THE No.1 VIDEOGAME MAGAZINE

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ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY ina

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Im in the kitchen : world-exclusive first look at the new

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Sonic Unleashed ° Alone in the Dark * Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff e Golden Axe: Beast Rider • Bionic Commando ¢ and more! e

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The hot new shooter from the Crimson Skies team

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TUF СОМ Hands-on with Yoda and Darth Vader

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Blood Crude Humor Strong Language

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COMING EXCLUSIVELY ON THE PLAYSTATION®3

computer entertainment system

www.konami.com

© 1987 2008 Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. “METAL GEAR" and "METAL GEAR SOLID" and “GUNS OFTHE PATRIOTS" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. Published by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. KONAMI is a registered trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. “PlayStation? "PLAYSTATION" and "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, The rating icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association.

Blood

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Use of Alcohol and Tobacco Violence

CONTENT RATED BY А, PLAYSTATION = ESRB

The Bourne Conspiracy” interactive software © 2008 Vivendi Games, Inc. "The Bourne Identity" characters, events, story and publishing rights © 1980 Estate of Robert Ludlum. All rights reserved. Developed by High Moon Studios, LLC. High Moon Studios and the High Moon Studios logo ar registered trademarks of igh Moon Studios, LLC Sierra and the ўспа logo are ether registered trademarks or trademarks of Sra Entertainment, Inc in the U S and/or other countries THX and the THX logo are trademarks of THX Ltd which may be registered in some jurisdictions. АТ ighis reserve "PlayStation" "PLAYSTATION" and "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft

ROBERT LUDLUM'S

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> issue 229 ° june 2008

| First Look:

The next Spider-Man

an е " *

2 c Cover Story: uet | I PF. as ` RETRO REVIVAL! Hands-on: ` Get the scoop on Splatterhouse, Street Fighter IV, Тесто = Metal Gear Bowl, and other classics being reborn on now-gen systems Solid 4

26 Online Scene: Free Wii Games They're free, they don't all suck, and

Reviews Int apparently there's no catch тое: Reviews antro

10 Making whining and complaining fun

32 BigOnes 72 Mario Kart Wii

16 Previews: Superhero Roundup Little bits on big games 76 Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy Marvel nerds, assemble! We've got 36 Таке This Job 78 Castle of Shikigami Ш exclusives on the new Spider-Man, Prepare to swoon at the latest installment їп 78 UEFA Euro 2008 Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk games our monthly job series 79 МВА Ballers: Chosen One 20 Foreign Object 38 Preview: Dark Void What they’re playing in far-off lands Get a first look at the high-flying shooter 80 Grand Theft Auto IV 22 Preview: Metal Gear Solid 4: from the folks behind Crimson Skies 86 Viking: Battle for Asgard Guns of the Patriots 42 Old vs. New 86 Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES The game's actually coming out—find out if It's a grudge match between retro and you're ready or not newfangled peripherals 87 Myst 25 Preview: TNA Impact! 44 Fighting Game Blowout BT. Sugar Dodgeball Brawlers See how newcomer Total Nonstop Action's We look at developer Arc System Works’ life 88 Reviews Wrap-Up first wrestling game stacks up to the after Guilty Gear, including Battle Fantasia heavyweight competition and ВіагВіие

ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY i ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP

Nat'l Dir. of Online Sales. Editorial Director. ior Editor e Sito Dire е Senior VP, & Promotions Regional Sales Dir. - Nick Geist Dan н а ng Community е Marci Yam [ Senior Art Director R, Shelly Reim. ing Dir. с d

VP of Content Director of Fi

ior Editor, Expanded Content ^

Sonior Editor Senior Writer

Ап Directo Аў i magu unt Coordinator Assoc. Art Director Mike Cro а и Raymund Bautista

b

а i { 4 i í ] š 1 a i 4 й

THE FINE LINE BETWEEN HONOR AND VENGEANCE WILL ВЕ CROSSED BY ONE.

Hayabusa returns in the only true sequel to Ninja Gaiden. Exclusively on the Xbox 360. Four difficulty levels, from Acolyte to Master Ninja.

xbox.com/ng2

MATURE E Blood and Gore Intense Violence Partial Nudity

Suggestive Themes

ESRB CONTENT RATING _www.esrb.org

LOM TEM T = ОШ

CONT.)

| remember exactly where 1 wasted all of my mom's quarters, and that was in every arcade game I could cram them into. Today's gamer won't understand the thrill of being part of the crowd huddled around a new arcade game, quarters lining the top of the marquee, indicating who had the next turn. | was there when Space Invaders first invaded my local department store, and that game was quickly followed by Asteroids, Star Wars, Double Dragon, Alien Syndrome, Forgotten Worlds, Ikari Warriors, Tron, Tempest, and more.

Now that many classic videogame franchises are nearing the quarter- century mark, we're seeing more and more anniversary-based revivals. Take Namco Bandai's Splatterhouse reboot— which you're seeing for the first time anywhere in the pages of this magazine—as an example. Splatterhouse hasn't been seen in forever, but it remains one of those classic games nearly everyone knows

GAME OVER

90 Seanbaby’s Rest of the Crap ies Й Onsmanshamágs io delevieód THIS MONTH'S EGH EXTRAS about. In the spirit of retro gaming, we've assembled all of the best retro

dcus EGM.1 UP.COM revivals worth mentioning in this issue,

Reupnauts Presente interviewed an old-school gamer in The good, the bad, and the Splatterhouse bleeds on... 9 5 Lives, and sorted through the best

mysteriously missing remakes Absorb all the juice we couldn’t fit in the mag from our 8 Я Hsu & Chan interview with the Splatterhouse development team. and worst of revivals past. It's an action-packed issue, and you have

SuperGuides to the rescue! to love our Splatterhouse artwork, Other sites have regular guides. We've got made especially for us by developer SuperGuides—with the best tips, cheats, and BottleRocket. So turn the page and strategies for Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii take a look at each grizzled gaming alumnus that's giving it another shot. Do the old-timers still have what

< WHAT'S THIS?

If the cover wasn't a е

Goal Giveaway, His Josue And check out аш podcast it takes to compete with modern sports a “retro revival” on EGMLive.1UP.com and f hi like Call of D d Halo? theme. Look for this stamp our message boards at rane pes i е Call of Duty and Halo? throughout the magazine boards.1UP.com. Only time will tell.

for retro-themed stories. —James “Milkman” Mielke, Editor-in-Chief

ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA GAME GROUP

Promotions Coordinator Assistant Mor.

Di о! Consumer Salos VP of Marketing, Research AW Mer Coordinator Ba Cher xec: нек Lean Соок A Events ` Rey Ledda опто

Senior Account Exec. chet Fi Stacy Cohen Aoveriising Campaign Senior Technical Analyst & SVP Finance

Senior даро Coordinator Stephane Russel — ^ BuScnmoum Ур, General Counsel

аы " Shirin Макал! All content copyright © 2008 Ziff scout Соо Davis Media Inc. Reproduction,

modification, or transmission, in

VP of Audience Dev.

Marketing Graphic Designer

Robyn Uyeno whole or in рап, by any means, Cattomia Advertising Dir. without written permission trom Pichard Taw чын Natl Dir. of Online Sales Circ. Development Mgr. "e. този мба (To & Promotions | Brent Mart Kim Trotman Inc. is strictly.

prohibited. All

АЎ NETWORK fignis reserved.

Senior Promotions Mgr. Justin Sadolan

8 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM

Lollipop Girl

April 29th 2008

www.rockstargames.com/iv

&xBox3060"^ EM re avsrarion =

> politics, free-market capitalism, and geriatrics

> TRIVIAL Sue

This month's EGM question:

What is the name of Splatterhouse antihero Rick Taylor's son?

E-mail the answer to EGM@1UP.com (subject head

Trivia: EGM #229) for a chance to win something potentially awesome.

Videogaming has always had its fair share of (mostly) friendly rivalries. In the last few years, though, it’s moving beyond something like the “Ford vs. Chevy” or the “Polaris vs. Arctic Cat” (Рт from Minnesota) debates and get- ting more like what we see in politics. Internet message boards have their own versions of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter—people who have no shortage of ways to tell you how bad the other side is. Just about any news story you see has people who “spin” it to make their console look better, or the rival console look worse. For example, when the January [research group] NPD numbers came out, PS3 fans were quick to say that the PS3 is going to “win” because it outsold the 360 one month, while Xbox 360 fans were quick to change their story to "hardware sales don't matter—it's attach rates that are important."

Sure, we can't all afford to own every system, but can't we respect the fact that some people want a different experience than others? Some people want Halo, some want Final Fantasy, and some just want Wii Sports. There should be room for all of those people to enjoy this hobby without feeling like browsing through the games for their system is like going behind the beaded curtain at the video store— something that you don't want people to see you doing.

—dim Malamen

Your reasonable suggestions are breaking our brains.

I'm usually the first person to come

they are based on. I'm very pro-game rights, but with a slew of Lego games slated to come out, | don’t want to see developers take the series too far and actually give [videogame-violence hating lawyer] Jack Thompson's fol- lowers a legitimate argument. The gaming community should strive to create a line between games for adults and games for kids, and | think Lego Halo really blurs it.

—Dan Hoyt

You know that one scene in Ghostbusters where Janine pounds the big red button and screams, “We got one?” We kinda feel like that right now.

| recently saw an episode of the anime You're Under Arrest, in which

Look for Lego GTA: Hot Coffee next April.

one of the officers had to protect an old woman. She lived alone because her husband was part of the Imperial Japanese military and was killed in action in World War Il, and her kids died in the Allied firebombing raid

of Tokyo.

After that, | felt guilty about playing Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. | don't know if | can play that game with- out thinking, "What if this Japanese soldier's wife will also live to modern times alone as a widow?" If anything, | think that episode of You're Under Arrest did a nice job of driving home the cost of the Allied victory over Japan.

— Мей Sen

Help me, EGM. Гт 15 and need your help. | know Halo 3 is rated M, but |

out supporting game developers, but this time | feel someone should point out the potential harm of a game. Lego Halo really bothers me. We're making an adult game into a children's game. Not all gamers who play Lego Star Wars are kids, but many are, and marketing this violent game series to kids is wrong.

Just think how you would feel about Lego Grand Theft Auto, Lego God of War, or Lego Doom. These are all titles that should be played by adults, and making little Lego characters encourages kids to play the games

When my wife and 1 were planning our wed- ding, she informed me that | would have

to choose the design of my groom's cake. Though I love my wife more than anything else, videogames come in at a close second.

The original NES is the system that started my hobby, and І knew it had to be my choice. It was a Carrot cake, and it was delicious! All the guys at my wedding were impressed with my

Here’s hoping no one

blew into the slot.

level of übergeekdom. —Eric Dunaway

For writing this month's LOTM, Jim gets a copy of Fuzion Frenzy...or something else from our dusty old collection.

Want to see your own story in this space? All you have to do is tell us how hard-effing- core you are. Dish up the goods on what makes you more into games than anyone else, and send it to EGM@1UP.com, subject head: “I Am Hardcore.” Remember, it doesn't count if you can't prove it, so send photos, too!

10 • ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM

50 q` , 9 TIT our, ме?

Spit out your Stride and stick it to his head. Stick it to his chin. Stick it to his face. He wants you to. His job is on the line. Stride gum sales аге nose-diving because the flavor lasts too long, so spit out that piece of Stride, already! Then chew and spit out over and over again, and keep sticking it to the man!

LSS ИШИ LONG LASTING GUM”

> OOPS!

In last month's cover story for SOCOM: Confrontation, we incorrectly listed Italy's COMSUBIN and France's GIGN among the special forces included at launch. Neither of those organizations will be present—at least not in the initial version of the game. However, France's 1er Régiment Parachutiste d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RPIMa) will be.

8 Psycho Mantis is feeling neglected...and also crazy.

am very mature for my age...but my dad still won't let me play it. | am already obsessed with the series; l've read all the books except Harvest, and | even have a paper model hanging in my room. | also have been consider- ing getting really good at it and joining Major League Gaming. | would also like to make machinima series, mods, and more cool things. Please, EGM, if anyone can help me convince my dad, it's probably you guys.

—Aaron Chering

You've come to the right place; we've got a foolproof method for convincing dear ol' Dad. It's a simple, three-step program: First, make sure you're helping out around the house; this will show your maturity. Next, drop casual hints about the game so he can see you're not desperate—parents hate desperation. Finally, save up enough money to pay for it yourself; this will show your dedication.

Now, just keep that up for the next two years, and you're guaranteed to get Halo...and any other M-rated game you want! You're welcome!

Canis canem edit

The fact that EA is now going straight to Take-Two's shareholders to [attempt to buy out the company] is really sad. If game companies keep buying other game companies, where will the com- petition go? What's to stop Microsoft, one of the richer companies in the world, from buying Nintendo?

The free market thrives on competi- tion. Stop playing dirty, and let free trade rule. Competition is good, and to lose that competition, not just from a merger, but from a hostile takeover? That's just really bad taste. It doesn't really matter, as long as | keep play- ing the games that | love...but how long until they stop making the games that | love? And how hard will it be for

12 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * EGM.1UP.COM

new game companies to emerge in this dog-eat-dog business? There has to be some self-control. EA already bought Pandemic and BioWare; these megacorporations all need to calm down for a second and let the busi- ness breathe.

—Emmanuel Navarrete

Personally, we're looking forward to playing MarioMadden 2012: The Show on our WiiStation 720s.

Do these pants make our bias look fat? I've noticed that since all three sys- tems were released, you guys have become increasingly biased toward the Xbox 360. Then you guys support- ed the Wii and 360 but continued to hate the PS3. Then you guys made an article on how the Nintendo “Seal of Quality” is actually the “Seal of Crap” or something. And now you guys are saying that the PS3 is making a comeback! What gives?! When are you just going to make up your minds on which console you like the best?! — Jude Nichols

Holy crap, guys—they’re onto us!

Meryl is very disappointed with you Гуе just finished playing Metal Gear Solid 3 for the first time, and it’s my second-favorite game now (next to Twilight Princess). Now I'm stoked for MGS4, even saving up for the PS3! But | know zero about Snake. Since he’s in the first two games, | wanna get informed, but I’ve been told they were both really bad. Should | just wait for MGS4 and use their dictionary in-game, or check out those first two? —S. Papstein

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up there a second, champ. Who told you the first MGS was bad? Listen closely, now, because this is important: Never believe anything this person tells you, ever again. The first MGS is widely considered to be one of the greatest games ever made, and you're seriously missing out if you don't check it out. MGS2? Yeah, we could see some folks having problems with that. But weird-ass story aside, it's still worth playing.

Bourne at the wrong time

I'm a huge fan of the Bourne trilogy, and as much as the history of movie- inspired games tells me otherwise, I'm very psyched for the upcoming The Bourne Conspiracy. One of the major things that l've noticed in this game

is that Matt Damon's likeness (so far)

is not in the game. Is Sierra not even pursuing the rights to his likeness? —Jeff Klein

According to Variety, publisher Sierra opted not to pursue Damon for his participation in The Bourne Conspiracy after he announced he had no interest in continuing his role as Jason Bourne. "The Bourne thing I'm definitely done with,” Damon said at a 2007 Cannes appearance. The funny thing is, in February of this year, Damon apparently had a change of heart and signed on for a fourth Bourne film. But it seems it was too late for the game.

Progress stops for no man What's with Microsoft not making any games for the [original] Xbox? What happened? | am pretty pissed. —Cade Jessop

Time happened. Welcome to 2008!

Extra life Г am 66 years old and have been playing videogames since the very beginning, adventure games mostly. Over the years, | have left many games unfinished as | got stuck at a part—usually against a stupid boss. Having arthritis now doesn’t help, but | still love games like Tomb Raider, God of War, and Prince of Persia. Please tell these game developers who are getting carried away with these boss battles to give us old-timers a break and make the games with the abil- ity to skip over a part when you are stuck. After all, we pay enough for these games and would like to finish them. Thanks.

—Emmanuel Ferreri

You might want to look into cheat sites—like our very own MyCheats.com—to help you with those boss battles. Game designers aren’t likely to want to make it easy to skip through the game, and let's face it: The retired set isn't exactly the target demographic for most games. Now excuse us while we get off your lawn. ќа.

чт

СТ EGM EGM@1UP.com

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

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Alcohol Reference " " с T Mild L © SEGA. All rights reserved. SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA and the SEGA logo are either registered id Language trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. Iron Man, the Movie © 2008 MVL Film Finance LLC. Marvel, Iron Man, all character names Violence and their distinctive likenesses: ™ & © 2008 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. "PlayStation: PLAYSTATION’, "PS" Family logo and "PSP" are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. PSP® system - Memory ESRB CONTENT RATING Stick Duo™ may be required (sold separately). Microsoft , Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. Wii and Nintendo DS are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo.

=o NTENDORE^ WIL "Ds.

IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE HIM THAT CHANGE EVERYTHING AROUND HIM

р EO je)

SEE THE MOV

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NA - 2. ў n Та. УА

JUNE 2008

@ хвохзво Wi "Ds. |

AVAILABLE ON PLAYSTATIONSS AND PLavSTarioN82 COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS.

SOFTWARE

Mild Blood Mild Language

© SEGA. All rights reserved. SEGA is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. SEGA and the SEGA logo are either

registered trademarks or trademarks of SEGA Corporation. The Incredible Hulk, the Movie © 2008 MVL Film Finance LLC. Marvel, т Violence The Incredible Hulk, all character names and their distinctive likenesses: TM & © 2008 Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its га а

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> features, previews, green warriors who talk weird, they do, and other stuff

> PREVIEWS: SUPERHERO GAMES

By Nick Suttner and Greg Ford

16 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY е EGM.1UP.COM

PAGE PAGE FAGE Preview: Preview: Feature: Snake is Forceful Dumb retro smokin’ fighters doodads?

The Incredible Hulk

Publisher: Sega * Developer: Edge of Reality • Platform: PS3/XB360 * Release Date: June 2008

Coming out of our first look at The Incredible Hulk, we couldn't help but notice the beginning of a trend. And no, we're not refer- ring to this being another open-world action game or superhero- movie-based summer release. We're talking fists. In the recent PSP action game God of War: Chains of Olympus, Spartan hero Kratos sports the Gauntlet of Zeus, which allows him to put a pounding on all manner of Hellenic assailants. And in this new Hulk game, the titular green meanie can tear a vehicle in two and place each half over his hands. Then smash, as he’s wont to do. Think of this as a maximum-destruction version of those green, foamy Hulk hands you've not-so-secretly always wanted.

And that's a big draw: destruction. Do enough damage, and you can demolish whole buildings and skyscrapers in this open- world version of New York City that takes from both reality (the Chrysler Building) and alternate, Marvel reality (Stark Tower and the Baxter Building). A nice touch: As you're wreaking havoc,

First appearance: Comic books crossed into

the Atomic Age when creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby set off a gamma bomb, transforming physicist Bruce Banner into a raging monster in the pages of The

pedestrians will scream and run, and cars will quickly go into ; PE 5 Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962)

reverse and back away. Unfortunately, at its present stage of THE completion, the world’s busiest city is noticeably sparse. As for Ё the story, it’s a mix of roughly 30 percent movie-based missions and 70 percent comic-book-based missions, with supervillains like Vapor and Ironclad making appearances.

i Sure, wearing two massive hunks of metal as mittens looks cool, but does Hulk really need the extra layer of protection?

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY • EGM.1UP.COM • 17

New Spider-Man

Activision е Shaba е Wii/PS3/XB360 “ Fall 2008

With great power comes great blah blah blah. If you’re one of the seemingly billions who’ve seen a Spider-Man film in the past six years, you know what we're talking about. Tasked with the creation of a brand-new Spider-Man game for Activision— based on the comics— developer Shaba really does have quite the responsibility on their hands. While the "darker, edgier" description given to us by Shaba studio head Chris Scholz and Activision Senior Executive Producer Graham Fuchs is usually a recipe for eye-rolling (see: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within), the Spider-Man games have been getting a bit stale and

could use a few changes. And while the game doesn't ditch

its Manhattan confines, it certainly sounds like it has plenty to offer the open-world superhero formula.

Manhattan's been invaded by...something (we're not being coy—they’re just being secretive), and Nick Fury's S.H.I.E.L.D. has declared martial law and set up safe houses around the city. With Kingpin holed up in his tower, and Luke Cage organizing a final stand in Harlem, it's up to the wallcrawler to set things right, though "right" may be relative now— players can choose their allies and enemies along the way, so Spidey's allegiances between good and evil will be "clouded." And with

How do the four-color overlords * at Marvel Comics decide what

passes for a great game based

on their kick-ass franchises?

an interactive city that responds to your choices, Shaba aims to give players significantly more control over their experience.

Speaking of control, these guys are intimately familiar with it. After sculpting several Tony Hawk ports and cult hit Wakeboarding Unleashed, they're drawing on their extreme Sports background to bring a new level of fluidity and rhythm to the series' traditionally weak combat. By adding hordes of mobile enemies, vertical combat, and a feeling of constant movement between targets, the mechanics seem to be receiving the attention they sorely need. As do the side missions, which Shaba tells us are now far more seamless— things you'll come across while playing the game instead of those taking place off on their own.

Though early, the developers go on to boldly claim that the title is “the most three-dimensional action game ever made." We'll keep our expectations in check since all we've actually seen of the game is the below screenshot. But if Shaba managed to make a superniche sport like wakeboarding into an excellent, accessible game, we see no reason why they can't whip up an equally refreshing take on Spider-Man. Here's hoping that they do.

Did someone blow their nose on that building? Your guess is as

good as ours. We're told it's “intrinsically tied to Spider-Man."

There's always a lot of interest in our movie

First appearance: Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Spidey first swung onto the pages of comic books in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962).

\ Justin Lambros, vice president of Marvel's interactive division, clues us in on the heroic process.

Well, our main job as a licen- sor is to make sure that our gaming partners get whatever reference materíal they need from us as well as approvals of all the game content, marketing material, and packaging. It's all about representing the Marvel characters and brand in the best way possible.

18 * ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY “ EGM.1UP.COM

properties, as they've done extremely well, so that always gets a lot of interest. We're also interested in a lot of other comic properties, and we talk to publishers to see where their interests are. So it’s really about finding the right busi- ness partner for the right content at the right time. And frankly, some comic-book heroes have more “gameable” powers, supporting characters, and rogues' galleries. That's one of the most important things up front: making sure we're doing the right kind of game for the right kind of superhero instead of putting him in a box and weakening hím so that he fits some game- play mechanics. It really starts with the charac- ter, and [it should] feel like a natural extension.

It's hard to pick just one, but I think Neversoft's original Spider-Man game for the PS1 was a seminal moment for Marvel's charac- ters, because it really captured what was great about Spider-Man and allowed you to do so much of that stuff. I'm also a big fighting-game fan, so Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Marvel Super. Heroes, and X-Men vs. Street Fighter were all a lot of fun.

Some of the older games really didn't pay off on what the characters [could do]. Some of them were fun, but the old 2D stuff— and even some of the more recent stuff—held some dis- appointment. But | don't want to go out of my way to denigrate a particular title—the fans сап decide which ones they like the least...and ГИ worry about the good stuff—and doing the right games about the right characters.

Iron Man

Sega е Secret Level е Wii/PS3/XB360 • May 2008

Iron Man has had his fair share of gaming guest appearances (see Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Captain America and the Avengers) but he's never received top billing in anything relevant (sorry, Iron Man/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal). The run of successful superhero films over the past few years has opened up opportunities for second-tier heroes to take leading roles, however, making this his time to shine...in theory.

Developer Secret Level definitely gets a few things right: Iron Man looks gorgeous as he nimbly whizzes through missile trails and outmaneuvers fighter jets. And in the heat of such action, his abilities also allow for plenty of variety in the wide-open battlefield. Bombing runs, ground-based combat, and timed button-presses for feats like pulling the top off a tank or steering a jet into the ground really let you mix things up.

If it only worked as easily as Iron Man makes it look. Based on the latest version we played, the flight controls are fairly clumsy and unintuitive, and they aren't close to offering the sort of pinpoint precision and responsiveness needed to support an experience based primarily on moving freely. The control issues could be the result of making sacrifices for the ground combat. But while fighting on land is a nice extra option, the trade-off isn't worth it if it comes at the expense of the flight controls.

A steady supply of go-there-kill-that missions gives you plenty of chances to learn how the game works, but it starts to become frustratingly repetitive when you have to restart all the way from the beginning each time you die. Still, it hits the feel of playing as the red-and-gold powerhouse, something Iron Man fans will relish. This leaves it precariously treading a fine line between movie cash-in and comic-book relevance; we've got our fingers crossed for the fans.

First appearance: It took the com- bined brains of Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby to build Tony Stark's Iron Man armor

in issue 4/39 of Tales of Suspense (March 1963).

т If you're willing to sacrifice a significant portion of your energy, you can charge up a massive shot from the core of your codpiece.

...and let's not forget the little guy

Iron Man for DS is a completely different game than its big brothers, and it's better for it. Where unpolished controls detract from the console versions, the handheld game takes advan- tage of the DS' simpler interface. You guide the flying Iron Man through enormous top-down levels with the D-pad while tapping the touch screen in the direction you want to shoot and boosting with the triggers. It's an excellent setup that makes the lengthy levels work quite well (especially against the impressively large groups of foes that you'll face). ќа.

ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * EGM.1UP.COM • 19

Рт

Puzzle Proposer:

It’s debatable whether videogames actually cause violence, but it’s pretty clear (at least in this case) what they do cause: everlasting love. Computer programmer Bernie Peng used his nerdy skills to win over his future wife, Tammy, through a homemade version of the casual puzzle game Bejeweled, in which a wedding ring appeared after she reached a certain score. We recently had a chance to chat with Peng about earning the biggest achievement of his life.

EGM: Why Bejeweled? Was Tetris not romantic enough for you?

Bernie Peng: Well, Tetris is so easy— | made Tetris in an intro to computer science course back in college. But

| knew Bejeweled was Tammy’s favorite game, so | wanted to go with something she actually knew.

EGM: Were you afraid your fiancée would take too long to hit the pro- posal-triggering high score and, because of that, quit?

BP: | thought about that. It could have gone that she never hit the high score. Or she could have lost the game. So

| tried to set the score pretty low so she’d get there pretty quick. | also changed it so that in case she did happen to lose the game, the ring would have also dropped. No matter what she did, the ring was going to drop eventually!

к= mam, EFE =

Vintage ninja nostalgia

EGM: Who's the better Bejeweled player? (Don't worry, we won't tell!)

BP: | think she is. | sometimes play on her computer, and ГИ just stare at the board trying to figure out what to do, and she'll be like, “Со over here! Go over here!" So she definitely has the experience, and she's definitely a bet- ter player than | am.

Not-so-puzzling decision.

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* vs. Fusion Monuol

Platform: PlayStation 3

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Kojima Productions

Release Date: June 2008

> PREVIEW: HANDS-ON

Metal Gear Solid 4 unfolds across several self-contained acts, and nearly every single image and video you’ve seen so far hails from the game's first act, dubbed Liquid Sun. Before the action begins, Snake gravely says, “War has become routine,” but in reality, MGS4's warfare is far from routine. From the outset, you'll be stunned by just how many long-held, seem- ingly ironclad tenets of MGS have been radically reworked here. First off, you’re not sent on a “solo sneak- ing mission” like old times—now, you have help. Grizzled and gruff well beyond his natural age, Snake jour- neys to the Middle East to track down Liquid Ocelot (you know, triple-cross- ing series regular Revolver Ocelot with MGS1 antagonist Liquid Snake’s arm/

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By Shane Bettenhausen

personality grafted on) and meet up with a mysterious backup team.

You arrive in a war-torn desert city with a group of local militia members, and you can choose to fight alongside them against the skilled PMC (private military contractor) troops controlling the streets. As long as you’re wearing their garb and don’t engage in too much friendly fire, the militia guys will leave you alone. But realistically, you won't have much luck keeping your buddies alive in this act—with Snake's limited arsenal and deadly chaos erupting all around you, stealthy sur- vival becomes your immediate goal.

Expect to spend the first 10 min- utes of playtime carefully crawling through smoking rubble and silently slipping past guards. During this time, you'll scarcely stop to consider just how much easier and more instinc- tive MGS4's controls feel compared to what came before. Throughout development, Kojima Productions has been open about wanting to simplify, refine, and Westernize the gameplay, and they've done a stellar job. You're no longer wrestling with the camera,

you won't get stuck while crouching and crawling, and aiming and shoot- ing now feel entirely natural (once you've disabled the stifling autoaim function). It’s tough to verbalize pre- cisely how the overall “feel” of MGS4 has changed, but it’s as if an entire layer of unnecessary obfuscation has been removed—the controls feel less abstract, and you're pressing fewer buttons yet doing more than ever before. As someone who once defended the series' top-down per- spective as crucial to the MGS experi- ence, it's at once both humbling and inspiring to see the gameplay evolve so far beyond those staid constraints. While you're busy avoiding the PMC troops and acclimating to the new controls, it's tough to not get sidetracked by the game's stunning audiovisual presentation. Sure, we've all seen this environment before, but when you're in the thick of it—watch- ing power lines sway in the dust-filled wind, noting the subtly realistic tricks of light and shadow, and hearing muf- fled voices and explosions from two buildings over—the exacting attention

эк са сый 4

адет, гал;

22 Р.

to detail simply amazes. You'll spy an insane amount of unique art assets: When you explore a multifloor booby- trapped mansion halfway through this act, every room looks completely dis- tinct. Don't expect to see cookie-cut- ter, copy-and-paste level design here. Once you've infiltrated a bit deeper into the mission (and likely met an untimely end or two), it's time to shake off the shell shock caused by the revamped gameplay and visuals and get serious. A codec call from Snake's old pal Otacon signals a spe- cial delivery of new equipment—the cuddly Metal Gear Mk. Il robot drone (perfect for remote recon from a safe distance), Snake's multipurpose Solid Eye ocular patch (it offers a zoom Scope, night vision, and onscreen enemy intel), and some much-needed weaponry. Now that you're properly outfitted, it's time to reassess and determine how to best reach your goal. Although MGS4's missions aren't as wide-open, go-anywhere as some may have expected, you will find that you have far greater freedom as to how to complete them. Using