- tion of pressing Start dates back to the dawn of arcade machines,

which have what's called an "attract

mode." This mode cycles segments of gameplay, the title screen, and

14 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

—Khris Dickover

other information to get people interested in dropping some quar- ters into the machine. The tradition carried over to console games; you'll notice if you boot up pretty much any game and leave it sitting for a while, it will tend to move into a similar demo mode. Designers still include this function to avoid Screen burn-in. So you press Start to interrupt the demo and get into the real game. Now someone cue the “The More You Know" music.

Sit! Roll over! Decapitate! Why do some of the best games made have to be rated Mature? | have been looking forward to Lair since

the second it was announced, under the hope that when it was released, it would be rated Teen. All of a sudden, my hopes were snuffed out in the form of a decapitated rhino in the latest trailer. | know the ESRB will give Lair

a Mature rating now, but why? How

is a teenager going to gain access to enough genetic technology to create

а dragon, let alone teach it to rip off a rhino's head? —John Кеапеу

You may be surprised to learn that training a dragon really isn't as dif- ficult as it sounds. All it requires is patience, some very large snack treats, a rolled-up newspaper, and asbestos underwear. And since dragons are natural-born decapita- tors, the whole rhino thing ends up being just the work of an afternoon. Now, teaching them to use the litter box? That's a challenge.

Scratching post

| recently received an Xbox 360 as

a Christmas gift. After two weeks of owning Oblivion, the 360 managed to give it a deep scratch that ringed the entire disc, making it impossible to play. | had to keep playing Oblivion, so | bought another one. One day,

the 360 told me there was an error reading the disc. To my horror, | found another ringed scratch. Please, for the love of 100-plus-hour gameplay, tell me what the heck | am doing wrong, and advise me on what to do with my scratched discs. —Rob

You're going to want to have that looked at, Rob. Microsoft hasn't confirmed any specific defects with the device, but widespread anecdotal evidence indicates that some 360s produced in December of 2006 were missing a part that prevents the disc from coming into contact with the lens. Check out www.xbox.com/support or call 1-800-4-MY-XBOX to see if your

system is covered. Until you get the problem fixed, make sure you keep the machine horizontal; it's slightly more stable that way and may not scratch your discs.

As for what to do with the damaged discs? You might be able to salvage them. Maybe. A company called Digital Innovations (www.digitalinnovations.com) makes a product called GameDR that actually does repair scratches to discs. We've had success in the past, but if your scratches are particularly deep, you may be out of luck; you've got a couple of lovely, shiny, $60 coasters on your hands.

We demand convenience! In EGM #215, someone in the Letters section griped about the loss of back- ward compatibility in the PS3. Look at the facts: Everyone and their brother/ Sister/mother/toaster/walrus has a PS2! If you just keep your PS2, you can play all the games without fuss! Oh, boo-hoo, you may have to change wires and AV inputs every once in a while. If people weren't so lazy, they'd realize that taking out backward com- patibility will lower the price. If you're too lethargic to care, then you need to grow a brain and get off the couch.

— Chris Woodiel

But getting up is hard.

Feel the burn

How much do you have to play to

get carpal tunnel? | play about 20 to

30 hours a week. l've been playing

games since | was 10, and I’m going

to keep playing till I’m 80. Are my

hands gonna become useless? —Ricardo Cuellar

This is kinda like “How many licks does it take to get to the center

of a Tootsie Pop?” The world may never know. But we assume there’s a reason for all that info in the front of any game manual about taking frequent breaks and so on. Tell you what, why don’t you keep playing and write back to us when you’re 80? If you can still type, that is. ќа

чтаст EGM EGMG@ziffdavis.com

EGM Letters 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105

Web: www.zdmcirc.com Phone: (800) 779-1174

Marching orders: When you're done with this story, deploy to page 100 for Seanbaby’s take on the one soldierin’ series worse than

1

== START

> features, previews, flamboyant personal trainers, and other stuff

Lost in EATTLE

With shooters deploying players everywhere except Iraq and Afghanistan, we investigate why gamemakers аге so afraid of real-world war By Robert Ashley

MEXICO? BEEN THERE. VEGAS? SAVED THAT. But with all the elements of realism—real firearms used by real soldiers, Humvees and tanks straight off the battlefield, official military seals of approval—trumpeted on the back of game boxes, why do most war games retreat from modern theaters of U.S. military involvement? While much of the world is embroiled in conflict, games have largely avoided depicting this reality, setting their battles in the unlikeliest of locations. Take the Sin City setting of the latest in the Tom Clancy series Rainbow Six. "| think Rainbow is one of the most realistic games out there," says Maxime Béland, creative director of last year's Rainbow Six:

16 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

Vegas. “Our guns are the real guns. We have their real sounds in 5.1

[surround sound]. They even reload properly." Why, then, do the game's counterterrorism squads fight not in Fallujah or Kabul, but in Las Vegas?

P-whipped

One reason, it seems, is that game developers and publishers fear the prickly and divisive politics of war.

"Politics," in the gaming industry, is

a naughty word. Consider this: Last year's Splinter Cell: Double Agent broke with the series' usual affinity for implausible international intrigue and exotic locales by dropping famous sneak Sam Fisher into a live war zone in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic

of the Congo, a region engulfed in a real-life civil war. You might assume this was an attempt to bring relevance

> People are dying out there, and it's not fun. | don't want to make a game that reminds people of [that].

—Rainbow Six: Vegas Creative Director Maxime Béland

Photograph by R. Dodson/SFMisfits, Inc

and realism to the series. But Double Agent coproducer Julian Gerighty says Kinshasa was just an interesting playground for hide-and-seek. "We're creating entertainment, not a political statement," he says. "It's not meant to raise awareness of conflict in Africa. It's hard to have a political message within your game experience that people will not flat-out reject." Nevertheless, it's also hard to make a game about war—whether all-out battlefield combat or behind- the-scenes espionage like in Splinter Cell—without at least accidentally commenting on the subject matter. "War is a political act by definition," says Ed Halter, professor in the department of Film and Electronic Arts at Bard College in New York and author of the book From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games. "So to say, 'We're making an apolitical view of war' is itself a political statement. It expresses the desire that you can take the politics out of war and just leave this fun experience." But that's exactly what many developers strive for. Games, more than movies or television, are dedicated to the virtues of pure, unadulterated fluff. We're here to have fun, right? “With Splinter Cell," says Gerighty, “what we’ve always wanted to do was create a parallel to big-budget Hollywood entertainment movies—movies that are thrilling, movies that are believable, but not necessarily out to change the world.” And like Hollywood, the gaming industry doesn’t take unnecessary risks with its hard-earned money. Anything that might cause a fuss gets left on the cutting-room floor. “It takes so much money and manpower to create games now that they don’t want to invest in something that might offend,” says Halter. “They want that paradoxical goal that Hollywood wants: the totally original, [yet] completely predictable hit. It gravitates toward conformity because there’s so much money at stake.”

Bad taste

But the almighty dollar isn’t the only arbiter here. Consider last year’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and its recent sequel, which cast an authentic war experience over a far-flung scenario: a military coup

PAGE

=4

Preview: Sneaking around

in Mexico City. "We try to avoid situations where Americans have boots on the ground,” says Christian Allen, creative director for both games and himself a former Marine and National Guardsman. “I've got [friends and] relatives in the military. There's always a concern that if you make a game portraying those situations, you might be making light of them. You don’t want a kid whose dad is deployed somewhere to see this game portraying what their dad is doing and have a really negative experience.” Rainbow Six’s Béland agrees: “We don’t want to be where there are actual issues right now because we don’t want to have that bad-taste-in- your-mouth feeling. People are dying out there, and it’s not fun. | don’t want to make a game that reminds people of a friend or a brother who died. It would be a lot easier to just pick from the headlines and make a game out of it. But | think it would be tasteless.” Indeed, the few games that have tried to depict relevant conflicts have left a bad taste in the mouths of some. The Ghost Recon series, not always so removed from current events, once tackled a real hot spot. “In Ghost Recon 2, we set the game in North Korea,” says Allen. “We had a lot of issues.... We pissed off the North Korean government and ended up getting banned in South Korea, which wasn’t our intent.” The experience helped push GRAW in its current, less- realistic direction. “It’s partly playing it safe,” he says. “But I’ve always seen

W Conflict: Desert Storm И (top left) took players to the first Gulf War, and the hokey Fugitive Hunter (top right) had

PAGE 4 PAGE Preview: Preview: Requirement Another

for velocity lonely night

it as a sign of respect for our military. What they do is different. We try to present an authentic experience, but we also present the fun parts.”

But in presenting only the heroic action (with infinite continues to boot), do games glamorize their subject to an audience of ripe potential recruits? "That's an old issue that goes back to way before videogames," says Ed Halter. "People were worried about this with toy soldiers and boys’ literature. There’s this old fear that, because children—especially boys— tend to think of war as a fun scenario to make games or play out of, that it's trivializing war. That assumption is kind of difficult with videogames, because anyone who plays games is obviously tapped into all sorts of other media. They're getting other information about war all the time. It assumes this dumb subject who plays games and does nothing else in life, so | don't really buy that.”

An emotional deficit

Maybe games aren't yet equipped

to deal with a subject as complex as war. It's telling that World War II is

a hugely popular subject matter for both games and film, yet games have thus far managed only to capture the bombastic action of the genre (Saving Private Ryan) and none of the quiet nuance (The Thin Red Line).

Thomas Coles, creative director for the in-development stealth-action game Cipher Complex, doesn't think it's a fair comparison. “In a movie,

them bagging bin Laden. But most games stick with safer settings like World War Il or even phony countries.

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 17

every split second has been carefully tailored to tweak emotions," he says. "They've done multiple takes with a professional actor. Their level of fidelity and refinement on the subtle level

of storytelling is finely tuned. That's something on the game side that we're only now starting to address."

Cipher Complex is part a new crop of games that, at some level, attempts to connect to current events. "| look at the intrigue, the lies, and the stories that come out of [real war] and think, *Holy crap! Why do we need to make up a story?” says Coles. Beginning in northern Iraq, Cipher Complex centers on weapons of mass destruction stolen from the country before the U.S. invasion (so that's where they went!). “We're trying to do something that's a little more socially relevant," he says. "If we're going to go through the exercise of creating a story, having it be a complete fabrication without any real relevance would be demoralizing."

Cipher also dives into the world of private military contractors—the likes of which the U.S. employs en masse in Iraq—with a critical eye. It's a hot topic, one that's worked its way into Army of Two, a buddy shooter due this fall. “We're not afraid to go into that subject in any way," says Reid Schneider, the game's senior producer. “We want to expose people to the idea that these companies are out there. [U.S. Vice President] Dick Cheney is a former CEO of Halliburton [and a current stockholder], and you know there's a reason the U.S. government is putting hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of contracts into Halliburton. If Army of Two causes people to do some digging about the world of private military corporations and how large a role mercenaries are playing in the global conflicts of today, then I think that's pretty cool." Army of Two has levels in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Schneider talks tough and outspoken about making a game relevant to world events—but like everyone else, he's quick with a political disclaimer: *Our goal with Army of Two isn't to make a strong political statement."

From arcade to Abu Ghraib The best example of an upcoming game that deals with real life and real war also happens to feature...an alien invasion. Go figure. BlackSite: Area 51 is a direct descendant of the garish old arcade shooter Area 51, now found lurking in dingy corners of disused bars and laundromats. But the sequel

E Stronger than fiction: Despite their alien-invasion and stealthy-kill trappings, BlackSite: Area 51 and Cipher Complex deal with Abu Ghraib-style prisons and Iraqi WMDs— topics that more realistic games retreat from.

is a radical departure. Named for secret overseas CIA prisons currently operated for the purposes of, let's say, "rough interrogation" in the War on Terror, BlackSite is set partially in Iraq and directed Бу a guy who says things like this: "[BlackSite] is kind

of an allegory for jihad. You say that in a meeting, and all the marketing people get really uncomfortable." Meet Harvey Smith, creative director.

Dealt the unenviable task of breathing life into an old franchise, Smith searched for ways to make the game relevant. "It was always a struggle for me to get motivated," he says. "So | began asking, ‘What are we afraid of today?' We're afraid someone might drag us into a secret facility with no oversight, strip us of our citizenship—even our basic human dignity—and do horrible things to us." Smith doesn't blink at the mention

of politics but says that BlackSite will strive to leave the experience open to interpretation. “I don't want to force [my personal politics] down anyone's throat. We won't come to any conclusions for you."

A 14-year game-industry vet, Smith has seen firsthand the reaction to ideas that venture outside the world of fluff. “I know a lot of people,” he says, “and a lot of them have trouble. They just get shut down, or they’re told: ‘No, no, по.... You're going to be working on Transformers instead.”

Until gamers demand more, Transformers is what we'll get. Or maybe not. Activision's just-announced Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare looks to have a few of its missions set in the Middle East. If players respond favorably, more war games could join it at the front lines, leaving Siegfried and Roy to fend for themselves. ќа.

SAHE ELT HOT FORGOTTEN

David Jaffe's canned Heartland would have been the most politically charged game ever

It was to have America standing in as the occupied Iraq and commanding officers ordering players to slaughter innocents (you could pull the trigger if you wanted).

So is really a surprise that Heartland—a PSP game from God of War creator David Jaffe—got nuked in development? But Jaffe, a liberal who wanted Heartland to haul on heartstrings and make a statement about America's involvement in the Middle East, insists that he gave his game the heave-ho because he didn't have the resources and time to do it justice. Heartland's cancellation, he says, had so noting to do with

its politically potent content. “There was certainly awareness that, if this thing kept going, we were going to have to convince a lot of people up the chain of command at Sony that this was a good idea,” he tells us, “but Sony’s always been great at believing in our products...as artistic endeavors.”

Still, we've got to wonder if Sony would've believed in a game with

scenes like this: "There were these sequences where you would find a room in the underground headquarters of the resistance,” Jaffe says, “and there was this video camera and a blood spot on the wall. It wasn’t until you chose during gameplay to go up and put your eye up to the viewfinder and watch what was on the videotape that you realized the Americans had captured a Chinese soldier and had beheaded him. It was very much like what [is] happening in Iraq."

18 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

THE MOST DYNAMIC SWORDPLAY EVER...

DEVASTATING VARIETIES OF MULTIPLE CHARACTER ATTACKS...

RUTHLESS AND NOTORIOUS VILLAINS FROM PIRATE LORE...

E

| Ри RAT —

Available for the PLAYSTATION*3 computer entertainment system, > => the PlayStation*2 computer ^ entertainment system and the PSP' o (PlayStation*Portable) system

Wi T Цајт و‎

STUDIOS

...AND YOU GET TO BE

JACK SPARROW.

SOFTWARE

©2007 Disney. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. ™, &, Nintendo DS, and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 "Playstation", "PlayStation", "PLAYSTATION", "PS" Family logo and "PSP" are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. PSP® system - Memory Stick Duo™ may be required sold separately. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

Mild Language Simulated Gambling Use of Alcohol Violence

ESRB CONTENT RATING

www.esrb.org

> BIZ. MATCH

Let’s Get Digital By Scott Steinberg

They say every dollar spent is a vote, but | think it's more of a steel-toed boot up the ass of corporate America. And if the success of digital distribu- tion platforms like Xbox Live Arcade, the Wii's Virtual Console, and the PlayStation Store is any indication, thousands are voting to give the tra- ditional game-buying experience one rawhide-scented enema.

Calling All Cars

Certainly, it’s a blessing for you, the gaming enthusiast. Copping clas- sics like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Punch Out!!—not to mention original outings like critically acclaimed designer David Jaffe’s Calling All Cars—for five or 10 bucks is its own reward. But more exciting are the implications. Specifically, in three to five years, it’s not unthinkable to expect that the gaming industry might finally get its equivalent of Hollywood's independent, straight-to- DVD-style distribution channel.

Forget titles costing $15 million and requiring teams of 100+ people. Games designed for electronic distri- bution can be built for under $150,000 by six guys sitting in a garage. This means: A) Developers/publishers can finally afford to take more risks; B) Originality does not have to bow to marketability; and C) Amusements needn't be all-consuming.

Soon, you could see the following: a shift to innovative concepts. The rise of more indie development houses. Games sold in bite-sized compo- nents. Digital diversions targeted at others besides 18-to-34-year-old males. Not to mention a market-wide renaissance, where manufacturers are forced to acknowledge the truth: It’s not about technology; gamers just want fun products at prices that aren’t on par with black-market kidneys.

Until then, do us all a favor and keep oiling up those Doc Martens.

feo) FEET Үн т IA

> FOREIGN O8JECT.JAFAM + и

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Duke Saraie’s HEALTH’ WALKIMG

MALI

Can’t see your toes? Get this

Scott Steinberg is manag- ing director of game industry ~ consulting firm Embassy Multimedia Consultants (| т ) and the author of Videogame Marketing and PR ( )

22 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

Divide-N-Hide · Trunk System

Next Generation é 4 МА

Intelligent Key ر‎ ıJ Fuel Economy Nissan Sentra INISSAN

STARTING AT $14,750. AS SHOWN $19,150. ation charc с Dealer sets actual

SHIFT 2.0

Platform: XB360

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Release date: December 2007

LUST.

= AND INFO

Splinter Cell: СИУ:

Reinventing Sam Fisher (по, for real this tim

THE FAMILIAR SLEEK BLACK CATSUIT and all-purpose vision headgear (with the famous, iconic three glowing green circles) меге nowhere to be seen, replaced by

a Creamsicle-orange prison jump- suit and 5 o'clock (plus overtime) shadow—Sam Fisher seemed to be in for a franchise reinvention. After all, you don't show our favorite gov- ernment secret agent in a mug shot unless you’re planning on flipping the script inside out. But Splinter

24 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

Cell: Double Agent didn't deliver on that unspoken promise. Sure, Fisher spent some time in jail in that fourth chapter of the stealthy series, but it was only for one half-baked level (as a “prisoner,” he still had some of his high-tech gadgets, for chrissakes).

Tord

So Double Agent, despite still being a great game, ended up being more of the same: more hiding in the dark, more climbing up pipes, and more sneaking up on no-do-gooders from behind and putting them down for an extended naptime.

= For the first time since the original, we’re changing the core mechanics.

—Conviction Senior Producer Mathieu Ferland

= یی =

TT ALED)

iques act ning and experience in

with ch through

en

NARUTO ©2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO Program © 2004-2007 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. Ultimate Ninja is a trademark of NAMCO BANDA! Games America Inc. NAMCO BANDAI Games logo is a trademark of NAMCO BANDAI. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners.

SPLINTER CELL: COMVICTION (cont)

Conviction, however, is running with the idea of a “franchise reinven- tion” so fast that you may not even recognize it as a Splinter Cell game. Let’s look at this new game from the developer's perspective and from а gameplay point of view...then we'll let you know what we think.

The developers say:

“We realized that with the previ- ous Splinter Cells...there was a lack of emotional attachment with the characters,” says Senior Producer Mathieu Ferland. “You were given orders, you were told what to do—it was a very cool experience, but this has created a lack of differ- entiation between each game. We thought that the gameplay was a bit repetitive over time. We decided to change, to renew the brand. For the first time since the original Splinter Cell, we’re changing the core mechanics, the core gameplay.”

But from a fiction point of view, you can’t just muck up the gameplay without good reason. Otherwise, it'll seem forced—or, perhaps, feel like a whole new, different game. “The high-level story after Double Agent,” says Ferland, “is two years have passed, and there’s something that goes wrong with an old friend of Sam’s, and he decides to go back to Third Echelon [Splinter Cell’s top- secret arm of the National Security Agency]. He discovers that every- thing is dysfunctional—it’s not work- ing as it used to—and at some point, Sam will have to do something that will be perceived as very bad, even if it’s not. So he'll turn to a fugitive, and he'll be hunted by those who have been betraying him for all these years. At some point, Sam will dis- cover who’s chasing him and why— and at this point, he will reverse the situation and be the predator and not the prey.”

Well, maybe it is, for all intents

26 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е www.1UP.com

You wILL LEARN TO WALK WITH HONOR.

You WILL GAIN THE WISDOM TO COMMAND WITH DECISIVE RESOLVE.

You WILL TAKE YOUR PLACE AMONG THE MOST ELITE WARRIORS ON EARTH.

[Е vou HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE IT.

MARINES

THE FEW. THE PROUD.

Ічні 55344

SPLINTER CELL: CONMICTION (cont)

and purposes, a whole new game: “As a fugitive, Sam is losing all this comfort,” says Ferland. “He has to find new ways of mastering this new situation by himself, to find new gad- gets, find new contacts and such. He’s always on his toes, watching his back. This is a major difference from previous Splinter Cells, where you could wait in the dark forever and

be in a safe zone. Now, you need to move—you need to be more reactive to the environment.”

To demonstrate what they’re shooting for, the developers showed us a mashup video containing various clips they use as inspira- tion for Conviction’s development: The Bourne Identity, Die Hard, The Fugitive, 24...pretty good source material, if you ask us. А | rhe gameplay says: > THE MULTIPLAYER CROWD So how does all that translate into something you can play with a con- troller? (Right now, Conviction is an exclusive deal for the 360 and PC... no plans for a Wii ог PS3 version.) The developers show us some dem- onstration target and tech-demo vid- eos of how the gameplay will work:

We see Fisher in civilian clothing in a restaurant’s restroom, with a police officer behind him yelling for him to put his hands on his head. As the cop tries to cuff Fisher’s raised arms, Fisher pulls a Jason Bourne апа deftly flips around апа disarms his would-be captor. A short Casino Royale-style bathroom brawl ensues, with stall doors, mirrors, and sinks meeting the policeman's head at some point, eventually knocking him out. Fisher takes the cuffs, pistol, and radio and leaves the bathroom.

Outside, he notices another cop walking toward him, so he quickly pushes another door open to draw attention to it, then hides underneath a table. Then, as the cop walks past the hiding spot to check out the open door (which leads to a descending stairwell), Fisher sneaks up behind him, cuffs his right wrist

The excellent spies vs. merce- naries multiplayer game from Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow got more hardcore in Chaos Theory, less hardcore in Double Agent, and is now gone com- pletely. We’re awfully sad to see it go, but the game of guns vs. gadgets and force vs. stealth doesn't really fit in Conviction's world. “We are going to use as much as possible from what was" developed for the single-player

experience," says Ferland. "We always felt that the discrepancy in terms of controls and game- play between the single and multi in previous Splinter Cells was a strength for some and a problem for others."

We're not sure yet how Conviction's multiplayer will work, but Ferland hints, “All we can say for now is that Conviction will have an online crowd, and players will be

m Messy tables apparently make for good соме

28 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

№ Grab а chair and swing it, throw it, do-si-do with it, or toss it behind yourself to slow down pursuers.

dressed as crowd members...

1 am pretty sure you can get where this could lead us—gam- ers should prepare some para- noia pills."

Will we ever see a return to the spies vs. mercs online game- play? “If we realize someday that there is still a lot of fun in creating classic light-and-shad- ow stealth and its multiplayer format, we could [revisit it],” says Ferland.

but watch out—enemies are smart enough to use furniture to their advantage, too.

А ШЕП-ЕНЕКОТ THRILL RIDE!”

— SHAWN EDWARDS, FOX-TV

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SPLIMTER CELL: COMMICTION (ont)

> [Sam] has to find new ways of mastering this new situation by himself, to find new gadgets, find new contacts and such.

to the handrail, slams his hand down to make him let go of his gun, then pushes him down the stairs, knocking him out. Fisher charges through another door to tackle yet another officer to the floor, then gives him a lights-out with a right hook. Before more policemen can join the fray, Fisher pushes a heavy serving station in front of a doorway to block entry.

Fisher then exits the restaurant and is in the middle of a busy street market. Civilians and merchant tents keep him obscured from the half-dozen armed cops looking for him. He's surrounded, but he finds a quiet area where he pulls out the pistol he swiped earlier and fires a couple of harmless shots into some boxes, just to spook the shoppers—and more specifi- cally, to get a hot dog vendor to run away from his stand. Fisher then shoots at the hot dog cart's propane tanks, causing an explosion that disperses the crowd. As people scream and run away, Fisher pulls his hoodie up over his head and blends in with the chaos, escaping capture...

Even though everything we just described came from a prerendered, scripted video, it's supposed to represent Conviction's gameplay, which is to be completely unscripted. The fights, the cops looking for clues (and checking out the opened doorway), the civilian reac- tions, blending in with the crowd...every- thing will happen on the fly, according to what the player's doing at the moment and how the artificial intelligence (both enemy and neutral) is evaluating the situation and

—Conviction Senior Producer Mathieu Ferland

surroundings. It's a very different formula from past Splinter Cells—it's no longer about hiding in the dark and sneaking past (or up to and knocking out) guards. Now, you're in real-life civilian situations—and wits, not gadgets and guns, will get you out of trouble.

We say:

Let’s face it: Most Tom Clancy games aren't known for their brainy A.I., so this leaves us a little skeptical about how well Conviction will come together. After all, the game's all about improvising in realistic situations, and that realism will only be there if all non-player characters (NPCs) are behaving...well, realistically. But if that A.l. performs like the developers promise, and the NPCs are more human than robot- ic, then damn, this could be one incredible game. The paranoia of being a fugitive with no one to back you up, having to think

on your feet the whole time, a world that reacts to what you're doing—on paper, Conviction sounds amazing. Unless every- thing we've seen so far is only a small, insignificant part of the game as a whole (see again: the prison stuff from Double Agent), this really is a radically different style for the series. That's fine by us—we were kinda itching to get out of Fisher's supertight black suit and try something new anyway.... ri

For more gameplay info and video footage of Splinter Cell: Conviction, set your browser to EGIM.1UP.corn.

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© 2007 Id Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. under license. Developed by Splash Damage Ltd. Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars and 10 are trademarks of Id Software, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark = of Activision Publishing, Inc. The ratings icon is а registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other penne trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

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Game Experie Change During Online Play

> THAT'S COOL.

New content cracking down Crackdown is shallow, sure, but the game is still full of fun...especially now that Microsoft released new down- loads for the game. The cool new content is mighty meaty, too—half

of it is free and the rest will set you back 800 points ($10). While the pen- niless offerings are nice, obviously all the awesome stuff is packed into the premium content: new weapons, vehi- cles, achievements, and game types.

> PLAYING FAVORITES

Boss battle:

| e ө When it comes to bosses, God of War i n | mat [e п И is tough to beat. And since this epic į •

sequel is packed with 'ет, we asked GOW2 director Cory Barlog and an EGM reader we solicited on our mes- sage boards to tell us which fantasy freak is the most fun to fight.

Cory Barlog: "God, this is a tough question. | want to go with the stan- dard Colossus answer, 'cause that boss fight was such a pain in the ass to put together...but that is the expected answer. With that in mind, | would have to say Euryale, the sister of Medusa, because she is one seriously scary chick. A very tense and exciting fight that has a great payoff.”

EGM Reader Cory Grad: "The series 1

of fights between the two Sisters of Fate. The pace was incredible, as you swung back and forth like a barbaric George of the Jungle— to only then go backward in time to make sure you don't lose the last boss fight of the first game. That's like a new scale of epicness."

34 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com

> THE GAME OF LIV

5 Lives:

David Jaffe

Chaining down God of War creator

David Jaffe for a chat is a cinch this a month; the loudmouthed industry vet recently put the finishing touches on his first PS3 downloadable title, Calling All Cars. So since the former Twisted Metal director is pimping his new ride, we took the time to grill him with our five random questions.

David Jaffe: | have no f***ing clue. | don’t listen to emo bands....

EGM: The answer is Senses Fail. DJ: OK, great. Should | care that | don’t care? EGM: Nope.

Lives remaining: Ё. a 3 п) Я

DJ: Well, Steamboat Willie was the first one. Moose Hunters was next, and then Mickey and the Beanstalk.

EGM: Correct.

Lives remaining: 3 Ё) 3 e

DJ: Right, | know this one...Rush Hour? EGM: Incorrect. It's Crush Hour.

DJ: You know what? It's actually C for *crap," then Rush Hour.

Lives remaining: 3 Ё) 9 Ж

DJ: A spider. EGM: Correct.

Lives remaining: 3 3 3

DJ: [Former EGM Editor-in-Chief] Ed Semrad. The maga- zine really hasn't been the same since Ed left, and | think he really brought the love to EGM, and [current EGM EIC] Shoe has just ripped the heart and the love out of the magazine [laughs]. That's a joke, I’m not really serious.

EGM: Correct. Lives remaining: 3 3 3

Game Over: Glad you did well, Jaffe. 'Cause we were afraid of what you'd say if we'd called you an idiot.

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 35

THE BIG ONES

today on tomorrow’s heavy hitters

- Halo 3

XB360 * Microsoft Game Studios • Fall 2007

Some leaked beta footage revealed that the multiplayer map Zanzibar (from Halo 2) will find its way into Halo 3. And since we're sure that won't be the only one, we asked EGM readers what other maps they want to see make the move.

Which multiplayer maps from Halo 1 and 2 would you like to see remade for Halo 3?

4 Sidewinder (H1) № Solid Snake sneaks up behind ink...and gooses the poor elf. Hang 'Em High/ Tombstone

> Super Smash Bros. Brawl (нтїнг)

Wii e Nintendo • Fall 2007 A

Ivory Tower (H2)

Rumors continue to circulate that Nintendo’s four-way fighter won't make it out this year. But if you ask Hideo Kojima, Brawl is ready to go right now. в»

The Metal Gear series creator recently had а chance to play it (remember, Bl" Damnation Metal Gear's Solid Snake makes an appearance in this one), and according (H1)

to Kojima Productions’ podcast host Ryan Payton, Kojima said, “The game

already feels very complete and very fun. [Nintendo could] probably put it out

now and sell millions of copies.” a ы ш Chill Out (H1)

Lockout (H2)

Metal Gear Solid 4:

Guns of the Patriots PS3 • Konami • Fall 2007

The MGS4 dev team may have their heads down cranking

Resident Evil 5 away on this game, but David Hayter—who provides the PS3/XB360 « Capcom * 2008 voice of Snake—already has afew ideas for ite р of No: 5. “You’d see the son, Solid Snake, dealing with things in Looking at Resident Evil 4 on the Wii (peep our review on pg. 82) reminds the future,” he explained on the Kojima Productions pod- us how far the series’ graphics have come. Better days are ahead, though, cast, “while Naked Snake is dealing with things in the past. as our insiders tell us that the visual leap from RE4 to RES will just as big as [The game would then] parallel the two.” Hmm, doesn’t what we saw from REO to RE4. Now that’s hot. sound half bad, Snake... жа

36 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www. 1UP.com

тм

AVAILABLE || E

AINT NO LAW

OUT HERE

EXCEPT THES е. ONE YOU МАКЕ,

МАТОВЕ 17+

Blood | Intense Violence || Language Sexual Themes

uo oft Entertainment under license from Techland. Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks

a trademark of Techland and is used under license. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the techland platform logo (TM and ©) ЕМА 2006.

WWW.CALLOFJUAREZ.COM (&]

UBISOFT

Platforms: PS3/XB360

Publisher: EA Games

Developer: EA Black Box

Release Date: Late 2007

eed for Speed:

ЕТ

THE NEED FOR SPEED SERIES

is one of the most successful in EA's stable, behind unstoppable forces like Madden and The Sims. With four games released in four years, no one is more aware of the potential for franchise fatigue than the devel- opment team at EA Black Box in Vancouver. Rather than unleash yet another pink-lit street racing vari-

1S TRE

EA (finally) chooses a new racing line

ant, Senior Producer Mike Mann and Producer John Doyle have set about redefining the game and sending it off in a new direction. The result? “It’s all about authentic street rac- ing,” Mann declares. “The Fast and the Furious vibe is dated, and the culture has matured. Pro Street is a reflection of that.”

The game is headed for release at

the end of this year, and EGM was lucky enough to get the first look

at it in action. It’s truly a next-gen racer, and the images you see here are “visual target” screens using the game's engine and are indicative of what the team is striving for on the PS3 and Xbox 360. A Wii version is also coming, but it'll obviously look and play quite differently.

38 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

Customization counts

Like Need for Speed: Carbon, Pro Street offers a lot of customization options, including the remarkably full-featured Autosculpt widget that lets you mold body panels pretty much any way you'd like. Whereas in Carbon this was purely а cosmetic function, in Pro Street every tweak you make affects the physics model (and consequently the performance) of the car, and an in-game wind-tunnel mechanic highlights this for you. Unlike in recent Need for Speeds, you don’t have to make your car ugly just to score points; what's more important is tweaking its performance.

ТК Y (

A 7 + PlayStation2 computer entertainment system Xbox? video game and entertainment system PSP" (PlayStation Portable) system* PC

Also available on PSP" system

LT AT

UNIVERSAL RAD()CAL UT - ENTERTAINMENT VE

Blood and Gore Intense Violence

SexualThemes

Strong Language => RUN Use of Drugs IGHT

HEED FOR SPEED cont)

A change of venues

Street racing is no longer the illicit culture glamorized by Most Wanted and Underground, and Pro Street reflects this by focusing on “race weekends” at tracks and closed courses around the world. This screen shows the way that the Infineon circuit in Sonoma County, California should look in the final game, where it will host speed, grip, drift, and drag racing challenges.

Burning rubber

Senior Producer Mike Mann is keen to stress that the dirt and grime of racing is an important part of the vibe that hasn’t been adequately conveyed in any games before. “Something you don't realize from just playing games is how much smoke there is," he tells us. Pro Street will go a long way to rectify this by rendering (via some clever tricks hardly anyone outside of game development understands) life- like clouds of noxious tire and exhaust fumes. The result is something that looks remarkably realistic, and not like the painted-on effects we've seen in games like Project Gotham Racing or Gran Turismo. This stuff dissipates just

like the real thing. ‘st, we thought the backward decals were а аке. But EA says that's the style

these days. Cut us some 5!ас!

What a wreck

We're starting to see damage han- dled in more and more realistic ways in today's racing games, but Pro Street is the most convincing we’ve seen yet. Rather than make graph- ics simply change when you crunch into something, the Black Box team has built a physics-based procedural damage system, which means that cars scrape and crumple based

on what they were hit by and with what force. Clip another саг оп а corner and see a body panel dent or become detached. Whack something really hard and the body will deform just like it should. ri

g їп the middle of June, head to

=| EGM.1UP.com for more exclusive info and the first gameplay footage of Need for Speed: Pro Street.

40 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

IN ANY OTHER GAME, THIS MIGHT ACTUALLY HELP YOU.

When death can come from anywhere,

it can make even the most unflappable near-future warrior a little jumpy.

In Shadowrun, gond brains matter as much as good aim as you ditch ual rün n gun to outwit and gutgun your enemies, You're a Badly combination of firepower Stic powers as you tele- e through walls, and even г turn tû smoke to put the bad guys in a state of permanent relaxation.

оа.

The bad news? Your enemies can. too. Better keep your eyes open.

SHADOWRUN ЈЕ

REWRITE THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Intense Violence = Microsoft ESRB CONTENT RATING wwwesbog| gameJt studios:

е for Windows

= у, lucky bey. / A Javen't ув: guesset, Jackie? __ № are The Darkness Yeu have the Poler

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Change During Online Play

DARKUNGTOAHUMAN” — INE MUTATE ACTION

inc. 2K Games, the 2K logo, and Take-Twa А АЕ: с. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, XOK, LIVE, afd.the ро?

We've got a custom playlist all set up for you over at

WWE Superstar Challenge 2007 EGM's own Michael Donahoe inter-

views WWE superstars, with hilarious results (that even non-wrestling fans can appreciate).

Left 4 Dead on The 1UP Show

First hands-on with Left 4 Dead, the 28 Days Later-esque zombie game that's about to top your most-antici- pated list.

Bungie/1UP Halo 2 Grudge Match 3 Epic Oddball battle decides Bungie vs. 1UP/EGM Halo Humpday Challenge rematch. Bungie claims it was "practice." Wrong.

Late To The Party Episode 1 First installment of 1UP's new show revisits gems you may have missed like Final Fantasy XII, Kororinpa, and The Lord of the Rings: BFME2.

44 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY •

1UP.com

Lara is all about the remakes— here is a pic of Croft's new animated look.

Tapping 4 the classics _

Free play is now, well, free By Michael Donahoe

NEW GAMES ARE NICE...if you've got the dough to throw down on 'em. But if you're broke (and don't mind oldies), a better deal is current- ly playing on a PC near you—online game service GameTap (www.gam- etap.com) now offers a selection of titles for the low, low price of nada (expect around 30 games ranging from Metal Slug to Joust). Hold up! Not everything's free, but at least it's opening up some of its massive library to penny-pinchers who don't want to go the monthly subscrip- tion route. But it's not just games shedding the green—GameTap TV original programming will also be available for free.

This is especially nice considering the cool new content the service is cooking up. Along with typical ho- hum interviews with popular celebri- ties, GameTap is also spearheading a sweet new series entitled Re\Visioned that takes classic characters and has comic book artists/writers “reenvision” them into animated shorts. Lara Croft is

the first icon to get the makeover treatment—the cave-raiding cutie is set to debut in her first episode July 3. Along with the new cartoon, GameTap ТУ is also running a docu- mentary on the Tomb Raider series that will feature all the former Lara Croft models (pictured above). GameTap hopes that offering this free content will entice gamers into getting a subscription. Doing so ain't that bad of a deal— you'll not only get access to over 850 games, but you'll also get some exclusive content from Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. OK, this programming isn't that exciting, but $83.40 for a year (which comes out to a meager $6.95 a month) or $9.95 month-to-month isn't that bad when you factor in all the games and content you're get- ting. Plus, now that the Sega Saturn has been added to the already stag- gering pile of systems, nearly every modern console is represented. And hey, it's a better deal than blowing $5 on a simple port of Soccer (NES) on the Virtual Console. 44.

Last year, a former Russian spy was allegedly murdered using Polonium-210. This radioactive chemical is also found in cigarette smoke, a fact at least one tobacco company was

aware of in 1964.

Platforms: PS3/XB360

Publisher: Atari

Developer: Eden Games

Release Date: Winter 2007

, fog-filled towns, insane asylums—been there, not so scared of that anymore. The repetitive nature of survival-horror set- tings is killing the fright factor in vid- eogames, which is why we're looking forward to Alone in the Dark’s unex- pected backdrop: New York City’s Central Park. Even the Big Apple's craziest kooks are afraid of the spooks that lie within its 843 acres, especially when night falls. And after recently learning more about the game (which is a series reboot), we can say the locale isn’t the only surprise in store.

While so many games look to the silver screen for inspira- tion (and pale in comparison), A/TD’s structure takes a page from hit TV series like Lost and 24. Each level will essentially act as an episode (the disc will contain around 11, each consist- ing of 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes of gameplay), complete with plot twists and cliff-hangers. Oh, and you know those times where you put a game down for a while, only to come back and totally blank on what

46 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

happened previously or what you're supposed to do next? That won't be a problem here. “A ‘coming next’ trailer plays when you leave the game at the end of the episode to tease you into wanting more," says Producer Nour Polloni of developer Eden Games. "Then, the previous trailer plays when you come back to help you get back into the story." Also, Eden isn't ruling out offering additional episodes (via download) after the game ships.

As you guide Edward Carnby (yes, the same paranormal investiga- tor from the 1992 original) through Central Park, it'll be important to bring out his inner pyromaniac. And whether you're torching stacked-up furniture, wooden roofs, or the game's evil forces, "fire will behave as it does in real life," says Polloni. “It'll propagate in real time across flammable sur- faces and objects, moving at different speeds depending on the material."

"Enemies can detect you with a full range of senses—including, of course, sight

By Bryan Intihar

and sound, but also smell," says Polloni. This unique characteristic (at least for game АЛ.) does give A/TD’s fuglies a leg up when hunting you down, but you'll find instances where you can actually turn it against them. "This lets you actually bait enemies," says Polloni, “with blood trails or a cadaver, which can prove to be

very useful."

Even though most of your time will be spent on foot, you can also hop into vehicles to get around NYC's sprawling rec- reation area. These aren't the typical videogame rides, though—A/TD's cars come fully loaded with working radios, heat, and AC. More impor- tantly, these features will factor into gameplay. “You won't be turning on the radio for hits of yesteryear," says Polloni. "You'll be picking up distress calls, for example, which can give you useful information like meeting points for survivors. And if it's a cool night in New York City, the heater could come in handy getting that frost off the vehicle's windshield." m

"miu mnt WE ТЇЇ.

NEW TAG ANTI-PERSPIRANT

CONSIDER YOURSELF „ PRODUCT'S SCENT MAY TURN ALREADY HOT HOTTIES HOTTER THAN A HABANERO, WARNED. WARNING: THE USE OF OVEN MITTS IS RECOMMENDED BEFORE HANDLING OF ANY TAMALES,

Post-it Pro:

Sure, anyone can piece together some pixel art, but in order for it to stick out, you gotta have some talent. Well, UC Santa Cruz game-design major lan Rickard and a group of fellow students definitely made an inviting portrait— the talented team recreated the first level of the NES classic Donkey Kong on the windows of a campus building using only Post-it notes. We recently had a chance to speak with Rickard to see what's next on his pixel plate.

lan Rickard: Two years ago, some other students organized a Mario- themed portrait. One of the big ele- ments of the selection of Mario was [Mario creator] Shigeru Miyamoto and his influence on games and his inspi- ration to many of today's engineering students.

IR: We're probably going to be doing Duck Hunt (NES) in the fall. And Zelda (NES) next spring.

thing

IR: No, no. We pretty much have to stay with games from the '80s. A sin- gle sprite from anything newer would fill up all four floors.

Gues:

next-gen Post-its, «

IR: Something like that, yeah! The 16- bit Post-its.

48 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com

Platform: Wii

Publisher TBA

Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture

Release Date: Fall 2007

No More |

Heroically defying expectations

GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE’S upcoming adventure No More Heroes clearly stands apart from the rest of its third-party Wii brethren, and not just because it’s neither a spazzy minigame collection nor a last-gen port with tacked-on motion control. Rather, No More Heroes differentiates itself by being phe- nomenally weird...let’s just hope i

a good weird. This surreal offering blends open-ended, Grand Theft Auto-style missions, frantic Wii-mote swordplay, and bizarre, postmodern

m

humor in distinctive visual trappings that bear a strong resemblance to Grasshopper’s divisive cult classic, Killer 7 (PS2/GC).

We're still a bit foggy on precisely how all these disparate elements will come together in the final product, so we’re going straight to the source—enigmatic No More Heroes Director Goichi Suda—for assistance. While he doesn’t exactly reveal the true nature of the game- play, Suda adamantly explains pre- cisely what his new game isn’t.

= HOT JUST ANOTHER II MIMIGAMNE COLLECTION

No More Heroes stands out among Wii releases by being...well, a real game. In a sea of insubstantial minigame collections, a meaty single-player adventure seems positively ambitious. It's no accident, and Suda has no shortage of opinions on

the state of Wii softw;

“Let me tell you one thing,” he insists. “I'm not looking

to other developers’ Wii titles as reference points during the creation of No More Heroes...| think a lot of developers are preparing original software on Wii presently, but at least in Japan, you can't deny the fact that developers are planting the soil on this new platform with unoriginal and entirely boring game concepts."

DIVE INTO TU Gr-DF-YUUR SENIA HOLLYWOOD ACTION-

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ESRB CONTENT RATING — www.esrb.org http://driver.ubi.com

Driver® Paral lel Lines © 2007 trademarks of Nin 2007 Ubisoft Е tendo. © 2006 Nin tertainment. Dri endo "PlayStation", "PÀ Мон, Ub cn ivt Uf, Џао and the Шо amily logo, and "PSP" oft logo are tradem are registered tradem: narks of Ubisoft Ent iarks of Sony Сопу tertainment in the US. puter Entertain and/or other cou ми 05, или Dea ТИ апі е кү 9 wired (sold separately Е је л UBI

МО МОКЕ HEROES cont)

" IT'S НОТ KILLER 7 ALL OVER AGAIN

LBS

Although we had plenty of respect for Killer 7’s a wildly creative storyline, its complex web of Fe

politics, religion, and insanity left most players 3 а thoroughly lost without a clue. “Тће story of No B

More Heroes proudly represents the antithesis ГНУ

of Killer 7’s,” Suda explains. "It's a story ofthe |

maturation of a young man, so the narrative i

should be more understandable for players." So, rather than juggling seven characters, each representing aspects of the protagonist's fractured psyche, here you only have to wrap your head around one hero, the amusingly named Travis Touchdown.

Travis begins the game as an affable everyman who lucks into a killer find via an Internet auction site—his very own beam katana (think: lightsaber). Armed with this new weapon, he accepts a gig as a hit man...and later finds himself caught up in an international assassination competition against the world's finest killers. Sound preposterous? Maybe not—perhaps this is a primal fantasy that Suda knows gamers will relate to. "He's actually a huge manga, anime, and hardcore fighting otaku [fanboy]," says Suda of his new hero. "Travis figures that if he's going to turn his hobbies into something practical, he's going to become a hired killer."

No More Heroes also diverges from Killer 7 in terms of structure and game- play: That game's simple, linear stages and ill-advised “on-rails” controls have wisely been bulldozed, replaced by a wide-open world where you can travel and fight with no restrictions. The fictional city of Santa Destroy, CA provides a suitably quirky backdrop to the action and, thankfully, you're not limited to hoofing it around this sprawling metropolis. *Players will need to use Travis" bike, the Schpel Tiger, to ride from location to location within Santa Destroy," says Suda. "While he's in transit, | don't expect Travis to encounter enemies, but there might be set instances where there will be on-bike battles."

Travis heads to Mexico for some gray market Cialis and the donkey show.

Since most of No More Heroes' combat involves slicing up fools with Travis' beam katana, prepare to wield your Wii Remote for some serious swordplay. But, as Ubisoft's Red Steel taught us, virtual sword fighting can feel awfully haphazard and imprecise. Luckily, Suda appears to be fully aware of this potential pit- fall. "If you're going to make a katana-based game, you're going to run into a lot of problems unless you adopt an advanced camera system," he says. The game's dynamic camera makes it easy to determine how to best strike your opponent—the precise motion you make with the Wii Remote isn't actually that crucial, but the height and angle of your attack are. Expect to encounter a bit of a learning curve, but skilled players will soon be able to dismember and decapitate foes, and even mix in a few wrestling-inspired finishing moves (like a skull-crushing suplex) using the Nunchuk. Overall, it's a far more brutal, visceral approach to sword combat than we've seen in the past. "The Wii is an entirely new device and requires a completely new approach to game design," says Suda. “You can't take your past experiences into a Wii game and pray they work just as well as before.” а.

- ~

STUDYING ROCKET SCIENCE IS MOR FUN WHEN YOU ACTUALLY HAVE ROCKE

A

There's only one place you can get hands-on training with the most advanced technology in the world and that's the U.S. Navy. If you're up to the challenge, log on the Life Accelerator at navy.com or call 1.800.USA.NAVY.

The PS3 is pretty Similar to the Xbox 360 except for one

thing: Achievements. Not for long, though—the PS3 will soon incorporate in-game trophies with its Home service. And if you remember, | teased these back when they were ‘entitlements.

calle

USUALLY AROUND THIS TIME

ОЕ YEAR, I'm digging through mountains of dirt thanks to all the tantalizing tidbits | uncover at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Not this year, though! No, no. Because the formerly massive gaming convention is a little later this summer, I’m sadly forced to delay ту anticipated rumor feast. So my stom- ach may be starved for scuttlebutt right now, but don't worry 'bout ol' Q-Mann—next month, ГИ digest all the juicy details for you. Until then, let these rumors fill ya ир.

360 minute abs

It doesn't take an egghead to realize epic Spartan flick 300 is the perfect thing to crack on consoles. Hell, movie critics said the film /ooks like а videogame. So, uh, how come nothing ever came out (besides the shoddy PSP game)? Stupidity, likely, but at least someone out there isn’t completely brain-dead—I hear а new publisher is preppin’ a 300 game for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

PS3 getting a good rap Before wannabe rockers banged their brains out to Guitar Hero, music

52 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

RUMOR MILL

= e. : This is scuttlebutttttt!! By Quartermann

titles like PaRappa the Rapper got gamers groovin' in a more simplis- tic fashion: pushing buttons to the beat of the music. Simple? Yeah. Addictive. Oh yeah. Sony lets their rapping pup out again this July when they release the original PaRappa for the PSP, but it looks like the PS3 is getting thrown a bone, too. My Sony spies tell me | gotta believe PaRappa the Rapper 3 for the PS3 is real.

Haunted hill

Publisher Konami wants to keep the sequel talk for their spooky survival horror series, Silent Hill, quiet, but The Q is hearing all sorts of scary details. Like, get this: Silent Hill 5 is

> Q-TIFZ

coming to the PS3 and 360 next year. OK, that’s not too frighten- ing...but this is: The Japanese team responsible for the series is hand- ing the reins over to a new Yankee development team.

Rockin’ sequels

Right now, Grand Theft Auto 4 is (rightfully) stealing all of publisher Rockstar’s attention, but | caught wind of other sequels coming from the controversial gaming superstars. How many games? Three—expect to hear official announcements about anew Midnight Club (duh!), Bully (yay!), and Red Dead Revolver (huh?) sometime very soon...maybe even sooner than you think. ж

>) * Monster publisher EA sure is greedy— hear it’s looking to snatch up the MLB and NBA licenses to complement its current NFL exclusivity.

* Nintendo's looking to level-up its role-playing fare—the company recently >; ~ acquired developer Monolith Soft (Xenosaga) to make a Final Fantasy killer.

* Grisly first-person shooter Condemned is a guilty pleasure for a lot of gam- ~ ers, enough so that | hear publisher Sega is making Condemned 2.

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Another slim July

Undertow

Xbox Live Arcade * Chair Entertainment

If Battlefield's “pick different units, capture command points" setup held hands with Geometry War's 2D, 360-degree arcade shooting and jumped into the ocean together, you'd have Undertow. Although this underwater shooter clearly rips off ideas from other games, it's quite ambitious for a Live Arcade title, with 16-player online support, cut-scenes, and pretty amazing graphics.

PS2 • Sony Computer Entertainment America

A cute cast. Extremely accessible play. Fun challenges. Sounds like another Mario Tennis, right? Yes, but this time it's the Hot Shots crew who'll be trad- ing their golf clubs for a racket. It's a nice changeup, but it's even nicer to see a company continuing to support its aging console with new software (hear that, Nintendo and Microsoft?).

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology

PSP • Namco Bandai

If you're having trouble making sense of the seven Tales installments, you're not alone. Luckily, this lighthearted role-playing romp will shed some

light on the overarching story, bring- ing characters from the entire series together for a fast-paced, open-ended dungeon hack.

54 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com

NCAA Football 08

PS3/XB360/PS2/XB • EA Sports

You've once again led your Michigan Wolverines to

a victory over Ohio State, but your buddy (who's a Bucknut) isn't around to witness the massacre. Don't worry: Thanks to NCAA Football 08's new replay sys- tem, you can now create a vault of highlight clips and send them to your online pals. Nothing like rubbing a |i’! extra salt in the wounds of your college rivals....

More July Releases

AniMates DS * DreamCatcher

Final Fantasy II PSP • Square Enix

Guitar Hits PSP • Ubisoft

Lair Р5З * Sony Computer Entertainment America

NASCAR 08 Р53/Х8360/Р 52 • EA Sports

Panzer Tactics DS DS * CDV Software

Persona 3 PS2 • Atlus

Project Sylpheed XB360 • Microsoft Game Studios

Vampire Rain XB360 • Microsoft Game Studios

Worms: Open Warfare PSP/DS • THQ sh

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LIEER TY CITY

With a camera in hand, we take a trip to New York to compare one Big Apple to another: Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City

56 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UF

GRAND THEFT AUTO IV IS STILL A MYS- TERY to many. Sure, everyone's seen the trailer, and a few of us have seen a demo of the game running. But hard info? Not so much. You still jack cars, pilot choppers, swim, and pack heat, but is that a surprise to anyone? All we know about multiplayer is that GTA4 (coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360 this October) won't be a massively multiplayer online game, nor a death- match showdown, but “will match single player,” according to a Rockstar rep. OK...good. We know a little about the story: Protagonist Niko Bellic heads to Liberty City from Eastern Europe to turn his life around, only to find that the won- ders his cousin promised were unfounded.

What we know the most about is the setting. As in previous GTAs, LC is Rockstar's version of the Big Apple. And while those earlier games made you feel like you were in a city, none of them made you feel like you were in the city. One of Rockstar's biggest goals is to change that and really nail the NYC feel.

Fact is, we've been impressed by what we've seen. Graphically, it's a beaut. And since this is Rockstar's most ambitious re-creation of the metropolis yet, we wanted to see how far the developers have come to mimicking NYC. So we sent a photographer to try to match screens shot for shot. Let's see how close he came...and in turn how close Rockstar did.

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 57

ü D T 5 4 I M л 4 I

THE SQUARE

Make no mistake; GTA4 has impressed many doubters with its graphical splendor, delivering the series’ first bona fide gawker. But a pretty world can only serve to draw you in. It’s the people who fill that world that make you want to stay, and that’s where GTA4 has us most intrigued. More specifically, we focus our attention on Times Square, the most recognizable intersection on the planet and a bustling slice of human idiocy, both in the real and virtual world. In the NYC pic, the corner and crosswalk teem with activity, with some people walking at a determined gait, others casually crossing the street. Most of all, their minds are on their own immediate destination. And you know what? While LC’s square ain’t as dense (we really didn’t expect it to mimic Manhattan’s nearly 1.6 million inhabitants), those peds give off the same “I couldn't give а s***” vibe. They’re going about their own thing and, amazingly, aren’t all copies of each other. And don’t forget the signage and stock-market ticker: The

GTA-style satire makes its mark again.

58 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

К Hew YORE = У LIBERTY CITY

é RANDOM NEWS ВоВ

THE EROWNSTONES

birds chirp- ing and Niko looking their way, only further gives Liberty City life.

VS

[п] л T 5 ч T m л 4 I с 4 [s] =

60 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • w

THE SKYLINE

This NYC/LC showdown features the biggest aesthetic differences simply because of the game’s more stream- lined city. The real city is much more developed (especially apparent to the right of the Empire State Building). But take note of all of LC’s skyscrapers (as well as that beautiful sky). Rockstar

is stressing vertical density, meaning when you're touring the financial dis- trict, the buildings towering above you will block out the sun and really give you a sense of being encapsulated in this city, just like in the real thing.

aal a AR

E The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world, serves as the connection between Manhattan and Brooklyn (Algonquin and Broker in LC). Now, how many of you will have Niko (shown here) plungin' off it the minute you get the game? Thought so...sickos.

w.1UP.com

UNDER THE TRACKS

If you've been following our GTA4 coverage (both in EGM and on 1UP.com), you know we love the little touches. Like when Niko breaks a car window with his elbow in order to unlock it. Or the way he takes a big step up and shifts his weight when he approaches a curb while walking. Or pedestrians taking a drag, chat- ting on a pay phone, or just leaning against a wall. In these particular shots, LC doesn't feature as many Storefronts as this packed NYC strip, yet it has just as much going on: folks minding their own business, faded bills on the foreground pillar, trash on the sidewalk. You'd better believe we'd love to see more shops along the street...all the better to rob and escape out the back, something Rockstar tells us is indeed possible.

т H IL Ш I Е [=] = т т (ОЈ

REFRESHMES

AS COLD AS THE RO!

a CAMERAS

ICI < ј ls н = =: mis RE gm, LET * т Whether in the real world or in the game, Times Square is inundated with ads. But rather than trying to sell you on something (like in the real world), GTA4 just looks to entertain—hey, we'd gladly clog our arteries with a Heart Stopper Burger from Burger Shot. Better yet, we can wash it down with the one crossover: ice-cold beer.

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 61

In] л 2 T In] 4 17; M T 4 2 С

THE COASTER

We've put a lot of focus on the hearts of the cities so far, and rightly so, but it’s worth pointing out that GTA4 isn’t all high-rises and wild cabbies. Places like Broker and Alderney (GTA4’s ver- sions of Brooklyn and New Jersey, respectively) offer some diversity

in the environment (though noth-

ing like San Andreas’ boonies). The Coney Island riff here has the same run-down, dilapidated look of the

real thing. And again, you'll notice a misplaced elevated-track pillar in LC, which in the real city is a block away.

W Admit it, these two shots look amazing. No, it's not a landmark or anything iconic, but still... The way the hill crests. The crisscrossing fire escape. Even the streetlamps. The fact that the developers modeled a seemingly random street so well has us itching to explore Liberty City.

62 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

EIS NEE Seis

AFTER APPLICATION OF NEW TAG ALL-NIGHTER, YOU’LL BE REQUIRED TO ENTERTAIN ALL MANNER OF BOUNCING BABE-A-LOIDS. FAILURE TO STAY UP MAY RESULT IN SERIOUS LOSS OF ACTION.

t: y T : d 5: Жеш т Nighter. Show us how it's done at _ SleepLess-ScoreMore.com

5

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64 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

the-know people to uncover a hi ar idful of spots that simply must show up in GTA4. Our criteria: We wanted seedy, salacious, or underground. But ideally, all three.

Happy Ending 302 Broome St., Manhattan

Formerly an exotic massage parlor, Happy Ending is the Lower East Side's most heavenly spot...if your idea of heaven is wild chicks, ridiculous dancing, and brain-bending martinis. The bar/club hybrid inspires decadence from its attendees, and its sauna rooms turned party coves would make a perfect spot for down and dirty deal-making in GTA4.

City Sub 450 Bergen St., Brooklyn

The building and its name are both nondescript. But if you can fatten up the main character in GTA4, this is the place to do it. Inarguably, Brooklyn's City Sub serves up the most delicious sandwiches on the planet. Each one is painstakingly prepared, so the lines are murder. But when the cops aren't on your tail, this would be a great place to cool down.

Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden 29-19 24th Ave., Astoria, Queens

A slice of Munich nestled in the middle of Astoria, this legend- ary summer outpost is far from the horn honks and general mania of Manhattan. A perfect fit for GTA4, it plays host to some serious goofballs, who drunkenly stumble around, happy as beer-filled clams.

Hotel Chelsea 222 W. 23rd St., Manhattan

The body count from past visits to Liberty City has piled up, but all those deaths don’t equal the amount of ghosts that spook the hallways of this legendary hotel. This creativity- seeping locale has hosted quite an eclectic mix of hyper- talents, from Jimi Hendrix to William S. Burroughs to Edith Piaf. Shazam!

French Roast 78 W. 11th St., Manhattan

There's no sleeping in a Grand Theft Auto game, so French Roast, the premier eat-late spot, makes perfect sense. Open around the clock, this low-lit West Village gem looks indiscrim- inate, but the food is delicious. You'll also always find some local drunk— Johnny Darko, specifically—ready to tell tales at the bar, no matter what the hour. èh

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lon

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ОТРОК.

GAMES

® 4.

DEPTH i ЕП).

LI

We grab a joypad апа до beneath the surface of BioShock, the

unfathomably deep, wet-and-wild

Хбох 360 shooter that's smarter

than you By Crispin Boyer i

“TODAY WE’RE GOING TO SET UP A DEFENSIVE PERIMETER,” says Ken Levine, and we're instantly grateful for two things. One, that he’s the president and creative director of а game company апа not, say, prepping us for a frazzling day in mall security. And, two, that Levine and his studio, Boston-based Irrational Games, are famous for PC titles (such as System Shock | and Freedom Force) that give players the freedom to be who they wanna be. So we're going to assume that setting up a perimeter in BioShock, Irrational's first made-for-console game, will be fathoms more interest- ing than doing it in many other first- person shooters. Due on Xbox 360 August 21—and, we expect, the PS3 eventually—BioShock is an under- the-sea adventure bulging at the

bulkheads with customizable powers and weapons, smart and motivated enemies, and torturous moral choic- es that involve killing what appear to be 8 year olds. Other sunken plea- sures: the occasional flaming teddy bear and a camera to capture all the high-minded carnage and research new killing skills.

Trip wires? Check. Telekinetic tornado-generating doodad? Got it. Helpful hovering machine-gun drone? Got two of those. And with that we're braced to build our secu- rity perimeter, seconds away from an onslaught of genetically jacked-up enemies known as Splicers blow- torching through the steel hatch in front of us. However this encounter plays out—and we'll get to that 5 later—we know we can replay it daily 4

and never see the same scenario. © 5 playthrough for aquanauts who take > m { А Й

> 4 - “I've always loved games where it's never the same experience fór you and for your friends," says Levine, “where the game empowers the player to drive the process and make epic decisions. We try to make it so there are five different ways to do everything. There are so many stimuli in BioShock’s world, so many things that do cool s***.”

Submergence day d All this “cool s***” has lured a for- midable following to BioShock, especially for a new franchise. Few games, after all, have a fan base as frothed up as the one at www. cultofrapture.com, where the most common message-board worry is—yikes!—what if BioShock is too short? (Levine predicts a 25-hour

ELECTRONIC > GAMING MONTHLY • www. 1ОРсот • 67

Ф

t

a holiday расе.) Today ме'те going leagues deeper than anyone has yet ventured into the game’s world, play- ing levels for the first time and exper- imenting with never-before-revealed weapons, powers, and strategies.

If you're not yet in the cult, we've got your Kool-Aid. BioShock begins in 1960 with your character adrift in the North Atlantic after a plane crash. "Keep that [airplane] tail in mind— you might see it again," Levine says as we watch the mangled fuselage sink to Davy Jones. We have only one way to swim through the flam- ing plane fuel: toward a lighthouse towering above the whitecaps. Inside we find a bathysphere that carries us down to “a city where the artist would not be censored, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small,” claims the narrator of the bathy- sphere’s propaganda film that plays as the fathoms tick away.

Buildings loom up from the abys- sal gloom, connected by Habitrails of pressure-proof glass that span neon-lit boulevards patrolled by sonorous blue whales and other life aquatic. This is the city of Rapture. It's a name with significance for the religious as well as for scuba divers, who worry that dallying too long at depth will bring on a drunken mental

68 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com

fog known as "rapture of the deep." We know the feeling when we exit the bathysphere and begin our first tentative explorations. Something very bad has gone down in this dimly lit underwater town. The Art Deco décor—all streamlined indus- trial design and terrazzo floors and rich woods tinged with the func- tional contraptions of a Jules Verne submarine—has degenerated into moldering opulence. Tables аге overturned. Libraries have been ransacked. Blood stains walls. Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday croon from tinny speakers and gramophones. “I love the feeling of a place trapped in time,” says Levine, who com- posed опе of the game's tunes апа consulted his pop for oldie music worth licensing. (“That’s BioShock’s target audience,” he jokes, “people in their 70s and 80s.") Mingled with the music: a constant drip, drip, drip. The sea is reclaiming this city,

+ leaking through buckled bulkheads

7. ` | |

Wi Your guns evolve visually as you mod them with steam- 5 powered gadgets and other moving parts. "By the end of the game, [they] look insane," says Lead Designer Bill Gardner.

and pooling on cracked floors. If - е ; BioShock supported Smell-O-Vision, * > think grandma's attic crossed with a

tropical-fish store's Dumpster. Ў “6

“We didn’t want a modern-day city because we'd have to use arti- ficial barriers to limit where players can go,” says Levine, walking us $ through the design process that led S. to BioShock's sea-based setting. " 3 “Rapture is more natural. You can't, say, take a plane to fly somewhere nib. else. And we're nerdy enough to care * : е how the city works. You'll find [out] how the city's powered, how they get their oxygen—and it all factors

into the gameplay." VP New city areas—from a hospital to a forest greenhouse—open as you »

gain powers and complete objec-

tives. Eventually you can explore all the buildings and regions you saw А on the bathysphere ride down. “Тһе О indies levels are pretty sprawling—lots of у nooks and crannies," says Levine. t “It’s not one long corridor like т >

RATING PENDING

RP

ESRB le WWW.ATLUS.COM

most first-person shooters." You сап revisit any areas you've already seen, with very little load time between them, but the game never forces you to retrace your steps with backtrack- ing missions. "Generally, the game- play flow is on the level you're on," says Levine, although he adds that previous levels house caches and other goodies worth hunting for. “Our attitude is let the gamer tell us how much they want to backtrack rather than us dictating it.”

Not far into Rapture’s first area, however, we reach a point of no return. Walking through one of the glass tunnels that connect the city’s structures, we look up to see the airplane tail section tumbling through the cobalt murk. It collides with the tunnel. Millions of gallons of seawa- ter pour through the shattered glass. Wading through frigid H20 that looks too real (Irrational has an artist work- ing solely on water effects), we bare- ly make it through the exit hatch at the end of the tunnel. We’re cut off. We can’t go back. Our only choice is to head deeper into Rapture.

Red tide

“Look, this is an M-rated game,” says Levine. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if we were making a movie." The conversation in ques- tion follows our first encounter with

a Big Daddy about two hours later in the game. These eyes-on-high-beam, pressure-suited monstrosities have become iconic of BioShock and are a linchpin of its labyrinthine plot—and not just because you're supposed

W Look for little plot touches everywhere. "The story should work on several different levels,” says Irrational’s Levine.

€, FRIVATE LIVES

н BioShock's enemies think before they shoot

“Our enemies don't just sit around waiting for the player to show up with a pistol,” says Irrational's Ken Levine. Indeed, BioShock's adversaries, called Splicers, have lives of their own. They wander Rapture, nosing around dead bodies, vending machines, and locked doors, looking for life-giving Adam (more on that later). They'll also react to the sounds you make—you'll need to be stealthy if you're not ready for a fight. And they start in different places each time you play, making it hard to get the jump on them if you retry an area. "Our levels are so nonlinear, you never know where they're coming from," says Lead Designer Bill Gardner. Competing for limited resources in what Levine calls BioShock's “АЛ. ecology,” Splicers often get into scraps with each other—and sometimes even take on the lumbering Big Daddies. But their smarts extend to combat. They can see what kind of weapon you have and will egg you into a melee if you're not packing heat. "They learned this lesson from Indiana Jones: Don't taunt the guy with the pistol,"

says Levine.

Splicers understand their environment and will seek cover when the shooting * starts. But the scariest part of all: They'll make a dash for the nearest medical

station when their health runs low. It makes for bittersweet relief if you're on the

losing end of a fight. On the one hand, it's nice get a breather while the enemy

runs off to lick his wounds. On the other, you know the Splicer is just going to

return—and with full health, no less—unless you managed to hack into and

booby-trap the medical station. "There's nothing more fun than watching the АЛ.

try to use that thing," Levine says, "then seeing all the green smoke come out of it ы and the Splicer choking to death on that stuff."

Ш “The А.1.5 have head-tracking technology," says Levine. “You'll see them looking at points of interest and even commenting on what they see."

70 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е www.1UP.com

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to seek out and take down three in each section of Rapture. Each Big Daddy protects one of the Little Sisters, gaunt 8-year-old girls who pop out of hatches to scour areas for corpses. The girls aren't what they seem. They've been genetically engi- neered by one of Rapture's residents to drink the blood of the dead and convert it to Adam, stem-cell goo that fuels all superpowers in Rapture. You want Adam; acquiring it is at the heart of your character-custom- ization options. But here's the tricky part: Once you take down a Big Daddy (no small feat, which we detail on page 75), you can opt to either "save" the Little Sister and get a wee bit of Adam or "harvest" her and get the maximum amount. What hap- pens when you harvest her? Well, you figure it out. Your hand pulls the whimpering girl offscreen, you hear some squishy noises, and when your fist reappears it's holding organic material and the Little Sister is gone. Seeing this, it’s easy to imagine backlash from the mainstream media, maybe a Fox News story about a new game that lets you kill little girls—never mind that the Little Sisters aren’t exactly human. Levine says it’s a risk he’s willing to take to create a compelling experience. “We're making a game where the theme is the exploitation of people,”

72 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www. 1UP.com

W Red means go: Don't be on the warpath of a Big Daddy when his eyes go crimson. His terrifying bellows of rage blur the screen and stun you, leaving you open to one mega melee pounding.

he says. “You have to show that exploitation or there’s no choice to make here.” The team’s big chal- lenge, he explains, was to go only so far with the graphical presenta- tion of harvesting. There’s a reason you don’t see it actually happening onscreen. “We did it basically so you crossed the threshold of informa- tion so the player understood what was happening, but no more,” says Levine. “You don’t need to show anything else and you shouldn't show anything else, because we're not going for a prurient thrill here.

W Kodak moments: You eventually get a camera you can use to research enemy weaknesses. 'apping action shots earns you points—earn enough and you get bonuses against different Splicers.

You can't shoot the little girls. You can't hurt them in any way, except in that moment when you're given the choice [to harvest them].”

Don't assume that choosing to harvest the Little Sisters rather than save them sends you down some irreversible path in BioShock. Much of the game's rich story (which we've left vague to avoid spoiling) has you torn between two charac- ters, Atlas and Tenenbaum, who harass you regularly on your radio. Atlas’ family is trapped in Rapture,

and he wants you to harvest all the >

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Adam you can find so you can soup up your powers and rescue them. Tenenbaum, on the other hand, is a former Nazi scientist who created the Little Sisters and wants you to save them. “So all of a sudden you're like, ‘Wait a minute...who do | listen to here?” says Levine. “Atlas is telling me these aren't little girls anymore, and that his wife and child will die unless you power up your character. Tenenbaum, meanwhile, begs you to not hurt her children. What we’re try- ing to do is not have a white hat and a black hat, not have an angel and

a devil, but have it be ambiguous, which is that much truer to life.”

Power struggle

Depending on what kind of hero you want to create, you can focus on saving all the Little Sisters or har- vesting them, or mixing and match- ing. If all you care about is building the maximum roster of superpow- ers, harvest all the Little Sisters you find to get all their Adam. (Levine didn't want to spoil how saving Little Sisters instead of harvesting them affects your character, although we know you run into the girls later in the game.) In BioShock's capitalistic character-development market, you spend Adam at special machines called Gatherers' Gardens to buy dif- ferent plasmids, body modifications

SELECTED THE Hidden

Press A to reveal,

that grant powers. You'll find plas- mids that let you unleash telekinesis, fireballs, freeze rays, Splicer-stun- ning electrical jolts, and swarms of insects. Some plasmids turn enemies against each other (really the saf- est way to take down Big Daddies). Others make them appear hostile to automated turrets and security cam- eras, which will send out flying robot drones armed with machine guns.

In addition to the plasmids, you'll find passive character-tweaking sub- stances called gene tonics. These do everything from boosting health to granting semi-invisibility to caus- ing more damage when you melee- attack Splicers from behind. Some increase your hacking skills—yet another subset of BioShock's seem- ingly limitless character abilities. Via a block-shifting minigame that feels straight from PopCap.com, you can hack any contraption in Rapture, including vending machines (for lower prices on health and plasmid fuel), security bots (which hover near

ОМС GAMING MONTHLY е www.1UP.com

W 1337 haxors: You'll find ways to auto- hack if you don't dig the minigame.

you and blast enemies), and medical stations (which will poison Splicers who try to use them for health). BioShock even has its own invention mechanic that lets you build custom plasmids and pimp out your guns. Each of the six weapon types has two customization slots, as well as a magazine for homebrew ammo. You can increase the rate of fire of your shotgun, for instance, or alter the grenade launcher so that its rounds don’t damage you when you blast point-blank enemies.

If all this talk of Adam and plas- mids and gene tonics and hacking makes the prospect of character building in BioShock sound dizzy- ing—especially since you must find specialized machines to tinker with every aspect of your hero—Levine is unapologetic. “1 до пої deny that this is a game with a lot of cool stuff in it,” he says. “Think about a game like Zelda: If you were to pick it up at the end and try to figure out what's going on, you'd be totally lost. But

"ty FLAY IT YOUR WAY

ш We ponder three paths through one of BioShock's rooms...

"Let's pretend we didn't just do that," says Irrational's Ken Levine after a particularly ungraceful attempt at tackling three enemies. And that's the beauty of BioShock: Do-overs are often even more fun than exploring new territory. Because enemies always spawn in new locations and, as Levine frequently reminds us, "everything in the environment is a weapon," we found ourselves restarting areas just to come up with more elegant solutions to dealing with bad-guy Splicers and Big Daddies. Here to back up our words are three ways to play in just one room....

Start here

Welcome to Port Neptune, a Rapture fishery that provides food for the city. We haven't been to this area yet, but we can assume it's crawling with Splicers, monitored by security cameras and turrets, and might even be home to a wandering Big Daddy and Little Sister. But this game ain't gonna play itself. Pick your plan of attack and let's clear this room...

1. The run-and-gun approach

Not the thinking type? Not a problem—grab your biggest gun and go gung ho if you want. BioShock is a first-person shooter, after all. But play- ers who take the direct approach, be warned: Despite BioShock's adap- tive difficulty, you'll die a lot unless you play it on Very Easy mode. "That [mode's] for the people who just want to be tourists, just play the game and get through it," Levine says. "Very Easy is for the dumb jocks. On Normal mode, if you're not taking advantage of the environment, you're not going to do as well."

Sure enough, we blunder into the firing arc of an automated turret while almost simultaneously triggering a security camera. Hovering drones buzz into the room and pepper us with machine-gun fire. Splicers on a mezza- nine hurl grenades at us while others flank us on the ground. We go down pretty fast. Too bad we weren't playing on Very Easy.

2. The environmentalist approach

If nothing else, our brief blazing-guns approach above gave us valuable intel on this room's innards. We found out the hard way about the security camera and turret, but we also noticed pools of water on the ground and electrified trip wires—known as trapbolts—spanning the room. Hmmm.

So this time we take it slow, staying out of range of the security cam- era and creeping behind the turret. We zap it with our Electrovolt power, which disables electronics and stuns enemies. With the turret momentarily short-circuited, we hack it to turn it against enemies. It begins firing on the Splicers wandering deeper in the room. They scatter, but not before we use telekinesis to reposition trapbolts across exits. Enemies dash into the trip wires and—bzzzt!—they're toast. Others Splicers run toward us, but we light 'em up with our Incinerate power. They freak, dashing for the nearest pool of water to douse the flames. We're waiting for them. As soon as they dive into the pool, we hit it with our Electrovolt, which con- ducts a lethal charge through water (in contrast, it only stuns enemies if you zap them directly).

We've turned the environment to our advantage. But amidst the chaos, we hear a Godzilla roar. Uh-oh—a Big Daddy has wandered into the fight and got tagged by a stray bullet. His red viewports are focused on us. He's coming our way. Taking him down on our own will be next to impos- sible. Hnmm.

3. The enemy-mine approach

One lesson learned early in Rapture: Ammo is scarce in this town. So why waste it all taking down a Big Daddy when you can turn your own enemies against him? Typically, Splicers will avoid Big Daddies and vice versa. Targeting the behemoth with your Enrage power, however, chang- es that. His Little Sister scrambling for cover, the Big Daddy instantly goes aggro and turns his grenade launcher on the room's Splicers, who return fire.

Meanwhile, we get on with our old tricks, hacking turrets and rearrang- ing trapbolts so they cross the Big Daddy's path. While we're at it, we nail a few Splicers with our Security power. Now the camera sees them as enemies and sends in the drones. Everyone is shooting everywhere but at us, giving us time to improvise some explosive devices. We telekinetically bond three grenades to a TNT barrel, then hurl the whole megaton mess at the Big Daddy. Booom!

He's just finished mopping up the last Splicer and now, half weakened, he's turned his red eyes on you. He blunders through trapbolts that ding his health meter. He approaches a pool of water. We think you know what to do next...

=

ELECGRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е www.1UP.com • 75

COVER STORY

they give you things steadily, and we follow that model."

Under pressure

That brings us back to where we started, taking stock of our powers, guns, and ammo to build a defensive perimeter against the encroaching Splícers. The only factor left to con- sider: the environment. Rapture's world works just like your own. Water conducts electricity. Objects and substances that logically seem flammable—oil slicks, books, stuffed animals, enemies—will burn. It makes for anything-goes gameplay that has the BioShock quality-assur- ance testers inventing impromptu attack strategies daily.

This is a shooter you play on your terms. “It’s like a game of roving boss battles,” says Levine. “You decide where to fight Splicers and Big Daddies in a level. You set up the ambush. You hack the security. You manipulate the А.1.5. The theme again is that everything is a weapon.”

Far be it from us to tell you how to use these weapons. The Splicers are nearly done blowtorching through the door. This fight is all you. 48.

Check EGM.1UP.com for a full

month of extra BioShock coverage, including gameplay videos, extended hands-on impressions, and much more.

№ Stop, drop, and ROFL: Splicers understand their environment, so they'll hunt for health stations when hurt and take a dip on hot days like the one above. Teach them a lesson in conductivity!

НЕ, HOW'S IT FLAY? ш We go hands-on with BioShock

With atmospheric visuals on par with Gears of War (BioShock uses a modified

version of that game's graphics engine) and a sea of character-customization

options and gameplay strategies, Irrational's underwater adventure certainly

astounds on paper. But all the nifty powers and Einstein АЛ. in the world won

save a shooter if its fundamentals are f'ed. > Fortunately, the developers designed this game to be a first-person shooter,

er, first. "It's just one where you can do all this other cool stuff,” says Irrational's >.

Ken Levine. Consequently, BioShock is on target with the things you'd expect.

Head shots do significantly more damage. The garaged-together guns have a

satisfyingly heavy feel when you fire them. You can lean around corners to survey *

an area for enemies before rushing in. You get a map, a journal of important story

points, and an onscreen mission arrow to keep from getting lost in Rapture's dark

and twisted structures. Aiming control did feel twitchy—not as finely tuned as in

triple-A shooters such as the Halo series—but Levine assures us we can tweak

sensitivity settings until the game feels just right.

We had other nits to pick. Why not let players unleash all of BioShock's pow- ers, weapons, and environmental-based killing strategies in a multiplayer mode? Why don't enemies you freeze and shatter with your Cryoshard power melt into pools of water (instead, the bits of ice just disappear)? To these gripes, Levine gives the same terse response: "BioShock 2."

76 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY-* www.1UP.corn E

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Resident Evil 4

Escape From Bug Isl;

84 Ninja Gaiden Sigma

86 Pirates of the Caribbi At World's End

88 Spider-Man 3

92 GrimGrimoire 92 Odin Sphere 93 SimCity DS

95 Final Fantasy

Quotient

97 Innocent Life: А Еши! Harvest Moon

98 Reviews Wrap-Up

NINJA-GAIDEN 5

and

ean:

89 WarTech: Senko no Ronde 90 Tomb Raider: Anniversary

94 Pokémon Diamond/Pearl

96 PQ2: Practical Intelligence

ristic

IGMA

> giant bug spray, archaic roleplay, harvesting hay, and rowdy seamen

Just look at that lineup. Are we going backward or something? It’s a remake special! And besides the recast Resident Evils, Ninja Gaidens, and Tomb Raiders, even Innocent Life is a Harvest Moon reimagining, just with a robo-boy looking for love (and the proper harvesting schedule) instead of a real one. Hmm...really? While it's fun to relive some of our favorite gaming moments, even more fun would be experiencing new ones...like with out- of-nowhere Game of the Month winner Odin Sphere. This 2D side-scroller RPG brawler (whew) impressively stole the thunder from even the Pokémon juggernaut, showing that the PS2 still has some juice. Also impressive: Half the games this month won awards—if you count Shame of the Month as an award...which | absolutely do. Kudos, Escape From Bug Island! Kudos.

— Greg Ford, Reviews Editor

80 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

| 10 to 9 | 8.5 to 7 6.5 to 5 4.5 to 3 2.5 to O

You can also find the lead

EGM review on 1UP.com. The second and third reviews—you'll find those here.

We dole out awards to games based on their scores. Platinum: all 10s; Gold: 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.

8

05

Want more? Looking for a review of a game we didn't have enough time or room for? We've got you covered. Check 1UP.com for all your up-to-date review needs. Bravo.

PAGE

Bug Island: B Stomp this stinker

Editor-in-Chief EGM's old grudge match with Halo developer Bungie recently got a Needler shot in the arm. New Halo 2 maps, the Halo 3 beta...EGM-Bungie relations are currently at an all-time low. See Shoe's April 25 blog post for all the details (and video!).

Now Playing: Halo 2, Halo 3 Blog:

Managii

She didn't find sunken treasure or Atlantis or even Nemo when she helped Crispin research this month's cover story, but Jennifer did learn one important fact: Dressing up like a Big Daddy scares the sea otters. Now Playing: Crackdown, Pokémon Diamond, PQ2

Blog:

Bryan surfs the Web in search of any info that'll give him the edge over fellow Pokémon trainer Shane. Listen to these grown men battle it out on the EGM Live* podcast, and then feel free to laugh at them (we do).

Now Playing: Dead Rising, Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Blog:

After seeing Spider-Man strut his sexy stuff on the silver screen, Michael decided to follow his lead out in the real world. The result? Uh, not so good. Our advice: Just stick to the game, kid.

Now Playing: Odin Sphere, Gears of War, Halo 3

Blog:

Having almost caught 'em

all, Jeremy needs only one more capture to complete his Pokédex: the elusive INTIHAR! It's a shy creature, but fierce when cornered. Shhh, be vewwy vewwy quiet...

Now Playing: Pokémon Pearl, Odin Sphere

Blog:

PAGE

Spider-Man: Third time’s no charm

THIS MONTH'S REVIEW CREW

Living proof that God has a goofy sense of humor

Just when he thought he was out, they pull Shane back in. Who? Those damned cuddly pocket monsters. Now, he can't rest until he catches 'em all (and makes rival trainer Bryan cry). Now Playing: Pokémon Pearl, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Planet Puzzle League, Uncharted

Blog:

Never let it be said that EGM editors are afraid to go deep for a cover story. Crispin got the bends, nitrogen narcosis, and one wicked case of Jacques Cousteau beanie rash researching BioShock at 20 fathoms. Must...get...ointments. ing: Puzzle Quest

Getting intimate with New York City's tiniest details is never easy for a die-hard Red Sox fan, especially during baseball season. But that's the sacrifice Greg made for the GTA4 preview. At least Yankee Stadium isn't іп the game... yet. Now Playing: Pokémon Pearl Blog:

Hoping to compete with this summer's epic lineup of block- buster films, EGM decided to beef up its advertising. Brooks drew the shortest straw, hence his predicament. But what he doesn't know is that they were all short straws. Sucker.

Now Playing: Punch-Out!! (Wii) Blog:

Now that Sony's figured out

the whole playing PS1 games on PSP and PS3 thing, Joe's turned back to his trusty PSP to catch up on some older games. Unfortunately, there appear to be a few kinks left to work out. Now Playing: PQ2, Cooking Mama: Cook Off, Carcassonne Blog:

Raider: Too young for a face-lift?

Sam Kennedy

Garnett Lee 1 Editor

James “Milkman” ке

Р.сот

Jenn Егап!

Demian Linn а Prod

Andrew Fitch

Greg Sewart

Nick Suttner

Todd Zuniga

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 81

RESIDENT EVIL 4

E Publisher: Capcom № Developer: Capcom № Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Mature

The best Resident Evil on Wii? Sounds good! Fussy con- trols = No joy Intense waggling replaces button mashing

What are you buying...for a third time?

By now, you must know that RE4 completely rocks—it was ЕСМ” 2005 Game of the Year, after all—so | won't waste your time by extolling its many virtues here. And even if you're a vet of the GC and PS2 outings, this Wii-make offers something new: RE4 action mapped to near-first-person-shooter-style con- trols. But moving your character with the Nunchuk's analog stick doesn't aim, it only moves your field of view, with enemies often out of view unless you wave the Remote around, hold- ing B while pressing A to shoot. Essentially, it's more complicated than it sounds, which saps some of the fun out of it. The “Separate Ways” missions that first appeared in the PS2 version are intact and practically

82 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

constitute a whole new game, which means fans aren't getting cheated, especially considering the $30 price point. But it's amazing how a game that once looked so good can look so dated after a couple years of seeing games in high-def.

Milky's right on the visu- als—RE4 may have lost that “holy Рта s***” wow factor, but the sharp graphics still ably support its other awesome features: an engaging story, a deeply rewarding character and weapon upgrade system, and a truly creepy atmosphere no other game can match. Though they suffer a bit when things get hectic, the Wii-mote- enabled controls generally serve RE4 well: Aiming weapons, swiping your

knife, and shaking off face-sucking nasties with real-world moves adds urgency to an already incredibly intense experience.

Unlike Milky, | never complained about the newfangled gameplay. In fact, 1 actually found the Wii's point-and-shoot controls made gunning down Ganados a helluva lot easier than before...maybe too еазу— 1 breezed through tough parts that originally pissed me off in the previous versions. But | will find time to chew out Capcom for not includ- ing anything new in this old (but still amazing) game. Is it that hard to throw in some extra costumes or weapons? Hell no! Well, at least the cheapo price tag takes away some of that pain. жа.

Fun,

schlocky concept

Ugly graphics, frustrating controls, and more!

The canine men...get ‘em a mask!

Bring on the exterminator

Well, | suppose our luck was bound to run out. After two very good tongue-in-cheek campy experi- ences—Grindhouse in theaters, Earth Defense Force 2017 on XB360— Escape From Bug Island squashes the good will with steel-heeled authority.

This survival-horror adventure game follows the path of one Ray, who's trying to figure out what the deal is on an island of overgrown insects. Sound premise for some kitschy B-movie- style fun, sure, but what EDF does so right (simple, responsive controls that make killing hundreds of mindless enemies fun), Bug Island mutilates. Antiquated tank controls (you turn your body before moving forward rather than pressing a direction to run) often make the simple act of moving a chore, and sluggish attack motions (hold a button then swing the Remote, or hold two buttons then swing for thrown weapons) mean deadly crit- ters will be all over you as you flail the wrong way.

And the game's twist will excite only fans of backtracking, who, as far as | know, don't actually exist. Bug Island has plenty more wrong with it, as you can see by the screens on this page, but that just leaves these other two reviewers something to chew on.

*Такв a combination Of OF

on campus clas 0 =

lins College i is accredited by the Accrediti ayailable for those wholiqu

Greg, Greg, Greg... complaining about the horrendous controls and frustrating combat?

It's called Escape From Bug Island, Greg— "Escape," not “Fight.” The game never gives you a reason to attack monsters (save a handful of bosses), so | think you're supposed to just run from everything instead. Fun! And the crappy cut-scenes

and laughable dialogue? That's the developers telling you to skip the hor- rible story as well. Yippee! No, what Bug Island does well is the balancing minigame that appears whenever you cross a log bridge...come in expect- ing anything more (like a half-decent survival-horror game for the Wii), and you will be sorely disappointed.

I'm the kind of guy who's endlessly amused by the Japanization

ESCAPE FROM BUG ISLAND

Ш Publisher: Eidos Ш Developer: Spike W Players: 1 B ESRB: Mature

of cheesy American action flicks and horror movies (see Resident Evil). But even | can't recommend Bug Island as anything more than a kitsch party game in between Wii Sports and WarioWare sessions (take a swig of your beverage of choice every time Road House reject Mike disturbingly points his shotgun at your in-game love interest).

Still, the game’s not quite as unplay- able as these other two suggest. Yes, the controls are “old school” (to be kind), but they’re not much worse than most pre-RE4 survival-horror games. My main problem’s with the lack of variety: Ray’s got an astounding total of four offensive attacks: high, medi- um, and low—plus the long-range “hurl rocks at a bug’s face” option. Bug Islana’s not exactly horrible...it’s just horribly repetitive.

"о по College

1140 South Priest Drive, Tempe, Arizona 85281

800-728-4500 ^ wwW.collinscollege.edu

Animation by Aaron Fr

NINJA GAIDEN SIGMA

E Publisher: Тесто № Developer: Team Ninja № Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Mature

Most pol- ished, value-added version to date

Feels a tad antiquated and glitchy

Rachel's idle anima- tion

Wait...ninjas do Botox now?

When | originally reviewed Tecmo’s genre-redefining action- adventure for Xbox (way back in EGM #178), | honestly gushed, “Гуе never played a prettier game.” Well, times change...and modern games such as Gears of War and Lair clearly push the graphical envelope far beyond Team Ninja’s stunning last-gen achieve- ment. It’s impressive, though, that the visuals in this remake can still hang tough on PlayStation 3—thanks to some expert nip/tuck artistry, Ryu Hayabusa’s adventure looks sexier than ever. It’s a shame, then, that weird glitches (sync problems that make the screen “tear” when the camera moves, odd bouts of loading, even in combat) make it feel a bit like a slapdash port.

84 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com

Luckily, the fantastically deep. gameplay overshadows any visual hic- cups. Returning vets will adore Ryu's new toys (eviscerating enemies with dual katanas feels particularly brutal), and busty Rachel's all-new levels deliver an obscenely violent change of pace. Genuinely new content doesn't abound, but Sigma remains such an expansive, challenging, and well- paced thrill ride that you won't care.

Ditto on the graphics. Even with those strange visual miscues, Sigma looks significantly better than both Xbox installments. But it's the brilliant gameplay that keeps Ryu at the top of the action crowd. The com- bat is extremely fast and fluid, and the formidable enemies force you to fight

smarter. As far as the new stuff goes, though, I’m not impressed. The Rachel sections feel like an afterthought, and the pointless tilt controls (shaking the joypad to boost magic attacks) make me wonder why they bothered.

This being my first tour through this order, | had high expec- tations...and came away mostly impressed. Like these guys say, the fighting engine is divine. The graceful combat (minus some occasional iffy targeting) makes you appreciate the art of the counterattack. What you won't appreciate, though, is the god- awful camera, which bogs down every big battle with bouts of babysitting. Given the game’s age, though, the rest holds up remarkably well. ж

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THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10)

BROOKS:

6.0

AVERAGE

The Good: Detailed

environments, a spot-

on Jack Sparrow The Bad: Pirates can't swim Dirtiest Power-up Name in a Disney Game: Jackanism

Yo ho ho and a bottle of ho-hum

+ BROOKS: When it comes to sum- mertime pirating fun, At World's End gets a little too close to walking the plank for our liking, though it has

its good points. The attention to detail—such as the rowdy pirates in Port Royal or Jack Sparrow's inebri- ated mannerisms—is spot-on with the films. It's painful, then, that the swashbuckling combat (if you can call it that) consists of only a few simple Sword swipes that don't always feel responsive when you try to pull them off. And why does every enemy sol- dier/barman/sea crony turn his back after only two sword clinks? Such antics cause some serious déjà vu: attack, attack [enemy turns his back], attack, and he drops. Simple? Yes. Fun? Well, if repetition is your thing.

Heatstroke

Boss battles manage to shake things up with some 1-on-1 duels. These battles are a more close-up, concentrated form of combat, but again, the long pauses between attacks and dodges kill the flow. Exploration-based puzzles break up the sword-swinging, but they're more of a burden than pleasure, forcing you to scrounge far and wide for a few hidden rum bottles.

+ JOE: At World's End poses so many burning questions. Why, for example, am | allowed to use my sword in some parts of town but not others? Why does the game insist on telling me in the most ridiculously explicit detail where to go next? And why, in the name of all the gods of the deep, is

XB360/PS3

CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END

W Publisher: Disney Interactive № Developer: Eurocom W Players: 1-2 Ш ESRB: Teen

legendary pirate Jack Sparrow allergic (yeah, even unto death) to water? The developers got so many of the visual details dead-on...didn't they think that maybe the gameplay should be at least marginally decent too?

+ GREG S: Outside of my esteemed colleagues’ complaints—which | agree with wholeheartedly—the thing that keeps sticking with me in At World’s End is how incredibly quiet Capt. Jack has become. While nothing’s going to make this dreadfully straightforward, mediocre action game great, more quips from our hero and his compan- ions would have at least given the game more personality and thus made it a wee more compelling. But as it is, all it's got going for it are the graphics.

With several movie-based videogames falling short for yet another summer (see Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End), here are four flicks coming out over the next few months that we think would've had a better chance for virtual success...

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM A highly trained operative on the run uses everything and anything in the environment to avoid his pursuers. No, we're not recapping the new Splinter Cell game (check out our preview on pg. 24). That just happens to be the basic prem- ise of the Bourne trilogy, which concludes this August with the release of Ultimatum. Now, if such a scenario is good enough for Sam Fisher’s developers, don’t you think Universal Pictures should’ve capitalized on bringing Jason Bourne (played by Matt “Do you like apples?” Damon) to a console in addition to theaters? We’d even settle for Ben Affleck.

28 WEEKS LATER

Uh, hello? Packs of rage-filled zombies (and we're not talking Night of the Living Dead-style shambling wrecks here—28 Weeks' infected undead haul ass like Olympic sprinters) chasing the first flick's survivors through the dreary streets of London? Making a game based on this follow-up to 2002’s surprise hit 28 Days Later sure sounds like a no-brainer

of a videogame to us. And just imagine the online multiplayer possibilities—we're thinking along the lines of those Resident Evil Outbreak (PS1) games, only fun. Quick, someone fill these T-Virus canisters with Monkey Virus.

86 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

STARDUST

While Harry Potter and friends receive the videogame treatment again in Order of the Phoenix, may we suggest the same for another epic fantasy: Stardust. This tale (based on Sandman author Neil Gaiman's novel) has it all: dashing heroes, teeth-gnash- ing witches, elves...and a gay pirate? Robert De Niro, arguably the greatest living actor, assumes the supporting role of the swash- buckling fancy-pants Captain Shakespeare. Ah, we can see it now: Tingle (of Zelda fame) ver- sus De Niro in a battle for the big- gest fruit in gaming. Our money's still on Tingle.

HAIRSPRAY

Now, when you start getting cast as an overweight momma (when in real life you're a dude), does that mean your acting career is on the rise or heading into the crap- per? Either way, we think John Travolta's role as the jovial Edna Turnblad would make for one helluva boss fight in a videogame. Just look at him...er, we mean her...him...her...whatever. And call us crazy, but we see this fitting

in perfectly on Wii: all the non- traditional gamers who swooned over Cooking Mama's thrilling sno-cone level would surely enjoy a waggle-based beehive hairdo styling session.

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SPIDER-MAN 3

№ Publisher: Activision Ш Developer: Treyarch № Players: 1 № ESRB: Teen

Looks all right for a PS2 game, webslinging still fun

It's not a goddamn PS2 game, the voice acting

Slinging MJ across town

88 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • ww

With great graphical power comes great graphical responsibility

| can only imagine what

Uncle Ben would say if he had picked up Spider-Man 3: "You're on next-gen platforms now, Spidey, and you sure as hell don't look it.” You know that “PS2 game with shiny characters” look that plagues PS3 and 360 ports? It's dripping all over this webslinging- filled action game. That, and vicious slowdown when you break objects.

The rest of the game is a pretty straight-up combination of the bet- ter bits of Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man (which isn’t a bad thing, but we expect more), except with absolutely punishing quick-time but- ton-pressing events. A, B...ugh! A, B, Up...damn! A, B, Up, X...f***! Апа with each failure we get an unskip- pable cut-scene during which Tobey

w.1UP.com

Maguire sleep-talks through the same stupid line for the dozenth time.

Sharkey seems to have woken up on the wrong side of the web. PS2 graphics? Really? Despite some objects popping in, this PS3/ XB360 version of Manhattan looks great. The story may be more comic book than movie (think rampant liz- ards, mad bombers, and a gang of Gothic Lolitas), but the action is all here, and mission variety abounds. Webslingin' remains the selling point, but the combat—although built from the ground up for this game—still consists of random button mashing. Also, those quick-time events aren't that horrible, but they certainly falter next to those of God of War.

As these two debate the game's graphics (for the record, I'm more in Sharkey's camp), allow me to tell you about the unbalanced boss fights. Even with the improved com- bat system, you'll actually dish out little damage, which drags out these encounters (those infuriating but- ton-press sequences don't help here, either...sorry, Brooks). And while | enjoy the mission diversity, | was hop- ing for a livelier metropolis. | know if | saw my friendly neighborhood Spider- Man swingin’ by, battlin’ some foes, | wouldn’t just stand there nonchalantly. Ра point, scream...do something! ЖЕ

Even wannabe heroes need a hand. If you need help keeping MJ happy, hit up our SuperGuide at EGM.1UP.com,

»9 Xbox 360

№ Hey, robo-fattie on the | right—how about you stop hitting the bolt buffet?

WARTECH: SENKO

NO RONDE

W Publisher: Ubisoft B Developer: G-Rev № Players: 1-2 Ш ESRB: Teen

Would be at home on Dreamcast

+ MATT: Remember back when it was acceptable for a console game to be 20 min- utes long because it was an arcade port? You know, before things like cheap, simple Live Arcade games and $60 retail 360 games made the concept look silly. WarTech: Senko no Ronde is dated in this respect, offering a con- tent-light 2D shooter as a "full priced" game.

But calling it a 2D shooter is oversimplify- ing things. In fact, it's arguably not even 2D. Basically, it’s a 1-on-1 competitive shooter, with 2D gameplay and 3D graphics, set up like a typical fighting game. Neat concept, and it executes it decently, with a good variety of characters, distinct attacks, and fun special moves/boss attacks that add some strategy to the action. But the controls aren't as twitch- friendly and built for quick movements as you might imagine, so matches often boil down to each player throwing up as many bullet walls as pos- sible until one player hap- pens to absorb enough damage to lose.

THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10)

+ SAM: As a fan of both shooters and fight- ers, | dig the shooter-fighter mashup con- cept—it's just a shame that it really doesn't work as well as you'd imagine. The game's a bit too chaotic and inexact, and | kept thinking I'd much rather be playing a dedicated shooter or fighter. That, and like Matt says, the price

is nuts. For $60 bucks you can find a lot bet- ter games—shooter, fighter, or otherwise—to spend your dough on. The novelty’s fun for a while, but that’s about it.

+ DEMIAN: Yeah, I'm going to have to go ahead and be the echo on this one: interesting concept, less interesting execution, and defi- nitely far too expensive. As a fighting game, WarTech is light on the moves and strategic depth; likewise, as a shooter, it’s way too short, and when your opponent launches a hail of bullets in your direction, your best bet is to simply hit the shield button rather than try to dance through a seam in it. | can’t stand the art style, either—sure, the paint-by-numbers (big-eyed/busty/Hot Topic outfits) anime char- acters are one thing, but a robot with bunny ears and a purse? Not on my futuristic inter- stellar battleground!

The Good: Little else like this out there The Bad: It moves slower than you'd expect Online: We didn't get to try it yet, but we'll let you know next month if it has any problems

4-DVD SET

You've played the video games, read the comics and watched the feature

film until your eyes bled. But your Sonic The Hedgehog fandom cannot truly be an obsession without this 4-DVD Collectors’ box set of the afternoon TV series. It’s juiced up with a printable script of the pilot episode, storyboards and more. “Way Past Cool!”

SHOUT

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Unorthodox health

Mario series What kind of message was Nintendo sending when it reward- ed snackage on 'shrooms?

Final Fight Dining off the ground may sound rank, but remember: Eat it within five seconds, and it's all good!

Chronicles of Riddick (XB) OK, seriously, would you stick your neck there? Anyone?

Halo 2 (XB) They say the best offense is a good defense, so sit back, enjoy the view, and charge that suit.

Grand Theft Auto ІП (PS2/XB) When the cars started rockin', the politicians came a-knockin'.

90 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

TOMB RAIDER:

ANNIVERSARY

W Publisher: Eidos B Developer: Crystal Dynamics W Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Teen

A worthy celebration

Wow. Crystal Dynamics isn't messing around with this whole Tomb Raider thing. Anniversary is an excellent reimagining of the original game, with some gorgeous settings, clever level design, and even a fair share of reasonably challenging puzzles. Like Legend before it, it feels almost as much like an homage to Prince of Persia as to the original Tomb Raider, but that's a good thing; Lara was always meant to be as acrobatic as we see her here. In fact, Anniversary feels like the game Tomb Raider was supposed to be all along. An occasionally squirrelly camera and infrequent control issues mar the overall package...but the problem is, by the end of the game, when things start getting really ridiculously difficult, the camera and unreli-

able controls become fairly significant. Overall, though, Anniversary's a fine showing, an excellent Service to fans, and proof that the series is back on the right track for real.

РИ до Joe one further: Anniversary

sets the standard for remaking classic games. Reliving the signature moments here delivers the same thrills as a decade ago, not because the developers exactingly re-created the origi- nal, but because they used the new engine to create a vision that lives up to my fond memo- ries. The PS2 manages the requisite natural lighting and lush details—if only the broader vistas didn't cause the game to sputter. I'll accept the technological limitations and han- dle the camera, though, to get to the game's feeling of isolation, exploration, and wonder.

Checking out Lara Croft in the original Tomb Raider today is like looking at the yearbook photo of your acid-washed, feathered-haired high school sweetheart and thinking, “I thought she was hot?” But playing the bargain-priced Anniversary is like finding out that ex-girlfriend is now a runway model. This game is beautiful—and it respects your nostalgia with clever reimaginings of famous encounters (like the T-Rex) and puzzles (such as the Sword of Damocles). Control feels loose—off-kilter leaps killed me more than anything—but I'll take it over the original's rigid grid-based system any day.

Gorgeous levels, interesting puzzles Squirrelly camera and controls Good thing load times are fairly minimal

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HANDS-ON

MELB Le

THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10)

GREG'S:

6.0

AVERAGE

6.0

AVERAGE

ITCH:

The Good: Beautiful visuals

The Bad: Superrepetitive gameplay

J.K. Rowling Called: She wants her story back

Harry Potter Gone Wild

+ GREG S: This 2D side-scrolling real- time-strategy game (as opposed to the typical overhead view you see in these resource-managing games) is a real departure for publisher NIS, which is better known for so-deep-you'll- drown Japanese RPGs. And it's also a tad disappointing. Not because it's pretty shallow, but because it lacks any multiplayer options (a no-no in this genre) and is superrepetitive. Even as you progress and unlock new skills, the game is never really compelling. Unless, of course, you're a Harry Potter fan. Lillet Blan's adventures at magic school and the characters she meets parallel the story of the "boy who lived" so completely that it's almost creepy—right down to an object called the “Philosopher’s

Stone." This is what Harry Potter would have been had it been written as a daytime soap.

GrimGrimoire is fun at first, but not in the same league as developer Vanillaware's Odin Sphere (see below).

+ ВАУ: I’m not a huge RTS con- noisseur, but | have a good idea of what works. And | know that viewing GrimGrimoire's action from the side (rather than overhead) isn't very help- ful. To the developers' credit, the con- trol scheme cleverly handles selecting crowds of units, but it still ends up cumbersome and never as fast as a traditional RTS. Sure, it's gorgeous, but this game deserves a high-def presentation, or at least a system that can handle all of those 2D sprites.

GAME OF THE MONTH

THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10)

‘AL FITCH: 8 е 5 ‘GOOD: MICHAEL:

. EXCELLENT:

JEREMY:

9.0

EXCELLENT:

The Good: Old- school Super NES- style action

The Bad: Old-school slowdown

Good Lord: Odin's

а demon here, not

а god

yar

Valkyrie in profile

+A. FITCH: Gorgeous hand-drawn art straight out of a medieval storybook. A soaring musical score by the famed composer of Final Fantasy Tactics. Charming storytelling elements clearly inspired by Norse mythology and the Brothers Grimm's classic fairy tales. Yes, it’s safe to say that Odin Sphere, a 2D side-scrolling action-RPG that feels like a “lost” Super NES title, might cause a fair bit of excitement for the more Japanophilic among us. True to its fairy-tale inspiration, the game unfolds as five separate “books” read by a little girl, the first of which centers on a Valkyrie princess—l'd actually have preferred a choice of the five protagonists, as her tale is the least interesting by far. The four brilliant subsequent stories more than

92 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

" 1

Paypher gauge foll

К ty 5 i: S ODIN 4/4 & SPHERE

Bi Publisher: Atlus Ш Developer: Vanillaware Wi Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Teen

make up for this tepid start, though, and all of the characters control dif- ferently enough that the game never devolves into tedium. Take the time to savor Odin Sphere—they don't make too many like it anymore.

+ MICHAEL: Whoever said 2D is dead neglected to kill off this beauty. What Odin Sphere gives up in geometry it makes up for with its insane amount of detail—the characters, enemies, and backgrounds are crafted with such intricate care that it's a miracle it even runs on the PS2 (some bosses absolutely slaughter the game with slowdown). Apart from this nagging issue (what do you expect—it js a 2D game), the experience is consistently exciting. Cutting up the story into five

PlayStation 2

GRIM- GRIMOIRE

Ш Publisher: NIS America Ш Developer: Vanillaware № Players: 1 № ESRB: Everyone 10+

ФА. FITCH: Not in the same league as the rest of NIS' library, eh, Greg? You mean recent clichéd mediocrity like Ar tonelico and Atelier Iris? I'll gladly take Grim over those, thanks. No, the game doesn't totally solve the problem of how to do RTS on a console, but with its 2D, teleport-any- where-on-the-map gameplay, it ends up surprisingly playable.

Greg's spot-on in pegging this as a Harry Potter clone, though (well, aside from Grim's weirdly sapphic undertones). Sure, most games are hardly original, but Grim borders on criminal—literally! A Snape-like pro- fessor who, we're assured, isn't evil? “Gammel Dore" as bearded headmas- ter instead of Dumbledore? Uh, get your legal team ready, NIS.

PlayStation 2

bite-sized bits is a brilliant idea, too— just when you get bored, you’re given а new character to chow down on.

+ JEREMY: If Odin Sphere had to get by on its good looks, it would still be one of the most compelling games of the year—its hand-drawn artwork is so beautiful that you have to wonder why people ever made such a fuss about polygons.

And happily, the game has far more to recommend it than simple visual panache; Odin Sphere’s an inven- tive fusion of RPG and brawler. Once you get the hang of brewing potions and growing sheep trees in the thick of battle, you'll find a surprisingly deep adventure and a gripping story. Simply amazing.

5 1948 $ 70,000 Е ке)

Mayor! Rs reported, is on the verge of an economic collapse!

SIMCITY DS

E Publisher: Electronic Arts ¥ Developer: EA Japan Bi Players: 1 Ш ESRB: Everyone

- Civic Panel - Place «Police, Fire Stations», and other vital buildings.

Red-tagged by the building inspector

Impressively, this miniaturized version of SimCity packs nearly every classic aspect of raising a bustling metropolis from the bare ground. After tracing out roadways and zoning a few parcels, | watched with anticipation as the buildings sprung up. And then the reality of actually playing SimCity on a DS set in. Because neither of the two zoom levels work well, construction planning really built up my frustration. | was ready to throw up my hands trying to play anywhere other than sitting still; even the slightest bump made it impossible to be accurate with the stylus.

Still, that unique SimCity urban-planning pride kicked in when my burg started grow- ing, but the high faded awfully fast. Never have the DS screens felt so small; even the

largest buildings lack

the details key to their charming appeal. Take this as a reminder that just because you can

put SimCity on the DS doesn't mean you should.

| completely agree. Part of the series"

charm is watching your town come to life. Everything's so tiny and blurry on the DS, however—so never mind that for this particular SimCity. But for an on-the-go city-manage- ment simulator, this version is really robust: It's got budget sheets, graphs, too-talkative advisers with different personalities, and lots of special buildings to research and discover (including some sci-fi-themed ones). SimCity DS is deeper than | would've expected, but those annoying citizens that are constantly asking me to build random things (that aren't really helping the city) have got to go away.

It's indeed impressive that EA has shrunk down such a complex game without dumbing it down, but having to regularly hit the “Undo” button due to imprecise touches and a janky camera sucks out some of the fun. | didn't have as much of a problem with the visuals as my compadres, but | can definitely relate to the headache of having to sit through the whiny requests of my tiny denizens just in case they offer something important. SimCity's still a uniquely addictive experience when everything's clicking, but the DS just isn't the best medium for burgeoning city planners.

Big-city sim in a pint-sized package Never has the DS felt so small Only enough room for one saved city at a time

Great games starting at just

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DIAMOND/PEARL

№ Publisher: Nintendo Ш Developer: Game Freak Ш Players: 1-2 Ш ESRB: Everyone

THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10)

+ JEREMY: I’ve never been much for Pokémon, being older than the target audience and having little patience

for compulsive level grinding. But Diamond/Pearl has me hooked— which is strange, because it's not terribly different from its predecessors. But the latest generation of Nintendo's monster-collecting-and-battling RPG finally demonstrates enough polish and depth to feel rewarding. And real- ly, this is probably the best time to get hooked; Diamond/Pearl carries over all the refinements of the earlier games, upgrades the graphics, and features online battling. Head-to-head wire- less fights aren't new to the series, but being able to wipe the floor with

JEREMY:

8.5

GOOD: SHANE:

9.0

EXCELLENT:

BRYAN:

8.5

GOOD:

The Good: Tons of small refinements, online battles

The Bad: Let's ditch the friend codes, OK?

Familiarity: AMET Ultimately more of someone's Pikachu from across the the same country (or across the globe) is sweet

94 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

satisfaction. Pokéfanatics would be snapping this up regardless of its quality, so it sure was nice of Nintendo to make it the best Pokémon yet.

+ SHANE: If you've been enjoying Nintendo’s whimsical take on cock- fighting for the last 10 years, you won't have any trouble snuggling up. to Diamond/Pearl—like Jeremy says, this DS installment introduces plenty of subtle refinements to create the ulti- mate Pokémon RPG. While only true Pokémaniacs will appreciate the effect that differentiating normal-attack and special-attack stats has on gameplay, even casual trainers can marvel at the unexpectedly robust online options (although friend codes still suck, of course). Ultimately, it’s another addic-

Ш Well, for starters, he’s gotta pop that whitehead.

A diamond and pearl are everyone’s best friend

tive treadmill of a game that offers nearly limitless replayability and depth.

+ BRYAN: I’m right there with ya, guys. The game's still-solid turn-based battles, new online features (anyone out there willing to trade a Squirtle?), and graphical face-lift make this the best Pokémon adventure in a long while. But | gotta say, I’m bummed the DS touch screen didn’t come more into play (think Pokémon Ranger... except fun) during skirmishes. Still, it's another pocket-monster blockbust- er—now when will Nintendo bring this exact formula to a console? sh

Still having trouble catching them all, Poindexter? Then head to on over to EGM.1UP.com to see our SuperGuide.

FINAL FANTASY

п Publisher: Square Enix № Developer: Square Enix E Players: 1 № ESRB: Everyone 10+

How to regift an anniversary present

Fresh-faced Final Fantasy devotees will surely enjoy this umpteenth remake of the game that launched a million cosplay and fan-fiction atrocities, yet for oldsters like me who foggily recall questing through the original NES version, this latest rerelease feels a tad inessential. Distressingly little effort went into crafting this anniversary package: Square Enix merely cobbled together aspects from the PS1 and GBA remakes, touched up the graphics with high-resolution art, and added one new, ultra-difficult dungeon at game's end.

But it's hard to stay mad at this RPG rerun— at least it's an enjoyable romp that remains surprisingly engaging 20 years later. Although purists will decry the seriously rebalanced dif- ficulty (like the GBA version, this is a cakewalk

compared to the original), the modernization makes for a far smoother, low- impact turn-based RPG experience that actually invites replay thanks to its party customization. The $30 asking price feels a tad steep, but most FF fans will get their money's

worth...the same can't be said of the immi- nently avoidable FFI] PSP rehash due in July.

Shane must be an easy date. l've been with Final Fantasy since the start, and there's no way I’m putting up with this lame excuse for an anniversary gift. The too- easy GBA Dawn of Souls game gets clum- sily animated new graphics and a borrowed soundtrack? That's not a celebration; it's an amateur RPG Maker project. Sure, the under- lying game is still pretty decent, but seeing this junky face-lift on PSP screams "waste of potential.” I'd rather pretend the upcoming Tactics remake is the real 20-year tribute.

Jeez, Jeremy...way to ruin our nice anniversary party. Yeah, this is obviously an easy cash-in for Square Enix, but the not- So-epic adventure is one of the best role-play- ing games currently out for the PSP (which is pretty sad considering how crusty this game is). And since | finally got around to playing this for the first time, | didn't mind the minor gripes these guys are yapping about. But the ridiculous number of random battles did annoy me—this really needed an autoattack button.

Best-looking version of FFI ever Not a particularly value-added package Is this Final Fantasy: Large Print Edition?

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DIGITAL ANIMATION DIGITAL ART AND DESIGN DIGITAL VIDEO NETWORK SECURITY GAME DESIGN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ARTIFICIAL LIFE PROGRAMMING WEB ARCHITECTURE COMPUTER FORENSICS ROBOTICS

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my

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THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10)

JOE

9.5

EXCELLENT.

è EXCELLENT:

The Good: Almost limitless replay value The Bad: The hard puzzles are really hard

Favorite New Feature: Glass blocks

PSP

Your turn, Mr. Smarty-pants

+ JOE: If you ask me, PQ2 is simply one of the best puzzle games on PSP, and possibly beyond. But it's not for the faint of heart; while scrambling to complete 100 puzzles in the five-hour time limit, you may end up feeling like a complete idiot. Do not be alarmed; this is normal. PQ2's nefarious puzzles of logic and spatial reasoning are like visual riddles, designed specifically to make you feel stupid until you finally "get it," at which point you'll feel stu- pid for not getting it sooner. It is, after all, just moving blocks around (some with special abilities) to find a path to the exit. How hard can it be? Plenty hard. What's more, a constant stream of user-created levels traded online guarantees the inferiority complex should persist indefinitely. If you like

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а cerebral challenge, you won't find anything much better. But if you look to games to turn off your brain, you'll hate this one with a passion.

+ GREG S: | guess | must be turn- ing off my brain when | play games, because I'm not nearly as enamored with PQ2 as Joe up there. The game is a decent puzzler, but not Earth- shattering. | do really dig the puzzle- creation aspect, though. The interface is a tiny bit confusing at first—what with having to pop up a whole new menu before switching out different pieces and all—but once you get past the initial stumbling blocks, it's quite easy and rewarding. And being able to share your creations with the rest of... well, creation? That's just the icing on

PQ2: INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT

№ Publisher: D3Publisher Ш Developer: Nowproduction № Players: 1 № ESRB: Everyone

PRACTICAL

the cake. It gives PQ2 unlimited replay value, assuming a decent community Springs up around the game.

“¥ TODD: Greg “The Brainiac” Sewart has never been mistaken for some- one with his neocortex turned on, so it’s no surprise this one didn’t wake his synapses. I’m 2,000 percent with Joe here. PQ2 kicked my ass—and brain—in a million different directions, but | loved how it made me feel idiotic one second, then Einsteinian the next. The puzzles are inventive, brain-bend- ing, and unique (and about 87 out of 100 are very challenging). Brain Age

is the type of game that makes you react; this is a game that makes you think—and even punishes trial and error (which | found out the hard way).

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NG CHAMPIONSHIP

INNOCENT LIFE: A FUTURISTIC

Gayak: And.on the 6th day, they Пе readyito be harvested!

HARVEST MOON

Ш Publisher: Natsume Ш Developer: Art

И Players: 1 № ESRB: Everyo

Sowing the seeds of mediocrity

NN Е: Innocent Life is different from the average agrarian simula- tion, ostensibly because it's set in the

future. As a neo-Pinocchio robo-boy, you are tasked with renovating ancient ruins into a giant farm.

As you cultivate your farm and make friends with the townsfolk, your "human" abilities (like cooking and loving!) slowly improve. But farming can be tedious, and in some ways, this is a game of order and protocol. Worse, | could never seem to “aim” my actions (hammering, watering, hoeing!) where | wanted.

The game itself is lovely, very pen- sive and philosophical—and really Slow. At the outset | was just bored, but as | unlocked more areas and possibilities, | appreciated being able

to spend more time doing the sorts of things that appealed to me, being able to plan and spend my days as I wanted. I'm glad | kept at it, because Innocent Life gradually blossoms into a deep, contemplative experience.

ER: Harvest Moon isn't for everyone, with its inscrutable game- play and glacial pacing; a farming

game only works if it doesn't feel like,

y’know, farming. | hoped by now this franchise would have figured out a way to make watering and harvesting crops more fun and less labor-inten- Sive. And while | appreciate that the manual actually offers great tips and strategy, | have to wonder why they didn't put that useful info into the game itself. Too much of the good

MIDNIGHTGAMINGCHAMPIONSHIP.COM

stuff (unlocking new areas, upgrading equipment, and raising livestock) hap- pens either by accidental discovery or hours into the game—after most people will have lost interest.

M zL: Jenn isn't the only one who can't water crops correctly—my idiot bot must not have installed his eyes, because he couldn't aim in a straight line, either. | also agree with these gals on the pacing—the game starts off way too slow (though || admit it does get better), with tons of monotonous tasks that don't make farming seem fun in any way. But the "future" theme annoys me the most. Seriously, making the main character a robot doesn't change the fact that we've harvested this moon before.

LIP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START AIN'T GONNA SAVE YOU NOW.

THE DARKNESS

№ Publisher: 2K Games № ESRB: Mature

Chronicles of Riddick maker Starbreeze puts Vin Diesel on the sidelines to bring another bad boy to your console, the possessed mobster Jackie Estacado. The first-person- shooting portions are merely standard fare, but it’s Jackie's demonic side that'll grab ya. His powerful tentacles can toss vehicles as easily as foes, and if you're really in a jam, you can always call out some creepy helper darklings to saw off an enemy's head.

If Starbreeze can tighten up the controls, make this hit No. 2 for the developer. Expect a full review next issue.

SHADOWRUN

Ш Publisher: Microsoft Ш ESRB: Mature

While FASA Studio might not have delivered a true RPG sequel to the Shadowrun games of yore, it's crafted a uniquely compelling team-based first-person shooter, laden with life-giving trees, teleporting, and all sorts of other genre firsts. The learning curve is more of a learning sheer wall due to the complex- ity of choices and the rock-paper-scissors relationship between them, but if you put in the time and find the right group of people to play with, you'll have some fun.

If you can learn its intrica-

cies (easier said than done), you'll love it. We'll let you know if we do next month.

98 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

TENCHU Z

Ш Publisher: Microsoft № ESRB: Mature

The series that helped jump-start the stealth- action genre but then did nothing to advance it over the ensuing 10ish years is now on the 360, and...yeeeah. Pretty much the usual Tenchu. Slinking around as a ninja, one- button stealth kills, guards that forget about you moments after you're out of sight—oh, but now if you jump in a cesspool, the rank, green cloud around you will tip off the sniff- sensitive sentries. Progress!

This series needs a ground-up remake, and if you think the 360 debut would be a good time for it, you prob- ably don’t call the shots over at Tenchu HQ.

COOKIE & CREAM

Ш Publisher: Agetec Ш ESRB: Everyone

The DS version of the hopping dynamic duo's adventures has been watered down for a more single-user-friendly experience. Translation: less brain strain here. The splitscreen is now horizontal, thus removing the PS2 version's notorious simultaneous play mechanic. Instead, you trigger Cream only during key moments of a stage—which prompts WarioWare-style minigames.

Some puzzles demand simultaneous use of the touch screen and Shoulder buttons, but it's not as complex as the PS2 game's split-screen stuff. Wireless co-op and battle modes are fun for a bit.

Мате

Pokémon Diamond

Would you believe the two. new Pokémons garnered half a million preorders and have sold over 5 million units worldwide? Pokéfever indeed.

Pokémon Pearl

Super Paper Mario

Guitar Hero И

God of War И

Guitar Hero Il

The PS2 version may not be able to rock the extra downloadable content like the 360 version, but it is getting an exclusive '805 edition later this summer.

God of War

WarioWare: Smooth Moves

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

New Super Mario Bros.

Gears of War

Gears' multiplayer is still bloody awesome...espe- cially now that four new maps are out. The pack costs 800 points (or is free if you wait until Sept. 3).

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!

Mario Kart DS

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

Activision released a

new download pack that lets you fight as four evil villains. Or some new do- gooders...if you're into that saving-the-world crap.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

Katamari Damacy

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Cake Mania

Platform ЕСМ Scores

DS

XB360

Р52

Wii

DS

XB360

DS

XB360

PS2

PS3

DS

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TOP FIVE |

GAME-DEGREE

PROGRAMS IN THE WORLD

— Electronic Gaming Monthly

Jill Real World Education

|

> press continue for pointless plastic marines, flea-market tips, and man funk

Seanbaby is sick of Sarge telling him how to be soldier. One: He

is not made of plas-

tic. And two: Plastic is not made of men.

|

WHILE THE UNITED STATES FINDS ITSELF STUCK in year one zillion of Operation: Pointless, we often overlook another inept military operation that’s been going on inside our own borders since the late '90s: the Army Men occupation of our consoles. It seems that no matter how much we hate them, or how much we refuse to buy them, they send surge after surge of troops and refuse to withdraw. This month, I’m going to take a look at the numer- ous attacks they’ve waged on each of our consoles and hold the worst Army Men offender accountable for

100 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

its heinous war crimes.

First, though, let’s examine how this invasion happened right under our noses. It’s simple—after two or three of these crap bombs, gamer brains adapted to ignore the signals sent by any eyeballs looking at the words “Army Men.” If they named the next one Army Men: | Planted a Bomb In This Videogame Store, it

would go unreported. If you made a suit out of Army Men boxes, no con- sumer could detect you. So there is no way that you could possibly know that over 400 of these games have made it to shelves. It’s time to wake up, America. Six out of every seven anythings in this country are Army Men titles, and your children may be next to enlist in the war of monotony.

7 It's time to wake up, America. Six out of every seven anythings in this country are Army Men titles.

g £ 5 = Е = “Н 8 c > 5 а = Е EJ 8 5 T [x

PAGE PAGE 102 104 106 Retro: Let’s Webslinger We find the

7 до antiquing уз. гит- best graphi- with nerds drinker cal sizzle

Game Boy Color Tours of Duty: 4 (Army Men, Army Men 2, Army Men: Air Combat, Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2)

Featured War Criminal: Army Men

PlayStation = mts ра Tours of Duty: 10 (Holy crap, they made — ^ e 10 Army Men games for the PS1!) j Featured War Criminal: Army Men: Sarge's Heroes

Sarge's Heroes is awful in every way you could possibly imagine, and the devel- opers especially stepped it up in the graphical-glitches department. Sarge will get stuck on invisible floor glue, fall through walls, levitate for no reason, and even manage to completely elude the game's spazzy camera. Sarge's Heroes was instrumental in inspiring psychologists to change the clinical definition of insanity to “An individual or individuals who saw the first 19 Army Men games, then decided to make the 20th. See also: dumbass."

Of the four Army Men games on the GBC, the original truly set the standard by redefining bad graphics as we knew them. As hard as your brain fought to discern shapes amid sandy clumps of dots, it was a losing battle. For a time, | was sure that the game's enemies were cookies wearing my mother's face, but my Game Boy therapist assured me that I was simply hungry and carrying unresolved teen angst, adding that the enemies are clearly pickle cowboys riding on camels.

Real War Story: In Taiwan, a young boy spends 22 hours a day work- ing in an army-man toy factory. His job is to eat a trail through the cockroaches so the workers with hands can reach the injection molder. One day, the little boy sees this GBC adaptation of his hard work, and he cries for the last time.

Real War Story: Despite shoveling out an incredible 10 installments on the system, the Army Men guys did not receive the You Did It Participation Medal of PlayStation, the lowest honor our nation can bestow in a time of peace. Better luck next 10 games, guys!

PlayStation 2

Tours of Duty: 7 (Army Men: Air Attack 2, Army Men: Green Rogue, Army Men: Major Malfunction, Army Men: RTS, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2, Army Men: Sarge's War, Portal Runner)

Featured War Criminal: Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2

Game Boy Advance Tours of Duty: 3 (Army Men Advance, Army Men: Operation Green, Army Men: Turf Wars)

Featured War Criminal: Army Men: Operation Green

In Operation Green, the already way-too- manyth installment of the series, the graphics have improved enough that a player can now identify the shapes shooting at him or her. This lets the gamer focus on just how much the gameplay sucks. Due to

design flaws in God’s plans for the chromosomal development of the game's creators, this is an action game where you can't aim your gun while you move. Shooting anyone who doesn't walk directly into your line of fire requires a slow repetition of rotating and jerking forward.

Imagine an Etch A Sketch you can't shake that occasionally kills you.

After this many crappy games, Sarge has lost his will to fight. He still can't aim while moving, so you have to rely on his autotargeting sys- tem if you're one of those players who likes to hit things. The problem. is, even when Sarge is locked onto an enemy at point-blank range, approximately no bullets will hit their target. And since it couldn't pos- sibly be that the people making these games are horrible failures, we can assume this is Sarge's sad suicide attempt. It works, by the way.

Real War Story: For weeks, the lead designer of Sarge's Heroes 2 was actually a stack of cartoon dogs in a trenchcoat disguised as a human. The staff first became suspicious when their project manager broke into several parts and scattered whenever someone whistled.

Real War Story: In 2002, a Theta Chi fraternity pledge class was given a task during initiation week to each bring home the ugliest girl he could find. This activity is commonly known as “hogging” and is, by all means, what ugly people have had coming. While each pledge scoured the campus for barnyard monsters, the clever initiate who had sex with Army Men: Operation Green received a posthumous commendation from the national fraternity's Hogging Council.

Xbox

Tours of Duty: 2 (Army Men: Major Malfunction, Army Men: Sarge's War) Featured War Criminal: Army Men: Major Malfunction

Nintendo 64 Tours of Duty: 3 (Army Men: Air Combat, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes, Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2)

Featured War Criminal: Army Men: Air Combat

Army Men: Air Combat tarnishes the series' spotless reputation by actually being kind of good. If there's such a thing as an Army Men fan, this game's fun pace and enjoyable gameplay must have been a sad disappointment.

After over 30 games on PC and across every console, we come to Army Men: Major Malfunction. This game is so amateurish and awful that it looks like it was only meant to be used as background action for a game- design commercial. | kept expecting Sarge to turn to the camera and say, "Are you tired of playing videogames like this when you could be MAKING them?" Then I'd either say “GOSH, YEAH!” or “OBEY THE TENETS OF REALITY, TV MONSTER!”—but most likely “GOSH, YEAH!”

к

Real War Story: During a black-ops mission in an Ewok Village play- set, Sarge had to open fire on eight hostile Ewoks. There were 120 survivors. That's right —he missed so badly, he actually created 112 enemy combatants. #%

Real War Story: The 87th game in the series, Army Men: Teen Abduction Van Molester Chronicles, was cancelled during preproduc- tion because child predators felt that being associated with the Army Men franchise would hurt their image.

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 101

ш I x П о ~ Ñ a

>» OLD-SCHOOL кон

10 Years Ago...

бехе

Enter {һе Geckn

On the cover:

Gex 2: Enter the Gecko

Before the snarky Geico Insurance gecko graced the boob tube, Gex (the first smart-ass lizard) mucked it up in a bunch of parody platformers on the PS1. The first Gex sequel tried to tackle the popularity of Mario 64 by riffing on popular TV shows and movies. And apparently, he's trying to goof on Star Wars on our cover—but, seriously now, everyone knows storm- troopers don't use lightsabers. Duh!

Game of the month:

Wild Arms

Only 10 games fell onto the laps of the Review Crew this month. And, role-playing underdog Wild Arms (PS1) stole the show. Its best feature? The "items." Uh, OK....

р zuid E У . Exclusive: Star Wars: Masters of Terás Kasi

Well, a Star Wars fighter seemed cool at the time—random stormtroopers battling Boba Fett? Talk about an overdose of awesome! Or not—this schlocky fighter just sucked.

102 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1U zl

Want to see 1UP's visit to the famous Japanese retro shop Super Potato? Well, mosey on over to bonusstage.1UP. com

> RETROMAUTS РЕЕг ЕМТ=

Retro resources

Clues for wannabe collectors

BETWEEN WII'S VIRTUAL CONSOLE, XBOX 360'S

LIVE ARCADE, AND PS3'S PLAYSTATION NETWORK (not to mention GameTap over on the PC side—read up about it on page 44), retro-gaming fans have never had it so good...if they’re willing to settle for downloading games. But imagi- nary ownership can’t compare to the real, physical goods: The heft of a cartridge, the ritual of dust blowing, fussing with aging hardware, jiggling rotted cables, suffering through the lag of standard-definition content on your shiny new HDTV. OK, it actu-

ally kind of sucks, but possession is nine-tenths of awesome. So where does a retro geek go for a fix of pure, undistilled nostalgia?

The local scene

Like the saying (kinda) goes, think globally, shop locally. Major retailers like EB Games and GameStop have conglomerated into a retro-hating monolith, cutting life support for any- thing older than PlayStation 2. Better to support the little guy anyway. And what could be more “little guy” than the humble garage sale? Sure, 49 out of every 50 garage sales are going

to be crammed with junk—Genesis sports games, broken Duck Hunt carts...that sort of thing—but it's that 50th stop that makes it all pay off. Some legendary bargains have been unearthed in people's backyards, including some amazing unreleased prototype games. And when you're done browsing garages, don't turn your nose up at pawn shops. They're kind of horrible, it's true, and owners have become savvier to the actual value of rare games. But it never hurts to look.

The global market

Still, sometimes you gotta suck it up and accept the fact that your local market is full of people with no appreciation for the classics. When all else fails, the Internet usually suc- ceeds. Surfing the Net is a fantastic source for hard-to-find games. In fact, it’s so convenient to be able

to find rarities on eBay in a couple of mouse Clicks that the thrill of the chase has all but died. Don’t fall into

T № Tracking down ancient games may take a little work here in the States, but їп Japan, it’s a cinch—retro stores (like Super Potato shown above) carry an abundance of oldies.

the rut of thinking eBay is the only source for retro collectibles, though. It's just the tip of the iceberg, as countless independently run game stores peddle all manner of clas- Sics—all you have to do is find them. And even major online retailers like Amazon.com make room for retro games these days.

Peer-to-peer shopping

Still, nothing beats human contact and the comfort of knowing that your new acquisition is coming from a loving home, where it's been stored with care by a dedicated gamer.

For that, you'll want to deal directly with other gamers. The great thing about the P2P approach is that gam- ers are everywhere. You can fínd

У MALL OF THE INTERWEE

Finding games in person is fun, yeah, but sometimes it’s easier to just comb the Web for the classics. Here’s a list of retro-friendly sites to sift through.

eBay

www.ebay.com

Yeah, yeah, you know about eBay—and so does everyone else. That’s good in that it makes finding rarities far more likely, but it’s also kind of bad because it means the days of accidental bargains are pretty much over. Still, if you don’t mind fighting off the snipers and paying a potentially inflated price, eBay should still be your first stop for classic game hunting....

Digital Press

www.digitpress.com

«That is, unless you prefer to barter with fellow gamers rather than pawn-shop pros. In that case, stop by Digital Press, the online companion to America’s longest-running classic-gaming fanzine, where an entire forum has been established specifically for the purpose of game swaps.

JapanGameStock

www.japangamestock.com

But what if you prefer your classics in a Japanese flavor? We recommend the English-proficient online shop at JapanGameStock; its selection of 8- and 16-bit import soft- ware is truly awesome. Best of all, JGS is based in Osaka, 50 you're paying Japanese market value rather than inflated U.S.-oriented prices. Overseas shipping can cost a pretty penny, though, so buy in bulk to make it worth your while.

Shopping Mall Japan www.shoppingmalljapan.com

For the truly rare, you'll want to learn to use Yahoo! Japan's game auctions—tricky, since it's all in Japanese and no one there seems to do overseas shipping. Fortunately, Shopping Mall Japan acts as a willing proxy service to

get your auction winnings to you. Its fees are pretty crazy, though, so this works best as a last resort for those impos- sible finds.

them all over the Internet, where countless trading forums have been established to uphold the cause of fair trade. The long-running Digital Press is probably the biggest, but it's certainly not unique. Hey, we hear there's a pretty great trading post at boards.1UP.com, too! And you tech- порһобеѕ needn’t go online to find a good deal. Local gaming clubs, small shops, and even the classified ads are great resources for tracking down goodies. And if you can swing the cash, major gatherings like the Classic Gaming Expo are unbeatable for finding true obscurities—and you get to complete your transactions face to face. So if you end up getting cheated, you'll at least you'll know who to hunt down.... Фа

> Some legendary bargains have been unearthed in people’s

backyards....

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com * 103

> GRUDGE MATCH

What? 1 like rings, OK? ril T vx By Sonic the Hedeehen | т ogy | uss r

| don’t see the problem here. So | 1 р о р have а few dozen rings when Sparrow and Spidey duke it out I get up in the morning—who 1 ` doesn’t? But now Amy thinks | Two Poet movies e S. bas counterparts) 1 ought to до on а 12-step | Е program to get off 'em. Quit the rings? Uh, I’m Sonic The F***in’ Hedgehog, bitch. Sorry, but | kind of need rings to live. What if | misjudge a trampoline over in Green Hill Zone and end up in a pit of spikes? Is that whatcha want? 'Cause I'll make ou, toots. You can be little Ms. Perfect le your ring-junkie boyfriend gets skewered.

You | need to get some

у having outside your boyfriend times every night to count s like a cracked out Ebenezer time for an intervention. є е! me it was all to get 1 үт Ц isional bonus stage life there. But lately, it's 2 - à | теап, the d uos 5 — т

Shiny black suit works like Elizabeth Swann isn’t as hot in

Spidey ’roids giant boots Advantage: Spider-Man

Thug-thumpin glider brawls Advantage: Spider: Ma i

get this ring habit EE control or РИ es with Knuckles—even the occa-

from a raging echidna with fist spikes of this.

Web-based navigation all over New York City Advantage: Spider-Man

еорје name their pets. Perverts name tes. | name my little friends.

But we'll give proj back into the UP ар Айт

104 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

The latest video game news, reviews and previews PART OF THE

GAME from people who love games as much as you do. 5 VIDEOS A new episode every Friday on iTunes, Yahoo! Podcasts Ср

Са NETWORK watch now, play later

or log on to http://the1upshow.1up.com

Hao зина

Ш THAT'S ме

Future ’Fects

That's street slang for games that look good By Jon Gibson

A new generation of consoles brings many upgrades: higher prices, bulkier designs, but most importantly, ridiculous amounts of detail. We're talking effects, people—hair follicles, beads of sweat, and physics that would give Newton an aneurysm. Here's our breakdown of beautiful minutiae.

FORMULA 1 СНИНЕТОНЕНЈЕ ЕП. (FSS)

That Ph.D. in water physics came in handy for whomever pro- grammed the windshield splatter here. The more you punch the gas, the more dynamic the droplets of H20 look, creating an effect scientists have labeled “really damn cool.” The rain streaks, it evaporates, but mostly, it mesmerizes you just long enough for you to collide your car against a wall. Oops. Runner up: Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (XB360)

DEAD OR ALIVE: XTREME 2 (XBSE0)

A few of our readers find the term “boobs” immature, so we apologize іп advance for this: Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobies! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobs! Boobies! Boobies! Ba-ba-boobs! Boobs! Bo + obs = Boobs! Boobs! Ready! Set! Boobs! Go, Boobs, Go! Saludos, DOA, saludos!

Runner up: Rumble Roses XX (XB360)

106 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е www.1UP.com.

GEARS OF WAR UEeo

No one at EGM has ever murdered someone (as of press time), so a game like Gears of War is appreciated escapism. There’s nothing like playing a deathmatch and taking a chain- saw bayonet to your best friend, especially after he tried to make it with your girlfriend at your birthday party. Die, James, die! Uh, in the game, that is. Ha-ha!

Runner up: Dead Rising (XB360)

CALL OF DUTY z (PSS“xXBS60)

Even better than a David Copperfield show in Vegas is the girlish giggling induced Бу tossing а smoke grenade into enemy territory in Call of Duty. Sure, Copperfield can make the Statue of Liberty disappear, but could he go head-to- head with a T-34 tank and live to tell about її, all thanks to a trusty bit of smoke? Yeah, probably—he is David Copperfield. Runner up: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (XB360)

FIGHT MIGHT: ROUNDO = (PzzzlxEzeo

Capturing intricate facial details requires developers to really dig into a console: We want to see the subtle expressions, bloody gashes, and the all-too-real pores on the face of the fighter we're beating to a pulp. Fight Night does that right. Hell, it’s probably the closest thing you'll get to real fist fight- ing without having to deal with that stupid thing called “pain.” Runner up: Gears of War (XB360)

THE ELDER SCROLLS IW: OBLIVION (FSS МЕНЕЕ

Have you ever heard someone recite the numerical value of pi to the millionth decimal place? Well, the dude who rendered all the grass in Oblivion is probably crazier. He probably has nightmares about grass, but by "nightmare," we mean some- thing else not appropriate for print.

Runner up: Viva Рійаѓа (XB360)

MOTORSTORM (FSS)

Even if you’re a no-nonsense, work-time-funless adult, it’s hard not to resist the urge to pounce into a massive puddle of mud. Going piggy really takes you back to the days of carefree fun...and MotorStorm excels at recapturing this feel- ing in digital form. The gooey brown filth even affects game- play—plowing through mud alters the track as you go. Runner up: None

GHOST RECOM: ADVANCED WARFIGHTER z CABSEO)

Much like the first time you saw your sister naked, awesome explosions are hard to get out of your head. Try as you might, the combination of flame and gas is completely satisfying. Wait, sorry—it's the explosions in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 that are thrilling, not your sister naked.... Runner up: Crackdown (XB360)

RESISTANCE: FALL OF МАН (F53)

Try this: Take an Uzi, a sledgehammer, and a sock loaded with quarters, and break every single window in your house. Really shatter them—every last one. Then stick a copy of Resistance into your PS3. We think you'll notice that devel- oper Insomniac did a pretty good job simulating a bunch of crap getting busted up. After all, now you’re an expert. Runner up: MotorStorm (PS3)

FIGHT MIGHT: ОШНО = (FSS HESE

With the snazzy graphical sophistication of the Xbox 360 and PS3, games are finally showcasing what really stinks about sports: sweat. Every punch in Fight Night: Round 3 is met with a cloud of perspiration...just like in real life. Well, sort of—mashin’ mugs may cause the funk to fly, yes, but is every fight in a sauna? Seriously, cool down, guys! 4%

Runner up: NBA 2K7 (PS3/XB360)

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * www.1UP.com “ 107

E

Е

GAME ом

+ FINAL WORD

What’s your favorite old- School system? (If you say PlayStation we're going to throw our canes at you.)

What classic franchise would you like to see revived?

Historically speaking, which game was more significant? Spacewar! or Pong? (No looking on Wikipedia, you cheaters.)

What's the first game tape you ever remember solving?

Fresh Meat

Our whippersnapping interns debate age-old issues

Kids these days with their hip-hop and Hannah Montana got no respect for gaming’s glory days...or do they? ЕСМ” oldie editors (average age: 32) quiz their two young interns (average age: 24) to map videogames’ generation gap...

W Alice Liang, 1UP.com Previews Intern

Super NES: Is that “old-school” enough? The Super NES is my favorite console of

all time simply because it plays host to so many magically awesome games—why play crappy 8-bit NES duds when you could ven- ture though sophisticated fare like Chrono Trigger and Zelda: A Link to the Past? Super NES had the balance between visual tech and gameplay creativity down to perfection.

Chrono Trigger: | know Chrono Cross (PS1) came out only seven years ago, but seriously—whatever happened to rumored sequel Chrono Break? After all these years, | wouldn’t mind seeing another entry into the pages of Chrono—preferably one with Magus (or Gil, if you played Japan-only pseudosequel Radical Dreamers). The fans know what I’m talking about.

Pong: All right, I’m a cheater. But even after reading Spacewar!’s Wikipedia entry, | still have to go with Pong. Spacewar! may have been 10 years earlier in the making—and way more expensive—but Pong was pretty dang popular. Besides, а never even heard of Spacewar!. History has a way of forget- ting losers, and when it comes to pop-culture credibility, Spacewar! is the definite loser.

Super Mario Bros.: Tape? ГИ go ahead

and assume you're referring to cartridges.

I guess I’m not cool enough to remember back when videogames were on tapes, and

I certainly won't call them tapes іп the here and present. The first tape | solved, however, was Super Mario Bros. (in the Duck Hunt combo cart). There, | added “tape” to my vernacular. Can | join the cool kids’ club?

108 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com

W Brooks Huber, EGM Editorial Intern

NES: Sure, the Super NES had prettier sprite-based graphics and more than two face buttons, but the NES supplied the foun- dation you speak of, Alice. Blowing on car- tridges to get them to work, staying up late to beat-down Soda Popinksi in Punch-Out!!, or even shooting quacking ducks two inches away from the television screen made for an unforgettable experience. Oh, and Mario 3....

Out of This World: Intriguing puzzles, a hulking ally, and a redheaded science geek wielding a gat all came together to produce one of the finest action games ever. But then it seemingly disappeared, as if into the Disney vault, only to be idolized but never resuscitated. The creator said he wanted the ending to be open to interpretation...how about re-interpreting it on the PS3/XB360?

Pong: You violated explicit instructions, therefore your answer shouldn’t count. 1 must admit that | can’t pick Spacewar! out of a lineup either, but I’m choosing Pong because it still has a soft spot in today’s high-tech gaming culture. It’s been spoofed on YouTube, brought back to life with the PainStation device (Google it), and it spurred Breakout, another ball-whacking classic.

Insert game here: My brain must have wiped this precious memory from its data banks, because | can’t recall the first tape | ever solved. My childhood ADD is to blame. My attention span always dwindled before

| reached the end of anything. Or maybe it was all those Pixy Stix | snorted. Let that be a lesson for today’s kids who want to remember solving Hannah Montana. ah

> HEXT MONTH

oul Calibur still burns

August Issue (#21

THE STAGE OF HISTORY BECKONS

If you're hankering for a virtual fistfight, top-qual- ity options abound—the Virtua Fighter, Tekken, and Dead or Alive franchises all offer satisfying punch-up action. But if you're truly looking to give your opponent something to cry about, it's all about wielding sharp- ened steel, and nothing beats Namco Bandai's Soul Calibur series for weapon-based fighting thrills. In

our world-exclusive preview, we'll reveal the future

direction of this beloved series...and you might be surprised by what these new games (that’s right, plural) have to offer.

We'll also get the chance to assault the reclusive develop-

ers behind Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIII project with tough questions. Will they really be able to pull off this ambitious 10-year, multigame endeavor? Should you start working on your

cosplay outfit now?

Finally, next month brings a review of the highly anticipated PlayStation 3 dragon-riding adventure, Lair. And for all you jocks out there, NCAA Football 08 will land in the expert hands of EGM's Review Crew. Will these summertime games be good enough to lure you away from that Slip ’n Slide? You'll just have to come trotting back in 30....

(All planned editorial content is subject to change.)

> ADVERTISER INDEX

2K Games www.2kgames.com .............. 42-43

Activision www.activision.com.............. 32-33

American Power Conversion уулм.арс.сот...................... 87

Ball Park Franks www.saralee.com.

‘Codemasters, Inc. www.codemastersusa.com.

Collins College www.collinscollege.edu. .

Full Sail Real World Education www.fullsail.com ........... a 99

Hudson Entertainment

www.HudsonEntertainment.com . . . . . . 53 Microsoft

www.microsoft,cOm,............,. 41, 55

Nissan Motor Corporation USA www.NissanUSA.com ......... enn 23

Sanyo eneloop www.eneloopusa.com ............... 85

Sony Pictures Entertainment - Columbia www.sonypictures.com.............. 29

Square Enix U.S.A., Inc www.square-enix-usa.com .......... 4-5

The Gillette Company

www gillette.com .47, 63

[4 w > [Еј ju = T

* On sale July 3

> PREVIEWS

W Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)

W Army of Two (PS3/XB360)

W Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PS3/XB360)

W Rock Band (PS3/XB360)

> REVIEWS

№ NCAA Football 08 (Multi).

E Pokémon Battle Revolution (Wii) E The Bigs (Multi)

W Lair (PS3)

№ The Darkness (PS3/XB360)

Ubisoft Entertainment. www.ubisoft.com

.2-8, 37, 49

US Army Accessions Command www.goarmy.com. .

Vivendi Universal Games www.vugames.com .............. 11, 39

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ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • www.1UP.com • 109

HSU & CHAH IM: |

own Where It’s Wetter

WITH THE RECENT POPULATION EXPLOSION, IT’S HIGH TIME WE

SERIOUSLY CONSIDER COLONIZING THE LAND UNDER THE EARTH'S

LOOK, NO MORE OF YOUR “SECESSION

FROM HUMANTY” UTOPIA SCHEMES, \ paN ТТК! NEED ТО

> | ARNIE, IF ЧОО” УЕ. GOT A BAR FUL OF CATS AT THE BOTTOM

OF THE NEIGHBORS’ POOL

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| GOT SOME TEEN- AGE VOLUNTEERS FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL —

THEY'RE A LITTLE ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES, EM THEM" VE GOT GOOD ATTITUDES AND DON'T ASK ALOT OF NOSY QUESTIONS,

THESE -- INHOMAN THINGS WERE DOWN THERE, WAITING FOR US!

THEY TORE INTO US AS SOON AS

IN FACT, | JOST WATCHED А DOCUMENTARY THAT MADE A VERY CONVINCING ARGUMENT

FOR SUST THAT SCENARIO!

“THE LITTLE MERMAID” БМТ A DOC- OMENTAR®, РОМЕ.

ARNE, THINK OF THE OTHER COLONIES YOU'VE FOUNDED —

SOCIETAL BREAK- THE VIOLENCE — THE CANNIBALISM!

IT WAS A SEA MONKEY APOCALYPSE!

THEY TOOK оос WM FINGERNAILS —

PISH - POSH!

PESSIMISM DIDN'T SPLIT

THAT -- 200 KNOW HOW ANIMAL PLANETS ALWAYS SAYING HOW CRUCIAL LARGE PREDATORS:

ARE TO A FONCTIONING ECOSYSTEM!

/ IVE ALREADY GOT A WORKING || PROTOTYPE!

GET OUT OF THE МАЧ!

THE ATOM, Ф00 KNOW!

IT WAS HARD WORK, DETERMINATION, AND

ALITTLE-BITT? HAMMER!

МОм, WITNESS THE BIRTH OF MY UTOPIA!

ON THE PLUS SIDE, |

GUESS THIS MEANS MY PROTOTYPE, MOONBASE FR! FIVE «EARS BACK WAS SORTA A SUCCESS!

STANDING: UP FOR T IS STRONG. а STANDING UP FOR THOSE AROUND YOU , 1

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Welcome to the Bigs. Where pastime meets primetime with epic arcade basehall action! Stadiums literally explode with intensity and drama! Crank it up with a "Power-up" feature that helps you launch tape measure, seat-seeking missiles. Or play the Rookie Challenge mode that lets you guide a player from spring training rook all the way to World Series megawatt MVP!

2K BEATS: Jane's Addiction, Motorhead, Fu Manchu, Primus, Killing Joke,

Rollins Band, White Zombie, Primus, Satellite Party, Screaming Trees and The Stooges WWW.2KSPORTS.COMITHEBIGS

Visit www.esrb.org for updated rating PLAYSTATIONS information. ] д

Also available on PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the PSP@®(PlayStation®Portable) system.

©2007 Take-Two Interactive Software and its subsidiaries. All ights reserved. 2K Sports, the 2K Sports logo, and Take-Two Interactive Software are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc, Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. Visit the official website at MLB.com ©MLBPA - Official Licensee, Major League Baseball Players Association. Visit tho Players Choice on tho web at www.MPBPlayers.com ©MLBP 2007 / MLBPA 2007. "PlayStation", “PLAYSTATION, tho “PS” Family logo and "PSP" aro

ademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Memory Stick Duo™ may be required (sold separately Microsoft. Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group ol companies. © The Wii logo is a trademark of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. The ratings icon isa registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association

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