FREE (o) Nintendo TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WAIT FOR NINTENDO'S CONSOLE! OUR EXCLUSIVE ON SET REPORT! m ©IS YOUR CD Please ask your newsagent 1 300 65 6453 Brendan Hearne. Surfer. Nike Fly Front Pique Shin. NIKE Cl 50 »HYPER contents |77 m jt frfi ] m issue contents BANJO-TOOIE - ONI - AMERICAN MCGEE’S ALICE - GUNMAN CHRONICLES - GIANTS - PRO RALLY 2001 - STUPID INVADERS - COLIN MCRAE RALLY 2.0 - MADDEN NFL 2001 - DANCE SUMMIT 2001 - KESSEN - SUPER BUST A MOVE - SONIC SHUFFLE - STARLANCER - QUAKE 3 ARENA - INCREDIBLE CRISIS - LEGEND OF DRAGOON - ALIEN RESURRECTION - SHEEP - m/' CALL TO POWER 2 - j jy CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER OO/DT; 6 »HYPER contents umm> issue 89 MARCH 2001 VffiTTE TO HYPER! 78 Renwick St, Redfem NSW 2016 Australia Ph: (02) 9699 0333 Fax: (02) 9310 1315 E-mail: EDITORIAL Editor: Eliot Fish Deputy Editor: Cam Shea Acting Art Director: David Harvey Publisher: Jim Flynn ADVERTISING Group Advertising Manager Simon White E-mail: Ph: (02) 9699 0346 Advertising Manager: Collese Leahy E-mail: Ph: (02) 9699 0349 Production Co-ordinator: Dy an Fryer E-mail: Ph: (02)96990300 Fax: (02) 9310 2012 SUBSCRIPTIONS For all enquiries phone: 130C 3611 46 E-mail: Fax: (02) 9699 0334 MANAGEMENT Chief Executive: Phillip Keir Finance Director: Theo Fatseas Operations Manager: Melissa Doyle Circulation Executive: Karen Day General Manager Online: Carey Badcoe CONTRIBUTORS Kevin Cheung, Dan Toose James Cottee, George Soropos, Gareth Jones, Roland Flanagan, Derek dela Fuente, Adam Duncan, Tin Levy, Victoria Flanagan, Harry Maragos, Kit Fisto aid Senator Darsana. Printed CTP by: PMP Print Distribution by: Gordon & Gotch Customer Service Ph: 1300 6f 0666 Fax: 1300 65 0777 All copyrights reserved by Next Publishing Pty Ltd ACN 002 647 645 ISSN 1320-7458 editorial HYPE IT UP They say it's my birthday. And it is. I've been asked on more than one occasion what I could possibly want, being the editor of a gaming publication that's showered with morsels of gaming goodness on a daily basis. My answer? Games. Just give me games, games and more games. Am I mad? Possibly. But in actual fact I believe I'm suffering from video game addiction - a serious illness that's sweeping the world. Gamers everywhere are neglecting personal hygiene, important bills, homework, family members and even proposals of getting jiggy just so that they can spend more time with their computers and/or consoles. Could this really be the case? Are fellow human beings sacrificing social skills for a few extra frags? Well... this is why we have the Hyper Forum (page 92) where readers of this fine publication can knock their ideas around and get to the bottom of these pressing issues. Now, hand me that control pad my good Cam. ELIOT FISH >> editor PlayStation®2 Exclusive Offer For Readers of Hyper Magazine. Bring in this ad and receive your copy of any of these P52 games normally ^9* 55X P52. igj Enter the surreal world of 55X, pull off insane air tricks and fly down hair raising tracks. Speed, skill and aggression will help put you in front of the competition in this fast-paced snowboarding competition. Get the adrenalin pumping with the non-stop heart pounding action of 55X. mswsio Smugglers Run P52. imis+i Drive off-road dune buggies across wild terrains including forests, sandy deserts and mountains. Your aim is to get the hell jt of town with your booty of illegal goods. Features realistic driving simulation, a variety of mission-based levels and guaranteed non-stop action.osmpsa PlayStation 2 ifa earn pse. igi ' aim of world class soccer and team of your choice! Live and Che realism of the enhanced tivity, a bigger and better field. ;e weather changes and best of tew and improved dynamic gameplay. mbwmb www.harveynorman.com.au • AUBURN SUPERSTORE • BALGOWLAH SUPERSTORE • BROADWAY SHOPPING CENTRE, CITY (Computers/Electrical only) NOW OPEN • BLACKTOWN • CAMPBELLTOWN • CARINGBAH SUPACENTA • CHATSWOOD CHASE (Computers/Electrical only) • GORDON CENTRE • UVERPOOL MEGACENTA • MARRICKVILLE (Electrical only) • MOORE PARK SUPACENTA • PENRITH SUPERSTORE • PUNCHBOWL (Home lmprovements/Mowers'9ieds only) • WILEY PARK • ARMIDALE • BATHURST • BROADMEADOW HOME STARTERS (FurnitureBedding/Manchester Only) • COFFS HARBOUR • DENILIQUIN • DUBBO • ERINA • GRAFTON • INVERELL • LISMORE • MAITLAND • MOREE • MOSS VALE (Computers/Electrical only) - MUDGEE«NEWCASTLE SUPERSTORE • NOWRA • ORANGE • PARKES • PORT MACQUARIE • TAMWORTH • TAREE • WAGGA WAGGA • WARRAWONG • YOUNG • FYSHWICK - WODEN PLAZA • ASPLEY OPEN 7 DAYS • QUEEN STREET MALL, CITY (Computers/Electrical only) OPEN 7 DAYS NOW OPEN • BROWNS PLAINS NOW OPEN • CARINDALE • EVERTON PARK OPEN 7 DAYS • INDOOROOPILLY (Computers/Electrical only) NOW OPEN • M0RAYF1ELD NOW OPEN • MT GRAVATT OPEN 7 DAYS (Computers Open Mon-Sat) • OXLEY OPEN 7 DAYS • GOLD COAST OPEN 7 DAYS -TWEED HEADS SOUTH OPEN 7 DAYS -AYR (Computers/Electrical only) NOW OPEN ■ DALBY (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • HERVEY BAY NOW OPEN - INNISFAIL (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • NOOSAVILLE OPEN 7 DAYS • KAWANA WATERS OPEN 7 DAYS • BUNDABERG • CAIRNS OPEN 7 DAYS • GLADSTONE OPEN 7 DAYS • MACKAY OPEN 7 DAYS • ROCKHAMPTON NORTH • TOOWOOMBA • TOWNSVILLE - WARWICK NOW OPEN - OPEN 7 DAYS • CRANBOURNE NOW OPEN - DANDENONG • GREENS- BOROUGH PLAZA (ComputersElectrical only) - KNOXTOWERPOINT NOW OPEN - MARIBYRNONG • MOORABBIN • NUNAWADING • PRESTON - SOUTHLAND (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN - OPEN 7 DAYS - ALBURY - BALLARAT - BENDIGO • GEELONG • HAMILTON (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • MILDURA • MOE (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN - SALE (ComputersElectncal only) NOW OPEN • SHEPPARTON - SWAN HILL (Computers/Electrical only) NOW OPEN - TRARALGON • WANGARATTA (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • WARRAGUL (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • WARRNAMBOOL - WONTHAGGI (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • ENFIELD OPEN 7 DAYS (Computers Electrical Open Mon-Sat) • MARION OPEN 7 DAYS (ComputersElectrical Open Mon-Sat) • BELMONT (Computers Electrical only) NOW OPEN • CANNINGTON • CITY WEST OPEN 7 DAYS • FREMANTLE (Computers Electrical only) NOW OPEN • JOONDALUP • MADDINGTON (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • MANDURAH NOW OPEN - MIDLAND (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • MORLEYiComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN • O'CONNOR • OSBORNE PARK - PORT KENNEDY • WARWICK (ComputersElectrical only) NOW OPEN - ALBANY • BUNBURY • BUSSELTON OPEN 7 DAYS • GERALDTON • KALGOORUE - KAR- RATHA • PORT HEDLAND (ComputersElectrical only) • DARWIN OPEN 7 DAYS - OPEN 7 DAYS • HOBART CITY • GLENORCHY • ROSNY - OPEN 7 DAYS • LAUNCESTON • BURNIE • DEVONPORT • ULVERSTONE (ComputersElectncal only) www.harveynorman.com.au (Computers only) Some goods may not be on show or available at each Harvey Norman Franchised store. *We will match any retailer's price on a like software item. The software item must be in stock. An original copy of on advertisement for the software item must be presented, including price. The advertisement must be current. This does not include mail-order catalogues or Internet sites. Pricing preserted must be in Australian dollars. 'HBIHHPjB MHHiSillSm HEWS Most bizarre, however, is the large green ball motif in the center of the pad. Whether this has any actual practical purpose is still up for debate. Some have speculated it’s an LCD screen, but hey, we’re hoping it’s some variety of pop-o-matic bubble! Unlikely, certainly, but it would put a new spin on dice rolling in RPCs, heh heh. To be truthful, it looks like it’s just a logo, and a pretty big one. At least it might light up when the con¬ sole is powered on! TO DVD OR NOT TO DVD... THAT IS THE QUESTION! The Xbox will not have DVD movie playback out of the box. To enable movie playback, gamers will be able to buy an "add-on pack” that comes with a remote and the software to unlock the extra function¬ ality. Quite a smooth move from Microsoft actually - this way consumers aren’t hit with the $20 DVD Forum fee (see Camecube feature page 42 for details) up front, and those interested in movie playback will have a remote to make life easier... BUT HOW MUCH? Pricing has yet to be discussed specifically by Microsoft, although it seems likely that the Xbox’s final price will be comparable with PlayStation 2 (at least the PS2’s price in the US), with Microsoft’s argu¬ ment being that it has a broadband adaptor and hard drive built in, so it’s better value for money. We can see their point, but it will be interesting to see how a high price will affect Xbox’s sales if it launches alongside Nintendo’s Camecube, and its (presum¬ ably) aggressive price point. Microsoft recently unveiled their Xbox console at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. It was an interesting unveiling, with Microsoft showcasing the power and features of the console in a decidedly light¬ hearted demonstration. THE BOX... The X-specs themselves are sturdy, but now that we know what the console and controller look like, what’s the prognosis on the design? Well, let’s just say that you can tell at a glance that the Xbox has been designed by an American company. The console itself is quite large - certainly a fair amount larger than your standard VCR. The overall design of the machine isn’t overly exciting, but it does strike a nice chord between the look of a game console and a dedicated piece of audio/visual kit. Although bulky, the design is actually quite sleek. Viewed from top down, the large "X” rising from the surface of the system and the hypnotic green center- piece are undeniably funky. THE CONTROLLER... The Xbox controller is an interesting amalgamation of a Dreamcast pad, the Camecube controller and a Sidewinder pad. Like the console itself, it looks a little chunky, but we won’t really know until we have the finished item in our hands. On a technical level, we’re hoping that Microsoft have put some serious R6D into the design and feel of this controller, because in the past we’ve been less than impressed with many aspects of their Sidewinder pad range - particularly the feel (or lack thereof) of the D-pads. If Microsoft know games as they claim to, then they’ll have made some major changes to the D-pad and other facets of the feel for the Xbox pad. As you can see from the pics, Microsoft have come up with a very similar analogue/d-pad layout to Nintendo’s Camecube controller. Overall, it looks like Microsoft have put together a pad to tackle almost every style of gaming. WHY THE XBOX IS GOING TO “ROCK” IN THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY... Well, it's settled - the Xbox cannot possibly fail. Not now that Microsoft have prominent wrestling puppet beefcake "The Rock” on their side. Sure, Nintendo have Shigeru Miyamoto but what can he do to help their cause? Create the best games in the world? Bah • "The Rock" can rip tele¬ phone books apart with his bare hands (probably). "The Rock” can say stuff like "I pity the foo’ who don't like the box” (sorry, that’s more a Mr T comment). So what can "The Rock" actually do? Err... extol the virtues of a console he’s being paid to endorse? Tell us that we must "know our role” and "smell what the Rock is cooking?". To be honest, the exchange between "The Rock” and Bill Cates at CES foT the Xbox unveiling was actually quite amusing, but surely Microsoft shouldn’t have to resort to such tactics to lend credibility to their cause... news Microsoft showed off two game demos alongside their reveal of the Xbox design. The first was Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee, now an exclusive Xbox title. This game just looks better and better every time we see it. Wow. Number two was a platformer called Malice. Whilst the character design leaves a bit to be desired, there was no doubting that the 3D engine was very impressive. Both these demos really rubbed it in that these Xbox games look far more next generation than anything we’ve seen on Dreamcast or the PlayStation 2. CAPTION THIS! PARIIB Get your witty thinking caps on and get scribbling away on a funny caption for this month’s screenshot. Send your captions with Caption This 16 in the subject line... or whack it on the back of an envelope and post it to Caption This 16, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016. Rumour has it that Sega are developing a Sonic The Hedgehog game for Game Boy Colour. It’s not as strange as it sounds, as Sega aren’t competing with Nintendo in the handheld market, so why forfeit potential profits? If the rumour is true... great. But what we REALLY want announced is a Sonic game for GBA! While we’re on the subject of Sonic, other (unsubstantiated mind you) rumours have it that a veritable Sonic-fest is on its way to Dreamcast early next year. Just in time for Sonic’s terth birthday, the DC title would feature all Sonic’s appearances on both Genesis and Saturn. Mmmm... imagine having every 16 and 32bit Sonic game in the one package - hopefully enhanced using Dreamcast’s hardware too. Sega have yet to confirm or deny the compilation's existence. We wait with baited breath. Soldier of Fortune will definitely be coming to PlayStation 2 courtesy of Pipe Dream Interactive. It will most likely feature a four player splitscreen mode. Expect to see it late 2001. Another title to put on the list of games that we’ll never see out here is Masaya Matsuura’s new rhythm game for Wonderswan Colour. Entitled Lime Rider Kerorikan, players must dance their way to defeating invading aliens. We only mention it out of fondness for Matsuura’s past games - PaRappa the Rapper and Urn Jammer Lammy. And the first game to utilize the PlayStation 2 hard drive? Bah, just Artdink’s latest railway building sim A-Train 2001 . Activision’s popular Spiderman game is coming to the Dreamcast. The game spans 34 leves and features Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. Marvelous indeed. House of the Dead 2 is being ported to the PC and will ship with a USB light gun peripheral. It will also support some kind of online component. Due out in Japan almost as soon as you read this, there is not yet word on a local release. o »HYPER 10 »HYPER news LATEST ON GAME BOY ADVANCE & GAMECUBE Nintendo have their sites set high for Game Boy Advance. They're expecting to ship 24 million units in its first year on the market. One million GBAs will be available at the Japanese launch on March 21 (and you can bet that Hyper will be snap¬ ping up at least one of these), and Nintendo's production plant shouldn’t have too much trouble pumping out enough units for the Australian launch in July. God we can't wait! We're also getting more and more excited about the Gamecube. We were concerned for a while that Nintendo were going to be too slow off the mark getting development kits out to third par¬ ties, opening the way for another N64 style launch lineup. Thankfully, Nintendo have put those fears to rest. They have now shipped over 500 development kits, with more on the way for smaller devel¬ opment hous¬ es. Best of all, these are fully feature com¬ plete kits, so developers will be able to get stuck in straight away. A, for instance, may have just signed up to develop for Xbox, but the word is that they are hard at work on a new SSX titie for the Gamecube. Nintendo fans will finally be able to stop playing 1080. nsidc-rs at Rare studios have also confirmed that Perfect Dark 2 should be ready in time for the launch of the Gamecube. NINTENDO BUYING SEGA? For a mere $2 billion dollars, you could own the Sega empire! But before r you rush to the bank to get a cheque drawn up, we have the news that Nintendo just might make the purchase before you do. We’re not kidding. Prominent American newspaper, the New York Times, reported that Nintendo is indeed negotiating to purchase rival Sega after speaking to some executives behind closed doors. Sega has been performing poorly financially for a few years now in both software and hardv/are sales, and although the Dreamcast has done quite well in the USA, it has been a difficult console to sell in all other territories. Apparently, Sega have been looking to sell for quite some time now, even approaching Microsoft at one point, according to the New York Times. So what exactly would Nintendo do with one of their long-time rivals after the cheque has been cashed? For starters, they’d probably put Sega’s hot game development studios hard to work on some cracking good Gamecube games. Virtua Fighter 4 on the Gamecube? Hell yeah! What the acquisition would mean for the Dreamcast is not really known until the full details of the purchase are made public... if it happens. Certainly, it will be a strange day indeed if we see these two companies become one. At the time of Hyper going to print, Sega and Nintendo both strongly deny the report and there was no further information available. GRAND THEFT AUTO 3 Apparently, this is our first look at GTA3 from Rockstar Games. As soon as this shot appeared online it didn’t take long for it to circulate the world in the blink of an eye. Looks like the series is finally going fully 3D. GAME BOY ADVANCE MORE GAMES! r — _!_l J ' Bring this coupon into your local Video Ezy store to receive a FREE Game Rental when you hire any other game • Free rental to be equal or lesser value of paid rental • Offer expires 24/2/2001 • Not valid in conjunction with any other offer •Normal membership and hiring conditions apply Mario Advance. The plumber will have a brand new game on the upcoming Game Boy Advance handheld! Say it again - MARIO ADVANCE! Weeeeee! Well, despite the fact that the mention of this game alone for Nintendo’s new handheld is enough to have us setting up camp outside our nearest game store, take a look at what else is on the way... Wario Land 4, F-Zero Advance and Castlevania: Circle in the Moon! Of course, amongst these exciting sounding games are a bunch of suitably weird Japanese titles that won't get released here... I’m An Air Traffic Controller, Monster Gate Apricot and Cute In Mail. WINNERS HYPER » # 87 TGSVCD John Scanlon, SA Benjamin Rajapaksa. Vic Garry Watts, WA Steven Bell. NSW James Anderson, WA Minh Bui. WA RED ALERT 2 & MONKEY ISLAN D 4 John Montgomerie. SA j Kaspar Spencer. Qld | William Rob, WA TOP GEAR DARED EVIL I Zapelli, WA I Paul Belme, NSW I Kris Harringer, WA I James McCullough, NSW I Ben Cadwaller, Vic FREESTYLER BOARD Matthew Simpson, NSW Richard Brasier, NSW Ashley Pinner, Tas Bungie Corporation Inc. All rights reserved. Oni is a trademark owned by Bungie Corporation USA, Any other trademarks are the property of thier respective owners. This product is proudly distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Jack of All Games. OFFICE OF FILM AND LITERATURE GASIFICATION | MATURE (15 YEARS & OVER) MEDIUM LEVEL ANIMATED VIOLENCE 12 »HYPER news intelliaencB Xbox has had its European release officially delayed until early 2002. As Europe is a PAL territo¬ ry, this means that the Australian release would also be affected by this delay. It seems that Microsoft are keen to avoid the kind of unit shortages that have affected the recent PS2 launch, by splitting the US and European launch¬ es by a good 6 months or so. Xbox is still slated for a September release in the USA. Will this give Sony an advantage in the PAL territories with all of 2001 going unchallenged? XBOX SIGNS UP EA Microsoft have just acquired EA as a developer for their upcoming Xbox console after many months of speculation and rumour. After Microsoft released their huge 150-strong list of developers, EA were one of the more notably absent companies, along with SquareSoft. Interesting to note though, that EA have partnered with SquareSoft the USA, so this at least makes the Xbox that one step closer to gain ing Square - and possibly their Final Fantasy games. Apparently, Microsoft are very interested in seeing a version of EA’s The Sims on the Xbox, as well as their sports franchises, naturally. Let’s see what EA had to say about their Xbox strategy... EA Q&A ON XBOX Who will win the console war? The big winners will be consumers and game developers. Consumers are going to get a fast, fun console for an affordable price. Developers like EA are going to providing a lot of games for the next generation of systems. Who will make the dominant console? We predict there will be three winners. Microsoft and Sony will slug it out for the number one position - Nintendo will continue to hold a profitable niche in children’s games. All three are going to see sustained profitability. What about Sega? We think there will be three winners. Why did EA decide to support Xbox? ^The technology and the business model are solid. But we also like Microsoft’s philosophy toward interactive entertainment. These guys are serious. We see a solid understanding of the business and a long-term commitment to growing this industry. Is EA makina a serious commitment? Absolutely. We’ve ordered more than 500 Xbox development kits and we’re already working on 6-10 EA titles that will be ready around the time that Xbox debuts. Some of our best developers are working on this system and there is a lot of excitement in our studios. Was your decision based on Sony's disappointing launch of PS2? No. We’ve been talking to MSFT for more than a year and negotiating for about four months. We’re still developing for PS2 and continue to see Sony’s delay as a short-term issue. Why don't you make games for Dreamcast? We like Sega and think they’ve got great game franchises. However, we have chosen to focus our studios on those platforms that are going to show sustained market leadership. Is Xbox simply a port strategy from your PC games? No. What were the key points in your negotiation? First, we wanted a licensing agreement that allowed for a multi-year com¬ mitment to this console. Second, we wanted flexibility to determine what content would be most appropriate for the Xbox console. Third, we wanted to cooperate with Microsoft to deliver on the promise of online console gaming offered by the Xbox console. We haven’t committed to a number but you’ll see games from all the EA stu¬ dios including EA SPORTS hits like Madden football and FIFA Soccer. You also will see EA Games franchises such as Bond and Harry Potter. Is Xbox a better than PS2? Our job is to make fun games that look good on any platform. The con¬ sumer decides which one they prefer. We don’t anticipate any problems developing for either system. Companies that take the time to learn the system don’t have problems. The one’s who try and :ut corners do. SANITY £ DAVID JONES Harvey Norman gyp TobeyMasue JbeOmbs JquAubi J.lWAl5U*te5WfWBfH» sandra BITLOCK CHOW YVS-f* 1 THE CORRUPT DEVON ALI SAWA LARTER KERR SMITH * f « £ YOU«OEBC» fM,B - 4 j NAi L®: 14 »HYPER Warcraft III BLIZZARD PC Warcraft 3, although seemingly stuck in development Hell, is still looking marvellous in 3D. The game is sticking to its roots and promises to offer more of that classic Blizzard RTS gameplay, after dropping the ambitious change in direction and new RPG elements. * V Red Faction THQ PC/PS2 Using the incredible new Ceomod engine. Red Faction on PC and PS2 is go.ng to be a blast. Literally. Here we have some amazing new PC screens for you to drool over like the gaming addicts we know you are! & eye candy 15 »HYPER 16 »HYPER Anarchy Online PC FUNCOM We Took a look at this massively multiplayer RPC/Action game a few issues ago, but here are some new screenshots to drool over. Set in an alternate future, the land of Rubi-Ka .s bristling with action, and you are in the thick of it. The game is in beta-testing at the moment but should be in our laps pretty soon. eve candy Grand i a 2 is a highly anticipated RPC for the Dreamcast that has been getting some great reviews overseas. It’s a fully rendered 3D world with ever 1000 characters to interact with. It should be here soon, so for now, check out the lush scenery in the game. i * || 1 $ m rs at k J\ r) 17 »HYPER 18 »HYPER feature The long-awaited Tomb Raider movie is now in the final stages of production. Hyper's roving reporter James Cottee was recently airlifted to the stinking jungles of Indo¬ china to report on the mak¬ ing of this cinematic land¬ mark. It made quite an impression on him; he claims he can "still hear the choppers..." V ■ [ feature CAST a CBEW ross-pollination of different media types is nothing new. In the past century we’ve seen movies based on books, comics based on TV series, every possible permuta¬ tion of entertainment spawning and swarming to max out every last mer¬ chandising buck. But one kind of spin¬ off that has never quite sat right is movies based on video games. For over a decade we have been sub¬ jected to abortive attempts to turn the interactive narrative of the video game into a passable cinematic experience. Many have tried and failed. Among the ranks of the surreally bad are Wing Commander, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Bros. These and others have failed to capture the imagination of the gaming public for two main reasons. Firstly, they have not successfully translated the ambience of the game setting. Ignoring continuity, making arbitrary changes and so forth can only serve to aggravate the hard-core fan base that goes to see these films based on previous experience with the game. Secondly, they fall foul to crap¬ py production values in the rush to make a quick buck. Ephemeral subject matter and disposable movies hardly make for high art. Hence the ambivalence that has sur¬ rounded anticipation of the Tomb Raider movie. For a flash in the pan video game character, Lara Croft has had quite a long day in the sun. With a whopping five near-identical games on the PlayStation, she’s now on the cusp of bridging the gap between generations of game consoles, becom¬ ing a more timeless character like Mario or Sonic. Paramount, not wanting a Double Dragon on their hands, have made every effort to make Tomb Raider a first class production, a blockbuster worthy of the mainstream appeal and media obsession the game series has enjoyed. Just as the programmers at Core Design originally started with the bust and sort of filled in the details later, key production positions have been filled out with talent that stand out in their respective fields. The director and producer chairs have been filled with blockbuster vet¬ erans of films like Con Air, Predator and Jurassic Park. The world’s largest film studio has been employed, the colossal Pinewood Studios in England. This vast structure has been known to foster its own weather system, and has been used to create the huge indoor environments in the Star Wars and James Bond movies. The surface of the planet has been scoured for the most cliched environ¬ ments imaginable. The frigid wastes of Iceland have been host to Lara’s meander¬ ing, and some of the most prestigious his¬ torical structures in Britain have opened their doors to Ms Croft’s treapsing. Standing out like colonial masters in the jun¬ gle. stalwart, bedraggled, yet obviously not of this continent, the imported cast and crew were all too happy to talk to Hyper. Paramount were able to round up a stable of impressive talent from many disciplines, including the inimitable Ms lolie herself. Weariness and wariness both worked against the ideals of journalism, but they were as accommodating as time and energy permitted. Even if they did sound a bit like their own Dress releases. Actor: lain Glenn Plays: Manfred Powell Top flight actor and Scotsman, Cienn has forged his reputation with excellent perfor¬ mances on both the stage and screen, and played opposite Nicole Kidman in the con¬ troversial The Blue Room. Playing the villain was hardly a stTetch for his talents; while his acting school chums were dancing and prancing theiT way through their electives, lain studied fencing, a skill that would serve him well in roles such as this. His character, Manfred Powell, likes his foes to die by the sword, and is more than willing to help them to this end. HYPER: What kind of villain are you pitching at? IAIN: Ummm...What kind of villain... HYPER: Moustache twirlirg? Cat stroking? IAIN: No, I think Simon [West] wanted to cre¬ ate something very real. Adapting a comput¬ er game may suggest there's a cartoon-esque quality to it, but he’s created detailed char¬ acters and complex situations, and it's not drawn into the action milieu that’s gone before. It’s a very intelligent story. HYPER: Do you aspire l o your character’s lifestyle? Being rich and evil? IAIN: Well, I am rich and evil. (Nervous laughter from all present) So there’s not much envy there! 19 » H y p E R 20 »HYPER feature HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA But perhaps the most striking set¬ ting chosen has been the ancient temples buried in the heart of Cambodia. The thousand year old structures at Angkor Wat are distinc¬ tive, unique, and huge. The trade¬ mark triple towers of the Angkor tem¬ ple complex have weathered the ele¬ ments for centuries, and more recent¬ ly the spectre of colonialism and the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. The murderous followers of Pol Pot, whilst never adequately punished for their heinous crimes, have at least been removed from power, and Cambodia is now striving forward into a brighter future. A member of ASEAN, a fledgling democracy and market economy, the local authorities have been keen to promote Cambodia as a tourist destination, and for the first time in decades foreigners can safely explore some of the planet’s unspoiled antiquities. The effect of foreign capital on Cambodia’s second city, Siem Reap, is remarkable. In a few short years huge hotels have sprung up around Angkor, catering to the hundreds of Americans, Japanese and French tourists now flooding through. Cheap, but not yet passe, and the backpacker’s destina¬ tion of choice, every social barometer points in the direction of rebirth. Even the film industry is finally rising from its slumber, a true sign of rejoining the modern age. LATERAL THINKING The primary Tomb Raider set in Cambodia is the Ghost Gate just off Angkor Wat. Augmented with Styrofoam to look even more authentic than it did in it’s natural state, it sees the hired minions of the villain ACTDB: ANGELINA JDLIE PLAYS: lABfl CROFT She trained for months to take on the role of Lara Croft, studying martial arts, firearms, and some of the more exotic equipment used in the film, such as the "bungee ballet" apparatus ("l*ve never been so fit in my life"). Quite striking, even in her plain jungle catsuit, her Billy Bob tattoo only partly hidden by makeup, she was very much composed and ready to talk at length about her personal development over the course of the film ("everything about the film has been better than I expected"), being reunited with her estranged father |on Voight (who plays Lara's father, natch), and her enthusiasm for doing her own stunts. Huddled mere feet away, the assembled press looked on in awe as she demonstrated how her ample bosom made lining up the sights on a pistol awkward when using both hands (if you catch our drift). "The first time I fired an automatic weapon - I’m left handed, so the shells come down this way” (She gestures to the gap between her shirt and her chest). Unfortunately, there wasn't much chance to discuss her opinion of the convergence of disparate forms of entertainment technology (astute readers will recall she played the sumptuous Acid Bum in Hackers), but I did get to ask her if she'd actually played the game... HYPER: Have you actually played the game? ANGELINA |Ol ! £ I’m terrible at games. I like to make her die. HYPER: How are you enjoying the filming? AJ: I’ve never been so fit in my life! We're going to all these amazing places and learning about people, that’s the really exciting thing about this film, it’s got a great... it inspires me and I think it will inspire everybody else. To think about other cultures and other people and have an adventure... and to be someone very spirited makes me feel alive. HYPER: So have you "become" Lara Croft? A| l feel like somehow along the way, we became one person. Someone came up to me at the pool today and said "Tomb Raider?” He was basically asking if that was my job description... HYPER: When did you decide you wanted to be Lara Croft? A) At first I didn't want to, I thought it was a very bad idea. I thought that everything that people thought this movie was going to be was what it would be. I met Simon West and he talked to me about how he saw her, about what he didn’t want to do. how he saw her as a warrior and a fighter and being really tough and going to other countries. Being here and being the first film crew here. I realised that selfishly it would be a growing experience. That it would enhance my life. And it was a character that I did feel would be a really positive role model, in all the best ways. Not just in a moral way, but also in a great... I think there’s not enough fire in people these days. Not enough, uh, just everything. She has a kind of "don’t touch me” thing going, but she’s very, uh. she’s very, very, very alive. Everything in this film has been better than l expected. It’s bigger than I could possibly imagine. Every gadget she has. and the way it works, and having all the other actors, are amazing. They’re not like just people thrown into a room. They’re great actors and great characters. The wardrobe's good, so I just feel really fortunate to have been cast as her. HYPER: So you'd do another Tomb Raider movie? A| I can’t wait to do the sequel. I wanna do it in Australia! Absolutely! HYPER: How hard is it doing Lara's stunts? Aj The first time I hit a bulls eye with a gun. or the first time I did the bungee ballet and did the routine perfectly... it’s been a test of all these things and I'm really happy that I was able to pull quite a lot of it off. Nothing’s been hard, because it’s all been practiced... Running on the walls was very hard, though. I was red. black and blue here for like weeks. I thought I had new stomach muscles. I looked in the mirror, and then I realised it was a big bruise. HYPER: Doesn't the ponytail get in the way? AJ The first time I did gymnastics. I did a flip and the braid went "Whick!” and whacked me in the eye. and I had to see an eye doctor. Then suddenly after a few weeks into the filming, suddenly I was able to spin the guns, shoot them, jump off something, figure out how to get the braid in the right place, you know. yeah, all these different things you don’t think about. feature 21 »HYPER 22 »HYPER feature _ PIBECTOB: SIMON WEST _ The director was able to talk about his distinct vision for Tomb Raider. SIMON WEST: It should be an unusual film, a crossover between science, mysticism, and plain old magic. Underground, all sorts of weird stuff happens, and it gets totally surreal. HYPER: Is it a gradual descent, or is it like flipping a switch? SIMON: It is like flipping a switch. It depends. Lara tends to crash into the tombs, while people like Julian tend to meander down really slowly. Whatever she does, it tends to be more punchy. Other people cruise along in their cars or planes or helicopters, and she tends to crash through walls, and burst through windows, and dive into tombs, so she’s more extreme. A very ballsy woman. She’s smart, sexy, and takes no prisoners. The men in the film are really cannon fodder, and get in the way. She steams through everybody on a direct path. The only man who gets any consideration in the film is her father. Everyone else is either a rival or a victim. HYPER: Would you say it’s a believable story with likable characters? SIMON: Yeah. The game is pretty two dimensional, and when people play it they project onto the character what they think she’s like. My job was to take my interpretation of Lara, and show it on the screen. I think people will like her. I didn't want the audience to feel like they were sitting watching someone playing the game, that would be boring, die figures these things out really quickly. When you're in a theatre for an hour and a half, you dor’t want to think about maths and geometry; you want to have fun. I put things in for the gamers. You can see clues and things in the background, if you want to you pick those up and work out what they all mean, but you don’t have to. It works on two levels. HYPER: It sounds like you ’re making a work of art. SIMON: We’re trying to elevate it above the normal blockbuster in the summer vein. We want to give all the fun, but with some intelligence. _ LUBA STUNT BOBBLE: HIBBI BEBWCB _ One of the stunt doubles for Ms Jolie, of identical height and build, and actually English to boot, Nikki was hanging around on set, waiting to be hurled out of a "Russian Swing," a giant sling¬ shot specially built to hurl stuntmen into the air at high speeds. They claimed that the Russian Swing originated in the Russian circus, but it resembles a spin-off of the Soviet space program. NIKKI BERWICK: It’s going to launch me about 35 feet. This wasn’t her first film based on a video game, though. NIKKI: In Mortal Kombat 2 I doubled Sonja Blade. Uh-oh. VMBIOUS HENCHMAN There were numercus sinister looking henchmen brooding around the shoot. Hyper caught up with one... HYPER: Does your henchman have a name? HENCHMAN: No HYPER: Do you get killed? HENCHMAN: I don’t know yet. HYPER: What kind cf gun is that supposed to be? HENCHMAN: A plastic one. NICK BAY, CONSULTANT Who better to act as a consultant than a hip and groovy backpacker? The author of tourist and cycling guides that encompass the Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Nick Ray helped select the Ghost Gate at Angkor Wat as the site for the "tomb." HYPER: So it’s the most authentic looking of the authentic gates? NICK: It's certainly more authentic looking than it was before. The fact is this is something of a re-awakening for Cambodia. It used to be a dirty word, but now it's the hip place to be. feature _ LLOYD LEVIN, PBPDUCEB _ The producer of Boogie Nights, Event Horizon and Mystery Men was on set Quiet, calculating, very much in control, he had a few insightful words for us. LLOYD LEVIN: It’s coming together really nicely. When something starts as an idea, "I wonder if we could shoot at Angkor Wat?” and then we can actually do it, it’s great. HYPER: Is there any CCI? Any monsters? LLOYD: Hmmm... yeah. There’s a fantasy element. Above ground is a very realistic world. The tone of the movie is reality based; it’s not campy, it’s real. As you move underground, into the tombs, thing become more and more surreal, and hallucinogenic. HYPER: Do you think it would be a good Stoner’s movie then? LLOYD: I think it would be a great Stoner's movie. HYPER: You say it's not campy, but there are elements of humour. LLOYD: There’s a line between humour and camp. We wanted to keep the tone hard edged and real, to support the reality of the character. So you believe that she does the things she does, so it’s not a fantasy. We tried to create a real emotional core for her. HYPER: Traditionally films based on video games have been... vile. Are you confident that this will be the first "proper ” one? LLOYD: It had better be (laughs). There haven’t been all that many movies based on video game. There have been some movies that have been based on books that have been vile also, but no one says, "book adaptations don’t work.” HYPER: You’d be breaking ground if you made the first. LLOYD: The temptation is there that when you base a movie on a popular game, to assume that the audience that played the game will come and see the movie and be cynical, but we’re trying to create a movie-movie. A real movie. A movie that if you're a fan of the game you’ll enjoy, and even if you don't know the game you'll enjoy. HYPER: Are there sequels in the works? LLOYD: If this works, they’re being contemplated. There’s a specific drama that’s central to this movie. Angelina is 25 in this movie, and I think it would be really interesting to follow her as she gets older, as her character matures. Keeping it real. So it wouldn't be like the Bond movies. where he’s always exactly the same. The Bond movies are an obvious influence, but we wanted to do something a little different. Something more... real. Manfred Powell (Iain Glenn) engaged make it all work. As much as possible in a labourious decoding of an ancient locals were hired for the crew, but puzzle. They have deduced that the without an indigenous film industry most efficient way to pry open the Cambodia could not supply everything tomb door is to hire hundreds of needed for the filming, natives to pull on ropes affixed to the All the vehicles on set had to be surface of the monument. We were hired and moved into place from assured that every effort was being Thailand, and massive floods and poor taken to keep the ancient structure roads necessitated the involvement of pristine, and that the blocks to be the army in getting them all there in removed were artificial to start with. one piece. Fanning out from the focus of the Security was tight; no photography filming was a battalion of crew and on set, and certainly no rubber necked their equipment. Dozens of huge film tourists were permitted near the action, trucks, booms, supplies, furniture, specialised widgets, and vast quanti¬ ties of bottled water were grafted to the There was of course nothing beneath scene, along with a private army to the authentic landmark being filmed other than the typical material one Cambodia ended as quickly as it associates with the Earth’s crust. The began. Scrutiny of the operation was death-trap laden catacombs are all impossible; we didn’t get to see the sophisticated sets back at Pinewood. fake village they’d constructed in The end result of two intensive weeks action, or Lara’s airlifted Land Rover of shooting in dense tropical rainforest plummet into the foliage. Only appar- will doubtless amount to a handful of ent was the impressicn of scale, moments of the final cuts running Shipping out 16 soused hacks from the time, but this attention to detail is the regional press could only be wise when hallmark of all movies that strive to you have money to bum. exceed the quality of Wayne 8 Garth blue-screen shenanigans. DOUBLE OR iWFHliMG The art and science in movie making The recurring subtext of the whole on this scale are dwarfed by the indus- production of the Tomb Raider movie is try involved; number of staff, tonnage duality. The main character is the of equipment. Glossier than carnies, opposite of her nemesis, applying cun- rivaling a military task force in scale, ning instead of brute force, and enthu- this invasion into the heart of siasm in the face of plodding monoto- 23 »HYPER 24 »HYPER feature ACTOR: JULIAN BHINP-TOTT PLAYS: PIMMS Every mastermind needs an off-sider to expound his plans and any situational developments too. so who better than Iceland’s favourite Englander, lutian Rhind-Tutt? This is something of a break from his more serious roles in The Madness of King George and Notting Hill. He explained his role on the set beneath the shadow of the Cambodian "tomb." JULIAN RHIND-TUTT: l‘m supposed to be telling the workers to hurry up, but I read my phrasebook wrong. When you see the subtitle on the screen it will say "Hurry up. the train is leaving [insert your platform number herel.” So there’s a little humour... I’m very famous in Iceland, but I haven’t quite cracked Southeast Asia yet. I’m working on it. HYPER: Would you classify your character as a lackey or a flunky? JULIAN: Hmmm... Scmewhere between the two. He is actually a character in his own right. Something of a naive apprentice to the villain, he realises too late the extent of the evil he’s a part of. I’m a little bit like the audience’s eyes in the film. HYPER: So you go- "hey, why are we doing this?” You're a storytelling device. JULIAN: Yeah, any of those lines, look to me. "What happens now? Where are we? Why are we doing this?" ACTOR: DANIEL CRAIG PLAYS: RIVAL TOMB RAIDER A quasi love interes*. more of a sidekick for Lara, Daniel plays a rival raider. HYPER: Is he a secondary character? Does he get to kick arse? DANIEL* He does, he gets his hands dirty. He’s a tomb raider wanna-be. He is a tomb raider, but he's not Lara Croft. But he thinks he’s better than Lara Croft, and obviously he is (laughter). He’s basically a good guy, he just gets it wrong. HYPER: Does your character have a signature weapon? DANIEL: Uh, no. I think his idea is that if you carry a gun, you’ll get shot at. So if you don’t carry a gun. you won't get shot at. He picks one up occasionally. He has a Bowie Knife. HYPER: Named after David Bowie? ny. Everybody’s favourite Yin-Yang, the battle of the sexes, is also being waged on screen. The environments above and below ground are starkly different, each plundered tomb offer¬ ing a bridge into the world of the supernatural. Stark differences in class, climate, courage, and competence are all on display, along with the obvious dif- ferentation between the synthetic Lara and the real (we think) Angelina. In terms of the films success, the biggest distinction is going to be between good and bad. The money is on the table, and all the pieces are in place. Now it’s up to fate to decide whether Tomb Raider the movie will stink or swim. From the narrow, sanitised perspec¬ tive of a brief press junket it’s difficult to get a grip on how this will all pan out, but the odds at stake are obvious. If the movie as a whole rocks as hard as the trailer, then this could finally repre¬ sent the acceptance of the video game into the media mainstream. The blame for crime and mental illness may finally be placed on a different scapegoat. freeing up a powerful medium to fulfil its true potential in our culture. But if Tomb Raider bombs, then it could be another decade before the game-based movie rises from the swamp of ignominy. Hyper readers are urged to see this upcoming motion picture at the movies, as every dollar that ploughs its way back into the games industry helps raise the overall quality of the games we play every day. In theory. KIRN PETROCCELLI, PBOPOCTION DESIGNER Mastermind behind the entire visual look of the film, Kirk Petruccelli oversaw produc¬ tion of the gigantic indoor sets back at Pinewood studios. To get an idea of his tal¬ ents, this is the same guy who designed the incredible sets for Mystery Men. Kirk was out on the set to ensure that the visual con¬ tinuity between the real life jungle and the sets he’d created was seamless. This of course meant putting on a few finishing touches, improving on nature. HYPER: So your job is making the jungle look more like a proper jungle than the jungle actually looks? : KIRK: Yeah. This jungle doesn’t have much tropical foliage, we had to manipulate it slightly. HYPER: What sort of tone are you aiming for with the film as a whole? Serious action, or more wacky S zany? KIRK: Kind of Remains of the Day with a mad motorcycle ripping right through it. We’re starting with very classic structures, and adding super modem elements. We’re aim¬ ing for a collision between real modem stuff and real antiquities. So what you have is somewhat timeless. HYPER: So you're trying to make a film that won’t date. ! KIRK: That’s correct. If in doubt, slap on a pith helmet and a handlebar moustache, get your manservant to mix a Singapore Sling, and catch the first sedan chair to your local movie house. Ask yourself how a movie that takes the Indiana Jones for¬ mula and adds a hot chick can possi¬ bly fail. Remember, it’s not a chore, it’s entertainment. And if worst comes to worst, sit back and think of England. TOMB RAIDER: THE MOVIE HITS THEATRES ON JUNE 21. i-gglssp p iS§ ^jns&S r’-Ss HOCOs? A GAMES ODYSSEY in » sight onimusha "World settings, gameplay, visuals and music are all unique and have never been seen before. You won’t be disappointed.” PLATFORM: PS2 AVAILABLE March CATEEORY: Action/Adventure PLAYERS: l PUBLISHER: Capcom OC LU CL >- O CM WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT, BODIY? SOME PEOPLE! O NIMUSHA, WHICH HAS HAD A NUMBER OF delays, is finally coming together and should be ready for release around March. Zombies and feudal war in Japan are two of the ingredients on offer here, in what is described as a Samurai adventure set in the 16th century. The fact that this is one of the most expensive games Capcom has ever funded shows how serious they are about making Onimusha an epic experience. One of Japan’s leading screen actors, Takeshi Kaneshiro, will be the voice and face of the main character, and a full orchestra was hired to record the soundtrack. Set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, Onimusha requires the player to battle his way into an enemy castle to rescue his kidnapped cousin. Keiji Inafune, creator of Onimusha, chatted with Hyper correspondent Derek dela Fuente to give us an insight into Onimusha. THE CREATOR SPEAKS! HYPER: Onimusha has been described as a Resident Evil game, why this comparison? KEIJI INAFUNE: Keiji Inafune: It is because Onimusha somewhat succeeds the game sys¬ tem and the controls from Resident Evil. However, its gameplay, although having lots of action and story line, is totally different from that of Resident Evil. HYPER: Onimusha combines action with adventure, how have you balanced the two elements? Kl: Onimusha is considered to be an adventure game because it involves lots of interactive elements: talking, searching, exploring, etc. Finding a balance has been difficult but I believe we have achieved our goal. HYPER: You are the creator of Mega Man. To create Onimusha, did you work to some specs given to you or did you create the game idea and present it to Capcom? Kl: No, I wasn’t given any specific instruc¬ tions. I proposed the concept to the company and it was accepted. I have put in a lot of time and effort since inception to make Onimusha successful. HYPER: Please give the readers a bit of back- I I I KEIJI INAFUNE, CAPCOM S ONIMUSHA CREATOR in» sight I TOLD YOD THE OPSTAIRS FLOORBOARDS NEEOEO WORK EVIL SOYS ARE ALWAYS HORNY ground into the storyline and the overall objectives? Kl: This story is set in feudal Japan in the 16th century. An army lead by a Shogun 'Nobunaga Oda\ who is possessed by an evil power, has kidnapped a beautiful princess. Nobunaga has just defeated Yoshimoto Imagawa, another famous warlord, in a sur¬ prise attack and now sets out to attack Yoshitatsu Saito’s famous castle in the Mino Prefecture. You take on the guise of Samanosuke, a talented samurai warrior, and players must battle through various detailed environments and confront powerful creatures to rescue the princess. Samanosuke does not initially realise that a legion of demon war¬ riors stands between him and the princess. Onimusha is based on actual Japanese history, which has been blended into fictional story¬ lines. HYPER: Being one of the first games on the PS2, how important is it to utilise the power of the machine so it cannot be viewed merely as a nicer looking game than one on the PSX? Kl: We tried to utilise as much of the PS2*s capabilities as we can so this title is not viewed merely as a nice looking game. It offers a lot of technical innovations and we have adopted some interesting background Animation Technology along with special effects. The player will be able to view not only weather effects like wind and storms in more detail, and highly detailed lighting effects, which throw off shadows, but also a very high degree of realism which will add to the game experience. The camera views, with detailed rendering, are a few of the nice fea¬ tures that will push the PS2. HYPER: As the game will offer lots of action, movement and fighting does the PS2 offer more extensive and detailed animation and movements? Kl: I believe so. We are still in the machine’s early days but we are not only going for a strong game of action and adventure but one that conveys emotions and via its look, move¬ ments and sound - which need a powerful machine - we believe that the PS2 is a superb platform. HYPER: Where do the gameplay vs. technolo¬ gy issues balance themselves out? Kl: As a video game, gameplay should always be prioritised over anything. We utilised advanced technologies to achieve better gameplay. HYPER: Is the game scripted in English like Resident Evil? Why is this? (Not many people will know that Resident Evil, although developed in Japan, was scripted in English first.) Kl: Both English and Japanese voices are included on the same disc. You can switch between them as you wish. HYPER: The game is going to offer 'major motion film values’, does this mean merely more FMV and visuals? Kl: No. Visual impact does add a lot to the gameplay experience. In this game, FMV/great visuals and the gameplay are not two separate things but are blended closely together. You’ll see what I’m talking about when you play the game. It is finding the right balance. HYPER: We are told a 200-piece orchestra will be used. Does such grand expenditure and 27 »HYPER 28 »HYPER in » sight onimusha [cont.] input make for a better game? Kl: I am sure it will, otherwise it would not be incorporated. I believe there’s no one who would not appreciate listening to a great piece of music. HYPER: Emotions are also a facet of the game that is being worked on - how do you convey emotions on screen in a game? player will find the weapons system very differ¬ ent. As you go through the game you will be able to obtain three different gems that will fit into Samanosuke’s gauntlet. There are three types of gems: fire, wind and thunder. These will have elemental effects on the player’s weapon. The player can use these various effects to inflict intensifying damage on an opponent or to solve an action based puzzle. Players will be required to use strategy when it comes to choosing the appropriate gemstone and some areas in the game are unobtainable unless the player uses the right gem at the correct location. The gems will also add visually stunning special effects to each of Samonsuke’s weapons. HYPER: Does ’Onimusha’ mean anything? Kl: ’Oni’ means an ogre and ’Musha’ means a Samurai warrior. ■ Kl: We have utilised lots of face motion captur¬ ing/animation technology throughout the game. The beautifully orchestrated and proper¬ ty timed music will add to the overall feeling of the game. Also, getting the right angle shot of a face is important so it is a combination of many variables that can give you emotion. Lighting is also important to create an ambience. HYPER: Tell us what you believe are the unique and/or selling points of the game? Kl: World settings, gameplay, visuals, music are all unique and have never been seen before. You won’t be disap¬ pointed. WE’D LINE TO SEE: A hyped up PS2 game that turns out to be good. HYPER: What weapons are on view and what makes them special? Kl: Lots, including swords and bows. The AUSTRALIA'S PC GAMES AND TECHNOLOGY AMGAZINE in» sight "The environments are utterly cool... this is one huge playground.” -a> PLATFORM: PC AVAILABLE: February CATEGORY: Team-based FPS PLAYERS: 1-64 PUBLISHER: Sierra QC UJ CL > X o ro tribes 2 “UHH... HI! LET ME CUESS, THIS ISN’T THE SCRABBLE CLUB?" I F YOU’RE LUCKY, AND ALL THINGS HAVE gone smoothly over at Sierra, you just might be able to pick up Tribes 2 before this issue of Hyper vanishes from the newsagents. However, we can’t bottle up our excitement over this massive sequel, so we’re going to take a closer look at it, regardless if it’s finished and released by the time you read this. The office is abuzz with a playable version of the game, and it's bickety-bam from here to eternity. The original Tribes surprised us all with its solid team-based gameplay, and the promise that this sequel holds now that we’re entering the age of high-speed internet connections is huge. Cet your clan together and read on... ANYONE FOR A GAME OF FRISBEE? The fact that Tribes 2 will support up to 64 players at any one time is a pretty exciting fact for hardcore multiplayer gamers. As we learned with Tribes, however, the larger the teams, the messier the game can get, and certainly the worse the connection becomes if you’re playing online. For starters, let’s hope the network code holds up and that enough people have broadband connections now to make this 64 player dream a reality in Tribes 2. Certainly, the longevity with a game such as Tribes 2 is all in the teamplay that you’ll experience with friends online or at a LAN. The variety of gameplay modes in Tribes 2 is excellent - for a full listing see the box-out we’ve included for your viewing pleasure. Basically, there’s enough here to suit all types of gamers, from the all-out carnage of death- match to the complex communication needed in some of the teamplay modes. In fact, when it comes to in-game and out of game com¬ munication, Tribes 2 will probably be unequalled this year. For starters, when you log on, you’ll have access to news, forums, chat, in-game e-mail and messaging, which should make organising clan wars, friendlies or even just hanging with your fellow Tribes 2 addicts a great deal of fun. The game menu really will be a robust communications hub, from where you’ll be able to enjoy every aspect of the game. The three armour types on offer - Scout (light and fast), Assault (a medium balance) and Juggernauts (slow but solid as hell) can now be changed mid-game on the fly depending on the situation you find yourself in. The type of armour you equip affects what kind of weapons you can carry too, with the Juggernaut obviously having access to some serious firepower. Of the eleven weapons in Tribes 2, new ones include a nasty melee weapon, the Shocklance; the Heavy armour only Missile Launcher; and the naughty but nice variations of new grenades. The Missile Launcher is one deadly gun, able to lock on to a "hot” target and home in. A hot target is basically any player or vehicle that is using a jet pack or engines. There is a manual dumbfire also, but the missile launches quite slowly so it’s usual¬ ly horribly inaccurate unless used in the prop¬ er fashion. If you’re worried about getting slammed with a homing missile, you can sim¬ ply drop some handy chaff and try to wiggle out of it. On the whole, all the weapons have been updated with new sounds and weapon effects to keep things feeling fresh, and the spectacular sight of a barrage of colourful explosions is all part of Tribes 2’s incredibly nice new visuals. in» sight MODES COMING OUT OF YOUR EARS! Fire up a game of Tribes 2, and you'll be presented with the following game options... DM (Deathmatch) - No rules, just kill or be killed. Points are earned for a kill but you lose points when you get killed yourself. Capture the Flag — Plain vanilla CTF, albeit with huge terrain to traverse. Rabbit — One flag exists and whoever gets it earns points whilst they evade the other players. Capture and Hold — This is a team game, all about defending a certain location on the map. Siege — One team is on the offensive, the other on the defensive. Roles reverse in the second round. Similar to UT’s Assault mode. Bounty — You must hunt down a certain player who is your bounty in a death- match environment, without killing play¬ ers who are not your objective. Flag Hunten — Like the old Quake i mod. Headhunters. Kill a player and take his flag back to the central nexus for points. The team with the most points wins. WHAT WE’D LINE TO SEE: Tribes 2 is a resource hog. Let's hope the final required specs aren't too scary. AMY WAS BUMMED TO FIND OUT HEB BLIND DATE WAS AN ION CANNON BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR As you would expect from a sequel’s graphics, be prepared to be blown away. The landscapes are more complex than ever, stretching on for what seems like miles, all with the bumpy, craggy realism of a real environment. The design of the architecture is fantastic, from lone looming towers to buildings dug out into the sides of mountains - the environments are utterly cool. This is one huge playground. One of the big features in Tribes and now Tribes 2 are the vehicles you can take control of to get around the maps a little quicker than simply hopping from point to point with your jet pack. The usual troop transports are there, as well as the one-man Shrike fighter that fires chainguns, the three-player Thundersword bomber and the cool ultra-fast Wildcat hover- bike - excellent for escaping from your snip¬ ing spot, heh heh. There are also assault vehi¬ cles and a mobile point base that allows you to re-equip yourself when you’re nowhere near home. Instead of being blasted away from the inventory unit when you’re trying to equip, now you can set-up your request before you step onto the plate and get equipped instantly once you get there. Stocking up your inventory is one of those things that confuses newbies to the game, as well as the potential chaos that can ensue when a team fails to communicate effectively in a game. Thankfully, Tribes 2 has made a lot of improvements in these areas, and for starters there is a complex set of training mis¬ sions so that you can get up to speed with all facets of the game before you log onto a server and get your arse kicked for asking too many questions. There is also a botmatch available to help players hone their skills in all the dif¬ ferent gameplay modes. Tribes 2 is looking like the team-based shooter to beat this year. Unless Halo comes along and knocks our socks off, Tribes 2 is the game to get for some hardcore action. ■ MAKE YOUR OWN MAPS Tribes 2 will come packaged with a powerful terrain editor for players to create their own environments to battle in. Not only will you be able to specify the terrain, but also the weather and environmental effects on the vehicles. 31 »HYPER HERE'S OUR MONTHLY LOOK AT WHAT'S ON THE HORIZON FINAL FANTASY IX FEAN EFFECT 2: RETRO HELIX DUKE NUKEM: LAND OF TNE BABES ESPN NATIONAL HOCKEY NIGHT HEY YIO PIKACHU! XENGO: MASTER IF BUSHIOI STAR WARS: BATTLE FOR NABOO DROPSHIP ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES Damns » Name another PS2 Acclaim game. Put your answer, along with your name and address, on the back of an envelope and send it to: Bust A Cap In Yo Bubbles, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016. Good luck! WINWIHWINiHUH Entries close February 26th Bubbles, puzzles and restrictive muzzles. Okay, maybe not the restrictive muzzles. But there are certainly lots of puzzles and bub¬ bles. If this is your thing, then you must be frothing at the mouth, bubbling even, to get your hands on a copy of Super Bust A A/ove for your new PlayStation! Thanks to Acclaim, we have five copies of this addictive puzzle game to just give away to some lowly readers. But first, you must prove your worth by answering the following brain-teaser successfully... % Name another game with ■■ "Dragoon" in the title. Stick your answer on the back of an enve¬ lope, along with your name and address and send it to: I Swoon For Dragoon, Hyper, 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016. LEGEND OE DRAG00I FOR PS Lead your character Dart on an impres¬ sive journey to rescue the young Shana who has been kidnapped. You’ll have to face all kinds of horrible creations of evil, so build up your stats, improve your stash of weapons and get adven¬ turing. Legend Of Dragoon is here for your PSone and it’s sure to absorb you for hours on end. Thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment of Australia, we have five copies to give away to some lucky readers. To win a copy, just answer this question... 33 »HYPER 34 »HYPER net trawlin’ MODS Unreal Tournament Planetside H AVE YOU EVER HOPED THAT ONE- online gaming community around its \ / day someone would make a First finger, Verant Interactive has been Person Shooter which seamlessly hard at work on just such a title. fans already subscribed to their fla AVE YOU EVER HOPED THAT ONE- day someone would make a First Person Shooter which seamlessly mixed gameplay elements from Team Fortress, Tribes, Quake and the like? Better yet, how about being able to play that game online against thou¬ sands of other people? Sounds good? Well, in a bid to wrap even more of the online gaming community around its finger, Verant Interactive has been hard at work on just such a title. MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER GIBBING Named Planetside, the idea is indeed to provide a persistent online environment for the hybrid FPS game- play. With a large chunk of MMORPG fans already subscribed to their flag¬ ship title, Everquest, it can only be considered a smart move for Verant to diversify and try to make a new home for all the FPS fans as well. Yet with the game world having to support so many people, Verant haven’t totally strayed from their roots, as they plan to incorporate a few RPC elements for added interest. Firstly, as opposed to just jumping straight into the carnage like in every other FPS, Planetside requires you to create a character, then pledge servi¬ tude to one of a number of opposing corporations. So right from the start you become part of a ’super-clan’. Playing the role of a mercenary, you’ll be given missions to complete for your particular organization. And if the need should arise you can seek out the help of fellow mercenaries. In fact while you can run around and go fragging on your own, a majority of the missions will require teamwork. Missions involve tasks such as over- Tally Ho! Tallyho! is an addictive little mutator for UT that turns conven¬ tional deathmatch into a chaotic arcade-like fragfest. Aside from just gunning down other players (or bots), the main goal is to actually hunt down a horde of the alien creatures from Unreal i. The action is extremely fast paced with each creature having a very net trawlin’ distinct target around them to make things a bit easier. Point scoring is pretty crazy. Killing the right monsters at the right time can result in your 'frag count’ going up by a couple of hundred in a matter of seconds! Simply damaging a creature scores you points. And interestingly, getting hit by an enemy or dying results in a drastic loss of those points. As basic as it seems there are quite a lot of little rules to under¬ stand while playing. It can get a bit confusing at first. Once you’ve got it all worked out Tallyho! is quite fun. http://naiweb.javanet.com/shank /offworld/tallyho/ running enemy bases with each player assuming different tactical roles along the lines of infiltration/spying, offence, defense and even being able to drive vehicles (jeeps, tanks gunships etc) ala Tribes or Counterstrike. Upon successful completion of a mis¬ sion your character may go up in rank and gain some hard-earned cash. Heading back to town, players can then use their newfound wealth to stock up on supplies, buy/sell weapons, heal themselves or repair vehicles. Reiterating the small RPC influence in the title, players will also be given the option to upgrade their character through the purchase of a variety of implants. These implants are specifical¬ ly designed to develop characters in a way that avoids ruining the balance of gameplay. Only non-action-based skills can be enhanced, such as the ability to steal other players’ vehicles or to hack into computer terminals. This way Planetside newbies still have just as much chance as veterans to score a kill. Star Dudes To help you get even more into the Star Wars spirit, Dude Studios present Star Dudes! Ever heard of 'Quake done quick ’ 0 Well this would officially have to be 'Star Wars done quick’. It’s simply a very cool animated rundown of everything that happens in Episode IV, all zoomed through in just a few minutes. Totally hilarious! http://www.dudestudios.com/ W C/l •< 15 36 »HYPER net trawlin’ ■ .n e 7 1 *t-r. ** . H; Name: l Class Unreal For tress _ While Team Fortress is only officially available for Quake or Half-life, that classic gameplay has always found itself on just about every other FPS under the sun. Unreal Tournament is the latest platform to be graced by its pres¬ ence, under the name Unreal Fortress. For those 5 or so people out there unfamiliar with what the mod is all about, the premise is simple. Players choose from a range of diverse classes to play as, i.e. Wormtopia Strictly a combantrim-free zone, Wormtopia is the ultimate source of news for fans of Teamu’s classic Worms series. Check it out at www.planetwcrms.com YOU' RE GOING TO DIE... A LOT Once your character is all sorted out and ready to rock again the process goes full circle and it’s time to see what other assignments are on offer. With your increase in rank a more diverse choice of jobs presents itself, making things more interesting as time goes on. Also of note is the fact that your character’s appearance will even change to reflect that new rank. If in the end the player just wants a break from the chaos outside, they’re free to head back to their own in-game apart¬ ment and relax. Based on what we’ve learned so far it’s easy to conclude that your charac¬ ter is going to die... a lot. The result of death is to drop your equipment, which you can expect to be eagerly looted by your killer, then respawn at the nearest safe area. Fortunately, Verant are trying to make sure players don’t get overly stressed about losing their gear. Any weapons you might have carried shouldn’t be too difficult to pick up elsewhere. Planetsides’ fast-paced action mixed with light RPC elements really sounds like a winning combination. Graphically the game is drool-worthy, actually looking somewhat reminis¬ cent of Halo. It is however probably safe to assume that a pretty good con¬ nection to the game server would be required, and that may raise some concern for eager overseas gamers... Time will tell. net trawlin’ 50 !J 90 4 Marksman Gteriades: 3 Heavy weapons guy. Medic, Spy, Scout etc. All of whom work togeth¬ er to capture the enemy flag. So, does this incarnation do the genre justice? Well it’s actually still in beta, but so far things look to have come together nicely. The maps provided contain some familiar classics with plenty of cool new areas to master. However don’t rely on the bots to provide a very fun offline game. http://www.unrealfortress.com SOiY ,C* JNE HttERp MMENT GALAX1 Click here t( PLAY the * poM left* Smr Wot ft*; -.49* t * p*. -j: ' wt p&s &.*> *M i<* * tpptt a« :*» s**-* So. ♦«*** JC^ CorArmCcn Coit toe mi IE 6 ISIEI IEWS FEamsEs cannmiTf CIMEIiS FM Av- ■ r»* K 1*-. ««* 'J $|m W*tS ClUw**’’ TH’l EflUCOS-TTfre r -’5-*->r f'x-n. rrvx.-O' • ;3v in C^-cncK'- we*. to ifefc*-: * vrict.cw*/ *«n*v tf nt*it**i* niAjfiiftr orir* jjrw'i l*t ir ?h* StkiVjr* Whm tf* Sir ofth* tcn*0«ir* wi*» r Sin W*« Gain)** i>* ioonc^oi *i 20 CC;tr> 3 i;;«n« Uptsoi* w v :tair } v* - * .•* CTMtipftO^tke S>o* ur-^tno *So»vl -.so*,««W sx lotted a wecoJ t*ti«x from th* tern n in* Tamfntrtf* tecUn. !*•« corw«r rr**5Jr?e oc»fc *M4c >i4sf*-.a6«e Asvrt OueCaWi p>jc T» IS II* *a D* u»>4*>3 r*gU»*j c*c !h* comw.g nxxtM. tr «1*» dcrtTiCvr.jAmufccr *«f:• *r4ft* gtrut teaftcbet in ft-* mtMti*r*, w* nop* JOT. *njo» <»hat if C^Tfrfty «v*»»b<* R*gk**f Kcwl n» 3 *»« ttfp 13 Ijrftwr >e ft* at*. ?> fct* r*9st»! «c* a S*»r W*re G*l*xtes r t vift mtrrbt*} Games | Nc»« | Revirmrs 1 Tak | Slo e | kly Account | Help Join IH and logeftict Well Rut* the Galaxy* StarWars Galaxies W HILE JUST ABOUT EVERYONE has known about it for some time now it’s only recently that Lucasarts and Verant officially announced production of their future cash-cow title, Star Wars: Calaxies. Coinciding with the announcement, a webpage was thrown up to tease eager gamers with morsels of info on what to expect in 2002. So what are some of the features mentioned? THELAGOFTHEDARKSIDE First and foremost, the title ’Galaxies’ refers to an actual series of Star Wars games! That’s great news right off the bat since we can all look forward to Star Wars goodness for years to come. As expected, gamers will be able to choose from a variety of famil¬ iar Star Wars species as their character, including Wookies! We can also look forward to wielding the force as a Jedi, (although the road to becoming a suc¬ cessful one is sure to be difficult). Bounty Hunters also get a mention. Even without referring to any other classes, it’s easy to assume these two will surely be among the most popular. Hopefully there will be reason enough to warrant playing something differ¬ ent. A server overrun with wannabe Jedi’s could make fora pretty boring scenario. Actually the site does men¬ tion the developer’s intention to pro¬ vide for those whose taste in gameplay goes beyond combat and war. As the site states, gamers wi.l be free to ’’take part in galactic politics, own a shop, or help build the community”. Apart from that, Verant are staying tight-lipped about Galaxies at this early stage in development. Check out the link below to keep up to date with any new info or jump into the discus¬ sion forums to throw some ideas at the developers and read the latest rumors. www.starwarsgalaxies.com C PATCHES GROUND CONTROL http://sierra.com/ DEUS EX MULTIPLAYER PATCH http://www.eidosinteractive.com/ DEEP SPACE NINE: THE FALLEN http://www.collectivestudios.com/ VOYAGER: ELITE FORCE http://www.ravensoft.com/ STAR WARS COMRINE While you’re twiddling your thumbs in wait for Star Wars: Calaxies, you might want to give Star Wars: Combine a spin. Being put together by a bunch of diehard fans. Combine is a work in progress that will also finish up as an online Star Wars game. Given the term 'Star Wars simula¬ tion’ the game lets you create a character and interact with hundreds of other play¬ ers in the Star Wars universe. The paths your character can take will be expan¬ sive. Play as a rebel, part of the empire or simply take up farming. Fight, fly star- ships... the very in-depth rule system covers just about everything. You can actually download the game application now and check out some of the text/email based setup. Eventually the program will likely end up using a graphical interface similar to Warlords. Combine could well be worth checking out when it’s done. http://www.swcombine.com/ - 37 »HYPER 38 »HYPER feature the top ten reasons why NINTENDO GAMECUBE will rnck! Damn! It's hard to explain the feeling of anticipation we have here at Hyper about both the upcoming Nintendo systems. The Game Boy Advance (GBA) is going to rock because hey, it'll be like carrying around a SNES in your pocket, with four player capabilities no less. The GBA will be classic gaming at its best. Whet is really taking Nintendo into the future, however, is a little doobie called the Gamecube. We already know that Nintendo make some of the world's best games, and the more we find out about their new system, the more it seems that Nintendo are getting everything right this time around. EHm 5HER has put together a list of our top ten reasons why the Gamecube is going to be a must-have gaming system. If you're not all that excited just yet. we hope you will be by the time you've read the pages to come. Game(cube) on! feature shigeru miyamoto and EAD. W HAT COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE exciting than the prospect of i28bit creations from Nintendo’s number one development team and one of the world’s greatest game designers? In our books - nothing. Certainly Hiroshi Yamauchi’s busi¬ ness acumen and intuitive abilities have got Nintendo far. So too, did Gunpei Yokoi’s hardware wizardry. And let’s not forget the dogged determination of Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln to get Nintendo of America to where it is today. But real¬ ly, where would Nintendo be without the games to back it all up? Nintendo simply couldn’t exist without Shigeru Miyamoto and their main RSD team EAD (Entertainment, Analysis and Development). Nintendo relies so heavily on the reputation of their games that the company’s future is almost solely dependent on them. Such is the talent of the staff at NCL, however, that for nearly 20 years now, they have consistently produced the most playable, inspired and charming games on the planet. They also, importantly, led the industry in the transition to 3D, reinventing many of their franchises brilliantly - Super Mario 64 being the most obvi¬ ous example. The most recognizable figure with¬ in Nintendo of Japan is, of course, Shigeru Miyamoto. In many ways, Miyamoto is the heart and soul of Nintendo. He’s responsible for almost all Nintendo’s most enduring charac¬ ters including Donkey Kong, Link and of course, Mario. Miyamoto’s genius lies in his uncanny ability to redefine gaming. His games aren’t there to be played but to be experienced. No matter what the hardware limitations, the core essence of Miyamoto’s vision is consistently conveyed. Gameplay is always the driving force, and Miyamoto has a knack for nailing it time and time again. Of course, Miyamoto doesn’t work in a vacuum. Along with Takashi Tezuka, they head up EAD, most defi¬ nitely Nintendo’s trump card in the next gen race. This "all-star” devel¬ opment team was formed early in the days of SNES development, combin¬ ing Miyamoto’s R&D4 with select members from the other RSD teams. The team’s games for the SNES show just how dominant they were, and include Super Mario World, F-Zero, Sim City, Pilotwings, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Super Mario All-Stars, Super Punch-Out, Super Mario Kart, Star Fox, Yoshi’s Island and Stunt Race FX. EAD also excelled in the tricky transition from 2D to 3D, creating some of the N64's best titles. Among others, they created the revo¬ lutionary Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Star Fox 64, Yoshi’s Story, Mario Kart 64, 1080 Snowboarding, F-Zero X, Ocarina Of Time, and Majora’s Mask. Right now the team is rumoured to be in possession of over 125 develop¬ ment kits, and has been working on launch titles for around a year. Yamauchi’s instructions to the group haven’t changed since its inception. They are simply, to do what no one else is doing - lead, don’t follow. EAD also acts as a father figure to other in-house teams (such as HAL labs and Intelligent Systems) and second party developers, helping out and guiding whenever necessary. Shigeru Miyamoto and EAD are the reason that Nintendo have come this far, and with the most consistent track record of any development house ever, and fantastic hardware to back them up, we know that Miyamoto and Co are going to blow us away come Camecube launch day. a brief history of nintendn ts rc c 03 E E a u E — u u u « | E 03 S 12 - tr «= rn rc 00 tc~ Ifj => 7 = ai E g 1 ~ cs. •2 -£ S 1 f Jt ¥E Fusajiro Yamauchi founds “Nintendo i< Nintendo expand their range to becor playing cards. Nintendo's second president, Sekiryo 21 year old Hiroshi Yamauchi become the iron fisted management style he 1 ; (including a relative) so nobody was i *03 i % t= 03 * a OJ 01 c CD l_J 03 E CD Nintendo begins manufacturing plasti Enters a deal with Disney to manufac Listed on the second tier of the Osaka Stock Exchange and the Drops Karuta to become NCL with Ye E xpanded product line. Over the next - Instant rice - A Love Hotel (where rooms were n rumoured to be one of its most frequ - A Taxi Company After the above ventures. Yamauchi t company had forged throughout the 1 devoted to entertainment products. Il Stock is changed to first listing on tl Gun series, introducing electronics ti 1 Gunpei Yokoi comes up with the Uitr =J 03 -E= 1 03 C= More toys in the Ultra li 39 »HYPER 1889 I9D2 1929 1949 1051 1953 1 1959 ' I9B2 I9G3 1969 1970 MM feature but doesn’t suffer the bottlenecks that other consoles do. That is, it’s opti¬ mised for sustainable real world per¬ formance - not imaginary figures on paper. To achieve this goal, Nintendo have made some very smart partnerships and decisions in creating the Camecube. To ensure blisteringly fast, consistent communication between the graphics chip and the Cekko MPU, the Camecube has a massive 24MB of iT- SRAM courtesy of MoSys. This is per¬ haps the most revolutionary element, and an unprecedented amount of RAM for a console, standing in stark con¬ trast to the PlayStation 2 and its much maligned 4MB of embedded VRAM. With such an ample amount of iT- SRAM, game code will not have to be optimised to the same degree, speed¬ ing up overall development times. Better yet, backing it up is another 16MB of NEC’s 100MHz ”A-Memory’' DRAM, which can be used for less demanding routines such as audio and animation. Needless to say, in combi¬ nation, the Camecube’s memory struc¬ ture can handle anything that the chipsets throw at it. W E’VE PONDERED THE SPECS, WE’VE analysed the hardware configura¬ tion, and we’ve done a whole lot of research. The result? We’re impressed, and you should he too. Nintendo have obviously thought long and hard about Camecube, and have come up with a stunningly sweet console. In fact, "elegant" is really the only word that does the Camecube hardware specs justice. Sure, it’s powerful, sexy, funky, aerodynamic, intelligent and da-bomb, but at its core, this is a pur¬ pose built gaming machine like no other. It seems that launching behind Sega and Sony has worked in Nintendo’s favour, as they’ve been able to craft a console that has the potential to simply outclass the opposition. buffering (iMB and 2MB respectively), the Flipper CPU and Cekko MPU have a combined floating point performance of 13 Gigaflops. Shigeru Miyamoto has gone so far as to say that it is the world’s best graphics chip. First of all, it’s manufactured using state of the art copper based circuitry and fabricated at 0.18 micron, mean¬ ing it’s extra fast and loses less heat, increasing efficiency. Secondly, it includes an impressive 256KB of Level 2 cache memory. Thirdly, because it’s a custom chipset, it’s optimised specifi¬ cally for its role in the Camecube hard¬ ware, and connects to the Flipper LSI with a main memory bandwidth of 3.2 gigabytes p/s, and an external bus that reachs 1.6 gigabytes p/s. Nintendo have also incorporated S3’s texture compression technology into the Camecube’s graphics chip. This is an unbelievably vital inclu¬ sion. Ever wondered how the top Dreamcast games seem to be more vibrant and graphically varied than some of the PS2 launch offerings? A large part of it is down to texture compression. With this technology, the Camecube will be able to com¬ press textures at a 6:1 ratio, meaning that 60MB of textures can be squeezed down to 10MB. Thus, games will incorporate unbelievable variety, clarity and intensity in textures - and all without any speed hit because it’s wired into the Flipper LSI. At first glance, . the specs aren’t ^ all that intim- idating. But fiA raw poly- MS gon push- ing power isn’t what Nintendo J have gone Y for with the Camecube, and they’ve said as much themselves. They’ve tried to create a machine that is powerful, The Cekko MPU really plays a sup¬ porting role to the Camecube’s graph¬ ics chip, the Flipper LSI. Designed by ArtX (a startup company consisting of ex-Silicon Graphics staff led by Wei Yen - formerly in charge of the team responsible for the N64’s graphics architecture), the Camecube’s Flipper LSI CPU is also manufactured at 0.18 micron. With 3MB of embedded iT- SRAM that’s used for texture and frame Speaking of which, the Gamecube’s main MPU (microprocessing unit) is a custom designed RISC based 405MHz demon from IBM codenamed "Cekko”. 405MHz may not sound fast, especially compared to the Xbox’s 733 CPU, but this baby has a few tricks up its sleeve. [TTwTTl LHIiL'J BHM feature Japanese author Mishima once said, "there are two contradictory things in Japanese culture... Elegance and brutality". GAMECUBE TECHSPECS Like a current gaming PC, the pro¬ cessing load is split, with the graph¬ ics chip looking after 3D calculations and rendering, while the Cekko MPU calculates complex AI routines and game physics. Unlike most modern PCs, however, these two chips are designed to work in perfect harmony and have more than enough memory support to ensure that maximum per¬ formance is maintained. As you may know, Nintendo used Factor 5’s audio compression tools to great effect on the N64. Well, the partnership continues, and Factor 5 have designed the Camecube’s i6bit Digital Sound Processor (DSP) chip - also housed on the Flipper LSI. Running at 101MHz, the sound proces¬ sor can access the 16MB of A-Memory, keeping the iT-SRAM main memory free for other operations. Nintendo have clearly put the developer’s needs first with the hard¬ ware array, but we haven’t even dis¬ cussed the hardware supported effects that have been incorporated into the design. The information Nintendo has released so far is rela¬ tively non-specific, but we do know that the Camecube supports bump mapping, fog, multi-texture map¬ ping, x8 hardware lights and more (see specs to the right). With the Camecube, Nintendo look to have delivered a slap in the face to Sony’s PlayStation 2 and arguably, Microsoft’s Xbox. Camecube is hard¬ ware designed for the developer, and ultimately the gamer. Best of all, this is all designed with affordability in mind. Technically, Camecube is going to rock hard and still be priced aggres¬ sively to boot! I MPU (Microprocessor Unit) IBM POWCT PC "Gekko" Manufacturing Process 0.18 microns Copper Wire Technology Clock Frequency 405 MHz CPU Capacity 925 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1) Internal Data Precision 32bit Integer £ 64bit Floating-point External Bus Bandwidth i.6GB/second(Peak) (32bit address, 64bit data bus 202.5MHz) Internal Cache Li: Instruction 32KB. Data 32KB (8 way) L2: 256KB (2 way) System LSI "Flipper” Manufacturing Process o.»8 microns NEC Embedded DRAM Process Clock Frequency 202.5MHz Embedded Frame Buffer Approx. 2MB Sustainable Latency 5ns (iT-SRAM) Embedded Texture Cache Approx. iMB Sustainable Latency 5ns (iT-SRAM) Texture Read Bandwidth i2.8GB/second (Peak) Main Memory Bandwidth 3.2GB/second (Peak) Color, Z Buffer 24bit Image Processing Function Fog, Subpixel Anti¬ aliasing, HW Light x8. Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texture Mapping/Bump/Environment Mapping, MIPMAP, Bilinear Filtering, Real-time Texture Decompression (S3TC), etc. 5 Other Real-time Decompression of D splay List, HW Motion Compensation Capability Sound Processor Special i6bit DSP (integrated into the Svstem LSI) Instruction Memory 8 All in-house PC previews and reviews are done on Gateway computers. www. au. gateway, com Gateway. I ■ r.vv 48 »HYPER reviews» ■g> AVAILABLE: Now CATESIIY: 3D P atformer PLAYTBS: 1-4 miiSHEl: Nintendo mi. $99.35 RATINE: 68+ SUPPORTS: Rumble Pak F or a came starring a bear wearing tiny yellow hotpants so tight they’d make Kylie Minogue blush, Banjo-Kazocie was remarkably good. Created by Rare (see page 42 for more), it has been *he only game thus far to challenge Mario 64’s throne in the realm of 3D pla:forming. Showcasing Rare’s typically impressive polish and inventiveness, Banjo- Kazooie worked so well because of the ingenius combination of two charac¬ ters. Each had its own abilities, and when combined afforded a wealth of gameplay potential that Rare managed to exploit with some clever levels and puzzles. THROWING DOWN THE GAUNTLET... After giving the bear and the bird a thorough spanking, we’ve had a long wait for Banjo-Tooie - especially after our appetite was whet by the alluring hints in the first game regarding areas that can only be unlocked by playing Banjo-Tooie (still unconfirmed). There was even a secret ending that had Mumbo giving the player a sneak peak of what to expect from the sequel. The long wait has been more than worth it, mind you, and it’s not hard to see why it took this long. Banjo-Tooie is a game that will charm the bright yellow pants off you, as Rare have most definitely addressed any complaints with the original. They’ve tweaked platform game mechanics to a whole new level here, as well as injecting a healthy dose of acerbic sass-mouth for good measure. In fact, it’s the humour that more or less guarantees even the skeptics will have a good time with Banjo-Tooie. Rare have managed to craft perhaps the best 3D platformer ever at the same time as parodying so many of the institutions of the genre. It doesn’t take itself at all seriously - King Jingaling greets you with a "Yo wassup”, and there are constant refer¬ ences to the first game, not to mention DBN'T APE AIBUND reviews MINI ME GAMES Banjo-Tooie is simply brimming with mini¬ games and challenges. These include: the Mayan Kickball challenge, the Dodgem Car Challenge, the Balloon Burst Challenge, the mini-sub shootout, and the Tower Of Tragedy Quiz. Many of these are playable in multiplayer games too - fourteen all up. While a fun diversion, there’s nothing here to replace Mario Tennis, but hey thanks for including them Rare! # i M Jill III! 11 M III! 4 ^. BANJO IS ALWAYS PICKING IP IIRIS some surprisingly risque content. When the "seaman” jokes and drag queen references start flying in the Jolly Roger Lagoon level you’ll know what we mean, if you can stop laugh¬ ing for long enough that is. Backing up this award winning toi¬ let humour, is some of the finest gameplay this side of Goldeneye. In addition to the tight set of abilities that made the original so solid, Banjo and Kazooie can now split up, opening up a whole host of individual moves for the player to learn. There are 40 new moves in all, including some very cool surprises such as the "Breegull Blaster”, where the game switches to a first person shooter and Banjo totes Kazooie like a gat. Among many oth¬ ers, you can learn to grab onto ledges and shimmy along, Kazooie gets fired like a torpedo, Banjo learns to wield his backpack as a deadly weapon, and Kazooie learns to fire eggs while flying as well as swimming. Another cool new feature in Banjo-Tooie is the range of eggs you can now pick up and maim things with. Forget the old garden variety egg, there are now grenade eggs, fire eggs, ice eggs, and clock¬ work Kazooie eggs. GETTING' WIGGY IN THE WIGWAM In the quest to keep the puzzles ever more interesting and challenging, Banjo-Tooie comes with more sub¬ quests, mini games and extra playable characters than anybody expected. You can visit Humba Wumba’s wigwam (chortle) and Mumbo Jumbo’s skull to transform into bizarre new creatures - each with their own abilities. From Mumbo himself (nobody seems to like him either, if you try talking to other characters chances are they’ll tell you where to go), to a Detonator (a strange dynamite detonation box that hops around - you can use it to blow up giant boulders to reveal a new path), a panel van, a submarine, a baby T-Rex, a daddy T-Rex, a washing machine, a snowball, and a bee. Phew! Technically, not a whole lot has changed. We won’t patronise you by pretending that the graphics are "pretty” - many of the environments are over filtered and relatively aver¬ age looking, but as far as the N64 goes, Rare have done an absolutely wonderful job. The variety and size of the environments still impress, and the textures are perfectly suited to the gameworlds. The characters also look excellent - all this without utilising the RAM pack. And let’s not forget the particle effects from splashing around in the water (coupled with the bubbles under the surface) - two years on from Banjo-Kazooie and they still haven’t been equaled on a console. ^ Sound is mostly the same as it was in Banjo- ^ Kazooie, which is to say very good. The music is context sensitive, so moving from the land into the water will slow its pace right down and dis¬ tort it somewhat, and mov¬ ing from a safe area into a dangerous one manically increases the pace. While good, the music is just a little too familiar, and after going a straight 14 hour stretch of the game near the end of my playguide for the original, I sincerely hoped that I’d never have to hear that same theme loop again. Such is life. The voices still 49 »HYPER SO »HYPER reviBws» reviews GET ME SOME F LEAVE QUIETLY? CHE THE FASTFOOD PRODUCT PLACEMENT WITH Till PECKER NB DOUBT consist of endearing gobble-de-gook, with each character having very dis¬ tinct sound parameters and appropri¬ ate intonation, jamjars, your military instructor, for instance, has a very mil¬ itant "hut hut hut” way of talking. Besides, with the amount of dialogue in this game, it just wouldn’t be feasi¬ ble to sample voices. LEARN HOWTO PLAY THE BANJO There’s a near incalculable amount of gameplay locked away in Banjo- Tooie, and once again, the adventure is hardly what you’d call linear. Every area seems to have a whole host of puzzles there for the solving, but chances are that many of these won’t be solvable until later in the game when you learn a particular ability. As you progress through the game you’re constantly learning new skills, and there’s quite a bit of backtrack¬ ing required. Lacking the skills to beat certain puzzles early on in the game may frustrate some, but per¬ sonally, we found it enjoyable that if you couldn’t solve one puzzle there ri As a New Years card. Nintendo sent out a picture always seemed to be plenty more to ! of Conker from Conker’s Bad Fur Day spewing try OUt instead. into an open toilet. Nice, www.conker.com The worlds are absolutely massive, almost dauntingly so, but unlike Donkey Kong 64 they don’t seem huge for the sake of being huge, and are rarely confusing. Rare have clev¬ erly made separate areas within worlds instantly recognisable, as well as utilising a variety of warp points throughout the worlds for easy travel. For instance, if only Mumbo can beat a certain puzzle, you can simply use the nearest pad to warp to the pad outside Mumbo’s skull-house, change characters, then warp back again. Across the worlds - Mayahem Temple, Glitter Gulch Mine, Witchyworld, Jolly Roger Lagoon and Terrydactyland, Banjo-Tooie keeps the challenge and entertainment levels high. It will take some perseverance to beat, so if you’re looking for some¬ thing to tide you over until Gamecube, Banjo-Tooie will hit the spot. ■ PLUS A great sequel that’s constantly poking fun at itself aad eveiything else._ MINUS Banjo-Tooie is a fantastic swan song for the N64. c/i -< 'V 52 »HYPER reviews» ONI WHO! IS SHI STICKING THU IIASHIIGHT? M pi\ ?air A V SlG ■ Oni oni oni, in a rich man's world. Gareth Jones jumps into action. Hu f w RUBBER ” 1 \Pr JAMP^I \ February Thi'd Person Action 1 mum. GOD Games ma $89.95 m mn» KWI Pil 300. 32MB RAM. 30 Card H»l Pil/lil 450.128MB RAM. 32MB 30 Card E ver faced an opponent across the room in Q3 or UT and wanted to leap into the air, spin into a somersault and t.nen end up with a flying kick that expunges the bad guy’s gizzards out through his back rather than just cowardly spam a few rockets at him ar.d then run away? No? Me neither. But Bungie have, and they’ve taken a gamble that this is the kind of thing you’ll enjoy too. Enter Oni, a third person action game in the style of Tomb Raider that com¬ bines the button-mashing fun of fighting games like Tekken with a hefty dose of anime extravagance and a lovely tech-noir dystopic theme thrown in. Think of it as Lara getting jiggy with Tekken’s Jin and the resul¬ tant offspring then being chosen to star in a film co-directed by John Woo and Ridley Scott. PLOT PLOT PLOT Set in 2032 you take on the role of Konoko, a police officer for the ’Tech Crimes Task Force’ as she begins her training and then first assignment tracking down a nefarious group of technologically enhanced bad dudes. Heavily influenced by anime and ’tech-noir’ films, the plot is very con¬ voluted and labyrinthine. As the story emerges throughout the missions you begin to learn more about the dark past of Konoko and become forced to wonder just who, or what, she really is - as well as the motives and alle¬ giances of your superiors and support team. It really is an excellently paced and involving plot that drives the story behind the game - this isn’t ’just another action game’ where the story¬ line is really only a frilly bit added on to make some sense of level after level of level of killing. But that’s all you’ll hear from this reviewer about Oni’s plot; suffice to say that to clue you in anymore would ruin quite a bit of the enjoyment you’ll get from playing. It’s not just the plot that will have you sitting up and taking notice though, as the gameplay is also excel¬ lent. Bungie have introduced a wide range of fighting moves along with the more standard ’point gun at target, shoot’ elements. Players use the stan¬ dard FPS mouse and keyboard controls, with the addition of a punch and kick button. Used either just to punch and kick or in combination with other actions, Konoko can deliver an increas¬ ingly devastating series of blows and throws to her opponents. Bungie have done an excellent job of making the hand-to-hand combat quite simple and intuitive, as well as intricate and varied enough to make you want to keep honing your skills and practicing new moves. During the heat of battle there is a real difference between a player who just mashes buttons (like I did at first) and one who times their attacks and makes use of often simple K0H0K0 S VALIUM KICKS IN AT A REALLY INAPPROPRIATE TIME reviews RAP RANGING BUSKERS, HOW SAD combinations (such as dash forward ♦ crouch, which makes Konoko slide underneath an attacker and hacks their ankles, or "punch punch punch” for a cool combo, and plenty more). As you progress through the missions, Konoko also gains new attack abilities and combinations as well as becoming more forceful with her blows, too. It’s not all just Martial Arts mayhem though, there’s plenty of weaponry scattered about the place, and being a cop Konoko is proficient at using all the varieties on offer. From pistols to shotguns, energy weapons, and even a ’swarm’ rocket launcher, there’s plenty to keep the avid shooter happy in Oni. In a most excellent design decision, Bungie have severely limit¬ ed the amount of weapons and ammo on offer. Guns don’t grow on trees (and nor do they float in mid air or respawn ala Q3 etc), and to get hold of a weapon Konoko has to first dis¬ patch an enemy and then steal his - hoping that there’s some ammo left in there. Ammo is found in the same way, as are medikits (or in this case, ’hypos’), and both are in very short supply. The blend of shooting and fighting is just about perfect, as there’s always a few weapons that can be picked up but you’ll also be forced to go hand-to-hand often during each mission as well. THE GREAT BUGBEAR Bungie, ever the masters of profes¬ sionalism, called in two actual archi¬ tects to design the levels and ’world’ of Oni with AutoCAD, and the results are just great. There are hallways aplenty, but the at times massive levels allow for plenty of room for walkways, breakable glass windows, machinery and plenty of general eye candy. Though there’s usually a fairly linear mini-goal for Konoko, players are free to roam about as much as they like - often rewarded with caches of weapons, health or ammo if they look hard enough. The great bugbear of third person action games has been the control method and the almost inevitable prob¬ lems that arise from the camera becom¬ ing obscured by objects within the level. With Oni, however, Bungie just make the offending wall (or whatever it is) disappear. Hey presto - no problem. It does give players a bit of an opportu¬ nity to cheat a little and peek through walls that they shouldn’t be able to see through, but nothing’s perfect. And though Oni is great and comes highly recommended, it certainly isn’t perfect. Even on medium difficulty level at times Oni can be very, very hard. Each mission has three or four save points, but particularly as Konoko progresses the gap between save points becomes larger - and of course the game becomes harder too. Expect to have to replay certain sections quite a few times before you figure out the best way to progress through. Also, the absolute bane of third per¬ son games - the Took behind’ action isn’t an option. Movement and control is fluid, but there is no way to look behind you without turning around, and the AI will sneak up on you quite often too. With the inclusion of ’mouselook’ to aid turning Konoko does have a small turning circle, but still it would have been nice for a ’behind you!’ button to be included as it will frustrate you at times. Oni is still without a doubt a fantas¬ tic game. It’s the first instance where hand-to-hand combat has been suc¬ cessfully melded with third person action-adventure, and the profession¬ alism and quality in all other aspects are top notch. Whether you prefer Lara- style action/adventure, button-mash¬ ing fighting games, or even your stan¬ dard FPSes like Q3 and UT, Oni has quality, class and is extremely deserv¬ ing of your attention. PLUS Fighting game moves blended with action and adventure, excellent storyline and setting. MINUS Quite difficult, very lew save points. VISUALS SOUNI GAMEPLAY 90 85 92 OVERALL Action game or fighting game? It’s both and it rocks! 53 »HYPER 54 »HYPER reviews» CAM AND ELIOT THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AME RICAN McGEE'S ALICE No* Act on 1 EA $89.95 WA15-» Pll 400. 64MB RAM. 16MB Open 61 capable video card Pill 500.128MB RAM. GeForce 2 lenge of reinventing Alice for the beginning of the 21st century, and has (mostly) come up trumps. After all, Alice’s surreal world and the book’s dark subtext are perfect videogame fodder. So what lies in store for modern day Alice? Well, since this is the age of computer simulated graphic violence, it’s time to dive back through the look¬ ing glass, butcher’s knife in hand. "Curiouser and curiouser" said Cam Shea as the mushroom did its thing... EWIS CARROLL’S ALICE IN Wonderland holds an esteemed place in our literary heritage. It stands alongside other great works like "The Smugglers Of Pirate Cove” and "Stiff Upper Lip, jeeves”, as a piece of writing that has weathered the test of time. It may have been penned 135 years ago, but characters like the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts are still part of the col¬ lective subconscious today. Alice’s endurance is in large part due to its enticing combination of a bizarre world, unique characters and artful storytelling. Another factor in its continued presence is the number of times the story has been reinvented or retold, keeping i: fresh in each genera¬ tion’s mind. Ex-id software producer American McGee has taken the chal¬ ALICE DOES WONDERLAND... American McGee’s Alice (AMGA) takes place several years after Lewis Carroll’s tale. Since her first visit, Wonderland has lost its whimsical edge and somehow contorted into a night¬ mare realm. Tormented by insidious visions, Alice has lost her marbles and spent the intervening years in a mental institution. Thus, the only way to regain sanity is for Alice to return to Wonderland and kick some Queen of Hearts booty. Talk about existential gaming! Right from the word go, AMGA’s depiction of a darker Wonderland feels spot on. American McGee and his team have reworked many of the original characters and locations to great effect. The Cheshire Cat is every bit as crafty as he should be, and the Card Guards every bit as flat. Level design is slick and surreal, artfully balancing fairy tale elements with dark lunacy to create an enticing, and constantly sur¬ prising gameworld. Plus, running on the Quake 3 engine, AMGA looks amaz¬ ing. If you were hoping for a complex storyline and cerebral gameplay then you’re going to be disappointed. AMGA is very much a graphics driven game, relying a little too heavily on the weird and the wonderful to keep your interest levels up. Gameplay stays strictly within the straight-up third- person action-game mould. Levels are mostly linear, puzzles are simple and infrequent, and the storyline struggles to rise above mere garnish. Oh, there’s a little too much jumpy jumpy plat¬ forming action for our liking too. With such a cool gothic concept to explore, it’s a shame that more effort wasn’t put into the storyline and character development. After all, the basic premise of the game is Alice’s inner turmoil. ALICE'S NICE ARSENAL... Even so, you could do a lot worse than whiling away the wee gaming hours in AMGA’s immersive world. It really is a visual feast. The design work is sumptuous, from the stylish menu screens and artwork, through to the consistently impressive level design, creative architecture and detailed tex¬ tures. Alice is animated well, controls accurately, and has a nice arsenal with which to blow away the truly freaky creatures you’ll come up against. The music and sound effects also add greatly to the experience, thanks to former Nine Inch Nail Chris Vrenna. Despite its problems, Alice is an undeniably alluring game. Gorgeous graphics, great design and an excel¬ lent premise make Alice’s journey through the surreal next-gen Wonderland an experience worth checking out. Oh, and the f*“k me boots? Niiiice... GAMING CAN BE A LO NELY PLACE... Alas fair readers, for Alice lacks a mul¬ tiplayer option. This is probably fair enough, as the emphasis is very much on the solitary freak-out Wonderland experience, and reworking the game would have taken a lot of effort. Even so, a co-operative mode would have been cool, as would team based multi¬ player action. PLUS Mesmerising levels and graphics. WHO IS AMERICAN MCGEE, AND WHY’S HIS NAME ON THE BOX? Judging by the name alone, you'd think that American McGee's probably a close personal friend of Ted Nugent, or perhaps Charlton Heston. Fortunately, this isn’t the case, and despite the practical joke af a name, American McGee has some serious pedigree. He was an integral cog at id software for some time, and has brought that experience to bear in Alice. Even so... We’re used to seeing directors parading their name alongside a film's title. Is this a trend that should follow throuch into the world of gaming? Although most game producers aren't known by name, there are enough high profile industry vets to get the ball rolling. "Shigeru Miyamoto’s Mario 128”? Can’t see that happen¬ ing. More like "Yamauchi’s Worker Bees Present Nintendo Game 134”. Then again..."John Romero’s Daikatana"? Damn, too late! If we take this idea throuch to its logical con¬ clusion, where every game is titled in this way, then we’re in for some amusing titles from startups... "Frank Grimt’s Post Office Sim 4000”? And how about the teams who would prefer to stay anonymous? We’d be seeing games like "Some Dude’s Crappy Film Port". Best of all, we’d eventually get to a Futurama- like scenario, with games titles like "Wrestling Game Design Unit 21’s Grapple-O-Matic". ALICE FALLS FOB THE U 100K IT’S THE G000YEAR BUMP!” ROUTINE. AGAIN. HAVE AT YOU, YOU, YOU... AND YOU! MINIS Simplistic and linear gameplay. Load times are a killer. BlHKH OVERALL Alice is on a mission to tonk... and tonk she does! ANOTHER UNLIKELY DRUNKEN WEDDING IN VEGAS ...AND TOM WAS READY TO GO CLUBBING! 55 »HYPER 56 »HYPER reviews» WALKER TEXAS RAHGER 2D01. THE REALLY UNPOPULAR THIRD SERIES GUNMAN CHRONICLES Gareth Jones has the fastest pun in the west, apparently... HERE WAS A TIME WHEN THOSE who laboured in their spare time slaving away over acres of code, miles of level design, minutiae of character models, reams of script¬ ing and endless tweaking to release their mods were only in it for the love of it. It was enough to have their peers recognize their efforts and applaud them. That was then, this is now. Mods these days can be huge business, and more and more mod developers are setting their sights on making money from their efforts - nothing wrong with that in itself, but not all mods are worth paying money for. In fact, there are very few that are actually worth paying money for - Counter Strike and Team Fortress are pretty much the only two that come to mind. SCI-FI SHERIFF So, if you haven’t guessed already, Gunman Chronicles is a mod (well, actually a Total Conversion or TC) of Half-Life developed by Rewolf Studios and distributed by Sierra. In true mod developer style, many of the members of Rewolf have never actually met in real life, but they’ve still managed to put together a creditable offering, even if it is just ’average’. The story is that you’re a Gunman, something like a wild western Sheriff in the future, on patrol in ‘Banzur Prime’ when a hefty bunch of Xenomes attacked your group, killing most of your fellow Gunmen and dragging your Ceneral away to pre¬ sumably snack on later. Being a sensi¬ ble fellow, you run away as fast as you can, jump in your spaceship and get the f*6k outa there. A while later, your new team is called to respond to a distress signal back on Banzur Prime - and it turns out that the General survived the Xenomes and has in fact mastered them. And he’s not particularly happy with you either. Because you left him for dead, he's lured you into a trap, set the Xenomes to attack you and run away - your task being to fight your way through them and get to the now com¬ pletely insane General and stop him. A decent premise for the game, and it’s pushed along very well by the high number of scripted sequences that occur throughout the game - probably the highpoint of GC is the plot and script. However, the level design is annoyingly linear, the puzzles are quite ordinary (and at times frustrat¬ ing), the AI is nothing to write home about, and because there’s only four or five different types of adversaries it gets rather staid rather quickly. RIDE OFF INTO THE SUN Now, as far as the weaponry at your disposal goes, the back of the box loud¬ ly and proudly proclaims that there’s 32 variations of weapons on offer. And it’s right, but this isn’t a good thing. Most of the weapons are standard FPS issue - CURIOSITY RILLED THE CAT reviews AIM A LITTLE TO THE LEFT a handgun, shotgun, rapid fire rifle, sniper rifle, grenade, rocket launcher, and energy gun. What Rewolf have tried to do to make things a little bit different is to make the weapons cus¬ tomisable. With the shotgun, for exam¬ ple, you select how many shells to fire each shot, and what 'mode’ the weapon should be in; Riot gun for spreadfire, Shotgun for close-up work, or Rifle mode for accuracy with range. Each weapon is customisable in this manner and while it is a rather cool idea and is at first plenty of fun to muck about with, there is a major flaw. During the heat of battle it’s just not possible to change modes on the fly, so you either have to retreat and change or just stick with what you’ve got. For a TC, this is one of the best that ever was. But for a full priced retail game it isn’t anywhere near long enough, doesn’t feature nearly enough innovation, depth, or interesting level design, doesn’t have the polish of a professional game, and it just doesn’t compare to other modern offerings in the FPS genre. Now, if it was being sold for $20 or thereabouts, it would be a decent purchase to both support the developers who have put in a hell of a lot of time and effort and done a great job as well as just to enjoy the game. But this is not anything out of the ordi¬ nary, and after reading this you’ll probably never hear of it again. Yep, Gunman Chronicles has an obligatory multiplayer mode. Up to 32 players via LAN or the internet. PLUS Excellent story and scripted sequences. MINUS Banal levels, adversaries, and suffers from a termiial lackof depth. VISUALS SOUNI GAMEPLAY 74 75 64 OVERALL If it was a free down oad. it’d be the best thing ever. It's not. and it’s not. 57 »HYPER 58 »HYPER reviews» GIANTS CITIZEN KABUTO Roland Flanagan's days of being a BFG are over. Bring on the Big F'ing Angry Giant! IANTS: CITIZEN KABUTO IS FINALLY here, ahead of Peter Molyneux’s forthcoming title Black and White. But have Planet Moon made the right decision in releasing this game before the Christmas rush in America and during the sales in Oz? Well, the answer to that question is a straight out yes. Giants is one of the greatest hybrid games, if not the greatest 3rd Person Action game released on PC to date. It takes place on an island in the middle of nowhere. It’s a vibrant and colourful world, rich with beasties and flora, textures and polygons. On this island live some very interesting life forms. Aside from the assorted bad arses scattered around the island for firing practice, there are the Smarties - rela¬ tives of Elvis from Perfect Dark and the Meccayns - beefcakes from the Planet Flanagan. There are also Sea Reapers - hot, laige breasted babes who are into serious sunbaking and general mischief, and finally, the giant Kabuto who’s err... bloody huge. Nuff said. Many people judge a game only on its graphics, and by this simple-mind¬ ed criterion Giants delivers. It WILL woo you with its immaculate graphics (Geforce 2 anyone?), from the surreal and enticing tropical colours on dis¬ play through to the attention to detail and funky design, it’s certainly capti¬ vating. The water flows freely against the shore, trees splinter into millions of pieces when shot, Kabuto leaves huge paw prints wherever he lumbers... its all done to an impressive level. Fortunately, Giants has the sound and addictive gameplay to match. PARTY ON WAYNE. PARTY ON GARTH. The intro to the first level provides a glimpse of the sheer scale of the intricate world of Giants Citizen Kabuto. Our first batch of heroes, the Meccs, crash into the Island and lose a few ship members in the descent. Rough and tough, they must find each other, help the local “YOU GOT ANY VISENI SHORTY?" reviews A FLASH OF THIEH AND IT WAS All OVER FOR TRE ENEMY populace by saving falling Smarties, and hopefully get back to interstel¬ lar travel. About a third of the way into the game, however, the action switches to Delphi, daughter of the Sea Reaper Queen. She doesn’t quite like the current cruelty and wicked actions of her family, who brutally murder the Smarties. Thus, she must help the Meccs save the Smarties and bring the Sea Reapers back to the peace loving sunbaking babes they used to be. Another set of abilities, challenges and terrain to cover in this portion. Finally, the conclusion of our game brings us the life of the giant himself - Kabuto. Not too hard to fathom really... Eggs = offspring = Lots of Giants. Sounds good. Lay lots of eggs and help raise them and con¬ quer the island all in time for dinner. There are many levels for each inhabitant, all with wonderful mission objectives showing off the time that Planet Moon have put into this game. They range from saving falling Smarties, to races, to simple search and destroy missions, each involving new weapons and environments which will have you coming back for more. The game includes multiplayer capa¬ bilities, but at the time of writing, no Australian servers were available. However, we can tell you that the main ideas for multiplayer include Capture the Smartie, a variation of the traditional CTF that promises to see many players repulsed. Thankfully, the inclusion of multiplayer capabilities have taken noth¬ ing away from the single player game. Giants is pretty much everything it was hyped up to be (could be a first!). Christmas might have come and gone, but birthdays will not be without gam¬ ing goodness with titles like this around. To all those at Planet Moon, congrats on a first class game for your first release. May the force be with you. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN REAllY OEIY OWARFS BY THE SDNS OF KALARL, GRUNTS AHOY! The quality in the sound department rocks hard! Combining realistic sound effects for the environment, such es a dull thud when you shoot a tree, to a sharp ping when you shoot brick houses to smithereens, you’ll become so immersed in the in-game music that you might let your oizza go cold. Don’t be surprised if you start whistling the tunes around the house. There is no shame in this. But the sound really excels in the character voices. No points for guessing that Kabuto sounds like Big Merv getting out of bed. while the Sea Reapers' voices mimic a Playboy Playmate/Mrs Crabtree from Southpark. Fans of Pinky and the Brain will I feel right at home, because Timmy | (Southpark anyone?) the Smartie sounds exactly like Pinky. The Meccs, especially Baz, sound like Ricky Ponting after his night at the Bourbon and Beefsteak. Try acting out this awe¬ some scene using those voices: Baz (Mecc): What the *%$£ is that? Timmy (Smartie): Wax models of Smarties. The Sea Reapers are trying to frighten us off our island... Baz: Akmed!!! The Smarties! They’re real! Timmy (faints and then regains conscious): Please, save them! Oh Gad, and to think yesterday I was throwing stones at them. Baz: Yeah, they do look a little beat up. I €1 Giants is packed to the gills with humour at every turn, with the cutscenes in particular being a riot. It's worth playing just for the fun of laughing at the expense of the losers on screen. PLUS Gorgeous graphics, intuitive controls and style to boot. OVERALL cn o A kick-arse game that provides everything it promised. «< TJ m 60 »HYPER reviews» YOU WOIIDN'T BELIEVE IT BOB. BUT THERE ARE TWO GIANT ARRDW8 FALLING DOT OF THE SKY." PRO RALLY 2001 We like to keep George Soropos off the streets. It's safer that way. E urope is probably rally racinc’s biggest market, so it comes as no surprise that most of the world’s Rally games are developed there. Due to poor planning and a general distaste for efficiency (mainly because it’s such a German trait) many parts of Europe are inaccessible to conventional modes of transport and the only way to get around is in a Rally car. Governments over there figure :hat they can save bil¬ lions by not repairing their roads with the bonus of training, at no extra expense, millions of potential Rally dri¬ vers to bring fame and glory to their crumbling, shabby little countries. One such place is Spain, the home of the development team that put togeth¬ er Pro Rally 2001. Most of the members of this team had never been involved in the games industry before this pro¬ ject, which began in 1998, and this was for all intents and purposes their first game. Sadly it shows and one has to question the wisdom in giving such a big job to such an inexperienced crew. THE USUAL GAMUT Pro Rally offers all the usual features that we’ve come to expect from Rally titles: Time Trial, Championship and single races, plus unlockable tracks and cars and the odd special stage here and there. The one newish element to the gameplay has actually been stolen from Sony’s PlayStation title Gran Turismo. Before you can race in the championship you have to qualify by passing a series of tests to prove your driving skills. The terrain and environments offered span the usual gamut of possi¬ bility with red dirt in Australia, snow in Sweden and mud in the UK. Sadly, you can’t pop a wheelie over Olympus Mons on Mars but perhaps one day... The disappointing thing about these environments though is that they are all rather dull. Sure, when you’re rac¬ ing you don’t have time to appreciate the scenery but the circuits could have used a bit more drama or detail to set them apart from each other. The real problems with the game though start and finish with the cars. Head designer for the title, David Dames, stated in an online interview that the game has been built as a com¬ promise between arcade style handling and simulation style realism and there¬ fore should have the effect of pleasing both camps. As we of course know this sort of thing usually has the effect of pleasing no camps, in fact in situations like this, camps are generally so unim¬ pressed they pack up their tents imme¬ diately and book a room at a Hotel. The worst thing about the car han¬ dling is the part where you try and slow the thing down. The most bizarre aspect of the whole game in fact is the way in which your cars completely fail to lose power when you take your foot off the juice. In many instances, shallow bends for example, a driver would usually slow down a bit by simply decelerating. Not an option in Pro Rally. The bottom line is that Pro Rally 2001 has nothing to recommend it over Colin McRae Rally which was released on the PC two or three years ago. Ubisoft prob¬ ably would have been better served if they had allowed this fledgling group of developers to have a dress rehearsal with a simpler project before letting them loose on a commercial one. OVERALL An average rally title in every respect. reviews HE SHOUIO LAY IFF THE MARS BARS DRY HUMOUR STUPID INVAD We thought Kevin Cheung needed a break from his consoles.... -CD- Now Adventure 1 Ubisoft $79.95 Pll 300. 64Mb RAM Pll 300*. 64Mb RAM LIEN SQUIDCETS HAVE CRASH- landed on Earth and taken refuge in a rustic house on the outskirts of town. While the aliens attempt to fix their tiny ship to get off this rock, the dastardly Dr. Sakarine covets whatever secrets their technolo¬ gy and anatomy possess. He hires all¬ round bad guy, Bolok, to capture our unsuspecting protagonists. From the onset, Bolok nabs four out of the five aliens with his ray gun. The one who escapes is the character you control, with the aim of avoiding any direct confrontation with Bolok, freeing your buddies, and getting to safety. FROM SPACE TO STUPID Stupid Invaders takes the form of a point-and-click adventure and tries very hard to live up to its name. The bizarre choice of style has resulted in a cross between the artistic direction of Pinky and the Brain and the bizarre characterisation of Ren and Stimpy. Visually it’s remarkably crisp - simple polygonal characters against 2D back¬ drops - it’s just a question of being able to identify the items and exit points on the screen. On the surface, Stupid Invaders seems aimed for a relatively low age bracket. If not for the cartoon presen¬ tation, the game starts out with some stupidly easy puzzles. Once substan¬ tial progress has been made, though, and the game will grow in difficulty, offering a few real mindbenders for good measure. Each successfully com¬ pleted section rewards you with an animated cut-scene, the sum of which there is around an hour’s worth. The control system is nice and sim¬ ple. When you highlight an object on the screen, you’ll be offered an option of look at it, take it, use it, or speak to it. Inventory is toggled by the Space Bar. To use an item, just click on it, and then click what you want to use it on. It’s also possible to combine items - click on an item, then click on the other item you want to combine it with. While the production values are rea¬ sonably high, there are numerous holes in the continuity. For instance, early in the game, you have to escape from the cellar locked from the inside by a pad¬ lock. Now, unless the dead guy in the nearby coffin locked himself in before dying, there’s just no way for that to be possible. A GAME OF SCRUPLES? Beyond these minor scruples, one’s enjoyment of Stupid Invaders will largely be a question of taste. If you were like me, you’d have been playing Escape From Monkey Island for the last few weeks. In this respect Stupid Invaders lacks subtlety. There’s noth¬ ing elegant about the way it presents its in-your-face gags and grossness, or the loudmouth goggle-eyed idiocy of its characters. On the other hand, Ren £ Stimpy was priceless. Much like a Nickleodeon cartoon, you either love it or hate it. Stupid Invaders is cute and a tad gimmicky. There’s a definite mismatch of age in the target audience by devel¬ oper Xilam. But beneath the bizarre colours and quirky storyline is a very challenging adventure game with hun¬ dreds of puzzles to sort through. Worth checking out. PLUS Crisp, clean, animated style. Simple but functional contral system. MINUS Bizarre style will be ton childish for some. 85 82 81 OVERALL Don't let appearances (or the really simple interface) fool you * Stjpid Invaders is a worthy addition to the adventure genre. 61 »HYPER 62 »HYPER reviews» lull RALLY 2.0 Life is like a series of speed bumps, according to Eiiot Fish... Make sure you hop along to www.codemasters.co.uk for your CMR2 patches! G> f Now Rally Racing PUTINS H PRSlISftf* Codemasters rm $89.95 IATMS 9 mutui Pll 300, 32Mb RAM. 30 Card MRfl Pill 500*. 128Mb RAM. 32Mb 3D Card L ike bobbing lor a peeled mango in a bucket of baby oil, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 is smooth, fast and tricky to handle. Codemasters have followed up the massively successful original with an addictive and rewarding sequel, albeit wit.i a few strange over¬ sights. We’ve been playing the great PlayStation version for a few months now, so how does the PC version differ? GOURMET GAMING If Colin McRae Rally 2.0 (CMR2) wasn’t the most awaited PC driving game of the last 12 months, then I don’t know what was. Codemasters - obvi¬ ously extremely aware of the anticipa¬ tion behind the sequel - have decided to stick to the formula and enhance rather than revolutionise. CMR2 brings us some stunning new visuals, an all- new physics and damage model and an arcade mode for some bumper to bumper action. But when the menu screen rolls across your monitor in true minimalist style, original Colin fans might be disappointed to see that the driving school has been dropped this time around. Another strange oversight is the lack of a bristling track editor, which has recently become standard for any racing game on the PC. If V- Rally, the handmaiden of rally games can let you edit the tracks and as a result, extend the gameplay life, why not the king of rally games? CMR2 seems to do away with fancy features and dump you straight in the middle of a tough rally. Luckily the rally is damn good. The options on hand include rally championship, time trial, single race, single rally, challenge, arcade champi¬ onship and even a split-screen rally option for two players. Split-screen? Whilst I can’t imagine any PC gamers wanting or even being able to comfort¬ ably have a game of split-screen CMR2 on their PC, I guess it’s nice to know it’s there. Is this a shadow of the PlayStation version peeping through? At least you can still play CMR2 on a LAN or the internet and enjoy some eight player racing. The new arcade mode is a welcome addition, allowing gamers to enjoy the crazy thrill of burning it to the finish line alongside a whole pack of other cars. But the true beauty of this game lies in the rally, with a wheel and a manual gearbox. Mmm... There are something like eight countries featured in CMR2 for a total of about 90 different tracks to race, so there’s plenty ahead for the serious rally fan to tackle. If you’re persistent CUNNING STUNTS! PLUS Ltls of camera perspectives, awesome gamsplay. MINUS More cardboard trees, and no track editor. VISUALS SOUND 6AMEPLAY 92 94 90 mm m OVERALL Once you pop you can’t stop... or something. Great stuff. you can also unlock cars and open up new challenge mode features - typical incentive driven racing. Of course, CMR2 offers such a great drive that you’ll enjoy every second of it. The cars feel incredibly good, and not only do the car models look almost true to life, but the damage model is such that if you drive badly and stuff up your car, it will have an impact on your car’s perfor¬ mance. A busted bumper bar will even drag in the dirt and slow you down! Newbies to the PC rally scene may find CMR2 a little daunting, as this is defi- CARS LIGHT THEIR OWN EXHAUST fOR LAUGHS, Y’XNOW nitely for gamers who played the origi¬ nal game. The learning curve is quite steep, but the nail-biting challenge mode (where you race a special man¬ made course against one other car) will have hardcore gamers perfecting their driving skills to within hundredths of a second. Certainly, CMR2 is a brilliantly made game that you won’t be able to stop playing, although in the longterm the charm does start to wear a little thin. But with a good wheel, it’d be hard to find another rally game with as much perfection in the presentation and car handling to draw you away from CMR2. The track designs are excellent, progres¬ sion through the game is paced excep¬ tionally well and it looks just marvel¬ lous. CMR2 gets you in "the zone”. ■ THE AVERAGE NEW YEAR'S EVE DRIVER 63 »HYPER 64 »HYPER reviews» MADDEN NFL 2 » Justy Tylor was willing to tackle anyone to get his hands on this baby... M adden nr 2001 answers the prayers of NFL fans across the board fora truly hardcore next-generation gridiron game. That’s not to discount the contribution of Visual Concepts’ NFL2k to the genre. However, Madden is an institution that carries a weight of respect amongst enthusiasts by virtue of the many years of excellent gridiron simulations - much like how Suoer Mario is cause for excitement for every new console he should appear on CREATE-A-PLAYERHATER However, unlike the successive gen¬ erations of Super Mario, this latest member of the Madden family isn’t likely to change the rules of football very much. Kick off the ball and it’s still the same n guys on one side trying to kill the 11 guys on the other side for a sliver of pigskin. Players are presented with the same kind of game options as before, allowing you to play in exhibi¬ tion matches, season games, and prac¬ tice rounds. There’s also a Create A Franchise mode where you hand pick players and coaches; and a Create A Player mode that can be used in con¬ junction with roster management, trading and free agency. The level of visual detail that’s gone into this game is apparent from the word go. The higher resolution and consistent 6ofps animation is a major departure from the depressing blocki- ness of last year’s PS One outing. Cameras pan around smoothly; multi¬ ple players run, juke, and dive into each other on screen without a single performance hit; and numerous envi¬ ronmental effects like rain, stadium lighting, and the reflective surface of the helmets are all so effortlessly included for that extra bit of realism. Up close, you can even make out the fabric of their jerseys. There are a surprising number of basic graphical flaws and glitches, though. You'd have thought we’d seen the end of clipping, but watch out for those victory animations after a touch¬ down: some players actually walk right through each other! To a more techni¬ cal level, the use of anti-aliasing in this game has produced some very fine looking visuals, especially the players. However, everything that’s in the dis¬ tance has a tendency to flicker, much like the backgrounds in Ridge Racer V. This is especially apparent on the kick¬ off when you can see the length of the field. Tackles, colli¬ sions, and stadi¬ um sounds are excellent, taking great advantage of the PlayStation 2 s additional sound channels. However, in-game commentary is slightly disap¬ pointing. For starters, the voic¬ es of John Madden and Pat Summerall don’t seem to have been sampled at a high quality. Through the optical and RCA audio con¬ nections on the PS2, their voices sound just a tad scratchy. This is a very minor problem, though, especially since you’ll be concentrating on every other sound effect in the game as well. The commen¬ tary is mostly let down by far too much stating of the obvious. Either that or you can see the sound byte kick in at every close up of jerry Rice to say ’’Jerry Rice is LIVE THE SMELL If PIGSKIN IN THE MIRNING reviews the greatest receiver in NFL history”. Duh. This is as distinct from NFL2ki, which actually makes some comment on the strategy of some plays. Too bad NFL2ki isn’t likely to see the light of day in Australia... SPINS AND JUKES However. Madden NFL 200i’s single most important credit is the complex physics engine at play. In a word, eye¬ opening. There’s no possible way to explain through screenshots the realism of seeing how tackles are momentum- based, and that a ball carrier can be hit several times by sloppy defenders and still break away for good yardage. You can roll under a defensive back who’s dived too high, a stiff-arm can count as a partial roll if you didn’t get your arm out early enough; you can also vary the depth of your spins and jukes by press¬ ing harder on the analogue buttons of the Dual Shock 2. The finer mechanics of pass plays are also affected. Receivers can get jammed at the line, then run perfect slants and hooks as you try to find a hole in the coverage. The picture is so crisp and the motion so smooth that you’ll know when not to thread the needle between three defensive backs; and when you do it’s not as frustrating when you throw an incompletion since you can see the arm come up and deflect or knock the ball away. On defence there are even more real¬ istic touches. Pressing the dive button, for instance, won’t cause a player to leap forward to magically close a three-yard gap, especially not when he’s running full stride. In real life, the player is more likely to fall forward with the full speed that he’s running at, and that’s exactly what happens in the game. Linemen can be shoved from side to side with the shoulder buttons, after which you can roll around them or try your luck at slapping them aside. The level of control you have over the characters in this realistic physical environment actually makes it worthwhile to play as a weaker team, outfoxing your opponents with clever moves instead of brute strength. The PlayStation 2 edition of Madden NFL 2001 is must-have gaming for all serious NFL enthusiasts. Of course, if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t know the difference between a line¬ man and a linebacker, then you’d be wasting your time. ■ PLUS The physics engine is bloody realistic. Excellent player animations. MINUS Basic graphical glitches not cleaned up. Predictably dry cammentary. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 92 82 91 OVERALL The first genuinely groundbreaking NFL game in ages, its excellence dulled by a few basic problems that'll no doubt be fixed for 2002. 65 »HYPER 66 »HYPER reviews» DANCE SUMMIT 2001 Kevin Cheung has already recorded the soundtrack to his minidisc player... sured by the score it is awarded. But sometimes, the fa:t that something does so little as to just make it into the magazine can be, in spite of the score, a sign of our utmost love for a game. This is one such occasion. Dance Summit 2001 isn’t likely to hit Australian shelves any time soon. It’s the latest ins:allment to the rhythm and groove dancing game Bust A Move, better known as Bust A Croove in the West. And considering the years that went by before Bust A Croove came to the Australian mar¬ ket - and the fact that its sequel. Dance Heaven Mi<, was never released here - we’re not holding our breath for it. WHERE THE %&$@ IS KITTY N?? Bust A Croove was, without a doubt, the funkiest game on the PSone. Think of it as PaRappa the Rapper, but aimed at a slightly higher age bracket. Players could choose from a cast of memorable dance fiends, from the break-dancing Cas-0 and the hip-hopping homeboy Heat to the Capoeira aliens and the delectable Kitty-N. The music was pro¬ fessionally mixed through one of Japan’s biggest record labels, Avex Trax, and the quality of this investment really showed through in the different styles employed. Dance Summit 2001 takes everything to the next level. Instead of two char¬ acters dancing against each other, there are now four. Instead of there being only 11 characters there are now 32, except these ones are completely new. Cone are Kitty-N and the crew, and in their place is a younger troupe of funkmeisters, all separated into teams of four, each team with their own dancing style. Some of these teams dance to a familiar beat - such as the High School Buddies who dance just like Shorty, or the Data Bebops who are obvious substitutes for Heat. Then there are the truly weird ones like the Pro Wrestlers. Graphically no one ever expected anything groundbreaking. That’s not what this game’s about. Instead what we get looks remarkably similar to the previous Bust A Croove outings, with brightly coloured costumes, strobe lights, mirror balls, and backgrounds that pulsate in time with the beat. The difference is that unlike the PS One, the PlayStation 2 can do all this with its eyes closed, as well as additional video effects like motion blur, wide-angle and kaleidoscope vision. So what exactly does one do in this game? Well, you dance. Every song is in common time (that’s four beats to a bar). For the first bar, the CPU will gen¬ erate a series of buttons that run in time with the music, for instance, ’Up, up, left, Circle, down, down, right, Square’. It’s your job to repeat these buttons in perfect time with the music during the next bar. If done correctly, your character will keep grooving along to the music. Screw up, and he or she will fall out of step and perhaps lose a placing. The better you dance the more points you score. Extra points are awarded if you can co-operate with the other three dancers for duo, trio or quartet com¬ bos, which produce the best moves in the game. This is accomplished by using the Free button opportunities, where every dancer on the screen can press any button they want for that one instant. Players who can co-ordi¬ nate which buttons they press often come out on top. Unlike the previous games, the four of you are actually dancing as a team, so there’s no option to attack each other. AND WE LOVE THIS BECAUSE... Okay. So it’s basically a glorified Simon Says. But the secret behind this game’s addictiveness is in the music. We’ve got dance, disco, gangsta hip- hop, j-pop, weird electronica... every track is bound to get someone toe-tap- ping and hip-grinding. Amazingly, every one of these tracks has a remix reviews 6R0IN-GRABBIN61Y GOOD! PAIR COMBO INDEED! SO TOUGH HE EVEN GOES THE “HAROBOILEO" TOOTHPICK IN THE MOOT) version that can be unlocked by fin¬ ishing the game with certain charac¬ ters. Most of these remixes are com¬ pletely different from the original arti¬ cle, offering differing pace and styles like techno and trance. As someone playing the game, it’s easy to bury oneself in the music. Some of the button presses are so complex that all you can concentrate on is the music anyway. With the difficulty set¬ tings put all the way up, you’ll even be required to press multiple buttons at the same time - the instructions streaming by so quickly that it’s like sight-reading from a manuscript. As a spectator, there’s also what amounts to a great music video being performed by the player. As an exten¬ sion of Bust A Groove’s Watch Mode, though, this game also has an awe¬ some video editor that lets you chore¬ ograph an entire music video, with complete camera and special effects controls, all of which can be saved to the memory card and watched without any of the button icons in the way. Dance Summit 2001 is a totally niche article, especially as a videogame. It’s a game that requires strict concentration, but at the same time its appeal is total¬ ly non-game related. The music is fan¬ tastic and it’s an extremely social game to play - it’s the coolest game one could possibly own on the PlayStation 2 so far. If you’re truly hardcore, you may even want to fork out the cash for the special two-sided clapping gloves that were released for the game. ■ PLUS Loads and loadsof music. It’s an interactive music video! MINUS Where’s Kitty N?? Needs more rap/hip-hop. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 80 90 84 OVERALL Oozing style and funk. Dance Summit 2001 is Hyper's top party game at the moment. 67 »HYPER 68 »HYPER reviews» PS2 KESSEN » From Mechs to Feudal Japan, Justy Tylor continues to kill BTukugu*a 805 R»iU- /•N AVAILABLE NOW CATEGORY Strategy PLAYERS 1 PUBLISHER Electronic Arts PRICE $99.95 RATINE G HUE THE MAJORITY OF EARLY PS2 adopters will flock to Tekken Tag Tournament, SSX, Smuggler’s Run, and the like, there will always be games like Kessen to collect disillusioned alternative seekers. Not an action, racing, or sporting title, Kessen is a strategy game tnat offers a mix of laid- back pawn-pushing and a few history lessons to give some meaning to it all. A GOD-LIKE POSITION Players are thrown into the middle of Japan’s tumultuous 1600s, when a great deal of civil unrest was kicked up due to the feud between Toyotomi and Tokugawa. There are actually many generals who play a role in the ancient Japanese historical texts, each with their own allegiances, and their gigan¬ tic armies constantly moving to out¬ fox the opposition. Playing from e Cod-like position, it’s your job to move your armies to differ¬ ent locations, to intercept the enemy at their weakest anticipated position, and to send a battalion that’s sufficiently equipped to both defend itself and to slaughter the enemy. Each army has several types of units. There are the bog-standard foot sol¬ diers, armed with katanas; further up the chain of general usefulness are the spearmen; then the archers and rifle¬ men. Spearmen are a great defence, especially for skewering charging sol¬ diers. Archers and riflemen can be used to attack from a distance during a bat¬ tle, but can also be used to take pot¬ shots at wayward enemies that have taken one step too close to their posi¬ tion. Obviously archers and riflemen differ slightly in their fatality rates. But that’s not all. There are also mounted soldiers armed with spears and swords, as well as mounted archers and riflemen. Theoretically an entire battle line that’s horse-powered should be able to mow down general infantry, but that’s not always the case. Finally, there are the cannons - slow-moving, long range, awesome destructive power, and a rather savage slap on the wrist for careless strategy. LETHARGIC AND WOODEN The game is divided into a series of battles, the aim of which is usually to drive away the opposing armies or kill the commanding general on the other side. Often the battle will see the meeting of other lesser generals, in which case a real-time cut-scene kicks in to show off their duel. The result of this duel is often determined by the morale of your troops. Oddly enough, practically every event in this game is supplemented by an animated cut-scene. When cannons go off. when horses charge in, when rifles are fired... the only time you don’t see these movies is when you’re moving the little blocks around on the map from a bird’s eye view, or when you’re zooming down to witness the battles up close in real time. It’s here that the cracks begin to reveal themselves. On one hand, the beautifully animated cut-scenes will become repetitive. On the other hand, the battles simply aren’t that interest¬ ing to watch in real-time. The charac¬ ters all move in a very lethargic, wood¬ en fashion; and you’d be hard pressed to see anyone actually getting killed. As a strategy game, Kessen has sim¬ ple, effective mechanics, but none that go very deep. The pretty cut-scenes and roving cameras may create the illusion of something more elaborate, but at its core is a period game that’s easy to get into - and out of. ■ PLUS Nice period graphics, and cool (hot repetitive) cot-scenes. Not very interactive and needs loads more options. 81 78 75 OVERALL The options are simpe but very functional; but Kessen is just begging for something deeper. Kessen 2 may have the answer for that . reviews BIG BOBBIES? NO TBOUBIES. SUPER BUST A MOVE Kevin Cheung bursts our PS2 bubble miUBEE: Now _ CATE68BV: Action/Puzzle PLAYEBS: 1-2 _ PBBUSHER: Acclaim PBIGE: $99.95 BATING: 6 T aito’s bust a move series has seemingly been around since the dawn of time, starting out origi¬ nally as a simple off-shoot of the 80s classic Bubble Bobble. Now consid¬ ered an institution, Bust A Move has appeared on every major gaming platform from the Came Boy Color to the Sega Dreamcast, and now of course the PlayStation 2. THE SQUARE ROOT If you fit in with the core gaming demographic that typifies the Hyper readership, (a) Bust A Move is nothing new to you, (b) you already have at least one version of the game, and (c) you know that Bust A Move sequels usually feature the square root of sweet bugger-all’s worth of improvements. If you’re one of the precious few who’ve yet to go through this gaming rite of passage, then it pleases me to introduce you to one of the essentials of a gamer’s lifestyle. Super Bust A Move is a puzzle game that’s part cerebral, part social. You start with a cluster of coloured bubbles attached to the top of the screen. As time pass¬ es, the ceiling starts caving in, and it’s your job to burst all of the bub¬ bles before they come crashing to the bottom where the cute little character you’re playing happens to be sitting. To burst these bubbles, you fire your own set of bubbles from the bottom of the screen which attach to the existing bubbles. Connect three or more like- coloured bubbles, and they’ll burst. These simple mechanics are the build¬ ing blocks for one of the best puzzle games around, mixing a little tactical forethought in choosing which bubbles to burst with the on-the-fly skills required for lining up a shot. Over the years, Taito added several excellent features, the most impor¬ tant being the two-player versus mode where bubbles can be sent to your opponent. Some of the other features include multiple characters, bowling balls that destroy all bubbles in its path, balancing pulleys, and magical star bubbles that act like a smart bomb. GIANT BUBBLES This new PlayStation 2 version has a few new features to offer. In the gameplay stakes there are tiny bub¬ bles that can fit through tight spaces, tractors that affect the trajectory of bounced bubbles, and giant bubbles that turn all other bubbles into the same colour. The most notable change, however, is the switch to cel- shaded 3D graphics. That is, the same style used in Jet Set Radio that put thick black outlines around the outer edges of polygons and gave every¬ thing a pseudo-cartoon look. The final result is gorgeous - the cute characters looking more fluid than they ever could be in 2D sprite form. Unfortunately there are some basic elements of design that don’t appear well thought out. In some puzzles, the bubbles are so impossibly blocked off (for instance, being located in a narrow corridor a bubble wide) that you have to brute-force your way through the level by dis¬ carding every other bubble. Other obstacles can only be overcome at the last minute when they fall over the edge, which costs you bonus points. The most frustrating glitch occurs when you have one green ball to go, and the CPU hands you 5 con¬ secutive red bubbles to shoot. If compared to the previous version, these improvements are not enough to warrant a sequel. If the last version you played was Bust A Move 3 or earlier, you may want to give this a try. PS2 owners may want this for the simple convenience of not having to switch to another machine. Apart from that, seri¬ ous gamers should just take note of the graphics and move on. ■ □ Hopefully Sony will bring us some [J great new puzzle titles, as the PSX had some crackers: Devil Dice. IQ... PLUS The fluid cel-shading makes us vender if we need sprite-based 20 games anymore. MINIS lasic oversights in design that take the fun out of the game. Suprisingly long load times. VISUALS SOUND EAMEPLAY 82 76 75 OVERALL Some interesting new features, but some of the basics that made it such a great game hate been neglected. 69 »HYPER 70 »HYPER reviEws» SONIC SHUFFLE Hyper's trainer-wearing speed-loving mascot, Cam Shea, takes on Sega's... HAT MADE SEGA COOL IN THE ‘ first place? Well, they had a 16-bit system out on the American market a good 18 months before Nintendo did. That’s one rea¬ son. They’ve always had excellent arcade ports, so that’s another. But there’s a far more important one - Sega had Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic elevated Sega from Nintendo wannabe to real contender. Sonic was everything Nintendo’s portly plumber wasn’t - he was fast, funky and had attitude. Sonic Shuffle is an ironic title then, given that it borrows liberally from Nintendo’s Mario Party, negating the very attributes that made Sonic cool in the first place. No matter, because Sonic Shuffle is not a game made for the hardcore gamers. Like Nintendo’s MP offerings, this is mascot-driven, •3 COOL POINTS FOR SEEK WE RECKON KNUCKLES IS RUT A Cil SHADE OF HIS FORMER SEIF videogaming fluff. It even has a Crash Bandicoot inspired soundtrack. RAINY DAY GAMING... Sonic Shuffle is set in "Maginaryworld” - a land created by the dreams of those in other dimen¬ sions (we suspect that the Monopoly man may be one of those doing the dreaming). The concentrated essence of these dreams materialises in the form of a crystal called the "precious- tone”. Unsurprisingly, a nasty toxic green dude called "Void” has stolen the stone and is wreaking havoc. Contrary to all videogaming precen- dents. he’s smashed it, sending shards all over the land. Who would have thought, eh? This is all revealed to you in the intro by a fairy called "Lumina Flowlight”... whose name seems more suited to a career in porn than gaming. In any case, you must retrieve the stones from a number of theme worlds including the now compulsory Emerald Coast, and the slightly confusing Fourth Dimension Space. In each stage the aim is to nab more emblems than your fellow contestants. I’ve no idea where these "emblems” came from, what with the world crum¬ bling around you being the result of the precioustones. No matter. Emblems can be earned by getting to the pre¬ cioustones first, collecting the most rings, completing a hidden quest, or by winning the mini game at the end of a stage. Sonic Shuffle attempts to do things a little differently from Mario Party. Movement around the board for one is less random, in that you don’t rely solely on dice throws to determine how far you move. Each player is equipped with a deck of cards drawn from eight cards - numbers 1-6, spe¬ cial cards and Eggman cards. You can choose one of your cards or steal a random card from an opponent to determine how far you move. Sonic Shuffle is also less focused on mini games than Mario Party was, which is a shame. The mini games that Sonic Shuffle does offer are a mixed bag, often straying from simplicity a little too much. To compensate, there are many monsters and other surprises lurking about on the board. Winning a monster battle is simply a case of drawing a higher card. If you win, you’ll be rewarded with one of the many force jewels that unlock special abilities like allowing you to use two cards in one turn. SONIC ENTERTAINS THE BLUE RINSE SET... The graphics are quite lush, but we’re not convinced that the move to cel shading really worked for Sonic. It’s disappointing to see such nice work on the characters and most of the environments marred by bad sprite animations in the background - just check out the mists in the Fourth Dimension Space stage, and you’ll see what we mean. Sonic Shuffle is a reasonable clone of Mario Party, with a few features that take the genre in new directions. SONIC STICKS HIS NECK OUT WITH THIS ONE Ultimately, however, it’s less fun for two reasons. Firstly, the Mario characters and Nintendo style of design is more suited to a game like this. Secondly, there’s just so much waiting around while the game loads. Every time anything of any conse¬ quence happens, you’re greeted with a (relatively) lengthy lead time. Nonetheless, Sonic Shuffle is quite a rea¬ sonable party game. Fun for younger gamers thanks to the nours and hours of playtime on offer, and fun for the older gamers because of the various drinking games that can be played in tandem. This is Sonic like you’ve never seen him... stationary. ■ IS ITSC VfISIII ISEI Ell Till IEVIIV PLUS The only board game on the DC. MINIS Loading times are a real downer for this style of game. VISUALS SOUND GAMEPLAY 84 78 60 OVERALL i With four players you're sure to get some mileage out of Sonic Shuffle, but btware the load times. ■ 71 »HYPER 72 »HYPER reviews» nc STAR LANCER Since when do space combat games port well from PC to console? Dan Toose finds out. w AYAIIABU TEA CATfSORY Space Coraabt Sim PUYltS 1 1 1-6) mam Crave PHICf TEA RATINE TEA T here are some cenres of video gaming that have historically belonged to either the PC or the console. Fighting games for example, have always been at home on consoles, but never on PC. One genre that has almost exclusively been a PC gamer’s delight is the space combat simulation. Sure, the Colony Wars series on PSX was quite good, but those that crave real space dog-fighting will swear by games like X-Wing Alliance, Descent Freespace 2, anc StarLancer as the must have games. The question is, has the PC dominated this genre because of the games, or the control methods? GOOD GUYS VERSUS BAD GUYS For those who didn’t quite catch StarLancer on PC, the game offers a sort of 22nd century version of a world war set in space. The major powers of Earth are split into the Alliance (good guys) and the Coalition (bad guys). You play the part of an Alliance pilot, who bat¬ tles their way through 24 missions, in an effort to regain control of the solar system for the Alliance. The game was originally developed by the Roberts brothers, who were behind the famous Wing Commander series that was con¬ sidered a pioneering collection of games for this genre. Obviously, someone at Warthog had a good think about how this game could be played with a Dreamcast con¬ troller successfully, because you can do pretty much every main function on the control pad, without making any adjustments. The triggers are used to control your speed, including after¬ burners and matching speeds; the ana¬ logue pad acts as a yoke, one button fires main guns, another missiles, and the two other make the d-pad and other buttons perform alternate menus functions. It really only takes a few minutes of experimentation to learn how to do everything you’d need to in a mission. So put simply, the controls are not just adequate, they’re actually intuitive, and that was always going to be the big hurdle for this port. Visually, StarLancer looks very much like the PC version, although those not playing the game with a VGA box may find it a little dark. The clarity of a VGA box makes a real difference here. Even though the Dreamcast can’t push out the same resolutions, it all looks quite crisp, and runs very smoothly, which is the real issue in any game featuring dog-fighting. There are odd occasions where the frame rate plummets though, although these are fairly rare occurrences. In flight radio chatter spares you the need to pay too much attention to the briefings, and you can concentrate on the action at hand. One downer is that much of the action is hunting down torpedos a lot more than you’d care to. Defensive missions are good to have in there, but torp-hunting is a goal that is one of the least exciting. In a genre that is almost never ported from PC to console, we see a game that is not only ported, but ported well. The line-up of missions will keep any gamer busy for some time, and the skirmish MISSINB MULTiPtAYEB At the time of our review, it looked like there were no immediate plans for a local server for online multiplayer gaming with StarLancer. This may change, but whether or not you should hold your breath is debat* able. The single player game alone is worth having, but those after multiplayer space combat should be aware of the deal. mode will give the aces something to use as a measuring stick. Any Dreamcast owner looking for some sci-fi dog-fight¬ ing goodness need look no further. ■ PLUS Suprisingly intuitive controls. Lack of local multiplayer. Too many defensive missions. VISOALS SOUND EAMIPLAY 82 84 88 OVERALL 82 Perhaps the best PC to console port to date, but a shame about multiplayer. reviews QUAKE 3 ARENA Dirk Diggler whips out his boomstick and goes fragging... I " - F irst person shooters traditional¬ ly haven’t impressed on con¬ soles... or at least PC ports of first person shooters. The best have all been titles developed specifically for console - Medal Of Honour and Goldeneye being two prime examples. Now that consoles are becoming increasingly powerful and the spirit of "convergence" (combining consoles with traditional PC devices such as internet access and keyboards/mous¬ es) is upon us, a slew of PC shooters are being ported to console. The first of the bunch is perhaps the king of PC FPSs, Quake 3 Arena. How does it stand up against its PC brethren? GET UP, GET GET GET DOWN. On a technical level very well indeed. Gameplay frags along at a solid 30 frames per second, and the action is as fast and visceral as ever. It may be a while, however, before Australian gamers can get their hands on this landmark title. Our American gaming brothers and sisters have been gibbing away happily for months now, and everyone we’ve spoken to has raved about the speed of their network. But what about our network? Well that’s another story. We have no network and we’ll have no Quake until it’s in place. Fair enough really, because although we at Hyper have been playing the US ver¬ sion for a while, it really is pointless on your own. More to the point, however, is the question of why we should be waiting for local Quake servers in the first place. It’s not like the develop¬ ment of Q3A for DC was a secret - we’ve been waiting for ages. Time that could better have been spent getting servers up and running. How long are Australian gamers going to be forced to wait for games like Chu Chu Rocket, Q3A, Phantasy Star Online and all the others on the way? Enough ranting. We’ll do a followup review looking at the online compo¬ nent as soon as we can, but for now we know that you all want to know what it’s like, so we present Hyper’s Q3A DC review part one. Before we go any further, let’s get this out of the way once and for all... you must have a mouse and keyboard to get the most out of this game. While we’re sure - with practice - one could attain a reasonable skill level using the standard controller... good luck online. You’ll get slaughtered. A stan¬ dard controller will never have the snap, crackle and pop that comes from the keyboard/mouse combo. Although there’s no online network just yet, Q3A DC does have a splitscreen option for up to four people. Surprisingly, this works well, although some graphical detail, aiming accuracy and even a whole bunch of maps haven’t made the transition. In single player mode, the game is quite faithful to its PC pimp daddy. You can play through the single player tournament against pro¬ gressively more difficult bots, hop into a quick deathmatch, or practice your teamplay skills. The map selection is quite familiar, although some of the PC maps didn’t make it, others have been optimised for better performance on the Dreamcast hardware and some are all new. The result is a gib-worthy selection of maps that run like a treat. There is one major problem as far as gameplay is concerned, however. There's a strict limit to the number of players in any one arena... er, four. CTF with four players total? Pointless. Even deathmatch, where four is generally quite a good number, would definitely benefit with even the option to include a couple more. Surely the performance hit wouldn’t be that great? In any case, once you’ve made the adjustment, you’ll be flinging more woo than Mr and Mrs Erotic American. And that ain’t not bad dagnabbit. e US NTSC VERSION USED : 0R THIS REVIEW PUIS Looks good, plays fioe... Four player limit, and not having a mouse will sock. OVERALL Great game, pity we cai‘t play it yet. 73 »HYPER 74 »HYPER reviews» INCREDIBLE CRISIS Cam Shea discovers that normalcy is the weirdest trip of all... J APANESE CULTURE IS VERY DIFFICULT to categorise. Generally portrayed as very conformist and insular, in truth it is much more than this - a myriad of contradictions. This is a world where tradition is very important, yet American culture is deified. This is a world where unassuming businessmen read hardcore hentai on the train to work. This is also a world with a wildly creative and ecclectic underground. It’s no wonder that Japan produces so many innovative and just plain odd games. Incredible Crisis has some fun with the contradictory nature of Japanese culture, playfully showing the player the insanity that often lurks behind the seemingly mundane. It chronicles a day in the life of a very ordinary looking Japanese family, and the extraordinary adventures each family member has on that day. MONKEYS MIGHT FLY OUT OF MY... The story is told one family member at a time through FMV sequences that link up the actual gameplay sequences. Gameplay comes in the form of mini games, making Incredible Crisis quite a very fractured game, leaping from one entirely different mini game to the next. Fortunately, it works - the mini games are varied enough to compel you, and the cut scenes are at once off the wall and hilarious. Beginning at the breakfast table, everyone is reminded to return home early for Grandma’s birthday celebrations. So far, so dull. It’s when the family members leave the house that the game begins, and wackiness ensues. The first portion of the game follows the father’s day. Arriving at work, employees are instructed to prepare for morning exercise (as is standard at big Japanese corporations). You know something’s up, however, when Taneo's co-workers start prancing about doing something like jazz ballet. Following the on-screen instructions Bust A Groove style, you’ll soon be prancing along with them. Incredible Crisis is an odd game to say the least, and very Japanese. In fact, when we first saw screens of this one, we figured there was about as much chance of it getting released in the west, as there was Eliot getting breast reviews PLUS Original and ofl the wall. Ska soundtrack fits well. MINUS No longterm value. Some of the mini games are tedious at best. VISUALS SOUND CAMIPLAY 70 79 58 OVERALL 66 It's weird, kooky and very Japanese, but the fun is shortlived. 8S Wise VEB5IBM ISf FH IMIS 8EVIEW £fff OH YEAH, RIGHT THERE BABY! One of IC’s strangest mini games involves the father. Taneo, giving a woman a massage on a fen-is wheel. The entire scene is played out with the player only seeing the ferris wheel as a whole. The woman tells you where to rub ("a little lower... a little more to the right") and you must blindly find her sweet spots. And once you hit one you have to hammer the X button as fast as possible, resulting in squeals of porn-style orgasmic bliss. Very very odd. And not as much fun as it sounds. 4 Thrills - Chills - Speed - Drama - Suspense - Family Values - Romance For a concise explanation of just what Incredible Crisis is all about, we turned to the game’s intro. As it so clearly spells out, Incredible Crisis consists of carefully portioned quantities of: Better yet, each component has been individually rated according to how exciting it is on an exclamation point sliding scale. From " 11 !” - meaning jump up and down, through to an unbelievable ”!!!!!!** - meaning wet yourself and shove the controller down your pants. implants. The initial screens we saw all involved the father Taneo (the most dull looking business man you could imagine) with a look of sheer terror on his face, being blown up, chased and squashed. Funnily enough, this was a good indication of Taneo’s day in the game - repeatedly getting blown up and run over by stuff. It’s even funnier than we imagined, as Taneo has a hilarious "aii-yaaa” scream to go along with every disaster. And best of all, the entire game rides on top of a ska soundtrack! In any other context, ska is about as memorable as a frontal lobotomy and about as musically exciting as a Jason Donovan record, but combined with this manic brand of gaming insanity it works a treat. WITHIN CHAOS LIES ORDER Utterly bizarre is the best way to describe many of the mini games in ANO OPENS THE 000R... HELLO BOYS! Incredible Crisis. Despite the variety, they’re all very simple, ranging from bizarre quizzes and puzzles, through to racing games and mad button mashing contests. Incredible Crisis certainly runs the gamut, with around 30 mini games all up, each seemingly more out of left field than the last. For all its uniqueness, however, there’s very little meat to this gaming stew. Some of the games are downright irritating - compounded by the strictly linear sequence of play. There’s no longterm value on offer here either. You’ll piss yourself the first time through the game, but there’s little if any reason to play it again. A two player game - even if it were just a few mini games would have been appreciated. Even so, Incredible Crisis is worth a look. The more kooky Japanese games that make it out here the better. ■ !!! EXCLAMATION POINT OVERLOAD!!! “THEY’RE COMINE TO TAKE ME AWAY, HA HAP 75 »HYPER reuiews» tt m Q. >■ OF DRAGOON » James Cottee takes us away on another crazy adventure.. AYAHAIU: January CATK08T: BPS ~ mrm: i PWUSgi: Sony P«lg: $79.95 RATING: G8* W HEN SONY DECLARED THAT THEY were developing a role-play¬ ing game to rival the best of Squaresoft, the PlayStation world rejoiced. Most notably the PAL territo¬ ries (Europe, Aus 8 NZ) who have been starved of some of the finest RPGs made for the PSX; fine titles like Xenogears, Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Cross have been denied us, seemingly forev¬ er. Sony would certainly go the extra distance to convert their game to run on PAL machines, so the more the mer¬ rier. Surely you remember the ticker tape parades in every major city, the commemorative coins, the euphoria: Legend of Dragoon was coming. Soon. A CONFUSED MARKET Three years have passed, and it’s finally here. It enters a confused mar¬ ket, one saturated in the past year with RPCs of varying quality, and stained by the anticlimax that was Final Fantasy 8. There may be no Christmas dollars left to buy it, but there are cer¬ tainly RPC fans, starved for their next FF hit, staring over the New Releases rack for anything with a "9” in it. Sony’s reasoning behind this project must have been along the lines of: "If Square can make role playing games that sell a million copies on the first day, then we can too.” The instructions given to their game design team must have sounded a little like: "Make a game like Final Fantasy, only better.” Hence we are given a product that looks and feels a whole lot like Final Fantasy, and is indeed in some ways slightly better. More than any other factor, the big thing that Legend of Dragoon offers the potential player is graphics. An ephemeral factor to say the least, but a noble effort on the aging PlayStation. You play Dart, a strap¬ ping young lad with a mysterious des¬ tiny. Your mission begins with the necessary rescue of one young damsel by the name of Shana, who also has a fate shrouded in antiquity, as evi¬ denced by the ruling government's eagerness to kidnap her. Then of course there is the evil dark power that murdered your parents, originally a distinct entity from the forces that torch your village and murder your acquaintances, but may prove to be a danger to all and sundry in your peaceful storybook environment. Make no mistake, this is another highly linear adventure, with only the odd randomly encountered wandering monster to break up the pre-determined plot. It is advised that players run through the lovingly pre-rendered environ¬ ments that the game presents, lest the pests that seem to flock to your men¬ acing looking troupe begin to try your patience. BLEEPY CLASSICAL Eventually, Dart, Shana, and the party of eccentrics you enlist in your goal will explore a vast fantasy world. and obtain the ability to trans¬ form into drag¬ ons, a spectacu¬ lar combat effect not unlike the Guardian Forces in the Final Fantasy epics. In fact. rBviews there is a great deal that LOD borrows from those that have gone before it. For starters, the music is the kind of bleepy classical one has come to expect from a PlayStation RPC. The combat system implements timed attacks, now a standard in RPCs. After you select your opponent, and choose your attack, a spiraling blue square will shrink over the target. A lit¬ tle animated X button will be on the screen nearby; the instant it depresses itself is a good time for the player to do likewise, and double their damage. Similarly, when you cast a spell vigourous button mashing is encour¬ aged to increase its destructive force. More subtle abilities unfold for those willing to learn, such as combos and counters, but there is nothing here that has not been done before or better. The combo system in Legend of Legaia made much more sense, and was much more compelling to use. Likewise, Vagrant Story offered a combat system with immense depth, and a compelling story to back it up. Even FF8 made use of combos, and arguably spread the tension better over its four discs. Sony appears to have fallen into a trap that awaits any software project that runs so late; to become obsolete by the time it is released. Legend of Dragoon was a very exciting prospect when it was first announced, but that was over three years ago. The concept behind the game has been surpassed in that time, and the imminent release of FF9 can only cement its fate. It can only be recommended to those who are new to the whole RPC thing, and require a gentle leg-up, or slavering gameaholics who see the time between now and the next Squaresoft release as an agonising chasm of despair. Legend of Dragoon is not a bad game, it’s just not an original one. It will offer the mainstream little that it doesn’t already have. ■ Accessible RPG artics, but don’t expect anything truly new. PLUS A good IPG filter those in desperate needef FFS. Not original in the slightest 77 »HYPER 78 »HYPER reviews PLUS Good an* scary, play as Ripley. MINUS Pior overall quality and annoying controls. OVERALL We've waited a long time for Alien Resurrection, and sadly, it wasn’t worth it. MUST HAVE BEEN A BAD LUNCH AUEN » Be prepared for sheer terror. George Soropos is back! RESURRECTION -ay AVAILABLE: Row CATEGORY: first Person Shooter PLATERS: 1-2 PUBLISHER: IA PRICE: TBA RATING: M SUPPORTS: lual Shock. Memory Card. House Y ou thought you were dead. That it was all over. Then you wake up. alien blood is coursing through your veins, an inhuman strength rip¬ pling through your muscles, and Winona Ryder is whining at you, God someone make her shut up! Alien Resurrection is the latest in a very long line of game titles. In fact the Alien films would come pretty close to the Star Wars series in teims of the number of game licenses scld over the years, and mostly they’ve been quite good games. This latest effort from EA casts you in the role of heroine Ripley as she strug¬ gles to get out of the Alien research lab. In the process you will not only have to take on many, many aliens in their various forms and breeds, but soldiers sent to destroy the lab as well, just like Half-Lire on the PC. STAY AWAY FROM HER, YOU BIATCH! The presentation of Alien Resurrection is first rate. The graphics are fantastic; giving you a genuine feeling of being trapped in a star ship ruined half way to hell. The hallways are dark, the lights flicker and go out, and blood drips deliciously from the ceilings. The polygon models are good as well, with nicely articulated Aliens and Marines out chasing your butt. Creepy music, evil ambient sounds, and the occasional scream help to give this spookster one of the most atmos¬ pheric soundtracks around on the PSX. Hearing someone scream 'Help me! Aaagh!’ as you walk past an air duct is wonderfully creepy, and when you hear an Alien banging a door down in front of you, you’ll be reaching for the Huggies. With these elements of the game so well done it’s a great shame that the gameplay aspects of Alien Resurrection aren’t on the same level. It’s not that the game is incredibly challenging, even on the lowest difficulty setting, it’s why it’s challenging. When programming first person shooters for a system like the PSX the weaknesses of the controller and machine need to be taken into account. This does not seem to have happened in the design process of Resurrection and the result is an annoying control system that is made worse by a 3D engine that seems to need a lot more polishing. LOOK OUT FOR THE ACIDIC LOOGIES It’s possible, for example, to stick the barrel of a gun right through an alien if he’s too close and when you fire your bullets go harmlessly out the other side! The other problem is with the implementation of the Dual Shock control, which is awful. Your gun site, and point of view move faster the fur¬ ther you move the stick making it impossible to aim accurately. Why the developer did this is a mystery, the obvious answer would be to say that they’re idiots, but that would be nasty. Sadly, Alien Resurrection is one of those titles that had so much potential, gone unfulfilled because of a few mind- numbingly obvious problems. The Q6A and playtesting of this game must have been done by people with the patience, reflexes and stick skills of Godlike beings for the company not to notice something was seriously wrong, or did they just want to rush it out for Christmas? We see so much of that these days that you should avoid buying this as a protest. ■ bvte size CALL TO POWER 2 LMOST A DECADE AGO SID MEIER delivered a buggy, simplistic product that has outshone the influence of anything he's made before or since, inspiring spin-offs, sequels and clones. That game was Civilization, and its formula is a sim¬ ple recipe for addictive strategy fun. CATEGORY: Strategy PLATERS: 1-4 _ PDBUSHER: Activision PB1CE: $89.95 _ RATING: G8+ tmm P1S6. 64Mb RAM DESIRED: P266. 64Mb RAM Players expand their empire across the globe whilst advancing in tech¬ nology, marshalling huge armies and building the odd wonder of the world to boost morale. There has of course been the requi¬ site legal snafu surrounding who owns the rights to Civ. Activision did when they made Civilization: Call to Power, but have had to relinquish that word for the sequel. Sid’s on the job making the official version of Civ 3 as we speak, so while CTP2 may be a welcome treat for fans of its prede¬ cessor, it’ll offer less to veterans of Meier’s reign. For CTP2 the most frustrating bug from CTP has been removed; you no longer have to de-select military units after using them. The importance of space com¬ bat and ultra¬ tech has been downplayed in the endgame. An elaborate diplomacy sys¬ tem has been implemented, but the added complexity throughout is more a weakness than a strength. This sequel is a baffling white elephant. JAMES COTTEE CHAMPIONSHIP MANGER SEASON 00/01 PORTS INTERACTIVE ARE BACK again with the undoubted leader of the football management genre, Championship Manager. Although still based on the CM3 design. Season 2000/01 manages to add enough features and leagues to make it a worthwhile purchase. The title now offers 26 leagues, including CATEGORY: Soccer management PLATERS: 1-plenty PDBUSHER: EidOS _ PRICE: $TBA _ BATINS: C _ required: Not much DESIRED: Any PC will do the Australian NSL. The database has also grown to around 50000 players. The most effective improvements how¬ ever are your responses to the media, which can vastly affect the morale of the players, and the favour of the ___ chairman. Turkish First Division The game remains true to its predeces¬ sors in that you have to be committed to get the most out of it. There are truly thousands of menac¬ ing statistics and numbers, that are only really relevant to someone who is at least partly clued up. As a result, those who are unacquaint¬ ed with the world of football may find thei: interest wane before they can reach the game’s high¬ lights - whether it be a Champions League Semi-Final or a Second Division relegation battle. There is some hope ior those who are not mad on soccer. Several friends of mine have enjoyed CM, without caring a pinch for The World Came. Everyone needs time-consuming hobbies like CM, and the way the game involves the player is rather scary. CM00/01 will sat¬ isfy everyone’s desires until CM4 hits the shelves next year. JACKSON GOTHE-SNAPE SHEEP PSONE I N THE GRAND TRADITION OF GAMES like Lemmings comes the British- developed, Sheep, from Empire Interactive. You may recall a letter in Hyper enquiring whether Sheep was the greatest game ever made. Well, the answer to that is right here... no, it’s GATE6BRY: Puzzle/Action PLAYERS: 1-2 PBBLISHEH: Empire PRICE: TBA RATING: 6 not. Are you nuts? It is however, an original and fun puzzle game that’ll interest those amongst you who crave games that are a little left of centre. You take on the role of a sheep herder (actually, you can choose the exact type of herder you want to be, e.g human or dog etc.) and then enter the rolling green hills to herd your mindless fluffy animals to safety. Yes, there are ele¬ ments of Lemmings, but the game plays from an overhead perspective, and it’s more about guiding your animals around obstacles than it is equipping them with strange skills. The sheep stick together in a fairly loose pack, and you have a number of ways of getting them to trot in the direction you desire. You have to make sure they avoid every¬ thing from minefields to deadly shear¬ ing machines, electric fences, heli¬ copters, sheep-eating crabs and more... There are plenty of unique ideas in Sheep that will keep you fascinated with what you could possibly have to get your sheep through next, however it’s not exactly nail-biting stuff. In the end it’s all a bit repetitive, although certain¬ ly it has a honeymoon of greatness. FRANK DRY 79 »HYPER 80 »HYPER arcade mode >> BY TIM LEVY ELEGANT GAMING spinning wheel and if you stop the spinner at the right position, it can win you up to 60 bonus tickets. 'VOLCANO' (THINK: ROULETTE) Help divert disaster for a small town by detouring the ’lava’ represented by a ball-bearing. First you must insert your coin to stop 'volcano* lights (5 lights separated into 10 sections) from spinning. Then push the flashing red button to roll the ball to the highest award (ranging from 10 - 60 credits). Make sure you allow 4.3 seconds for time lag to allow for more accurate 'lava' control. CRACKY CRAB' Minute itch inducing crabs emerge Step right up, step right up and win a prize! Test your skills, impress your girlfriend, impress yourself, earn some tickets and you too can win a prize! OCv Whilst video arcade games 'A/ reward you with the sense of satisfaction of defeating a human opponent, thereby heightening your own self worth, :here is little material gain to show for your well won and deserved victory.... Unless of course, you are the Alternate Universe version of a 'Bad Loser' which is a 'Bad Winner’, then you may be rewarded with, for example, a black eye. Whilst the memory of victory and black eyes may fade, the tickets accumulated from playing token game machines can reward you with long lasting prizes ranging from gammy gimmicks to handy home wares. Whilst many Australian arcades do not cater for the prize redemption machine junkie, the trend in Asia and especially Japan has been to have half of a video game arcade premises devoted to these games. And what fantastic games they are. There is a whole plethora of these insanely inane game machines that will test your luck, timing and at times, physical AND mental stamina. Some of the games that Hyper have tested for our readers are: PENALTY SHOOT-OUT' Kick the soccer ball skillfully past the mechanical goalie and into the elevated goal within 45 seconds. Every goal scored scores you 5 tickets. Patience and fancy legwork is required. SPYRO MANIA' Shoot a stream of water from the water cannon to raise a little bumble bee vertically on a barber’s pole. The higher the bee, the more tickets you win. Beware of the hypnotically spin¬ ning discs surrounding the target - they might trance you out a little. FRANTIC FRED' Control Fred the dozy grizzly bear to aid him in eating falling apples whilst avoiding falling anvils thrown by pesky squirrels. If you are hit by an anvil, it takes a few seconds to recov¬ er, just like it would in real life. You get tickets for every apple eaten. If you are able to eat all the apples, you get a bonus game of an on-screen arcade mode “HD WHAMMIES NO WHAMMIES!” from your undies and you must crush them with a large hammer. Only kid¬ ding kids! Crabs emerge from cracks and you must crush as many as possi¬ ble in about 45 seconds with a large hammer. Remember you can only hit each crab once. If you crush more than 40 crabs then you earn some extra time. Other games include: Basket ball games, mini ten pin bowling, ’spin to win prize wheel’ and other games such as ’Screaming Slopes’ and ’Big Haul’ where you roll coins down ramps in the hope that you land them in a hole with a high amount of ticket return. So now that you’ve won a small paper mill worth of tickets, what do you do? You insert them into the 'Ticket Eater Machine’ which not only enables the tickets to be thoughtfully recycled, but saves the arcade atten¬ dants from mathematical overload. Now you take the docket from the So although machine and you redeem the points you could just for your PRIZE(S). go and work a Surprisingly, the prizes that are able normal job and to be won were of fairly high standard, earn the cash to with many of them being adorned with buy these prizes Pop culture characters from our from a store, favourite TV shows etc. there is no way Many of the prizes are actually use- on earth that ful, such as: Cups that can be used you could earn around the house or office and are far the satisfaction better than ’cupping your hands’ for experienced delivering that cool clear water or when these scolding hot coffee to your mouth; Yo- machines spew yos can be used for killing time at bus forth over 60 stops and for multi-directional self tickets when defense situations; Pens can be used for you jackpot or writing sentimental love letters or let- kick 10 goals or ters of resignation from a dead end job. save a small Other prizes include: rings, rubber village from balls, toy planes, slinkies, key rings, destruction by nail polish, fake tattoos, stickers and detouring plates and bowls. some lava. - P.S. Thanks to Galaxy World 5 > Market City, Sydney. P.P.S. Thanks P. HOW 00 YOD “DRIVE” A DRIZZLY BEAR EXACTLY? A NORMAL DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR TIN THIS CAME GETS TWO THUMBS UP 81 »HYPER 82 »HYPER reverse engineerin g >> DAN TOOSE T HE RPC GENRE WAS EXTREMELY popular in years gone by, to an extent many of today’s younger gamers would find almost disturbing. It makes a lot of sense though, because the graphics of yesteryear required a lot of imagination on the part of the gamer... Which translates to ’’They sucked”. The computer role playing game has never been about visuals, it’s always been about managing a grcup of adventurers, or a lone hero, through some long quest. When we think of pioneering RPCs, we often think of Wizardry, and Ultima, but one of the most popular series that didn’t quite make it into the 90’s was the Bard’s Tale. THE BARD'S TALE The original Bard’s Tale game. The Bard’s Tale - Tales of the Unknown, was released in 1985 through EA, with development by Michael Cranford from Interplay Productions. The game saw a group of stereotypical medieval protagonists head out from the local adventurer’s guild of Skara Brae, with no real grand goal or quest in mind other than the knowledge that Skara Brae is at the mercy of an evil wizard named Mangar. The interface for the Bard’s Tale series was extremely simplistic, but it pretty much became a standard in RPCs for years to come. A small window gave you an idea as to what you could see up ahead, with a rather blocky sprite representing a 3D perspective view of the squares up ahead of you. Not only was your field of vision rather limited, but you also couldn’t see monsters coming, you simply ”ran into” them and had an encounter. Yes, The Bard’s Tale series was based entirely upon a tile grid system that only allowed for movement in the four compass-point directions. With an extremely simplistic interface, puzzles were pretty much limited to maze puzzles, which had you trying to map out dungeons with darkness spells preventing you from seeing where you were going. Like many modern day RPCs, combat was turn based, and you had to decide what each member of your party was going to do, then watch and see how the round turned out. WHAT DID BARD'S TALE DO FOR RPGS? While the Wizardry series may have introduced crude 3D views back in 1981, and a very similar basic layout to the interface, the Bard’s Tale was simply done better, and popularised this format of RPC. The square grid dungeons became the standard for years to come (until Ultima Underworld), and were responsible for the use of much graph paper. Without drawing up your own maps, The Bard’s Tale was practically impossible to complete, which in some ways was charming, in that you had to draw up maps just like the adventurers themselves would have had to. But when Bard’s Tale III - The Thief of Fate introduced auto-mapping, it was very warmly received. Because you had to declare all your actions at the beginning of the round, and had to live with whatever happened, this encouraged very careful decision-making and planning, which has really become the essence of turn-based RPCs. THE NATURAL PROGRESSION The Bard’s Tale was an immediate hit, and the sequel was inevitable. Bard’s Tale 2 - The Destiny Knight. Having the Gwendolyn is a Level 2 Fewale Elf Bard St: 12 IQ: 14 Dx: 16 On: 12 Lk: 13 Spell Points: 0 Expc: 2407 Gold: 80 Pool gold Trade gold ESC to continue 1 I ronpants S Greenbolt 3 Gwendolyn 4 Shadow 5 Morganna 6 Runeflinger The denizens of this MMJtiQ PlMf MSfcUlt you without wanning. You see X Oon# lond Mill vow stalwart band choose to Fight on hop? whole game take place in one city was introduction of ranged weapons and obviously a stifling quality to the distances. Bard’s Tale. For those of you whose RPC A more significant improvement in the exploits are slightly more visuals came with the third instalment, contemporary, you could say there was Bard’s Tale III - The Thief of Fate, in the same need to add extra cities, ’88. The mad god Tarjan, one of the dungeons and areas, just like there was first names you encountered in the from Diablo, to Diablo II. original Bard's Tale, has laid waste to Only a year later, Michael Cranford had Skara Brae. The scope of the adventure completed the sequel, and added a lot was greater than ever, with seven more animated sprites for the dimensions to travel through, new monsters, characters, and locations in character classes and abilities, the game. Something that really kept The core gameplay was still the same, the fans of the first game happy was but the aforementioned auto- the ability to transfer your Bard’s Tale i mapping, and the new ability to save characters over, which is par for the your game wherever you wanted were course these days, but was a real major steps forward for the game, feature back then. Combat was given Around this time, RPCs were being an extra element of strategy with the dominated by the new SSI Dungeon 8 Dragons games, and the Bard s Tale of old, inspiration for a new Bard s Tale came to an end, so to speak. game came about, and now Bard’s Legacy - Dark Resurrection is in DIY DUNGEONS development, with a speculated release In *9i, Interplay released the Bard’s in August 2001. It’s looking like a Tale Construction Set, which allowed labour of love by enthusiasts, so it the owner to create their own Bard’s remains to see if this will be a great Tale adventures, detailing everything comeback, or a case of something from the monsters and items, through being dug up, that should have been to the map layouts and everything else left to R.I.P. included in a Bard’s Tale game. This You can check out the progress at would have probably been the most www.bardsleqacy.com . amazingly popular application around Next time you’re playing your had it have hit during the BT boom gorgeous 3D RPC at 1024 x 768, spare 2 period, but this release hardly a thought for pioneers like Michael resurrected Michael Cranford’s Cranford, who made tne blocky, low- JL pioneering RPC series. res, turn-based games like this, and ^ After the Internet allowed old Bard’s still managed to set the gaming TP Tale enthusiasts to talk about the days world afire. ■ J 84 »HYPER hypervisian m B H B B Pi ■ >> KEVIN CHEUFMG DVD is the format of choice for anyone who's serious about their home cinema experience. Once you enjoy the rich visual splendour of an all-digital picture, there's no turning back. This issue we have another pile of the latest reviews and some fantastic Anime. Find the couch, kick back and let Hyper help you decide what you should be watching... WHAT’S THAT, TOM? THE NEED FOR WHAT? SHE CAN ROB MY BATH-SAFE ANYTIME! Mission: Impossible 2 PARAMOUNT M The Tom Cruise/John Woo combination in MI:2 is awesome. There are great stunts, spell¬ binding choreography, and a leading lady whose sultry curves and willowy smile could make a grown man beg for buttermilk. Yet for all the special effects and booming sound, this is not Mission: Impossible, at least not in spirit. The Mission: Impossible TV show is grittier, the plots more complex, which is why the original film was great. Mission: Impossible 2, however, is a pithy love story made even tackier by Woo’s trade¬ mark devices like the white doves. They might’ve been cool in Face/Off, but they’re unwel¬ come here. Worse stiJ is the incredible stupidity of the villain and the WWF-like fight scene at the end. It’s still good value if you don’t know anything about Mission: Impossible. Just ignore the plot... or what little of it there is. I EXTRAS: 5/10 I MOVIE: 5/10 I TOM EXACTS REVENCE ON A FILM CRITIC Fantasia 2000 From the film company that produces all things sugar and sweetness comes the 2000 edition of the musical that had everyone scratching their heads, Fantasia. Fantasia 2000 continues the concept of abstract visual interpretation of modern and classi¬ cal music, where animators let the music carry their imagination to where ever they may fancy. The animation ranges from weird to breathtaking, but no matter how the flying whales or Donald Duck’s version of Noah’s Ark appeals to you, it all comes down to the music. In that respect, Fantasia is choice listening, with pieces from Shostakovich and Gershwin (and other pre¬ dictable but not undeserved ones from Beethoven). Unless you’re a student of the classical arts, this one’s probably best left as a great gift idea for mum. hvpervisian Transformers The Movie SUNBOW PRODUCTIONS NO MACHINE MACHINE IN THE WORLO IS BIG ENOUGH FOR THAT CAPE This 1987 classic has been digitally re-mastered with 5.1 channel sound. The near-reference picture quality is absolutely jaw-dropping - every frame is rich with the original colours, and so clean that it’s smooth as the editor’s bottom (hang on, that’s not such a pretty thought). It also comes with the "Oh shit” scene deleted from the original release, as well as storyboards (albeit incomplete) that show incredible scenes that didn’t make the cut. This is a must-have for anyone who loved the original TV show (not that next-gen Beast Wars rubbish). The death of Optimus Prime, the birth of Galvatron and Rodimus Prime, the death of Starscream, and one big mother of a planet-eating Transformer... no amount of money can measure its worth as a collector’s item. CHRISTIAN GETS HIS FINGER CAUGHT IN THE PENCIL SHARPENER AGAIN American Psycho UNIVERSAL M A 1 5 + Patrick Bateman, clever, handsome, rich, is a disturbing portrait of American yuppiedom in the early 1980s. Based on the controversial novel by Bret Easton Ellis, this movie explores the sordid psyche of a man driven to extremes by the competitive environment he exists in; and the society that, by virtue of his slick appearance, refuses to acknowledge the monster that he is. Bateman’s final reali¬ sation that "what’s inside... doesn’t matter” is unnerving to say the least. While the film has been criticised for not having the gore of the novel, it is that audience that this DVD will best suit. Picture quality is passable and the extras are extremely basic - the only fireworks you’ll find is in the dark, intelligent satire. I EXTRAS: 3/10 I MOVIE: 8/10 I MUST HAVE BEEN A REALLY BAD HAND AN UZI ON THE SIDE? UH... DUDE... The Corruptor WOULD YOU LIKE TB SEE MY COLLECTION Of HUMAN HE AOS?” VILLAGE ROADSHOW M Donny Wahlberg and Chow Yun Fat, who from their cool cops ’n robbers movies would presumably make a great team-up, star in a harr.my action flick that spends more time indulging director lames Foley’s fascination with the down-beaten Asian sub-culture in modern New York. Wahloerg is sent into Chinatown to investigate corruption - Chow Yun Fat from the NYPD’s Asian squad is his ticket to the inside, but questions are inevitably raised as to who Chow is loyal to. The movie is very hit-and-miss as Chow’s nicely per¬ formed action scenes play second fiddle to the clumsy cultural drama. Production standards are generally high, though. Decent sound and pic¬ ture quality, director’s commentary, trailers - all that’s missing is a blooper reel and a better plot. | EXTRAS: ^)/10 1 MOVIE: ”7/10 85 »HYPER 86 »HYPER hyper vision Whatever It Takes VILLAGE ROADSHOW FROM ONE ORGAN... PG COLUMBIA PICTURES My advice to anyone who is considering watching this DVD is simple: do whatev¬ er it takes to avoid it. Although this may seem a trifle harsh, you can rest assured that the cast and crew have also done (quite admirably too) whatever it takes to make this film a forgettable piece of shite. Okay, okay... I’ll admit that I did emit a few chuckles at the enlarged penis, puke and overflowing bedpan jokes, but it’s difficult to get enthused about the rest. The story’s a rip-off of Cyrano de Bergerac, with entire scenes lifted straight from Roxanne, and reeks of political incorrectness - two guys conspire with each other to get themselves the girls of their dreams; hearts get broken along the way; but of course the "right” guy and girl end up with each other. Clueless it ain’t, and I’m happy to do whatever it takes to warn you off. Extras included are audio commentary from director David Raynr and two of the stars, deleted scenes, isolated song track and score, behind-the-scenes featurette, movie trailer, talent (eh?) profiles. VICTORIA FLANAGAN Savage Garden: Live and On Tour In Australia Shit sandwich. It’s not that this DVD is bad - the production values are excellent, and it includes an entire concert and "behind the scenes" documentary. It’s just that, well. Savage Carden suck. cam shea I EXTRAS: 5/10 I MOVIE: 1 /10 THE BULLET PROOF VEST Will MOST DEFINITELY BE NEEOEO ...TO ANOIHER Underworld Live: Everything Everything VILLAGE ROADSHOW After an inauspicious start in the 80s with the embarrassingly bad "Underneath the Radar”, Underworld found their feet, recruiting DJ Darren Emerson and releasing the seminal classics "dubnobasswithmyheadman”, "Second Toughest In The Infants’’, and "Beaucoup Fish". Everything Everything is Underworld’s fourth and weakest album. It’s a collection of the group’s "greatest hits” performed live in front of 40,000 fans. I guess the advantage of buying this over the CD is that for a small amount more, you get the visuals to accompany the sound... if you want to watch them prancing about on stage that is (although you also have the option of watching the entire album set to Tomato Video Art which is kinda cool). The reality is, however, that Underworld are a studio band, and it’s hard to really enjoy the live experience unless you’re there. CAM SHEA All HE NEEDS IS SOMETHING STRAPPED TO HIS NBSE AND HE WOBIDN’T BE ABIE TO BREATHE hvnervision 0OflO(n)@» Maze CATEGORY: MEDIEVAL ACTION/COMEDY PRODUCTION COMPANY: JVC This one’s going to require a little explanation. Maze is a young Japanese woman from whose house fell on a menacing ogre - Wizard of Oz style. The ogre was in fact chasing a princess who’s on the run after her family was slain and her kingdom was usurped. Maze meets up with a bunch of other characters - thieves, warriors, fairies and so on - all of whom vow to help this princess reclaim the sov¬ ereignty of her land. The catch is that ever since landing on this twisted realm, Maze can now wield awesome magical powers, summon and pilot a mystical mecha with even more destructive weapons, and - you’ll love this - at night, she turns into a sex-crazed man who’ll sink his love muscle into every woman within grabbing distance. So basically, Maze is a cross between Slayers, Lodoss Wars, and Dragon Half- except with lots of nudity. Lots. Any excuse is used for showing off a nipple. And unlike other titles that would draw the line somewhere to retain some level of dig¬ nity, this OVA takes it all the way and lets the unlikeable male half of our hero get some undeserved action. Maze provides comic brilliance throughout, but the utter shamelessness of it all makes it the kind of OVA you’re less likely to automatically whip out and brag to your friends about. On the other hand it’s not quite down there with Dragon Pink yet. The DVD of Maze also comes bundled with the first episode of the TV show. Pretty good value. ANIMATION: 8 I PLOT: 7 I JAPAN-NESS: MEDIUM I OVERALL:^ u 00 YOD WANT TO SEE MY BONE? HAHAA!" THE GAUFRV All import Anime supplied by THE CARTOON CAUERY QVB, Sydney www. cartoongallery. com. au Ph: (02) 9267 3022 “HAVE AT YOU!" “NO, YOU!” “NO! YOD!” ANB SO BN BEY, ISN’T THAT THE GUY FROM DORAN DURAN? Escaflowne: Dragons & Destiny CATEGORY: ACTION, DRAMA PRODUCTION COMPANY: S U N RIS E/B A N D AI VISUAL Despite the slightly modified title, this is simply the DVD re-release of what is still the best post-Evangelion anime money can buy: The Vision of Escaflowne. Hitomi Kanzaki is an average highschool student - she enjoys running on the track and she dabbles with tarot cards - but her life is com¬ pletely changed one day when a boy in strange armour materialises in front of her and slays a fire-breathing dragon before her very eyes. From there she is teleported to the world of Gaea, where Earth is known as the Mystic Moon, and where military might is measured througn giant mechs called Guymelefs. She arrives in time to witness the beginnings of the Zaibach Empire’s deadly campaign of world domination as it decimates the city of Fanelia, where as it turns out our armoured lad, Van Fanel, is heir to the throne. Worse still, Hitomi begins seeing visions of the future - of things happening mere seconds away, and others more distant. But above all else, she sees a final battle being fought by Escaflowne, a fabled Yspanos Guymelef that clouds the Zaibach’s "Future Prognosticator”. This series boasts cutting-edge CG effects, mecha designs by Kawamori Shoji, and a rousing musical score by Yoko Kanno. The compelling 26- episode story is drawn out, but breath-taking in the same way that Gladiator left you speechless at the end. On DVD the improvement is surprisingly negli¬ gible, with the Dolby Digital sound being in two channels for both subbed and dubbed. Still, it’s better than letting it degrade in VHS format. ANIMATION: 9 [ PLOT: 9 [ JAPAN-NESL LOW «■* 10 87 »HYPER subscriptions Just bought a PlayStation2? Or maybe you already have a DVD player or DVD drive in your PC that’s begging for some new flicks? Well, never fear because Universal and Hyper are here! We’re giving away an awesome DVD movie pack containing some of the hottest movies ever made, including... NATURAL BORN KILLERS: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT, TWO HANDS, ARLINGTON RD, WAKING NED DEVINE, A SIMPLE PLAN, GUEST HOUSE PARADISO, PAPERBACK HERO, X-MEN: THE PHOENIX SAGA and LOCK STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS, just to name a few! To win, just fill out the form below and subscribe to the best gaming magazine this side of Pluto. Easy, isn’t it? JIS1 SUBSCRIBE TO WIN! msvBscm mum http://publishing.next.com.au/subs Terms and Conditions: 1. Entry is oper to residents of Austral-a and New Zealand except employees and the immediate families of Next Publishing Pty Ltd and its agencies associated with the promotion. Only entries completed with these Terms and Conditions will be eligible. Entry by subscribing to DVD Now magazine from issue 8 and Hyper Magazine $sue 89 only. 2. Competition begins at 9am 9th January 2001 and entries close at 6pm 6th Apni. 2001.3. In determining eligibility the judge's decision is fma and no correspondence will be entered mto. 4. Winner will be drawn at 9am 9th Apnl. 2001 at Next Publishing Pty Ltd. 78 Renw»ck Street, Redeem NSW 2016. 5. Prizes must be taken as offered and are not redeemable for cash. The promoter is not responsible for misdirected or lost mail. 6. One winner will receive 50 DVD titles with a combined retail value of $1750 .The winners will be notified by mail and results published m issue 91 of Hyper. The promoter i$ Next Publishing Pty Ltd ABN 88 002 647 645 of 78 Rer.wick Street. Recfem, NSW. 2016. SA Permit T00/p«nding. NSW Permit TCOO/pendmg. ACT TPOO/pending. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE 1 2 Call us tollfree on 1300 36 1146 Monday to Friday 9am-6pm EST Fax a copy of the completed form, with credit card details, to: 02 9699 0334 3 Cut or copy the form and post it with a cheque or money order, or your credit card details, to: Hyper Subscriptions Reply Paid 634, 78 Renwick St. Redfern, NSW 2016 Please tick I'd like to subscribe for myself I'd like to send a gift subscription 12 issues @ S50 (incl. GST) Enclosed is a cheque/money order made payable to Next gaming for S. Or charge my credit card for $. Visa □ Mastercard □ Bankcard Card Number. Expire Date. Signature. Offer only available to Australian Residents. Expires 06.04.01 check out our website at http://publishing.next. com.au/subs At time of payment your subscription coupon becomes a tax invoice. Please keep a copy of the rnnrwi fnrta* inurtir* nnrnn^e* Please print »NY0089 My Full Name. My Address. Suburb.. Postcode.. My Telephone Number. My Email Address.. Please send a RjTwf^l ^ *!££> magazine subscription to Full Name. Address. Suburb. Postcode. Telephone. 00 o X < TAX INVOICE Next Publishing Pty Ltd. 78 Renwick St, Redfern, NSW 2016 ABN 88 002 647 645 90 »HYPER HYPER» hypor^ctivo tm www.hyperactive.com.au what’s Ion thel Our bountiful cover disc is back this month with all new gameplay i like to see on the Hyper cover disc? Just send us an email with you The new year :s well and truly in full effect. Those affected by memory issues obviously had a better New Year period than those who can recall everything, including the names of those people you snogged at midnight! The New Year sees the official new millenni¬ um come into action and this millennium looks like being true "gaming heaven”. Nintendo, translated into English - gaming heaven, are going next generation with its console and handlheld devices. Hyperactive will keep you up to date daily, with the latest Camecube and Came Boy Advance news, rumours, reviews and features. HOT! HOT! HOT! With the summer heat comes multiple stresses: 1. Help! - I’m Melting! Gamers are renowned for their indoor abili¬ ties (yes in all aspects!) and the punishing Aussie sun does not allow for melanin depleted skin due to copious amounts of indoor activities. Hyperactive Remedy: Blatantly and most obviously do not go outside for any reason. The internet has brilliant capabilities for get¬ ting what you want when you want it with¬ out leaving your comfortable den. 2. My Hard Drive’s Melting! Not even the .atest CPU cooler fan was designed for the unrelenting heat of the Australian summer. Super computer speeds lead to super temperatures of your CPU - which basically isn’t any good! Hyperactive Remedy: Crank up the air-con¬ ditioning to Eleven. The global warming caused by the extra electricity being used will only affect those who are outdoors and despite the ability to take your computer outdoors - just avoid it at all cost! ONI G.O.D GAMES REQUIRED: Pll 300, 32MB RAM Karate meets kamikaze sci-fi soldiers. COLIN McRAE RALLY 2.0 CODEMASTERS REQUIRED: P233, 32MB RAM Slam your pedal to the metal and live this game. MECHWARRIOR 4: VENGEANCE MICROSOFT REQUIRED: PII-350. 64MB RAM The biggest baddest robots in town! TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES EIDOS REQUIRED: Pll 233, 32MB RAM Accompany Lara in her last (ahem) adventure. AMERICAN McGEE’S ALICE G.O.D GAMES REQUIRED: PII-300. 64MB RAM Wonderland just got even weirder. QUAKE 3: TEAM ARENA ID SOFTWARE REQUIRED: Pll 233, 32MB RAM Finally, the Quake team play we alwats wanted. KAO THE KANGAROO TITUS REQUIRED: Pll 233, 32MB RAM Platforming returns to the PC in this crazy romp. MOONSHINE RUNNERS K-D LAB REQUIRED: Pll 233, 32MB RAM. 3D CARD Bizarre cars and incredible environments. MIDTOWN MADNESS 2 MICROSOFT REQUIRED: Pll 233, 32MB RAM There are no rules. Just drive. PROBLEMS WITH YOUR CD? Stay Hyperactive Zak Brandon Producer www.hyperactive.com.au contents _ EVIL DEAD TV AD DEVIL MAY CRY - psz This is the new survival horror title from Capcom on the PS2. We want this baby now! CODE VERONICA - ps2 Capcom's Resident Evil outing on PS2 is looking just a lit¬ tle step ahead of the Dreamcast. QUAKE 3 TEAM ARENA - pc If you don’t want to install the demo, check out this promo trailer. Gibs ahoy! vies, some awesome demos and a few very handy patches. Is there anything you’d houghts to freakscene@next.com.au. LEGENDS: MIGHT & MAGIC - pc Yet another title in the Might & Magic series... bring it on! PHANTASY STAR ONLINE - Dreamcast Check out this promo movie for the first ever online multi¬ player console RPG, Phantasy Star Online. NINTENDO GAMECUBE TECH DEMOS Check out these sexy little movies. First we have the full Zelda tech demo which gives us an idea of what the next Zelda could be like on the Gamecube. Stunning. We've also included part one and two of the Rebirth tech demo which was designed by Mix-Core for Nintendo to show the power of their hardware. Most of the Rebirth demo is real-time running on the Gamecube, although mix-core admit that some of the demo is prerendered. Still, have you seen anything as good as this on the other consoles? DEUS EX MULTI¬ PLAYER PATCH This is the one you've been wait¬ ing for! The best PC game ever just became life-threateningly addictive all over again. American McGee’s ALICE screensavers If you use the "explore the CD option in the menu, you'll discDver the patches and utilities folders, as well as the movies folder. This month we've squeezed on... Weird, wacky and features Bruce Campbell! 92 »HYPER hyperforum HYPER FORUM 78 Renwick St. Redfern, NSW 2016 Australia E-mail: freakscene@next.com.au This month we address the topic posed in Hyper #87... We would have read all your responses but we were too busy playing Banjo-Tooie. Hey, hold on a second... HVP6R FORUM Everyone has a different opinion and the Hyper Firum is where you can get your thoughts out of your head and onto the page for all to see. Don’t forget that we have a new topic every issue! The next topic of discussion... © “WHICH GAME SHOULD BE MADE INTO A FILM NEXT AND WHY?” E-mail: FREAKSCENEcDNEXT.COM. AU with Hyper Forum in the subject line, and the topic of discussion at the top of your response. Please note that very long contributions may be edited. IS GAMING A DAMAGING ADDICTION? PILL POPPING GAMERS Gaming could be a damaging addiction as proven by this statement I came across on a forum the other day. "Computer games don’t influence children: If we’d been influenced by Pac-Man as kids, we’d all be running around in darkened rooms munching pills and listening to repeti¬ tive music." Lets hope that the Brian Harradine’s of this world don’t get hold of this and come up with the idea that the rave drug culture is caused by evil video games. RAT fishdoit@bigpond.net.au ELECTRONIC HEROIN Dear Hyper Crew, Something about your forum question last month struck a cord with me, dispatched a small army of neurones reverber¬ ating down my spinal cord, where they now reside somewhere in my lower colon. Your question is the itch I cannot scratch, the worm of contemplation, the ... well you get the idea. Is gaming a damaging addiction? Well let’s look at the facts here shall we? I implore you to look at exhibit ’A’ (the question itself). It seems that the enlightened minds at "HUMPER” magazine have already resolved the life-long debate about whether gaming is an addiction worthy of note. Apparently, the Hyper gang have cracked the code and accepted that, yes, gaming is an addic¬ tion. Now you’re merely concerned whether it’s a damaging one. Who told you? When did this happen? I’ll have to start reading the Australian I think. I thought there’d be at least another couple of kilometres worth of bickering left in the social fuel tank about whether gaming was an addiction at all. Ah well, I guess you guys really are 'in the know’. Sorry, getting back to the point. Is it a ’damaging’ addic¬ tion? I would say yes! Compared to the other forms of digital stimuli out there, gaming’s the heroin of the electronic world maaannn. Think about it for a moment will you? Total immer¬ sion, no responsibility, no consequences. What a hit! What a buzz! What a hangover... Picture this - It’s 3 in the morning, you’ve finally built the weather machine that you’ve saved so damn hard for, prism tank force gathered nicely on the left flank, an army of Grizzlies poised for attack on the right. THEN BOOM! The reds drop a nuke on your arse and in 3 seconds it’s all over. How many times have you just wanted to smash the nearest object (living or dead) with your bare fist when some¬ thing like this happens. Sure, this isn’t necessarily damaging to yourself, but it certainly is to any unfortunate bugger that happens to be within a 3 metre radius. Gaming’s a drug and by God it hurts. Sure you start off by having a dabble on the weekends. See it as more of a social lubricant then anything else. Invite a few mates over, pizza, beer, the fiery pits of Starbase 3. Life doesn’t get much bet¬ ter. But before you know it you’re playing on a work night, at three in the morning, alone, desperate. I’ve finalised many a game by lying naked in the fetal position. It’s the only way to cope. I see a future of smacked out Pokemon addicts sprawled in the city gutters, still clutching desper¬ ately to their Game Boy Colors. One more hit, one more hit. I see a future of J C Denton lookalikes pushing Banjo Tooie on the streets, Sonicphiles jacked up on ringshots and jumping on people’s heads, terrorising that DVD crowd to no end 1 bet (interactive menus... ooooohhh ahhhhhh). Walls will crumble, tides will turn and we will all obey helplessly to the mighty word of the creator, "It’s-a me, Mariooo!’’ As Primal Scream once sang, "I got damage”. Maybe they’d just picked up the latest instalment in the Mechwarrior saga? Oh yeah, I’ve given up sex because I was bartering with an Elf-Lord in upper Ankh Morpork... now that’s damaging! WILLIAM B Brisbane, Qld hvoerforum GIRLFRIEND OR GAMEFRIEND? In the clarity of hindsight, the single most determining factor as to whether or not I should break up with my (now-ex) girlfriend when I did, was the release of Perfect Dark for N64 in time for mid-year holi¬ days. I had just bought an N64 (thanks Pius leon - and he’s not even Creek) and was looking forward to getting into the Darkness after my uni exams were over. My exams finished and then suddenly I had to face much conflict within - girlfriend or gamefriend? Inevitably my gaming sessions were cut short by girlfriend maintenance requirements as I yearned for gaming sessions that were unrestricted by time or any other earth¬ ly constraints. She was a nice girl but things were on the way down anyway so Joanna just pointed me in the right direction and I finished things with the girl. So Is Gaming a Damaging Addiction? Well in this case gaming helped me to find the correct path earlier than I might have otherwise. So No. But yeah gaming is dangerous, I once damaged my knee as a youngster playing Moonbuggy on the Apple-IIc (what a pocket-sized party starting machine). I was jumping over this weird crater that had an emu-like thing popping out of it and I used to get over excited and jerk my leg up when I did it (I was young and out of control). The computer desk got in the way one time and I smashed the shit out of my knee. But my joints are good now so maybe that just made me more powerful. In the end the real damage of addiction to games is what you miss out on if you didn’t play, in economics it’s called opportunity cost, as in the opportunities you give up to play games. You might miss out on learning shit like how to surf or build a box-kite or a sea-faring vessel, maybe you could learn 11-dimensional string theory and understand the universe if you didn’t play so much FIFA or Counterstrike. Yet you’d reckon there should be time for that one day and in the meantime you are having fun (at least when you’re win¬ ning- and when you lose it’s a learning experience) and since you only live once you might as well enjoy as much as you can. But you know maybe in 20 years you’ll wake up and say "I’m 24- isn’t that cool" in which case you’re too young to go to pubs (and school for that matter) so keep playing games. For the rest of you be careful in avoiding reality for too long. -JOBBA via e-mail TAKE YOUR STRESS OUT Dear Hyper, Hmmmmm. ’’Is earning A Damaging Addiction?” Well that can be true in a very small amount of cases, but no it is not damaging. When I mean in very small amount of cases is I mean, if you sit there day after day and never ever go out side. We all need to get some regular exercise, so if you do get regular exercise then it is not dam¬ aging to your health. Also playing computer games improves your hand to eye co-ordination, so by playing games like Tekken, Power Stone or Quake you will actual¬ ly improve your co-ordination. Plus, computer games allow you to take your stress out on something. Ever had a hard day at school? The teachers will never get off your back and work you to the bone. Well it is nice to come home, turn on your computer or console and kill something to take your stress out of you. Like Quake. Blow up a few enemies or see other cars disappear far behind you into a cloud of dust in Sega Rally. Ahh the life of a gamer is grand isn’t it? "Gaming is grand and good for you”. DARKEVA darkeva@hotmail.com.au VOICES... Hyper, Now what would want to make you believe that gaming could even remotely be addictive? I should know from experience, just because I haven’t left the house in 3 weeks, showered since the last time I left the house or have eaten properly since before I left home. I mean come on. I’m not addicted to games or my computer. I even ate last night, I think it was the day before pizza scrapings. Now I don’t say all people could live like me but I think life is fine and I am definitely not addicted to games. FROM KENNY P.S. Does anyone know how to quiet the voices in my head? All I can hear is "strafe, jump, shoot". 93 »HYPER 94 »HYPER incoming mail HYPER 78 Ren wick St. Redfern, NSW 2016 Australia E-mail: freakscene@next.com.au RPG RUMBLINGS To the gunnish crew S> Hyper, I’ve got a couple of questions for you. I was just wondering whatever happened to... 1) Chrono Cross. Did the sequel to the classic ever get an Australian release or what? I haven’t seen it anywhere. 2) What about Legend of Dragoon and Legend of Mana? These are the other two I’ve seen nothing of. I love my RPCs and these were all supposed to be top titles. 3) Finally I was wondering if Final Fantasy 9 had beer, released in Aus yet? I seriously can’t wait for this game. Thanks for your help BRODIE RYAN gunnish@joymail.com Dear Brodie, Well, aren't you a lucky duck? Legend Of Dragoon is reviewed this issue, although you've probably noticed that already. 1) Chrono Cross looks like it's going to be overlooked for Australia. What's so frustrating is that it's a brilliant RPG. 2) Legend of Mana is also never going to come out here, because Australia is such an unimportant backwater. The arse-end if you will. Apparently. 3) Final Fantasy IX will be out real soon! Rejoice! WHICH CONSOLE IS BEST PART MMLXCVII Hyper, In all honesty, if you guys could only buy one console, which would it be? The Dreamcast, with its amazing games lineup right now (but not too great a future)? The Camecube, with the chance to play a really cool looking Mario and Zelda? (sidenote -1 finally played Ocarina, not a bad game by far, but the most overrated in years. What story?! Look at Final Fantasy. Xenogears, MGS, Panzer Dragoon Saga!) Next, the XBox, with it’s so-called super-duper graphics (not to mention probable super-duper price tag) and what looks like third-party support almost as good as Sony’s? It will either succeed really well, or fizzle faster than we can say 3DO. Or the PS2, with its revolutionary technology, amazing third-party support, GT3, and the best looking future? Or does the small VRAM and initial programming diffi¬ culties turn you off? Please be honest I like to know. BRETT ELSE B_else@yahoo.com Dear Brett, Easily answered! Clearly, without a doubt, the best console is obviously going to be [SNIP - Big Brother]. There you go. Case closed! HELLO FROM A KNOB Okay, Eliot or should I say the royal Mr Fish. I have two VERY important ques¬ tions I need answered. I just bought a PS2 and DOA2: Hardcore and my two questions revolve around this. The first is this. 1) Is our Aussie version free of jag- gies or rough edges? Cause it sure as hell looks like it. 2) Now Eliot, can I please have the cheat to make chicks naked on the PS2 version. Thanks. Dont work too hard and have a nervy. Thanks again, seeya Lord Of Seafood. KNOB Knob4ya@hotmail.COm PS Say hello to Cam for me, my name’s Knob. Dear... Knob, Ahem. 1) Is it really that important? There's a small amount of jaggy flickering, but the game looks awesome, so who cares? We win! 2) There's no cheat to actually make the in-game characters nekkid. This is the truth! In the DC version at least, you could unlock an alternate intro that showed one naked girl in a big yellow bubble of plasma. Overrated. BLIZZARD ARE PHONIES! Good Evenings to all the Hyper Crew, With all the Hula-hoopla about CAPTION THIS! PAST 14 WINNER Our winning caption this month comes from Daniel Kinsman via e-mail. One of the only entries that didn’t involve dick jokes. NORMAN REALISES HE DRILLED HIS PEEPHOLE INTO THE WRONG WALL! Harvev Norman Harvey Norman would like to offer readers of Hyper an exclusive discount offer on the titles appearing on the Official Australian PC, Playstation or N64 Games Chart. Simply complete the coupon & take it into any Harvey Norman store to claim your discount. GK5HI3$» SAVE 15%' OFF ANY TOP 20 GAME! Name: Address: State: Post Code: Ph: Email: Local Harvey Norman store: ]] I would like to receive news & other special offers • Limit of one per person. Original voucher must be presented & completed to claim the discount. Discount applies to regular store pricing. Not redeemable or transferable for cash. Offer ends 26th February. Customer details may be used for further promotional activities. _ the bottom of this? Is Blizzard stealing ideas from lost games and mak¬ ing them a million and half times better? You be the judge! DIZQORD Dizqord@hotmail.com Dear Dizqord, the formula in Diablo i and 2 is reminiscent of many old-school RPGs, so Dragon Crystal wouldn't be the only game with a passing resemblance. Believe us, there were a few games with exactly the same style of game- play many years ago, even in old ASCII games like Rogue on the PC. HYPER PJU DAVID SDUIVAN SENDS DS YET ANOTHER BRIlllANT PIECE OE WORK... >> Diablo II lately, I’ve written to inform you about one of the most shocking discoveries I have ever come across in gaming. Blizzard’s Diablo is nothing but a clone of a Sega Master System cart! How did I come about this con¬ clusion? Well, let me tell you first about the ’original’ A/RPC game Diablo is based on - Dragon Crystal. In Dragon Crystal the hero has to tra¬ verse each short level fighting enemies and picking up items, but the main goal is to find the exit on each level to reach the final floor in which the drag¬ on crystal is held. The hero also goes up in experience the more he descends and his designation changes several times from ’warrior’ to ’paladin’ before eventually becoming a ’demi-god’. The hero’s appearance changes with better armour as he starts off in brown leather then moves on to chain mail and eventually full plate body armour. Very Diablo-ish in my opinion. Money is also scattered about the level diablo- style but is only used to buy ’contin¬ ues’ if you die (and you will). If the going gets too tough 'time rods’ can be used to ’slip through time’ and back a few levels if you missed some armour or weapons. But here’s the bombshell - Dragon Crystal has a random level generation feature where no gaming adventure is the same! Enemies, items, levels and colour designation are always different every time you play the game! For example in one play a red potion may be a 'minheal potion’ (didn’t I mention that the game also has min/mid/max- heal potions? Oops heh heh!) but in the next it could be a 'fog potion’ (just like that fountain I’m always accidentally clicking on in Diablo). And just like in Diablo if you face a type of enemy at the start of the game that’s green, much later it might be orange and cause permanent 'STR Down’ effects. One adventure is never the same. Wasn’t that the catch phrase of Diablo advertisements? A massive coincidence or is Diablo just a rip-off clone? See for yourself! If you can’t track down a Sega Master System (around $2 at Cash Converters heheh) try the ROM off the ’net (but make sure you delete it afterwards). I recommend MEKA for Emulation because it has some wicked GUI options (try the 'girl power’ setting and introduce you little sister to gam¬ ing... or something). Can Hyper get to HYPER TV OPINIONS START HERE Dear HYPER’”’ crew, My name’s David Clarke and I am a proud sub¬ scriber to HYPER”” and N64Gamer magazines. I also have Austar (Not Foxtel because I’m in Albury/Wodonga, not a captial!) But when I heard about HYPER TV, I was all excited and stuff, until I found it was on FOX Kids! That’s only on Foxtel! I think you should cram it up Fox Kids’ arse, and put it on FOX 8, the entertainment channel. Where have you been the last few years? Video Games are now no longer for just kids, they are now aimed more at the age 12+, so get HYPER TV OFF FOX KIDS and put it on FOX 8! That’s why games cost so much, have better graphics and there are more and more M-MA-R rated games. Back when the Atari was the domi¬ nant in-house console, that was for kids, because the games weren't as sophisticated, or violent. Now the games are more violent and more sophisticated. Take GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding for example! They are hard, more sophisticated, and most of them are violent! So I hope you take up my sugges¬ tion, because more than 70% of gamers are aged 13 or older, NOT KIDS! DAVID J CLARKE console-gaming@usa.net http://consolegaming.israd.com Dear David, FOX Kids approached Hyper with the concept, so really, it's their call. If we were approached by channel 10 for a late night games show, then hell, it'd be full of gibbing gore. But we weren't and it's not. Fox Kids may be a kids channel, but person¬ ally, I think the outcome is a kick- arse gaming show that appeals to gamers of all ages. We're sorry if you can't see it, maybe if you did you wouldn't assume it was for tod¬ dlers. Full-screen Gamecube footage? Yeah baby! Hyper TV could go weekly this year, so look out. PS2 = WASTED MONEY? To Hyper, I have recently bought a PS2 with TTT and I love it but I’ve been reading in magazines how the Xbox is going to be much better then the PS2 .1 feel that I have wasted a lot of money. So I have a couple of questions. 1) Should I sell my PS2 and wait for the X-box to be released? 2) Keep my PS2 and wait for GT3 and MGS2 to come out? WASAISA wasaisa@altavista.com Dear Wasaisa, If you love it, then you haven't wasted a cent. When the Xbox releases, if you think you want it instead of your PS2, then you can make your decision to change then. At this point in time, we don't really know how good the Xbox games are going to be. Enjoy your PS2 until we know more. Fact is, PS2 will probably lead a healthy life regardless of the competition, so don't worry about having made the "wrong" deci¬ sion. There's always a better console around the corner these days... SONY GETTING COCKY? Hyper and the rest of the gaming community, The PS2 is out. We’ve all read the hype, seen the eye-candy pics brought by Hyper (thanking you eternally for great work) and now it is upon us. So watching TV the other day what do I see? Some guy walking in an abstract world with arms flying out his mouth and a duck in a suit (I think it’s in a suit) saying "Welcome to the third level”. Needless to say, I jumped out wanting to buy the console on such a display of the console's power (note sarcasm here). What I really was thinking was, "What the F%#$ are Sony playing at?" Do they think we are ah black turtle- 95 »HYPER neck-wearing, long black pants tot¬ ing, amber glass wearing, latte-sip- ping, gay-arsed art-critics? What I want to see is Te3) 5.1 audio for ttye best digrtaftentertainment experience on your PC! Immerse yourself in DVD moviesrmusic and games with crisp and ijealistic audio blasting from 6 discrete channels! And with fantastic features like a remote controller and Live! Drive IR's front panel connectivity that make your life easier, Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 is guaranteed to change the way you experience audio! Get a new lease of Live! with Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1!