THE 1.סא‎ VIDEOGAME MAGAZINE | C У 4 | wr А Ө 5 SPECIAL HOLIDAY 1556 Ы M у м сли. . m Mario & Sonic at : | the Olympic Games ۰ OVERLOAD! So many games, so little time. 6 season with 40-plus pages of holiday Пер: . - j5] Buyers — Whatto . What to Guide Play Now . Play Next. The best—and 25 pages of reviews, Updates on everything *worst—goodies for including لا‎ from Supe na: friends, foes, and Drake’s tune and ^ 305. Brawl to folks inbetween ‘inal Fantasy XII DS Metal Gear Solid, 4 THE GREAT LEADER OPLE's REPUBLIC OF STEVE Alcohol and eference ide Humor | CONTENT / 1 Н 1 | ; . н Mild ViGtncá DVD-ROM. \ © 2007 Electronic Arts И g SOFTWARE registered p m о / i lectronic Аг UE Rights Reserved. All other qur woe = ^ { i perty of their respective n : е owners. MONTY - CEO, CFO, ССО, СОО, Волар DIRECTOR OF MOoNTYLAND (INC SHAPE YOUR SOCIETY? ordinary folks have stood by while the few have shaped humankind's grand societies. We say, enough! For the love of Steve, Margaret, Monty and the rest of the average Joes, let them build a city from which their own ideal society might come forth! HOW WILL YOU For too long, elite in Stores Now | simcity.com FREE PLAYSTATIONS ъл RADICAL Free Radical Design Limited, All Rights Reserved. Haze is a trademark of Ubisoft Entertainment and Free Radical Design. Free Radical Design and its associated lo ited. Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and те Ubisoft logo are registered trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. Developed by Free Radical Desi PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Online access requires broadband Internet service and a wireless access point or LAN- ctivity. User is responsible for Internet service fees. — Intense Violence Strong Language © 2007 Ubisoft Ente of Free Radig EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF THE PLAY THE ENTIRE CAMPAIGN IN AS A CUNNING REBEL, USE WHAT DRUG NECTAR WHEN YOU PLAY AS FOUR-PLAYER CO-OP MODE - SPLIT YOU'VE LEARNED AS A MANTEL A HIGH-TECH MANTEL TROOPER, SCREEN OR ONLINE. TROOPER TO FIGHT BACK. WWW.HAZEGAME.COM 81-121 ۳1 ЗИ 3 PLAYSTATION. Ə for Windows E Blood Drug Reference Intense Violence Strong Language @ XBOX / LIVE уке imus MEDPENAF шшш ויק‎ рт йиш MANE IN HET | w 10 INTERACTIVE a FIDOS PRODUCTION KANER LYNCH WWW KANEANDLYNCH COM WHOSE TEAM ARE YOU ОН? 20 authentic Olympic events 4 Fantastic unlockable stages / Take your own Mii" into featuring three modes of play. 4 including 10,000 meter diving 1 i the action. and more. ЗА SE ех Ша " КРИ ישמ‎ УЫ < Does Mario red гип іп your veins? Or are you a true-blue Sonic fan? The match-up the world's been waiting for will finally happen at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 20 different events mean 20 different Wii Remote" moves to master. What's in the cards for your team? Suit up and find out. ola] m T‏ رد روا AN DS,‏ ESRB CONTENT | ۵ / > | COMING FEBRUARY 2008.‏ 9 , | |М : ^5 A TM USOC 36496220506; Copyright © 2007 International Olympic Committee (21007). All rights reserved. SUPER MARIO characters‘ NINTENDO. Nintendo; Nintendo DS and Wii are trademarks of Ninterido. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG characters © SEGA. All Rights Reserved. Sega is registerad:in theıl.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA, the SEGA logo and Sonic The Hedgehog е either registered trademarks of ‘trademarks of SEGA Corporation. TM and the Wii are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo, 8 \ d E Мыз ы ב‎ =” "i, pln hy M AR ‹ i MCN $; ۳ № р а dom, А О Tr, ыз ЈДИ-ФТОВЕ5 ROW. : у 4 я < d \ 72 566۸1 i d im 5 |] - №‏ א | ۰( سا - - OFFICIAL VIDEO GAME } j א‎ CONTENTS issue 223 * holiday 7 The blowout begins with our all-inclusive Holiday Buyer’ уеа! ction of the Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Manhunt 2 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare BlackSite: Area 51 Kane 8 Lynch: Dead Men Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Naruto: Rise of a Ninja TimeShift Mass Effect Contra 4 Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends Final Fantasy ХИ: Revenant Wings : Portable Ops Plus lanager, па! Sales Director, sh Alti C. Gelfan unt Coordinator, Echiribel Metal Gear Soli Reviews Wrap-Up with our largest review se 68 69 то 74 75 76 во 80 82 6 6 87 88 89 Guide and ends 40 Online Game Trading How to get top dollar for that dusty pile of games.chilling in your closet 42 Preview: Lost Odyssey We go hands-on with the next role-playing game from the Blue Dragon folks. And man, they really love cut-scenes 48 Rumor Mill BioShock set to resurface on the PS3? > REVIEWS 64 Reviews Intro 66 Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 67 Geometry Wars: Galaxies 67 Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn 68 Need for Speed: ProStreet ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP Copy Editor, Anc Copy Editor, Кан! Production Manager, Shelly Reimer Founder " LETTERS Wherein ме sarcastically answer questions 14 У PRESS START Holiday Buyers’ Guide It's like a catalog without all the crap. Actually, it still has crap. Sorry Foreign Object We look at a game that teaches you how to be a pervert (in case you really needed help) Ask the Pros: Halo 3 More Halo peon than pro? Then get tips straight from the guys kicking your ass online Preview: Unreal Tournament 3 We check out developer Epic’s exclusive PlayStation 3 shooter. Y'know, the one that looks like Gears of War 22 30 32 38 ۸ 2 ZIFF DAVIS ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY News/Features Editor Mi Editorial Intern Brooks Huber Art Director Monique Assistant Mike Сп Art Intern GAMING MONTHLY е ЕС Editor-in-Chief Executive Editor Reviews Editor 9 Ford ОЕ ТНЕ BEST-SELLING PARTY, ₪ И AVEL THE | ות‎ rae CRAZIEST ^. ‘PARTY GAME EVER! 5 INCLUDES OVER 50 UNIQUE GAME n stores ו‎ ee Ар SERE This November, THe com ABE! IONS AROUND THE Pee IN Cartoon Violence Crude Humor ANTES p zs КО), © 2007 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Rayman, Rayman Raving Rabbids, the character of Rayman, Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and + the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.TM, ®, Nintendo DS and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. и [= 1 So ЕТ ОЕРСОМ 2 a reason to care about the violence-in- games debate, go play Manhunt. Now go play Manhunt 2. See the difference? Rockstar had to gimp the kill sequences with a bunch of noisy graphical filters in order to make a Mature rating (down from the retail- death Adults Only that the Entertainment Software Rating Board slapped on Manhunt 2 earlier this year). Folks, this is tangible evidence that sociopolitical pressure is changing the games that we play. It’s not that we need this violence in our entertainment experiences (and believe me, the game is still plenty violent). But it’s an absolute shame that this censorship had to happen just to get Manhunt 2 to the original rating that its predecessor had! The series didn’t get more violent; the standards have changed. This inconsistency is particularly disturbing because it’s only happening in the gaming industry. Television and movies are seeing more blood and guts. Swear words are now normal, acceptable vocabulary within popular music. No, those aren't necessarily good trends for society, but why are only videogames getting caught in the net? Do people still view our hobby as “kids’ stuff"? That Manhunt 2 had to be scaled back isn’t breaking news, but now that I’ve played the finished product, I’m upset with the results. We can’t blame Rockstar— it's in the business of selling games, and it can't do that with any AO ratings. But ме can blame the ESRB for bowing to outside pressure and changing its guidelines on the fly. After playing Manhunt 2, | feel like I'm at DEFCON 2 on the worry meter. Do we need ultraviolent games like Manhunt? Maybe, maybe not, but we do need a consistent, stable ratings system that works as well as the movie industry's, so adult consumers can decide for themselves. And we all need to be more aware of what's going on in this business before things get out of hand. For more help and support on this subject, check out www.theeca.com and www.videogamevoters.org. —Dan “Shoe” Hsu, Editor-in-Chief Partnership Director, Jamie Oliver Circulation Development Manager, Kim Trotman Billing and Retention Manager, Denise Sirotz Assistant Manager, Peter Chun Audience Development Associate, Tracy Chan Coordinator, Beverley Jarrett "41UP = NETWORK А! content copyright © 2007 Ziff Davis Media Inc. Reproduction, modification, or transmission, in whole or in part, by any means, without written permission from Ziff Davis Media. Inc. is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. EGM.1UP.COM Guitar Contest and Holiday Buyers’ Guide Win a custom Guitar Hero guitar and/or receive more holiday help from 1UP.com’s annual holiday guide Exclusive videos Unreal Tournament 3, Lost Odyssey, and more! SuperGuides aplenty (walkthroughs, cheats) Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and Mass Effect e And check out our podcast on EGMLive.1UP.com and our message boards at boards.1UP.com. : ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP Advertising Campaign Marketing Coordinator, Manager, Mac O'Rourke Vanessa Alvarado Richard Taw И Audience Development Marketing Graphic Designer, Manager, n Wongpakdee Мат Buffington Advertising Campaign Marketing Graphic Designer, Coordinator, Stephanie Russel Robyn Uyeno Vice President of Audience Development, Steve Sutton. Consumer Marketing Director, Todd Kiyver Vice President of Marketing, Research and Events, Rey Ledda Research Director, May Tong PR Manager, Nikki Flynn Director of Ad Operati 1 California Advertising Director, 1 Editor-in-Chief, Sam Kennedy AHE Seanbaby's Rest of the Crap Most people get good games for Christmas. Not Seanbaby—he only gets the sucky ones Retro: WTFiction!? This month we tackle Final Fantasy VII's convoluted story Grudge Match Next Month Hsu & Chan Account Coordinator, Regional Sales Director, Jervilyn Jaramillo Nick Geist Senior Account Executive, Jessica Reback Sales, Rick Rizzo Account Coordinator, Account Executive, Raymund Bautista si Director, Consumer Sales, Leah Cook Account Executive, Senior Director, Consumer Regional Sales Director, Meredith Stowe Missy Rounthwaite Account Executive, Account Coordinator, Stephenie Bryant Adrian Frieg 12 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM Shave Lab Test #43 Rigorous tests prove no disposable shaves closer than the Quattro Disposable. It's irrefutable. No disposable delivers a closer, smoother shave than the Schick’ Quattro” Disposable. It's the first disposable with four blades and two conditioning strips, for such a comfortable shave, you can't beat it. The Power of \ 4^ is now Disposable. www.quattrodisposables.com 7۳۲ | Schick ОПЛТТКО! DISPOSABLE | gaming helps, how testing hurts, and е W Behold! The future of gaming approaches. the way through." Is it so hard to have both quality and quantity, especially in this day and age where it costs an arm and a leg for one game? —Faizan Khan Faizan, one day you may be mar- ried. And one day, your wife may ask you a very important question: “What is more important to you: ishing Halo 7, or having sex agai your lifetime?” On that day, you will understand the benefits of short games. Try, try again. And again. And again. And again. Are videogame testing jobs actu- ally available out there for the aver- age joe? In other words, can | make money doing what I love and staying at home, or must | venture out to the -thou competitic Size matters | have recently discovered a disturbing trend in videogames: their length. After blowing through Heavenly Sword in about six hours, | felt betrayed. Is it too much to ask devel- opers to extend their games just a teeny bit more, or at the very least add some nice extra bonus content? Gears of War and Halo 3 both have short campaigns, right? So what makes them worth your money? Great online support (which, of course, Heavenly Sword lacks). And Heavenly Sword creator Nina Kristensen’s excuse for why the game's so short ranks among the worst. She states [“Afterthoughts: Heavenly Sword," ЕСМ #221]: “I don't know about you, but РА much rather have a shorter, more focused, and enjoyable experience than one that's a lot longer and isn't quite so good all A few years ago, when Penny Arcade Expo п Well, it's the thought that counts. --Јегету Мое! (PAX) was just being first talked about, | figured | would try to put on my own minicon- vention called Omegacon. | got eight TVs with Xboxes and copies of Halo. We had 20 com- puters т а LAN, and there was also а place for Magic: The Gathering and a D&D drop. We even gave out T-shirts as prizes. Sure, it wasn’t quite PAX, but it was close enough for my friends and me. Want to see your own story in this space? All you have to do is tell us how hard-eff- ing-core you are. Dish up the goods on what makes you more into games than anyone else, and send it to EGM@ziffdavis.com, subject head: "I Am Hardcore." Remember, it doesn't count if you can't prove it, so send photos, too! Letter of the Month In defense of crap After reading Michael Donahoe's article on Nintendo's seeming lack of quality control and the ease with which developers can make junk ['Quality Crap," ЕСМ #221], | feel compelled to write in on behalf of Nintendo from the perspective of a casual gamer. | believe that having more casual games is good for the videogaming industry as a whole. | have neither the time, the patience, nor the inclination to learn all the moves in the hard- core first-person shooter games. But thanks to the growing genre of casual games and interactive *exergames," | and some others have opened up 8 facility that has more PS2s, flatscreens, and games than 99 per- cent of your readers. (Does investing five figures into videogaming qualify me as a hardcore player? Probably not, but you can't say that I’m a diehard casual gamer, even though I don't own a single console at home.) Bash all you want. Moan about the influx of casual gamers. The bottom line is that the floodgates are opened, and that we casual gamers will con- tinue to grow in numbers. Why should the hardcore gamer care if all this is creating “crap games"? There will always be junk games, so why not just be happy that more people are seeing the value of videogaming? That's a nice change from the usual blame that is heaped upon videogames for all the social ills of our society. —Ernie Medina Jr. Man, who knew casuals were so defensive about a hobby they only dabble in? Seriously, though, we applaud Nintendo for widening gaming’s appeal with the DS and Wii, and we've certainly enjoyed plenty of low-impact Wii Sports high jinks alongside our non-gam- ing buddies during the last year. But Nintendo's open-door publish- ing policy allows an abundance of quick-and-dirty minigame col- lections, second-rate clones, and licensed shovelware to choke store shelves. Microsoft and Sony have formal third-party approval pro- cesses in place for their consoles... why doesn't Nintendo? < TRIVIAL 15 This month's EGM question: Which of the games in this month's Unfinished Business feature has been delayed longest? E-mail the answer to EGMGziffdavis.com (subject head: Trivia: EGM $223) for a chance to win something potentially awesome. For writing this month's winning letter, Ernie gets a copy of Ultimate Ghosts ח'‎ Goblins... or maybe something else we have lying around. 14 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM MUSCLE ASYLUM PROJECT" ₪ Legally Insane " FAT-INCINERATING Serum Torch Fat* *Reveal Shocking ^. Muscularity and Peeled-to-the-Bone Conditioning" * Injected with Bleeding-Edge Lipo-Reactive Substances MUSCLE ASYLUM PROJECT ик ו‎ their effectiveness, key ingredients were loaded into the shookingly potent Arson formula, and then the scientists at the Muscle Asylum Project” took it one step further. By analyzing nutramolecular theory they developed Wave Pulse Technology” - 8 delivery system designed to improve upon micronutrient transport. Wave Pulse Technology is built for rapid nutrient delivery and uptake, delivering potent agents to obliterate fat. If you’re charging up in the gym, be prepared to get wired and become leaner than you ever thought possible with Arson. Are You Game? What does it take to look like a real-world action hero? Hours in the gym lifting heavy weights? Extreme dedication and discipline? Strict, regimented eating? The truth is, it takes all of that, and more. Human muscle freaks are willing to do whatever it takes to look surreal. Take Arson” for example — a legally insane fat-incinerating serum that sets bodyfat ablaze and cranks energy levels to the max. Within minutes of your first dose, you'll experience a blast of fat-burning energy that will rapidly initiate the prooess of helping to force unwanted pounds to melt away. With years of clinical research supporting www.MuscleAsylumProject.com Treatment Available at | GNC Live Well | Read the entire label before use . All trademarks are owned by their respective trademark owners. © 2007. Most publishers don't like the idea of limiting a game's potential mar- ket in that way. Sir Loincloth I'm writing in response to the “Goddess of wardrobe" letter in ЕСМ #221. The writer starts off by stating that "Heavenly Sword seems like a big-budget rip-off of God of War." He then goes on to rant and rave about how it's shameful that the main char- acter, Nariko, wears so little clothing, and offers up the comparison to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden and how he's fully clothed. He then finishes by saying “Put [Ryu] in a loincloth and РИ stop complaining about Nariko's appear- ance." Well, since we're comparing God of War to the so-called “Goddess of War," why don't we take a look at Kratos' attire? Hmmm...a loincloth. Point. Game. Set. Match. —Jeff Klein We're pretty sure the appropriate response here is, *Oh, snap! You got served, yo!" But we could be a few years out of date. You're all nerds to us Why does it seem that whenever a large game releases, some of the biggest nerds on the planet line up or camp out at game stores? Watch the coverage of release-day mayhem: These people are fat, balding, overly skinny, full of acne, under the age of 12, or 35-year-old loners. Is there really a need to have the game at 12:01 a.m.? Will it net you some greater reward in life? l've seen numerous people posting on message boards that they will be skipping work or school for days just to play Halo 3. Come on, people, it's a game after all. —Kyle Roy Kyle, with all the time you must spend sleeping with your harem of supermodels, working on your finely chiseled pecs, admiring your flaw- less complexion in the mirror, and styling your luxuriant hair, how do you ever find the time to write a let- ter to a videogame magazine? #% EGM@ziffdavis.com EGM Letters 101 2nd Street, 8th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Web: www.zdmcirc.com Phone: (800) 779-1174 All this pales in comparison to the time | stomped on a Jet Grind Radio disc until it snapped in half. What | am getting around to is this: | don’t trust myself with a Wii Remote. Those things are designed like miniature jav- elins. What did they expect was going to happen? —Ephraim Freed Although Nintendo didn’t origi nally expect Wii players to act like spoiled, overprivileged jackasses with nasty tempers, an epidemic of airborne Wii-motes quickly led to strengthening the safety strap and, just recently, the introduction of sili- con “Wii Remote Jackets” designed to soften potential impacts. Existing Wii owners can head to www.nin- tendo.com in order to claim your free controller condoms. Getting high In ЕСМ #221 (“50 Things You Didn't Know"], in the bit about Assassin's Creed, you mention that Altair’s name means “the flying eagle” in Arabic. That is not correct—or | should say that it is a little hard to determine exactly what the word is in Arabic, since some Arabic letters do not have equivalents in the English alphabet. With that being said, “altayr” in Arabic means “the bird,” and “altaa’ir” (pronounced as “alta-er”) literally means “that which flies.” The word “assassin” is also of Arabic origin; it originally came from a word meaning “the frequent hashish smokers.” —Algwaiz Well, that explains all those refer- ences to flying, doesn’t it? Rendering unto Caesar You know, being that the videogame industry is a multibillion-dollar market, you'd think that more people would try to incorporate religion into games. (Well, the Left Behind game tried, but it failed with a method of “saving” that involved killing Jews. That's pretty bad.) I’m a Christian myself, and | would think that developers of all religions would incorporate them into their games. —Dallon Moorefield The answer is simple: money. Base your game around a real religion and you run the risk of offend- ing anyone of a different faith (or denomination) enough that they won't buy your game. Make up a fictional religion (or refrain from including any sort of religion) and you don't offend anyone...or, at least, you offend everyone equally. № Kratos would like you to stop staring at his legs now. real world and move to a city with developers in it? And if there are not "average joe" testing jobs, how do | present myself to a developer or pub- lisher as a viable employee with good testing skills? | am an engineering major in my junior year and was look- ing at jobs that | could truly enjoy. —Zack Jackson First of all, don't fall for the “рау us to teach you how to test games at home" scam. The vast majority of reputable developers use the per- manent, in-house quality-assurance departments of their publishers. See, the job of a tester requires an enormous amount of constant communication and feedback between team members and lead- ers. As a result, excellent written and verbal communication is one of the key skills of a tester. An analytical mind and a toler- ance for soul-crushing repetition also help, so your engineering stud- ies may aid you here. Also helpful: a willingness to work insane hours for fast food-level pay, a limitless supply of patience, and the ability to ingest caffeine in amounts that would kill most mere mortals. The upside: Testing really is a great foot in the door for the indus- try. Just don't expect it to be easy. Breakin' too | have destroyed a lot of game con- trollers in my time. | chucked a PS2 controller at my television over a GTAS mission (“Ва 'N' Мепу"). Its replace- ment met its fate after being slammed to the ground over a Kingdom Hearts boss (Riku). | flung a WaveBird at my GameCube over Super Smash Bros. Melee's All-Star Mode and had to format the memory card. Long ago, | cracked the screen of an original Game Boy with a toy space shuttle. I'm not sure why. 16 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM SOME COMPANIES OFFER DUNGEONS. OTHERS, DRAGONS. BUT SINGE 1974, WE'VE BEEN THE ONLY COMPANY TO OFFER BOTH DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: OUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE CONTINUES WITH THESE FINE PRODUCTS. DUNGEON SURVIVAL GUIDE im WIZARDS.COM/DND ^' ° All trademarks are property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. ©2007 Wizards. GET TOGETHER THE ЕРЕС FIGHTIN TITLE Soulcalibur Legends, a 3rd person action adventure, exclusively for the Wii console, follows the ` exploits of Siegfried and other Soulcalibur favorites. Fight in a new adventure set between the events of Soul Blade and the Original Soulcalibur game. The Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk are 6 your weapons of choice as you perform your attacks g orchestrated slashes а movements and fight FIGHT AGAINST LARGE FIGHT AS YOUR FAVORITE SOULCALIBUR SCALE ENEMIES CHARACTERS IN IMMERSIVE ACTION Animated Blood Mild Language BANDAI МАМСО Suggestive Themes өө Violence | | 5 SOULCALIBUR Legends'&61995-2007 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. FUJISI SHIMA Wii and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. The ratings icon is a registered tr f the gun Software Association. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights are property of t tive owners. Games TAKES ON A\NEW DIMENSION ау אק אהת‎ ito o PA Nep Nh PLAY IN SINGLE AND MULTIPLAYER MODES SWING IN A NEW ЕВА ОЕ GAMEPLAY Only on the Wii 4 Тїһагп and Naesala put aside their differences to lead their clans to war. The raven king, however, carries a secret burden that may cause their alliance to crumhle-and seal the fate of their cause. Arbor © 2007 Nintendo/INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS.TM, ® and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2007 Nintendo. TES 8 ; 0 qq гапа pedce;or will his rage un all ions to the bri f ruin’ Dheginsea, king of Goldoa, warns that the chaos of war may threaten the land's covenant with an ancient god. He struggles to hold his nation to its pledge of neutrality even as the events surrounding him lead the world to the brink of ruin Fantasy Violence Mild Language th King Ashnard's death, Daein nder the harsh rule of the n Empire. Years later, піар, Sothe, and the Dawn rigade have taken up the struggle to liberate Daein. They pin their _ hopes on newfound Prince Pelleas, hut can this mysterious youth rally Daein to rise up against her tyrants? Begnion's senators now rule Daein. They have given their military commanders free rein, all the while hiding their actions from the Apostle Sanaki. Beset hy turmoil at home and ahroad, Sanaki seems fated to he her nation's last apostle. Is Zelgiuss sword enough to help her | save all she holds dear? a duos ues co Every ar. In a war fueled Бу chaos, who can say what is right and wrong? In a Fire Emblem first, you will play hoth sides of the war and judge for yourself. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn introduces a host of new features that make it a snap to pick up and a challenge to beat. À y ; \ ІА | py MA д. ۳" ky 4 1 9 < < E Г? OF 1 مک‎ ₪ КА b | у M ג‎ yy M = M | У] You can’t allow anyone to know what you. | ה H can do. Healing without any tomes or‏ ה PS 4 ЧУ] staves isa rae git-almost unheard of. |‏ у i‏ 2 ™ 4 0 gifts to go with this holiday's > features, previews, underwater hotels, and other stuff Present We pick the best (and worst) biggest games By John Brandon and Crispin Boyer for the shooter fans on your holiday shopping list—those guys already have it (and probably BioShock and Call of Duty 4, too). But as is EGM’s tradition with our annual holiday guides, we're not here to recommend the obvious. Instead, we're helping you pick unique gifts for the buddies who already have the big games, and we're ranking these goodies in order of expense and cool factor. You'll find fun cheap stuff for mere acquaintances and elabo- rate packages for that pal who pushed you out of the way of a runaway bus. And it wouldn't be an EGM holiday guide if we didn't throw in some gag gifts for the enemies on your list, too. Because simply regifting Bomberman Act: Zero to the guy who slept with your THE "РЕТЕНС"' GIFT VEXplorer Robot Kit $200 • www.vexlabs.com THE "ENEMY" GIFT Pipe Dream (Game Boy) About $12 used > www.gamestop.com girlfriend would be too easy—and probably 100 ۰ THE "BEST BUDDY" GIFT Jules’ Undersea Lodge $475 per night > www.jul.com THE "ACQUAINTANCE" SIFT Shock Ball $20 • www.firebox.com GAMES OVERLOAD! Keep an eye to the stars—or rather the star-studded graphic above. You'll find it on every story that fits this issue’s too-many- games concept. 22 ۰ ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM PAGE PAGE Feature: A وی‎ Сотрай5оп ayaa swapping Exclusive: We get real with Unreal THE "FRIEND" SIFT Give the Guitar Hero or Rock Band fan in your life some wood, literally, with these real Peavey guitars modified to work with the games. Colorado-based ArtGuitar—famous for customizing real guitars for musicians—have inserted the necessary con- trols, plus imprinted rockstar-themed designs on the bod- ies, Get them early, though. Each is built to order and takes weeks to ship—especially if you request custom art. > WIN МЕ! Strut to EGM.1UP. com to find out how to win this custom ЕСМ AG RiffMaster by listening to our ЕСМ Live" podcast. THE LERNER: ТЕТ Guitar Hero and Rock Band's plastic guitar peripherals get the job done but still look like toys, so what would irk a music-game fan more than sending him or her an actual kid-tested, mom-approved Fisher-Price guitar? The color-coded buttons'Il help. 'em learn to play like a Hanson brother. But the most rockin' air-guitar histrionics in the world would still look silly with this thing. THE "FRIEND" ШТЕТЈ Plasma Rifle $120 • www.hottopic.com THE "ENEMY" GIFT Todd McFarlane Controller $60 * store.spawn.com ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM * 3 Feature: Pros knows their Halos THE "BEST EUQODV GIFT A guitar-slinging attitude and really great hair are all part of the rockstar persona, but chances are your best pal wasn’t born with the Gene Simmons gene. So send him to Rock ’N’ Roll Fantasy Camp (locales vary), where your buddy will jam with superstars like Slash and The Who's Roger Daltrey every day for a week, learning the ropes and writing songs together. The payoff: performing in front of a sold-out, possibly half-drunk, crowd. THE “ACQUAINTANCE GIFT Even faux rock stars shouldn't settle for the pack-in straps accompanying Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Amateur legends, even if they can't compete on Expert, deserve something cool and comfortable to string around their sweaty necks. Thank the rock gods for these "limited edition" art straps, teaming the retro sheik of i am 8-bit with the quality of industry mainstay, Couch. THE "BEST BUDDY" GIFT Real-Life Red vs. Blue $10 donation, plus travel * www.cimmerians.com THE “ACQUAINTAMCE" GIFT Master Chief Mimobots $50 • www.mimoco.com THE "FRIEND" GIFT Professional flautist Darryn Songbird handcrafts “magical flutes of clay” inspired by Link’s instru- ment of choice. Musical experience isn’t required to coax soothing tunes out these impressive repli- cas, thanks to a songbook offeri “Minuet of Forest” and “Summon Mom to Pick Me Up From the Cosplay Convention.” THE ЛЕ НЕН GIFT Oldsters may remember that the Super Mario Bros. Super Show gave the plumbers Fridays off, choosing instead to showcase a godawful animated take on The Legend of Zelda. This DVD col- lects the entire sordid affair, which boils down to 13 episodes of a poorly-drawn Link saying, “Well, excuuuuuuse me, princess!" THE "FRIEND" GIFT, Tony Hawk Birdhouse Full Skull Complete Deck $100 * www.ccs.com THE "ЕНЕМ\" GIFT PlayTV Skateboarding TE $40 * www.amazon.com ET * THE "BEST BUDDY GIFT Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) games are the closest most of us will get to actually slaying monsters or going toe-to-toe with 4," otherworldly demons (well, except < for high school). LARP.com lists 0 - 9 = events across the country, so pick ₪ a spot and tell your buddy to pack his finest breeches. Organizers recommend spectating first. Exc ij GAMES OVERLOAD! THE "ACQUAINTANCE" The crossed Master Swords. Link’s four different shields. The fanciful Hyrulian script. Zelda fans'll know your friend means to save the princess when he sports this stylish T from Japanese hip- ster-clothing site King of Games. Everyone else might think he’s just a Lord of the Rings fan. As if Legolas is in Link's league.... THE "BEST BUDDY GIFT Woodward Skateboarding Camp iting insit THE "ACGUAINTANC Show Me the Way DVD Skat! james are in bu $20 * www.skatewarehouse.com 24 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM G0 НЕАП ТО HEDGEHOG! Move your feet ог be defeated т an all new race with 8 Rivals, 12 new courses, and unlimited speed. Battle your friends in 6 multiplayer modes or take off and explore the courses Via Free Play mode. To stay ahead of the pack, upgrade your favorite Rival with 150 new cards. On your mark, get set, spin! = NOW nicrivals2 www.sega.com ыр. ESRB CONTENT RATING — ۵ SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA, the SEGA logo, Sonic Rivals 2 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. OSEGA. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, а division of Foundation 9 Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. "PlayStation", "PS" Family logo and "PSP" are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Memory Stick Duo™ may be required (sold separately) THE "FRIEND" GIFT (box 360 Wir е! Smoke the online competition т PGR4, Dirt, or five other games that use force feedback for guardrail collisions. This racing wheel comes with brake and gas pedals (everything but the hula dancer for your dashboard). And it goes without saying that if Gran Turismo 5 does hit the 3 this December (Sony has yet to confirm), buy your buddy a PS3 wheel instead. 5130 + www. F затег Skid Know a not-so-special some- one who thinks he could par- lay his mad racing-game skills into a pro career? Let cold reality crush his dreams, but in the meantime convince him he needs these fingerless driv- ing gloves to help him look the part. Actually designed for the Wii to help sop the palm sweat from kids and soccer moms, the gloves look so silly that your "friend" is guaran- teed to always finish last when it comes looking cool. 10۰۷ THE "FRIEND" GIFT, Nintendo by Torrell t-Shirts $45 (shirts) - $150 (jackets) * www.torreltorrel.com THE SHER GIFT Д Mario Brothers Air Refreshener $8 • www.dealextreme.com THE "BEST BUDDY GIFT Drift Buffet You could just send your best bud to test drive a BMW, but that requires con- vincing a snotty sales guy that your friend has the jing to actually buy one. Drift Buffet is a closed-course event for any driver, with any car that meets the specs, to race in a serious competition. The course is in San Bernardino, CA, and it follows an elimina- tion tournament schedule several times per year. › Car For that special (and we mean extra special) geek in your life, this USB RC Car is a good five-minute diversion from work and/or videogame play. (Yes, the car only runs for about five minutes, but it's the most thrilling low-speed five minutes of your life, and the little car only takes twice that long to recharge.) It con- nects to a PC using a USB cable, while the included soft- ware lets you steer. Paperclip speed bumps not included. $30 ۰ www.usbgee THE "BEST BUDDY" GIFT Virgin Galactic Flight $200K * www.virgingalactic.com THE “ACGUAINTAHCE" GIFT Mushroom Lamp Ts p $12 ۰۶ gadget.brando.com.hk 26 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM p f = „За ар GAMES OVERLOAD! UBISOFT EARER. SLASHER. TEETH IN THE DARKNESS. Lead your men into вазе and Unleash Carnal Power and fight hand-to- песоте a hero king. hand combat with giant monsters. AVAILABLE NOW Coming soon for the PLAYSTATION®3 ў computer entertainment system and а P PSP® (PlayStation@Portable) system ЕВЕ TM Paramount Pictures. © 2007 Paramount Pictures and Shangri-La Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Game Software © 2007 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft, Ubi.com, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. "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). Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of Battle fierce enemies as you play through 30 7 BEOWULFGAME.COM MATURE 17. ‘1 Blood Intense Violence Partial Nudity DVD-ROM [цин Sexual Themes | the Microsoft group of companies. Software platform logo (TM and ©) ЕМА 2006. THE "ЕЕТЕНП" GIFT Backyard football is great, but the NFL lets you get a taste for real football at an event that coincides with the Superbowl each year—for only $15. This year it’s in Arizona. Sure, NFL Experience is mostly for kids, but you can get autographs, watch competitions, catch a coach’s or ref's clinic, or just hang out and drink beer. THE “ENEMY GIFT Zap, tingle, fuzz—those are the sounds of an electric football set, the tabletop game your dad played when he was a Я kid. It's funny these are still around, considering the play- ers move randomly around the board and you have abso- lutely no control over the outcome. For anyone who doesn't understand football, this is the perfect gift. THE "ЕКТЕНП" GIFT Atari Keychain $45 for all three • www.firebox.com THE “ENEMY GIFT Billy Mitchell Hot Sauce From $3 per bottle ® www.800hotsauce.com THE "BEST BUDDY" GIFT It takes one hell of a gridiron iron man to unlock the three rings in Madden NFL ’08 (available only in the 360 and PS3 versions). Reward all that virtual field time and neglected social life with a real- life duplicate from ring-maker Josten's. The ring may say, “I've wasted hun- dreds of hours earn- ing this," but it does it with 10-karat class. THE "ACQUAINTANCE" GIFT So your fantasy-football buddy isn’t content with merely brandishing his favorite team's name and logo on every throw pillow, article of clothing, and paintable surface in his house? Plug in one of these Mad Catz jobbies, available in the art style of every team in the league. Unfortunately, the con- trollers are only available for the PS2 and now-dead Xbox, but hey—isn't it the thought that counts? THE "BEST BUDDY" GIFT DreamAuthentics Katana THE “ACQUAINTANC 8-Bit Tie $20 ۰ www.thinkgeek.com 6 | ЕСМ Extras: Our gift guidance continues at EGM.1UP.com, where you'll find a more traditional guide filled with sensible goods for every type of gamer. 28 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM —= GAMES OVERLOAD! M : Produced y \ | я © Еогсе 6 | Í i < www.koei.com pt! | / lj гаса j Real-time Medieval Action! M armies collide in unprecedented scale. АУАТ LABLE NOW PLAYSTATIONS *) XBOX 360. DO parey) BLADESTORM and the KOEI logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of KOEI Co., Ltd. ©2007 KOEI Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. "PlayStation", "PLAYSTATION", and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. "Dolby", "Pro Logic", and the double- D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. Alcohol Reference Mild Lan: Violence о. “аНЕНН > FOREIGN OBJEC Doki Doki HAJO ЭНТНРАН! The most perverted witch hunt ever with the stylus, searching for their telltale magic witch emblems. What? Yeah, that’s what we thought. But it doesn’t take much to keep Japan’s wannabe pervs happy—a whole bunch of Majo Shinpan!-based merchandise is on sale across Japan right now, and SNK quickly announced a sequel for а 2008 release. But even in an age when everything from MLB Power Pros (Wii, PS2) to GrimGrimoire (PS2) gets a U.S. release, Majo Shinpan! is one title we’re reason- ably sure will never, ever, ever, ever, ever get translated for our shores. Sorry, sleaze hounds. I have а bad feeling about this game already. As you should. SNK Playmore’s Doki Doki Majo Shinpan! is certified for ages 15 and over by Japan’s game-ratings board, which means that the majority of the girls (and one dude) you...well, touch (and pet and blow air on via the DS mic) in-game won’t be able to buy this at a Japanese store. It’s all for a really good cause, though, trust us—you play а junior high schooler named Akuji who's charged by a passing angel to ferret out all the witches on School grounds. It's kind of like play- ing Phoenix Wright, except instead of grilling witnesses on the stand, you're poking them here and there Platform: 05 Likelihood it'll come here: It's much easier to pass off gratuitous violence than it is to get away with gratuitous groping. У FAR-OUT FANS Awesome etcher: Sure, (terrible) videogame fan art is pretty com- 8 ШИ mon. But bitchin’ ۶ 1 game-inspired Etch A Sketch doodles aren't exactly easy to find. Unless, that is, you know the work of Etch A Sketch pro Elliot Sharron. But odds are you don't, so we tracked down the gifted nob-twister to chat about his recent BioShock pic (see below). Check out his site (etchasketchist.blogspot.com) for more sweet sketches. EGM: Why did you choose an Etch A Sketch? Do you suck at drawing? Elliot Sharron: Nah, you kind of have to be [talented] to do anything on Etch A Sketch. But Рт not a great drawer, So if | did a bunch of drawings of BioShock, you wouldn't be coming to my website. EGM: Come on, just admit it—you have awesome Etch A Sketch skills. ES: It's not really that | have awesome Etch A Sketch skills, it's more that everyone else in the world is really terrible at it. EGM: So, if Nintendo makes an Etch A Sketch game for the DS, are you totally going to be there day one? ES: They'd have to make a nob attachment for the DS to make it cool. But there is an Xbox Live Arcade Etch A Sketch game coming out, and I’m totally going to be there first day. EGM: Nice. Should we expect to see your name on the credits? ES: When | heard about it, | e-mailed developer Game Shastra and gave them all my suggestions on how to make it the best ever. But | don't really have high hopes for 1۰ Shockingly simple Daddy. 30 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM 1 Do Ви. High Definition TV and Blu-ray... a picture perfect marriage. BlurayDisc.com >> Blu-ray. Disc er Home Video. Pros Know Halo 3 matchmaking got you down? See how the best of the best play and follow their lead... autoaim, take your time and line up your shot—even lead it for farther distances.” Mason Cobb 7202 — Location: Mukilteo, WA Gamertag: Neighbor Website: www.mlgpro.com Credentials: Tied for first (out of 1,000 players) in the Dallas Free- For-All tournament; second place in the Chicago 4v4 compettion; first place in the Orlando 4v4; fifth place Orlando FFA Look sensitivity: 4 Button Layout: Default Stick layout: Default (no vibration) Favorite “two hands” weapon: Sniper rifle Favorite dual-wield combo: Maulers > 2. “Try to aim for having complete ‘map control.’ What this means is: a.) Have control of the power weap- ons. b.) Higher ground and position- ing—it's much harder to win a battle when you're looking up compared to looking down. c.) Have your team- mates watching all of the flanks.” 3. “Once this is accomplished and the lead is established, don’t leave your setup. Be sure to make the other team come to you, and it's а sure victory.” 4. “The bubble shield is clutch when it comes to Oddball, whether it is a team or free-for-all (FFA) game. Try focusing on getting control of the shield and wait for the opportunity. If you can get a set up with the ball inside of the bubble shield, there will be hardly anything the opponents can do." 5. "Sniping in Halo 3 is completely different to Halo 2. If anything, it's much more similar to the Halo 1 way of sniping. Instead of using the Thomas “Tsquared” Taylor - Location: Syracuse, NY Gamertag: ItsT2forRealz Websites: www.mlgpro.com, www.gaming-lessons.com, www.myspace.com/migtsquared Credentials: Captain of team Str8 Rippin; 2005 and 2007 All-Star MVP; instructor on Halo training program gaming-lessons.com Look sensitivity: 4 Button Layout: Default Stick layout: Default Favorite “two hands” weapon: Sniper rifle or energy sword Favorite dual-wield combo: Maulers Taylor’s multiplayer tips: 1. “Communication with your team- mates is key, Be sure to run around the map and create names for parts of the map that are hard to call out.” In case you didn't hear in the million. other places we've mentioned this already: Team 1UP Network recently beat Team GamePro in Halo 3 in a best- of-five series. (Hey, they started the trash talkil 32 ۰ ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • ۸ THE BAD GUYS LOOK GOOD, BUT THAT'S JUST THE RESOLUTION. The First, Next-Generation Action Shooter. High-def and hardcore meet to propel the premier arcade adventure into your living room. Featuring all new FPS stages, revolutionary graphics and the most advanced light gun available, this is the game you have been waiting for. b d TIME CRISISS44201995-2007 ו‎ Ine. AR CECENE Ple PLAYSTATION", and "PS" Family logo are registered ו‎ maus of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a гебиајетеајиадетатк of the EntertainmentsSoftware,Association. $ Al trademarks and copyrights are property of theigrespective owners. bi! и ЕСМ Extra: Need more mul- tiplayer and campaign mode help? Go to EGM.1UP.com for a link to our Halo З SuperGuide for more strategy and tips. for rockets. Rockets are important on that map as well as snipers. One rush for snipes, two for rockets, and the third person for camo.” Location: San Francisco, CA Gamertag: СУ David Websites: www.gamevideos.com Credentials: The best Halo 3 player in our office. Spiritual leader of Team 1UP Network. Yells at the rest of us a lot. Look sensitivity: 6 Button Layout: Default Stick layout: Default (no vibration) Favorite “two hands” weapon: Spartan laser Favorite dual-wield combo: Spiker апа Машег Ellis’ multiplayer tips: 1. "Don't be afraid to drop a grenade at your feet when you die. You'll often take your killer out with you." 2. "Learn to glance at your radar with your peripheral vision. Situational awareness is important." 3. "It may sound obvious, but always go for upper torso/headshots. They do more damage.” 4. “If you and an enemy are face- to-face and shooting at each other, jump directly over him. While in the air, look down and melee. Most of the time you'll get an assassination for your ninja efforts." 5. "When using the shotgun in close quarters, always melee after firing the shotgun at your target." 6. “Оп Narrows, have your best sniper stand at the back of the map. Even if he doesn't kill everyone com- ing across the middle, he can call out enemy movements to the team." 7. "On Isolation, hold the rockets and ghost. It's difficult for a team to coordinate when someone is гат- ming into them every 10 seconds.” 8. “On The Pit, if you have a good sniper to cover you from the oppos- ing team’s sniper, drop a regenera- tor by your turret. You'll be almost invincible on the turret and can easily take out several enemies by yourself." 9. “Оп Snowbound, control either the ۰ ~ laser or sniper and the shotgun pit. If you have the laser, have someone on your team grab the ghost, as it's very effective on the map because the snowmounds provide ample cover from small-arms fire." йй FROS КНОШ BEST (cont) shot damage and how best to use them.” З. "Understand weapon matchups and when you will lose a firefight. Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.” 4. “Focus on your kill/death ratio. You have a recharging shield for а reason, so stop rushing like a chump.” 5. “Communicate with your team. If you can get another guy firing at your target or defending the right ter- ritory, you’re going to win.” 6. “Hold the lower ‘goo chute’ area on Isolation with a battle rifle, and kills will be fed to you.” 7. "Learn the virtuous cycle on Guardian that keeps you invisible, armed with a hammer, and bubble- shielded.” `8. “If you’re on Construct and the other team is camping the lift, for the love of god don’t run into the lift.” 9. “Dumping grenades into the man cannons on Narrows is a good suppressant when combined with rifle fire.” 10. “Jumping from the middle bridge on Narrows directly over to the flag location is a good thing.” 11. “Firing off a few quick grenades down rocket alley on The Pit at the start of a round is a great way to get a couple of quick kills." 12. “The overshield location on The Pit is a great spot to hold with a bat- tle rifle, as are the shotgun rooms.” Victor “LiL Poison" De Leon Ш Location: Long Island, NY Gamertag: LiL Poison Website: www.lilpoison.com Credentials: The youngest profes- sional gamer in the world; once beat EGM editor-in-chief Shoe in Halo 2 25-0, then again 25-2. Look sensitivity: 3 Button Layout: Green Thumb Stick layout: Default Favorite “two hands” weapon: Sniper rifle Favorite dual-wield combo: Maulers or pistols (yes, those pistols...the human ones) De Leon’s multiplayer tips: 1. “Don’t rush." 2. "Wait until the other team is down before you grab their flag." 3. “To get the other team mad, just teabag them.” 4. “On The Pit, try to get at least two of your team members to rush Cobb’s multiplayer tips: 1. "Make sure you communicate with your teammates during the games (i.e., calling out positions of other opponents, timing power weapons)." 2. “Ту not to get mad during online play—it makes you play worse." 3. "Practice your battle rifle." 4. "Try to predict your opponents" movements. If you can think a step or two ahead of them, you have the advantage." 5. "If you lose a game, try and ana- lyze what you did well and what went wrong. This is the best way to improve." 6. “In Guardian Team Slayer, | like to have three of my teammates at the sniper tower. One of the guys is on the ramp that goes down to the trees (this guy is watching under the glass), another guy at the bubble- shield spawn just camping there waiting for people to pop out near the camouflage spawn. The other two teammates are just running around the snipe tower grabbing the overshield or using the sniper." Location: Seattle, WA Gamertags: New0001/ Abe Froman SK Website: www.bungie.net Credentials: Halo 3 multiplayer producer (Tung), Halo 3 engineer (Timmins)—two of the top players on the Bungie development team Look sensitivity: 4/3 Button Layout: Default/default Stick layout: Default/default Favorite “two hands” weapon: Tung: “Completely map dependent. Sniper rifle on Valhalla, shotgun on Narrows, Needler on Snowbound, etc.” Timmins: “Agree about being map dependent. Sniper and shotgun if they are placed, then rifle-class [weapons].” Favorite dual-wield combo: Tung: "If we are dual-wielding, it either means we are way ahead or losing badly.” Timmins: “I dual-wield when | can't find a rifle. When | have to, Mauler in my right hand and Spiker in my left.” Tung and Timmins’ multiplayer tips: 1. “Focus on grenade placement. Learn level geometry to be better with brute grenades.” 2. “Know which weapons do head- 34 ۰ ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM ` Choose from three custom Command all of human history Battle асто55 те globe т your _ factions with unique units and beyond. quest for world domination. f . and technologies. i EMPIREEARTH.COM PC TEEN TTT Mild Suggestive Themes и Language DVD-ROM [SOFTWARE № сеатеез Violence SIERRA © 2007 Sierra Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Empire Earth, Sierra and their respective logos are either registered tradetnarks 9r tradergarks of Sierra Entertainment, Inc. inthe U.S. and/or other countries, Mad Doc Software, Mad Doc®, the Mad Doc flask, and the Mad Doc logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks Of Mad Doe Software, LLC. All rights reserved. The NVIDIA 1080, GeForce and "The Way It’s Meant To Be Played" logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Windows and the Windows Vista Start button logo ar& registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and ‘Games for Windows’ and the Windows Vista Start button logo are used under lic Certified on the XPS 720 & M1730. XẸS is a registered trademark of Dell Inc: АП other trademarks are property of their respective owners. The family you want סז‎ spend time with this holiday season. تس sS 2D E FR-FR fly yao | Coming Spring '08 PRODUCTS RANGE FROM RATING PENDING то MATURE ES ВАТЕО BY | God of War ®/© Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. All games featured are trademarked and copyrighted properties oftheir respective publishers and/or licensors. "PlayStation; the "PS" Family logo and "PSP" are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "The Only Place to Play" is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Ф.‏ رح ۲ ح PlayStation Portable [] ITS We, | ш" Master Chief this ain't Halo's gameplay is deliberately slower-paced to create a sense of dread before an encounter. With only two weapons per player, planning is everything. Not in UT3. This game's matches, whether deathmatch, capture the flag, or Warfare (an objective-based gameplay mode requiring gamers to capture nodes), are frenzied fragfests where bullets, globs of goo, and body parts are constantly flying across the screen. Trust us, you will die here and die often, but most of the time it won't matter. Players instantly respawn, meaning dramatic match changes only take a single damage multiplier and a few multikills for someone to be right back on top. And whereas Halo's weapons have been fine-tuned across a trilogy to reflect specific strengths and weaknesses, every Unreal gun is capable of ripping someone apart. All the weapons feel powerful; every weapon hurts. Between the dozens of vehicles, weapons, and power-ups, UT3 is less about fine-tuning ۷ specific strategy as much as it's about getting blown up and jumping right back in. Think of it like an arcade game; every time you die, just pop in another quarter. IF YOU'RE A CONSOLE GAMER, you can't really be blamed for automatically being suspicious of Unreal Tournament games—none have been a "sure thing" like on the PC. Despite several attempts from Epic Games to adapt its fast-paced, multiplayer-centric first-person shooter series for the controller-wielding crowd (Unreal Championship 2 and its melee- centered combat being the most recent effort), the developer is still looking for a console home run. The Gears of War maker will try to change that with Unreal Tournament 3, building the PC version right alongside the PS3 edition. Thing is, UT3 doesn't play like any other shooter on a console right now. It’s not Halo 3, Gears of War, or Resistance: Fall of Man—and one of those actually came from Epic. But just because it's different doesn't mean it can't be excellent in its own right. 38 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY ¢ EGM.1UPCOM Platform: PS3 Publisher: Midway Developer: Epic Games Release Date: December 2007/ Early 2008 surprisingly smart А.І. We're promised the story becomes more interesting later, but the first few hours do little but introduce us to flat space marines that could easily be mistaken for characters from the eventual Gears sequel. FEW d count it out of 2007 yet), it's shaping up to be a real treat for PS3 owners— meaning it won't embarrass those not versed on a mouse and keyboard. ЕСМ Extras: Head to л to see exclusive footage of this PS3 shooter, plus hear what the 1UP Network editors think about ЏТЗ5 chances in the. console realm. ing by stocking up on armor power-ups and hopping in vehicles. In UTS, free- for-all and team-based games coexist, and unlike Gears, a single person can often turn the tide and save the day. 73لا‎ does share а weakness with Epic’s 360 affair, though: the story. Gears tried to establish a unique mythology, but it rang pretty hollow. UT3 only seems to succeed in dump- ing cut-scenes between otherwise standard multiplayer matches, except you’re battling with (and against) the erboard) and the potential for users to infinitely carry on the life of the game via mods (see sidebar). Still, UT3's sin- gle-player campaign mostly just dem- onstrates game types. For example, understanding how to command the A.L.-driven bots, crucial to remaining competitive in offline matches, is com- pletely unaddressed. That might work for PC vets familiar with the series, but console folks are new to this. Whether UT3 ends up arriving for PS3 this year or next (Epic says not to ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UR.COM * 9 Cover is for cowards Charge into a group of enemies in Gears of War and it’s pretty much lights out in seconds. Flanking, taking advantage of the environment's various means of cover, and deliberately hid- ing from the opposition until the timing is right is essential to its mechanics. Whether during the campaign or multi- player, you’re always working in teams, and combat's never about being a one man army. Cover really doesn't exist in (73. Gamers have a better chance of surviv- * Think of it like an arcade game; every time you die, just pop in another quarter. Don't resist Turns out we were lying: Resistance fans will feel right at home with UT3. The two games share the exhilarating speed (though ₪73 is undeniably faster) and nonstop action that uniquely defines their multiplayer experiences. Each also has a taste for strange and ridiculous weapons with alternate-fire options that provide dozens of options for any given combat situation. But UTS offers a broader range of gameplay, thanks largely to the many drivable vehicles (including a new hov- > SWAP TILL YOU DFEOF Learning a Trade Swap your bad game gifts for rad ones with our guide to game-trading sites Turning in used games for store credit is so pre-Internet, so we're rating the five biggest companies that let you trade online. Most of these sites use their own points-based pseudocurrency: You earn points for sending games requested by others and you pay points to get games you want (or you can buy points with a credit card). The sender pays shipping while the recipient pays a small fee to the trading company GAMES (listed as "recipient cost" below, which is how they make their money). Let's comparison swap.... OVERLOAD! аир, B eci Selection : Interface Overall Bonus : Cost* Rating The Basics Goozex Goozex’s point system ranges from 100 points for i One : $1per goozex.com : clunkers like Aero Wings up to 1,000 for new stuff like : free : trade i Blue Dragon (you can buy points for about a nickel } trade : B apiece). The big user base means a wide selection for plus і recent systems, but you're SOL for anything before the d $5 m і Game Boy Advance. Also, new members can only have : points i two trades going at a time until they build a good rating. B Growing out of a mid-'90s Usenet community, Game B Trading Zone still resembles a message board more B than a formal game-trading site. Instead of a point Zone B System, you have to propose direct trades of money/ meson i games with other users. There's no buyer protection either— members are on their honor to deal fairly. But : the legwork and risk are worth it: Support for all sorts H of classic systems and а community of over 4,000 B members means you're sure to find someone with the B game you want or who wants the game you're sick of. Trading BarterBee : While other sites have preset point values for their i 5 points ; $1 per barterbee.com B games' prices, BarterBee lets traders set the values B (enough Е trade i themselves. All that competition can make for great fora i : deals, but it also means you might overpay if you aren't : crappy і careful. Despite the trader freedom and cheap, insured : old і mailers, BarterBee's selection is a bit weak—especially : і compared to the site's CD- and DVD-trading branches. SaySwap : Unlike other sites with point scales, SaySwap dumps : Н games into four incremental groups. That's great for H i^ for first high-priced goods—nothing costs more than 40 points. : | trade; : But it also means all games in the $20 to $39.99 range : points : between cost the same in points. The price per trade is a bit H | 4 igher than those of the competition and the interface : i you buy + leaves a bit to be desired, but the sign-up bonus апаа į м Бик і decent selection make this one still worth considering. : sayswap.com GameSwap : While GameSwap does offer a free membership option, : Varies : i you have to lay out $20 to $35 to upgrade your status, i Бу | trade 1 which yields preferred search placement and more : mem- : (less for initial trade credits to get you started. A limited selec- : bership i upgraded tion (only the hottest games tend to be available) and a : type : members) horrible Flash interface put this one at the bottom. gameswap.com "These costs can vary slightly if trades are purchased in bulk. 1UP.COM PlayStation- p^ NINTENDOIS e Duel with 6 ard. from Tactical Evolution and ladiator’s Assault! ATTENTION YU-GI-OH! FANS! Choose from 3 awesome games this holiday season! Pick from GX Tag Force 2 on the PSP" (PlayStation Portable) system, GX The Beginning of Destiny on the PlayStation 2 system, World Championship 2008 on the Nintendo DS" or collect them all! ©1996 KAZUKI TAKAHASHI ©2004 NAS “ TV TOKYO EVERYONE Mild Fantasy Violence ENDO "DS. www.konami.com ESRB CONTENT RATING www.esrb.org KONAMI is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. "PlayStation", "PS" Family logo and "PSP" are registered tradémorks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc- Internet connection and Memory Stick Duo!" may be required 15010 separately). The rating icon is а registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. NINTENDO, NINTENDO DS AND THE OFFICIAL SEAL ARE TRADEMARKS OF NINTENDO. © 2006 NINTENDO, ALL RIGHTS reserved Lost ۸ le-playing game a blockbuster in Is Mistwalker's next и the making, or just another Final Fantasy-come-lately? By Jeremy Parish unrealistic people acting and emoting in a not-quite-convincing way. Despite guidance from Roy Sato, who served as senior animator on the ill-fated flick Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Odyssey's characters lack a certain spark. Odd (and sometimes choppy) story animation aside, though, it looks pretty enough, with Inoue's detailed characters exploring beautiful environ- ments. And that shouldn't come as a big surprise, given that Unreal Engine 3 (which also powered the likes of Gear of War and BioShock) is what you'll find under Odyssey's hood. That's unusual for a Japanese- developed title; licensing game engines still hasn't caught on over- seas. Then again, this combination has been cribbed straight from the Final Fantasy playbook. Sure, it's all refracted through the unfamiliar lens. of a new artist—legendary manga cre- ator Takehiko Inoue (Vagabond, Slam Dunk) provides the character designs, which tend more toward the “lanky and busty" end of the spectrum than your standard hairsprayed FF warriors. But anyone who cut their teeth play- ing Square's blockbusters should feel right at home. Still, many gamers might balk upon learning that 20 of the game's estimated 50 hours are dedicated to cinematics. Even RPG fans tend to prefer playing their games to simply watching them, especially when those story sequences suffer from eerily > Still, many gamers might balk upon learning that 20 of the game's 50 hours are dedicated to cinematics. LIVING FOREVER REALLY SUCKS. That's what Lost Odyssey would have us believe, anyway. Developer Mistwalker's (Blue Dragon) upcoming Xbox 360-exclusive role-playing game tells the tale of five immortals drawn together after a thousand years of cranky, miserable undeath. To hammer the point across, the creators have even hired an esteemed Japanese novelist to flesh out the main charac- ter's backstory and prove that, yeah, it totally bites to outlive everything and everyone you love dearly by a matter of centuries. Of course, this is a game directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, Mr. Final Fantasy himself, which means that none of the immortals actually remem- ber their long, dreary existences. In Sakaguchi's world, amnesia is less a tragic affliction than a way of life—and Lost Odyssey is nothing if not the heir apparent to his RPG legacy. Everything from character archetypes to the turn-based combat system REC با‎ GAMES OVERLOAD! Platform: XB360 Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Developer: Mistwalker Release Date: Spring 2008 42 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > ЕСМ ЛОРСОМ OFFICIAL LICENSED GAME ACCESSORIES AVAILABLE AT: ] ۳ zj \/ , | тоуѕ 05 KEEN geo CXXXI Qua *Produd selection may vary by store elemental weakness while keeping the player's party healthy. The divide between mortal and immortal characters is more than just a plot device; it also affects combat. While the five immortals are far more powerful than their short-lived com- panions, they're also incapable of ie Savor every battle, as almost half the game consists of cinematics. and create new magic skills with a higher mana cost. Any combination is possible, which is likely where much of the game's strategy will come into play. For instance, when battling a fire-based monster with a habit of poisoning characters, a composite water/curative spell would hit the foe's > YOURE LIVING IN DREAMTIME, ۸ Lost Odyssey’s downloadable content will be along the lines of Blue Dragon's, so expect stuff like bonus dungeons. of big-name Japanese creators and random nods to American sensibilities is one of Odyssey's defining features. Mistwalker clearly hopes to create an international hit with this RPG, not only aiming for near-simultaneous global release dates but even going as far as synching the characters" voice acting to the English dialogue. “Japanese gamers are used to seeing dubbed voices," explains Microsoft Product Manager Hees Kyung. "That's how Hollywood blockbusters are presented to Japan, and Sakaguchi wants this to be like watching an epic, emotional movie." Despite the emphasis on story and the prodigious amount of cut-scenes, though, Odyssey is still an RPG first and foremost, and its gameplay mechanics should be familiar to Sakaguchi fans. Battles are turn- based, similar to Blue Dragon, with a set of icons indicating the precise sequence in which combatants will act. Players can boost attacks with proper timing; every basic attack is accompanied by an animated ring that can enhance or weaken a character's striking power. It's not unlike Shadow Hearts' (PS2) Ring of Judgment, but here players try to align multiple con- centric circles rather than freezing a sweeping dial. Players can also choose from the usual assortment of special moves and magic. Spells are divided into white, black, and spirit categories (healing, attack, and buffs, essential- ly), with a fourth category called com- posite magic, which allows players to mix spells from the other categories 44 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM GAMES OVERLOAD! d Suggestive Themes iolence ESRB CONTENT RATING ו‎ : ј н ` I. www.sega.com © SEGA. All rights reserved. SEGA is registered in the US. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA, the SEGA logo and GHOST SQUAD are either registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. TM and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo. ©2006 Nintendo. Main-man Кайт may be 1,000 years old, but he remains a loyal customer of Forever 21. * LOST FANTASY innately learning new abilities. Instead, they're forced to learn magic and spe- cial techniques from the party's active mortal characters. And since mortals possess higher innate mana, immor- tals will need to draw magic points from them during combat, too. The trade-off is that durable frontline char- acters can actively prevent back-row fighters from suffering severe damage in battle by keeping their wall meter— a sort of health-based shield—high. This works both ways, though. Enemy parties often employ their own wall meter to protect important foes, and some monsters can even siphon magic from their comrades, just like the player's immortals do. Much about Odyssey remains maddeningly unknown. Microsoft still wasn't ready to show us certain underpinnings such as the Ring System, which apparently determines the party's abilities (and, we're told, some sort of character class struc- ture). That's a little worrying with less than two months until the Japanese release...especially since the U.S. ver- sion is being developed in tandem. While Odyssey aspires to be the next Final Fantasy, Square Enix always takes the time to polish up its flag- ship titles and make them feel perfect, delays be damned. At the moment, Odyssey gives us the unfortunate impression of a game being rushed to meet a deadline—and if that's really the case, this RPG contender could end up as just another wannabe. sh EGM Extras: Go ahead and set your Internet browser to EGM.1UP.com for exclusive footage of Mistwalker's next Xbox 360 role-playing game. 46 ۰ ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM NN GAMES OVERLOAD! To escape the town, he must know its beginning “опе of the most artistically and ` technically impressive да! 16$ on the PSP " A, зара AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2007 Language Suggestive Themes Violence ESRB CONTENT RATING www.esrh.org | есеј = у PlayStation.Pc www.konami.com а trademark of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. KONAMI® is a nc. Memory Stick Duo™ may be required (sold separately). The ratings sociation. nt Inc. ©1999 Konami Digital Entertainment Co. tation", "PS" Family logo and "PSP™ are register © 2007 Konami Digital Entertain KONAMI CORPORATION. "РЕ d. All rights reserved. "Silent Hill" is a regi trademarks of Sony Computer Entertain trademark of the Entertainment Software something else—my spy let slip that publisher Konami is gearing up yet another Metal Gear game for Sony's handheld. Oh, it's not another wacky spin-off, either, but something that hearkens back to the early days. Back in the '80s, things were badass: cassette tapes transformed into robots, furries attacked mummies, and army men battled anaconda-lov- ing terrorists. Isn't that totally rad? EA thinks so. It appears the megapub- lisher is making a game based on the upcoming live-action G./. Joe flick. Not only that, but | also hear it's polishing up developer Shiny (Enter the Matrix) їо make it. dah * Wrestle buffs, | got two words for ya: No Mercy. Word is THQ is updating the N Nintendo 64 classic with new rosters for Nintendo's new WiiWare service. ®) ° Last year's Sonic left our heads spinning with disgust. But things may N change—apparently, Sega is taking another stab at a real Sonic game. * EA makes tons of racers, but one has been in the shop for a while. Not for \ much longer, though—my sources say a new Road Rash is іп the works. about videogames. But what about game...shows? No, EA isn't making Wink Martindale's Tic-Tac-Dough 2009 (god, | wish), but it is teeing up EA Sports GameShow, a live, DJ-hosted sports-trivia game for PCs. And it seems like it wants to get console gamers guessing, too—my EA mole tells me EA's trivia title will eventu- ally appear on Xbox Live and branch off into other entertainment topics like TV and movies. Sure, it sucks that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots isn't coming out until next year, but at least Snake is still slithering on the PSP this winter with Portable Ops Plus. And possibly > Q—TIFZ (ж А boatload of scuttlebutt By Quartermann Look at all the games in this issue. Just look! How am | supposed to search for juicy scuttlebutt when the gaming gods are flooding my floor with titles? Boy, | could really use an intern. And a time machine. Or maybe an intern that can build a time machine. Yes, now I'm getting somewhere. Anyway, feast on these festive rumors. Jeez, | am getting doused with BioShock dirt. First, | hear it's going to eventually emerge on the PS3. Or so | thought—a couple of months ago, | got new intel saying that Microsoft fitted publisher 2K with a rather large moneyhat to keep it 360 exclusive. So is Sony really testing BioShock's waters? Here's the latest gossip | fished up: It appears BioShock is back on with the PS3. Hey, 2K, will you kindly let this happen, please? Partly for your sake, but mostly for mine...so | can finally shut up about it. EA is extremely good at making games. Or should | say selling games? Either way, the publisher knows a lot Resurrected Rumors: The Q has been on a roll lately. A few months back, | teased that publisher Capcom was resur- recting its classic platformer Bionic Commando for con- soles. Looks like ту little tease turned out to be true. 48 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM 9 Gay figs בו‎ Don't get hit by spyware. Protect yourself with Spyware Doctor: Experts agree, Spyware Doctor provides the best protection against spyware, malware, identity theft and other online threats. Built-in OnGuard" real-time protection and advanced heuristic technology keep your most precious assets covered. available at: Gb | Go ahead. Uso us: Tools Software" www.pctools.com PC World ‘Best Buy’, October 2007, Best mm p j ive ESRB CONTENT ВАТИВ ۷ 9 Oa Playstation DVD-ROM ₪ XBOX 360. WE i ace [SOFTWARE * Online Interactions Not Rated by the ESRB ۱. РА: 0 2. THERE WAS ONCE А WAR THAT SHOOK THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF VANA ПОТЕГ. AND NOW HISTORY IS REBORN, AS WE RETURN TO THAT AGE OF STRIFE... <> <> 90 FIL ИШНИ YYINGS OF THE GODDESS. EXPANSION PACK NOVEMBER 2007 ALSO AVAILABLE: VANA'DIEL COLLECTION 2008 INCLUDES ORIGINAL GAME AND ALL FOUR EXPANSION PACKS ire WWW.FINALFANTASYXI.COM SQUARE ENIX. © Б = Se ee سیب‎ [© 2007 are redi АМ, ИМЕ, the PlayOnline logo, SQUARE ENIX, the SQUARE ENIX logo, VANA'DIEL, and WINGS OF THE GODDESS are registered trademarks 6 T nes "PS" Family log: ی‎ aay pis A d ХЫНЫ tainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Delay of game EGM's official figt һа proud hater of i), my time witl | Brawl маз. } - : very polished | [The Bad: Ме" fto wait a few = S00 PREVIEW wet a GAMES OVERLOAD! Unfinished ELIZIMEZZ Find out why some of the hottest games slipped into 2008, and more importantly, whether they'll be worth the wait BEST YEAR EVER? That's definitely what we were thinking back in January, as 2007's release calendar featured an unprecedented amount of big-name titles (Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, just to name a few). But then month after month, it was almost like Ebenezer Scrooge and his bah-hum- bug ways took over the videogame biz, pushing several major releases out of the holiday season. So as much as we'd hoped to review the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Too Human in this very issue, it ain't gonna happen. Instead, we'll examine why these two—and many more— got delayed, and if they'll help make 2008 the year we thought this one would be. > Smash Вай, a glowing power-up that players will feverishly battle to break open because it grants their char- acter the ability to execute what is essentially a finishing move, such as Samus' screen-wide laser shot or the blue blur's transformation into Super Sonic (yes, the hedgehog is finally part of the Smash roster). Assist Trophies are also new here. These items not only provide wonderful aid during fights, but from Punch Out's Little Mac to the sprite-looking militia from Advance Wars, are also a very blatant form of Nintendo fan service. And classic bouts are just a frac- tion of what Brawl has to offer. You've got online play, the new story-based adventure mode (it's basically a side-scroller that can be played cooperatively), and a yet-to- be revealed "creating and sharing" function. Yep, this game will pack quite a punch. Wii > Nintendo ۰ February 2008 Game Director Mashiro Sakurai recently confirmed through the Brawl website that it would indeed feature Internet-based fights against three other friends or strangers. And since Nintendo doesn't exactly have much online experience, we wouldn't be shocked if that particular mode required a bit more testing. Worth the wait? After getting in a few rounds with Brawl, we can say that the series has definitely made a successful transition to the Wii. Just don't expect any revolution- ary changes to the skirmishes; the improvements are much more subtle. The first notable addition is the After getting in a few rounds with Brawl, we can say that the series has definitely made Why was it delayed? In a sense, you can blame Shigeru Miyamoto. The Mario creator and Nintendo's head creative force once uttered these words of wisdom: “А delayed game is eventually good; a bad game is bad forever." It's basically become Nintendo's mantra, which is notorious for continually adjust- ing release dates for its homegrown software. So while the move of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's launch from December to February is surely a disappointment for Wii owners, it's hardly a surprise. What exactly led to the two-month delay? Nintendo isn't talking, but we bet it has to do with the online mode. a successful transition to the W as it delayed? “We could've cut corners d rushed it out,” says President Randy Pitchford f developer Gearbox Softw: ЌЕ the game to be really go Worth the wait? WWII first-person shi will juate ; destı ran istic- les (the total opposite of Soldier of Fi ck). Wii/PS3/XB360 * LucasArts * Spring 2008 Why was it delayed? Since LucasArts keeps | real reason close to its chestplate, we imagine: recent announcement of a Wii version contributed to The Force Unleashed being pushed back. Worth the wait? Playing as Darth Vader's Sith subordinate does seem cool, but the unpre- Star Wars games (for every st garbage like Revenge of the орез in check. Guns of the Patriots PS3 * Konami * March 2008 Why was it delayed? Even the big dogs can fear the crowded shopping season, as ۷/۵535 poor sales іп "04 helped convince Konami to push back Solid Snake's sneaky final tale. Worth the wait? It's sure nice to know that the extra time is being used wisely. "It's affording me the opportunity to do playtesting in the U.S. and Europe," says Assistant Producer Ryan Payton. *This has never been done for an MGS title." 54۰ ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * ЕСМЛОРСОМ СЕМЕ Dee нБ‏ حح ای ב a a in 3 GE GAMES ATR: LAL” eon OVERLOAD! = JUMPS : 120750 ONCOMING can create challenges on the fly by gathering the group of players any- where on the map and picking one of 50 objectives. It becomes a natu- ral thing to say, for instance, “Hey, let's meet at the lighthouse and see who can get the best stunt score from there." It all works: You become comfortable with Paradise—like you do the real world—because everything is based on landmarks and points of reference. And when you remember that nothing ever interrupts the flow of the game (no lobbies or no loading screens), you surely won't mind waiting a li'l longer to race through this Paradise. Р53/ХВ360 * EA Games * Spring 2008 totally up to you. Paradise presents your options so well that it's all about deciding what to do next, not figuring out how to access this mode or that. The "Today's Best” leaderboards give you the latest stats to challenges such as biggest air, longest oncom- ing, and such. Also, every one of the game's 64 roads has its own events. Of these, fans of the old crash mode will surely become addicted to the “showtime” tasks—here you try to cause the highest dollar value in damage from a crash starting on a particular street. For a more organized event, you Completely eliminating lobbies changes the entire complexion of the online racing experience. Why was it delayed? Criterion’s plans for Burnout: Paradise are ambitious. The developer is hoping to deliver a truly open racing world— one filled with traffic where you can do whatever you want whenever you want, that has absolutely no load- ing screens, and includes the ability to seamlessly join online. Executive Producer Matt Webster tells us that with all of those goals in reach, delaying the release is a matter of seeing things through to the end. Worth the wait? From what we’ve played, Paradise looks capable of achieving Criterion’s goal. Completely eliminating lobbies changes the entire complexion of the online racing experience. And forget about wasting time wishing the host would get things going— you'll hit the street the moment you join a game, and from there it’s У HOEOD*'Z BUSINESS ons got sent to an early grave. . Fear & Respect • PS3/XB360 * ۷ Killing Day ۰ PS3/XB360 г Ubisoft ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е EGM.1UP.COM * 7 distance the title from all its poison press won't be easy. "A lot of people have talked about Too Human in a very wrong way for a very long time," says Dyack. "And | hope that we can recover from that. But even if we can't, at least | know that l've cre- ated a good game." Dyack believes that the backlash his opus has received isn't unlike the doom-and- gloom reports surrounding another wildly ambitious creation—James Cameron's Titanic. "While they were still filming, the actors noticed that all the advance press was saying that the movie was s***," Dyack says. "And anytime when people say that long enough, it doesn't matter who you are and how tough you are. It will get to you...and that's why [peo- ple] want to get me Net Nanny—so that | can't post on gaming forums anymore." Luckily, Dyack won't need to wade into message-board flame wars to defend his baby for long—he hopes to get a playable demo into gamers' hands in early 2008. XB360 * Microsoft Game Studios * March 2008 Games (creator of the Unreal Engine 3 middleware tools that Silicon Knights initially used in developing Too Human for the 360) stirred up plenty of bad buzz and set the proj- ect back a few months. "Clearly, our development difficulties are out in the public," Dyack says. "We didn't go into this intending to write our own technology; we were more or less forced to." Worth the wait? Now that we've played over an hour of the seem- ingly near-finished game, we feel that, yes, Too Human successfully bridges the gap between addictive online dungeon hacks such as Diablo and Phantasy Star Online and char- acter-action offerings like Devil May Cry and God of War. But trying to A lot of people have talked about Too Human in a very wrong way for a very long time. —Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack Why was it delayed? The word "delayed" doesn't even begin to explain the status of Too Human, the first installment in an epic sci-fi action-RPG trilogy from devel- oper Silicon Knights (Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Eternal Darkness). We guarantee that no other game in this feature has had a stranger gestation period. The project first began well over a decade ago, with scrapped iterations for both PS1 and GameCube lingering in the minds of both gamers and the company's outspoken head honcho, maverick game designer Denis Dyack. And the game's modern Xbox 360 incar- nation hasn't had an easy going, either—a disastrous demo at 2006's ЕЗ gaming summit and a high-pro- file lawsuit against developer Epic SingStar - _Р53 ۰ Sony СЕА ۰ Spring 2008 Why was it delayed? Sony's first PS3 foray into 5 karaoke series aims to push the genre forward With an extensive catalog of downloadable songs/ videos and user-driven, YouTube-me у її? With Rock Band and Guitar Hero тренпа for your PS3's music-genre Worth Indiana Jones PS3/XB360 * LucasArts * Summer 2008 Why was it delayed? When the fourth Indy flick got the official go-ahead, it didn't surprise anyone that LucasArts held the game so it would coincide with the томе’ release (historically, piggybacking on the Hollywood hype helps game sales). Worth the wait? With Uncharted and Tomb i adventure genre, our favorite bring more than the “revolu- oll physics seen in the early demos. PS3/XB360 ۰ EA Games * Spring 2008 Why was it delayed? After hearing all the com- plaints from folks like us while reviewing the game, EA eventually decided to push.its co-op shooter into 2008. Worth the wait? The Review Crew found Army plagued with technical hiccups such as unreliable teammate A.l., misplaced audio cues, and long load times. We wish more publishers would follow EA's lead and delay obviously flawed software. 58 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * ۸ ж ₪1 пее ۳۸ ₪ № Just like in Phantasy Star Online, you can take your customized Too Human character and hack-n-slash alongside three buddies across the Internet. ‘in Conflict The Masked Queen AB3e0 ۲ Siena s Spring 2008 i E апа the Tower of Mirrors Why was it delayed? “The 360 version was Б | i d if Microsoft and Wii * Square Enix * Spring 2008 cally finished," says Executive Producer Greg had - — Goodrich, "but then we looked at it and decided er to My was невус own holiday lineup ^ that a few controller modifications just wasn't so crowded, $90; e best to push enough. We want to truly make a console game this first-person a new year, instead of a PC game ported to a console.” Worth the wait? Conviction proi magine the somewhat repetitive s Worth the wait? As the Wii continues to lack legit Worth the wait? This real-time strategy game sneaky protagonist Sam Fisher a Jason Bourne- software, here's one we actually think might've was a PC hit, and with Sierra addressing the port style makeover, complete with urban combat and benefited from a '07 release. concerns, we expect nothing but the same here. realistic crowd reactions. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM • 59 № Playing with fire is strongly encouraged in Mercenaries 2. Such as to гпатеп mt why players should play - ies. Worth the wait? Yes, as a few more months - should help the developer balance Frontline’s r 60-plus vehicles, weapons, and remote-controlled 1 f / ј bots, Eerily, the team is also experimenting witha ^ Worth the wait? Home's lofty ambitions remain brain wave device (EmSense) to monitor excite- ^ adm ly since it's a free service for ment levels on the testers. Why? To spot the j [ ill continue to grow and evolve game's unnecessary dull moments. 1 | 60 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM. 1UP.COM GAMES OVERLOAD! second. There are also some design challenges: We're adding a cooper- ative element, and that's something very few people have experience with in open-world settings." So will all this late tweaking and polishing make much of a differ- ence? Perhaps. But then again, open-world experiences are notori- ous for being nearly impossible to bug-test exhaustively, so we're not sure another few months can have that big of an impact. Spring 2008 learn of World in Flame's delay. The game didn't exactly blow us away the last time we saw it, either. In addition to some gameplay slow- down, we witnessed too much scenery pop-in throughout its Venezuela backdrop. Worth the wait? “Опе of the big- gest things we're always looking at is performance of the engine," says Warner, “making sure we're main- taining a constant 30 frames per We're adding a cooperative element, and that's something very few people have experience with in open-world settings. —Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Lead Designer Scott Warner les have weathered the test of time, = follow-up to SD was first PS3/XB360 ۰ EA Games Why was it delayed? "We're kind of perfectionists," says Scott Warner, lead designer of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for developer Pandemic. After several months of Internet specu- lation, Warner recently confirmed the game's delay from its original holiday '07 date to an early '08 release. "We want to have every- thing be as well executed as pos- Sible," he says. The first Mercenaries was tech- nologically impressive, pushing the last-generation consoles to present an open world in which a lot could be demolished. With the sequel's even more ambitious plan—promis- ing, among many other things, the ability to use lifelike fire as a weap- on—we weren't terribly surprised to ۳222۳۲5 IM THE MAKING to fruition—se Mother 3: The only game in this role-playing franchise to ever make it name. But the true remains elusive. Devel рег 3D Realms claims that we will finally see it in 2008, but will anyone still care? sê legendary PC multiplayer first-person shooter back in 1998, but a series of delays made fans wonder if it would ever see release. Luckily, the game resurfaced as part of the The Orange Box collection (PS3/XB360). ОМС GAMING MONTHLY * EGM.1UP.COM • 61 Stateside was No. 2 (known here as Earthbound for the Super NES). After being announced in 1996, Mother 3 didn't come out in Japan till 10 years later on the Game Boy Advance. No word yet on a U.S. release. Silicon Knights' 7 leaping across Far East of Eden Ш: Namida: Hudson’s import-only role-playing series debuted back on the PC-Engine (TurboGrafx-16 over here) and its third installment, Namida, announced in 1995. console. But the. competitor flopped 0 it got revived for release on PS2, yet nobody noticed. Intel? Core™2 Duo Processor E6550 $969 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6750 $999 Intel? Core™2 Duo Processor E6850 $1089 Intel® Core™2 Quad-core Processor 0 $1089 Intel® Core™2 Quad-core Processor Q6700 $1359 Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad-core Processor QX6850 $1919 Intel® Core"'2 Duo Processor 0 $1139 Intel® Соге"“2 Duo Processor E6750 $1165 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6850 $1255 Intel® Core™2 Quad-core Processor 06600 $1255 Intel® Core™2 Quad-core Processor 06700 $1549 Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad-core Processor QX6850 $2059 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6550 $1349 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6750 $1375 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6850 $1465 Intel® Core™2 Quad-core Processor 0 $1465 Intel® Core™2 Quad-core Processor Q6700 $1759 Intel? 60۲۵۳2 Extreme Quad-core Processor QX6850 $2269 _ Óá——. Intel® Core"2 Duo Processor E6550 $1075 Intel® Соге"“2 Duo Processor E6750 $1099 Intel® Core" Duo Processor 0 $1189 Intel? Core2 Quad-core Processor 06600 $1189 Intel® Соге"“2 Quad-core Processor 06700 $1485 Intel® Соге"“2 Extreme Quad-core Processor QX6850 $1999 5 510 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6550 $1499 Intel? Core" Duo Processor E6750 $1529 Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor E6850 $1609 Intel? 60۲۵۳2 Quad-core Processor 0 $1609 Intel? Core™2 Quad-core Processor 06700 $1899 Intel? Соге"“2 Extreme Quad-core Processor QX6850 $2399 NVIDIA 7501 SLI™ Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium Eagletech® Sidewinder Gaming Case + 500W SLI"-Certified Power Supply Corsair 2GB DDR2-800 Memory 250GB SATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive 2X NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8500GT 512MB Video Card-SLI™ Enabled 20x Double Layer DVD+RW Drive, 16x DVD-ROM Drive Surround 3D Premium Sound 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN 600 Watt Surround Sound Speakers Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse Free Wireless 802.119 54MBps Network Adapter NVIDIA® 750i SLI Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium Extreme Performance Overclocking Proof Certified Liquid Cooling System Tagan Е! Diablo BM Gaming Case + 500W SLI"-Certified Power Supply Corsair 2GB DDR2-800 Memory 320GB SATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive 2X NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600GT 512MB Video Card-SLI™ Enabled 20x Double Layer DVD+RW Drive, 16x DVD-ROM Drive Surround 3D Premium Sound 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN 600 Watt Surround Sound Speakers Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse Free Wireless 802.11g 54MBps Network Adapter Gamer Paladin ВВОМХ NVIDIA® 750i SLI™ Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium Eagletech® Viper II Gaming Case + 600W SLI"-Certified Power Supply Corsair 2GB DDR2-800 Memory 500GB SATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800GTS 640MB Video Card 20x Double Layer DVD+RW Drive, 16x DVD-ROM Drive Surround 3D Premium Sound 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Speakers Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse Free Wireless 802.11g 54MBps Network Adapter NVIDIA® 750i SLI™ Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium Extreme Performance Overclocking Proof Certified Liquid Cooling System NZXT® Hush Silent Gaming Case + 550W SLI"-Certified Power Supply Corsair 268 DDR2-800 Memory 320GB SATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600GTS 512MB Video Card 20x Double Layer DVD+RW Drive, 16x DVD-ROM Drive Surround 3D Premium Sound 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN 600 Watt Surround Sound Speakers Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse Free Wireless 802.119 54MBps Network Adapter NVIDIA® 750i SLI™ Chipset Dual PCI Express Motherboard GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium Extreme Performance Overclocking Proof Certified Liquid Cooling System NZXT® Lexa Gaming Case + 800W SLI"-Certified Power Supply Corsair 2GB DDR2-800 Memory 500GB SATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive 2X NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800GT 512MB Video Card-SLI™ Enabled 20x Double Layer DVD+RW Drive, 16x DVD-ROM Drive Surround 3D Premium Sound 10/100/1000 MBps Ethernet LAN Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers Logitech Deluxe Keyboard & Optical Mouse Free Wireless 802.11g 54MBps Network Adapter 4 PONM Hi! # indows Vista™ Home Premium - 17" Wide Screen WSXGA+ ТЕТ LCD 1680x1050 Display - GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium - Intel® Centrino™ Duo Mobile Technology - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor - Intel® 965 Chipset - Intel? 4965AGN Wireless 802.11 a/b/g/Draft-n - NVIDIA® Mobile GeForce™ 8600GT 512MB video - 2GB DDR2-667 Memory - 120 GB SATA Hard Drive - Removable 8x DVD+R/+RW Drive = - Built-in 1.3 Mega Pixels Digital Camera Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7300 (4MB L2Cache, 2.0GHZ) $1479 T7500 (4MB L2Cache, 2.2GHZ) $1489 T7700 (4MB L2Cache, 2.4GHZ) $1579 - Built-in bluetooth - Built-in HDMI - Gb Ethernet LAN & 56K Modem - 3x USB 2.0 Ports - 1x Firewire IEEE-1394 Ports - 3-in-1 Build-in Media Card Reader - High Performance Li-lon Battery - Free Deluxe Carrying Case = 15.4" Wide Screen WXGA TFT LCD ~ 1280x800 Display = GENUINE Windows® Vista™ Home Premium - Intel® Centrino™ Duo Mobile Technology - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor - Intel® 965 Chipset - Intel® 4965AGN Wireless 802.11 a/b/g/Draft-n - NVIDIA® Mobile GeForce™ 8600GT 512MB video Color Options E ₪] [73 $1199 $1209 $1299 % 268 DDR2-667 Memory - 12068 SATA Hard Drive - Removable 8x. DVD+R/+RW Drive = Built-in 2.0 Mega Pixels Digital Camera Intel® Core" 2 Duo Processor 77300 (4MB L2Cache, 2.0GHZ) 17500 (4MB L2Cache, 2.2GHZ) 17700 (4MB L2Cache, 2.4GHZ) - Built-in Fingerprint Security - Gb Ethernet LAN & 56K Modem - 4x USB 2.0 Ports - 1х Firewire IEEE-1394 Ports - 3-in-1 Build-in Media Card Reader - High Performance Li-lon Battery = Free Deluxe Carrying Case 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. ...and it actually pulled into the Game of the Month station without a hitch. Call of Duty 4 and Mass Effect, amidst huge expectations, share the GOTM honors. And PS3 island-getaway game Uncharted wasn't far behind. Interestingly enough, we were set to review another superhyped game this issue, one that was even on our cover (ЕСМ #206, August 2006): Army of Two. And while we got reviewable discs in time and had our reviewers play it, write entertaining reviews, and make the obligatory tampon jokes, we received breaking news the weekend before we went to press that the game was delayed because of negative early buzz (which my reviewers' scores would confirm). So sure, | was kinda pissed that | had to that hole to fill, but | couldn't get too mad. If the game is better for it, it’s worth the wait. —Greg Ford, Reviews Editor zu MASS EFFECT (GAME OF THE MONTH, TIE) =- )VERLOAD! Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 67 Geometry Wars: Galaxies 67 Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn 68 ^ Need for Speed: ProStreet 68 Tony Hawk's Proving Ground 69 Manhunt 2 70 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 74 BlackSite: Area 51 75 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men 76 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune 80 Naruto: Rise of a Ninja 80 TimeShift 82 Mass Effect 86 Contra 4 86 Cooking Mama 2: Dinner With Friends 87 Епа Fantasy ХИ: Revenant Wings 88 Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus 89 ^ Reviews Wrap-Up MODERN: WARFARE (GOTM, TIE) 64 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM РАБЕ E Manhunt 2: Worth all the hoopla? Uncharted: Drake's got р the goods LE => food..again THIS MONTH'S REVIEW CREW Working 25 hours a day, eight days a week, 13 months a year ч Dan "Shoe" Hsu Shane Bettenhausen Also on Sam Kennedy Edi in-Chief, James “Milkman” Mielke Executive Ed om Garnett Lee g Editor Jeremy Parish Features 1UP.com Scott Sharkey Staff Writer сот Darren Gladstone h Brooks Huber Editorial Intern John Davison Staff Reviewer Andrew Fitch Staff Reviewer Gord Goble Staff Reviewe Greg Sewart Staff ₪ ewer Todd Zuniga Executive Ed Attempting to conquer the old-school challenge presented by Contra 4 pushed Shane's “Holiday Issue” mindset squarely into Bad Santa territory. Now Playing: Contra 4, Burnout Paradise, Virtua Fighter 5, FFXII: Revenant Wings, Super Mario Galaxy, Christmas Nights Blog: egmshane.1UP.com Crispin Boyer nior Editor When longtime pal and former EGMer Mark MacDonald told Crispin he was leaving the company to “walk the Earth,” Cris thought about joining him for the ultimate road trip. Then he thought about his mortgage. Godspeed, Mark MacDonald! Now Playing: Uncharted, Halo 3 Blog: egmcrispin.1UP.com Greg Ford Reviews Editor Uncharted gave Greg a good idea: getting the hell away to some remote island when a 13th issue, packed with reviews, arrives. He’s already started packing for the next one. Now Playing: Uncharted, Contra 4, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, Rock Band Blog: egmford.1UP.com Andrew Pfister Revie ditor, 10 om Andrew BLAM! is getting tired BLAM BLAM! of all the shooting BLAM! games this month, and was BLAM! hoping Super Mario Galaxy ВЕАМ BLAM! would have made it in time BLAM! for review. It didn't. BLAMMIT! Now Playing: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Portal Blog: andrewpf.1UP.com Joe Rybicki At this time of year, Joe's particularly thankful for broadband Internet access, which lets him play co-op games of Halo 3 online rather than locally. Finding a second player for splitscreen can be a bit of a challenge. Now Playing: BioShock, Halo 3 Blog: opmjoer.1UP.com ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * EGM.1UP.COM * 65 ditor-in-Chief Shoe's been complaining about his slow "old-man hands" for years now, but they still seem to be functioning adequately: His Team 1UP Network recently beat Team GamePro three games to two in Halo 3.... Now Playing: Adv. Wars: Days of Ruin, Halo 3, Mario Galaxy Blog: egmshoe.1UP.com Jennifer Tsao Managing Editor Jennifer's зиретарру to have something new and fun to play on her Wii. But has her addiction to Geometry Wars: Galaxies gone too far? Does she really, y’know, need to carry it with her at all times? Now Playing: Mass Effect, Cooking Mama 2 Blog: egmjennifer.1UP.com Bryan Intihar Editor Bryan considered taking a “pick-me-up” to help finish the issue. Then he remembered Jessie Spano's SAT debacle оп Saved by the Bell and quickly realized no one would appreciate his singing “I'm So Excited” in the office. Now Playing: Uncharted Blog: egmbryan.1UP.com Previews Michael Donahoe D itor Cooking Mama 2 reminded Michael that he can't cook. But he sure can eat a lot. Actually, it's a good thing that Michael can't make his own food, because if he could, he would probably blow up...in a bad way. Now Playing: Rock Band, Mass Effect, Half-Life 2 Blog: egmhoe.1UP.com Nick Suttner м5 Intern, 1UP.com Nick was prepared to go into debt by finally buying a PS3 for Ratchet & Clank Future and Uncharted, only to have the excellent fortune to play through them for reviews on a work system. Awesome. Now Playing: Everyday Shooter, Halo 3, Portal Blog: rocksolidaudio.1UP.com a Bria ААА 1UP NETWORK The Review Crew is the 10Р Network's ensemble cast of writers from all of our publications, both online and in print. We believe that games are more than the sum of their parts, so we tack- le them subjectively, as experiences. Head over to ReviewCrew.1UP.com to meet all of the 1UP. Network's expert reviewers. And check out 1UP.com for reviews of games we didn't have enough time or room for. great, eliminating constant arm flail- ing during prolonged races. But man, my shoulder aches after the hammer throw. Where's the Icy Hot? Let me help clarify: The con- trols aren't complicated on their own; they're just complicated for this type of gaming experience. Some events have 11 pages of instructions! That's too much reading and learning in what should be a pure pick-up-and-play party game. And call me a wimp, but Some racing contests are too physi- cally demanding, leaving me out of breath and hoping that my deodorant is holding up. But it feels good to sweat during a videogame, and the physicality makes the victories all the more exhilarating. ж MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES W Publisher: Sega ₪ Developer: Sega ₪ Players: 1-4 ₪ ESRB: Everyone Not-so-special Olympics gling onscreen Wii Remote ain't cut- tin' it. Bringing in buddies for multi- player livens things up, particularly in the 1-оп-1 contests, but without the option to tweak event lengths or difficulties, this feels like just another souped-up minigame collection. While some of the tradi- tional games, like the 100-meter dash, feature mundane action, other games provide a nice balance between mimicking NBC’s real-life coverage of the Olympics and fantasy fun. The Dream Race, for example, is a Mario Kart-type dash complete with turtle shells, invincibility stars, and road haz- ards. Unlike Fitch, | found little fault with the controls. The gamer-friendly “attained max speed” scheme works We've waited over 15 years for Sonic and Mario to team up, and we finally get it...in a Wii Sports- inspired competition based on next year's Beijing Olympics?! But despite its rather disturbing premise—the portly plumber and friends can rep- resent despotic regimes like Iran and Saudi Arabia, after all—Mario 8 Sonic's 20-plus events capture the diverse athleticism of the real Summer Games, from the pure breakout speed of the 100-meter dash to the preci- sion timing of fencing...if you've got the patience for some complex (not to mention tiring) control schemes. Swimming, for example, throws five different stroke motions at you at once without clearly demonstrating how to execute them— sorry, а wig- Nice vari- ety of real Olympic events Poor con- trol explanations This game allows for full integration 66 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM OVERLOAD! Wii GEOMETRY WARS: GALAXIES ₪ Publisher: Sierra ₪ Developer: Kuju ₪ Players: 1-2 ₪ ESRB: Everyone squarely on its precision. It's still a fun formula, and all of the additions are excellent— multiplayer, your customiz- able buddy drone, inventive worlds and enemies—but if you've played the original you won't ever be able to fully forgive Galaxies for its control quirks. + JENNIFER: The sheer volume of board types and a few fabulous gameplay tweaks quickly got me past the problems. Harvesting *geoms" (multiplier niblets enemies leave in their wake) ratchets up the game's addictive nature. And is it weird that | had an almost emotional attachment to my handy li'l drone? With 64 levels, versus and co-op, and Retro Evolved included, Galaxies has tons to love, even if the standard control's busted. A good reason to buy a Classic Controller to play a twin-stick shooter with the Nunchuk and Wii Remote combo is an unintuitive, uncomfortable mess. It tries hard to make things easy for you by mapping a "laser sight" onto the screen so you can see where your shots will go, but the bottom line is that this is not the kind of gameplay this control setup was intended for. To enjoy this game, you need a dual- analog-stick Classic Controller. + NICK: Problem is even the Classic Controller lacks the precision of the Xbox 360 pad (used for Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved), thanks to the eight directional notches molded into the plastic. It seems like a picky com- plaint, but it makes all the difference in a game whose success rests so -۴ JOHN: The classic gaming roots of the Geometry Wars franchise have clearly been pondered quite thor- oughly for Galaxies. Beyond the fre- netic intensity we've come to expect from the dual-stick shooter franchise (think Robotron), it has Asteroids- themed levels that have you breaking apart large versions of enemies until "normal"-sized guys pour out, as well as levels set in giant Pac-Man-like mazes, where the enemies discharge from each corner before exploding into showers of goodies that must be gobbled up as quickly as possible. You'll find a /ot of variety here, but it wins you over with an abundance of imagination and visual flair. What it doesn't win you over with, though, is the default control scheme. Trying FIRE EMBLEM: RADIANT DAWN W Publisher: Nintendo ₪ Developer: Intelligent Systems № Players: 1 ₪ ESRB: Everyone 10+ Dawn is so challenging and tightly designed. More technical additions like widescreen support and one- handed control make this sequel even easier to enjoy. +A. FITCH: Need further proof Nintendo's trying to hide this one from the casual crowd? You need a Classic Controller to get the most out of it, as that's the only way to zoom in and out on the action—no tacky, tacked- on motion controls here. A warning to Final Fantasy Tactics fans, though: This is more of a “puzzler” than you're used to—you've gotta beat levels the "right" way in a lot of cases— but that also helps fuel an Advance Wars-style addiction. It's not as cutesy or charm- ing, but the strategy's still rock solid. Bandit sweet to see all the characters from that game come back for another bat- tle. And fight they will—this game is long (45 frickin’ chapters). Just sucks this head-scratcher will probably get lost inside Mario’s galaxy this winter. + RAY: It would've been nice if Radiant Dawn looked a little better than its GameCube predecessor, but with Fire Emblem games it's the little things that matter. The quicksave function does seem to go against what the series stands for, but like Donahoe suggests, a little accessibil- ity doesn't hurt. For me, Dawn's best addition is the terrain height variation, which makes you pay attention to enemies above and/or below you. And you should be paying attention, since ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM 7 The strategy still burns + MICHAEL: Nintendo's best smarty- pants franchise ironically isn't Brain Age. Nope, that title goes to Fire Emblem, the long-running strategy- role-playing game series made by the developer of Advance Wars. Radiant Dawn starts off tougher than its pre- decessors, but at least you can now save during battles (a Fire Emblem first). Sure, masochistic purists will likely scoff at the thought of Nintendo making this series easier, but this fea- ture eases the frustration (since you can prevent characters from dying). Apart from this major tweak, not much else is totally different, but that's not a bad thing—the rock-paper-scis- sors gameplay still works well. And because this is a direct sequel to the GameCube's Path of Radiance, it's THE VERDICTS {OUT OF 10) JOHN: 8.5 GOOD NICK 7.0 00 JENNIFER: 8.5 GOOD: The Good: Sexy reimagining of some true classics The Bad: Don't play it with the Nunchuk! $20 Extra: Because you'll need a Classic Controller THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) MICHAEL 9.0 EXCELLENT: EXCELLENT: ‘A FITCH 8.5 СОО! The Good: Stellar gameplay untouched, snazzy cut-scenes The Bad: Blah graphics, tough Alpha Moms: Trust us, stay away—far, far away PS3/XB360 NEED FOR SPEED: PROSTREET W Publisher: Electronic Arts ₪ Developer: EA Black Box ₪ Players: 1-8 ESRB: Everyone 10+ are pretty much the same as they have been in NFS for a few years now: Expect familiar racing, drifting, drag racing (with needlessly compli- cated burnouts), and so on. - GARNETT: While | too had a good time out on the tracks, ProStreet’s bog-standard (but still superb-feeling) racing does little to evolve the series. Also, those garish menu graphics and incessantly babbling event DJs only serve to tag it as the "trying too hard" member of the class. But what works great are the three tuning levels that let you easily go from arcade- to sim- style driving. | just wish that when it comes time to step on it, the beautiful graphics didn't occasionally struggie to keep pace with the action. PS3/XB360 TONY HAWK’S PROVING GROUND ₪ Publisher: Activision ₪ Developer: Neversoft its numerous vehicles exhibit damage and damage effects unlike anything before. The menus are undeniably confusing, but that’s the apparent penalty for this many forms of com- petition (including tense drift and drag events), this many options, this level of car customization, and a tightly integrated, highly social online com- ponent. Need for Speed is back. + GREG S: | have to say | com- pletely welcome the lack of nighttime cityscapes and an overabundance of neon in the latest Need for Speed. But | don't totally agree with Gord's gushing. Yes, we've gotten rid of the ridiculous storylines (kinda) and gone back to a more pure racing experi- ence, but ProStreet's nuts and bolts 3 Ja № Players: 1-8 ₪ ESRB: Teen Feed your need + GORD: EA's Need for Speed fran- chise has battled for the lead of the street-racing scene since its debut in 1994. But with ProStreet, the battle is по more—in terms of amenities, racing satisfaction, multiplayer inno- vation, and sheer freaking magnitude, this game's in a class unto itself. Sporting completely rebuilt physics, ProStreet's cars are weighty, sophis- ticated beasts that feel wonderfully complex through the corners and downright simlike with assists deac- tivated. The А.І. competitors seem superbly real: remorselessly fighting you one moment, then backing off the next, and even committing accidental off-track jaunts just like real humans. ProStreet's diverse, ultradetailed envi- ronments are gorgeously gritty, and Pa Tony definitely proves that his series needs a reboot stupidly hefty load times, the obnox- iously long intros to each objective, and the laggy, sloppy, utterly medio- cre online play? - TODD: As a die-hard Tony Hawk fan, it pains me to say this: Nick and Joe, you're almost right. Skate's a total bore ("И argue this to my death), but Tony's ninth outing feels unin- 5۵1۲60 and too over the top now. The Slow start frustrated me, too, but let's acknowledge how much content has been packed into this game! It's huge. 1 loved the video editing and working my way up to my own signature deck and shoe. But it's clear this series needs а mild rethink—a balance of both skate games seems to be the best way forward. experience itself. The nuts and bolts of Tony Hawk still provide some fun, but at this point it's just ancient left- overs of what used to be something special. Just like that, the series is a shadow of what a skateboarding game can truly be. + JOE: Man, | am so glad I’m not the only one who thinks Proving Ground is almost unbearably sloppy. | found enough to keep me interested, sure. The “rigging” feature, in which you can use simple props to manipulate your environment, is particularly amusing. Also, the ever-more-vertical design of the levels offers some really ridiculous, over-the-top air. I’m also a big fan of the new, speed-boosting "agro kick." But what's up with the + NICK: The first few hours of Proving Ground are shamefully sloppy. Skating around an ugly, unimagina- tive city in the midst of trying to keep up with a confusing career structure isn't fun, and you can't even Nail-the- . (Trick, Manual, or Grab, one of the few interesting game mechanics introduced to the series of late) until you've been taught how. Once you've played enough to unlock a full arsenal of moves, things improve noticeably, but the narrative and competitions rarely offer more than the typically Tony Hawk tomfoolery. You'll find plenty to do but little motivation to actually get any of it done—unlike EA's recent Skate, a fantastic sim where learning how to skate is utterly rewarding and inseparable from the THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) GORD: 8.5 GOOD: The Good: Killer car physics and A.l., tons of customization The Bad: Confusing menus and interfaces Online Play: Due to technical problems, we couldn't try it out eim RS THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) NICK 5.5 AVERAGE The Good: Game mechanics remain fun The Bad: Unpolished everything and overly complex additions Bam Margera: We've seen enough of him in Tony Hawk 68 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY г EGM.1UP.COM йн i ИТ E 1 ‚= MANHUNT 2 W Publisher: Rockstar Games ₪ Developer: Rockstar Toronto ₪ Players: 1 ₪ ESRB: Mature scenes in order to make that new M rating. | agree that the premise isn't as intriguing as the first game's, but Manhunt 2's still got plenty of creeps and creepy atmosphere—it’s the 8mm and Hostel of videogames. Sharkey seems hung up on the scenario, and | actually kind of like the way the story plays out, but he's right that everything feels generic. Manhunt 2 could be any other third- person action game if you took away the execution kills and some of the kinky scenes. But if you look past the occasional enemy-intelligence issues, the stealth and puzzle-solving mechanics work pretty well—espe- cially on Wii, where the restricted camera control makes sense. ќа. ing the corner of the screen for little popup icons to tell you exactly which wanking motion to make next. The real killjoys in this sequel? Some unskippable goddamn cut- Scenes in the Wii version (why?!), and combat that's either cake (when fight- ing a solo enemy) or infuriating (two or more will frequently leave you repeat- edly stunned and unable to act). | played the PS2 version, so | didn't have to worry about “wank- ing motions." But | was lamenting the archaic control scheme in this age of two analog sticks. And the poor A.I.—dumb goons with five-second memories don't make for scary foes. And the noisy, annoying filters the developers had to put over all the kill ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM * 69 Not much to see here The original Manhunt was a disturbing stealth-action game—not so much because of all the stabbing guys in the eye with broken glass, but because of its prem- ise and atmosphere. Being forced to murder for the purpose of entertain- ment was both disturbing and weirdly self-referential. The game had an ugly soul, but it had one. Manhunt 2, on the other hand, doesn't really come close to nailing what made the original...well, not exactly great, but at least tolerable and a little thought provoking. The escaped-mental-patient story is more dull than upsetting. The more over- the-top gore has been forced behind a jittery, blurry camera. Not that you'll notice, because you'll be busy watch- Creepy atmosphere and story stick with ya Murder was never so dull The censored content wasn't even that gory * LEE J 1 Corps command, but both squads are linked by attacking the same goals from different angles, and because of this variance, it always feels like what you're doing is a vital part of winning the war. Moonlit rescue missions, fron- tal assaults and panicked extractions, sniper infiltrations and assassinations, ambushes and support roles, small teams and big squads...even though you're using the same guns and gre- nades throughout, every objective is a different, exciting experience. Unless you're playing on the “Hardened” difficulty (a step below "Veteran"), for that’s where the script- ed nature works against it. “Hardened” is always a challenge but frequently a repetitive frustration. The checkpoint system is almost perfectly laid out, CALL OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE ₪ Publisher: Activision ₪ Developer: Infinity Ward ₪ Players: 1-18 ₪ ESRB: Mature The thrilling theater of war It’s because of this COD4 finds itself in the company of movies like Black Hawk Down, rife with intense portray- als of very serious and complicated situations that, though perhaps not entirely realistic, still convey to the rest of the nonenlisted world how war might feel: completely f***ed up. It’s obviously exaggerated for effect, but then again, it sort of has to be. The trick to pulling off a successful linear shooter is breaking the player away from the rails every so often, and that’s done by making encounters engaging and avoiding repetition. Jumping between American, British, and Russian troops worked well in COD2, and the same method applies for COD4. You alternate missions under the British SAS and Marine ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM • 71 By hitting fast-forward on the Call of Duty franchise by 60 years, developer Infinity Ward is taking а chance. "Modern warfare” implies a lot in this day and age, and applying the first-person shooter series’ famed qualities to a theater of war that’s far less fictional than is implied could easily go wrong. Bad writing and shal- low characters could cheapen the experience, not just for the general game-playing public, but especially for those whose lives are currently affect- ed by the real war in the Middle East. It’s an already delicate issue being addressed in a medium best known for “dude, blow something up.” But as any fan of COD can tell you, the people at Infinity Ward are skilled storytellers and masterful scenarists. Outstanding scripted events, multiplayer “Hardened” difficulty a little too hard Ragtime New Rules of Engagement If you've ever played a Call of Duty game before, you'll be right at home with COD4's basic mechanics and gunplay fundamentals: Maintain firing lines of sight, remain mobile to avoid the shower of incoming enemy grenades, and flank whenever possible. Sniper scenes still play a huge part, so you'll have to keep a steady hand, and you'll still encounter the occasional "plant explosives on key items" objective. But it's not 1945 anymore, and military tech has come a long way. The new toys you get to play with you may have seen on CNN or YouTube. The standard weaponry features modern guns like the MP5, M14, and AK-47, each with its own special scopes, sights, and modifications. But you also get the Javelin tank- busting rocket launcher, helicopter gunship support and airstrikes, and even a mission that puts you high AX; Soldier above the clouds in an AC-130. stations to blast ground vehicles and evildoers who appear as ghost-white stick figures in your whitewashed thermal vision. The plane’s intercom crackles with clipped, all-business crew conversation, seemingly out of place with the carnage on the ground. It's this sequel's most compelling sequence and proof that the genre has come full circle: Real-life military technology that for years has been described as “like a videogame” has wound up in a videogame that com- pletely captures real life. The rest of the game, however, plays out more like a war movie than a real war. Or, to be more accurate, like a war movie turned into a theme-park ride. As in previous tours of Duty, this installment is linear, with enemies popping up in the same positions like tin ducks in a shooting gallery. Sometimes you get up from level 1 to 55, you can unlock new weaponry and attachments, cam- ouflages, weapon challenges (built-in achievements), and more—the car- rot's always at the end of the stick. With proven mechanics, steady writ- ing, and excellent multiplayer, COD4 is one of the best FPSes of the year—no small feat considering the competition. "Disturbingly realistic" has never been a term Га use to describe any previous war-themed console shooter, and it's not even one I'd apply to 90 percent of COD4, which in many ways is similar to the previous WWIl-era installments. But one level in particular will likely awe—maybe even shock—anyone who's ever YouTubed military gun-camera footage. Set in the belly of a circling C-130 airplane, the level has you manning weapons but there are certain "brick wall" areas that overwhelm you with punishing enemy fire and little recourse—includ- ing an extraction level that ranks as one of the most difficult combat scenarios ever designed in the brief history of these games. In short, play through on "Normal" the first time and challenge your skills later. While the campaign is a satisfying thrill, COD4's multiplayer is treated with equal craftsmanship. A party system fueled by a wealth of playlists of differing maps and modes provides for near-endless entertainment. The create-a-class feature lets you cus- tomize your loadout for different situ- ations, and you're given "Perks" that enhance your character even further (better stopping power, longer sprint time, etc.). But the addiction is born from the leveling system: As you move 72 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM Countless times | thought to myself, "That was the most intense firefight Руе experienced." But the couple of times it comes off the track result in an equally unpleasant memory of repeatedly restarting to get past a staged sequence. That didn't change the fact that, sitting here writing this review, I'm stoked to play it again. Actually, РИ probably start online. | love that Infinity Ward plans to watch the stats and make on-the-fly chang- es, including new modes, to keep it fresh. Add to that the experience and reward system, 16 maps out of the box, and the party system, and COD4 delivers a knockout one-two single- and multiplayer shooter punch. ќа. EGM Extras: That Ferris wheel extraction level giving you fits? Our SuperGuide at EGM.1UP.com can help. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM • 73 “video-captured from CNN" for 4۰ Along with Crispin's favorite part, the entire game creates such a complete feeling of sensory immersion that it evokes the same sense of you-are- there | got from watching the embed- ded reporters during the war in Iraq. The aural and visual prowess of this game can not be overstated. In 5.1 surround sound, the rich soundscape rivals the best Spielberg moments. And after experiencing 0004, | also won't be too accepting of arguments that you have to compromise between graphical detail, lighting, and getting it all to run smoothly. Though this presentation power gets put to use in a new era, its appli- cation remains as in prior outings. For 95 percent of the trip, COD4 exempli- fies the very pinnacle of cinematic action mixed with scripted design. the illusion of going your own way (like when you choose in which order to storm houses in a search-and-res- cue mission), but the enemy А.І. here rarely transcends its tin-duck mental- ity or lives up to the standards of con- temporary top-line shooters. That's not to say the campaign isn't fun— the narrative is packed with twists and “holy s***!” moments, including a super-long-range sniper hit that has you adjusting for the wind. Multiplayer, meanwhile, finds its niche in the crowded online-shooter battlefield, providing worthwhile incentives for long-term players. Newbies, however, will likely find the whole thing daunting if they don’t get in on the ground floor. That old adage “torn from the headlines” needs updating to ВЕА 1 (also on Р53) BLACKSITE: ₪ Publisher: Midway ₪ Developer: Midway Austin № Players: 1-10 ₪ ESRB: Teen You could find worse ways to spend a couple of afternoons at worst, it's half of an unfinished game with a few cool set pieces. I'm in shock at Nick's Casual admission (this guy's a Halo 3 909); BlackSite is just right on Hard. The bigger problem is that whole "not memorable" thing. | liked seeing alien critters crisscrossing lawns in the burbs, but in general this otherwise fine-playing game is forgettable and lacks polish. Vehicles control way too squirrelly unless you turn down the universal sensitivity, which means you have to jack it back up on foot. Checkpoint placement is awful. And though online play ran smoothly, the standard deathmatches and infection variant won't steer you away from this season's huge-deal competition. жа does isn't particularly notable or mem- orable—in either a good or a bad way. It'S not even memorably mediocre. It's just...diverting, for 10 hours or so. You could say worse things about a game. It took me less than half that time to get through BlackSite because 1 was playing on the easier Casual dif- ficulty. Why? Because on the default (Hard), regular humans can absorb a clip of bullets and survive. Annoying. What else is annoying? Incredibly lin- ear levels, inconsistent hit detection, and unnecessarily forced squad sup- port. And too few weapons, enemy types, and levels. And perhaps worst of all, it has a sluggish movement speed and floaty aiming. At best, BlackSite is a poor man's Resistance; What exactly is BlackSite: Area 51? It's not really scary, though it has its moments. It's not notably funny, though the dialogue can be Clever. It's not terribly deep, though it tries for relevance with sly nods to the war in каа. It's not graphically stun- ning, though it's by no means ugly. It's not particularly well scripted, and its plot isn't particularly satisfying. PII tell you what BlackSite is: It's a popcorn movie in first-person-shooter form. It's about mowing down for- gettable enemies with big guns and blowing stuff up—and not a damn thing beyond that. Do not misunder- stand me; | don't dislike this game. Aside from a few minor graphical bugs and hiccups, BlackSite is competent at what it does. It's just that what it Comp- etent mutant-blasting Almost entirely forgettable “Cut and Run,” “Stay the Course,” and “Misunderestimated” 74 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM КАМЕ & LYNCH: DEAD MEN Ш Publisher: Eidos ₪ Developer: IO ₪ Players: 1-8 ₪ ESRB: Mature to make me hope for a sequel, hope- fully called Lynch & Kane. I'm also a big fan of the ever-changing locations, and | loved how many bustled with activity (espe- cially the dance club). Developer Ю has carried the crowd mentality from its Hitman series over well. Too bad the cover system didn’t receive more love. Since it's not button based, you'll Stick to objects at seemingly random times, which hurts the generally fun combat. And yeah, the game shines during co-op...it's just a shame | had to share the screen with Andrew. sh EGM Extras: Having trouble with that dump-truck driver? We did. Our SuperGuide at EGM.1UP.com can help. gimmick. Kane & Lynch is a fun game to fly through in a couple days on "Aspirin" (easy) mode, but not deep or hardcore enough to hold up long term. | was more bummed about Kane & Lynch's unfulfilled story potential. The beginning was an excel- lent setup, paying homage to movies like Heat and Reservoir Dogs, but it eventually focused too much on Kane's clichéd family issues instead of Lynch's far more interesting insan- ity. It does deserve credit for some very cool scenario design (Tokyo sky- scrapers, prison escapes, giant dump trucks), even though the win/lose con- ditions aren't always clear and getting into safe cover is inconsistent. Yet the writing and combat are strong enough ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY + EGM.1UP.COM • 75 Alive on arrival Potential—a great word to hear in a preview, but never in a review. And Kane & Lynch seems to hit a wall each time it creeps up on its potential. In the campaign, the demented-duo-on-the-run story, set- tings, and characters are great, but poor enemy intelligence and on-again- off-again hit detection mean you'll be overusing ammunition. In co-op, everything fits together perfectly, with one player taking Kane and the other Lynch (this game was built for co-op), but you can't play online. And the "Fragile Alliance" multiplayer mode, where everyone performs a heist as a group and then has to decide whether to betray each other, is unique—and online—but not skill-based enough to be more than a Great story, pacing, and variety Online со-ор... only... Shouldn't he die? GAMES OVERLOAD! that will leave you gawking. Tons of animations add to the immersion. Drake fills each moment with charac- ter, such as a clumsy stumble through a porthole. Of course, the enemies animate to a laughable degree, over- acting each time you strike them with a shot, looking like they are ready to dance a jig. But that's a small complaint within what's an otherwise great shooting system. Uncharted employs a cover System not unlike Gears of War's. You can "attach" Drake to almost any form of cover with the press of a button, from which point you can blindfire or lean out and bring up a reticule to aim (while also exposing yourself). It works quite well, and it's a good thing, since game progression typically UNCHARTED: DRAKE'S FORTUNE ₪ Publisher: Sony CEA ₪ Developer: Naughty Dog ₪ Players: 1 ₪ ESRB: Teen hour playtime. The story puts you in the shoes of Nate Drake, supposedly descended from storied explorer Sir Francis Drake (whose diary provides guid- ance throughout), on a relic-finding documentary tour turned sour, which means lots of guns, fisticuffs, and platforming in this third-person action- adventure. It's not a terribly unique setup, to be sure, but Uncharted does move at a good clip, constantly push- ing the story between locations and Set pieces. It's also easy to appreciate the visu- als. Naughty Dog has created a stun- ning world, with impressive lighting effects that ratchet up the creepiness in torch-led treks through decaying labyrinths and crumbling architecture ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY г EGM.1UP.COM * 7 Unearthing a treasure As you play through Uncharted, don't be surprised if this island getaway feels a little familiar. And why shouldn't it, since you'll be stop-and-pop-shooting like you did in Gears of War, pulling off unbelievable wall-crawling acrobatics like a regular Persian prince, and traversing exotic locales à la Tomb Raider's svelte spelunker? Hell, it'd seem wholly appropriate for the cocksure lead to don a weathered fedora and sport a perpetual scruffy five o'clock shadow that'd laugh in the face of any Quattro. But don't think this culling of mixed inspiration makes for a lesser product. Developer Naughty Dog has brought together these pieces to create a compelling quest that embodies the word "adventure" throughout its 10- Gunplay, acrobatics, charming characters Not much original here, lame puzzles Let's not even bother hunker down not quite behind cover, giving you just enough exposed skin to score satisfying head shots (which are rewarded with Drake's dry com- mentary and even some Xbox 360- style achievements"). They dart out and knee-slide to new cover positions, ostensibly to outflank you but in actu- ality just to keep this shooting gallery full of moving targets. And nothing's more satisfying than making a dude fumble his grenade toss and watching it go boom at his feet. So—surprise!—this island adven- ture is actually a top-tier action game. And the actual adventure here— despite being so cliché-crammed and Tomb Raided-inspired—is breezy fun, well-paced with mild puzzles and vehicle-revving sections giving you a break just when the gunplay feels played out. It doesn't hurt that zles. Almost all of the handful or so you encounter require you to crack old man Drake's diary for a hit-you-over- the-head solution. The breadth of Uncharted's enter- taining acrobatics/gunfight gameplay mix easily makes up for its shortcom- ings, as does the safe but satisfy- ing story (even if it does get a little ridiculous by the end). It may not bea System seller, but it's the type of game that makes you glad you have a PS3. | dunno if “jig” is the right word for the enemies' bullet-dodg- ing dance; these guys are often just a pair of puffy pants away from M.C. Hammertime. But pop-and-locking to avoid your pop-and-shooting is just one of many seemingly silly bad- guy behaviors that actually make for supremely satisfying gunplay. Enemies involves you often hitting cover-filled rooms of enemies. Complementing the combat are the scenes in which you get to make use of Drake's surprising acrobatic acu- men. If the next goal is somewhere over you, Drake’ll think nothing of scrambling to the top of a pillar, jump- ing to a groove in a wall, then hoisting himself up to a ledge. And that's an easy one. (Did Naughty Dog really try to sell this guy as a bumbling every- man? In addition to these impres- Sive feats, he soaks up bullets like a sponge thanks to an appreciated Halo-esque regeneration system— good-bye first-aid kits.) Fortunately, the controls are responsive, and costly mistakes will be your own. It's a shame then that the great combat and platforming aren't matched by equally impressive puz- 78 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM The original Crash Bandicoot took place in a colorful tropical setting, with beautiful—though linear—jungles to explore. Sound familiar? During a few action sequences in Uncharted, you'll also find yourself running away from impending danger toward the screen, a camera device that Crash regularly employed. And what two vehicles are most closely associated with later Crashes' vehicle segments? A biplane and Jet Ski, both of which make appearances in Uncharted (though the plane is only in cut-scenes). As for the developer's other big series, Jak and Daxter fea- tures the fatherly old man character giving you directions and the talkative sarcastic sidekick, just like Uncharted (though Elena is cute and charismatic and doesn't get on your nerves like that mouthy ottsel Daxter). Of course, the biggest similarity is the large-scale gunplay, which became more of a focus for Jak as the series wore on. by comparison, though, the lack of visual variety in the enemies is a bit disappointing (shotgun guy, sniper guy, etc.). Unfortunately, while Uncharted looks astounding and almost plays the part, | can't shake the feeling that something's missing. Content with being a polished amalgam of ideas we've seen before, it feels at times like King Kong without the ape—an exciting island adventure that simply lacks a unique hook or a big reveal. Everything's fun and exhilarating, but it never builds to more than the sum of its parts. Just keep your expectations in the right place, and you'll enjoy your time in the tropical sun. ж ЕСМ Extras: Drake's hint-filled diary not doing it for ya? Leap to EGM.1UP.com for a SuperGuided tour. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM • 79 Naughty Roots Uncharted is clearly a combo of Tomb Raider and Gears of War, but developer Naughty Dog also takes inspiration from its own games... the surly marines we're used to; both Drake and gal pal Elena are radiantly charming and legitimately funny at times, which makes their perfectly paced adventure all the more engag- ing—like in Heavenly Sword, the cut-scenes that break up the action here are expertly crafted and as cin- ematic as anything we've seen from the medium. | can't say enough about how good this game looks, either. From intoxi- cating seaside sunsets to shrubs that brush aside as you pass by them to the way Drake walks up stairs like an actual human being, it's a thoroughly convincing environment to spend time in. Even the smaller details are in place, like the fluffy billows of smoke from explosions and the way the characters' clothes seem to cling to them after a swim through a stream; Drake treads the most postcard-ready environments ever seen in a console title. Grab a Corona and boot up this beauty in the snowy winter if you're hard up for Caribbean scenery. | can't overemphasize the Gears of War comparison. It's not something you think about much while playing due to the contrarily lush set- ting and platforming bits, but upon reflection the similarities are striking: You get waves of enemies in big open plazas utilizing a cover system (that is arguably better than Gears'), a random vehicle segment halfway through the game, an arc icon for grenade toss- ing, and combat that falters slightly in close quarters (being shot while slow-mo slugging an enemy sucks). Fortunately, Uncharted's characters are a helluva lot more interesting than Xbox 360 NARUTO: RISE OF A NINJA Ш Publisher: Ubisoft № Developer: Ubisoft Montreal ₪ Players: 1-2 ₪ ESRB: Teen many shining moments, particularly leapfrogging through the trees at breakneck speeds. Also, online buffs will appreciate the long list of playable characters and tournaments. +GREG S: | think Milky’s nuts to call previous Naruto games "good," but anyway.... Rise of a Ninja is a disap- pointing example of wasted poten- tial. The large world and deceptive free-form gameplay seem awesome at first, until you realize the develop- ers broke the game down into short bursts of fighting and fetching—and neither is handled particularly well. But | have to say | do like the idea of retelling Naruto's story in a video- game, if only because | didn't watch all of this stuff when it first came out. Xbox 360 TIMESHIFT Ш Publisher: Sierra ₪ Developer: Saber Wi Players: 1-16 ₪ ESRB: Mature But РИ admit, the combat is fun...until you realize that you practically rewind the same tactic over and over: Slow down time to pick off each baddie. + GARNETT: TimeShift definitely looks a lot prettier than it did the first go-round, but once again it finds itself behind the times. Get too close to anything and that beauty dissolves into a muddy blur. Plus, the lack of interactivity gave me this disconnect of shooting my way through a still life. Multiplayer spices things up by pack- ing the time powers into grenades. The ensuing chaos resulting from the spheres of distorted time (think Halo 3's bubble shield) gives the game its best moments. That at least makes for a weekend's worth of novelty. Rise of the new Naruto which is overly fussy for a game where your opponents are the А.І. equivalent of button-mashers. Seeing the story unfold through 5-year-old animated cut-scenes really doesn't do the game any justice, either, making Rise of a Ninja a solid title that should have broken free from the license to do some real storytelling. + BROOKS: Hey, Milky, sure you aren't a little bitter after an appalling 0-4 record against this Naruto noob? The fighting is more than fair in my book—the jutsu moves you speak of (filling gauges for powerful attacks) require the right opportunity, like when 1 beat you down with a heavy combo and left you temporarily defenseless. The beautiful-looking story mode has time powers, the larger problem is apathy. The world's generic vibe fails to engage from start to the limp end-boss battle. The game is mostly competent and the enemy А.І. reacts intelligently enough, but about half- way into TimeShift, | was ready for the end. | like to think that in an alternate timeline, it would've turned out better. + MICHAEL: Whoa, apathy | can agree with, but intelligent A.I. | can't. In one section, | blew apart a dude with an exploding crossbow, only for his clueless chum— mere inches away—to completely ignore it. See, instead of making the enemies brainy, the game instead decides to make up for the lack of difficulty by send- ing hordes of dullards at you at once. + MILKMAN: Naruto's had it good with game adaptations. You can find decent Naruto games on GameCube and PS2, and now the Xbox 360 has one as well. Visually, Rise of a Ninja is one of the system's best-look- ing games. But from a game-design standpoint, it's less successful. While optional, a surprising amount of "fetch the coin" subquests mar what would be an otherwise compelling tour through Naruto's hometown. Things pick up once you get addi- tional abilities, but much like the titular character in 3D Sonic games, Naruto moves too fast for the story mode's platforming elements. Plus, the fighting system's most powerful attacks rely on filling gauges via trig- ger buttons and analog-stick inputs, Time cries + DARREN: | wanna hit rewind. When TimeShift nearly shipped last year, Sierra held off and decided to reboot everything. So instead of shooting my way through a unique steampunk world, I’m playing some Half-Life 2 knock-off with a TiVo tuxedo. I'm not saying the time-traveling star attraction of this first-person shooter stinks, but it does get slightly stale. Your suit's А.І. selects the most appropriate power (slow down, stop, or reverse) by default. But what works in battle actually botches the many puzzles. It becomes an idiot button— tap once and the suit solves every- thing for you, such as stopping time So you can walk across water. Hey, maybe it can play without me, too! Aside from the slightly mishandled THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) MILKMAN 6.5 AVERAGE The Good: A beauti- ful re-creation of the Naruto milieu The Bad: Naruto vets have seen this all before Naruto: What an annoying voice THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) DARREN 5 e 5 AVERAGE MICHAEL: اه AVERAGE‏ The Good: Neat time-control powers, fun multiplayer The Bad: Not being able to fast-forward to the end Р53 Version: Coming in December 80 ۰ ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM GAMES OVERLOAD! HANDS-ON MOBILE =< ₪ PLAY ЕМ NOW IN Er STEPS! Select Type in the Send to NEW TEXT KEYWORD 46966 and MESSAGE on for the GAME download the your phone. you want. game. © 2007 Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision, Call of Duty and True Crime are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. ۸ VISION All rights reserved. TM & © 2007 Hands-On Mobile, Inc. All rights reserved. *Pricing varies by carrier and game purchase type. Additional messaging charges apply. Must be 18 years+ to order. Terms at www.HandsOn.com apply. 82 > ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM going to say (as in previous BioWare games), you pick the gist. When your character speaks, you're hearing it for the first time. It’s a small—but exhila- rating—change. | loved hearing how my character phrased the emotions Га selected. The excellent character- creation system, too, helps. Though the mouth movements don’t sync up well with the voice acting, these characters look and sound like real people, making this one of the most immersive game experiences I’ve ever had. The story itself—a sci-fi mélange of Star Wars, The Matrix, Battlestar Galactica, Contact, and more—won’t win awards for originality. And yet, when things are illuminated near the end, it really stuck with me. It helped that the game's last levels are, quite Geth Destroyer MASS EFFECT ₪ Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios ₪ Developer: BioWare ₪ Players: 1 ₪ ESRB: Mature fast-paced, unpredictable, and highly entertaining. Party members use А.І. if you let them, but | paused constantly to micromanage them because it was so fun seeing all our powers working together. Га have one squadmate lift an enemy, then overload his weapons myself, while my third guy blasted him with bullets. Those robots didn't stand a chance, and if they did somehow beat me, | loved replaying fights just to see what would happen the next time. (And it was hard to make the same things happen twice.) Much was made of the dialogue system throughout this game's devel- opment. The results are subtler than expected— essentially, you still select options in a dialogue tree. But instead of knowing exactly what you're ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY г EGM.1UP.COM * 83 Advanced starfighter Allow me a single Star Wars quip—the Force is strong with this one—and then ГИ stop. It's tough not to acknowledge that work when discussing Mass Effect, the action- role-playing game from BioWare, the makers of Knights of the Old Republic. You control a three-person squad, halting the action to cue up attacks. You battle foes with a magical force harnessed from the universe. Blue- skinned beauties dance in bars brim- ming with a diverse alien clientele. You half expect to find a Wookiee manning your spacecraft. But enter your first battle, and the differences will make your heart race. The mostly real-time action, huge arsenal of powers, and underlying physics make this combat system Combat, story development Balance issues— not all class- es created equal Have so many elevators? Vanguard (mix of soldier and biotics) Kaidan Vanguard (mix of soldier and biotics) Garrus "Not because he's necessar- My Favorite Martian Mass Effect gives you six potential squad members, each with their own specialties to complement the class you choose for your main character. You can select which party members you want in your crew at the beginning of each planetary mission, and which you prefer largely depends on your style of play. Here are each of our reviewer's faves: Sentinel (mix Wrex of tech and biotics) "As Jennifer can attest, my version of Shepard was a shotgun-wielding stud in Mass Effect's Milky Way. And since my first instinct was always to pull the trigger, | just let the rest of ily all that awesome (though his tech skills are handy) but because he's actu- ally, secretly, the funniest character in the game. «Му character was limited to a pistol in terms of raw firepower (unlike Bryan's brute). So | needed a strong soldier, and Wrex has the big guns. my talented crew get techy or utilize their biotic powers. My best advice: Autolevel Kaidan and watch him launch foes into the starry night with his almighty Lift command.” Do something particu- larly outrageous, and he always has a deadpan observation. Because of that, | brought Garrus along on just about every mission.” damn great. The characters are won- derfully fleshed out, and the voice act- ing is excellent without exception. As relationships developed, | started to notice a real bond both with the other members of my party, as well as my particular “version” of Shepard, too. Jennifer's Star Wars quip is apt, but it's worth noting that the acting here is at least on a par with—if not better than—that seen in the most recent trilogy. Far from being a ponderous sci-fi exposition, Mass Effect boasts a dynamic, well-constructed story with a broad emotional range. The won- derfully scripted dialogue provokes everything from chuckles to moments of real angst. It's also extremely well paced. The game introduces charac- ters and then gives them some space to breathe before their true purpose is revealed, and the side quests, far questing for money l'd never spend. The autosave points are badly placed, too. Why make me watch unskippable cut-scenes before a tough battle where I'm going to die and then have to watch the scenes over and over again? It's a minor quibble, and | sup- pose the brilliance is that, however many times | watched a scene or fought a battle, Mass Effect never truly lost its magic. Far from feeling the con- versations were too lengthy, | spent much of the game looking forward to chatting in the central hub locations. Early on, it was because my experi- ence points made combat too difficult (unless you switch to “casual” mode, in which case it's a breeze), and I craved story development. But later, it was because the writing is just so | thought I'd want a pure biotics were too much fun, and Wrex has a decent arsenal of these magical powers. | kept him with me till the bitter end." warrior like Ashley, but the simply, amazing and beautiful. You'll want to look around, take it all in, and think about it later. But | did experience a hint of ennui at times in this very typically BioWare game with its all-too-familiar quest structure. Arriving at a big area filled with optional side quests feels tire- some. Rescuing the wayward sister, catching the cheating researcher, clearing up the lovers' quarrel.... Impatient gamers (like Bryan) will want to skip this stuff—especially as they mostly take place early in the game, when you want more combat yet find yourself caught in wonderfully done, but all too lengthy conversations. The game also lacks a certain pol- ish. Inventory management is often painful and tedious. Money is nigh useless—making it even more annoy- ing that | frittered away so many hours 84 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM Once you've gotten the hang of hoofin' it around space stations and such, Mass Effect plops you into the Mako, a six-wheeled all-terrain tank that's used to explore uncharted planets and other rough turf. The first time you take it for a whirl, prepare for a steep learning curve (especially since the game doesn't provide any explanation whatsoever for how to use the thing). But give yourself a minute to figure out the basics: The A button jumps, Right trigger controls guns, Right bumper fires bombs, pushing in the Right ana- log stick zooms up close, and so on. Before you know it, you'll be off-roading with ease—and mowing down hordes of enemy Geth naive enough to get in your way. The thing handles pretty well; we couldn't flip it, no matter how hard we tried. intelligent. Instead of bum-rushing me while ! patiently wait behind a box, they'd raise my cover spot just enough (via the Lift ability) so they could snipe me between the eyes. Once you put the firearms away, Mass Effect still shines...but not quite as brightly as | expected. BioWare's trademark dialogue-tree system has changed for the better, yet it's not nearly as revolutionary as the devel- oper initially billed (for example, what ever happened to being able to inter- rupt characters midsentence?). And please, for the sequel can we get а li'l more dynamic with the camera during conversations? I'm really tired of the over-the-shoulder look. ёф EGM Extras: Those interplanetary minerals ain't gonna find themselves! Hit up EGM.1UP.com for a galaxy guide. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM * 85 done fumbling through fights, figuring out how to control your six-wheeler, and learning the nuances of weapon/ armor upgrades, this gorgeous RPG is just as spectacular as Jen and John mentioned. And for me, it all begins with the combat. While you can start and stop the action like in previous BioWare games, the system here is 50 much more diverse that you can choose to play Mass Effect as a run- and-gun shooter, use cover, and then let your А.І. buddies bring the magic. Speaking of squadmates, these guys/ gals/aliens sure do have a good head on their shoulders, as they'd always follow my commands and even show creativity on the battlefield (such as launching foes 60 feet in the air). The game's bad guys aren't dummies, either; | never expected to encoun- ter enemies in an RPG that were so from being tiresome, provide real insight into the themes of the central quest. Sure, you can beat the game in 12 hours if you attack it with vigor, but do so and you miss a lot of back- ground—and flavor. Jen mentioned that the later quests are “amazing and beautiful." I'll reinforce that with a comment about the final hour, which brings together everything from the romantic climax of the story to the final action-packed denouement. By the very last scene, you'll be craving a sequel and keen to spend more time with Shepard and his crew. These two sure seem like Mass Effect experts, right? But РИ bet 100 spacebucks they had to work really hard to become masters of this universe—the game doesn't teach you how to do anything! But once you're СОМТВА 4 W Publisher: Konami ₪ Developer: WayForward № Players: 1-2 ₪ ESRB: Teen in parts of the main game but mix up. the enemies and give you a goal (think not shooting your gun or wiping out a set number of enemies). They're fun, get very tough, and best of all, are key to the unlockables, including a few classic Contras. Ah, nostalgia. + SAM: Well, like in previous Contra games, deaths here are avoidable if you take the time to completely learn each level. Impressively, Contra 4 makes good use of the two DS Screens, and the grappling hook you use to move quickly from bot- tom screen to top is a cool addition. Developer WayForward has delivered what Konami of Japan was largely too afraid to give us: a straight-up, balls- to-the-wall, classic-feeling Contra. title some extra shelf life. | just wish this sequel had included some sort of story mode. + JEREMY: Cooking Mama worked so well with the Wii's analog controls that the move back to DS could have been a huge step backward. Fortunately, this sequel manages to sell itself in other ways. Recipes are much more varied this time, and stylus actions— while nowhere near as much fun as using a Wii-mote—feel a lot more convincing. Ultimately, though, the real hook is all the useless unlockable content. Like Jen says, there's not much to it, but earning ridiculous new items for Mama to wear makes this weirdly compelling game even more compelling. And weirder. COOKING MAMA 2: DINNER WITH FRIENDS ₪ Publisher: Majesco ₪ Developer: Office Create ₪ Players: 1-4 ₪ ESRB: Everyone DS to the towering alien bosses feels like a throwback to the classic titles. Likewise, the demanding difficulty and rollicking co-op gameplay ensure that you'll-want to return to it again and again. Expect to suffer a few cheap deaths from wayward bullets wafting in from the top screen, though.... + ©. FORD: A few cheap deaths? How about when a turret or sniper is in that dead space between screens? Ugh—not fun, and easily the game's biggest flaw. But yeah, Contra 4 is pure fan service that succeeds in most respects. It even sprinkles in a couple run-into-the-screen corridor stages. What really adds to the value, though, is its collection of challenges. These are 40 bite-sized levels that take place We still love the '80s ++ SHANE: In the 20 years since its debut, Konami's arcade-bred run-and-gun Contra franchise has seen its share of ill-advised series "reboots." From the schlocky 30 (via red-and-blue glasses, no less) visu- als of PS1's Contra: Legacy of War to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it isometric action in PS2's Neo Contra, none of these tweaks improved upon the core Contra gameplay. This time, Contra 4's developers have eschewed innovation in favor of unadulterated mimicry—1992’s brilliant Super NES installment (Contra Ill: The Alien Wars) serves as the main inspiration here— and it's a winning choice. Contra 4 looks, plays, and sounds like some long-lost 16-bit sequel: Everything from the power-up arsenal Can't beat Mama's home cooking spot-on, and some of the minigames (the stovetop stewing, especially) are a little dull. So why can't | put the game down? In its silly simplicity, Cooking Mama does what many can't: keep me heading back to the kitchen for one more snack. + MICHAEL: I'm no king of the kitch- en, but after sharpening my stylus for Cooking Mama 2, l'm confident |, well, still can't cook in real life. But in the game? Oh, man—I’m a regular Top Chef contender. Jen's opinions aren't half-baked, either—removing complexity from the game-design recipe is the key to making this simple series so enticing. Plus, making over Mama with the different unlockables definitely gives this somewhat shallow + JENNIFER: Cooking Mama is a Silly, simple game. You use the touch Screen to complete recipes that are divided into lots and lots of steps, steps that don't always make com- plete sense and involve a lot of rice, fish, and chopping. Wash the rice, swirl the rice, cook the rice, chop the ginger, descale the fish, fillet the fish, steam the fish.... The height of excitement (and one of the only new features in this sequel) is when you complete a meal for one of Mama's friends and they reward you with a bonus pair of eye- glasses for Mama, for cryin' out loud. Multiplayer is a bare-bones (and pretty boring) head-to-head competition to complete a single task (like breaking eggs) fastest. The control isn't always THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) SHANE: 7.5 GOOD а: РОВО e 9000. SAM: 8.0 GOOD: The Good: Killer co-op play, massive bosses The Bad: That gap between the screens Nifty Unlockables: NES Contra, Super C, interviews, comics (OUT OF 10) JENNIFER: ‘GOOD MICHAEL: 0 GOOD. JEREMY: The Good: Several fun new minigames, unlockable items The Bad: A few lame new minigames Politically Incorrect: Shark's fin soup 86 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM DS FINAL FANTASY Хи: REVENANT WINGS ₪ Publisher: Square Enix ₪ Developer: Think & Feel more like Droids, the Saturday-morn- ing spin-off without the maturity. But | can accept that, as well as the controls. Thing is, for a real-time strategy game, you just won't find much strategy in Wings—oftentimes the best tactic really is to rush in with everyone, like Shane says. And if you're losing, just back away, heal, then rush again. | suppose the further adventures of Vaan and friends will be enjoyable to some, but that alone doesn’t turn Wings into an awesome RTS. It'd need more strategy for that. E Players: 1 ₪ ESRB: Everyone 10+ The win beneath my wings kiddies-on-a-big-adventure fluff here (did FFXII really need more kids on hoverboards?). Jeremy's right about the iffy controls, but the ambitious gameplay still succeeds by blending FFXII's customization-heavy combat with equal parts RTS and Pokémon. It's not perfect—the difficulty spikes randomly throughout and spamming units produces easy victories—but it's a step up from Heroes of Mana. + RAY: The way | see it, if you think of FFXII as Star Wars, this sequel is Affinity ۶ + JEREMY: Don't write off Revenant Wings right away. It may seem at first to be a pointless reprise of Heroes of Mana's "real-time-strategy lite" gameplay, directing squads of mon- sters about the battlefield to fight an enemy army, but Wings quickly estab- lishes its superiority. You group units by leader, which makes for tighter controls and more effective squad- based tactics. And while it makes use of a chain of weaknesses similar to Heroes', Wings adds elemental fac- tors and unit rankings to the combat mix...couched, of course, in familiar Final Fantasy terms. Ultimately, its main shortcoming is that the DS' tiny screens limit the gameplay. A lack of dynamic battles and more precise unit control keep Wings from being all it could have been. Still, it's about the best RTS you'll see on a portable sys- tem—and a surprisingly good sequel to a brilliant role-playing game. + SHANE: Square Enix once again proves that DS RPGs don't have to be ugly: Solid 3D visuals and plenty of slick CG cut-scenes give Revenant Wings a touch of console-bred Final Fantasy class. Unfortunately, the nar- rative's not quite so upscale—expect nothing more than lightweight, giddy THE VERDICTS (OUT OF 10) JEREMY: 8.0 The Good: A great mix of role-playing and strategy The Bad: So much action, such tiny screens Hoochie: Penelo's apparently leveled up her “Skank” skills NO MORE TV FOR AMERICA? This computer program, called WebBrowserTV™, can m revolutionize the way YOU watch your TV programs: * Allows you to watch live worldwide TV shows through your computer or TV set (uses your computer monitor as your default TV screen; connects to your TV set for an even larger view. "S-Video" cable required to connect to TV) * No fees after software is purchased * PC & MAC compatible * Provides access to over 3,000 channels worldwide * Browsable by country and genre * Continuously updated ۳ • Uses your Internet connection as the "antenna" or "satellite dish” — * Dial-up and high-speed compatible • Completely legal according to FCC regulations * Only $14.99 per copy (a one-time deal; no monthly fees) For more information, visit: www.bitmar.com ۳ Price is subject to change without notice. А product of: ВИМаг. сот | א SE‏ | "1000018990 سس | T... p" cm = elements keeps your focus оп how to play (which is more complicated than you might think) and really prepares you to take your troops online. The absence of a story might help new recruits focus, but if Plus is their first foray into team- based Metal Gear, the structure and army-management system aren't very welcoming. That, and the Metal Gear mechanics are starting to show their age. But the "Gotta capture, coerce, and convert "ет all!” compulsion eventually takes over as you build your army, weapon cache, and a killer squad. Online is almost dauntingly packed with options, and the roll move is still kind of broken, but it's hard to argue with the price. rk tive navel-gazing. Even so, the visu- als, sounds, and gameplay haven't changed at all since MPO, which feels like a missed opportunity—imple- menting some of the pivotal control tweaks seen in the upcoming MGS4 would have improved this game's somewhat cumbersome interface. As much as | enjoy sneak- ing around and building yet another Metal Gear supersquad, it's disap- pointing that the gameplay goes relatively untouched here. It's still solid, but it could be even better. For example, what about adding a soldier class that drags bodies faster than my 84-year-old grandma with two bad knees? Anyway, at least Plus' mission structure is a step up; nixing the story Them's the snakes Less of a sequel and more of a stand-alone expansion pack to the excellent Portable Ops, Plus deliv- ers another compelling dose of Metal Gear Solid stealth-action gameplay in a bite-sized form. The $20 price tag should clue you in that it's not the meatiest of offerings, but MPO vets won't be disappointed (in fact, importing your characters from that game gives you a keen advantage here), and newbies may even find this pseudosequel to be an even more accessible entry point into the addic- tive world of multiplayer online MGS. The lack of a true story mode stings, but its replacement, Infinity Mission, lets you zip through a cavalcade of self-contained challenges without any of the convoluted MGS narra- METAL GEAR SOLID: PORTABLE OPS PLUS ₪ Publisher: Konami ₪ Developer: Kojima Productions ₪ Players: 1-6 ₪ ESRB: Teen Cool new characters, low price, multiplayer Where's the story? Old Snake, newly badass Raiden 88 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY г EGM.1UP.COM GAMES OVERLOAD! pm SUPER MARIO GALAXY № Publisher: Nintendo ₪ ESRB: Everyone Super Mario Galaxy didn't make its way to the EGM offices in time for a review, but we did get some time with it, and from what we've played—about three hours—we're in love. Packed with originality, variety, and mind-bending physics, Galaxy reminds us why the Mario series matters in the first place. It breaks your expectations about 3D platforming (think flipping around grav- ity) while feeling as whimsical and fresh as Super Mario Bros. 3. In other words: Wow. Brilliant, compelling, creative. Own a Wii? Great! Play this game. RESIDENT EVIL: THE UMBRELLA CHRONICLES Ш Publisher: Capcom ₪ ESRB: Mature If the slow pace of the older Resident Evil games bored you, Umbrella Chronicles retells the original stories in a faster, trigger-happier arcade game. Not only does it offer up plenty of enemies to shoot, but your bullets can also break background objects like vases and lights (try to avoid those, though). But this is still standard (i.e., shallow) light-gun fare, with linear progression and an obnoxious reload- ing system: You must first flick the Remote down and then back up, forcing you to readjust your aiming cursor every time. Doesn't do much for light- gun games or the Resident Evil legacy. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM * 89 ASSASSIN'S CREED Ш Publisher: Ubisoft ₪ ESRB: Mature Training to become a hired killer may seem hard, but learning how to control Ubisoft's acrobatic assassin may actually be more difficult (and far less deadly). The premise is nearly perfect, though: Hop around cities, collecting information for your various medi- eval hits. Too bad the tricky controls make performing kills, scaling walls, and, well, just about everything, a chore. Or at least in the few missions that we've played. So right now we're a little hesitant to hire this killer. If you can get a hang of the controls (something we could have done given more time), it's certainly a cool game. ROCK BAND ₪ Publisher: Electronic Arts ₪ ESRB: Teen Selfish rockers can go solo with Guitar Hero 111, but the real fun is building an actual rock band with, uh, Rock Band. The setup is still the same—like in developer Harmonix's first rhythm rocker, you pretend to play real instruments to popular songs. But Rock Band's show is a helluva lot more social now that drums and singing have been added to the mix. After tearing up the arenas with four people (especially pounding on the drums), it’s hard to go back to being a ho-hum hero. For wannabe musicians, Rock Band is by far the best bandmate money can buy. GHOST SQUAD Ш Publisher: Sega ₪ ESRB: Teen Sega first introduced light-gun shooter Ghost Squad three years ago in arcades. But with arcades now nearing extinction, the compa- ny's hoping the Wii's versatile Remote can effectively replace the lightgun of yore and breathe fresh air into an aging game. + BOTTOM LINE: Three semilinear levels, each with branching abilities to locate the final boss, hardly warrant much replay value. Ghost Squad tries to hide this with over 25 unique weapons and alternate costumes, but it's still a 30-minute game. Partygoers will appreciate the four-player support, but the fun is short-lived. PSP SOCOM: U.S. NAVY SEALS- TACTICAL STRIKE ₪ Publisher: Sony CEA ₪ ESRB: Teen While the Fireteam Bravo games offered a Slightly more action-oriented SOCOM experi- ence on PSP, Tactical Strike goes back to the basics: stealth, strategy, and clever com- manding skills. Don't expect a turn-based affair, but in allowing players to position and issue orders to each member of the four-man SEAL squad individually, Tactical Strike offers depth that rivals—and perhaps even bests— the campaign modes of the PS2 SOCOMs. + BOTTOM LINE: Anyone who appreciated the challenge and depth of previous SOCOM single-player campaigns will dig the deliber- ate, strategic pace of this one. YER BATTALION WARS 2 ₪ Publisher: Nintendo ₪ ESRB: Teen The original Battalion Wars was a late-life GameCube title, a real-time strategy game that let you control any soldier individually. Little has changed for the sequel—seri- ously. Sure, you have new areas and a few new unit types, but it's not like you'll have to completely rethink your tactics. The one real highlight is the new online multiplayer mode: Since the first game was single-player only, it almost makes up for the familiarity. + BOTTOM LINE: A very safe sequel that's moderately enjoyable. If you missed the origi- nal, you might find some fun in the unique action/strategy style, but it's not a guarantee. 0 SCENE IT? LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION ₪ Publisher: Microsoft ₪ ESRB: Teen Any gamer who's tried to get their nongam- ing friends to try out Mario Party or (shudder) Fuzion Frenzy knows it's not as easy to play these party games as it should be. Enter Scene It?, the movie-trivia game (originally available on DVD) with the funny controllers. It's refreshing to find a game with universally appealing content—tons of movie genres and eras are here, so nobody feels left out. And the big-button controllers make it easier for nongamers to participate. + BOTTOM LINE: Scene It? actually delivers on the promise of a fun party game anyone can enjoy. NIGHTS: JOURNEY OF DREAMS W Publisher: Sega ₪ ESRB: Everyone A decade later, Sega finally dusts off its gen- der-neutral purple jester for this long-over- due sequel to the Saturn cult hit. The basic on-rails level design remains the same, but streamlined Wii Remote controls make soar- ing through the skies a breeze. Journey also revives its predecessor's addictive, open- ended A.Life virtual-pet metagame. + BOTTOM LINE: Younger players will go gaga for Nights' cuddly characters, vibrant DayGlo landscapes, and shockingly simple gameplay, but platforming veterans should Stick with Super Mario Galaxy for a more refined hop "п" Бор experience. le i T שא‎ ки Vrae с> j БЕ 2 27 SOULCALIBUR LEGENDS ₪ Publisher: Namco Bandai ₪ ESRB: Teen We're only a few levels into Namco's Soulcalibur beat-em-up, but it seems awfully simple so far—run, lock on, shake the con- troller to fight a bit, take a few steps back, repeat. When the combat gets going, you can juke with the Nunchuk and roll that into combos nicely with the Remote, but the merely standard running-to-attacking-to- jumping transition animations remind us that this isn't a true Soulcalibur game. + BOTTOM LINE: Soulcalibur fans are accustomed to one of the smoothest games around, and Legends is clearly not that. But it's less clear whether it's a bad game. 90 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY г EGM.1UP.COM ₪4 GAMES OVERLOAD! What can AT&T do for your Digital World? Name Platform | Scores XB360 By now you've probably explored all the multiplayer maps. Bet you want more, eh? Well, Bungie is cur- rently testing new down- loadable battlegrounds. Halo 3 Limited Edition XB360 Halo 3 Legendary Edition XB360 The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass DS Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party Bundle Wii Wii Play (with Wii Remote) Wii Carnival Games Wii Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! DS Heavenly Sword PS3 Half-Life 2: The Orange Box XB360 Team Fortress 2 is mad fun...when it’s not littered with lag. Luckily, developer Valve is issuing a patch, so things should be better by the time you read this. BioShock 0 Build Your Own [^ The world of Rapture may D W have ended, but we still | 0 | а 0 r have that BioShock buzz. Good thing creator Ken Tod ау аї Levine says downloadable HM content is coming soon. att.com/digitalworld Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! Ds Catch a glimpse into your digital world. Visit the digital world site to build your unique Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Wii strand, like the one above. The more robust your digital world is, the bigger, more intricate Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions PSP and colorful your strand will be. These days, everybody lives in the digital world. The New Super Mario Bros. Ds question is, what can AT&T do for yours? MySims Wii madden ин. oe - WIN AN iPHONE” As if there weren't enough d oth | / р ti versions of Madden on ango in SOON prizes by. posung the market, a Spanish-lan- your Digital World on 1UP.com. guage edition now exists. il 0 1 2 ы Will people mistake it fora For details visit soccer game...? Mario Party 8 Wii е % Pokémon Diamond DS Skate XB360 rights r regulation; mas" anymore. It's impolite to Chanu- kah, the 17th most important Jewish holiday, and whatever a Kwanzaa is. However, instead of being sensitive to users of the crappier Christmases, I've chosen to just call it Christmas. I'm counting on you to keep quiet about this. Note 2: Kwanzaa is a celebration-like event invented in the 1960s to give college diversity clubs a party theme. To put it another way, if Christmas and Kwanzaa were both vampire movies, they would be called Dracula and Black Dracula, respectively. cells with Christmas Muzak, and a Jehovah's Witness sitting alone and Googling less-absurd religions. Christmas isn’t fun for everyone, and just like when | got a sleeping bag while my brother opened the Ewok Village, | got it the worst. This Christmas, | was forced to review history's worst Christmas games. As usual, they will be judged on my unique rating system of one being the lowest and 10 being the highest. For example: six. Note: Legally, | don’t think you’re allowed to call the holidays “Christ- IT’S А \ < WRITER that starts an article with a quote from someone else, but | think Arnold Schwarzeneg- ger’s inner monologue said it best during the filming of Jingle All the Way, when it whispered, “One day, all of Christmas shall suffer as it has caused us to suffer. Swear this unto me, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and | shall make you governor.” | take this lesson with me every day. I'm not a grinch, but these facts are startling: For every child enjoy- ing the holidays, there are 30 adults who can’t find a parking space, 75 store employees replacing their brain Seanbaby employs an army of Malaysian Elves to come up with his column each month. Their Christmas bonus is а free copy of Elf Bowling, the game. of background music cites that historical moment as his main inspiration. Then he was tagged by scientists and released back into the wild. He was a goldfish the entire time. After Home Improvement on the Super Nintendo and now The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause on Game Boy Advance, Tim Allen has surpassed diabetes as gaming’s least enjoyable side effect. ре Shaggy Dog, starring Tim Allen. “Raise the WOOF!” on DVD and Blu-ray. EHED Take all of your expectations (B) and preconceived notions about М “А, i| movie-based side-scrollers, and throw them out the window. Now go outside and put them back В м exactly where they were. The word “generic” barely begins to describe this game, then immedi- ately finishes describing it! ум Remember when Milli Vanilli was onstage and their tape somehow got stuck on “Girl you know it's! Girl you know it's! Girl you know it's!"? The composer of this game's eight notes 92 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY e EGM.1UP.COM 4 PAGE PAGE Se. ^" Grudge: Dueling Creeds Comic: Hsu & Chan in 4 Hauling Jolly ЕН Bowling: The Movie—The Great North Pole ЕН Strike (DVD) IMDB begins this movie's plot outline with, “Santa and his brother Dingle as a couple of pirates?” Yes, IMDB, that’s what's insane here. A Christmas-themed bowling game is made into a movie, and wh-wha?! Pirate costumes?! Holiday Music: 3 The music seems out of place, but how do you orchestrate the sound of mistake? Fart sounds, | guess. Holiday Cheer: 0 This came packaged with Elf Bowling: The Movie—The Mint-Flavored Pistol. | don’t see why it’s mint-flavored, though. Oh, wait. | get it. Consumers Who Bought This Gift Also Bought: Less lithium than prescribed by their licensed physician. Christmas Country (CD-i) One of the only remaining distributors of CD-i games praised Christmas Country as, “Ho, ho, ho. What a game!!! Finally, a platform game for CD-i with lot’s of enemies.” [sic] That was the best the world’s last CD-i salesman could come up with. Holiday Music: 0 They actually didn’t put music in, no doubt in hopes that someone at a game magazine wouldn't play this 10 years later and notice. Holiday Cheer: 0 This game requires you to jump a lot. The terrible designers thought, “How can we solve this?” Their solution was to multiply your speed by 8,000 percent during each jump. This means a funnier, herky-jerkier spazfest, but it also means you will certainly die every time you try it. Consumers Who Bought This Gift Also Bought: A Gizmondo and freedom for their pen pal, the deposed Prince of Nigeria. ЕН: The Movie (GBA) What sets Elf apart from other games about jumping for snacks is that you have an energy bar, yet every time you're hit, you fall off the screen and get sent back to the beginning of the level. It's as if two game designers were fighting over whether Will Ferrell should have lives or an energy bar, and they both lost. Holiday Music: 3 Imagine the soundtrack to the worst 10 seconds of your life. It should go without saying that it is on repeat. Holiday Cheer: 2 The gifts that come out of Santa's workshop are often depicted as crappy things like wooden trains and tops, and even by those stan- dards, this game is a 2. If an ЕН makes a toy like this, | think it’s Santa’s policy to destroy it. The Elf, not the product. Consumers Who Bought This Gift Also Bought: Garbage Advance. Cartridge Trash Bags. Dispose of your Game Boy Advance games, up to four at a time, in style! Now in Harvest Peach. а. ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM. 1UP.COM » 93 PAGE Retro: More | nonsense game plots Years ago, | noticed that peach products never come as simply “Peach.” It's always something like “Harvest Peach,” or “Peaches and Cream." Other ₪ fruits—for example, blueberries—seem to Бе de- Scriptive enough to stand on their own, just not peaches. | told myself that one day | would come up with a joke or routine to go with this observation, and I'm obviously still waiting on that day. Like my future joke about peaches, Santa Claus Saves the Earth isn't quite entertain- ment yet. Someday, maybe. Holiday Music: 1 You know how you can program a robot to pretend to be human, and sometimes it works too well and it ends up thinking it’s real, only it’s sort of stupid at everything? | think one of those robots made this music. “The soundtrack has been programmed based on the musi- cal data that unit: me has observed—rising tempo followed by jovial musical tones and a digitally simulated high hat. Unit: me is feeling а previously undocumented energy surge. Is this what is called: |- love?SQUAAWKKK! Malfu— MURDER ALL BABY FACES." Holiday Cheer: O Your attack in this game is to frantically flap a green purse. And it causes you to seize up and slide backwards. | didn't even know mod- ern brains were capable of coming up with ideas this bad. Consumers Who Bought This Gift Also Bought: "Hamglide, the Sportswear Made of Ham,” from the makers of “Product Whose Inad- equacies Are Apparent From the Title" and "That Same Thing, Travel Edition.” < Legally, | don’t think you’re allowed to call the holidays “Christmas” anymore. LIOR MATGH-EM—-UP FUP! Burn the New Kids on the Block with these holiday snaps! See if you can match the track title from the New Kids’ holiday soundtrack, “Merry, Merry Christmas” with the proper verbal abuse! Track Titles 1. Christmas Song 2. I'll Be Missin’ You Come Christmas (A Letter to Santa) 3. I Still Believe in Santa Claus 4. This One’s for the Children 5. Little Drummer Boy Burns A. | can't tell if you're calling the children tasteless or gay. B. Wait, is there even a way to take that where you’re not having sex with Santa? . Yeah, | sort of figured that. | guess “Dumbly Named Song” was taken? . It makes sense that if your band ever did get a drummer, it'd be a little boy. . Good, now you have two things in common with 5-year- olds. The other: peeing in your sleep. 0-9 ‘V-t '3-€ ‘9-2 '0-1 ‘ssomsuy 5 By Jeremy Parish е RENS SECUN n ظ‎ . | ה X The story of Final Fantasy VII begins with Jenova, a mysterious space being that crash-lands about 2,000 years prior to the game. It promptly begins to do horrible, horrible things to the Cetra, a special | humanlike race who ultimately triumph after a long battle. Defeated, Jenova is sealed in a crater, only to be excavated much later by Gast, who enables its will to be manifested through Sephiroth. Sephiroth's death taints the Lifestream with Jenova cells. Exposure to the ` Lifestream results in many people developing a disease called Geostigma, which Sephiroth hopes to use as a means to control the world. How so? Through his “remnants,” a trio of silver-haired men who can transform into Sephiroth by coming into contact with Jenova. Cloud defeats them by shrugging off fatal wounds until it rains. Yes, Advent Children is ridiculous. DRIVES TO EXTINCTION x fe to Midgars Zack, then (cr Zack’s psychotic A mystic race that falls prey to Cloud. Although she dies: Jenova, the Cetra are able to stop f: to stop Sephiroth's meteor from . the extraterrestrial menace at a great smashing the planet, she occa- cost to themselves. They slowly die sionally returns from beyond out over the centuries as normal the grave when Cloud and humans rise to prominence, with friends need a handy deus Aerith as the last of their kind. ex machina to save the day. 94 + ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY > EGM.1UP.COM The powerful Shinra energy conglomerate is зоте- thing straight out of Shadowrun: a corporation that effectively serves аз а government. Shinra doesn’t simply control the world’s largest city, Midgar—it also maintains its own standing army, SOLDIER. And its own roughneck enforcers, the Turks. And builds weapons of mass destruction. And wages its own wars against foreign nations. And conducts deadly genetic experiments. And siphons the planet's life away for cheap power. Even Halliburton ain’t got nothin’ on them. Cloud finds himself in the employ of Barett Wallace, Tifa Lockhart, and Avalanche, their motley group of rebels who want to put a stop to Shinra’s machinations. Noble. But they use what could best be called “extreme terrorism” to do it. Not so noble. Especially considering the innocent body count they rack up. CREATES " E x = E Es = 5 5 = Ш F Ш i ES m A ה‎ Cloud spends much of FFVII confusing his own identity with Zack's—not only does he mistakenly think he's part of SOLDIER, but he also adopts Zack’s mannerisms...and even his woman, Aerith. Like Zack, Cloud also under- goes Jenova experiments but fails to become a Sephiroth-like supersoldier, yet that doesn’t stop him from kicking Sephiroth’s ass. Even though he saves the day, he gets all sulky again in Advent Children—despite hooking up with Tifa. What a schmo. Next Month: No. 2 Resident Evil ЊЕ. 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