FINAL FANTASY X е СТАЗ е MAX PAYNE • SSX TRICKY * TONY HAWK 3 * METAL GEAR SOLID 2 * JAK & DAXTER MARCH 2002 ISSUE 54 | ) LI j | PlayStation ወ | : 1 ‘CHEAP - ` THRILLS TON THE NEXT GENERATION PHERALS Ù) — ЕВТЕ5Т ЕВ ያ Ж Actual in-game model | ntertainment of America. PlayStation and $7.99 U.S $9.99 Canada v Display Until Mar. 11 MONSTERS, INC. е SCOOBY-DOO * E.T. А | КУША | ^ | AND TWISTED METAL: SMALL BRAWL 722 Once again, it's time to hang with Рагарра [5 posse as you learn to rhyme like a rap star. Flow to all new songs. Freestyle with the rap masters. Take your timing and н н . thythm to a whole new level, But you better The original rap star’s back in the house. ive mai sis он, propa vont get the girl or save the world, And you gotta believe this dog ain't goin’ out like that. EVERYONE or call 1-800-771-3772 B - for more info. — A ee Ы == ፍመ መመመ Games WITH CHARAGTER ж PlayStation.e d E s "> ӛз " ዘ m » © ІҢ тг р. oid arum " 4 SS re $ . . Float Like A Butterfly | Sting Like A Bee March 2002, Kain returns to video gaming's high-throne of bloodthirsty had-asses. When Баше-ах and sword edges dull, turns to Dark Gilts such as rupture and possession. hether in pursuit of power or just lor the thri NNI n ЖЕ 1 lor the thrill ol the kill, Кайт lust lor blood is inspiring. ИПИЕ И ~~- This game is i ded fx . n В, Kain Awakens This March ONLY. V www.LegacyofKain.com 77124» ЛИЛ? We've been hard at work in the off-season improving our game. The payoff - High Heat™ Major League Baseball” 2003 is a quantum leap forward in graphics and animation. Player movement looks fluid and life-like. There are seven new gameplay modes and highly realistic audio. And we were already ۳ rated the #1 hasehall videogame by numerous sources, including GamePro and the Official PlayStation Magazine. * Newly enriched audio with hecklers, vendors and dynamic stadium announcers. ж New gameplay modes include Home Run Derhy"", Fantasy Draft, Batting Practice, Stand Alone Playoffs, Create А Player, Player Editor and Two On Two Showdown™. * New action includes a superjump at the wall to snag homers, and tons of player celehrations and frustrations. ЄР ЕЕ ec ЭО) for Rating Information. B cD PIE PlayStation. ^ cawEBoraovewce 89 d t ks of The 300 www.3D0.com untries. MLBPA Of icial stered to their respectiv na M 1! j EENS. Or 5 በው ні = p “High Heat (PS2) has risen above and is now the best baseball game on the market.” — Official PlayStation Magazine May 2001 || *High Heat Hits Grand Slamwith PS2 Debut." | — GamePro May 2001 Hii | #1 т ዘሀ / REAL. BASEBALL. [ለ CATCH THE ACTION AT: WWW. highheat.com 2 «Major! League Basehan. e STATS ™ MLB.com di: O nens THE MAGAZINE Editor in Chief John Davison Managing Editor Gary Steinman Previews Editor Chris Baker News Editor Sam Kennedy Reviews Editor Joe Rybicki Associate Editor Todd Zuniga Gossip Columnist Clish MacLaver Editorial Contributors Shane Bettenhausen, Zoe Flower, Ravi Hiranand, Tim Ponting, Thomas Puha, John Scalzi Japanese Correspondent Yutaka Ohbuchi European Correspondent Axel Strohm Copy Editor Jennifer Whitesides DESIGN Senior Art Director Bob Conlon Art Directors Donna O'Hara, Jim Cordano Illustration Penny Arcade, Wayne Vincent Photography Bob Stefko PRODUCTION Manufacturing Director Carlos Lugo Senior Production Manager Anne Marie Miguel Assistant Production Manager Teresa Newson Pre-Media Manager Dave McCracken Assistant Pre-Media Manager Mike Vallas TECHNOLOGY Project Leader Mark LeFebvre ZD GAME GROUP Vice President Dale Strang Editorial Director John Davison Creative Director Simon Cox Business Director Cathy Bendoff CIRCULATION Circulation Director Joan Mclnerney Circulation Director Shirley Viel Senior Newsstand Sales Manager Don Galen SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE NUMBER 1800] 627-6458 (U.S. and Canada only] http://service.playstationmagazine.com playstation@neodata,com TO SUBSCRIBE ONLINE : Я ‘ADVERTISING INQUIRIES CONTACT Game Group. 50 Beale, t2th floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 Telephone: 415-547-8783 Group Publisher Lee Uniacke 415-357-4910 * lee_uniacke(ziffdavis.com Group Associate Publisher Suzie Reider 415-357-4915 • suzie(@ziffdavis.com Regional Sales Manager/East Coast Territory Marc Callison 630-382-9034 * marc_callison(@ziffdavis.com District Sales Representative/East Coast Territory Tallie Fishburne 617-354-0284 * tallie_fishburne@@ziffdavis.com Account Executive/East Coast Territory Emily Olman 415-357-5226 * emily_olman@ziffdavis,com Regional Sales Manager/Pacific Northwest and Bay Area Peninsula lan Sinclair 415-357-4925 * ian_sinclair@ziffdavis.com Account Exec Pacific Northwest ይ Bay Area Peninsula Mary Gray 415-547-8782 © mary grayüzilfdavis.com Regional Sales Manager/Southwest Territory Karen Landon 760-942-6277 * karen landon(üzifídavis.com. Senior Account Executive/Southwest Territory Linda Philapil 415-547-8781 * linda_philapil@ziffdavis.com Regional Sales Manager/Texas, Washington, San Francisco Territory Marci Yamaguchi 415-357-4944 * marciy(@ziffdavis.com Account Executive/TX, WA, San Francisco Territory Meighan O'Rourke 415-357-4920 * meighan_orourke(@ziffdavis.com Senior Marketing Manager & Creative Director Rey Ledda 415-547-8775 * rey leddaldziffdavis.com ‘Associate Marketing Manager Annie Lipscomb 415-547-8248 • annie_lipscomb@ziffdavis.com Advertising Coordinator Tipler Ubbelohde 415-357-4930 * tipler_ubbelahde(@zffdavis.com Sales Assistant Kristeen Laut 415-547-8778 * kristeen_laut(@ziffdavis.com Sales Assistant Cheryl Farrell. 415-547-8783 * сһегуі farrell(dziffdavis.com Апа the rough the entire experience with flying | colors. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, l Sony sold. nearly 2.5 million PS2s, a figure that is more than double the number of either Xboxes or GameCubes that found new homes. This success is entirely due to the incredible library of games, and in particular Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 2 and most important of all, ind Theft Auto Ш...а game that has continued to surprise us all since it was first released. The choices we were presented with in 2001 were i just incredible, and trying to pinpoint a single product that deserves to be heralded “Game of the Year” is a tough job. So tough in fact, that we desperately need your help. We've produced a short list of nominees for games of the year in a number of categories and now we need you to vote for them. _ Visit our Web site over the next month, www playstationmagazine.com and vote for your favorites so we can declare a winner a couple of от пїһ from now, Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Mission Statement The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine is content About our contributors ZOE FLOWER Zoe is a multimedia superstar. She works for us, she makes TV shows, she produces rock videos, she’s an animator and illustra- tor, she makes very cool Web sites, and she somehow has time to play games as well. www.zoeflower.com JOHN SCALZI A writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Diego Tribune, New York City magazine and the Fresno Bee, John brings his considerable knowledge to our media pages. Visit his Web site at or he'll cry. Video Games Have Ratings, Just Like Movies The Entertainment Software Rating Board provides information about video game ESRB ratings are intended as guidelines only; parents should still mon- itor minors purchases. www.playstationmagazine.com SHANE BETTENHAUSEN Shane is responsible for the monstrous job of piecing together this month's Final Fantasy X strategy. As a former editor at amers.com, | he's now enjoying the good life freelancing for the likes of OPM, EGM and GameNOW. PENNY ARCADE They make us laugh. And we're betting they'll make you laugh, too. Read the Penny Arcade guys’ strip for the month, then visit their Web site for even more. And don't forget to order their new book while you're at it. т) .com WAYNE VINCENT When not doing illustra- tions for Walt Disney, Pepsi or Pizza Hut, Wayne graciously helps us out by creating some off-the-wall illustra- tions. This month he did the “Ultimate Gaming Setup” on the Р.5. page. See his stuff at TIM PONTING Previously a group pub- lisher at Dennis Pub- lishing in the U.K., Tim was responsible for PC Zone and The Official U.K. Dreamcast Maga- zine. He's now a free- lance writer and part of the online score-ranking company Csports. TEEN RATING Contains suggestive themes, mild or strong language and animated violence. Some parents may want to supervise children playing T-rated games the only Sony Computer Entertainment America-licensed magazine and is pub- lished by Ziff Davis Media Inc. through an exclusive agreement. As such, the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (OPM) remains independent from SCEA, and is a critical, autonomous voice that helps readers get more out of their PlayStation system by delivering the most current, comprehen- sive and candid coverage of PlayStation software and hardware. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (ISSN #10: mailing offices. Single-issue rate: $7.99 . Subscription R of goods and services, If you do not wish to receive PlayStation Magazine, P.O. Вох 55362, Boulder, СО 8: iting the rights under copyrights res mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise û herein, no part of 2-5362. For Subscription 5 Canada, or 303.604.0518 all other countries. Or visit our subscription Web site at htt ПШ] EARLY CHILDHOOD RATING Н Deemed suitable for children 3 or older. Products carrying this label have absolutely no material that would be considered inappropriate by parents FUER] EVERYONE RATING The E replaced the previous К-А rating a few years ago. Suitable for kids ages 6 and up, E-rated games тау contain minimal violence or crude language. WWW.ESRB.ORG MATURE RATING These games contain more adult themes, such as blood and gore, stronger language and sexual themes. Deemed not suitable for those under 17. CONTENT RATED BY ADULTS ONLY RATING The extreme of the ratings, suitable for adults only Packs sexual themes and extreme violence, Console manufacturers have yet to allow an AO-rated game. ADULTS ONLY CONTENT RATED BY Е SRB | is published monthly by Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals Postage Paid at New York, NY 10016 and additional One Year [12 issues and 12 demo discs) $49.97 U.S., $65.97 all other countries. We periodically make lists of our customers available to mailers mailings, please write to us and include a copy of your mailing label. Subscription Service Questions and Address Changes Write to: Official U.S. ice Inquiries call us at: 800.627.6458 U.S. and Canada, or [303] 604-7445 all other countries. Fax us: 850.683.4094 U.S. and rvice.playstationmagazine.com. The editors and publishers are not responsible for unsolicited materials. Without lim is publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, hout the prior written notice of Ziff Davis Media Inc, Copyright © 2002 Ziff Davis Media. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. For permission to reuse material in this publication or on wwww.playstationmagazine.com, or to use our logo, contact Ziff Davis Media's Rights and Permissions Manager: Olga Gonopolsky, Ziff Davis Media Inc., 28 East 28th Street, New York, NY 10016. Tel: 212 TM & O for all other products and the characters contained therein are owned by the respective 438. Fax: 21 assumes no responsibility for such changes. The Canadian GST registration number is 14049 6720 RT. Printed in the USA. 5420. E-mail: olga_gonopalsky@ziffdavis.com. For reprints, contact Reprint Services at 800-217-7874. er an соруун pers All materials іп this rnagazine are subject to change and the publisher RATING PENDING Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for more info. CLASS 3 С) ፦ | Е ved. Jati BEGINS 3 PlayStation. rademarks of SEGA Corporation. Presented by SEGA | | 85 02 SEGA-AM?2 Со. LTD./SEGA CORPORATION, 2001 sega.com "PlayStation" and the РОй $20 AND LESS. The New Tomb Raider * 96 The franchise is completely reinvented for PS2 and given a darker, grittier and overall nastier feel. Lara is framed for murder, is on the run from the law, and has lost all of her wealth. And that's just the beginning. 5 “A TEST РЫНАН IS IT STILL CODL то в FIND OT 1,808 M “ > ን г PS ONE DEMO DISC INSIDE Brit Pop ° 35 Ap Chose 1 2 A lot of people only want аты M to look at Britney Spears, | 5 D and while we can't blame и: ^k them, we were equally interested in what Ms. Pop Artist had to say about her upcoming game. You can read all about it right here! SPIN 26 Fantasy Stars All the latest on the RPG series that sends shivers 47 PSAT 47 Sightings Penny Arcade M Bargain Hunter Tired of searching for cheap PS one games? Britney Spears Our favorite damsel mouths off about games. Final Fantasy XI * 26 They keep adding Roman numerals, and we keep beating other magazines to the punch. If you want exclusive hands-on reactions, along with the newest in FF news, then look no further than the opening pages of Spin. Moustaches Why is Medal of Honor so good? Must be the һе OPM Awards Call ‘ет the Ору or the Peripheral Attack! False Starts There was life before Final Fantasy, but it was ugly. 007 Returns Peripheral Mayhem * 36 What do you get when you lock the OPM editors in a room with all the latest controllers, joysticks, driving wheels, memory cards and DVD remotes? Mayhem. Shenanigans. And heaps of plastic that didn't pass our grueling tests. Turok on PS2 Gossip, Gossip A new Dragon Ball game. And will GTA4 be massively multiplayer? Only in Japan PlayStation Year 5 Ka-Razy The PS one grows up. Eidos is bringing Ka, their mosquito game, to the U.S., along with one of those conductor games. MGS2 in Japan Japan's M6S2 provides us with CD Reviews Bookmarks DVD Reviews Jay and Silent Bob may have struck back, but their Oscars of gaming. We don’t We chew, drop, throw, movie struck out drag, hurtle, stomp and test the PS peripherals. care as long as you vote. Calendar FF Remakes Are they still coming out? Jonny Moseley The game may stink, but the star is cool Matrix Squared Square Pictures tackles the Matrix anime shot Dream Cast FFX gets the casting call Hollywood Banter Top 10 Charts REGULAR BITS Demo Disc * 12 Үшр, it's a PS one disc, which “1 got your martini stirrer means it's chock-full of tasty right here, mister.” 50 treats for all the kiddies. Input * 18 We're not that exciting without your 2€. Send us an e-mail at OPMfaziffdavis.com when you can. Spin * 26 Final Fantasy ХІ, a peripheral blowout, a Britney interview—what more could you ask for? Top Secrets * 114 The big deal this month: a secrets guide to Final Fantasy X. Perhaps you've heard of it? P.S. ° 128 We spent some time daydreaming г about the ultimate gaming setup. sultry summon: Let us know what you think. Raise your hand if you're sure, 46 Think malaria's a hoot? Wait ‘til you t my game, 52 е A latter-day Laverne and Shirley, 66 photo by Coope TAZ Матей.............. 90 The Legend of Alon D'ar .108 PS one E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: 2 E Terminator .. Maximo: Ghosts to Glory .104 PLAYSTATION 2 7 Interplanetary Mission . .110 i ТеккКап же, 222222222. 88 Mobile Suit Gundam: Alpine Racer3 ........... 93 Peni Front ናን 408 Men In Black—The Series: Army MenRTS ........... 80 гезе aa a GEA 86 Crashdown............ 110 1 Pac-Man World 2 ....... 106 Battle Engine Aquila ...... 91 Triple Play 2002 .......... 80 Sesame Street Sports ...110 Bay Shore Midnight ....... 93 Virtua Fighter 4 .......... 78 A Britney’s Dance Beat ...... 90 Hot Shots Golf3.......... 79 У-Вайу3................ 89 Chris Edwards Inline ...... 92 NFL Blitz 20-02 .......... 79 PSone Conflict Zone . Pirates: Digimon Battle Arena ..... 92 Ne Legend of Black Kat ....... 89 a ESPN MLS Extra Time 2002 .91 Prisoner of War ..........! 86 ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 ....80 REVI EWS ii Fatal Frame ............. 92 PLAYSTATION 2 DragonRage .......... 105 Gran Turismo: Concept ....93 Soul Calibur2 .........../ 84 ESPN International @ Негду Gerdy ............. 90 Winter Sports 2002 ..... 105 | E Space Channel5.......... 82 High Heat MLB 2003....... 85 Godai: Elemental Force .106 Stuntman ር ао о 88 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin . .86 Jonny Moseley Mad Trix .108 Even non-Batman fans will feel inspired to fight crime after checking out this video clip which features the best superhero game on the Р52. SKEWING YOUNG? There's no question that the PS one is starting to skew younger, but that doesn't mean the varying gameplay isn't challenging. This month we bring back the PS one demo disc so you can try out a mix of games for the kid in all of us. Plus, don t forget Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Wondering why this is one of the PS2's hottest games? Wonder no more. This demo shows why it scored so high. to check out the PS2 videos. Not only do we present clips from two stellar titles [Jak and Daxter and Tony Hawk 3], but we also deliver the best superhero game on the PS2. Until Spider-Man comes out, that is. Sheep Raider If you've ever aspired to steal sheep, this is the demo for you! Disney's Monsters, Inc Cute. Cuddly. Monsters. Somehow Disney's found a way to sew it all together. Twisted Metal: Small Brawl There's nothing small about the number of explosions in this brawl. Did you buy a copy of our magazine. that did not contain a demo CD? Simply send the receipt in an enve- lope marked "OPM Replacement Disc" to the address below with the name and address of the store plus your phone number and address and we'll send you the disc. Make sure you specify which month the correspond- ing disc belongs to in order to ensure you get the right one. Also, if you have a malfunctioning ог non-working demo disc, call SCEA at 1-800-345-SONY. They will pro- vide instructions to obtain repair or. replacement services. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) warrants to the original purchaser of the Official U.S. 52 (2) Official U.S. PlayStation Mag; DISC PROBLEMS? Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase How far would you go to earn a Scooby snack? Play this demo to find out. PlayStation Magazine that the demo disc included is free from defects in material and workmanship for a peri- od of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. SCEA agrees for a peri- ` od of ninety (90) days to either repair or replace, at its option, the SCEA product. You must call 1-800-345- SONY to receive instructions to obtain repair/replacement services. This warranty shall not be applicable and shall be void if the defect in the SCEA product has arisen through abuse, unreasonable use, mistreat- ment, neglect or breakage during Shipment. THIS WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES AND NO OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OR CLAIMS OF ANY NATURE ine ET. The Extra-Terrestrial: Interplanetary Mission Ready for a headache? Try out this demo from the for- merly lovable E.T. SHALL BE BINDING ON OR OBLIG- ATE SCEA. ANY IMPLIED WAR- RANTIES APPLICABLE TO THIS. SOFTWARE PRODUCT, INCLUDING. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABIL- TTY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICU- LAR PURPOSE, ARE LIMITED TO THE NINETY (90) DAY PERIOD. DESCRIBED ABOVE. IN NO EVENT WILL SCEA BE LIABLE FOR INCI- DENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAM- AGES RESULTING FROM POSSES- SION, USE OR MALFUNCTION OF THE SCEA SOFTWARE PRODUCT. Some states do not allow limitations as to how long an implied warranty fasts and/or exclusions or limitations of consequential damages, so the above limitations and/or exclusions of liability may not apply to you. This ad Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy We gave this platformer a five-disc rating. Now you can see for yourself why we love it so much. warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. OPM Demo Disc is published monthly by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc, 919 E. Hillsdale Drive, Foster City, CA 94404. All titles shown herein are trademarks of апа copyrights of their respective publish- ers and/or their licensors, See individ- ual screens for details. ©2002 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc, Please submit all related demo disc inquiries to: OPM Demo Disc, Inquiries, 919 E. Hillsdale Drive, Foster City, CA 94404 И. 22) ZIFF DAVIS MEDIA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer ... Robert F. Callahan Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer .................... Bart W. Catalane Senior Executive Vice President .................. Tom Мсбгайе (Publishing Operations) Executive Vice President ......................... Peter Longo Executive Vice President „Stephen D. Moylan Executive Vice President and Editorial Director ... Michael J. Miller (Editor-in-Chief, PC Magazine) Senior Vice President (Circulation) ................. Charles Mast Senior Vice President (Game Group) .................| Dale Strang Vice President (Corporate Sales) ................... Ken Beach Vice President (News) ............................ John Dodge Vice President . (Editor-in-Chief, Yahoo! Internet Life) ‚6. Barry Golson Vice President (Chief Information Officer) Kim Hoover Vice President (Integrated Solutions) ................ Charles Lee Vice President (Corporate Communications) ...... ሠ Aimee D. Levine Vice President (Editor-in-Chief, eWEEK) ............ Eric Lundquist Vice President (Technology) ..................... Bill Machrone Vice President (Controller) ....................... David Mullen Оооо o 2፡24 Michael Perkowski (Ziff Davis Market Experts) Vice President (Marketing) ....................... Tonia E. Ries Vice President (General Counsel) ............ Carolyn Schurr Levin Nice Presidentits ዘ ን сата EE Sloan Seymour (Publishing Director, Baseline) Vice President (Editor-in-Chief, Baseline) . . . Лот Steinert-Threlkeld Vice President (Game Group) ......................| Dale Strang Vice President (Internet Audience Development) ... Stephen Sutton Mice President еее Stephen Veith (Publisher, CIO Insight) Vice President (Internet Advertising Sales)........... Jason Young Executive Vice President and General Manager, . . . . . Mark Van Name eTesting Labs Chief Technology Officer (Internet Operations) . . . . . . / Alan Bourassa Senior Director, Manufacturing ..................... Carlos Lugo Director, International ........................ Christin Lawson Eri iI the games. www.espnthegames.com NINE THRILLING EVENTS. AND CURLING. Which is not to say this sport of Canadian kings won't put a lump in your throat. After all, this is ESPN International Winter Sports 2002. And whether you're hucking ho-hos off the halfpipe, soaring off the ski jump, or reaching for records in any of the other eight events, your every triumph—and every defeat—is part of an authentic ESPN telecast. So smile wide and breathe deep. You wouldn't want to lose your cool on the ice. Downhill | Slalom | Freestyle | K90 Ski Jump | K120 Ski Jump | Bobsleigh | Snowboard Halfpipe | Figure Skating | Speed Skating | Curling EVERYONE ውቃው А GAME BOY ADVANCE J PlayStation.e А ж ; SERN GAMECUBE. XeOX ® ©2001 Disney. ESPN and ESPN the games are trademarks of ESPN, Inc. Konami® is a registered trademark of Konami Corporation. ©2001 Konami. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. “PlayStation” and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Xbox and Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries. TM, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. TM, ® and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. ТЕЕМ т VIOLENCE Е 3 PlayStation.e ow, FORCE powered. "uoneuuoju Bu 2218-1. 8- 40 Bjo'qise/ Www. HE САЗНА 30 FLEET LL በ588 ш gue} nof ueg ILE п SNO SANT YOO} jeu sajnuu ш Q lusNONANINÜNRON (32086104 ^ 93914 М p 9889**” Survey ሀ19፻8-198 "Suze|quej] "Surzopjng Think you have what it takes to write the Letter of the Month? Send us your video game expositions and you could win the official OPM Box of Joy. We pack our Box of Joy with an assortment of nifty goodies from all your favorite software companies. CONTACT OPM snail mail PlayStation Magazine Р.О. Box 3338 Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 e-mail opmf(üziffdavis.com and check usouton . www.playstation magazine.com fax If you need to reach us now 630.382.9010 Almost FA-MAS On screenshots and trailers for Metal Gear Solid 2, they show Snake in the tanker mis- sion holding and firing a FA-MAS weapon. However, | can't seem to find the gun in the game or manual. So why is it in previews Гог the game? Mark Prosia prosia101(@hotmail.com Our pals at Electronic Gaming Monthly were wondering the same thing, so they put the question directly to MGS2 director Hideo Kojima. Here's what he had to say: "The game was first developed with the FA-MAS, but we turned it into the M4 to be consistent with the story. [Graphics Supervisor] Yoji Shinkawa and others who know a lot about guns begged us to drop the FA-MAS. Many people who saw the early trailer have said that the gun should not be a FA-MAS as well. We had to drop all the polygon models and character motions involving the FA-MAS as a result. What a waste!" For more nifty insights from Kojima, be sure to check out ЕСМ February issue. Naughty Dog! When | was roaming through this glorious magazine [issue 52], | saw the feature on Jak and Daxter. | looked at the pictures, and one of the developers—I think Andy Gavin—was holding a sign that said “Beware of ‘Naughty’ Dog" (page 114). | think it should say, "Be Aware of Naughty Dog" because their dog is sniffing Andy's crotch (page 113). Now that's a sign of a good developer! Adam McDaniel kirkmcdaniel111@msn.com Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine QI N TRE Last month we asked what you'd like to see ina PS2 Lara Croft game. Next month, tell us which fighting- game franchise you're looking forward to. E- mail us at ОРМ@ ziffdavis.com. Mark your notes FIGHT GAME. What would we like to see in the PS2 Tomb Raider? Easy! Finally, a working Nude Raider Code! (Circle, Circle, Triangle!) Well, and go easy on the block-push- ing, please... Henning Thiel Glen Rock, NJ What would | like to see in a PS2 Lara Croft adven- ture? How about good graphics? Keep her car- toonish, but smooth her out a bit. Oh, and make her go undercov- er in a French maid outfit or something. | guess better con- trol and game- play are impor- tant too. "Xan" xana (dmindspring.com When | first got my PS2 with Gran Turismo 3, | weighed 155 pounds. | sat in front of my TV all summer, 18 hours per day, until | completed 100 percent of the game, When | finally beat the very last race and completed every little bit, | tried to get up—but | couldn't! | had to roll off the couch to go take a shower. but my clothes sre stuck on tighter than an anaconda on a rhinoceros | went to weigh myself and | weighed 220 pounds! Gran Turismo made me fat! My ass alone weighs 40 pounds! IF | were to fall, I'd bounce. It's hard being fat. | shouldn't be fat. | can't fit in ту car now! | don't know what to do, | can't get to work! I'm ugly, too—my hair got really long and smells a bit like peanuts, l'm sad now. How can | lose weight? With the release of Final Fantasy X, the fat will build up even. more until | get so fat, | pass out from moving the little buttons on the con. troller! I'm going to have an aneurysm ІНІ keep worrying. Ahhh! I'm now see ing hallucinations! Purple squirrels dri ving little green 5-20005. Help!! Jeff Daniel whatami. 75^23(yahoo.com at www.playstationmagazine.com! Wanna chat with us along with other like- minded gamers? Then head over to click on "Talk to the OPM Editors Online Now!" and chat it up on the message board. We frequent the board daily, so it's a great place to ask us questions—or to just chew the fat with fellow gamers. Here's what some of you have been saying about FFX's blitzball minigame. “| never played much blitzball. No time, and didn't care too much for it. But I'm sure some of you have devoted some considerable time to it. | ጠ curious if anyone's got any good strategies and tips for winning at Blitzball. If so, post 'em here!" -0PM Gary "my Blitzball strategy is to avoid it when- ever possible. It's the one part of FFX | can't stand." -mannayz "Press a lot of buttons, swim around, never play it again afterwards." -iamthenemesis "| dont get why most of you all crack on Blitzball. | mean, it was cool. It may bea little, out there, but all in all it is pretty cool." -mannayz "| think blitzball is very easy. At the start, everything is so hard for me, but in time І got use to it. My strategy is first to learn the Jecht Shot, then use Tidus for the mid field, because it got great number of Endlendurance] if you аге a beginner. Note*Try to use players with great num- ber of Endurance as right field, mid field, and left field, then use those with hight attack as left back field and right back field, finally use the one with the highest catch as catcher. Suggest using tidus to start off by swimming toward the goal, then try to break as many players as you possibly can, finaaly when you are near the goalie use Jecht shot. Note*lf there is two player that's trying to tackle you, don't worry because jecht shot could paralyze those two. If you have three or more players that try to tackle you, then try to break two of them and paralyze other with the Jecht shot. “If you don't understand all of the above then post your message, and I'll try to answer them. | bet lots people already got use to this game, and | got use to it in only one day after | know how to set up my team.” -ВН 6Х5 OFFICIAL VIDEO GAME www.olympics.com 4 "i ጩጨ ч. Games * Arcade multi-player action * Authentic Salt Lake venues AVAILABLE FORMATS. AVAILABLE FORMAT PlayStation. ЕС IDO GAME BOY ADVANCE Ubi Soft eidos.com Publishes "I'm sure that statement was made by an idiotic monkeyspank who loves to eat steak and has no proble with how they are killed in a slaughterhouse for them. NICK LAHANAS'S MOST WANTED 1. Metal Gear Solid multiplayer game 2. Final Fantasy X 3. Legend of Dragoon sequel 4. Chrono Cross 5. Warzone 2100 6. Gran Turismo 3 7. NBA Street 8. Twisted Metal: Black 9. Zone of the Enders 10. A life E-mail your most wanted list to OPM(aziffdavis.com Mark the subject MOST WANTED. will be noti your name, address, and phone number to “OPM Caption Sweepstakes” PO Box 3338. lo purchase or payment of any money i by mail. Prizes] are non-transferable. No substitutions of prizes] are the option of 21 Davis Media Inc. should the featured prizes become unavailable. 3 Odds of Which FFX Babe Is the Hottest? RIKKU! DEFINITELY RIKKU! You can't even comprehend how much | love Rikku! Hmm... where shall | begin? It all started when | saw a picture of her in your magazine. | almost fainted from her beauty! | immediately looked her up on the Internet and down- loaded 30 pictures [all | could find) and her theme song. | have her picture as my com- puter-desktop image, put her theme song as my startup music, and have a screensaver | made of her. | am currently working on three Web sites of her. She is all | dream about. My friends call me nuts for loving a cartoon, even though | argue that she's real! If only she were real and | could hold her! When | received this issue of OPM and saw the demo of Final Fantasy X, | leaped off of the couch onto my severely sprained foot for the first time in days and hobbled down my staircase to my PS2 so | could play it, hoping Rikku was in it. | was disappointed to find out she wasn't. | think | need help. Evan Crawley rikkuismygoddess(dyahoo.com Indeed. Seems most of you agree that Rikku is the hottest FFX chick (although most of you aren't quite as creepy as Evan). Her cover was also the top pick among the three we released last month, easily topping Lulu and Yuna. Don't Slander Slaughter Although | don't hunt, | found a disturbing paragraph in the PS one previews (OPM 52]: "Who says video games can't teach us good values? Take this hunting sim, for example. Ultimate Challenge includes ‘all applicable hunting laws to guarantee the trophy you take is a legal one.’ How nice. Even better, the X-Ray option lets players peek at the internal organs of downed game, so novices can learn how to execute quick, clean kills. You can thank Activision for releasing this game, out in stores now.” Millions of Americans hunt for food or game every year and you piss on them by writing this preview of a game that repre- sents not only American history and her- itage, but the rest of the world as well. I'm sure that statement was made by an idiotic 16 enter. All entries must be ceived by the 10th day of y of Zif Davis Media Inc. and Му for lost, mutilated, late, Prizes: One Grand Prize winner will receive one [1] «d by Zif Davis Media Inc. Grand Pr an on the following criteria by OPM editors, whose. ries containing obscene language will be disquali ali entries received. 4. Eligibility: Contest open. on-compliance with the time parameters contained itin disqualification. Winners or their tylrelease of lablity/prize acceptance within 5 days of receipt or Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine winners, send a stamped, to “OPM Quote Contest TIER OF TH urchase Necessary: Го enter, send a letter or standard-size postcard containing your name, address, together with your comments to “OPM Letter of the Month”, PO Bor 3338, Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338. No purchase or payment of any money is necessary to enter. One entry per household. АЦ entries must be handwritten, Mechanically reproduced entries will not be accepted. Entries must be received by the 10th day of the month for the next available issue of OPM. All entries become exclusive property of Ziff Davis jed or returned, Zilf Davis Media Inc, assumes no responsibility for lost, postage-due or misdirected entries, 2. Prizes: One Grand Prize winner. will receive а box containing various items from the OPM offices, Grand Prize has an approximate retail value Media Inc. and will not be acknowl mutilated, tate, illegible, incomplet BIG IDEA OK idea for а game game | wold like a game has a small but big animal Instead of a human bad guy make an animal for a bad guy because to me shouldn't the human bad guy shoot him? That THANKS, BUT NO THANKS l've come up with an idea of the new PlayStation. It's called the PlayStation FX, and | was won: dering how much money | would get for coming ир with this ide al Contest and Sweepstakes Rules 'ST Official Contest Rules: forfeit prize. By acceptance of prize, winneris} agree to the use of their name and/or. advertising, trade or promotion without further MONTH Official Contest Rules: pensation, unless prohibited iressed envelope identifying the st at the address listed above. Restrictions: Void where prohibited or restricted by law. All federal, state and local regulations apply. monkeyspank who loves to eat steak and has no problem with how they are killed in a slaughterhouse for them. optimus3@earthlink.net Apparently, Charleton Heston reads OPM. The Ultimate Setup | love the fact that | can compete against my friends without splitting my screen. Every Tuesday night for about the past three months, my friends and | have had an all- out racing war going on in my basement with GT3. | bought two more TVs, two more PS2s and two more copies of GT3 (used, so at least | saved some money]. My goal is to someday have six pals racing at once. Does anyone else do this, or am | just crazy? | have enclosed а pic to show you what it's like. Can you recommend other games to do this with, since | already have the hookup? "Mike, The Racing Fool" harris(advbiol.com Several games support this kind of play; it's just not widely publicized since most people don't have the time, money and space to take advantage of it. For starters, check out Twisted Metal: Black, TimeSplitters, Unreal Tournament and Quake III Revolution. Bass Ails | believe l'm a reasonable man who isn't easily swayed by simple gaming prejudices. But something needs to be done about the bass—that's right, bass—genre of games. Seriously, how many bass game titles can be spawned? Let's take a look at some of these titles. To name a few: Bass Masters, Action Bass, Championship Bass, Bass Hunter, Bass Rise, Bass Landing, Bass Strike, Fisherman's Bait || Big Ol’ Bass, and Big OU Bass Il. Do consumers honestly need to make the hard decision of "Which bass is right for me?" And in order to be a truly hardcore "badbass" gamer, do | need to have them all? Now, | hate to use a cliché, but there are other fish in the sea. As the years go by, these virtual adver- saries will gain more and more artificial intelligence to the point where they could for delivery at weeks for except at the option of Ziff Dav The odds ol winning wi the winners list is requested to “OPM Letter of the Month livery of winners list. é. Restrictions: Vaid where prohibited or restricted by law. All federal, state and local regulations apply. outwit the bass of the real world. Speaking of real bass, what are they doing whilst their natural predators are sitting on their butts and achieving high scores? Could this imbal- ance result in the population of bass sky- rocketing to dangerous levels? So have | made my point, or should | be expecting upcoming games like The Red Bass of Courage, Super Bass Brothers and Baby Got Bass? Or maybe in lieu of those recent video game movies, perhaps sleeper hits like Bass to the Future, The Bass and the Furious, Silence of the Bass or Dude, Where's My Bass? Ethan Hennessey running, faucet(dhotmail.com 16 Random Musings About OPM Il be judged on the followin tivity. Entries c icceptance within 5 days of name and/or likeness for by law. sible or liat сері of pri ing the month for which и the address listed above. Allow 4 EVERYONE i Comic Mischief Mild Language Mild Violence = Т dE ic Goes from exotic car to getaway car in 4.5 seconds. PlayStation. € They don't build cars like the Ferrari 360 Spider; Porsche Carrera GT” and Lamborghini Murciélago" to just sit in traffic. Push the limits of the world's best cars. And the law. Carve through real-world roads, oncoming traffic and unpredictable driving conditions. Keep the revs high, the damage low and your right foot planted en route to bragging rights. Or bail bonds. (92002 ELECTRONIC ARTS INC. NEED FOR SPEED, EA GAMES. THE ҒА GAMES LOGO AND ELECTRONIC ARTS ARE TRADEMARKS OR REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF ELECTRONIC ARTS ING. IN THE U.S. AND/OR OTHER COUNTRIES, ALI. RIGHTS RESERVED. LAMBORGHINI, DIABLO 6.0 УТ, MURCIELAGO AND ALL ASSOCIATED LOGOS ARE USED UNDER LICENSE OF LAMBORGHINI ARTIMARCA S.P.A., ITALY. LICENSED FROM DR. ING. Н.С. F. PORSCHE AG UNDER CERTAIN PATENTS. PORSCHE, 911, AND CARRERA GT Visit www.esrb.org or all 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information CONTENT RATED BY ESRB ARTS BRAND. FERRARI, FERRARI F50, FERRARI 360, Т ADENAR S ÜF DR. ING. H.C. Е PORSCHE AG. "PLAYSTATION ND THE " © needforspeed.com PIDER, ALL ASSOCIATED LOGOS, AND THI 50. FERRARI S" FAMILY LOGOS ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF SONY COMPUTER Е FHER 7 © REIFE ESEIA > 2” ISTINCTIVE DESIGNS ARE TRADEMARKS OF FERRARI S.P.A. THE TRADEMARKS IENT INC. ALL OTHER TRADEMARKS ለ ROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS = Ё i ፲ Е 3 3 в 1 Е 2 ፻ Е H E Violence ‘CONTENT RATED BY ESRB n “= = % L É C T በ 0 N | C 5. INSIDE SPIN 28 Cast Your Vote Check out the ballot for best games of 2001, then head to ationmag. to vote. 34 Cheap Thrills Fifteen PS one picks that won't strain your budget. 35 Britney! We chat with the mega-pop star about her new garne. 36 Control Test We tested out a ton of joypads, wh: агсаде sticks and other peripherals. And then we ran over them with a car. 46 Mad Attitude Jonny Moseley is an Olympic star and video game coverboy. How extreme! 51 Are You Tu-Rok? The popular N64 Turok fran- chise is headed to the PS2. 52 FFX Dream Cast Our picks to star in the Final Fantasy X movie. 62 Media Roundup Music reviews, Web sites, DVD news and reviews and much more. (26) Official US. PlayStation Magazine FANTASY STARS Square's first online Final Fantasy goes into beta testing in Japan with mixed results this latest Final Fantasy installment will actually do a lot better in the U.S. than in Japan. In fact, in a poll conducted by Japan's largest video game maga- zine, Famitsu, only 18 percent of readers said they were really looking forward to FFXI, while 30 percent had a wait-and-see attitude, leaving an astounding 52 percent stating they had no interest in it at all. Coming from a country that feeds RPGs like Americans do on triple cheese- 0 burgers, this kind à of reaction is Well, for a select group of gamers, that is. In early December the game went into beta testing there, and anyone lucky enough to be on the super-exclusive test list was able to go online with FFXI and experience first-hand what the rest of the country will be playing come springtime. So far the impressions have been rather varied. Many ғ. Japanese gamers are finding it to be an incredible time- Stealer, but others are claiming that by going online the game Е“ Fantasy XI has finally hit Japan! ሃሪ ያን ] NS NN has lost a lot of "A ap NT aia ^^ "— certainly enough what makes Final ነ to have the store chains Fantasy so special. | ] NAL n | 11) | Il suits at Square to get their And while a lot of | e sweating. impressions: 35 percent said Final Fantasy XI the negative feed- т ONLINE 3 It's quite pos- would be a hit, 4 percent weren't sure either 774V77727—X sible, though, that a lot of the folks who aren't interested in the game are turned off by the fact that FFXI requires the PS2 Hard Disc Drive (HDD) and a modem in order to be played—a costly combo. History has proven that hardware add-ons rarely ever catch on, a problem that has many retailers worried about the game's success. Famitsu also polled some of Japan's biggest game- way, and 65 percent said it wouldn't do all that well. Retailers are also concerned about the game being an online adventure, citing the Dreamcast's relative inability to push its network—despite having a modem packaged inside the console itself. Still, Square seems rather unfazed by any of the negative feedback Final Fantasy ХІ has generated so far. According to the company, it needs only 300,000 people to continually play the game in order for it to be profitable. And SEARCHING FOR THAT SPECIAL SOMEONE One of the most fun aspects of FFXI is the ability to interact with anyone you happen to run across. Naturally, you can chat with these people, but exchanging items or weapons is also possible. It’s impor- tant to interact with as many people as possible, as you'll want to find good play- ers to create parties and form alliances. back stems from the fact that the beta test is missing several vital game elements (sto- ryline, boss battles and the all- important movie cutscenes), there seems to be an underlying feeling among many Japanese gamers that this latest Final Fantasy is geared more toward the American market. Because of the game’s PC style of control and its more Western visu- al style, many of the Japanese gamers feel {төп [ር 1 Kofoto a “*Queopaeo. while add-on hardware for consoles has never done well in the past, Square is likely banking on the fact that, well, no add-on has ever had the support of a killer app like Final Fantasy before. Square is also confi- dent that the game's massively multiplayer style will generate communities of gamers that will help spread the word, building up a following that will grow enormously as the game catches on worldwide. Hands-On With the FFXI Beta Test To enter FFXI's world, you first need to install Square's PlayOnline browser along with the game onto the PS2's hard drive, after which you can play without a disc. Once that's all set, you just hop online and log onto Final Fantasy XI. The beta starts with the option to choose your character. You're given a variety of options, including breed, sex, visual style and job (interestingly, the jobs you can choose are identical to the original NES Final Fantasy: Thief, Fighter, Monk, White Mage or Red Mage]. Next, you choose which country you'd like to inhabit (Windurst, San d'Oria or Bastok). Then the game starts. The world is massive. It can literally take hours to travel from one country to another. Although the beta doesn't have any intro movie, the final version will. You basically just start out alone in a room in a town. Even so, that room is uniquely yours, so you can return to it at any time to regain health [there's also word that you might be able to collect items and decorate your room in the final version]. Once you head into the town, you meet up with lots of non-player characters— Some who are vendors, with others there to offer you tips or missions. You can then explore and fight some battles, and join up with others to fight together. Working with characters who aren't of your particular job, breed or variety is especially useful. For example, a black magician coupled with a strong fighter can be quite a lethal combi- nation—the fighter stays close to the ene- mies and can strike with weaponry, while the magician lurks behind and doles out damaging spells. You can form a party of six ሪ people, and up to three parties can then L ^ work together to form an alliance. RACE RELATIONS One thing that's apparent from the beta is There are five different races in Final Fantasy XI: the very human- that the world is massive. It can literally looking Humes; the elven Elvarns; take hours to travel from one country to another. The game also is much more like a the cute, fuzzy Taru-tarus; the cat- like Mithra; and the ox-like Garuga. PC-style RPG than Sega’s Dreamcast RPG Phantasy Star Online. Whereas in PSO you Not all races get along with each can do most things without a keyboard, in other, though, so players must FFXI it comes much more into play. always stay alert. Messages to other players, of course, need to be typed, but it can also be used for com- mands like "wave" to a friend or “sulk” when you feel sad. Now that you’ve seen what Final Fantasy XI looks like in action, what do you think? 8 ጄ о 8 ፳ t Е £ ዖ ጀ Б 5 = | E a ይ 9 lis could be the best Final Fantasy yet! Final Fantasy just shouldn't be online. 21% 21% More PS one Street Fighting? Apparently so. Capcom is working on Capcom Vs. SNK Pro for the PS one. The game is set to release later this year. ZOE FLOWER MY ELBOW, SEX AND VIOLENCE Since Lara Croft first busted onto the scene, the sexual-exploitation- in-video-games argument has hogged the spotlight. The latest allegation: Sexual imagery in video games can lead to acts of violence toward women. During a recent radio interview, | was unexpectedly interrogated on this subject by a rabid reporter (think Agent Smith of The Matrix). "There is some concern...that...these video games are con- tributing to...violence against women. [Insert pause and smug look here.]...What are your thoughts on this...subject?” Had Lara Croft herself been present, she would have dealt a Swift kick in the pants to "Agent Smith," something 1 continue to wish | had attempted myself. Female characters receive con- tinual criticism for their “big guns," mile-high leg kicks in short skirts and indecent naval exposure, but has anyone watched a Britney Spears or Destiny's Child video lately? Sexual innuendo and minimalist clothing styles are dished out like candy on MTV, but give a girl а gun in a game and you're suddenly con- tributing to the factors that lead men to abuse women. Maybe I could understand this argument if you're talking about the type of beatings my big brother would dole out if | used Nina to crush him in Tekken. But the point here should be that | was able to portray a strong female character who's feminine and drops a six-pack of whoop-ass on any man willing to get in the ring. Yes, female characters are often overtly sexual and physically fantastical, but how else is a game designer going to demonstrate the differences between males and females in a video game without focusing on physical attributes? Games are a visual and extremely visceral medium and, no matter how much depth of character a woman may possess, sexual prowess will continue to be determined by polygon counts. Sorry, but a lithe and luscious redhead wielding nunchukas in high heels is going to scream femininity, attitude and strength more than a chubby panda bear in a frilly dress. And when games push the envelope by developing personal- ities in strong female characters like Lara Croft, they're still lambasted for catering to the fantasies of young boys, instead of being applauded for offering a role model that many young women cling to as an escape. What if designers started creating Characters who were all like Rose in Metal Gear Solid 2 instead? Who wants to be a whiny girl with self-esteem issues? Perhaps the biggest problem is that we're taught to conceal our feelings of anger or aggression. And when we express our- selves in a healthy way through video games, the дате, not the gamer, is responsible for the obstreperous outburst. It's easier to blame video games for acts of violence than to look to the social or personal roots of the problem. For the record, the only occurrence of video games inciting violence against women I can recall is when | threw my controller at the TV while playing SSX Tricky and it bounced back to hit me in the elbow. You'd be surprised how much that hurts, actually. Zoe Flower is a multimedia superstar. Ҥ you want to chat with her, look for her on the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine forum by clicking through from our Web site, www.playstation- magazine.com, Look for the user ID ZOEFLOWER. Also, check out Zoe's own Web site, www.zoeflower.com (28) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine CAST YOUR VOTES We want to know what you think are the very best games of 2001, so be sure to head on over to www.playstationmagazine.com and make your voices heard! BEST SPORTS GAME Ё * FIFA 2002 > * High Heat 2002 * Madden NFL 2002 * NHL 2002 * NBA Street PS2 GAME OF THE YEAR * Devil May Cry * Final Fantasy X * Gran Turismo 3 * Grand Theft Auto || e [со * Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy * Metal Gear Solid 2 * NBA Street * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 * Twisted Metal: Black BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME * Baldur's Gate * NBA Street * Quake ||| Revolution * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 * Twisted Metal: Black BEST RACING GAME BEST RPG * ATV Offroad Fury * Baldur's Gate: * Burnout Dark Alliance e Extreme G Ill * Dark Cloud * F12002 * Final Fantasy X * Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland * Gran Turismo 3 > BEST ADVENTURE GAME * Shadow Hearts * Escape from Monkey Island ч *1со BEST EXTREME-SPORTS GAME * Metal Gear Solid 2 * Dark Summit * Onimusha * Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 * Silent Hill 2 * MX 2002 feat. Ricky Carmichael * SSX Tricky BEST FIGHTING GAME * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 * Bloody Roar 3 > 1 * Dynasty Warriors 3 * Guilty Gear X * Capcom vs. SNK 2 * WWF SmackDown!: Just Bring It PS ONE GAME OF THE YEAR | * Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare * Board Game: Top Shop * Castlevania 2 Chronicles * Dance Dance Revolution > * Dragon Warrior VII * Fear Effect 2 * Final Fantasy Chronicles * Madden NFL 2002 * Sayuki: Journey West * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 BEST ACTION GAME * Devil May Cry * Grand Theft Auto III * Half-Life * Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy * Twisted Metal: Black DATA 5ТКЕАМ PS2 Still on Fire wo new console PS2 m—and by a Despit inch is still the be argin. In fact, in the period between Thanksgiving and th d of December alone, 2.5 million PS2s in the U.S. ony sold more than GameCube what? Xbox who? Arc Heads to PS 2 Sony is working оп a new Arc the Lad for the PS2, due th year in Japan. The game will ature 3D graphics ve a vi to the first two 2D chap but will al style more akin Atlus Takes Flight EA iv 5 to bring the am ingly stylish and addictive anime flight game naz- Gunner (previewed in OPM 51) to the U.S. this May. Ме" preview next have a FEBRUARY CALENDAR full 11 момоду “Тһе lovely Mrs. Pitt, Jennifer Aniston is 33, Sheryl Crow is 39, and Burt Reynolds is 66. 8 FRIDAY . Seth Green cele- brates his 28th irthday, and goes 10 see either Rollerball or Arnie flick Collateral Damage. B tuespay * Alien creator H.R. Giger turns 62 as State of Emergency, Commandos 2, Hidden Invasion, Herdy Gerdy, Evil Twin and ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 hit stores. 1 FRIDAY Count of Monte Cristo starring Memento alum Guy Pearce in theaters on the same day that Logitech releases its cordless PS2 controller, 22 FRIDAY * Drew Barrymore, now free of Tom Green, celebrates her 27th birthday 19 тиғсолу * Seal is 39, but cele- brates with World Tour Soccer 2002, No One Lives 18 момолу * Dr. Dre celebrates his 37th birthday with Matt Dillon, who's 38, John 17 sUNDAY e Jerry O'Connell turns 28, Rene Russo looks great for 48, Michael Jordan is 39, Travolta, who's| Forever, Worms alone. She goes to and the pouty | 48, and Yoko | Blastand Pac-Man | see The New Guy, Denise Ono, who's Fever. then The Queen of 12 тиғсолу 15 FRIDAY Abraham Lincoln would've been 193 today and would've got Maximo, Star Wars Racer Revenge and Caesar's Palace as » Simpsons creator Matt Groening is 48 and can celebrate by seeing either the hilarious Super Troopers or the sappy Peter Pan sequel Return to gifts. Never Land. 24 SUNDAY | 26 TUESDAY, * Apple head honcho | • Pac-Man Steve Jobs is 47 World today, and Sen. 2and ^ Ж” Trophy Bass hit stores. Joe Lieberman is 60. Meanwhile Billy Zane Richards the Damned and hits 30. Dragonfly. wn All dates are correct as of press time. Any inaccuracies have nothing to do with us, although we're pretty certain the birthdays are correct. Stop reading this now and go back to the big words, OK? the troublemaker He likes it sour MONSteR WeDGIE SOUr SweeT On YOU. We wanted them to be Life Savers. y They don't care what we want: ©2002 KF Holdings. ee ы. 2 BALLS OF STEEL М SE ja Iw v TATION AT STA Xbox screen shots shown RATING PENDING Қ R Test Drive? ©2002 Infogrames, Inc. All rights reserved. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Visit www.esrb.org or Interactive Digital Software Association. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered call 1-800-771-3772 trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries and are used for Rating Information. under license from Microsoft. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of INFOGRAMES ATAR І Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. Manufactured and marketed by Infogrames, Inc., New York, N.Y. AERA — Test Drive has you ር your . ት Fast and the Furjous dreams...” -onm “ „one of the best look Can you survive? — Huge Jumps – Insane wrecks — Thick City Traffic Defy the law in the raw power of muscle cars and the legendary performance of modern sports cars Ditch relentless cops in San Francisco, Tokyo, London and Monaco 16 opponents get in your head with taunts and will do anything to win qiie de e Mus hy. Ja Rule, DMK, Junkie XL and more For movies, screens X | ғ and other cool stuff go to... р | PlayStation. Wwww.tdfu.com UCLA. Kentucky. North Carolina. They're no Morgan State. Warm up your clipboard. It's time to take the Morgan States’s, North Texas's and Prairie View A&M's of the world to the Big Dance. Because with our new Career Mode you'll experience everything a real coach does (including a total lack of job security). Start out as an assistant at a small school then see if you can work your way up the ladder to head coach of a major college powerhouse. Experience rivalries and jaw dropping college hoops action as you try to turn your program into a dynasty. Or you're fired. Is this game realistic, or what? EVERYONE ‘CONTENT RATED BY ESR www.989sports.com Do you search for classic PS one games at bargain prices? ы % No, I only focus on new games. The Final Fantasy Remakes ን SS መ ዘ sounded like a dream come true for any hardcore Final Fantasy fanatic: Back in January 2001, Square announced that it would remake all three PS one installments (VII, VIII and IX) for release on the PS2. Each DVD-based game would feature upgraded graphics, remastered sound effects and higher-resolution CG movies with 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Although Square didn’t set a specific release date, the games were expected to come out sometime before the end of 2001 (to help further hype up the PS2's first Final Fantasy game, naturally). Which is why we started to worry about the status of the remakes when Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura admitted to us back in May of last year that he had heard nothing of them even within Square. And when 2001 came to an end with still no word regarding the remakes, we knew something was amiss. Sources inside Square recently told us that the remakes have been shuttled to the back burner. This is likely due to Square's desire to strengthen the brand by decreasing the number of Final Fantasy games hitting the market; that way, Square can focus its resources on future development. So for those of you looking forward to the remakes, don't expect to see them anytime soon. Let's hope that at some point Square does get around to rereleasing them, though. OPM was actually given a demonstration of FFVIII's movies on DVD, complete with 5.1 sound, and we were floored by how cool they looked and sounded. Wanna get the scoop on a game that's fallen off the radar? Then just send an e-mail to opm@ziifdavis.com with the sub- ject “What Ever Happened to...” and we'll look into it for you. ation Magazine 1... Martian Gothic uo [n] ш = a o = сі яз с о [na wn ш > < © ш z o л a o = 5 PS ONE GAMES FOR $10 Ape Escape CTR: Crash Team Racing Final Fantasy VII Gran Turismo 2 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver Metal Gear Solid Spider-Man Tekken 3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role Board Game: Top Shop Darkstone Martian Gothic: Unification Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation You Don’t Know Jack! CHEAP THRILLS ON PS ONE Why spend $40 for just one PS one game when you can score two or more for the same price? Try out the 15 budget games we found for sale on , апа This awesome platformer makes use of the Dual Shock in creative ways. The game that made kart racing cool. Nothing has ever matched its quality. The first PS one installment of Final Fantasy is still one of the best ever. The best racing game you'll find on the PS one, hands-down. Visually stunning goth-action vampire #0004 готр with soul-sucking goodness. With the sequel out on PS2, you don't want to fall behind, do you? The best superhero game ever, fea- turing America's favorite webhead. If you want to pick a fight, why not battle with the best of 'em? The game that redefined the game that redefined video X games. Infinite playability and attention to the he-men details make this a treat. This fresh take on Monopoly will #000 have you backstabbing your buds. Pretty much a Diablo clone with so- 9004 50 graphics, but a solid action/RPG. The story for this survival-horror LAITI game will have you hooked. Eidos had the revelation to make ወ999 Chronicles, but they shouldn't have. The best game show in gaming, and maybe the best game show ever! Britney's everywhere. She hosted Saturday Night Live еб. 2. The next day her second Pepsi commercial гей during the Super Bowl. A few days after that she | performed at the NBA All-Star game. The following week, her first movie, Crossroads, hit theaters. But it's a few weeks later—mid-March to be exact—that has us most excited. That's when her first video game hits stores. Even with her crazy schedule, we recently had а chance to sit down with the mega-pop star to talk a _ tittle Dance Beat. о tell us, what's it feel like to have your own Video game? I think it’s really cool! I've always loved video g since | was little—I never dreamed | woul cutting edge and fun to play. My lit “everything, so I'll have to make su Did you have any ideas for thing: Personally wanted to see in Dani wanted to make sure that 3 the dance moves looked cool. But mostly, | just wanted to provide a fun video game experience for my fans. Now they can interact with the | music, not just listen to it, which is cool. ~ Have you played with the interactive video technology being used in the game? 1 saw my video game and wha it's really cool and amazingly Fe phy sequences are the realo I had more input on thi wrote most of the son album than the оће оп the album—real I'm in right now aj We heard you Timberlake on Te you nervous about that at al No! Justin and Norking relationship as well as рей We are totally comfort- Makes me laugh. So any Fight away. yan, is the big gamer in the ‚Ги kick Justin's butt in a Illy have a lot of time to play. їе out, I'll have to make sure | GAME DEVELOPERS* (*WITH MOUSTACHES) Besides offering up some of the most intense first-person shooting action out there, EA's Medal of Honor games are widely praised for their well-developed and emotion- al stories. A close look at one of the creative forces behind the series can perhaps offer us a little insight as to why these stories are so good. Scott Langteau, associate producer on the original game and producer on both Underground and Frontline, studied at Pennsylvania's Villanova University and earned his masters in the- ater. After performing in a handful of professional pro- ductions in Philadelphia, Scott moved to L.A. to seek fame and fortune Scott ended up at Steven Spielberg's upstart studio DreamWorks Interactive, writing scripts for two chil- dren's titles. But in the years following, Langteau went on to work оп a bunch of titles for DreamWorks and eventu- ally earned a spot heading up the Medal of Honor games So now you know where Medal of Honor gets its dra- matic sense: his moustache Scott Langteau Games he’s worked on: Squad Commander (РС), T'ai Fu (PS one], Medal of Honor series (PS one} Moustache Rating: 3.5 Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Grading the PS2 peripherals We spend a lot of pages in our magazine telling you about games to put into your PS2. But there are plenty of other things that fit just as well into the system, usually the controller port. We call ‘em periph- erals, and we figured it's about time to show you most of what's out there. From controllers, to steering wheels, to DVD remotes and just about anything else you can think of (FM radios, anyone?), we cover all the bases. In some instances, we've even gone so far as to put certain items to extreme tests. Ever wonder what'll happen to а Nyko Omegaz2 controller when you smash it with a hockey stick? You can find out here. It's peripheral fun for everyone! GET A GRIP Controllers galore With the longest cords out there and loads of s о extras, Saitek’s PX controllers offer quite the "T bang for your buck. The PX4000 saves you money, but features tiny buttons and an awful D-pad. It does, however, have a nifty throttle wheel and is rather comfortable. The PX4500 sports a better D-pad and but- tons, but tougher shoulders to reach. No throttle wheel, either. The PX5000 shares the same design as the 4500, but it’s also a fully programmable pad: You can set up elaborate combos and trigger them with a simple com- mand. Still, you can probably master an array of complex maneuvers in the time it takes you to figure out just how to program the РХ5000. All the PX pads also include turbo also all have rather weak rumble features. To Saitek's credit, the PX series survived repeated whacks with a hockey stick and only lost a few buttons when we ran through the office dragging them behind us like a pack of unruly pups. $19.95-PX4000/519.95-PX4500/$24.95-PX5000 Saitek www.saitek.com Lm LEA... and analog axis locks. Unfortunately, they “ When a Dual Shock 2 lets loose with the sweet purr of rumbling, you know you're holding on to a perfect controller. With this controller, it might as well be barking at you. The rumble sings more like a chainsaw. Not to mention that if you play with it for more than 20 minutes, you start to get the faint tickle of carpal-tun- nel. The digital "pad" is neat, but it's too analog-y, the shoulder buttons are tiny, and the slow-motion feature is pathetic (it just pauses and unpauses the game). АИ. $19.99 Brand: Blaze Web: www.blaze-gear.com * " бір S f үт ie fm d እሪ е This is the pad that the wireless Dual Force (far right) is based оп, and it offers the same functions. It feels fairly solid, has sturdy ana- log sticks and comfy rubberized handles that give you smelly hands. It also boasts a pro- grammable feature, which works fine. Spiking the thing results in completely messed-up analog sticks, though, which you can only fix by taking the whole pad apart. се: $19.95 Brand: MadCatz eb: www.madcatz.com 919 L пок 2 It may be the "standard" controller, but Sony's Dual Shock 2 is anything but stan- А dard—especially when compared with all those third-party knockoffs out there. The first-party pad may be a bit more expensive, but it's well worth those extra bucks. From its comfort to its responsiveness and excellent rumble effects, Sony’s pad is just that much better than the competition. We only wish that Sony made the cord longer—or better yet, offered a wireless version. Then it'd really be perfect. $34.95 Sony CEA Web: www.playstation.com 4 ES US Throw them on the When a peripheral fails М№о matter how much Some peripherals fit so You usually get what ground, pee on them, to respond as ії should, уои polish these smelly well in your hands that уои pay for in the case whatever—these guys you know you've gota turds, they simply соп- you just don't want to of peripherals—but a continue to function. serious problem. tinue to stink. let go, no matter what. few bargains do exist. A BI AFI MO Y BLACKHAWI What have we here? A gimmick control pad То use the BlackHawkz instead of a Dual that we can actually recommend? Excelsior! Shock 2 is like drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon in Basically just Naki’s Rocker Pad-2 controller lieu of Guinness: You can achieve your ulti- AE CA Ы with а Spidey-themed coat of paint, the mate goal quite well with either, but the latter Û Spider-Pad (a similar X-Men controller also р: makes the experience much more enjoyable. ) П exists) acts as a heroic substitute for the Dual wie And though the BlackHawk? feels as cheap іп Shock, not feeling “cheap” and fitting com- mS your hands as its price tag would indicate, it / fortably within the palms of your hands. y, does offer a program feature, allowing you to Relatively useless Turbo and Slow buttons Е {© store up to ап eight-button combo into its clutter things up, but it all functions well— — built-in memory. And even more extraordi- even after being slammed into the ground መድ nary, the cheap plastic composing it is tough multiple times. cheap plastic. Price: $24.99 Brand: Naki Web: www.nakiusa.com rice: $24.99 Brand: Nuby Web: www.nubyinteractive.com 1 > FIRESTORA A quick look at the Firestorm U-Pad and am you'll immediately notice its unique shape— IN it basically makes the controller bottom- № heavy rather than top-heavy. At first, this proves distracting, if for no other reason than it being so different. Play with it for a couple minutes, though, and you quickly grow used to it, possibly even forgetting you're not really playing with a Sony pad. Still, don't count on pressure-sensitive but- tons or a D-pad that's worth a damn. It's a fragile thing, too—don't spike it too often. If you simply must save five bucks, then Nyko's Omega? is a decent option. It looks and feels cheaper than the Dual Shock 2, but does everything it’s supposed to. You get a few extras too, like turbo (fairly useless), steering wheel mode (which doesn’t work in all racing games), and a digital mode that doesn’t let you use the D-pad in games that don't allow that option. Keep in mind, though, that when we hit it just once with a hockey stick, it immediately cleaved in half. Price: $29.95 Вга If it weren't for the nice metallic color schemes of this controller line, it'd be even easier to figure out that it has nothing going for it. Besides the feeling that it might slip out of your hands or just float away from lightness, the buttons are hard to find. They’re flat and oddly shaped, and all of them lead your thumb to the center of the four buttons where there’s nothing to press. Also, the buttons feel too flimsy to be analog. It does feel comfortable—until you search for the miniscule shoulder buttons. Nyko Web: www.nyko.com ce: $24.99 ThrustMaster Web: www.thrustmaster.com $19.99 Brand: Gamester Web: www.radicagames.com The price of this wireless controller far exceeds that of its wired brethren, and the integrated battery pack can get pretty hot П after being set іп its charger for a while. But \ aside from these marks against it, it's great. \ We wandered more than 30 feet away from а game of Pac-Man World 2 before things stopped working—and no one needs to play that far away. Just don’t spike it too hard— the analog sticks get messed up and stop working altogether. ce: $59.99 Brand: MadCatz wiww.madcatz.com Q TOURING WHEEL So you like driving manual in your racing games? Too bad! Naki has set up its wholly mediocre wheel to address the needs of auto- matic drivers alone: The two paddles behind the wheel are analog, with a wide range of ГЕ motion, designed to be used as accelerator and brake. None of the other buttons are set * ир in such a way that they can be reached comfortably for shifting purposes. The wheel is cheap, and it’s sturdy, but that's about all it's got going for it. Yawn. Price: $17.49 Brand: Naki Wob: www.nakiusa.com [D VIBRA FORCE 2 Though the button setup at first seems intu- itive and sensible, try taking this thing out on the course and you'll get frustrated quickly; T it's far too easy to accidentally hit one of the 4 mind-boggling assortment of buttons on this sleek-looking wheel. The feel is nice—much Closer to the smooth Driving Force than the standard springy wheels—but the control seems oversensitive and the product is entirely lacking in customization. It doesn't feel too sturdy, either. Far inferior to the Logitech wheel. Price: $59.99 Brand: Gamester Web: www.radicagames.com Official U.S. PlayStation™ መመ agazine а Ө МС2 RACING WHEEL We could find four advantages the MC2 has over Logitech's superb Driving Force: 1) Its contoured base is designed for setting on your lap. Great idea. 2) Stick shift, baby. it took significant setup time to get it working properly with GT3; it lacks the GT Force's excellent force feedback; and it has a nasty dead zone in the center, even at the tightest calibration. Price: $49.99 Bra: J: MadCatz www.madcatz.com qp " 3) The heavier pedals don’t slide around, and " even include a rest for your left foot, for added grip. 4) It's 50 bucks cheaper. However. © SPORTSBOARD DRIVE TIME You are the wheelman енен. oW @ © DRIVING FORCE 4 Yep, this wheel really is nearly $100. But once you fire up Rally mode in GT3, you'll know where your money went. We've found that this mode is actually easier with the Driving Force than with the Dual Shock, and that’s saying a whole damn lot. Solidly constructed with a fantastically realistic fee—instead of just rumbling, the force feedback actually fights you in the turns. If only they had weighted the pedals a bit more and thrown in a stick shifter. If you’re serious about racing, you need this wheel. se Price: $99,99 Brand: Logitech Web: www.logitech.com It’s an interesting idea: Take wheel mechan- ics and compress them into a handheld con- troller. At first it seems to work rather well. But it's the horribly cramped and insensible layout of the buttons that really kills this one. Most brutal are the L1 and L2 buttons, which are set almost dead-center on the back of this oddly shaped controller, making it neces- sary to remap any commands that might require the use of these entirely useless but- tons. It also didn’t take kindly to being thrown at the ground. Price: $17.99 Brand: Gamester Web www.radicagames.com Hu It's somewhat ironic that the weakest part of the so-called "FreeStyler Bike" is that it only makes performing freestyle tricks in biking games significantly harder. Just try holding down the throttle as you attempt to press a trick button, plus perform the proper combos on the subpar D- pad. No easy task. Motocross games also become a bit more challeng- ing in that you can’t follow your instinct to pull the controller back or forward when you take off and land, once again having to depend on the D-pad to pull off such an essential part of gameplay. It works fine for straight driving—but there's a lot more to racing bikes than that. @ FREESTYLER BIKE һә srana: Trusimaster E Price: $34.99 Brand: Gamester Web: www.radicagamas.com Gamester’s Sportsboard declares that it gives “the unfair advantage,” which is accurate if you're referring to the player who's not standing on it. For the person who is standing on this tiny hard-to-balance-on piece of junk, good luck going straight—let alone pulling off any sort of auda- cious maneuvers...like turning. Better yet, the box for this waste is primed with quotes like, “...the ultimate board controller,” and “...great for the Xtreme sports games.” Let's all guess which Gamester employ- ee spouted off these lies to keep his job. Avoid this at all costs. DANNYWAY METHOD 540 ON THE WET DC SUPER RAMP. BI AB THE MOST VENTILATED SKATE SHOE EVER. ج DANNY WAY'S NEW SIGNATURE MODEL, 5 AEROTECH BREATHABLE MESH LASTING BOARD ALLOWS AIR TO. LIGHTWEIGHT MESH PANELS, GUARDED. CIRCULATE AROUND FOOT Пі = BY PROTECTIVE LEATHER FLAP, ALLOW « Ох ‘ADDITIONAL AIR CIRCULATION P | | (GREY/RED) AIR FLOW CHANNELS LINE THE 2 MIDSOLE, DIRECTING AIR THROUGH КӨ < AVAILABLE AT YOUR BREATHABLE MESH LASTING BOARD P ТРИ VENT SHANK OPENING: ALLOWS TWO-WAY VENTILATION OF SHOE It may have a dumb name, but this is a serious. piece of kit that’s probably the best arcade-style fighting stick you can buy. With a heavy-duty metal base, it’s so tough that it even survived us backing a Volvo over it. Twice. Spiking the thing in anger when your buddy beats you at Tekken Tag * really isn't going to be a problem. The buttons may Тө be a touch large for some tastes, but they’re sub- 7) stantial, responsive, and make that satisfying slap- | ك‎ STICK IT. ТО `ЕМ Joysticks and guns py noise when you hit them. $29.99 InterAct wwwinteract-acc.com It's nice to know that at least one PlayStation flight stick on the market is as full-featured as the single-unit PC models. out there, The Fox 2 comes fully program- mable, with four preset control schemes that cover most games. The somewhat flim- sy fire buttons are sensibly placed, and the pad includes four extra programmable but- tons and a swivel base for rudder control. Our only real complaint is with the uncom- fortable throttle, but the rest works well. $29.99 ThrustMaster www.thrustmaster.com For $20 you'd be fooled into thinking that this is a bargain. In principle it is, but you’re still better off saving another 10 bucks for the InterAct Shadowblade. Nasty plastics adorn the casing, and our unit wouldn't even sit flat on a table. When we held it in our hands, the Р99К Light Blaster seemed to have potential. Its own reload pedal. Lots of little nifty features not on other guns. Guncon Namco's бипсоп2, for better and for worse, stands as the only useable light gun for PS2 a games. For better: It's light, fits well in your 2 1, compatibility. Well, so it said. When we actually plugged the thing in to play Vampire Night—Guncon compatibility on and everything—it simply failed to hand, is easy to use, and the Reload button at the bottom of the hilt serves its purpose admirably. For worse: You can’t buy it alone, so if you want а second бипсоп2, you have to buy the Namco The stick is stubby, the buttons feel hollow, and the whole thing feels exactly what it is—cheap. It survived being stood on, but yanking on the cord hard caused the wires to come out of the work. Sure, a gunshot sounded on the calibration screen. But that doesn’t do us much good when we can't get any further in the game. games itself. Namco www.namco.com Logica www.logic3.com ODDITIES Nyko’s Vertical Tower not only sup- ports your vertical PS2, but features a compartment for three memory cards and six pop-open slots that can store up to 12 games at a time. But what about the pretty cases for PS2 games? What are you going to do with those if you purchase this? Still, the Vertical Tower is nicer than the $15 Sony stand that doesn’t have any storage space. $19.99 Br: Nyko Chess www.nyko.com With Xtreme FM, now you can listen to the radio while playing your PS2! Yes. It’s true. While this may seem like a complete waste of money Е since you already have at least three radios in game you don't have. Luckily, the original Guncon works well with all two compatible $59.99 (with Vampire Night or Time Crisis П) $19.99 Stuff you've never thought of...most of which sucks your home, you'll soon realize...you’re completely right! While a strong product overall, it simply makes no sense. If you’re at risk of spending $30 on this, consider sending it to NPR instead. $29.99 | InterAct www.interact-ace.com Sort of a Tech Deck for Dance Dance Revolution and the like, the Instinct pad emulates Naki’s full-size dance pad (identical to Konami’s, only with Triangle and Square buttons) at roughly 4-by-3.5 inches. But since you never actually look down at the pad when you use it, it’s easy to misjudge how far each button is from the other. You're better off just using a controller if you're too lazy to bring out a real dance pad. 42 21 1. unit completely. Pelican 2: www pelicanace.com Still, DDR fanatics might enjoy it as a somewhat expensive collectible to display on their desks. Otherwise, don’t even bother. $11.99 Brand: пакі www.nakiusa.com Very much aimed at those with old and crappy TVs, the VGE effectively acts as a kind of “amplifier” for brightness and contrast levels. By boosting the levels of what goes into your TV, it goes beyond what the basic controls on your TV provide. If you have a newer screen, this really isn’t the product for you—but if Devil May Cry looks entirely black on your TV, this thing will actually fix it. $39.99 Grand: NuWave ‘nuwaveine.com 2 ALLSTAR BASEBALL 72003 Е ИИ ИЕ collect, trade and unlock cheats * The most realistic player representat onego ver With Sep) ISE ارا‎ ፪ BEST Baseball Halvor Fame” teams: Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson and Yogi Berra e New Franchise mode: build antinlayayoutaavorite teams : e All-new Expansion Play: ሀበ Мару а. Basépall® cities, ш Adi tolls EVERYONE © HINTENDO GAMECUBE. ኳ р 4 %% D Ж 3 ague Baseball and Hall of Fame trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. and the Р ШЕ fal of Fame respectively. Vist the official website at MLB.com, © MLBPA Official License > Major League, Baseball Players it the Players Choice on the web at www.bigleaguers.com All-Star Baseball" and Acclaim® & © 2002 Acclaim Entertain у Кейіп Studios Austin, A Rights Reserved ‘Marketed by Acclaim, Distributed by Acclaim Distribution 42-2777. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertai Gametab logo are trademarks of Nintendo. Game Boy and Game Boy Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 ios eui tie Box Logs ar alter roglstared trademarks or ademas of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in Elites and ate used under license from Microsoft. Screens shown were taken from the GameCube version of the video game. WHERE THE STARS PLAY ACCLAIMSPORTS.COM ባ ) nba.com Someone call the janitor, the hardwood is about to get messy. Kick your game into high gear with 18 one-touch player controls including pump fakes, screens, auto defend, signature dribbles and moves. Run with the team of your choice or create your own player and see how you match up against the NBA's best. Oh, and tell that guy to bring a buffer and some extra wax, rubber doesn't come up easy. = > PlayStation >” መቓ 2 Ic ПА] > ፈር) С: (0 www.989sports.com USEFUL STUFF Memory cards, Multitaps and remotes As with all Sony peripherals, its Multitap sets the standard against which all others are judged. As far as ጌቲ functionality is concerned, you can't go 2 wrong. And it's durable, too—this suck- er can take a licking. However, its aes- thetic awkwardness causes it to hang out of the PS2 like a limp noodle. For this reason, if you keep your PS2 verti- cal, you might want to consider eyeing the Naki 3-in-1 Multitap instead. ce: $34.99 Brand: Sony СЕА Web: www.playstation.com arc вме Menor? ( ike the morbid black color of Sony's first-party memory card, this canary-yellow number from Nyko offers a pastel lover’s dream. Plus, this bad boy can survive a dunk in a toilet—and who doesn't take their memory cards to the bathroom? The only complaint is that it's a bit tough to get out of your PS2 once it's in. And though the storage capacity equals the first-party card, the price is $5 more. Price: $39.99 Nyko Web: www.nyko.com rM Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine VU KII Sony’s smoky black memory card You may think you get 16 MB for less И you want the latest DVD functionality,’ Ку reigns supreme above others. It slips than the price of 8 with this memory buy this remote. Despite ils small but- СЕ without fail into and out of the PS2 card—but you don't. You actually get 0 tons, it not only updates your DVD dri- —— (unlike some of the third-party cards) MB for the price of 7.5. This card is a vers to accommodate for DVDs like === and, most importantly, holds onto the hunk of garbage. While it sounds like a Rush Hour 2, but you can also now fast files you save. And when we say that, bargain, it simply doesn’t work—except forward more quickly and view multiple we mean it: When we threw ours at a as a one-time dart. It also perfectly bal- angles in certain films. Plus, it can han- wall at a blazing 62 miles per hour, our ances an uneven table. It tastes awful, dle a couple of six-foot drops onto con- Precious saves of Godai, Aqua Aqua though, so don’t even think about mak- crete. This is a must-own for DVD fans and GameDay weren't even phased. ing up your money by eating it. dependent on their PS2. Price: $34.99 Brand: Sony CEA Web: www.playstation.com 3 www.interact-ace.com b: www.playstation.com When it comes to utility, and killing three birds with one stone, this little creation may very well top the list. With Naki’s 3-in- 1 unit you get a Multitap, a DVD remote and a PS2 stand all in one package. Considering how the Sony Multitap sticks out awkwardly, this is a great way to keep your gaming gear compact. Plus, though a bit slim on options, the remote control helps you cruise through DVDs without pulling out your controller. This unit is one sweet find. $39.99 Naki www.nakiusa.com If you can't afford a decent DVD remote, you shouldn't be buying DVDs. Here's a suggestion: Save the extra 57 to buy a quality remote by renting Ishtar and Next Friday at Blockbuster instead of buying them. But Saitek’s bargain remote is not the answer. This thing’s flimsier than a slat of balsa wood. And if you stuff it in your archen- emy’s tailpipe, along with a banana, everyone gets a laugh! 512.95 Saitek www.saitek.com This remote was made for a person with y needles for fingers and a hand the size of * ኣሻ а child. It’s way too small, and the 17 but- X | J tons are within two square inches. Who’s | the tiny-fingered genius that put this 2 mini-remote together? Because it stinks. It does have a pass-through, which | RATING PENDING means you can put a controller in the slot | where the remote sensor sits. But then again, so do most others out there. Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. ን 7 ы WWWLÜFCVIDEOGAME.COM CRAVE, WWW.UFC.TV курд 5999 Gamester Web: www.radicagames.com ESEE What motivated you to become a skier? | didn't have a choice. My brothers and my dad, we started skiing when we were young, and | didn't even know | “skied” until | was 12. | loved it at first because of the speed and the jumps. As | got older, | realized how cool the culture was and how many friends | had in skiing. As | started to get better and win, it became more of a competitive endeavor. | remember being in school, always thinking about skiing during the week—doing my homework just so | could ski all weekend. Who were your biggest influences? My first big influences in skiing were the only people | knew: my brothers, Rick and Jeff. Since then I’ve had a slew of different mentors, start- ing with local people from Squaw Valley [Calif.]. The only famous person that | really paid atten- tion to was Bill Johnson. In the first Olympics 1 remember watching, in 1984, he put on an incredible performance. That really stuck in my mind. And then all the cast of the movie Hot Dog. One of those guys, Dan Herbie, was my coach on the freestyle team at Squaw Valley. of the stunts for that movie, so | paid attention to them. my buddy making extreme videos, jumping < Off cliffs. I've just had a ton of inspiration оуег the years but most of them have been friends, teammates or brothers. What are the biggest challenges you've faced 85 а skier? The hardest thing was trying to balance normal life, school and skiing. When | didn't qualify for the 794 Olympics it made me work harder. The only time I’ve really ever been discouraged was after '98 and winning the Olympics. | knew | wanted to ski but | felt like it was just so far until the next Olympics. That’s when skiing I'm pretty psyched. | feel an obligation to put the best effort toward it. To help make it good. For the whole sake of skiing. Otherwise, my ski- ing friends might beat me up. Are you into video games? I've always played, since all my friends do it all the time. But since | have a PS2, | play even тоге. | mostly play snowboarding games. What's difficult about Olympic training? It's tough to mentally persevere through the end of the workouts when you feel like you can't go on anymore. My vision to win gets fuzzy because | feel like I just did this. Why am | doing this again? | have to play this mental tennis match. | will literally be midway through a drill where I’m jumping over boxes or doing some- thing that hurts my lungs or my legs and my mind will start breaking down and | have to combat that mentally. That's the hardest part: finding motivation and trying to get myself to rock bottom where | don't have an ego and | don't think about anything l've done before. | try A couple of the other guys did a lot "By the time I Was 15, I was out there with my buddy making By the time I was 15, Iwas out therewith ax treme videos, jumping off cliffs.” to erase everything | feel is owed to me. It's hard to start at rock bottom again so you can go back to the Olympics. So, Jonny, we imagine you've beaten up your body plenty over the years. Do you have any interesting stories? In the X-Games at Crested Butte [Colo.], the landing of the jump was super icy. | was doing the Dinner Roll on a new pair of skis that | was. ATTITUDE OPM chats with Mad Trix's Jonny Moseley about influences, he Olympics and his worst bail photos by Cooper Schell Moseley scored the gold medal ua b 46 Official U.S. PlayStation Ma b moguls at the '98 testing for my previous sponsor. The tails were became so much more than just skiing. It really soft, so eve! е | landed they would became this whole burden of a lifestyle that l,_ spin out and m my ass. The landing now love. It took me a while to get usi ed hill sloped off to the from being a skier to being a celebrity _ couldn't slow down. 1 was hard at first. I'd be standing at the top,of a һе side of the сощ hill in a park, and | didn’t feel like | ff two-foot by two-foot and be silly. At least that's what | thought. That | ended up placing seco wore on me. Then after awhile, | realized! can into a massive hematom another do what | want. Ever since then, it's been great. ent he nen week and | could barely move, so we tried draining it. All that came out was this thick, black sludge. | have it on video. It was gross. - How do you feel about being on the cover of the first skiing game on the PS2? iter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. PLAYSTATION APTITUDE TEST 1. Sphere Theater : Final Fantasy X :: : Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete a. Magic Mirror b. Rememberizer c. Alex's Acorn d. Oval Theater 2. What does FFX hero Tidus's name mean when you translate it from Okinawan to English? a. Sun b. Moon c. Tides d. Rain 3. Hedy Burress (the actress who voiced Yuna in FFX) and Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft, duh!) both appeared topless in what film? a. Gia b. Foxfire c. Hackers d. Cyborg 2 4. Winner of the 1998 Gold Medal in Moguls, the Mad Trix cover athlete spells his name how? a. Jonny Mosley b. Johnny Moseley c. Jonny Moseley d. Johnny Mosley 5. Which Pac-Man title was half video game and half pinball machine? a. Super Pac-Man b. Pac-Man Deluxe . Baby Pac-Man . Pac-Family . Which old Pac-game found in Pac-Man World 2's arcade features a in theaters now The trailer to Universal's new Muniz) asleep after apparently having spent the night glued to ATV Offroad Fury. He's got other things on his mind than unlocking the Raptor, though, after movie producer Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti) steals a story that Jason wrote for school and proceeds to turn it into a blockbuster. Other things on his mind, like revenge... release, Big Fat Liar, begins М, with Jason Shepherd (Frankie е better-looking, updated version of the game that's otherwise basically the same thing? a. Pac-Man b. Ms. Pac-Man c. Pac-Mania d. Pac-Attack 7. What year was the Atari 2600 E.T. game released? a. 1980 b. 1981 c. 1982 d. 1983 8. When Atari's E.T. game turned out to be a total flop, where did the surplus stock of cartridges end up? a. The Gulf of Mexico b. Alamogordo, New Mexico c. Mexico City, Mexico d. Funcoland 9. Britney's Dance Beat is based on the gameplay engine of which PS one franchise? a. Dance Dance Revolution b. Bust-A-Groove c. Parasite Eve d. Tomba! 10. Which game does Virtua Fighter 4 director Yu Suzuki aim to best with his game? a. Tekken 4 b. Dead or Alive 3 с. Soul Calibur d. Arc the Lad Collection THROWDOWN OL 9'6 9'8 P'4 P'9 282” ባ ፻፪ 9% 5493ለላ5ህሃኛ ኮ[8ሃ518ከቨ0በ.ሮ | RATING PENDING Visit www.esrb.org or || call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. | “сои СЁ АУЕ, FC.TV RS PETI WWW.UFCVIDEOGA ww Swapping paint with Skywalker, Tatooine. Shrapnel impact at 600+mph, Won Calamari. Turbo-boost slice between canyon wall and Пий Bolt, Sullust. PlayStation e me ANATOMY о- SPEED. ITS A FIGHT TG THE FINISH AT БООМРН. GO HEAD —TG—HEAD AGAINST 18 GF THE GALAXY'S MOST AGGRESSIVE PGDRACERS. W!TH 14 HARRGWING TRACKS GN 5 WGRLDS. FACE TERRIFYING CHALLENGES AT EVERY TURN. GOT THE GUTS TO GO FOR іт? Tusken Raider target practice, Badlands. EVERYONE € Mild Violence EE rainbow — 2. S Official Star Wars Web Site STUDIOS ~ www.starwars.com и ® Lunar Gets Rereleased Designs has rereleased Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. This time around, though, the game discs feature art from big-time Lunar fan Armen Madirossian. JOHN SCALZI ARE PARENTS WHAT THEY USED TO BE? 1 got some interesting feedback from my last column here (OPM 52), in which | noted that a law in Indianapolis restricting violent game content in arcades was batted down by the Supreme Court. 1 said that this was a good thing, since as a general rule, censorship is more trouble than it's worth to everyone. Many of the letters | received agreed with me (I love it when I’m told I’m right), but a few well-argued letters went in the other direction. The over- turning of the Indianapolis law was a shame, they wrote— not because these people were for censorship, per se, but because the law compensated for parents who were doing a bad job of parenting. As one writer put it: “Parents aren't what they used to be. They don't have time to pay attention to the world around them. When a child does something wrong, it's never the parent's fault. It's Marilyn Manson, paintballing or video games." As a parent, and an observer of parents, | can certainly understand this point of view: The world is filled with par- ents who are doing such a bad job of it that, in my own not- so-humble opinion, they ought to be taken out and whacked with a stick. Some parents actually don’t give a damn what their kids are doing, and that’s a terrible thing. So, as the argument goes, why not look out for these kids, if the par- ents won't bother? Well, OK. But here's the thing: Have the government cen- sor anything it wants—games, music, books, whatever— and the kid would sti// have bad parents. And that's the real problem. Let's say you have two kids: one who has expo- sure to nothing but the most wholesome family entertain- ment but has parents who couldn't care less what he's doing, and another who has full access to the darker side of popular culture but also has parents who have taught her their values and moral standards, and who take an active interest in her life. Which kid is better off? 1 don't agree that parents aren't what they “used to be"—today's parents, by and large, are active and engaged in their children's lives as much as parents ever were. Bad parents have always been with us, even before arcades and game consoles, and the rest of us shouldn't let them off the hook by slapping the Band-Aid of video game censorship on the gaping wound of parental neglect. We can do better than to go for the easy—and ultimately futile—solution. Or to put it another way: Imagine if the money Indianapolis spent on defending its unconstitutional law in the courts had been spent instead on teaching new par- ents how to care for and communicate with their children. In the end, which would have been the better investment? You tell me. John Scalzi is a freelance writer and media critic who also runs GameDad, a video game site for parents. Visit it at . And be sure to tell him what you think at Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Due to popular demand, Working Agent Under Fire just landed on shelves, EA is already hard at work on a new 007 game for release next winter. After doing a lit- tle sleuthing of our own, we actually saw it up and running deep within the EA compound and can report that the game is already far along in development. In fact, we've learned that developer Eurocom has been secretly working on the title for over a year already. So what's our hero up to this time around? Well, just like with Agent Under Fire, EA has opted to create a completely new storyline for the game and has tenta- tively titled it Phoenix Rising. The story itself comes from the scriptwriter of Disney's The Rocketeer and takes James to several exotic locations around the world. From what we've seen so far, it looks pretty similar to Agent Under Fire [there are even some driving levels], but also features a third-person perspective for certain sequences. So feel free to get excited now. E: though Bond's latest PS2 outing photo by Guy Aroch/CorbisOutline er if we've ever ጭ ures, which creat- ar Final Fantasy ew film thats _ Í The Matrix! It's й of animated shorts ime directors andy e stories about how 27 Above are two character models from Square's Matrix-inspired film. a FFX Characters © Square. Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura መባ. » x Р 120. 1207 5 LI Get Ready Turok The N64's dino-hunting shaman is headed to the PS2 You may have heard rumblings, but now it's official: Turok is leaping from his longtime Nintendo-based home into ап all-new game for the PlayStation 2. Acclaim has been hard at work on a next-generation installment for quite some time now and plans to have it ready for release this September. Actually taking place before the original four Nintendo 64 install- ments, Turok: Evolution, as the game is titled, chronicles the origin of the Turok lineage. If you're unfamiliar with the series, here's the basic concept: You're an Indian spirit. Who hunts dinosaurs. With big guns. Sounds crazy? Maybe, but the games have all been pretty cool so far, so we can't wait to see what Acclaim has in store for us on the PS2. fers of the world with атй competition Heres how. it works First, visit the official HSG3.Web site, where you'll be given a code; enter it into the game and ít will kick off a challenge that ultimate- ly pits you against the other HSG3 players. Completing the challenge gives you a new code to input online. You'llthen be ranked against other golfers. Sony’s even said that the best of the best will be eligible for prizes. DREAM CAST FINAL FANTASY.X Screw The Spirits Within. Everyone knows that a good Final Fantasy movie needs to be based directly on one of the games—maybe even using real people! If such a film ever were to grace your local theater (doubtful, but we can dream), we've come up with a few suggestions as to who should play the major roles, as seen below. Got any ideas for a Dream Cast of your own for another game? Send us your ideas at subject of DREAM CAST. ክኣ Yuna: Katie Holmes Dawson's Creek's sincere, well- meaning, gal-next-door is a perfect fitto play the saintly, ethereal Yuna. Let's hope her voice-work is better than the game's, though. Tidus: Charlie Hunnam We've made the jokes about Tidus’ resemblance to Meg Ryan—just as Fox’s Undeclared has joked about how Hunnam also looks just like her. Perfect! Kimahri: Michael Dorn c | _ wa Rikku: Britney Spear: The ultimate (wet) Dream Cast pairs the effervescent Britney with the all-too-cute Rikku. The only trick is figuring out which is the real gal and which is the virtual опе.... Wakka: Scott Caan Auron: Alec Baldwin With a starring voice in The Spirits Within and, now, the role of Auron in our FFX film, we can turn Alec Baldwin into the Cid of Final Fantasy flicks. Seymour: Jude Law Tecmo is working on a remake of the old-school arcade game Rygar for release on the PS2 this summer. Of course, this time around it'll be a 3D affair. Kojima Awarded gs сн Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima was recently named as one of the most important people who will help shape the future of entertainment by Newsweek Magazine. We totally agree. Kingdom Vocals E Square has announced that Hikaru Utada, an insanely popular J-pop artist in Japan, will perform the vocals for the main theme to Kingdom Hearts. Fluent in Engl Utada will also sing the English version of the song. Turismo Attack ЛЛУ ERARSDRISHO ። ው Sony is releasing a special GT3 strategy guide DVD in Japan called Attack Gran Turismo. On the disc, creator Kazunori Yamauchi actually shows off some of his person- al tips. No word on if we'll ever get a similar DVD here. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine GD ONLY IN JAPAN Winning Post 5 Koei, PS2 ЕЕ ፳5ፎጩ።ተናኮ22/(23 ልከ, horse racing. Fortunes have been made and lost—the latter more often than the former—at the track. Yet video game adap- tations of the Sport of Kings are few and far between (the recent Р52 release Gallop Racer and Namco's excellent arcade game Final Furlong being notable exceptions). Not so in Japan, though, where games like Namco's Derby Stallion frequently make the best-seller charts, and one of the biggest names in the genre is the Winning Post series. Winning Post 5 is the latest game in the series from Koei, the developer with a sharp eye for detail, and to say it's in-depth is something of an understate- ment. You're the owner of a stable of horses, and it's your job to manage everything—from choosing the right trainer or jockey to breeding your horses. With that sort of control, you'll face some important decisions—should you run your hot race-win- ning horse into the ground? Or retire him early and put him out to stud so you can exploit his genes for generations to come? (We wonder which option the horses prefer: running around in circles or lounging in a field "reproducing" all day?) Aside from including real tracks, real jockeys, thousands of real horses and the complete Japanese racing calendar for 2001, you also get top foreign races and even the ability to import data from the shovel-load of other Koei horse-racing games (see below). All іп all, this is the most complete package available for your hard- core virtual horse-racing fan. Whomever that may be... MORE HORSING AROUND Koei has actually released a few other horse-racing titles for the PS2 in Japan. Here’s a list of the games and how to use them to enhance your Winning Post 5 experience: Winning Post 4: Don't dump your save files when you get the bigger, better Winning Post 5! If you’re attached to a particularly hot stud, you can import your horse into the new version. 61 Jockey 2: Instead of being a fat-cat owner, you're a lowly jockey. Train your jockey and import him into Winning Post 5. Like Tamagotchi, just with vertically challenged humans. Horse Breaker: Despite the odd title, it's merely a horse-training sim. Go hands-on with the horses and train them to be the next Red Rum. And if you succeed, go ahead and import your horse into Winning Post 5. (52) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine U.S. name are still unknown. bizarre yet fun Р52 mosquito game Ka in our "Only in Japan" column (ОРМ 49], one developer who was absolutely sure the game would never be released here. Now Eidos Japan seems dead-set on proving us wrong. Under its new boutique label "Fresh Games," the publisher will release several uniquely Japanese games in the U.S., including Ka [retitled as Mister Mosquito), along with another “Only in Japan” featured game Bravo Music (retitled as Mad Maestro!), an orches- tra-conducting sim. Both are due out this spring. An Eidos rep also told us that Fresh Games will be publishing Sony's RPG Legaia Dual Saga, although details about a release date and the exact we quoted D MOSQUITO Ka and other wacky games headed to the U.S. B: in October, when we profiled Sony's FALSE STARTS Title 3-D WorldRunner 1987 - Nintendo Entertainment System Rad Racer 1987 - Nintendo | Entertainment System King’s Knight 1989 — Nintendo Entertainment System Rad Racer ዘ 1990 - Nintendo Entertainment System Final Fantasy: i Mystic Quest - 1992 - Super NES Secret of Evermore 1995 — Super NES Chocobo Racing 1999 – PS one Chocobo's Dungeon 2 1999 - PS опе Driving Emotion Type-S 2001 - PS2 The Game Published by Acclaim, this Space Harrier-esque shoot- er/racer came packaged with a pair of 3D glasses. Square busted out those 3D glasses once again to accompany this speedy, Out Run-inspired racer. Square's first U.S. RPG? Nope. More like a shooter of sorts, starring a knight, wizard, monster and thief. More radical racing from the radical developers at Square. Are these guys rad- ical, or what? Radical! A.k.a. “Final Fantasy Lite,” this was Square’s botched attempt to dumb down FF for the U.S. market. Hey, look! It's a mascot racer! And look over there! It's a big, bloated bandwag- on with Square riding in it! A old-school dungeon crawl starring Square's whored-out, chicken- legged, big-beaked mascot. Square tries to take on the Gran Turismo crowd with a gorgeous-looking but problematic PS2 racer. The Pros Crisp graphics, fast action, smooth gameplay and a nifty (albeit gim- micky) 3D mode. “Rad” is short for “radi- cal.” Radical things are cool, right? Oh, this was a pretty good racer, too. It looks sort of OK. And you get to play as four different characters. And...well, that's about it. It looks even better than the first Rad Racer. That's radical, dude. Radical! Yep. Radical, indeed. Not much good here beyond the FF name. And even that’s not enough reason to play this. ‘Simple controls and sick- eningly cute characters make this decent for kids or Final Fantasy fanboys, Tons of items to find, mix and use to create new weapons and armor lends this one a bit of depth. Realistic inside dash- board view; realistic han- dling (on some cars, at least); plenty of vehicles. Square. The name just drips with quality. From Final Fantasy to Front Mission, Bushido Blade to Einhander, Chrono Trigger to Vagrant Story—almost every- thing Square touches is in a class by itself. Not convinced? How about a few more storied names, like Parasite Eve, Secret of Mana, Super Mario RPG or Xenogears? Heck, even the mediocre brawler Ehrgeiz ranks among the top guilty pleasures of many a fanboy. But it wasn’t always so. In fact, Square started out with a few odd choices that in no way represented the RPG powerhouse to come. Since then, Square has also churned out its fair share of clunkers. Here's a quick (but by no means comprehensive] look at some of Square's lesser titles. Know a devel- oper you'd like to see featured here? Send it to us at opm(Gziffdavis.com with the subject FALSE STARTS. The Cons Repetitive, limited level design mars this other- wise solid game. It just gets boring after a while. Until you master the too- steep learning curve, you'll crash into every curve along the way. This game is just bad, bad, bad. Hard to see, hard to play, hard to listen to, hard to have any fun with at all. It’s less of a game than its predecessor, with fewer features and no 3D glasses, Bummer! Dull story, crappy battles, bland characters...there’s nothing “Final Fantasy” about this stinker, Thoroughly mediocre and derivative, with subpar graphics that fall short of ‘Square's standards. Monotonous meandering through randomly generat- ed levels just ain’t much fun after a few hours. Thanks to the touchy con- trols and absurd di [ከነ it’s as fun as driving straight into a brick wall. Metal Gear Remix? Konami appears to have some alternative plans for its highly evolved Metal Gear Solid 2 engine. As shown in these screens, Kojima's team has seemingly taken anony- mous background figures from the game and given them their own Warholian shot at 15 minutes of fame. Actually, what you're seeing here are screens taken from the Movie Edit mode of the Japanese release of MGS2. Allowing you to swap alter- nate characters into starring roles for many of the game's major sequences, the Movie Edit mode can make for quite a few laughs. Don't care for Fortune's long-winded Speech to the soldiers on the bridge? Swap the crybaby out and cast Office-Worker Male in her place! Want to relive Snake's opening tanker sequence, but with Middle-Age Lady performing the acrobatics? Well, now you can! Even better, you can choose from MGS1 characters like Snake or Ocelot, low polygon counts and all! Unfortunately we here in the U.S. missed out on this mode because Konami was under major time constraints. But, hey, at least we got to play MGS2 before Japan did. OVERHEARD "While we were making the movie, I read 40 books and Elijah Wood and I probably played 4,000 hours of PlayStation." — Sean Astin tells moviefone.com what got him through making Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. photo by Monty Brinton/Wirelmage.com It's a quiet time of year for full-on gaming news, but the gossip and rumors are still floating around on things we're set to see later in the year and beyond. Watch out for more gossip online when | team up with Electronic Gaming Monthly's Quartermann on our Web site, . Keep an eye out for the Rumor Mill column. DRAGONBALL FANS WILL BE EXCITED ABOUT THIS Curious to know what the next game in Capcom's "Versus" series is? Aside from the obvious and inevitable Marvel vs. Capcom 3, I've heard strong rumors that indicate Dragonball vs. Capcom could be with us before the end of the year. With the crazy cult fol- lowing of the Dragonball series, I'd be surprised if this wasn't a surefire hit. Expect lots of airborne fighting and an awful lot of shouting. MORE AND MORE GRAND THEFT AUTO IV NEWS The rumors about the next game in the Grand Theft Auto series persist and they're getting crazier every time | hear them. Remember last month I told you that a new game was both inevitable and due fairly soon? Well, there's even more to get excited about now. It seems that the big hook this BITS AND BOBS Clish MacLaver's GOSSIP GOSSIP Gossip, rumor and scandal. Gaming's biggest secrets dug up and served with gravy. time is that the game will have a huge online aspect. There are actually two different rumors doing the rounds at the moment, and while I'd love to think that both are possible, the sim- pler one seems much more likely. The first rumor is that GTA4 will build a lot on the PC version of the game that's due in a couple of months, taking advantage of the 16-player online sup- port that it boasts. GTA4, they say, will allow people to wander around Liberty City in “gangs,” working together on jobs, drive-bys, heists and all that other goodness. The second rumor expands on the first, suggesting that the game will be a massively multiplayer online experi- ence that will allow hundreds of play- ers to populate the city and form their own gangs, mobs, businesses and other GTA fun. Personally, | think the 16-player game is more likely—but the idea of a version in which everyone you meet is a “real” person is certainly something to make you think about where things could go in the future. | don’t know will almost certainly be announced at ጅጋ in May. It'll be on PS2, obviously. * Watch out for new info emerging about the long- dormant Gt er project from Sony CEA soon, too. • sted Metal Online is nearly finished, | hear, but it will be a new version of у that we get for "free" with the Network Adapter this spring. * Rumors still persist that there’s going to be a version of EverQuest for PS2, probably іп 2003. • Were you a бех fan? Seems that Crystal Dynamics is looking into resurrecting the series on PS2. * Expect to start seeing new details on the sequel to Rockstar’s popular Midnight Club in the spring. Rumors suggest that some of the story may cross over with Grand Theft Auto. * Jonesing for a Gran Turismo fix? Jealous of GT3: Concept? Gran Tu 4 is on the way, and could be with us this year. about you, but I’m pretty excited for whatever they decide to do. | just want more! Got some good gaming gossip? Or anything you want to say to me? If you hear anything juicy, or get your hands on some cool screens or pictures, send me an e-mail at the following address: clish_maclaver(aziffdavis.com Look out for me on AIM, too—my buddy name is OPMClish. ONLINE GAMES ON THE WAY Lots of folks have been asking me what | expect to see as online games in the coming year, so | thought I'd hit you with a list of the rumored projects. in the works. Some of these may not be full-on multiplayer online games, some are just projects I've heard may be PS2-bound [and some of them may never actually make it]—but all of them, if they happen, will have some kind of connectivity to them. Remember, these are just rumored—l don't know for certain if they're defi- nitely happening, but most seem like- ly. Ready? In no particular order... Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, Half-Life 2, Quake 4, Doom Ill, Return to Wolfenstein, Hot Shots Golf 4, EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies, NFL 2K3, NBA 2K3, NHL 2K3, Madden 2003, NBA Live 2003, NASCAR 2003, NHL 2003, Frequency 2, Tekken 5, WWF SmackDown! 3, Red Faction 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Aliens vs. Predator, TimeSplitters 3, Tomb Raider: The Next Generation, and many, many more. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine መጋ Blood and Gore Violence Violence EID OS " ее Руа O VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF DEATH www.eoegame.com MARCH 2002 Eve of Extinction is a trademark of Eidos Interactive. Developed by Yukes Со, Ltd. Yukes and the Yukes Company logo are trademarks of Yukes Co., Ltd. Eidos, Eidos Interactive, and the Eidos Interactive logo are all registered trademarks of Eidos Interactive, Inc. ©2001 Eidos Interactive, Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All rights PLAYSTATION. ‘YEA Believe it or not, the PlayStation is now six years old. We look at the most significant events in each year. The 1998 holiday season was a fiercely fought battle between the incredible games that were feleased over the period, and it ‘Was this onslaught that finally put ‘the PlayStation in a position of unassailable dominance. Sure, the N64 had its moments, but with Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo leading the pack, the system was unstoppable. As ever, the early months of the year were very quiet. Notable releases were few and far between, but the diamond in the rough came on Feb. 17 when 989 Studios unleashed Syphon Filter onto an unsuspecting public. Easily dismissed as a Metal Gear Solid wannabe, American gamers in particular saw through the neg- ative connotations and took it to heart. It was an instant hit, and the first to prove that the PlayStation could have huge hits even out of season. In March, Sony invited a select group of journalists from around the world to attend a conference in Japan concerning a surprise announcement. On Mar. 3, the press looked in awe as the com- pany unveiled the specifications for the much-rumored PlayStation 2 and its vision for the future of interactive entertainment. Although the early tech-demos were only very simple, they ade- quately illustrated the awesome power of what was to come. The rest of March was strange- ly uneventful, and even the Spring Tokyo Game Show, an event that normally showcases some of the coolest games on the horizon, did Syphon Filter Ties | ye Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine little to whet the appetite. Sony showed pseudo PaRappa sequel Um Jammer Lammy, Namco unveiled Ace Combat 3, and Square showed Front Mission Third. All were games of certain stature, but none were set to be blockbusters of any kind. MINF'S BETTER THAN YOURS April, too, proved disappointing with little more than Rampage Universal Tour (which was awful), Monster Seed and MLB 2000 wor- thy of any particular note. May proved more exciting as Namco took a swipe at Gran Turismo with the dramatically overhauled R4: Ridge Racer Type 4. The game’s executive producer, Shigeru Yokoyama told OPM that although Gran Turismo was an obvious competitor, the two games are “only similar because they are both racing games. The games are totally different in their directions. Our team conceived of the Ridge Racer series first and foremost as a game and nota simulation.” Although far superior to previous RRs, Кд failed to steal any thunder from the Gran Turismo juggernaut that was still selling exceptionally well. mU NO IT ISN'T In June, Sony retaliated with new information about Gran Turismo 2, just to ensure that there was absolutely по doubt as to who was the dominant force in racing games. It also upped the ante for the car lists by announcing that a near-final list of 594 cars was going through the legal processes of being approved for use in the game. We believe the expression to use when describing Sony's response to Namco was that they were "stickin' it to them.” June continued to be an uncharacteristically busy summer month when Ape Escape was released on June 22 to rave reviews, and then a week later, Reflections unleashed the first Driver—and car-loons no longer knew which way to turn. SMACK TALK On Aug. 17, Eidos finally got around to releasing Soul Reaver, yet another product that proved just how far the PlayStation hard- ware had been pushed in terms of graphics. With its moody, expres- sive characters and vast, impres- sive architecture, it proved that the PlayStation was still a techno- logical force to be reckoned with, even with its successor looming on the horizon. К was August, so it was GameDay and Madden time...and this year they were even more spectacular than ever. The rivalry between 989 Sports and EA Sports had become extremely fierce, with a serious amount of smack-talk emanating from both camps. “If you want to see what LoK: Soul Reaver features GameDay 2000 is going to have,” professed Madden NFL 2000 Assistant Producer Rob Jones, “just look at Madden 99.” Ouch. It didn't end there though, as 989 Sports Product Develop- ment Director Kelly Ryan responded with, "We don't look at Madden as a leader on this plat- form...we've never looked at Madden.” What a shame this fighting talk did little to push the GameDay franchise further in the years to come. SILLY SEASON 1999 Sept. 8 was a big day, and marked the beginning of the 1999 silly season as Square hit us with Final Fantasy VIll—a game hailed as being superb at the time, but which continues to get flack from the hardcore Square fans as being “lame” these days. Maybe it was the more “realistic” characters? Or Nomura's artwork? Who knows? OPM liked it though. А дау later, Sega unleashed the Dreamcast, the first of the “next generation” of game con- soles, complete with a built-in modem. Could it take over as the next big console? Early reactions were certainly favorable and Sega enjoyed what was, at the time, the most successful launch of an entertainment product ever. Later in September, Sony released new pictures of the PS2 MGS: VR Missions 4 Gran Turismo 2 and continued to drip-feed an expectant public with its capabili- ties as well as new tech demos of what it was capable of producing. The games kept coming on PlayStation, with the most exciting being the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on Sept. 29. Little did people know at the time the impact that it would have on video gaming and pop culture. As silly season progressed, we were inundated with big titl Crash Team Racing, Dino Crisis, Spyro 2, Omega Boost, WipeOut 3, Suikoden 2, Fear Effect, Medal of Honor, Quake 2, Resident Evil 3, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Metal Gear Solid VR Missions and then finally, after what seemed like a very long wait, Gran Turismo 2 appeared and broke every sales record you could imagine. Next month: PlayStation 2, baby? ARE YOU IN CONTROL OF YOUR SHADOW? Don't be certain. At least, not until you meet Ari, a young boy from the village of Tenel who has lost control of his to the spirit of a 300 year old evil king. Now it's up to you to join him on a quest to help win it back. Along the way, solve puzzles, decipher mysterious clues and fight battles in a bizarre adventure that will test your wits, skill and make you question the proof of your own reality. Comic Mischief Mild Language Mild Violence OKAGE: Shadow King ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Гө ез shadow kiNg www.scea.cont SOUND STATION By John Scalzi This month features tunes from ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding 2002 (311, Randy], Jonny Moseley's Mad Trix МСМ, No One) and the new Test Drive (Junkie XL]! 311: From Chaos Volcano Entertainment The consistent popularity of 311 has been one of the great mysteries to me, because | simply can't understand for the life of me what anyone sees in them. There are others who do the slamming punk noise better, who do the white guy rap thing better, and do the somewhat lame reg- gae/ska/ dried-out Andy Summers guitar sound thing better. But | guess 311 does all of these things in one package, so maybe it's a convenience thing. Whatever it is, From Chaos is more of the same. Final Score Y T] JLJINIFCIE: D. € ЁЁ The Mad Capsule Markets: OSC-DIS Palm Pictures Grinding industrial noise—but grinding industrial noise done half in Japanese and half in terribly translated English! Not that it matters, since MCM largely subscribes to the theory that if you can make out the words, it's time to up the distortion. MCM does have chops; the grinding industrial noise is not original, but gallops along at a compelling pace, and there's an occasional pop throwaway like "Island," which sounds like a Scooby-Doo chase scene thrown into a trash compactor. Final Score @@@ Randy: Addicts of Communication Epitaph Records Ahbhhh. Much better. Randy is a Swedish band that very nearly makes up for the painful years of Abba, Roxette and Ace of Base by blasting through 17 delirious tracks of 2000-proof uncomplicated punk. "Freedom-Song" gets the award for Best Drunken Clash Song Imitation, and album opener “Addicts of Communication” pulls up a close second, Not truly classic punk—despite songs like "Proletarian Hop," this is no Sandinista! But it's а lot of fun, and right now, I'll take that as an adequate substitute. Final Score ዌ e 9 9 John Scalzi has been reviewing music since before moping was manly. And we liked it! Visit his Web site at www.scalzi.com or he'll write whiny songs about how depressed he is. Don't think he won't. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine www.gamers.com It's our home on the Web. Make it your home, too. Come visit us at our message board (you can link to it at playstationmagazine.com) and chat to your heart's content. www.tvtome.com A staggeringly comprehensive guide to television series, from The A-Team to Zorro, complete with more information about each series than you'd care to know. www.pet-clothing.net "Since 1986 Fonzie's Fantasies has crafted original, washable hats for special dogs and cats of all sizes.” Sorry, did they say hats? For animals? Er, OK. p an SITS ONG HAN isi cod Оға коман www. yesterdayland.com Cartoons. Toys. Movies. Arcade games. Music. Lunch boxes. “Your Childhood is Here,” says this site, and they're not joking. Pick an era, pick a category, and watch the hours fly by. www.oscars.com The nominees are announced Feb. 12, and you can also read accep- tance speeches from past win- ners, view photos from the Red Carpet, and see 360-degree panoramic shots of the event. www.olympics.com Olympic fever will be in full swing by the time you read this...well, as feverish as the Olympics get, which is to say not very much at all. But you'll be able to view info on events, athletes and everything once they get rolling. Message Boards Play Games. axe www.pork4kids.com It's a site about, you know, pork. And it's for kids. Be sure not to miss the Shockwave cartoon fea- turing a lost, anthropomorphic pork chop. No, we're not kidding. www.fark.com Random collection of random news stories and Web sites. A good place to start if you're look- ing to do some mindless surfing. www.stickdeath.com Stick figures meeting a variety of untimely (апа hysterical) ends. Plus lots of Shockwave games. www.shibumi.org/ eoti.htm Don't ask; just go. www.clubtonyhawk.com The official fan club of skateboard- ing's biggest, brightest star. Sign up to become a member if you want to read Tony's daily journal. www.snopes.com The Urban Legends Reference Pages, ап excellent site for dis- counting all those rumors that your friends swear are true. Example: Coca-Cola will not dis- solve a nail—not any faster than regular water, anyway. የየ” www.bozart.com This fascinating site sells educa- tional toys and games designed by world-renowned artists. Our favorite so far is the Karim Rashid chess set, a squishy vinyl and hard acrylic riot of color that is actually surprisingly playable. | в. 1 O- Surprising Mini Bames Add ta the Fun! EVERYONE ГА Violence GEGE C= 2 PlayStation 8 © | ® Е È & 5 | Ё ደ ) = 8 E E ። i 5 Е ЕЗ = E Е i መሕ ıê 3 E 2 i WWW;S Cea, COR. амс. 1 с % ; 5 "Ж à ማዱ ) ከ 2 $ rd i COMIC MISCHIEF à VS MM е ‹ ከ А 1 ца Bi VIOLENCE р 7 беде балы тұста ነ Й zr қ ; ye aad Ме он тағ Ы ign № ———— መ ሯጩ THE BAD NEWS BEARS (Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal) Easily the best movie about kids' sports, prob- ably because it's the only one that nails how screwed-up things like Little League can be. Walter Matthau plays a drunk ex-minor lea- guer who coaches a no-talent Little League team into a winning season, with lots of politi- cally incorrect humor along the way. They wouldn't make a comedy like this anymore (it features Matthau coaching while drunk, another coach hitting one of his players, and the Little Leaguers celebrating the end of the season with adult beverages], but then, when the movie was made, parents weren't killing other parents at their kids' sports practices, 50 you tell me which you'd rather have. No DVD extras to speak of. Movie Score ቁ ወ ወወ DVD Extras Score N/A РРР CAPTAIN CORELLT'S MANDOLIN: SE (Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz) Italy occupies Greece in WWII (with a little help from those lousy Nazis). This gives Nicolas Cage, as an Italian officer, an excuse to woo Penelope Cruz, who plays a feisty Greek woman. Does it make any sort of sense? Not especially, but if for some reason you need a date flick on short notice, this'll do fine. Of course, if you really want a good romantic date film involving Italian soldiers in occupied WWII Greece, you'll look for Mediterraneo. It won an Oscar, which is more than Mandolin will do. DVD Extras: director commentary, a "making-of" documentary, trailer and DVD-ROM links. Movie Score Ө DVD Extras Score DON'T SAY A WORD: SE (Michael Douglas, Brittany Murphy) Doesn't Michael Douglas ever get tired of playing smug professionals whose lives are upturned by a ran- The slacker answer to Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, in which two minor but criti- cal characters from Kevin Smith movies (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma) are put front and center for their own story. Whether you give a crap is directly related to how obsessively you've made previous Smith films part of your world view, as well as your tolerance for moronic characters (Jay (Jason Mewes) is the sort of character who should have been beat- ጨጩጩጨጨሸጩጩ en to death with an oar long ago). If you're just starting out with Smith, skip this and see (Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith) dom plot point? This time, he's a psychia- trist who has to pry a secret code from the mind of a mentally ill girl (Brittany Murphy), or some bad guys are going to hurt his kid. There are way too many plot implausibilities here for the film to actually be good, but it moves along at a decent clip so you don't have time to think about it until afterward. Nice DVD extras, too: commentary by director Gary Fleder and most of the cast, and an extra disc that features a "Cinema Master Class" conversation with Fleder, storyboards, a screen test for Murphy, and a producing workshop. Movie Score ወ ወወ DVD Extras Score HARDBALL: SE (Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane) If you were wondering what The Bad News Bears would be like if they made it today, the answer is Hardball. Same basic plot— loser coaches littler losers to Little League victory—but utterly without the sort of sar- castic bite (and heart) that would make you care. Coach is played by Keanu Reeves, whose character's gambling problem has nothing on Matthau's coach's alcoholism. But if you like Reeves, have fun [it also fea- tures Diane Lane, who, as usual, deserves better). Extras include commentary from the director and writer, deleted scenes, and a music video from Lil' Bow Wow. Movie Score @ DVD Extras Score ወ ወወ Chasing Amy instead. But if you already love Jay and Silent Bob, roll in it, pal. Nice DVD goodies, including Smith's commentary, deleted and extended scenes, gag reels and so оп. HEARTS IN ATLANTIS: SE (Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis) A little boy comes of age in Stephen King's America—now, now, stop that screaming. It's that other Stephen King's America, the one with The Green Mile and Stand By Me, not Carrie and The Stand. Anthony Hopkins plays a mysterious visitor with a past who helps a young kid come to grips with the world around him. Good story, good direc- tion (Бу Scott Hicks, of Shine and 5now Falling on Cedars), and а really enjoyable performance from Hopkins, whose pen- chant for extra ham is trimmed a bit. Extras include director commentary and an interview with Hicks and Hopkins. Movie Score ӨФӨ DVD Extras Score Ө Hearts in Atlantis Nothing in Common THE MUSKETEER (Justin Chambers, Mena Suvari) Loosely based on the “Three Musketeers” story—l say "loosely" because in fact the movie's plot doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. But never mind that—watch this flick for the action scenes, designed by Xin-Xin Xiong, a god of Hong Kong fight- scene choreography. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wonder why they bothered putting in any dialogue scenes at all. Yes, if you've seen Once Upon a Time in China, you'll already have seen the ladder scen but it's worth seeing again because this time, Mena Suvari is involved. Extras are crap: just the trailer. Movie Score 664 DVD Extras Score € (Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles) Shakespeare's Othello, recast in a private southern high school, with "О" (Mekhi Phifer) being the star basketball player and Desi (Julia Stiles, making a career out of Shakespeare adaptations) as the daugh- ter of the dean. Made a few years ago, but shelved after Columbine (а stupid move), this adaptation is surprisingly good, and relevant. And check out the DVD extras, which include a previously filmed version of Othello for viewers who prefer their Shakespeare unadulterated, as well as deleted scenes and audio commentary. A very nice package all around. Movie Score ® DVD Extras Score Chronicles: Нудога Starship Troopers Chronicles: Tophet Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back PETER PAN: SE Not-so-coincidentally timed with the the- atrical release of Return to Neverland, Disney's hopefully-not-embarrassingly odious sequ: isney will suck money from your pocket however it can. The origi- nal Peter Pan still holds up, although is shows its age here and there, particularly in scenes involving the “Indian Village,” which are basically a primer on how to ani- mate a racial minority as offensively as possible [yeah, yeah, they did Pocahontas to make up for it, but the thing is, Pocahontas stunk). Key extra: commentary by legendary animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson, who helped animate nearly all of the first generation of Disney films. It also features DVD-ROM extras, a “making- of” feature and Peter Pan games. Movie Score 94 DVD Extras Score 6 6 ቁ ና WILD STRAWBERRIES: SE (Victor Sjostrom, Ingrid Thulin) Mmmm...art film-licious! Strawberries is а richly rewarding story about a man who reflects on the journey of his life, as he travels across the country to receive a valedictory award. It's one of the three films (along with Seventh Seal and Smiles of a Summer Night) that cemented direc- tor Ingmar Bergman's reputation as a fi master and a student of the human condi- tion, but trust me, you'll enjoy it anyway. A must for serious film students, of course, but worth viewing if you want something different than the umpteenth rerun of Die Hard. DVD includes a 90-minute documen- tary on Bergman and his work, and com- mentary from film scholar Peter Cowie. Movie Score өөө DVD Extras Score 6 ወ ወ One of the great fables of our time is that of the loser nerd in high school who comes back to his high-school reunion as successful and well-adjusted as can be. Trouble is, it rarely works out that way; teenage nerds often simply grow up to be adult nerds. The real story is not how these people shed their pasts like butterflies shedding their cocoons, but how they deal with being grown-up versions of who they always were. Ghost World features two memorable characters in the midst of this examination: Enid (Thora Birch, dripping pure attitude), who has just graduated from high school, where she was the smart and disdainful girl who operated on a sarcastic plane of existence rarely visited by others, and Seymour (the great Steve Buscemi), a hangdog record collector who's been living a life of pathetic obsessiveness for longer than Enid's been alive. The two cross paths because of a cruel prank on the part of Enid and her comrade-in-disdain Rebecca (Scarlett Johanssen), but eventually Enid, in her own screwed-up way, feels something for Seymour. This, of course, leads to trouble, and Enid has to figure out how she's going to deal with it. Ghost World Street Date: 2/5/2002. MSRP 52698 Adored by critics, Ghost World deserves to be loved, awkwardly, by others as well. Few films have ever pegged this substrata of American life, and of those few, none have ever made it as bleakly and self-destructively funny as it is here. Full credit goes to director Terry Zwigoff (who directed Crumb, the documentary on bleak, self-destructive comic-book legend Robert Crumb), and co-writer Daniel Clowes, who adapt- ed his own comic series for the film. Neither of these men have ever been a diffident 18-year-old girl, but | bet both of them have been a lot like Seymour from time to time, and that makes a differ- ence. DVD Extras: alternate and deleted scenes, a music video and a "making-of' documentary. m а ^ E DVD News BRAIN FOOD This tasty tidbit comes courtesy of : Apparently the copyright on George Romero's Night of the Living Dead has long since expired, allowing just about anyone to release a version on DVD. But it looks like a new “Millennium Version” from Elite may prove a worthwhile invest- ment, featuring liner notes from Romero and Stephen King, a host of short films and a stagger- ing assortment of other goodies. It will release on March 12 for a measly 25 bucks. IMPRINT YOUR NAME ON THE ONE RING For a limited time, the Lord of the Rings Fan Club (| ) is offering a special deal: Sign up for a one-year membership ($40) and your name will appear in the credits of the Fellowship of the Ring DVD. Sign up for two years ($70) and your name goes on the first two movies. And a three-year membership ($100) will get you a spot on the DVD editions of all three films. The first member? Elijah “Frodo” Wood. MMM-HMM Before there was Sling Blade, there was the 25-minute 1993 short film Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade, also starring Billy Bob Thornton. Now Vanguard is preparing to release the original short on a DVD all its own, with audio commentary by the original director, a “making-of” feature and further extras. Expect to see the version March 19, for a suggested retail price of $19.99. Official US. PlayStation Magazine О) 'NSYNC NOT JEDIS AFTER ALL Contrary to previous reports that George Lucas had final- reteen daughters, who are big fans of the band, to cast them in the first place. Lucasfilm repre- sentative Lynn Hale told Е! Online that Lucas’s daughters "didn't have anything to do with it" and that the band's members, who are big Star Wars fans, asked producer Rick McCallum if they could appéar in Episode II. News that the scene had been cut came when ‘NSync crooner Joey Fatone called into the Carson Radio Show with a quick announcement “lm going to make it offi- cially known they dropped it because people made a big deal about it,” he whined. “We stopped by the set and it was like a Little small thing and we're Not going to be in it, and I'm not going to comment on it anymore.” Rumor has it that the cut footage will be reinserted for the DVD release—if you're at all bothered by this news. We'd hazard a guess that you're simply relieved that the theatrical release won't be mired by their presence. JANGO FETT IS REALLY COOL Rick McCallum, producer of Attack of the Clones, told the Empire Online Web site that the upcoming prequel will have a villain to rival Darth Maul and Darth Vader: Jango Fett, the Mandalorian bounty hunter and father of Boba Fett. “He is the ultimate accessory dude,” McCallum told $ the site. “Forget all the bullsh-t that we have today like color mobile phones. This dude knows how to party. He comes to it with everything.” As any, fan knows, Boba Fett is the bounty hunter who арреаг ац too briefly in The Empire Strikes Back and of the Jedi and went on to become a fan favorite. ill be played by New Zealand actor Temuera | U.S. PlayStation Magazine 55) .LYWOOD BANT ЕВ б ax be turning Attack of the Clones into Attack of the Clowns" my favorite,” dream, to with (ከ81 of thos: ieetitig . If one 5 with, “Well, Rick. tell you what | int." the Incredible Hulk Upcoming flick, Marvel onfirmed that it won't th of prosthetics, but “If the Hulk was ; oh man, | wouldn't will be represented іп А! head honcho Ағай ha be either а very/big тап d will instead be computer human, in makeup or prog want to be there, The оррд You wouldn't want to do J үр ssie Park with hand pup- pets,” Arad q Ча оп EIN News: Daily. Expect the CG models изейіп the movie to be Shared with the team at Universal Interactive for the P§2 game in development. eontimg.co 24 HOURS OF HOPPER Not quite 24 hours, as the series is already several hours in—but as we go to press, we hear that Dennis Hopper is in final negotiations to join the cast of 24ina recurring role that will run through the series’ conclu- sion. Hopper will take on the role of the man behind the program's plot to assassinate a presidential candidate. He could already be starring in the show by the time you read tlie: ZOMBIE'S CORPSES APPROACH The future of Rob Zombie's House of 1,000 Corpses is Still in flux, but it's starting to look like the probably ‘ies are greater than that. this year. While” to Fangoria, oneof 's stars, Bil , revealed that he was coming back p addi- tional feshoots for the project. TheseBcenes are said to be еу might be eyeing for the movie. UT THERE re, the Sci-Fi Channel's upcoming late-night interac! talk show, wants your help. Aykroyd, a self-d 'ibed “believer” and lifelong para- nai nut, will the half-hour, five-day-a-week PR that just bi production in New York City. Out There is scheduled to launch during the second quarter of 2002 and right now it needs you! сі-Ғі has described the show as a cross between CNN's Larry King. Live and PBS’ Charlie Rose. It will act a companion * to the channel's popular Crossing мег With John Edward. Guests will include Aykroyd’s 1 celebrity friends, professionals and members of the pub- | lic who will discuss unexplainable phenomena like time {travel through hypnotic regression, psychic detectives, “numerolog, hollow Earth theories, zero-point energy and the nation Effect, sex and offspring with aliens, The Philadelphia Experiment, Big Foot, The Mothman and Spiritualism. To get your chance at being a call-in guest, contact о! com (уе, that is a weird- looking address, we know) and tell them your theories on these subjects. Cheek www.scifi.com for show subjects. photo by Michael Lewis/Corbis Outline PlayStation.e ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT.. ANTI-CORPORATE- E АКИЕВВАМТУ. The next evolution of hoarding is here. Ма wheels. No snow. No surf. Just air, air and more air. See ya when you finally come down. ቆ » namco: Criterion NE Mild Violence Mild Language WWW.NAMCO.COM COMPUTER Developed by Criterion Software Limited and published in North America by Namco Hometek Inc. under license from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe © 2001 SCEE. The Sony Computer Entertainment logo is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. CODEMASTERS.COM Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information. Codem ste GENIUS AT PLAY © 2002 The Codemasters Software Company Limited ("Codemasters"). All rights reserved. "Codemasters" and the Codemasters logo are registered trademarks owned by Codemasters. "Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing” and "GENIUS AT PLAY" аге "PlayStation" and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. All other copyrights or trademarks are the property of their respective owners. \ its including Holmes, champ Iron Mike Tyson. HEAVYWEIGHT BOXING BRUTAL BEYOND BELIEF. TOP 10 CHARTS Looks like the holiday season was filled with plenty of cheer, based on these top-selling games. Imagine scoring GTA3, MGS2 and Jak and Daxter all in one afternoon. The real puzzle, then? Finding the time to play through them all! Last Title / Month Publisher Rating 1 2 Grand Theft Auto ПІ eeocc Rockstar If this didn't appear in your Christmas stocking, you better hope your sweetie is gracious enough to make it your Valentine's Day gift. GTA3 is the type of adventure that makes owning a PS2 one of the great things of this nascent century. Just when you think you're having a bad day, you can plop this gem in and steal a nice car, run over a few gangsters—or whatever it takes to blow off steam. Beyond the violence, though, it's a true masterpiece that continues to tickle our funny bone and inspire our gaming imagination. 2 1 Metal Gear Solid 2 оогоо Konami 3 3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 9 ወ 9 9 9 Activision 4 5 Madden NFL 2002 ©0004 EA Sports Football season's over, but we expect this game to make as much noise on the sales charts for the next few months as the St. Louis Rams’ offense. Both are equal in brilliance and execution. 5 — James Bond: Agent Under Firee e e e EA Games WWF SmackDown! JBI THQ 4 NBA Live 2002 EA Sports Gran Turismo 3: A-spec ወ9999 Sony CEA 8 Crash: Wrath of Cortex өө Universal Jak and Daxter Sony CEA Source: NPD TRSTS Video Games Service, mid-December 2001. Call them at 516.625.2481 for ques- tions about this list. No games for competing console systems [e.g., Xbox, GameCube] were includ- ед. Overall sales figures may vary. Game descriptions written by the ОРМ staff. ә © N © | መ Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine OPM's Most Wanted PS2 Games 1 | Spider-Man Activision 2 | Virtua Fighter 4 Sega 3 | Final Fantasy XI Square EA 4 | Soul Calibur 2 Namco 5 | Tekken 4 Namco 6 | Star Wars Racer Rev. LucasArts 7 | High Heat MLB 2003 300 8 | Kingdom Hearts Square EA 9 | Stuntman Atari 101 Medal of Honor: Frontline EA Games Japan's Top 10 PS2 and PS one Games 1 | мо52 (PS2) Konami 2 | Momotaro Train X (PS2) Hudson 3 | Gundam: Fed. vs. Z. (PS2) Bandai 4 | Dragon Quest IV (PS) Enix 5 | Crash Band. 4 (PS2) 6 7 8 9 Konami Soccer Winning 11 5 (PS2) Konami Jak and Daxter (PS2) Sony СЕ! Maximo (Р52) Capcom Seaman (PS2) Ascii 101 Pro Baseball 8 (PS2) Konami Top PS one Games with Chicks 007: Ag. Und. Fire (PS2) EA Games Pokémon Crystal (GBC) Nintendo 0| Super Mario Adv. (GBA) Nintendo ы 1 | Fear Effect series Eidos 2 Tomb Raider series ^ Eidos 3 | Final Fantasy series | Square 4 | Danger Girl THQ 5 V.P. Ubi Soft 6 | Pandemonium! 2 Midway 7 | Knockout Kings 2000 ҒА Sports 8 | Dead or Alive Tecmo 9 | Xena: Warrior Princess Ubi Soft 10! Ms. Pac-Man Maze Mad. Namco Top 10-Selling Games, All Systems 1 | Grand Theft Auto [| (PS2) Rockstar 2 | Super Smash Bros. (GC) Nintendo 3 | |4652 (PS2) Konami 4 | Tony Hawk 3 (PS2] Activision 5 | Madden 2002 (Р52) EA Sports 6 | Harry Potter (PS опе) ҒА Games 7 | Halo (Xbox) Microsoft 8 9; Desperate PS one owners are searching for the best new games, but the new games aren't the best ones anymore. What a shame, considering the system flew off the shelves this holiday season. But remember, there's no shame in revisiting the classics. Last Title / Month ^ Publisher 1 2 Harry Potter: Sorcerer's Stone eee EA Games We're fairly certain J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, is currently sitting in front of her television, Dual Shock in hand, toiling away at Sorcerer's Stone. Or rather, she's at her writ- ing desk tearing through yet another Potter novel. Or she's playing tether ball at her beachfront condo that was paid for with the cash earned off her ambitious little conjurer, considering more sorcery for a future book. Regardless, the game is selling like hotcakes, and like any good mum, we're sure she's aglow with pride. Rating 1 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Activision 3 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 ቁ ወ 9 9 9 Activision SpongeBob SquarePants өө THQ 5 Madden NFL 2002 EA Sports. Өл ы W PD 6 — = Rocket Power Team Rocket © THQ It seems ТНО'5 cornered the market with its lame brand of kid titles. From the Rocket Power bunch to SpongeBob SquarePants, these guys just can't seem to get the kiddie genre quite right. 7 6 Driver 2 өөөө Infogrames Monsters, Inc. Sony CEA Bob the Builder N/A 9 то Gran Turismo 2 Sony CEA Source: NPD TRSTS Video Games Service, mid-December 2001. Call them at 516.625.2481 for ques- tions about this list. No games for competing console systems le.g., Xbox, GameCube] were includ- ed, Overall sales figures may vary. Game descriptions written by the OPM staff. TM N Gokosynaesthesi a. acm O The Shooting Genre | Reinvented PlayStation. Mild Violence Sega is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Sega and Rez are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Corporation or its affiliates. € SEGA CORPORATION/UGA, 2001. www.sega.com "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved PlayStation. ЗУМ о HOS TILE TERRI TORY D 012/9799 ВУ ፻0:50050ሀ፪9 EY "PlayStation" and the Fà are registered trademarks of Sony Computer 77% Entertainment Inc. The be ok trademark of the Interactive Digital Software e Association. Angel Stud е Alpe piudice logo аге trademarks of,,Angel MOEI Studios. Rockstar Games andas Rockstar Games logo are trademarks of Take-Two i pine «Interactive Software, Inc. Copyright 2001 All hts. reserved. ч ኑ Buggy Image ©Јіт Sugar Photography/CORBIS, The ultimate off-road driving adventure returns to the PlayStation@2 computer entertainment system. Work for an elite band of smugglers delivering ontraband, escaping the Race anywhere across the world's most hostile territories Fully integrated plot increases ш the adrenaline and ups the stakes EE Deliver the * goods through mine fields, 4 avalanches і and enemy crossfire! Dutrun and outwit your enemies head-to- head in split screen multiplayer mode! | Gall пеш “ mission types Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 at : Hed INFOGRAMES Ш t tracks at over 170 miles per hour inside one of the most danger- “ous machines on the planet. This is one game that looks, feels and almost smells like the real thing. PlayStation. 22 ርር“ Your Dirt Т” | —ÁÀ ee o AS Атас [косам] Previewed Inside Alpine Racer 3 Army Men RTS Britney's Dance Beat Chris Edwards Inline Conflict Zone ..... ESPN MLS Extra Time 2002....91 ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 Fatal Frame. NFL Blitz 20-02. T Pirates: Legend of Black Kat..89 Prisoner of War.. Sled Storm Smash Coui Soul Calibur 2. Gran Turismo: Concept Test Drive 86 Herdy Gerdy ... .90 Triple Play 80 High Heat MLB 2003 85 Virtua Fighter 4 78 Hitman 2: Silent Assas: 86 V-Rally 3 89 Hot Shots Golf 3 79 Coming Soon PLAYSTATION 2 Barbarian Titus Fighting February SOCOM: US. Маму SEALs Sony CEA Action Caesars Palace Rockstar Casino Spider-Man Activision Action Commandos 2 Eidos Strategy | May Deus Ex: The Conspiracy Eidos FPS/RPG | Armada 2 Metro3D Action ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 Konami Sports Street Hoops Activision Sports Evil Twin Ubi Soft Action Test Drive Atari Racing Herdy Gerdy Eidos Action Future Releases Maximo: Ghosts to Glory Capcom Action Army Men RTS 300 Strategy MS Gundam: Zeonic Front Bandai Strategy | Blade 2 Activision Action No One Lives Forever Sierra FPS Defender Midway Action Pac-Man Fever Namco Party Downforce Titus Racing Pac-Man World 2 Namco Action Dragons Lair 3D Encore Action Pirates: Legend/Black Kat EA Games Action Ecco the Dolphin Sega Action Run Like Hell Interplay Action Fatal Frame Tecmo Adv. Star Trek: Shattered Universe Interplay Action Final Fantasy XI Square EA RPG Star Wars: Racer Revenge LucasArts Racing Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer Activision X-Sports Top Angler Xicat Fishing Kingdom Hearts Square EA RPG Trophy Bass Sierra Fishing Legion: Legend of Excalibur Midway Strategy VIP. Ubi Soft Action Looney Tunes: Space Race Infogrames Racing Virtua Fighter 4 Sega Fighting | Mike Tyson Hweight Boxing Codemasters Sports World Tour Soccer Sony CEA Sports Mortal Kombat Midway Fighting Woody Woodpecker DreamCatcherAction Onimusha: Warlords 2 Capcom Adv. Worms Blast. Ubi Soft Puzzle Prisoner of War Codemasters Adv. March RoboCop Titus FPS All-Star Baseball 2003 Acclaim | Sports Romance of 3 Kingdoms VII Koei Strategy Blood Omen 2 Eidos Adv. Savage Skies TBA Shooter Britney's Dance Beat THQ Rhythm Smash Court Tennis Namco Sports Conflict Zone Ubi Soft ^ Strategy | Soul Calibur 2 Namco Fighting EOE.: Eve of Extinction Eidos Action Space Channel 5 Sega Rhythm Freekstyle EABig XSports | Space Channel 5 Part 2 5603 Rhythm Hot Shots Golf 3 Sony CEA — Sports Star Ocean 3 Enix RPG Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius THQ Action Stuntman Atari Action King’s Field: Ancient City — Agetec RPG Simpsons Skateboarding ЕА Games X-Sports Knockout Kings 2002 EA Sports Sports Suikoden ПТ Konami RPG The Lost Crave Adv. Taz Wanted Infogrames Action Mad Maestro Eidos Rhythm Tekken 4 Namco Fighting Mat Hoffmans Pro BMX Activision X-Sports | Tenchu 3 Activision Adv. Medal of Honor: Frontline ЕА Games FPS The Terminator Infogrames Action MLB 2003 Sony CEA Sports The Thing Universal Adv. Monster Jam Ubi Soft Action TimeSplitters 2 Eidos FPS Mr. Mosquito Eidos Action Tiny Toons: ACME Invasions Conspiracy Action Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 ҒА Games Action UFC: Throwdown Crave Fighting Pryzm: The Dark Unicorn TDK RPG Wild Arms 3 Sony CEA RPG Rally Simulation Ubi Soft ^ Racing Rayman Arena Ubi Soft ^ Action PS ONE Sled Storm EABig XSports | February Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter LucasArts Shooter Largo Winch Ubi Soft Action Tiger Woods PGA Tour ዐረ EA Sports Sports Peter Pan: Neverland Sony CEA Action Transworld Surf Infogrames X-Sports | X-Bladez: Inline Skater Crave X-Sports Triple Play 2002 EA Sports Sports Future Releases The Weakest Link Activision Trivia Black & White TBA Adventure World of Outlaws Infogrames Racing Creatures Conspiracy Action WTA Tour Tennis Konami — Sports Delta Force: Urban Warfare NovaLogic FPS April Dragon Warrior IV Enix RPG Akira Psychoball МА Pinball | Hidden & Dangerous Take 2 Action Aliens: Colonial Marines ЕА батеѕ Action Hooters Road Trip Ubi Soft Racing Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine VIRTUA FIGHTER 4 Sega's big game is just about ready—are you? By the time you read this, lucky Japanese gamers will already have Sega's magnificent fighting game running on their PS2s. Yes, you read correctly: Virtua Fighter 4 is out in Japan. But thank- fully, its U.S. release is close—March to be exact. And in order to get you prepared for the mam- moth fighter, we've decided to give you a rundown of what to expect when the game hits. As most of you know by now, Sega's biggest fighting game franchise is heading to a Sony platform for the first time—which is a huge deal. But it's also a rebirth of sorts for the series, which sort of went astray five years ago with part 3 (it was likely geared a little bit too much to the fighting game purist, as it took ages to master). Creator Yu Suzuki has stated that Virtua Fighter 4 is more of an extension of part 2 than the most recent sequel, and that one of his main personal goals was to make the game better than Namco's Soul Calibur. When you take a look at the gameplay of Virtua Fighter 4, it's easy to see how these comments come into play—the game definitely does feel more like Virtua Fighter 2, but at the same time it's much faster. Combos are a bit easier to pull off, and gone is the evade button. Basically, it's everything fans loved about Virtua Fighter 2 and 3, but presented in a way that'll appeal to more gamers. It also looks really damn good. Sega's АМ2 division has worked wonders to create a Р52 offering that appears essentially exact to its $5,000 arcade equivalent. It's stunning how close the two versions appear, down to the hi-res graphics and 60-frames-per-second framerate. The home version of Virtua Fighter 4 also comes with a bevy of extras. For example, Kumite mode offers a variation on a survival mode, where you battle against enemies that bear the names of the game's creators and can pick up items that may alter the appearance of your char- acters. Or simply hone your skills in the several training and replay modes [even one that actual- ly suggests moves as you fight). Not enough info for you? Just tune in to next month's feature... “መመመ ፦ гаа GEL Ти AB was cade Control Though there's no word yet if the pad will ever make it to the U.S., lucky Japanese gamers are currently enjoying this special Virtua Fighter PS2 arcade stick from Hori. EE LI I М Vemm Unlike many other fighting game series, which change many of their characters for each sequel, the Virtua Fighter posse has remained essential- ly the same throughout. VF4 keeps this tradition alive with only a few newcomers. Here's the complete lineup: Lion Rafale, Kage-Maru, Akira Yuki, Jacky Bryant, Sarah Bryant, Lau Chan, Pai Chan, Wolf Hawkfield, Jeffrey McWild, Shun-Di, Aoi Umenokouji, Lei- Fei and Vanessa Lewis. NFL Blitz 20-02 For hardcore football fans, Sundays in February are a lonely lot. What to do with the time? You ve wasted autumn by watching foot- ball, and now winter has designs on scribbling frostbite on your exposed parts. The good part: With the season over, it's a prime time to invest in Midway's next-gen Blitz. One thing that intrigues us: The PS2 has more power than the original Blitz arcade machine—which means a graphical delicacy likely awaits. Hot Shots Golf 3 It's almost time for the newest installment in gaming's greatest golf series to hit stores, and we've recently learned a few tasty new tidbits about the game. Most intriguing are the new “Hot Shots Points,” rewarded for particularly exceptional shots in all areas of the course. These points can then be traded in for enhanced equipment or improved skills. Will this be the first golf RPG? Start putting together your foursome now—Sony releases this one in March. Triple Play 2002 Our reservations exceed our expectations this year for EA Sports’ Triple Play 2002. Last year we were sucked in by the dynamic cam- era and rich graphics until we realized the players were squatty and the baseball was more diluted than the Devil Rays pitching staff. This March, there's the promise of more glitz and glamour, including more mapped faces, play-by-play by the expertly chosen Bob Costas, and a new home run derby. If you like arcade baseball, stay tuned. ESPN NBA 2Night 2002 Last year we said Konami's b-ball laid the groundwork for a success- ful franchise. Now, we'd like to boast about our prescience by saying we told you so leven though you probably didn't care enough to argue otherwise). This March, expect fine gameplay and graphics, despite an unfortunate lack of special moves. One could easily argue that this tops МВА Live. But then МВА 2K2 is the game to beat. ESPN presen- tation helps, but not as much as Stuart Scott's classic quips. Booyah! Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine "ETE 61000 ARMY МЕМ RTS Г Get this—it's not bad at all Anyone left with a bad taste in their mouth from the many past Army Men games might just be pleasantly surprised by this upcoming installment. OPM's Sam Kennedy sure was. Now taking the franchise in the direction it should have from the start, 3DO finally is developing an Army Men real- time strategy [RTS] game. Well, the company actually hired Pandemic to do the honors—but it was a wise decision, as the studio previously handled Dark Reign 2, a hit RTS on PC. It's such a wonderful surprise to see how well the Army Men universe lends itself to the RTS style of gameplay—it's quite charming, actually. The vast array of Army Men charac- ters and vehicles naturally work well, but it's the little touches that really make the game cool. For example, plastic is the material used to build up bases and new infantry, so you must scour surroundings to look for anything to draw from. А squirt gun, an action figure—whatever happens to be lying around. Then there are the cool settings, such as a kitchen or even a train set [your missions take you through an entire house). You might just find yourself hooked when it's released this March. 598ጂከ6 remains of the downed soldiers below, now mere blobs of plastic? Pick them up to create - ነ ብፁ infantry. Terror win reveal itself frame vy frame. BASED ON A TRUE STORY. When Miku enters a haunted house in search of her missing brother, she has no idea the mystery she's about to unravel. Guided by her sixth sense and forced to face supernatural spirits, her only weapon is an antique camera. Coming Early Spring 2002 Visit www.esrb.org For more information, go to or call 1-800-771-3772 wwwfatalframegame.com PlaySt for more info. "E SPACE CHANNEL 5 Н м п Sega aims to have PS2 owners saying, "Ulala! When Space Channel 5 debuted on Dreamcast about a year and a half ago, Sega had high hopes for it. However, despite such a savvy star as Ulala and a huge marketing campaign that included featuring her as the MTV Movie Awards’ virtual hostess (the game wasn't so bad either], it simply failed to sell very well. But now that Space Channel 5 heads to PS2 this spring (along with a sequel soon after), Sega introduces Ulala and friends to a much larger audience—and, the com- pany hopes, finally has the chance to turn the game into the huge hit it deserves to be. Don't expect an enhanced version full of upgrades and bonuses, though—this is a straight-up port of the Dreamcast offering. As our favorite pink-haired news journalist from the 25th centu- ry, it's your job to fight off an alien invasion the only way you know how—dance, dance, dance. By perfectly mimicking the steps of the jig-happy lyet inherently evil) Morolians with timely button presses, you can free those they hold captive. As the game progresses, the liberated masses show their support by standing behind you and shaking their booties as well. Stick it out through all four stages and free the ultimate dancer—none other than Michael Jackson himself. Ж. Cun? "ወ Smash Court Tennis: Pro Tournament The upcoming deluge of PS2 tennis garnes continues when Namco throws its racket into the fray this spring. Volley it up in each of the four major tournaments (Wimbledon included) as one of eight top- ranked pros from around the world, like Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Anna Kournikova. You can also dust off your Multitap for four-person doubles matches. Unit lost. Unit lost. alles dile. Conflict Zone Although purely fictional, Ubi Soft's new PS2 real-time strategy game features a storyline not unlike those reported in the papers today. A secret global organization called GHOST is threatening world peace by creating a crisis, and the major world superpowers have come together to form the ICP (that's International Corps for Peace...not Insane Clown Posse]. Play on whichever side you choose and battle through 16 different missions. Look for it this summer. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine * "==. ТЕ VORLO'S OEADLIEST SPY JUST GOT OEADUER. Shooter of the st Person d THE OPERATIVE "E mae s now on the PlayStation?2 computer ent nent system, with | | 50 levels of hard-core gaming enture. You'll discover four new a taste of Cate Archer's . Arme th 30 unique ; around, 5] emy. Are you? Comic Mischief Mild Language Violence CONTENT RATED BY ESRB TERMINATOR Kick a little T-400 butt Set in the war-torn battlegrounds of the year 2029, this June release from Paradigm (Spy Hunter) and Infogrames uses The Terminator's story as a backdrop for all-out action gameplay. Placing you in control of hero Kyle Reese (and, for certain рог- tions, a female resistance operative named Catherine Luna, plus one other yet-to-be-revealed character], you must blast your way through hordes of Skynet-created enemies. The pace is compara- ble to Devil May Cry, although situations exist in which stealth comes into play, where wits prove more important than firepower. Helping civilians benefits you as they reciprocate with aid, and also remember to keep a close eye on your surroundings—you can use the environments to your advantage. Nothin' like crum- bling a pathway so that Terminators can't pass through! 84) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine SOUL CALIBUR 2 Namco gives itself a run for its own money Even though Soul Calibur 2 won't land on PS2 until well after Tekken 4 hits, we know you're still aching for some more shots of this promising fighter. Both sequels have "Huge Namco Hit for 2002" written all over them, but the OPM staff's attention points largely toward SC2. After all, with a much longer development cycle than the original—not to mention better hardware to run on—SC2 has all the mak- ings of another fighting game champ. And we simply can't wait for Namco to talk more about it. Unfortunately, for the time being Namco remains relatively quiet about the game, so new facts remain scant. We have heard, though, that SC2 greatly expands upon the original game's ability to unlock the third plane of movement. This time around, you can run around in 3D much more easily than in the original, and running itself proves increasingly integral to the fights. In fact, some of the game's new characters expand the need to move around quickly, and many feature a slew of new moves that differ a bit from those of the previous set of characters—this is said to help change the sequel's tempo and feel. There's still no word on when SC2 will ship, but fall seems possible. Keep those fingers crossed. HIGH HEAT MLB 2003 Console baseball's first grand slam For baseball fans who obsess over numbers like .400, 190, 56 and, now, 73, 300° High Heat is the only game that matters. It's a hardcore baseball fan's dream come true. It's perfect for the baseball fan who believes in hitting to the right side. Throwing an 0-2 slider in the dirt. The noncontraction of the Minnesota Twins. This is already PS2's best baseball game, and now it has free agents, home run derby, a player editor, a fantasy draft and create-a-player. Plus, there's a fun two-on-two showdown that plays a lot like stickball or some backyard game without baserunning. Tuning menus are the real prize this season, though, as you can now adjust everything, including pitch velocity. Don't like the baserunner's speed? Adjust it. Think the ball comes in too slowly? Tune it. You can now tailor the game to what you think baseball should be. Crisper, cleaner, richer graphics perfectly represent everything on screen, including batting stances and pitching motions that brilliantly replicate a real simulation feel. Sadly, the animations still seem limited, the scoreboard doesn't work yet, and the outfield flags seem to ignore the way the wind really blows. Hopefully, it'll all be in order when the ump yells, "Play ball!" in March. соза EC CHWH wis Is TEST DRIVE A 14-year drive approaches its newest destination Test Drive is one of the longest-running series in gaming. The first title came out over 14(!) years ago on PC, and this March, Infogrames brings the original franchise to the next generation. This new version, simply titled Test Drive, introduces real-world locations into the mix, along with the expected selection of top-of-the-line performance vehicles. Here's just a small sampling of the 20-plus vehicles with which you'll be able to race on the streets of San Francisco, London, Monaco and Tokyo: Aston Martin db7; Chevrolet Z06 Corvette and ‘69 Corvette; Dodge Charger, Viper and Viper Concept; Ford Mustang SVT Cobra В; Lotus Elise; Nissan Skyline; and Shelby Cobra. But don't expect these to be represented as realistically as in, say, Gran Turismo. This game, as with most of the Test Drive games, focuses on arcade entertainment over exacting simulation. It requires some hair-trigger driving on your part, as you dodge and weave to avoid the nasty pileups that have become one of the hallmarks of the series in recent years—so don't get dis- tracted by details like the recognizable landmarks or the sunsets glaring in your eyes. Prisoner of War With spring's Prisoner of War, Codemasters takes us back to World War Il, within the confines of four German POW camps. As a differ- ent Allied prisoner in each camp—one British, one French, one Dutch and one American—you have only one thing on your mind: escape. Use each character's individual strengths (athleticism, stealth, espionage, charm and linguistics) to achieve your goal and meet up with the others to lead a daring breakout at Colditz Castle. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin You: a genetically engineered hired gun. Them: high-ranking officials and people of influence throughout Sicily, Russia, Japan, Malaysia and India. Your job: Eliminate them. Oh, and don't get dead. Eidos’ sequel to the moderate PC hit will allow you to employ a wide variety of high-tech weapons as you attempt to make your hits with as little collateral damage as possible, using stealth—including disguises picked up from the locals—and skill. Your mission begins this spring. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine ESRB Rating System: www.esrb.com EARLY CHILDHOOD Lem CONTENT RATED BY CONTENT RATED BY ES CONTENT RATED BY ESRB 2 Gare › ZIFF DAVIS GAMING EARLY CHILDHOOD RATING: Deemed Suitable For Children 3 Or Older. Products Carrying This Label Have Absolutely No Material That Would Be Considered Inappropriate By Parents. EVERYONE RATING: The E Replaced The Previous K-A Rating Last Year. Suitable For Kids Ages 6 And Up, E-Rated Games May Contain Minimal Violence Or Crude Language. TEEN RATING: Contains Suggestive Themes, Mild Or Strong Language And Animated Violence. Some Parents May Want To Supervise Children Playing T-Rated Games. MATURE RATING: These Games Contain More Adult Themes, Such As Blood And Gore, Stronger Language And Sexual Themes. Deemed Not Suitable For Those Under 17. ADULTS ONLY RATING: The Extreme Of The Ratings, Suitable For Adults Only. Packs Sexual Themes And Extreme Violence. Console Manufacturers Have Yet To Allow An AO-Rated Game. COMPUTER WORLD STUNTMAN Live out those Hooper fantasies "You play the part of a stuntman for hire," Reflections studio head Martin Edmondson tells us about his new game, set to be released by Infogrames under the Atari brand this summer. "Your goal is to improve your status, earning recognition by per- forming successful stunts for movies. You start out on low-budget productions and progress through to high-drama, high-budget, high-profile Hollywood action movies. "Each stunt consists of a series of clearly defined objectives," he explains, "which can range from a simple 180-degree spin in front of a building, to avoiding oncoming traffic, to perfectly timed jumps, collisions and dramatic crashes... If the stunt is deemed to have been sufficiently successful, the player will progress to the next stunt. Successful completion allows the player access to new ‘toys’ to use within the Stunt Arena. When the player has completed a movie, the sequences which you have recorded are automatically edited into a theatrical trailer." If you think this sounds cool, and you agree with us that these screenshots look seriously sweet, we're sure you'll be even more excited when you realize that Reflections is the team responsible for the ambitious and much-loved Driver games on PS one. If they were anything to go by, we're assured some excellent handling dynamics to the numerous vehicles that Stuntman offers. TEKKEN 4 The new king of fighters? Set for release in Japan in March, Namcos latest entry in the Tekken series could well put an end to the "who's the king of the ring?" contest. Or could it? 2002 is going to be a big year for fight- ing games, and some would say that it's about time. With Virtua Fighter 4 hitting in March, followed by Tekken 4, Soul Calibur 2, Mortal Kombat and many others to follow, it looks like a lot of old favorites will be fighting for our attention. What does Tekken 4 have that the others don't? Aside from a long history of association with the PlayStation format, and a host of much-loved characters, it's also looking to shake things up with a very different style of gameplay. "In order for players to enjoy our game, we set a variety of sit- uations, such as very limited space [like a room] or a very wide environment [like an airport)," Tekken 4 director Masahiro Kimoto tells us. "Depending on the character you choose, a stage can give you an advantage or a disadvantage. For example, in a very limited space, you can utilize the walls for a combination attack. On the other hand, in a wide space, you would have to change your style by keeping a distance from the opponent, running about, or making combos in the air." Still no official word on a U.S. release date, but from the rumors we've heard, it should be sometime this fall. at ТОМ ы, (88) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat We've waited quite awhile for more on this EA Games February release, formerly known as Pirates of Skull Cove. But now that we've fooled around with it a bit, let's just say that it fails to shiver our tim- bers in its current state. Most of the action takes place with you con- trolling Katarina de Leon [a.k.a. Black Kat) through a run-of-the-mill third-person action game. Sea battles help bring something new to the mix, but Westwood certainly has some control refinement to do. V-Rally 3 If you're American, you probably show no interest whatsoever in rally racing. Cool as it may be, that's just a fact of life. Still, it seems the games industry wants to change that with so many great rally games on tap for the near future. Infogrames' V-Rally series has met mixed reactions in the past, but this third outing looks absolutely spectacu- lar. How it will compare to Colin McRae Rally 3.0 and Sony's own WRC remains to be seen. Now, repeat after us: "Rally racing is good." PS2 PREVIEWS- HERDY GERDY Your own personal animated adventure A quick look at the screens below and one thing rings obvious: You've never seen a game like Herdy Gerdy before. Cute characters combine with a great pastoral ambience [bunnies hop around, cows graze, moles dig into the ground, and more) and, most importantly, a unique graphical style to realize Core Design's vision of a 3D Disney-like cartoon. One that you can actually play. In some ways, the gameplay of Herdy Gerdy resembles that of any other 3D platformer—you know, lots of running, jumping and collecting things lin this case, bells). But the similarities end there for the most part. As our young hero, Gerdy, much of your success hinges upon your ability to, well, herd. (Get it? Gerdy is "herdy."] It all centers around a story in which Gerdy's father, the most talented herder in the land, is cast into a deep slumber by Sadorf, the Master Herder. Sadorf fears losing his title to Gerdy's father at this year's annual herding competition, and with Pops now out of the way, he has only one competitor to worry about: the untested young Gerdy himself. In its current state, Herdy Gerdy certainly catches your eye and holds your interest with its unique gameplay. Let's just hope the shoddy framerate can be fixed by the time Eidos releases it this March. 1 eana - — B HA раа. Britney's Dance Beat Think Britney Spears meets the Bust-A-Groove games and you'll have a pretty good idea of what THQ's Dance Beat is all about. The game requires you to perform button combos in time with Britney's tunes as you work your way to the ultimate prize: a dance on stage with the pop princess herself. Featuring all sorts of unlockables, ranging from live Britney videos to 3D interactive ones, Dance Beat should surely please fans of the pop superstar when it hits in March. Taz Wanted He's appeared as a tattoo on many a drunken fratboy's shoulder— and now he's even got a PS2 game all his own! Yep, we're talking about Looney Tunes' snarling marsupial, who spins his way onto a PS2 this May courtesy of Infogrames. You'll need to use all of Taz's signature moves to escape from the clutches of Yosemite Sam. And from what we've seen, the cel-shaded graphics do a great job of i isini $4999 2/15/02 capturing that clean, iconic look of the Looney Tunes cartoons. all data as of 1/8/01 90) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine SLED STORM Partly cloudy with a chance of SSX Well. This is a bit unexpected. Last time we saw Sled Storm, it looked like a higher-res, higher- framerate version of its PS one counterpart. But in the months since ЕЗ, this snowmobile racer apparently went back to the drawing board in a Big way. An EA Sports Big way. Whereas the original game featured realistic courses and handling, this overhaul has thrown all that out the window. Based on the three playable courses and two playable characters provid- ed in the preview demo we just received, Sled Storm is now far less sim and far more SSX. In fact, with the colorful, flashy course design and the outlandish characters, Sled Storm basically plays like SSX with a motor. Heck, some characters even appear across both games. Now, SSX and SSX Tricky are both great games. And we understand the idea of offering a uni- fied theme across these different games for the sake of maintaining brand focus and whatnot. But, well, we liked the first Sled Storm. A lot. And we can't help but feel disappointed in the direction this new incarnation appears to be taking. Of course, that's not to say it's unplayable or anything. In fact, even now it's a pretty entertaining game in its own right, drawing on the char- acter-rivalry system of Tricky and using the greater range and accessibility of the motorized sleds to capitalize on the exploration element that is such a treat in both SSX games. So while the seven tracks may not seem like such a mind-boggling number, the practically limitless vari- ety of paths should make for a good amount of replayability. And, as should be expected in a game derived from SSX, the graphics and framerate are exceptional, even at this early stage. Disappointed though we may be with the new direction of the game, we're really eager to see the other four tracks, to kick in the two-player competition, to explore all the nooks and crannies of the three tracks we have seen, and to check out the huge selection of new tricks. And you'll get a chance to do the same thing when the game hits stores in March. Battle Engine Aquila From U.K. developer Lost Toys comes this seriously cool-looking sci- fi first-person shooter. Taking place in a future where drastic climate changes have caused the world to be overrun with water, dry land has suddenly become a valuable commodity—and one worth fighting for. As a member of an army unit, your arsenal includes a team of mechs which must fend off invading forces. Infogrames is handling the publishing duties and plans to release the game late this year. መመ _ መ г ESPN MLS Extra Time 2002 EA Sports FIFA is about to get a serious challenge from the latest in the acronym-heavy Konami series. With a pedigree that includes the franchises Winning Eleven (big in Japan] and ISS (big in Europe and, for a while, here], it seems safe to assume that ESPN MLS (blah, blah, blah] has a very good chance of being the definitive U.S.-centric soccer sim when it's released in March. The recently released U.K. version, Pro Evolution Soccer, has certainly received rave reviews. this summer it aims to put the nearly dying inline fad into game form for all the hangers-on. You'll have the chance to play as one of eight pro inline skaters you've never heard of, bearing names for the nimbly tongued: Eito Ysutoko, Jaron Grob and Taig Khris. There are nine levels, a park editor, 10 different multiplayer games and a soundtrack that features Limp Bizkit, Black Sheep and Saliva. Digimon Battle Arena Not to be outdone by the success of the GameCube's Super Smash Bros. Melee, Bandai is rounding up its most popular Digimon charac- ters from all three seasons of the cartoon and setting them head-to- head in a test of strength, skill and cunning. Multilayered arenas pro- vide for a variety of combat settings, and a "Digivolved" version of each combatant allows for a temporary, across-the-board power-up. Two players can battle when the game is released in late February. (93) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Picture this Formerly known as Project 0, Tecmo's Fatal Frame сгеер our way this March, offering a photo-fetish twist on the survival-horror genre. As the lovely Miku, an amateur photographer with a spirited sixth sense, you'll explore the ancient haunted Himuro Mansion in search of your effeminate journalist brother, who is investigating the mysterious decapitation deaths of previous journalists to enter the mansion (is the developer hinting at something һеге?). Miku's psychic perception reveals a house full of horrifying ghosts that lead her to investigate the grisly murders committed within the mansion. Armed with just an antique camera and a flashlight, your only option is to annihilate the wraiths with flash photography. Fatal Frame's artistic film-noir visuals, complete with ghostly flashbacks and black- and-white sequences, create a continuous tension that makes Silent Hill feel like Disneyland. You'll spend your time creeping along hallways, "flashing" ghosts, solving puzzles, and seeking Kirie, the spirit leader, eventually discovering how to lift the curse from the haunted mansion. Fatal Frame mas- ters the sensation of fear and claustrophobia with tight angles, high-contrast lighting, and the offering of only a camera as a survival tool. It's a Kodak moment we guarantee you'll need the lights on for. GRAN TURISMO: CONCEPT Let's hope it comes here too Right now, giving you more screens from Polyphony's incredible-looking most recent project might seem like a cruel tease—no U.S. release is a guarantee. The game is out in Japan, though, and our Eastern car-loving friends are currently enjoying the delights of hurtling around in a variety of crazy- looking concept cars. Most exciting about GTC (if you believe the "Skyline is the supercar of the PlayStation generation” schtick] is the new GT-R concept, which packs the power of Nissan's super- brute into a smaller, cooler and almost Z-car-looking package. Try not to be disappointed by the han- dling, though; it may look cool, but it handles like a plank of wood. Also, salivate over race-spec cars previously unseen, and the tracks that have been altered from GT3. Gameplay slightly differs from the usual Arcade mode in GT—this time you have to "earn" the cars as you race, and there is a license- based system for unlocking cool stuff. Think of it as halfway between the Arcade and Sim modes of GT3. Alpine Racer 3 While the previous Alpine Racer games were only found in arcades, Namcos third installment is designed with the PS2 in mind also. Incorporating both snowboarding and skiing gameplay, it focuses more on tricks than the previous titles. A major boost in the visuals department is evident, partly due to graphics modeled directly after real satellite data. AR3 hits Japan in spring, but it may never come to the States due to the numerous such titles already on the market. ፳፪ 0 Bay Shore Midnight From Genki, the folks who handle the Tokyo Xtreme Racer games, comes this new highway battle racer that hits Japan in March. Based on a popular Japanese comic-book series, gameplay closely resem- bles the TXR series in that you again must deflate the egos of those you race against—except this time around, the character personali- ties come more into play. The game features an i.Link mode for mul- tiple-TV gaming, and also supports the GT Force controller. ACTION Best Lap 4:34.70 EVERYONE CONTENT RATED BY ESRB NOH CTI ысы; NOR e, balance, of,ultra-realisti PlayStation.2 ш The size of Lara Croft as an asset is directly proportional to the prodigious size of her own primary assets. The Tomb Raider series has sold over 25 million copies worldwide to date on five platforms since its debut on Sega’s Saturn in 1996. Lara's second outing remains the best-selling video game of all time in her native market, the U.K. And Sony itself accepts that in a worldwide sense, the definitive PlayStation game in its crucial early years was Tomb Raider. Which is why it was somewhat disconcerting that the words “We wanted to finish at Tomb Raider 11" greeted us as we tucked into tea and biscuits in the office of legendary Core Design Operations Director Adrian Smith. We're in the shadow of Pride Park, ground of U.K. soccer team Derby County, where a small office block plays home to Core Design, the developer responsible for introducing tingling sensations to millions of prepubescent nether regions. OPM is the first magazine in the world to be allowed within its hallowed walls to see Lara reborn—literally—on our favorite next-generation console. And Adrian is obviously feeling the need to get things off his chest. “We always knew TRII would be the most successful game—and it was. Tomb Raider 111 we changed significantly mechanically and | don’t think it was the best game we produced. Technically, we pushed it a long way but we probably changed too much in response to consumers. It was too hard and too confusing, we put our hands up, we know that. Four was difficult because it was definitely the last game as far as we were concerned.” There’s no doubt that after the success of the first two games, Core was under enormous pressure from publicly listed U.K. publisher Eidos to continue the fran- chise—and swell its shareholders coffers accordingly. But the pressures of time cul- minated in increasing dissatisfaction from both Core and the general public itself. by Tim Ponting If you had to pick the biggest video game franchise of the last decade, Tomb Raider would be a leading contender. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 97 E TOO MANY? ive games in five years is a logistical nightmare—and we'll never do it again," declares Adrian adamantly. But inevitably, with the arrival of new platforms, the pressure was on once more. If nothing else, Sony would dearly love its latest console to receive the magic caress of Lara Croft just as PlayStation did five years ago. "Put two and two together and you'll realize there was enormous pressure to do another game on the new con- Real locations in Paris were used to model many of the games’ environments to make them feel extra gritty. Lara Croft has come a long way since her conception in the fertile mind of original Core artist Toby Gard way back in 1995. Since her first public appearance at E3 in 1996, she has become one of the first video game characters to truly break out of the fetters of the video game business. Worldwide, Lara Croft rapidly became a pop-culture icon. In fact, it’s easy to forget how quickly it all happened. It was in June 1997 that she appeared as cover star on influential U.K. style magazine The Face. In the same year, she supported U2 оп the band’s Popmart tour, appearing on giant video screens around the world, and the comic book Witchblade featured a special Lara crossover. Shortly after the release of the second game in November 1997, Paramount lunged successfully for the Tomb Raider Tomb Raider 11 б) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine soles. But we didn’t actually want to move the storyline further; Lara to all intents and purposes was dead...and hey, guess what, now she isn’t! But when we started thinking about Tomb Raider: Next Generation at the end of The Last Revelation, we began to come up with some- thing very different.” The air of excitement at Core is palpable—and speak- ing as a journalist who met with somewhat listless teams working on the last two Tomb Raider games, the change movie rights and Lara’s future as a megastar was assured. Lara's character has developed physically through the series. When she was first conceived, she consisted of just 500 polygons. Tomb Raider II saw the arrival of the flowing pigtail, and, ahem, a more fully rounded figure. By the third outing in 1998, her repertoire of moves had been increased, but in the fourth game came fully skinned joints, a more detailed face and the most rounded chest of all. So where now? Interestingly, the team feels she’s reached her ideal “poly weight.” Jerr O'Carroll, one of the animation team, explains: “We've now gone from 500 to 5,000 polygons. We could easily make her out of 10,000 if we wanted to, but we don’t. We actually want a silly pointy nose—we want that feel.” Tomb Raider I11 Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is conspicuous. The opportunities the PS2 and the current generation PC platforms afford are being grabbed with both hands. But it's less the technology than a whole new story—and a side of Lara the gamer has never seen— which has inspired Adrian and his team. “We didn't want to come out just with ‘a better-looking Tomb Raider.’ By virtue of the fact it's got Lara in it, and it's going to have Tomb Raider in the name, it's always going to be ‘a better-looking Tomb Raider.’ But that's a big Adrian Smith continues: “The original game set its own distinctive style, which arguably the later games lost. So we went back to those basics, asking Mark Donald, Lara's animator, to take her clothes off and remodel her. We looked at her for a long time, naked—so to speak—without her shorts and green top because that image was so locked in our minds. The strange thing is that if you look at her backside in jeans, without her guns and her holsters on, the difference is amazing—you discover she’s actually got no bottom.” So that’s what Core management does оп a lazy after- noon. “It’s pretty scary that a bunch of blokes like us are deciding what Lara’s going to wear. We go through lots of women's mags. Don't we guys?" Tomb Raider: Chronicles problem with PS2: There have been too many 'good-look- ing sequels.' When we went from the old platforms to PlayStation, we went from 2D to 3D and the whole game mechanic changed. There's no new direction we can take now—gamers have all seen 3D games. We're very keen to make it different; but you have to be careful, because if we change it too much it could backfire horrendously." An older PS2 audience means Core has the chance to be more gruesomely creative, allowing themselves to give Lara a dangerous edge. This game is grittier and darker than its predecessors. And at last Core has taken a Lara- scale leap from temples and tombs to more open, free- roaming environments. Adrian explains how Lara has moved on. REINVENTING LARA "She's squeaky clean; in fact the background we invented for her was completely tongue in cheek—we never thought it would stick. But it did, and it has come back to haunt us. We can't change that—that's who Lara is, that's the character people relate to. Instead, we decided to put her in a position that was very alien to her and would change her behavior accordingly." After much soul searching, the team decided that Lara Should be framed for a crime she didn't apparently com- mit—although you're never quite sure of her innocence. As the game opens, Lara is in a very compromising situa- tion, and looking to an event in the future that has yet to come to pass. Before you know it, Lara is on the run— from the police—and her own fame. "Because she's famous and everyone knows her face," Adrian explains, "the whole world has become her enemy. It's great for us, because the police are after her and who- ever may or may not have framed her is after her; but she still isn't going to kill innocent people, so this gives us a new game mechanic instantly, avoiding being caught while finding out what's happening to her. She's in Paris, she hasn't got a gun; l've got to be stealthy, keep my head down, get to certain places, and talk to the right people." It's a testament to the passion the team feels for the character that all of them constantly slip into the first- person when talking about. At the climax of the Last Revelation, Lara has endured a near-death experience, so she all but hangs up her guns and slips into something more comfortable than a pair of holsters, blood cramping-tight shorts and—well, you know about that top. But a phone call from a well-known Tomb Raider char- acter (ГЦ leave you to figure it out) leads her to Paris to help hunt down a series of five paintings from the 14th century by an artist known simply as the “Obscure Painter.” From here, the story rapidly descends into the darker underbelly of Parisian lowlife. Lara, dressed in jeans and casual top, weaponless as the day she was born, gradually begins to piece together the events unfolding around her. "People may end up categorizing the beginning as being like Metal Gear, but it’s really more like a tradition- al Monkey-Island type adventure game; don't get caught, find out information, get to places, meet people, take one of a number of multiple routes to goals. We've never really done that in Tomb Raider. You'll be given clear direction, all the time you'll be pushed toward a certain key place." The second section of the game sees Lara breaking into the Louvre. Adrian explains: "She's not going to be able to do that in jeans and a T-shirt. She's got to get tooled up, so she gets involved with the Underworld. It's turned nasty: Her face is in the papers and she has to get on the wrong side of the law to get the gear she needs." Once inside, Tomb Raider fans need not fear that Core has abandoned the gameplay they loved. As she descends into the depths of the museum and caverns beneath it, dexterous leaps, switch flicking and mind-bending puz- zles form the core of the game, traditional Raider style. And it's here that Lara meets Curtis Trent. WHO WEARS THE PANTS? Oh yes...Tomb Raider now has a second playable charac- ter, a goatee-bearded, suave but hardened adventurer. Curtis too is on the trail of the five paintings, but for his own reasons. He is the last descendant of an ancient lin- eage, dedicated to the confinement of a monstrous 14th- century alchemist called Eckhardt, who escaped his cap- tors during the second World War and is somehow involved the spot of bother that has engulfed our Zeppelin-chested heroine. Curtis, who had previously walked away from his historical legacy, has now dedicated his life to the recapture of this ancient evil. Curtis is a more action-oriented character than Lara. He wields a throwing blade known internally as his "Frisbee," and has certain powers that can be brought into play. Core clearly has great things in store for the Character: The company has even started development of Unlike the previous five Tomb Raider games, the new game will have much more of an adventure-game feel and env ronments will be far more richly detailed than before. All ere planned in minute detail before the ed. The result has a lot in common with major locations. graphics were cre the new generation of “true” adventure games, rather than just the action- gameplay we're used to from Lara a game in which he stars, temporarily on hold until the current title is completed. The uniting of Lara and Curtis sees them leave Paris and descend on the Strahov Complex in Prague for the third and final section. Without wanting to give too much away, this is the most gruesome location Lara has visited in her illustrious career. Eckhardt's followers have been creating hideous mutant hybrids in an attempt to resur- rect an ancient race, the Nephilim, beings that according to legend are descendants of an unholy union between man and angel. "Prague is a lot more action-oriented, featuring joint Curtis/Lara gameplay, both together," says Adrian. "The Strahov is a big medical institute and there's really scary shit happening deep down in the cellars. Curtis' strengths come to the fore, more brawn than brains." 99 Judging by the concept art and mon- strous animations Core revealed to us, Tomb Raider inserts a large disembowel- ing hook into the horror genre. Bizarre baboon hybrids consume entrails from a dead body before scuttling into the venti- lation system; and a hideous—and enor- mous—beetle-like creature holds a woman in its belly, controlling its every movement. We've revealed just a fraction of the plot so as not to spoil the enjoyment of what is clearly set to be the most story- driven of the Tomb Raider outings. Indeed, you'll only uncover a fraction of the plot within the game itself. The team has clearly learned from past mistakes, as Adrian reveals. ANOTHER FIVE GAMES "The story behind Next Generation is probably the most complicated ever. And the consumer won't even understand it all after playing the game. What we said this. time around was, ‘Let’s assume from day one we've got to do a second, third and key information." Just as you can watch 20 key episodes in The X-Files to follow the plot, so only a fraction of the new Lara Croft universe will need to be revealed to the gamer for him or her to enjoy the new Tomb Raider series. "The other reason for creating an epic story was because we'd always hoped that a lot of this information would become available to the player throu other media. Maybe, and | say maybe because of infrastructure issues, you will be able to find out extra information about Curtis, or Eckhardt, or the Nephilim on one or more Web sites. There's been a lot of speculation that we were going to release Tomb Raider games episodically online. For us, it's episodic because we write it as episodes; but we never per- ceived that you would download the sec- ond game online, for a number of reasons. Number one, it just about fits onto a DVD, and number two, the infrastructure isn't there— certainly in the U.K. We thought additional background information was the best way to use online to enhance the "The story behind 'Next Generation' is probably the most complicated ever." fourth game.' Rather than write the first game only, we wrote the whole book; the games are like chapters. We have plots for five titles, all based around the themes introduced in this first game. We're going to open up lots of things.... We love the funny man with a suitcase in Half Life you could never get to. Likewise, we introduce lots of new characters along the way who may tell you stuff—and you never see them again. At some point in a later game, what you've been told may turn out to be Over the years, Lara has blessed more products around the world than you can imagine. You've seen the shelves at Wal- Mart laden with Lara merchandising, from figurines, collectible cards and clothing, to T-shirts, hiking boots, watch- es and thermos flasks. But you may not be quite so aware of the more unusual tie-ins that have seen the light of day—or nearly—around the world.... Lara and Lucozade The makers of the ሀ... leading energy drink decided Lara was the ideal vehicle for their product, with her daring-do attitude and amazing level of fitness. They filmed a series of highly rated TV ads in CGI starring our favorite heroine. In one, Lara is pursued by slavering dogs game experience and a more viable prospect with things as they stand. It’s almost like reading a book at the same time as playing the game.” As well as broadening the scope and exploring a darker side of Lara, Core has also taken a fresh look at how the player can influence Lara's char- acter development. This could have been as simple as letting him dress her (or perhaps undress һег?). But no, the team wanted to go further апа а fat, chainsaw-wielding “primitive.” Suddenly, you hear a voice shout cut, and the fat bloke whistles the dogs to heel, then starts talking in a less-than-mascu- line fashion as he sits down and shares a Lucozade with the prostrate Lara. OK, so you have to watch it.... Lara and Bimbo cakes One of the best-known brands of confectionery in Spain pant-wettingly flounders in the English-speaking world with the product name “Bimbo.” (They're rather tasty actually, a bit like Twinkies.] One of their biggest advertis- ing campaigns in the company’s history featured Lara. Bimbo cakes? Lara? Surely some mistake. than that. A complex ability system has been introduced, which in simple terms allows Lara to improve her skills the more they are called upon. “It might transpire that Lara can’t hang off a ledge for long because she hasn't got the strength. But if she keeps doing it, her strength improves, and she'll be able to do it for longer in the future. You might become faster at running and be able to get through a door before it closes and so Sola Wetsuits With Lara’s slinky harpooning costume came a marketing tie-up with Sola wet- suits. And in Australia, Bolle sunglasses couldn't get enough of Lara's pert nose. Lara socks and boxer shorts Leading “posh” U.K. retailer Marks and Spencer seemed convinced its rather upmarket audi- ence would fall over each other to buy Lara socks and boxer shorts. Let's face it, as an adolescent kid it’s the closest Lara would ever come to your private parts. LARA Lingerie One that didn’t quite make it past the starting blocks—apparently Elle McPherson's lingerie company was rather The darker, grittier look is something that will be evident throughout the new Tomb Raider series. Expect dirty-looking environments and even Silent Hill-style visual effects. on. You won't have to explore this aspect of the game, but if you don't, you'll only be able to play about 60 percent of what's there. The other 40 percent will be acces- sible after building up certain ability com- binations, so you'll be rewarded with more gamepla! Planning and testing how the different ability combinations change the path play- ers may take through the game in a free- roaming environment has proved a consid- keen to produce a line of Lara-branded underwear. Rumors that it instantly gave all women a double-D cup probably are untrue. Limited Edition Land Rover Defender Land Rover cea a limited-edition off-roader after the release of the movie...over 100 of them, in fact. It wasn't identical to the Land Rover in the movie, but it was pretty close. Blow Up Doll Another one that never made it past the initial approach—a leading manufacturer of, er, “educational blow-up latex figures” offered a vast sum to license Lara 85 8 model for their latest fully bendable mail- order item. Complete with...well, you can figure it out. Can't imagine why Eidos would want to turn this one down. The premier event in the world of -interactive entertainment. ENTERTAINING Its the most fun you can have and still be doing business! 5 © EDUCATIONAL "Boi the newest technology, trends and topics. See EXCLUSIVE haps nothing else like itin the world. 8 brings it all ok in one gue Register today at www.e3expo.com or call 877.216.6263 (register early for discounts) E? is a trade event. Absolutely no one under 18 will be admitted, including infants. erable challenge. In fact, technically, the sheer size of the Paris setting has given the team a massive headache. "Originally the game was going to consist of four loca- tions, but it was just too much. We underestimated the level of detail and the quantity of work. Our problem is that Lara can go anywhere: If she climbs a 10-story build- ing, she's got to see Paris disappearing into the dis- tance—it's all got to be real. We've had to build scenery objects that are a mile back that you never get more than 10 streets close to. But then we always knew that, when we said we decided to go this way. We wanted the begin- ning to be totally different, and it is! It would have been so simple for us to have started the game with Lara standing in front of a temple." GETTING TECHIE You get the impression that despite the benefits, there's some regret in hindsight at the enormity of the task. Core has had to develop and refine its world-building tools to be able to get a single team of artists and programmers working in tandem on the huge Parisian environment. The level is divided into zones within a massive reference file you are а total nothing, and it's into which each artist can drop his or her buildings. “If you tried to load the whole file at once, it would take around eight hours,” says Adrian ruefully. This is in part due to the fact that the team has been at pains to maxi- mize the number of polys in use no matter where Lara is. The vista from a rooftop overlooking Paris might use 200,000 polygons, but equally the interior of a pawnbro- ker's shop might also use 200,000. A great deal of effort has gone into making the loca- tions as realistic and atmospheric as possible. “We sent the team over to Paris to research the design. Within two days they got thrown out of the Louvre for taking pho- tographs because [security] thought they were planning a robbery, and [they] nearly got beaten up by a pimp, because they were taking pictures in a seedy area and he thought they were working for the police!” claims Adrian. As far as we know, there are no members of the Core team currently scraping Lara's buxom form on the walls of a Parisian cell. What we do know is that the locations look stunning, both in concept art and in-game render- ings. Players might find themselves crouched under the buttresses of the Louvre, clambering through a railway siding or inside a church converted into a nightclub. And in all cases, it's the lighting that makes Next Generation so compelling. Andy Watt, Tomb Raider's producer, loads a courtyard into the World Tool. In its raw textured form, it looks detailed but uninspiring. "You can see how bad it looks unlit! Now, let's add the light mapping, then the shadow mapping, and finally dynamic lights." Andy toggles switches and the scene comes to life. “The difference is dramatic. But as I'm sure you're aware, the problem with this is that we're drawing four textures. We also want a bit of interaction in there as well, so we're experimenting with putting moving masks on top of that. АЦ that technology exists now." On PC, Core's primary development platform, the game will utilize all the features of NVIDIA's GeForce 3 graphics cards. "Plus we have some of the cards that haven't been released yet," insists Adrian. The team is currently, painstakingly, testing and adding in the graphi- cal features on the PS2 version one by one to ensure the M pue ae а rr 727272 к. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine platform is capable of handling them. "Light mapping is very 'expensive,"" explains Andy. What will definitely be in there is extensive fogging effects and the use of graphic noise ("We love that Silent Hill thing!"], especially in the darker scenes. "It gives it that grainy feel," explains Adrian. They're also experimenting with dynamic lighting effects: We're shown a demo where Lara has a flashlight beam emanating from next to her, um, chest. "Look— it comes out of her bottom when she bends over," Adrian crows. CHARACTERS WITH CHARACTER Moving around the Core Design studios, we get sneak previews of several of the in-game characters under development. "We do a character sheet for most of these guys, the main people whom you'll meet," explains Jerr O'Carroll, one of the animation team. "It would have been so simple for us to have started the game with Lara standing in front of a temple.” He shows us a fabulous fat guy, whose gut bounces up and down convincingly as he moves. "Too many pies." The facial detail level is high, but within the constraints of the Tomb Raider look. Eckhardt himself is a particularly dark character. He sports a wooden cyber-arm laden with bolts and metal strips, with almost a “steampunk” feel. "People have said he looks a bit like Jack Nicholson," claims Adrian. It's all in the eyebrows.... The speech animation and lip-synching will be improved in the new game, too. The animator first creates a small number of key facial shapes—typically four, going s well as the real-world elements of Lara's nev before. The fashion this time. Check out the cool lighting in the image above. up to seven or eight if the character has lots of speech and multiple emotions. Core has written a revolutionary utility that calculates the basic lip-synching automatically when the animator drops the voice recording onto the character. It requires minor tweaking but saves a huge amount of time and effort. Lara is blessed with a number of new animations and moves and as a result there will be some new controller assignments, but the team has ensured that the basic sys- tem is exactly the same, so players won't need to learn new ways of doing old combinations. In fact, all the ani- mators have joypads sitting on their desks—they can check how the animation "feels" in response to the con- troller as they work. Curtis obviously has his own special moves, but shares the same controller assignments as Lara when he has similar moves. So what is Lara's latest epic going to be called? No one as of yet is quite sure, but Adrian Smith is adamant about one thing: "We created a game called Tomb Raider. It isn't ‘Lara Croft.’ In America, the research shows that the name Lara Croft is better recognized than Tomb Raider. And they always go on about how the movie has made that so. Of course the movie was going to promote Lara Croft more than Tomb Raider! Lara is Angelina, and that's their asset, it's tangible. In the U.K. people know the game Tomb Raider and Lara Croft as one. We've gone through Wirelmage/Steve Granitz hell over the name, and we're still going through hell, but the working title, ‘The Lost Dominion, it will not be! But don't worry, it will be ‘Tomb Raider: Something’... The team is clearly aiming for the top when it comes to the audio that will bring the new Tomb Raider game to predicament, the fantasy side of things plays just as important a role as ever orld she explores is full of crazy creatures, machines and environments, but life. Angelina Jolie’s management has been approached to see if she can be persuaded to provide the voice, though this seems extremely unlikely. On the wish list too is Sir Anthony Hopkins for the voice of Eckhardt—what would we give for this one to happen? Again, it’s unlikely, but within the realms of pos- sibility if Соге сап pull the right strings. On the scoring side, Paramount has lent its support in recruiting a top- notch film composer for the sound- Wirelmage/Jeff Vespa track. Adrian and the team are big fans of the epic quality lent to such games as Metal Gear or the Final Fantasy Series by their soundtracks, and it seems likely Next Generation will have resented in a much moodier а massive—and atmospheric— score. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 103 din ———— ሞ' GAMES REVIEWED PS2 Games Dragon Rage ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 Godai: Elemental Force .. Jonny Moseley Mad Trix The Legend of Alon D'ar Maximo: Ghosts to Glory .104 Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front PS one Games E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Interplanetary Mission ...110 Men In Black-The Series: Crashdown ...... ө 110 Sesame Street Sports ...110 ate games on a five-point scale. So, .5 is terrible, 2.5 is mediocre and 5 is superb. Get it? JOHN DAVISON The boss has been actively encouraging us to destroy joypads for our test this month, leading the pack by driving his car over one. JOE RYBICKI With the holidays behind us, Joe is looking forward to some free time in which to freakin’ finish MGS2 already! Geez. TODD ZUNIGA With High Heat 2003 on the horizon, Todd is aglow with base- ball enthusiasm. Or is he merely enthused because of Valentine’s Day? CHRIS BAKER When Chris’ friend Beau threw the garter at his wed- ding, the next thing C-Bake knew it was headed straight for him. So he ducked. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine GARY STEINMAN Gary spent the month frolicking with the cactuars in Sanubia Desert, ever hopeful that his virtual crush Rikku would wander by. SAM KENNEDY Lately Sam and his girlfriend have been facing off in nightly matches of The Next Tetris for PS one. He won't say who wins most of the time. у. be in when you're supposed to sit down and write an authoritative review. But I'll give it a try. From one perspective, Maximo is а really excellent, exceptional game. The graphics are beautiful, with lots of lighting and particle effects, great animation: and good character design—and the whole package runs at a flawless 60 frames per second. -Gameplay-wise, there are enough secrets, hidden areas, | power-ups, special attacks and collectibles to satisfy any old- school platform fan. That's not surprising, considering that, though not strictly a sequel, this game can be viewed as the spiritu- al successor to the beloved Ghosts ‘n Goblins. What is surprising is how well the 2D gameplay makes the transition to 3D and how faith- ful the new developers were to the legacy. It's not just the armor/ health system; it's not just the undead-bashing theme. The “feel” of the game just seems right, and I'm not sure that | can explain it much better than that. But all these things I've just mentioned are really only ingredients thrown into this new-school/old- % school stew. іш Viewed individually, E 1 they make it seem ከ. asthough the game couldn't possibly go wrong. But when you put all of these ingredients together, viewing the game as а whole, you find that the whole is somewhat less than the sum of its parts. I think my biggest problem with Maximo is monotony. You end up facing a veritable horde of undead, and you don't have to go too far into any level before you ‘start to get pretty tired of seeing the same damn enemies in the _ same damn environments and dispatching them all in the same damn way (а! least, that’s how it feels to me). Oh, you can get plen- ty of fancy power-ups and new types of attacks, as | said j - LA y. ~ before—projectile attacks, new combos, magic enhancements and so on—but you're likely to die before you get much chance to use them. Yeah, this game is hard. And that's no accident; you can tell that it was designed to be challenging. One example is how almost noth- ing comes for free in the game. It costs 100 gold "Koins" to save, for example, and you'll need to collect 50 fairy-like souls to earn a Death Coin, which allows you to continue after your lives are exhausted. (Well, at the start of the game, anyway—after your second or third continue the price goes up to two Death Coins, and then to three, then four. So, basically, if you're having a great deal of dif- ficulty with the game, Maximo responds by making it harder for you. It’s not really the smartest idea in game-design history, if you ask me.) And it's not just the merit- based continue and health sys- different from the potions, and it seems to make the whole sys- tem needlessly complex. Anyway, while all this may come as a delightful challenge for the hardcore, old-school platform devotee, I'm fairly cer- tain that newcomers or casual “In spite of the solid look and feel, it seems that there's something missing.” tems that are difficult. The game also throws a lot of blind jumps at you, an assortment of unex- pectedly crumbling platforms, a wide variety of one-hit deaths, and a selection of enemies that can best be described as “cheap.” I'm also not too pleased with the health system. There are two types of health: potions, which add to your current health bar, and armor pick-ups, which add an additional health bar, but don't fill it up. | often found myself with a sliver of health in my current bar, whereupon | would pick up one of the ridiculously rare sets of armor to add a health bar—and then lose the armor immediate- ly, after being struck by even the weakest enemy. The armor pick-ups, being as few and far between as they are, should have been designed to fill your health; as it is, they're scarcely players will get frustrated fair- ly quickly by indestructible ene- mies and frequent, speedy deaths. And that’s a problem. The frustration is mitigated somewhat by the sheer techni- cal competence of the game; it makes it easier to suffer repeated death when the game looks so great and controls just as well. But in spite of the solid look and feel, is seems that there’s something missing, something significant. It's com- petent, it’s technically proficient, but it just doesn’t seem that fun to me. When | took a break from playing, sat back and real- ly thought about it, | realized that I really couldn’t care less if I never played this game again. And that's just not right. Final Score ዌ e e 4 Joe Rybicki ጭ | ЕУ Memory Card: 335 KB Dragon Rage Dragon Rage Publisher 3DO Developer 3D0 Web Site www.3do.com I've been racking my brain trying to think of something about Dragon Rage that really stands out in a positive way. What | keep coming back to is that it would have looked great on the PS one. When that's the best thing you can say about a PS2 game, something's wrong. Of course, there isn't anything that really leaps out as completely horrible, either; the game seems utterly unremarkable in every possible way. The graphics are wholly bland; the environments lack distinguishing characteristics; the controls are adequate but not noticeably good; the story is, well, there...but little more can be said about it. | think you get the idea. In fact, only two things struck me as really memorable about this game, and neither is particularly good. First, the pixie who instructs you through the excruciatingly long training mission has a voice that sounds like every chain-smoking sorority girl | went to college with. (A midwestern American accent Seems somehow out of place in а fantasy game; call me crazy.) The other thing is the method by which you earn your "Rage Attacks": You eat cows, and devour their souls, which are then traded in for a power-up. Once more, in case you missed it: cow souls. Where in the name of all that is holy did that come from? Final Score 4 Joe Rybicki ға Players: 1 | Memory Card: 62 KB ы P x ESPN International Winter Sports ESPN International Winter Sports 2002 Publisher Konami Developer Konami CEO Web Site www.konami.com | don't care if the Olympics аге around the corner or six months away, this is a game you must play if you like competing, challenging yourself, or speed-skating circles around your best friends. This game is an absolute hoot, and tri- umphs in almost every way over its summer counterpart. Still, let me clearly state that this game is not for everyone. If you're a pick-up-and-play gamer, this one will cause you mild frus- tration before you even become competitive. Also, if you don't thrill at the idea of a bobsled speeding through a halfpipe, then maybe it's best you look elsewhere for your gaming adrenaline rush. | hated this game at first. But after a little practice | was taken by the crisp graphics, the spot-on ESPN presentation and the multi- tude of gameplay that should keep you enthralled while mastering the different events Why do | love this game? Because you can earn a bronze in any competition with practice. You can score a silver when you achieve a semblance of mastery. And you can score a gold when you're perfect. It's this type of pre- cision that gives the game a high level of replayability. You'll try to perfect an event over and over, and just like in the Olympics, the Slightest miscue can cost you .27 seconds, and any hope of a gold medal. But if you win the big prize, you know you've earned it. The biggest flaw of the game is the fact that you're never really watching the action on the screen during some events. Instead, you're keying on the tiniest corner, making sure you hit a button at the right time. As for the events, skiing is the only bummer. It's a bit difficult to control. But the curling, oh, my, the curling is the super- duper hot sauce of fun on this enchilada. You'll be addicted to this broomfest as soon as you fig- ure out the rules. It's worth working a couple hours of overtime for this doozy. The sheer madness of curling is worth $30, and the other events make it well worth a 50-spot. Final Score @ ቁ Todd Zuniga Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (o9) Godai: Elemental Force Publisher 3DO Developer 300 Web Site www.3do.com Question: What do you get when you cross Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with Eidos’ horrific PS one game Ninja: Shadows of Dark- ness? Answer: flying crap! OK, so maybe Godai: Elemental Force isn't that bad. But you know what? It sure isn't good. It starts off promisingly enough, with a high- quality rendered cinema that almost distracted me from the fact that the story didn't seem to make any kind of sense at all. Oh well, | figured, I'm sure it will all become clear in the course of the gameplay. But it didn't. What did become (painfully) clear is that free-roaming 3D fight- ing games really require some very careful camera design, or else your character, your enemies and your environments can become com- pletely—and | mean completely— obscured by walls, trees, bushes, flames or just about anything else if you're particularly unlucky. Which 1 was, apparently. And it also became clear that if you want to give your character Crouching Tiger-style flying ability, you have to be careful with the level design, or else it might be possible for the character to simply fly over the heads of his enemies and breeze through the majority of the levels. Especially if there is no real benefit to engaging in combat, no significant incentive to come back down to earth. Which there isn't. Oh, and then there was the rev- elation about dialogue: See, if you're going to have your character talk, it makes a good deal of sense (06) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Godai: Elemental Force to record more than two or three lines. Otherwise things have a ten- dency to get a wee bit repetitive. | could go on for days detailing this game's flaws: graphics, con- trol, sound and a multitude of bug- tastic bugs. What's interesting, though, is that these don't render the game completely unplayable. No, it's not at all good. And it sure as heck ain't gonna win any awards. But it does serve well enough as a mild, brainless diver- Sion—for a brief time. It works fine if you're looking to kill an evening with a game rental, but | can't imagine anyone being really satis- fied with this as a purchase. Final Score Ф4 Joe Rybicki Players: 1 Memory Саг Godai: Elemental Force Godai: Elemental Force PAC-MAN WORLD Pac in the saddle again Publisher Namco Developer Namco Web Site www.namco.com Ғы ісссіс gaming buffs like C have a special "place in their hearts for Pac-Man. So any time a new game emerges starring gam- ing's first iconic character, our interest is piqued. In the case of Pac-Man World 2, all fans of platform games should feel the. same way, too—even if they haven't the vaguest concept of the meaning of the phrase “Pac-Man Fever.” Like the PS one game before it, Pac-Man World 2 (now full 3D, not 2.5D like its predecessor) ranks among the finest titles of its genre on its system. A huge component to the game's charm lies with the hero himself. Though his vocab- ulary extends no further than repetitions of “wakka,” Pac- Man's constant grin—only ceased when a ghost or other servant of the game's antago- nist, Spooky, has the gall to injure him—always keeps you in a good mood, accentuating the lighthearted atmosphere of his adventure. And what a great adventure it is. While not entirely original throughout (expect worlds set around—say it with me—ice, fire, water and, to break things ሀዩ a bit, forest), the platforming . action captivates you for hours at a time. Cliché as the level concepts may be, the design of each leaves the majority of si lar titles in the dust. The wintry levels best exemplify this, utiliz- . ing the whole “ice is slippery” convention in brilliant, diversi- fied ways. An ice-skating endeavor, for example, speeds you through a frozen cavern at speeds besting the likes of Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair. It takes a full mastery of Pac- Man's variety of moves to suc- ceed [can't beat the Rev Roll)— I found the game's difficulty quite surprising. While you'll likely beat a few stages the first or second time through, don't be surprised if another handful take a good hour or two to mas- ter. Of course, much of that time depends on your commitment to collecting everything— fruits and Pac-dots abound, and you must collect them all to achieve 100 percent comple- tion. You've also got a number of Namco tokens to round up in order to unlock old | с-датеѕ and a museum that house well, not having collected enough tokens myself, | have no . maze romps featuring modern graphics. Thankfully, though, the original sound effects so identifiable with gaming remain intact, just as they do through- out the core play of the game. If only the camera were a lit- tle more helpful. On numerous occasions, a wall might choose to park itself behind Pac-Man and impede your view, and you have no choice but to take a (usually fatal) leap of faith. At times, it takes some serious work to get the camera where -~ you want it, as it quite often locks itself at the most inoppor- tune times. But don’t let that keep you away. There are dots to be gob- bled; there are ghosts t chomped. Enjoy Final Score @@ Chris Baker Players: 1 A Memory Сага: 80 KB Hints, codes, reviews, screen shots, release dates, movies, updated everyday. Don't hit start until you hit gamespot.com GAMESPOT Where gamers go to know. © 2001 CNET NETWORKS INC. © 1998 ARTDINK. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CHARACTER DESIGN ВУ © 1997 HAKUHODO INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ቺ ባክ Jonny Moseley Mad Trix Jonny Moseley Mad Trix Publisher 3DO Developer 3DO Web Site www.3do.com During the close of the intro movie, Mad Trix poses this question: What if it snowed in San Francisco? Well, | pose this question: What if this game wasn't an absolute waste of time? When I first learned this game was in the works, | was excited. | was eager to race down slopes with the cool polygonal wind blowing through my hair while | prepped to twist myself into a series of bodacious, back- wrenching tricks. Stun the onlook- ers who would ooh and ahh while admiring my every button press. But my excitement was in vain. Mad Trix redefines boring The issues are plentiful. And of them all, l'd have to say my favorite is this diamond of inattentiveness by the game-makers: You can't fall when grinding. Never ever. And your magnetic skis do more than just hug the rails while you're grinding along—they magically suck you toward rails if you're in the vicinity. It's ridiculous. In fact, if you're trying to hop over a rail, you can forget about it. The magnetic force field is way too strong. And the sloppiness is way too obvious. Just as magnificent as the ultra-magnetic skis is the fact that both the trick set and the scoring system are as exciting as a bed- time story. No matter what you do, all of your tricks will score about the same number of points. Forget risk/reward. This game features neither. Not to mention the fact that it's gruelingly slow. I've fallen down snowy hills at a faster rate (08) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 64:1 RH Jonny Moseley Mad Trix than these skiers trundle down a slope while on their skis. For a last-gasp breath of per- sonality, Trix tries to go the sexu- al-innuendo route, but it's laugh- ably desperate. The female skier is flexible in exotic ways. Big deal. Sounds like some needy gamers might find it amusing, but | cer- tainly don't. The best part of this game is the guy on the cover. And not even his Olympic credentials can save it from a catastrophic score. Bummer. Guess we'll have to wait even longer for a truly gnarly ski- ing game that's worth $50. Because this isn't it. Final Score 8 4 Todd Zuniga ж The Legend of Alon D'ar The Legend of Alon D'ar Publisher Ubi Soft Developer Stormfront Studios Web Site www.ubisoft.com Right from the moment you first boot up Alon D'ar it's fairly obvious that this is an attempt at a con- sole-style RPG from a developer with a background in PC game design. If the extremely generic- sounding fantasy storyline doesn't alert you to this, then the rather blasé character art surely will. But it's actually kind of neat in certain respects—this crossover seems to infuse the game with some con- cepts not normally seen in console RPGs. Unfortunately, there are so many inherent problems with Alon D'ar that any of these unique qual- ities are quickly overshadowed and it becomes abundantly clear that this was just a recipe for disaster. The Legend of Alon D’ar So many gameplay elements that us console gamers have enjoyed for years are inexcusably lacking, making the entire game just an exercise in frustration. The battles are a perfect exam- ple of this. The amount of charac- ter customization and the depth of your battle options is unheard of, and the fact that a second player can join in to control a party member is definitely welcome. The big problem though, is that the real-time battle system is such а mess that you'll get either incredibly bored or overwhelmed in no time. Weapons take time to charge up, leaving you open to repeat attacks from multiple ene- mies on the screen. l'm talking about constant attacks with no real form of defense. And healing during battle is basically useless, as you'll take hits even while chugging down your potions. And it doesn't help that the balance of power tends to skew sharply in the enemies’ favor. Unfortunately, things are just as bad outside of the battles. The massive landscapes you explore seem pretty cool at first, but bore- dom and frustration quickly set in as soon as you realize there's no map available—especially since your sight distance is so limited by the camera perspective. It's par- ticularly annoying when you're faced with such inane challenges as searching for acorns all around the countryside. | mean, seriously, does that sound like fun to you? Final Score Ф4 Sam Kennedy ж! Players: 1-2 5-2 Memory Card: 1052 KB Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front Publisher Bandai Developer Bandai Web Site www.bandaigames.com What a pleasant surprise Zeonic Front is! Having reviewed the clunky mess that was Mobile Suite Gundam: Journey to Jaburu just a few short months ago, I’m definitely allowed to say that. Zeonic Front is simply superior than that previous effort in just about every way imag- inable—and now Gundam fans final- ly have something to look forward to on their PS2s. But to anyone looking to pick this one up, be prepared to devote some serious time to the game because it's definitely not just a simple mech blast-a-thon. Similar to the Rainbow Six series, you're required to care- fully plan out the routes for your missions and worry about a whole squad of team members rather than just yourself, so it's definitely got plenty of strategy involved. | felt it was almost to a fault at times—try- ing to keep track of your Al-con- trolled counterparts isn't always an easy task. Thankfully, the controls aren't too bad [you know, for a mech game), and the graphics are actually quite pleasant (the Gundam units look incredibly cool. The story is pretty solid too, except for some really laughable translation errors that pop up from time to time (геѓег- ences to "New Yark" almost made me pee my pants]. It's still pretty much only for Gundam fans though. Final Score Sam Kennedy ж! Players: 1-2 a Memory Card: 553 KB REE) EREEREER [515] ር. መገር Issue 1 October 1997 Final Fantasy VII Strategy Demo Disc playables: Intelligent Qube, PaRappa the Rapper, Асе Combat 2, Fighting Force Issue 2 $10 November 1997 $10 Issue 9 Issue 1 August 1998 Vigilante 8 Strategy Demo Disc playables: Tekken 3, Turbo Prop Racing Issue 12 September 1998 $10 COLLECT THEM ALL Order ОРМ Back Issues or Demo Discs Today! To order, simply send your order form indicating which issues you would like to: Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Back Issues, Р.0. Box 3338, Oak Brook, IL 60522-3338 All requests must be paid for by check or money order ONLY, made payable to Ziff Davis Media (Please do not send cash.) The cost for each issue is as indicated on the order form PLUS shipping and han- dling. Shipping and handling charges for each magazine are as follows: $3 U.S, $3 Canadian and $5 foreign. All payments MUST be in U.S. funds. Prices and availability subject to change without notice. (Note: Issue 17/February 1999 is completely SOLD OUT.) Kill WWF War Zone, The Unholy War, SCARS. Issue 13 October 1998 $10 Issue 15 $10 Issue 18 March 1999 Syphon Filter Strategy Demo Disc playables: Syphon Filter, Bust a Groove, Shadow $10 Issue 21 June 1999 Gex 3 Strategy Demo Disc playables: Oddworld: ‘Abe's Exoddus, NFL Blitz, Bust-a- Move 4, R4: Ridge Racer Type 4, Elmo Letter Adventure Issue 22 50 July 1999 Street Fighter Alpha 3 Strategy Demo Disc playables: Ape Escape, MLB 2000, The Next Tetris, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Croc 2, Soul of the Samurai, Bloody Roar 2 Issue 23 August 1999 Ape Escape Strategy Demo Disc playables: $10 Final Fantasy VIII, 3 Xtreme, Tiny Tank, Jade Cocoon, Macross VEX 2, You Don't Know Jack, Centipede, Ultimate 8-Ball Issue 24 September 1999 $10 Issue 25 $10 October 1999 Final Fantasy VIII Strategy Demo Disc playables: Metal Gear Solid, WipeOut 3, Omega Boost, NFL Xtreme 2, Jet Moto 3, Toy Story 2, Pac-Man World Issue 26 November 1999 Dino Crisis Strategy Demo Disc playables: Grandia, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Killer Loop, 40 Winks, NFL Blitz, Crash Bandicoot: WARPED, Соо! Boarders 3 Issue 27 $10 December 1999 Crash Team Racing Strategy Demo Disc playables: GT 2, Madden NFL 2000, NFL GameDay 2000, NCAA Game Breaker 2000, Cool Boarders 4 Issue 28 $10 January 2000 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis Strategy Demo Disc playables: Dino Crisis, NHL FaceOff 2000, NBA Basketball 2000, Tarzan, Army Меп: Air Attack, WCW Mayhem $10 $10 Issue 29 February 2000 Medal of Honor Strategy Demo Disc playables: Tomba! 2, Tomb Raider The Last Revelation, SuperCross Circuit, MTV Sports Snowboarding Issue 30 March 2000 612 Strategy Demo Disc playables: Syphon Filter 2, Crash Team Racing, NCAA Final Four 2000, Spyro 2, Silent Bomber, Twisted Metal 4 $10 Issue 31 $10 April 2000 Saga Frontier 2 Strategy Demo Disc playables: Colony Wars: Red Sun, Spider-Man, Eagle. One: Harrier Attack, Hot Shots Golf 2, RollcageStage П, Gekido Issue 32 $10 May 2000 Syphon Filter 2 Strategy Demo Disc playables: MediEvil II, NCAA March Madness 2000, NASCAR Rumble, Speed Punks, Rugrats Studio Tour Issue 33 June 2000 Fear Effect Strategy Demo Disc playables: X-Men Mutant Academy, Threads of Fate, WWF SmackDown!, Gauntlet Legends, Grind Session $10 Os Issue 34- ol July 200 27 Топу Hawks Pro Skater Demo Disc playables: Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2, Legend of Dragoon, MLB 2001, Mr. Driller, Star Trek Invasion LIE: гои 39-510 00 Crash Bash Demo Disc playables: Madden NFL 2001, Star Wars Demolition, MTV Sports Pure Ride, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, Disney's The Emperor's New Groove п Issue 44-$10 Мау 2001 Мон: Frontline. Demo Disc playables: Cool Boarders 2001, MediEvil 2, Legend of Dragoon, Emperor's New Groove, Metal Gear Solid, Legacy of Kain, Ape Escape, Tekken 3, Syphon Filter 2 Г] Issue 49-$10 October 2001 Silent Hill 2 PS2 Demo Disc playables: Cool Boarders 2001, Ico, Klonoa 2: Lunateass Veil, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing, Portal Runner, Legacy of Kain: Soul. Reaver, Spy Hunter New Lar oO Issue 35-$10 August 2000 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Demo Disc playables: Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles, Tenchu 2, WOW: Magical Racing Tour, Destruction Derby Raw, Play with the Teletubbies Issue 40-510 Gran Turismo 3 Demo Disc playables: Driver 2, Spider-Man, The Grinch, 102 Dalmations, Army Men Air Attack 2 Issue 45-$10 June 2001 L1 Dark Cloud. Demo Disc playables: Grind Session, Hot Shots Golf, Dino Crisis, Klonoa Issue 50-$10 November 2001 Grand Theft Auto III Demo Disc playables: Spider-Man 2, X-Men: ‘Mutant Academy 2, Barbie Explorer, Crash Bandicoot: ‘WARPED, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Twisted Metal 2, ‘Syphon Filter 2, Tekken 3 Video previews: Dragon Warrior УП, Syphon Filter 3 et More ssue 36-$10 U: September 2000 Soul Reaver 2 Demo Disc playables: Grind Session, Rayman 2: The. Great Escape, Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, Tyco R/C Racing п Issue 41-510 = February 2001 Demo Disc playables: Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Star Wars Demolition, Crash Bash, Cool Boarders 2001, You Don't Know Jack, Mort the Chicken Г] Issue 46-$10 July 2001 Tomb Raider Demo Disc playables; Tomb Raider TI, ITI & Last Revelation, Alone in the. Dark, Gran Turismo 2, Dave Mirra: Maximum. Remix, Aladdin in Nasira's Revenge. m Issue 51-$10 December 2001 Metal Gear Solid 2 PS2 Demo Disc playables: NBA Street, Kinetica, Extermination, Gallop Racer 2001 Video previews: Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Ico, GameDay 2002, Kinetica L1 Issue T EN Octob Star Wars. Demo Disc playables: Bust-A-Groove 2, RC Revenge, Team Buddies, Sydney 2000, Muppet Monster Adventure, Sno- Cross Championship Racing Issue 42-910 Li 001 EA Sports Big Demo Disc playables: CTR: Crash Team Racing, Hot Shots Golf 2, Grind. Session, Disney's Tarzan. Г] Issue 47-$10 August 2001 PlayStation E Final Fantasy Demo Disc playables: Final Fantasy VITI Video previews: Final Fantasy VII, FFIX, FF Tactics, Klonoa 2, Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing and the Final Fantasy movie trailer Г] Issue 52-$10 January 2002 Jak and Daxter PS2 Demo Disc playables: Monsters, Inc, Sheep. Raider, Mary Kate and Ashley's Crash Course, Jumpstart Wild Safari Field Trip Video previews: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, NBA ShootOut 2002 For Your Money! [1 Issue 38-510 November 2000 PS2 Revealed Demo Disc playables: Crash Bash, Incredible Crisis, Jarrett & LaBonte Stock Car Racing, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, UFC, plus Metal Gear Solid 2 video! Issue 43-$10 [] April 2001 Twisted Metal: Black Demo Disc playables: Championship Surfer, Power Spike Volleyball, Tiger's Honey Hunt oO Issue 48-$10 September 2001 PlayStat 0 Ico Demo Disc playables: Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX Video previews: Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Okage: Shadow King, Escape from Monkey Island, Drakan 11, Legion: The Legend of Excalibur m Issue 53-$10 February 2002 Final Fantasy X PS2 Demo Disc playables: Okage: Shadow King, SSX Tricky, Final Fantasy X, TimeSplitters 2, Dynasty Warriors 3, Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Video previews: Batman: Vengeance, Splashdown, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Men in Black ET. the Extra-Terrestrial: Interplanetary Mission Publisher NewKidCo Developer Digital Eclipse Web Site www.newkidco.com Quick history lesson: The first E.T. game, released back in 1983 for the Atari 2600, was so very bad that it basically triggered the Great Console Crash. It was so odious, in fact, that Atari buried its massive land massively expensive) over- stock of E.T. cartridges in a New Mexico landfill. Now, this version of E.T. may not be quite that despicable, but it sure comes close. It's dreadfully ugly and unre- deemingly unfun. Avoid at all costs. Final Score € Gary Steinman Players: 1 Memory Card: 1 block Men in Black- The Series: Crashdown Publisher Infogrames Developer Runecraft Web Site www.us.infogrames.com The Men in Black cartoon that aired in the late ‘90s wasn't any- thing special. Still, if you had noth- ing else to do while it was on, you might have mildly enjoyed yourself for a half-hour. Appropriately, the game version (based on said car- toon, not the movie or comic book] offers a very similar experience. It won't wow you, but you could just find yourself having a good time. Crashdown might initially take you by surprise with its genre—not many games based on cartoons take the form of a first-person shooter. Despite the Teen rating, the action remains what most would consider kid-friendly, with (80) Official US. PlayStation Magazine ssm 5 ዓ Men in Black Sesame Street enemies bursting into globs of green when you, as Agent Jay or Kay depending on the mission, terminate them. However, | have to wonder how well a child could handle the somewhat complex controls. Of the five such settings available, only one resembled any- thing close to intuitive. But once you get the hang of it, a reasonably fun 26 levels await you, each simple yet surprisingly well-designed. Some good voice work from the show's cast chimes in along with some decent FMV cutscenes. There are less pleasant ways to protect the Earth from the scum of the universe. Final Score © ወ ቁ Chris Baker 'ጭ| Players: 1 ። Memory Card: 1 block Sesame Street Sports Publisher NewKidCo Developer Realtime Associates Web Site www.newkidco.com If you're in search of a perfect first game for your tyke gamer, this is a fine find. It's colorful, easy to navi- gate, and features the voices of the classic Sesame Street gang, par- ticularly the voice of host Big Bird. You can play as one of six lov- able characters, and although the tasks are the same for each level, the characters each have their own vehicle, ranging from a unicycle to a Big Wheel. The best part is that the game sort of plays itself for kids new to the PS one. Final Score eee Todd Zuniga መ EE Memory Card: N/A PS2 Review Archive Game 18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker 4x4 EVO Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies The Adventures of Cookie & Cream Airblade Aqua Aqua All-Star Baseball 2002 Arctic Thunder Armored Core 2 Armored Core 2: Another Age Army Men Air Attack Army Men: Green Rogue Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 ATV Offroad Fury Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Bass Strike Virtual Fishing Tournament Batman: Vengeance Bloody Roar 3 The Bouncer Burnout Capcom vs. SNK 2 CART Fury Casper: Spirit Dimensions City Crisis Cool Boarders 2001 Crash Bandicoot; The Wrath of Cortex Crazy Taxi Dark Angel: Vampire Apocalypse Dark Cloud Dark Summit Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore Devil May Cry Disney's Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers Draken: The Ancients’ Gates Driven Driving Emotion Type-S Dynasty Warriors 2 Dynasty Warriors 3 Ephemeral Fantasia Escape From Monkey Island Eternal Ring ESPN International Track & Field ESPN MLS ExtraTime ESPN NBA 2Night ESPN National Hockey Night ESPN Winter X Games Snowboarding ESPN Winter X Games Skateboarding 2002 ESPN X Games Skateboarding Evergrace Evil Twin Extermination Extreme G Ш А 2001 F1 Championship А Championship Season 2000 Fantavision FIFA 2001 Major. League Soccer FIFA 2002 Final Fantasy X Formula One 2001 Forever Kingdom Frequency Frogger: The Great Quest Fur Fighters: Viggo's Revenge Gadget Racers Gallop Racer Gauntlet: Dark Legacy Publisher Acclaim GOD Games Namco Agetec Namco 300 Acclaim Sony CEA Interplay THQ Ubi Soft Activision ‘Square EA Acclaim Capcom Midway ТОК Mediactive Take 2 Sony CEA Universal Acclaim Metro3D Sony CEA THQ Acclaim Tecmo Capcom Ubi Soft Sony CEA Bam Int. Square EA Koei Koei Konami LucasArts Agetec Konami Konami Konami Konami Konami Konami Konami Agetec Ubi Soft Deep Space Acclaim EA Sports Ubi Soft EA Sports Sony CEA EA Sports EA Sports Square EA Sony CEA Agetec Sony CEA Konami Acclaim Conspiracy Tecmo Midway Score Issue 52 44 Game names in green indicate a Greatest Hits title. Ratings іп red indicate a five-disc score. Game Publisher Score Issue jiants: Citizen Kabuto Interplay 51 Gitaroo-Man Koei 53 Gradius Ш and IV Konami 39 Gran Turismo 3: A-spec SCEA 46 Grand Theft Auto III Rockstar 52 Grandia II Ubi Soft 53 Guilty Gear X Majesco/Sammy 52 Gungriffon Blaze Working Designs 39 Half-Life Sierra 51 Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland Natsume 51 Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the DragonBone Staff 300 eo 46 High Heat MLB 2002 300 44 Ico Sony CEA 50 Jade Cocoon 2 Ubi Soft 53 Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy Sony CEA 99999 52 James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire EA Games 9999 52 Jeremy McGrath Supercross World Acclaim Kengo: Master of Bushido Crave Kessen EA Games Kessen II Koei Kinetica Sony CEA Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil EA Games Knockout Kings 2001 EA Sports Legends of Wrestling Acclaim Lego Racers 2 Lego Software Le Mans 24 Hours Infogrames Madden NFL 2001 EA Sports Madden NFL 2002 EA Sports Max Payne Rockstar MDK2 Armageddon Interplay Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Konami Midnight Club Rockstar Mobil Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo Bandai Moto GP Namco Moto GP2 Namco Monster Rancher 3 Tecmo Motor Mayhem. Infogrames MTV Music Generator 2 Codemasters The Mummy Returns Universal Int. MX 2002 featuring Ricky Carmichael THQ MX Rider Infogrames Namco Museum Namco NASCAR 2001 EA Sports NASCAR Heat Infogrames NASCAR Thunder 2002 EA Sports NBA 2К2 Sega Sports NBA Ноор? Midway NBA Live 2001 EA Sports NBA Live 2002 EA Sports NBA ShootOut 2001 Sony CEA NBA Street EA Від NCAA Final Four 2001 Sony CEA NCAA Final Four 2002 989 Sports NCAA Football 2002 EA Sports NCAA GameBreaker 2001 Sony CEA NCAA March Madness 2002 EA Sports NFL 282 Sega Sports NFL GameDay 2001 Sony CEA NFL GameDay 2002 989 Sports NFL Quarterback Club 2001 Acclaim NHL FaceOff 2001 989 Sports NHL 2001 EA Sports NHL 2002 EA Sports NHL Hitz 2002 Midway Okage: Shadow King Sony CEA Oni Rockstar Onimusha: Warlords Capcom Orphen: Scion of Sorcery Activision Paris-Dakar Rally Acclaim Portal Runner 300 PS2 Review Archive Game Publisher. Score Issue Project Eden Eidos 52 Q-Ball Billiards Master Take 2 40 Quake Ш Revolution EA Games 44 Rayman 2 Revolution Ubi Soft. RC Revenge Pro Acclaim Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2Midway Real Pool Infogrames Red Faction THQ Resident Evil - Code: Veronica X Capcom Rez Sega Ridge Racer V Namco Ring of Red Konami Rugby EA Sports Rumble Racing EA Games Rune: Viking Warlord Take Two Int. Shadow of Destiny Konami Shadow Hearts Midway Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder Activision Silent Hill 2 Konami Silent Scope Konami Silent Scope 2 Konami Silpheed: The Lost Planet Working Designse: The Simpsons Road Rage EA Games Sky Odyssey Activision Smuggler's Run Rockstar Smugglers Run 2: Hostile Territory. Majesco Soccer America: International Cup Hot-B. Soul Reaver 2 Activision Splashdown Infogrames Spy Hunter Paradigm SSX EA Sports BIG SSX Tricky EA Sports BIG Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Majesco Star Wars: Episode I —Super Bombad Racing LucasArts Star Wars: Starfighter LucasArts Street Fighter EX 3 Capcom Stretch Panic Conspiracy Summoner THQ Sunny Garcia Surfing Ubi Soft ‘Super Bust-A-Move Acclaim Supercar Street Challenge Activision Surfing H30 Rockstar ‘Swing Away Golf EA Games Tarzan Untamed Ubi Soft Tekken Tag Tournament Namco Test Drive Off-Road: Wide Open Infogrames Theme Park Roller Coaster Bullfrog Thunderstrike: Operation Phoenix Eidos Tiger Woods PGA Tour EA Sports Time Crisis 2 Namco. TimeSplitters Eidos Int. Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero Crave Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Activision Top Gear Dare Devil Kemco Top Gun: Combat Zones Titus Triple Play Baseball EA Sports Tsuganai: Atonement Atlus Twisted Metal: Black SCEA Unison Tecmo Unreal Tournament Infogrames Vampire Night Empire Victorious Boxers Empire War Jetz 300 Warriors of Might & Magic 300 Wave Rally Eidos Wild Wild Racing Interplay Winback Koei Wizardry: Tale of the Foresaken Land Atlus өөө 53 World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks 3D0 World Tour Soccer 2002 989 Sports. Came М 848 [66 WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It THQ X Squad EA Games Yanya Caballista: City Skater Koei Z.0.E: Zone of the Enders Konami PS one Review Archive 007 Racing EA Games eee 4l 3Xtreme 989 Studios ө 21 40 Winks GT Interactive eeee 28 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue Eidos ө 41 A Bug's Life Sony CEA — e 15 Ace Combat 2 Namco 1 Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere Namco 31 Action Bass Take Two. 37 Action Man: Operation Extreme Hasbro 41 АКИЙ the Heartless Crystal Dynamics 18 Aladdin іп Nasiras Revenge | Sony CEA ۰ 45 Alexi Lalas International Soccer Rockstar . 23 Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare Infogrames Alien Resurrection Fox Interactive e. Alundra Working Designse: Alundra 2 Activision Animaniacs Ten Pin Alley ASC Animorphs: Shattered Reality Infogrames Ape Escape Sony CEA Apocalypse Activision Arc the Lad Collection Working Designse: Arcade Party Pak Midway Arcade's Greatest Hits: Atari Collection 2 Midway eet T Arcade's Greatest Hits: Midway Collection 2 Midway 4 Armored Core Sony CEA 3 Armored Core: Master of Arena Agetec 31 Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. Acclaim 35 Army Men 3D 300 20 Army Men Air Attack 2 300 39 Army Men: Green Rogue 300 47 ‘Army Men:SargesHeroes | 300 32 Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 300 40 Army Men: World War 300 34 Army Men World War: Final Front 300 °‹ 45 Army Men World Мағ: Land, Sea, Air 300 °‹ 39 Arthur! Ready to Race The Learning 00.9 42 Assault. Midway Asteroids Activision Atari Anniversary Edition Redux Infogrames Atlantis: The Lost Empire SCEA ATV: Quad Power Racing Acclaim Auto Destruct Electronic Arts Azure Dreams Konami Backstreet Billiards Ascii Ball Breakers Take 2 Ballistic Infogrames Baseball 2000 Interplay Bass Landing Agetec Bass Rise Bandai Batman: Gotham City Racer Ubi Soft Games Batman & Robin Acclaim Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker Ubi Soft Battle Hunter Agetec Battletanx: Global Assault 300 Beast Wars Hasbro Int. Big Air Accolade Big ОГ Bass 2 Konami Billiards Agetec Bio FREAKS. Midway Black Bass with Blue Marlin — Hot-B Game names in г// 22/1 indicate a Greatest Hits title. Ratings in red indicate a five-disc score. Game Publisher Score Issue Blade Activision . 41 Blast Lacrosse Acclaim Sports e 48 Blast Radius Psygnosis е 19 Blaster Master: Blasting Again Sunsoft ° 38 Blasto sony CEA | e 8 Bloody Roar Sony CEA ө 6 Bloody Roar 2 Sony CEA | e 21 Blues Big Musical THQ . 46 Board Game: Top Shop. ‘Agetec/Al Games ወ 45 Bomberman Fantasy Race Atlus Bomberman Party Edition Vatical Bomberman World Atlus The Bombing Islands Kemco Boombots SouthPeak Bottom of the 9th '97 Konami Bowling Agetec Boxing Agetec Brave Fencer Musashi ‘Square EA Bravo Air Race THQ Breakout Hasbro Int. Breath of Fire IIT Capcom Breath of Fire IV Capcom Brigandine Atlus Broken Sword THQ Broken Sword II Crave Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling THQ Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling 2 THQ Bug Riders GT Interactive Bugs Bunny Lost In Time Infogrames Bugs Bunny & Taz: Time Busters Infogrames Builder's Block Jaleco Burstrick Wake Boarding Natsume Bushido Blade 2 Square EA Bust A Groove 989 Studios Bust A Groove 2 Enix Bust-A-Move 99 Acclaim Bust-A-Move 4 Natsume Buzz Lightyear of Star CommandActivision C: The Contra Adventure Konami Caesar's Palace II Interplay Caesar's Palace 2000 Interplay Card Games Agetec Cardinal SYN Sony CEA CART World Series Sony CEA Casper: Friends Around the World. Sound Source Castlevania Chronicles. Konami Castlevania: SotN Konami Castrol Honda Superbike Electronic Arts Centipede Hasbro Int. Championship Bass EA Sports Championship Motocross Featuring Ricky Carmichael THQ eee 25 Championship Motocross 2001 Featuring Ricky Carmichael THQ Championship Surfer Mattel Int. Chessmaster II Mindscape Chicken Run Eidos Chocobo Racing ‘Square EA Chocobo's Dungeon 2 Square EA Chrono Cross ‘Square EA Circuit Breakers Mindscape Civilization II Activision Clock Tower Ascii Clock Tower 11: The Struggle Within Agetec Colin McRae 2.0 Codemasters Colin McRae Rally Sony CEA Colony Wars Psygnosis Colony Wars: Red Sun Psygnosis Colony Wars: Vengeance Psygnosis Command & Conquer: Red Alert Virgin Contender ‘Sony CEA Contender 2 Bam! Cool Boarders 2 Sony CEA Cool Boarders 3 989 Studios Cool Boarders 4 989 Studios Game m Publisher — | Score Issue Cool Boarders 2001 Sony CEA . 39 Countdown Vampires Bandai .‹ 22 Covert Ops: Nuclear Dawn Activision Crash Bandicoot 2 Sony CEA Crash Bandicoot: WARPED Sony CEA Crash Bash SCEA/Universal Crime Killer Interplay Critical Depth GT Interactive Croc Fox Interactive Croc 2 Fox Interactive Crossroad Crisis Agetec Crusaders of Might & Magic 300 CTR: Crash Team асіну Sony CEA CyberTiger EA Sports Dance Dance Revolution Konami Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix Konami Danger Girl THQ Dark Omen Electronic Arts DarkStalkers Capcom Darkstone Take 2 Int. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX Acclaim Max Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX: Maximum Remix Dead in the Water Dead or Alive 8 Deathtrap Dungeon Eidos 9 Deception III: Dark Delusion Tecmo 31 Demolition Racer Infogrames 26 Destrega Koei 16 Destruction Derby Raw Midway 39 Devil Dice THQ B Diablo Electronic Arts 8 Die Hard Trilogy: Viva Las Vegas Fox Interactive 31 Bandai 48 Bandai 36 Digimon World 2 Bandai 46 Dino Crisis Capcom 25 Dino Crisis 2 Capcom 38 Disney's Dinosaur Ubi Soft 36 Donald Duck: Goin’ Quackers Ubi Soft 39 Downhill Mountain Bike Racing Activision 27 Dracula: The Resurrection DreamCatcher 48 Dragon Tales: Dragon Seek NewKidCo et 45 Dragon Valor Namco 38 Dragon Warrior VII Enix 51 DragonBall GT Bandai 4 Dragonseeds Jaleco 15 Driver GT Interactive. 24 Driver 2 Infogrames 40 Ducati World Championship Racing Acclaim Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes Infogrames Duke Nukem: Тине to Kill GT Interactive Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown СТ Interactive Dukes of Hazzard SouthPeak .‹ 29 Dukes of Hazzard II: Daisy Dukes it Out SouthPeak ۰ 41 Dune 2000 Electronic Arts e« 27 EA Sports Supercross EA Sports 41 Eagle One: Harrier Attack Infogrames 32 Echo Night Agetec 23 ECW Anarchy Rulz Acclaim 38 ECW Hardcore Revolution Acclaim °‹ 30 Ehrgeiz Square EA Einhander Sony CEA Elemental Gearbolt Working Designs Eliminator Psygnosis. The Emperor's New Groove SCEA ESPN MLS GameNight Konami Eternal Eyes Sunsoft Evil Dead: Hail to the King THQ Evil Zone Titus Expendable Infogrames F1 2000 EA Sports F1 Championship Season EA Sports F1 Racing Championship. Ubi Soft Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (aj) PS one Review Archive Game names in gre! indicate a Greatest Hits title. Ratings in red indicate a five-disc score. Game Publisher Score Issue Game Publisher Score Issue Game Publisher _ Score Issue Game Publisher Score Issue Family Feud Hasbro Int. өөө 39 Hogs of War Infogrames — eeee 38 Marvel Vs. Capcom EX Capcom ee« 30 NBAHoopz Midway Family Game Pack 300 Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Atlus ee« 53 Mary-Kate and Ashley: NBA In the Zone 98 Konami Fantastic Four Acclaim Hot Shots Golf Sony CEA ө 7 Magical Mystery Mall Acclaim 40 — NBA In the Zone 99 Konami Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition | SNK Hot Shots Golf 2 Sony СЕА eee« 30 Mary-Kate and Ashley: NDA In the Zone 2000 Konami Fear Effect. Eidos Hot Wheels Turbo Racing Electronic Arts @ 25 Winners Circle Acclaim NBA Live 98 EA Sports Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix Eidos Hydro Thunder Midway Mass Destruction ASC NBA Live 99 EA Sports Felony 179 Ascii THRA Drag Racing Bethesda Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX Activision NBA Live 2000 EA Sports FIFA 98 EA Sports In Cold Blood Dreamcatcher Maximum Force Midway NBA Live 2001 EA Sports FIFA 99 EA Sports Incredible Crisis Titus мок Playmates NBA Live 2002 EA Sports FIFA 2000 EA Sports Inspector Gadget: Medal Of Honor Electronic Arts NBA ShootOut 98 Sony CEA FIFA 2001 Major League Soccer EA Sports Gadget's Crazy Maze Ubi Soft Medal Of Honor Underground Electronic Arts NBA ShootOut 2000 989 Studios The Fifth Element Activision Intelligent Qube Sony CEA MediEvil Sony CEA NBA ShootOut 2001 989 Studios Fighter Maker Agetec Intellivision Classic Games | Activision MediEvil II Sony CEA NBA Showtime NBA on NBC Midway Fighting Force Eidos Int. Superstar Soccer 988 | Konami Mega Man Legends Capcom NBA Tonight ESPN Digita Fighting Force 2 Eidos Int. Track & Field 2000 Konami Mega Man Legends 2 Capcom NCAA Final Four 99 989 Studios Final Fantasy Anthology Square EA Invasion From Beyond GT Interactive Mega Man X4 Capcom NCAA Final Four 2000 989 Studios Final Fantasy Chronicles Sony CEA Iron Soldier 3 Vatical Mega Man X5 Capcom NCAA Final Four 2001 Sony CEA Final Fantasy Tactics Sony CEA Irritating Stick Jaleco Mega Man X6 Capcom NCAA Football 98 EA Sports Final Fantasy VII Sony CEA ISS Pro Evolution Konami Metal Gear Solid Konami NCAA Football 99 EA Sports Final Fantasy VIII Square EA Jackie Chan Stuntmaster | Midway Metal Gear Solid VR Missions Konami NCAA Football 2000 EA Sports Final Fantasy IX Square EA Jade Cocoon Crave Metal Slug X Agetec NCAA Football 2001 EA Sports Fisherman's Bait Konami Jarrett & LaBonte Micro Machines Midway NCAA GameBreaker 98 Sony CEA Fisherman's Bait 2: Big ОГ Bass Konami Stock Car Racing Codemasters Micro Maniacs Codemasters NCAA GameBreaker 99 989 Studios Flintstones Bedrock Bowling _ SouthPeak Jeopardy! Hasbro Int. Mike Tyson Boxing Codemasters NCAA GameBreaker 2000 989 Studios Ford Racing Empire Jeopardy! 2 Hasbro Int. The Misadventures NCAA GameBreaker 2001 Ѕопу CEA Formula 1°98 Psygnosis Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 Acclaim ellus beer Capcom . NCAA March Madness 98 ЕА Sports Formula 1'99 Psygnosis Jersey Devil Sony CEA Miss Spider's Tea Party Simon & Schuster NCAA March Madness 99 ЕА Sports кайп Acclaim Jet Moto 2 Sony CEA Mission: Impossible Infogrames NCAA March Madness 2000 ЕА Sports Fox Sports Golf 99 Fox Interactive Jet Moto 3 989 Studios Missile Command Hasbro Int. NCAA March Madness 2001 ЕА Sports Fox Sports Soccer 99 Fox Interactive Jimmy Johnson VR Football Interplay MK Mythologies Midway Nectaris: Military Madness Jaleco Freestyle Boardin’ 99 Capcom Jojo's Bizarre Adventure | — Capcom MIB 98 Sony CEA Need for Speed 11 Electronic Arts Freestyle Motocross: Juggernaut Jaleco MLB 99 Sony CEA Nod for Speed: High Stakes Electronic Arts McGrath vs. Pastrana Acclaim KA Grand Prix Jaleco MLB 2000 989 Studios Need for Speed: Frogger Hasbro Int. KA Revenge Jaleco MLB 2001 989 Studios Porsche Unleashed Electronic Arts Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge Hasbro Int. Kagero: Deception II Tecmo MLB 2002 Sony CEA Need for Speed: V-Rally Electronic Arts Front Mission 3 Square EA Kartia Atlus MLBPA Bottom of the 9th '99 Konami Need for Speed: V-Rally 2 Electronic Arts Future Cop LAPD. Electronic Arts Kensei Sacred Fist Konami Mobil 1: Rally Championship Electronic Arts Newman/Haas Racing Psygnosis G-Police Psygnosis Killer Loop Crave Monaco Grand Prix Ubi Soft The Next Tetris Hasbro Int. G-Police 2 Psygnosis King of Fighters "99 Agetec Monkey Hero. Take 2 NFL Blitz Midway G.Darius THQ KISS Pinball Take 2 Monkey Magic Sunsoft e — 29 мне Midway Galaga: Destination Earth Hasbro Int. Klonoa Namco Monopoly Hasbro Int. NFL Blitz 2001 Midway Galerians Crave Knockout Kings EA Sports Monster Rancher 2 Tecmo NFL GameDay 98 Sony CEA Gallop Racer Tecmo Knockout Kings EA Sports Monster Rancher Battle Card: NFL GameDay 99 989 Studios. B Gauntlet Legends Midway Knockout Kings 2000 EA Sports Episode II Tecmo NFL GameDay 2000 EA Sports 25 Gekido Interplay Konami Arcade Classics Konami Monster Rancher Hop-A-Bout Тесто NFL GameDay 2001 989 Sports 37 Gex: Deep Cover Gecko Eidos Koudelka Infogrames Monster Seed Sunsoft NFL GameDay 2002 989 Sports 49 Gex: Enter the Gecko Midway Kurt Warner's Arena Monsters, Inc. Sony CEA NFL Xtreme 989 Studios. n Ghost ከ the Shell THQ Sore spies Midway бөзіне Mort Re к jis ны NFL Xtreme 2 989 Studios. 24 The La ime: Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. Midway Send dan; Herrn Great Valley Racing Adv. TDK Mediactive eee 46 Mortal Kombat 1 Midway MAN eg ie The Road to El Dorado Revolution өө 42 The Land Before Time: Moto Racer Electronic Arts NHL 2000 EA Sports 26 bra Nri Sony CEA Return to the Great Valley Sound Source 39 Мою Racer 2 Electronic Arts 862001 EA Sports E Gran Turismo 2 Sony CEA Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver | Eklos Moto Racer World Tour Infogrames y The Legend of Dragoon Sony CEA +| NHL Blades of Steel 2000 | Konami 28 Grand Theft Auto Take 2 peret EU Motocross Mania те? е 49 НН Breakaway 98 БН 2 Grand Theft Auto 2 Rockstar ры ар Motorhead Fox Interactive NHL Championship 2000 Fox Interactive. 2 Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 Rockstar. z 7 т Mr. Domino Acclaim NHL Ғасе0 98 Sony CEA 2 Grand Tour Racing '9 visi Hos aide: қ Mr. Driller Namco i 9 98 Activision The Brickster's Revenge Lego Media NHL FaceOff 99 989 Studios и Grandia Sony CEA ое eye Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness — Namco NHL Faceoff 2000 989 Studios 26 Granstream Saga. ris ise Ken MTV Music Generator Codemasters NHL 650ሸ 2001 Sony CEA 38 The Grinch Simba's Mighty Adventure | Paradox МТУ Sports: Pure በ86 "a NHL Rock the Rink Electronic Arts 32 Grind Session The Little Mermaid II THQ MTV Sporte Toons Racing Infogrames 48 Grudge Warriors Lode Runner Natsume TJ. Lavin's Ultimate ВМХ ТНА Nightmare Creatures Acti 3 Guardian's Crusade Looney Tunes Racing Infogrames MTV Sports: Skateboarding Nightmare Creatures IT Konami 33 Gundam Battle Assault Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider Infogrames Testing Andy MacDonakd THA. Ninja: Shadow of Darkness Eidos 5 Gunfighter: The Lost World: The Mummy Konami Nuclear Strike Electronic Arts 3 The Legend of Jesse James Ubi Soft 52 Jurassic Park Electronic Arts ө 2 Muppet Monster Adventure Midway oT. Psygnosis 5 HardBall 99 Accolade әв 15 Lunar: Silver Star Mage Rave маша тагат Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus СТ Interactive 5 Harry Potter and the Story Complete N20 X Interactive ee ኑ Sorcerer’ Stone EA Games Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete Nagano Winter Olympics 98 Konami Rete ЛЕТ ames 1 Harvest Moon: Backto Nature. Natsume Madden NFL 98 NASCAR 98 EA Sports ር я НВО Boxing Acclaim Madden NFL 99 NASCAR 99 Electronic Arts Же ae Соя 2 Heart of Darkness Interplay Madden NFL 2000 NASCAR 2000 EA Sports ны Midway. 5 Hello Kitty's Cube Frenzy ^ — NewKidCo Madden NFL 2001 NASCAR 2001 EA Sports dun мак a Here's Adventures LucasArts Madden NFL 2002 NASCAR Heat. Hasbro Int. pede የ ገርል Я High Heat Baseball 2000 300 Martian Gothic: Unification Take 2 Int. NASCAR Rumble Electronic Arts 5:2 fus square EA iB High Heat Major Marvel SH vs. Street Fighter Capcom NASCAR Thunder 2002 EA Sports PI sauare EA E League Baseball 2002 300 Marvel Superheroes Capcom. NBA Fastbreak 98 Midway Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: Atlus ብ ወ3 Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine PS one Review Archive Game . Publisher Score Issue бате Publisher Score Issue Peter Jacobsen's Myths & Legends Red Storm Golden Tee Golf Infogrames 41 RPG Maker Agetec PGA Tour 98 EA Sports 3 Rugrats: Totally Angelica THQ Pipe Dreams 3D Empire Int. 9 - Rugrats in Paris: The Movie [10 Pitfall 3D Activision 9 Runabout 2 HotB Play With The Teletubbies Knowledge Ad. 36 Running Wild 989 Studios е м Pocket Fighter Capcom Ш — Rushdown p Point Blank Namco 6 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: Point Blank 2 Namco 20 A Twitch in Time! 45 Point Blank 3 Namco 44 баба Frontier 8 Polaris SnoCross Vatical 38 SaGa Frontier 2 29 Pong Hasbro Int. 27 Saiyuki: Journey West 47 Pool Hustler Activision 15 Saltwater Sportfishing 52 Populous: The Beginning Electronic Arts 21 Sammy Sosa Porsche Challenge Sony CEA High Heat Baseball 2001 300 Power Rangers Sammy Sosa Softball Slam 300 Lightspeed Rescue THQ Samurai Shodown: Power Shovel Acclaim Warrior's Rage SNK Power Soccer 2 Psygnosis Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase THQ Power Spike Scrabble Hasbro Int. Pro Beach Volleyball Infogrames Sentinel Returns Psygnosis The Powerpuff Girls: Shadow Madness Crave Chemical X-Traction BAM! Shadow Man Acclaim Poy Poy Konami Shadow Master Psygnosis Pro 18 World Tour Golf Psygnosis Shadow Tower Agetec Pro Pinball: Big Race USA Empire Int. Shanghai: True Valor Sunsoft Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey Empire Int. Sheep Empire Int. Pro Pinball: Timeshock! Take 2 Shipwreckers Psygnosis Psybadek Psygnosis Shooter: Space Shot Agetec/Al Punky Skunk Jaleco Shooter: Starfighter Sanvein — Agetec Putter Golf Agetec Silent Bomber Puzzle Star Sweep Agetec Silent Hill. Q*bert Hasbro Int. Silhouette Mirage Quake II Activision Sim Theme Park R-Type Delta Agetec The Simpsons Wrestling R-Types Ascii Skydiving Extreme R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 Namco Skullmonkeys Railroad Tycoon II Take 2 Sled Storm Rainbow Six Red Storm Small Soldiers Rally Cross 2 989 Studios Smurfs Rampage Midway Smurf Racer Rampage 2: Universal Tour Midway Sno-Cross Championship Racing Crave e 3 Rampage Through Time Midway Soul of the Samurai Konami . 2 Ray Tracers THQ South Park Acclaim °‹ 27 RayCrisis Spaz/W.D. South Park Rally Acclaim et 29 Rayman Brain Games Ubi Soft South Park: Chef's Luv Shack Acclaim . 28 Rayman 2: The Great Escape Ubi Soft Snowboarding Agetec 43 Razor Freestyle Scooter Crave Space Invaders Activision 27 RC de 60! Acclaim Spawn: The Eternal Sony CEA. 4 RC Revenge Acclaim Spec Ops Take 2 Int. . 34 RC Stunt Copter Titus Spec Ops: Covert Assault Take 2Int. ө 52 Re-Volt Acclaim Spec Ops: Ranger Elite Take2 Int. ө 46 Ready 2 Rumble Midway Speed Punks Sony CEA 32 Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2Midway Speed Racer Jaleco 8 Red Asphalt Interplay Speedball 2100 Empire 40 Reel Fishing Natsume Spider-Man Activision 3 Reel Fishing II Natsume Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro Activision 50 Resident Evil 2 Capcom Spin Jam Take 2 Int. et 38 Resident Evil 2 Dual Shock - Capcom SpongeBob SquarePants: Resident Evil 3 Nemesis Capcom SuperSponge Resident Evil: Director's Cut | Capcom Sports Car GT Resident Evil Survivor Capcom Spyro: Year of the Dragon Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure Atlus Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! Rising Zan Agetec Spyro the Dragon Risk Hasbro Int. Star Ocean: The 2nd Story Rival Schools Capcom Star Trek: Invasion Riven: The Sequel to Myst Acclaim Star Wars: Episode I— Road Rash 30 Electronic Arts Jedi Power Battles Road Rash: Jail Break Electronic Arts Slat Wars; Episode I Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots | Mattel Int. VATI oe poe Rocket Power Star Wars: Masters of Teräs KasiLucasArts Team Rocket Rescue. THQ .‹ 51 Star Wars Demolition Rogue Trip. GT Interactive. Steel Reign Roll Away Psygnosis Streak Rollcage Psygnosis Street Fighter Alpha 3 Rollcage Stage II Psygnosis Street Fighter Collection Romance of the 3 Kingdoms VI Көгі Street Fighter Collection 2 Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha Game names in green indicate a Greatest Hits title. Ratings in red indicate a five-disc score. Game Publisher Score Issue | Game Publisher Street Fighter EX2 Plus Capcom e 33 Turbo Prop Racing Sony CEA Street Sk8er Electronic Arts Twisted Metal LIT 989 Studios Street SkBer 2 Electronic Arts Twisted Metal 4 989 Studios Strider 2 Capcom Twisted Metal: Small Brawl Sony CEA Striker Pro 2000 Infogrames Tyco RC: Assault With a BatteryMattel Int. Strikers 1945 Agetec Ultimate 8-Ball THQ Suikoden II Konami Ultimate Fighting ChampionshipCrave Superbike 2000 EA Sports Um Jammer Lammy SuperCross 2000 EA Sports The Unholy War SuperCross Circuit 989 Studios Uprising X Surf Riders Ubi Soft Urban Chaos Sydney 2000 Eidos Vagrant Story Syphon Filter 989 Studios Valkyrie Profile Syphon Filter 2 989 Studios Vampire Hunter D Syphon Filter 3 Sony CEA Vanark Tai Fu Activision Vandal Hearts II TRAG. Sunsoft Vanguard Bandits Tactics Ogre Atlus Vanishing Point Tail Concerto Atlus Vegas Games 2000 Tales of Destiny Namco VIP. Tales of Destiny II Namco Vigilante 8 Activision Tarzan Sony CEA Vigilante 8: Second Offense Activision Team Buddies Midway Virtual Kasparov Titus Team LOSI RC Racing Fox Interactive VR Baseball 99 Interplay Tekken 3 Namco VR Sports Powerboat Racing Interplay Tenchu Activision Vs. THQ Tenchu 2: Birth of the Walt Disney's Jungle Book Stealth Assassins Activision Rhythm n' Groove. Tennis Agetec Walt Disney World Quest Tennis Arena Ubi Soft Magical Racing Tour Test Drive 4 Accolade War Jets Test Drive 5 Accolade WarGames: DefCon 1 Test Drive 6 Infogrames Warpath: Jurassic Park Test Drive Le Mans Infogrames Warriors of Might and Magic Test Drive: Off Road 3 Infogrames ‘Warzone 2100 Thousand Arms Atlus WCW Backstage Assault Thrasher: Skate & Destroy Rockstar WCW Mayhem Threads of Fate Square EA WOW Nitro Thunder Force V Working Designs WCW/nWo Thunder Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf EA Sports The Weakest Link Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 ҒА Sports Wheel of Fortune Tigger’s Honey Hunt NewKid Co Wheel of Fortune 2 Time Crisis: Project Titan Namco Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Tiny Tank Sony CEA Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Tiny Toon Adventures: 3rd Edition Plucky's Big Adventure Conspiracy .‹ 50 Wild9 Shiny/Interplay eee« 15 Tiny Toons: Wild Arms 2 Sony CEA eoo 33 The Great Beanstalk NewKidCo The Wild Thornberrys: TOCA 2 Activision Animal Adv. Mattel Int. Tom & Jerry in House Trap Eidos WipeOut 3 Psygnosis Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Woody Woodpecker Racing Konami Rogue Spear Red Storm World Cup 98 EA Sports Tomb Raider 11 Eidos World Destruction League: Tomb Raider HI Eidos Thunder Tanks 300 Tomb Raider: Chronicles. Eidos The World Is Not Enough Electronic Arts Tomb Raider: World's Scariest Police Chases Activision The Last Revelation Eidos Worms Armageddon Hasbro Int. Tomba! Sony CEA Wu-Tang Shaolin Style Activision Tomba! 2: | WWF Attitude Acclaim The Evil Swine Return Sony CEA WWE SmackDown! THQ Tomorrow Never Dies Electronic Arts WWF SmackDown! 2: Tonka Space Station. Hasbro Know Your Role THQ Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Activision WWF War Zone Acclaim Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Activision X Games Pro Boarder ESPN Digital Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 Activision X-Files Fox Interactive. Toonstein: Dare to Scare Vatical X-Men: Children of the Atom Acclaim Torneko: The Last Hope Enix X-Men: Mutant Academy Activision Toy Story 2 Activision X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 Activision Toy Story Racer Activision Xena: Warrior Princess Electronic Arts e 26 Transformers: Xenogears Square EA е м Beast Wars Transmetals Bam! Interactives 36 you Don't Know Jack! Berkeley Systems өөөө‹ 25 ከበ ጽድ You Don't Know Jack! Mock 2 Sierra On-Line ee 40 Treasures of the Deep Namco Trick'N Snowboarder Capcom Triple Play 99 EA Sports Triple Play 2000 EA Sports Triple Play 2001 EA Sports Triple Play Baseball EA Sports Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine B Grand Theft Auto III 5 24, 127 Мах Раупе 125, 127 Metal Gear Solid 2 116-117, 124, 127 SSX Tricky . 114-115 Топу Hawks Pro Skater 3 . . .118-119, 124, 127 WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It Want your name in OPM? Then find the best tricks and send them our way. Tips, cheats and everything in between will do. Also, if you're stuck, send us a question and we'll dig up an answer and put it in our new Tricks Forum. Send E-mail to: OPM@aziffdavis.com. Make the subject line of the E-mail read “Top Secrets." If it isn't titled "Top Secrets" we won't find it. Jak & Daxter This game is carefully designed not to be too terribly challenging. But there are a few Orbs, Scout Flies and Power Cells that can give even the most determined veteran player a headache. One of the most frustrating of these is the final Power Cell in the Volcanic Crater. Finding it is easy: Simply take the mine cart over to the Spider Cave and, once you're back on land, turn around and check out the rock hill in front of you. Trouble is, the Cell is encased in one of those boxes that can only be opened by an explosive attack—and there’s no Yellow Eco vent around. So here's what you'll need to do: As you come into the Spider Cave, you'll see a Dark Eco pool that is spanned by a couple bounce-able spider webs. Get across the pool and then head up, working your way to the platform with the Yellow Eco vent. But that's only half the battle. Charge yourself up with Eco and leap to the ground (make sure you have enough health to survive the fall). Then you'll need to get back to the lava cave very quickly—the best way to do this is through the use of the Long Jump: While moving, hold down L1 or R1 to roll, then quickly hit X. This will propel you across the ground. Once you've mastered moving quickly (don't be surprised if it takes three or four tries) and are back in front of the box, just leap into the air and hit Square; the Yellow Eco missile should auto- matically target the box. Good luck. (ad) Official US. PlayStation Maaazine FENCE SLIDE TO SNOW BLOWER Right out of the start gates head to the right. Just in front of the caution sign jump onto the fence. The railslide will take you all the way past the crowd stand to the first billboard at the bottom of the hill. Railslide the first billboard without boosting. Natural air will land you on the second billboard. Make sure that you're centered on the second billboard and railslide without boosting. If centered, you'll drop off onto the snow blower below it. The snow blower will cut the first four corners off the race and will save you some serious time. HUGE FENCE SLIDE After exiting the big tabletop section of the track, you'll enter a series of icy turns that wind beside a rock on your left. After the fourth turn, take your bad self to the left-hand side of the path and check your speed. As you go around the final turn, the rock wall on your left will give way to a fence. On the left side of the jump directly in front of you will be three cables coming out of the snow. Ride those cables up onto the fence. The fence will take you across the main path onto a snow blower and then back onto an upper section of the track with opportunities for more shortcuts. This shortcut is a real humdinger and will save you a load of time. ELYSIUM ALPS CLIFF TOP CROWD STANDS FENCE TO CROWD STAND TO BILLBOARD About one minute down the track you'll come around a corner and enter a big open section of track with two tabletop jumps. There are crowd stands to either side of these aforementioned jumps. As you come around the corner, stay to the left side of the path and go toward the blue shortcut sign, Behind the shortcut sign is a cable. The cable will take you up to the crowd stands, across three of them and then onto a billboard. Railslide the billboard and you'll be dropped back onto the main path. After exiting the start gates and going off the first jump, take yourself toward the red shortcut sign on the left. Go through the shortcut sign and ride onto the cable behind it. This cable will take you down to the crowd stand, across it and onto a billboard. Jump off the billboard and onto the upper cliff-top path. Ride along this path until the caution sign. This is the end of the path. Ride down the middle of the path and jump at the end. You will land on another shortcut. After finishing off the turn section through the first quarter of Elysium, you'll come down to the large tabletop section of the track. You'll notice that there’s fog shrouding the table- tops. As you carefully land after the last jump before the tabletops, steer to the right-hand side. Just before the first crowd stand there is a cable coming out of the snow. Ride up the cable. This cable leads to the big-time crowd stand. Boost along the first crowd stand. But make sure you don't boost along the cable leading to the billboard. Re-apply the boost from the end of the billboard until the end of the sec- ond crowd stand and it will save a lot of time. You'll end up dropping back down at the entrance to the tunnel. TREE TRUNK RAILSLIDES Immediately after exiting the tunnel, steer to the left-hand side. There will be a fallen tree lying in the snow. Angle your approach so that you can railslide the tree. Once on the tree, apply boost helter-skelter. Remember this: Do not jump at the end. Boosting off the tree will Carry you to two more; again boost once you're on the tree. There are five trees ina row that will eventually carry you to the short- cut over the frozen river. Official US. PlayStation Magazine Co መ b. | ОАО LC ACE E P 1:70 8 А В Е METAL GEAR SOLID 7 SONS OF The most basic method to prevent a body from being found is to drag it to an out-of-the-way spot where no one normally checks. Of course, if the guard you're drag- ging around is unconscious, he's going to eventually wake up and resume his patrol no matter what dark cor- ner you left him in. Wanna prevent that? Good. If you put an unconscious guard in a locker, for some reason, he will never wake up completely, Of course, if there are no lockers around, that option is eliminated. That leaves you with three basic courses of action. First, if you have a gun of some sort [such as the USP], you can just give the guard a hot-lead injection. As simple a plan as taking out the guard may seem, it also creates some new problems. For one thing, if there are any other guards within earshot when you fire off your gun, they're gonna come investigate (unless your gun has a suppressor). Even if no one hears your gun, if they ever discover the dead body anyway, they're going to go on the alert. The second option is to be merciful—don't kill the poor guy (this leads to a higher score anyway]. You could fn 24 LIBERTY always leave the guard knocked out, and occasionally check on him as long as you're in the area. If he's going to wake up soon (he's down to only one Z over his head], you can always plug him with the М9 again. Finally, in case it's not obvious, the simplest way to avoid a problem is to leave the area before the guard wakes up. As long as you're not around when he comes to, you'll be fine. Alerting a guard won't trigger an onslaught of guards who come out of the woodwork; instead, an alerted guard will usually try to knock you down, then he'll radio for assistance. If you manage to knock him out or kill him before he has a chance to use his radio, you'll be safe (you can even temporarily disable the radios of any guards in the area by setting off a Chaff Grenade]. Speaking of radios, there are certain guards (usually one per area) who occasionally radio in to report their situation. If for some reason this guard doesn't report in (like if you cause him to have an "accident"], his superiors are going to call up to ask what's wrong. When the guard doesn't answer, any guards in the area will investigate and more guards may be called in. If they find the guard unconscious, they'll wake him up; if they find him dead, they'll go on alert. Strangely, if they don't find the guard at all, they'll search around a bit, then give up. If you have to take out a reporting guard, make sure you have a good place to hide him. The game's main extras are unlocked by collecting dog tags from the guards you encounter. Nearly every guard has a set of dog tags you can take, but to get the tags them- selves, you must hold up and threat- en the guard. This means he's gotta be alive and conscious. Just sneak up on a guard and pull your gun on him. He'll sense that you're behind him and immediately throw his hands up. Next, keep your gun raised and hold the L1 button to move around in front of him. Then, just (16) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine point your gun at his head and he'll give up the tags. Certain guards won't relinquish their tags so easily. If a guard gives you a tough act, shoot him in the arm or leg with your gun (it's got to do real damage, so no M9] to show him you mean business, then just point the gun at his head as usual to get his dog tags. If you just can't seem to sneak up behind a guard while he's awake (or you need to get him away from other guards), you can still knock him out with the М9 first. When you need to wake him up [50 you can actually threaten him for the tags), you've got a couple ways to go about it. You can repeatedly pick up and drop the unconscious body to speed up the waking process. You can also drop off from a higher platform or ledge and land on the guard to help him come to. Once you get the Coolant Spray later on, you can spray the guard in the face with it to make him wake up lickety-split. For the record, the Coolant option amuses us most. сиз" TANKER EASY Navigationa mom 000 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008 009 ч | 010 olga GurfükovI oh Nicholas M Capone Donal L Gllliland Joe T Holdren Shaun P Wilson Jeff K Hul Mark W Bruce Yukho Wong Anders E Leiro Skraktus Merclo Gavin. 5 „Nash X button 0923. 1217 1228 0915 0513 1031 0806 0123 1122 0209 1206 | [0.08 | во штозэшошо@оо> OLGA Start this fight off by shooting the floodlight on the left side of the area (it'll be important later], then shoot both of the fasteners that are hold- ing the green tarp in place [the tarp flies off if you're successful). As far as fighting Olga goes, just hide behind the boxes, go into first-per- son mode, and shoot her with the M9. If you stay out of her view for too long, she will throw a grenade at your location. Just dodge the grenade and resume firing. [d THE AP SENSOR CODEC ADVICE If you find yourself without your radar [it's been FATMAN H Keep sensor A on so you can find i any of the bombs that Fatman sets. The best way to defeat him is to set down Claymores in various open spaces. If Fatman skates into one, he will be knocked down, giving you a chance to hit him in the head with your Socom ог М9. If you run out of Claymores, you can knock him down by punching him. After the battle, move Fatman's body out of the way to find the last bomb. This battle will seem very difficult the first time you attempt it; however, once you know the best method to use, it becomes less daunting. As soon as the battle begins, throw out a Chaff Grenade. Even if you only have a few, it's better to use them at the beginning (when you're under attack from three Metal Gears at once]. If Chaff is active, the Ray can't target you correctly. Just watch for a Ray to fire missiles, then move to any other part of the area to dodge. If no Chaff is active, you'll have to put more work into dodging. Listen for a beeping sound as the missiles approach—the faster the beeping, the closer the missiles are. Simply do a flip to dodge just before the missiles hit. The flip is also useful in dodging the machine gun attack that the Metal Gears sometimes use. (Note: Rations and Stinger ammo will randomly appear.) In order to actually hurt the Rays, you'll need to HARRIER Quickly pick up the Stinger and ammo from the ground, then look for the Harrier on your radar. Once you have a clear shot, let loose a rocket. Keep this up until the Harrier flies right overhead. Switch to the RGB6, aim straight up, and shoot the Harrier as many times as you can before it flies off again. If the Harrier shoots missiles at you, run to the lower level of the plat- form to dodge them. Stick with it and this fight will be pretty easy. use the Stinger. Start by targeting the knee of a Ray and firing. As soon as you fire off a rocket, aim the Stinger at the head of the same Metal Gear. The instant the first rocket hits the knee, fire a rocket at the head. If you fired in time, the rocket will hit the Ray in its open mouth, causing huge damage. Keep up this pattern of throwing Chaff, dodging VAMP First, use your Socom to shoot all of the lights on the sides of the room [this prevents Vamp's worst attack). To dodge Vamp's knives, just wait until he throws them, then crouch. You can then shoot him before he throws some more. To dodge his knife slash, either do a flip right as he attacks, or crouch until he's about to attack, then lie down to dodge. You can also shoot him when he's underwater (use the Stinger or RGB) to take him out even faster. missiles, and firing the Stinger at the knees, then the heads, of each Ray (keep alternating Rays]. Once a Metal Gear gets down to about one third energy, it will jump into the middle of the area and attack with a missile attack that's harder to dodge and not affected by Chaff. To dodge, remain as far from the Ray as possible, wait until the last moment before the missiles hit, then flip out of the way. Attack the Ray as usual to take it out for good. CAMERAS & CYPHERS This magazine contains pictures that disabled by Chaff, the guards are alerted, you chose not to use it in the options, еіс.), don’t for- get about the AP Sensor in your inventory. If you have the AP Sensor equipped, any nearby guards will cause your controller to vibrate (like a heart- beat). The faster and stronger the vibration, the closer a guard is. Keep in mind, though, that a guard who's close is not always dangerous and a guard who's far still might be able to see you. Make use of your ability to peek around corners to look for guards, but be sure you have a place to hide (if a guard spots your spying eyes]. the guards find, how shall we say "distracting." Leave the Book where a guard will see it, and he won't bother you for a while. a situation or a boss, there's typically some people on your Codec list who will offer you advice. You can also learn some extra tips on how to use your weapons and items from your comrades. If you can't figure out how to complete a mission, try giving someone a call. But if someone dies, we'll just fill you in and tell you that there are no tricks: They're dead. So don't waste your time trying to call. Whenever you're feeling challenged by Although cameras are stationary and Cyphers hover around in a route, similar to a guard, both are bad news. A standard ver- Sion camera or Cypher can alert guards to your presence, but the gun-equipped ver- sions cut out the middle man and shoot at you themselves. There are two ways of deal- ing with these things—shooting them (except with the М9) or using a Chaff Grenade (remember that a Chaff Grenade will also disable your radar, so you best not need radar after throwing опе). Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 3 АТОПҮ/НАШК:5* bam 540 Tail Whip ,ወ Human Dart Russian Boneless | The Jackass መ kareem Ghetto Bird a0 ДО Backflip Ко Reemo Slide EA Nosegrind to Pivot rune Double Kickflip Madonna E X Christ Air ወ Crail Slide ‚7,4 One Foot Blunt , tony 5-0 Overturn ቅፍ 1-2-3-4 ФФ - The 900 ታቅ) Double KickFlip Indy (19) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine РРО!ЅКАТЕР É, Бх The special moves іп Tony Hawk 3 аге the butter on humanity's huge slice of toast. Without them, the game is above-average. With them, it rivals any game on any system. Remember one thing: Some of the Triangle-based tricks are for the flat- land, not grinds. Otherwise, get on your bad board and special-move the night away. steve FS 560 29 - jamie -. : Crook BigSpin iod ғ a "ነ Crook A 'ፍ6 360 Hardflip E ЯС) Layback Sparks LA 20: | One Wheel eric Fandangle A^» Slamma Jamma >“. Р >40 N Pizza 4! i ውቃ = * bucky Mes Big Hitter 11 о Misty Flip BA) FS 540 Heelflip B AC) Kickflip Superman bA Hang Ten Nosegrind NA) [ Жацы 360 Hand I Flip L ጨር ea Stalefish Backflip Fingerflip Airwalk © rodney | E Underflip ay тшда 4ቁቕፍ _ Anti Casper ውሩ - ‘| Handstand Double Fli Lr chad Handstand 50-50 AA) BS Nose Comply ,4,0 Tailblock Slide "О Ghetto Blastin’ , andrew: : Dark Disaster +> ім Hardflip Late Flip а”. Noseslide Lipslide ቅቅ . Quad Heelflip ቴቅ - መ geoff 4 Rowley Darkslide б Casper Flip 360 Flip መ a The H Teeth » Sweeper Sproing AA) , elissa Coffin ዱሓ Primo т” Pigapin Flip to Tail >> ዘ Madonna ab Tokyo features the type of visual pyrotechnics that are Tokyo only matched by Times Square in New York City. DISCOVERING THE BIGGEST SECRET All right, everyone wants to get up and unlock the craziness of inner-Japan. Here's the deal: You'll have to grind the big oval sign n top of the middle building (the "Gateway Plaza" with the symbol in red). But getting there requires some real skill, and it's not a direct route. So get ready for a lot of hard work, and a bit of frustra tion. The arrow points to the spot you'll need to get to. First, get up speed, then go to the wall nearest the subway tracks (it's at the bot tom of the map we're showing you). Grind onto the subway tracks, jump, then grind onto the concrete barrier. Go to the right to end up in a really sweet half-pipe. Time is of the essence, so use that half- pipe to get momentum, and then go for the highest ledge opposite the train tracks. From there, it's a game of balance. If you stay bal- anced and do the necessary hops, you'll ride the half-circle and open up the secret spot. Plus, you'll get the hard-to-reach Stat Coin 602 K2 Finding the Hidden Decks scattered all over Tony Hawk-land isn't a gimme. Particularly when you're saddled with beating up on the Japan level. Here's how to find the Hidden Decks in the level that qualifies as the hardest of the hard. Go get 'em! For Steve Caballero, Eric Koston, Rodney Mullen, Geoff Rowley: easy stuff. Use the Boneless to get up. It'll lead you to the secret spot if you're lucky. For Kareem Campbell, Bucky Lasek, Chad Muska, Jamie Thomas: From the starting point turn around and go to the yellow rail. Then grind like а madman. For Tony Hawk, Rune Glifberg, Bam Margera, Andrew Reynolds, Elissa Steamer: This is tough. Go to the right side of the pools at the opposite end of the starting point, and use your momentum to grind the rails way above you. Then grind all the way around the area until you reach the area above that starting point. Tough stuff, but balance is king here. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (19) YUNA'S SECRET AEONS al What would a Final Fantasy be without over-the-top sum- || mon spells? FFX proudly carries on the tradition with Я Aeons, summoned beasts that fight like regular charac- ul ters once they're called from the heavens. Here's how to я track down all the extra hidden Aeons. 5 ANIMA Seymour's creepy Aeon can be yours, assuming you've successful- ly retrieved all of the Destruction Sphere treasures from the six Aeon shrines. (If you missed one, you can return to the shrines after beating Seymour Inside Sin.) Input the airship coordinates X16 Y57 to reach the Baaj Temple. Tidus, Wakka and Rikku jump into the lake and Tidus vows to settle the score with the aquatic · beast that bested him at the start of his journey. This fish сап | prove to be difficult for ап inexperienced party. Rikku’: grenades and gems will make it a much easier battle erally. Once it's out of the way, you'll dive into an ип! Yuna will pray here and receive Anima. EES Б! ДЕ Anima an enemy. at Overdrive: Oblivion—Anima’s spooky ovel Bottom Left Upper Left LLL о When you enter for the very first time, step on the green E blocks indicated here. When you return to claim the treasure, step on these squares in the entry room. X| Don't Step Here а Step Here (29 Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine ለ $ v 4P15146- MPs 309, Yevon Dome Cloister of Trials Although you don't actually gain an Aeon from this temple, you must still com- plete a rigorous test. The first room has eight spots on the floor. You must step on only the green blocks to pass (see diagram at left). A group of pedestals appears in the room. Four of them must be pushed to activate a puzzle in the next room. When you push one, you must enter the next room and step only on the floor tiles that correspond to the desired design. It's a real pain. Use this guide and the diagrams for a quick solution. A Besaid Sphere and a Kilika Sphere appear. Place the Besaid Sphere in the right-center pedestal in the first room. Stick the Kilika Sphere in the left-center pedestal. To obtain the Destruction Sphere treasure, return to this room after boarding the airship. The goal now is to light up only the white puzzle blocks. Step on only these blocks in both rooms. Take the Destruction Sphere that appears in the smaller room and place it in the right hole in the large room. Take the final treasure. YOJIMBO This secret summon isn't all that useful, and he charges a steep fee for his ser- vices. You'll find this elusive samurai lurking in a forgotten cave between the Calm Lands and Mt. Gagazet. Take the NE exit from the Calm Lands, but rather than walking across the second bridge, go under it. You'll find a mysterious cave packed with monsters. At the heart of the cave you'll encounter the tortured spirit of a fellow summoner. She'll sum- mon Yojimbo to fight you, but he's a total breeze to kill. Afterward, Yuna will enter the Fayth. However, unlike most Aeons, Yojimbo will not join the party for free. He demands payment of 300,000 gil. It's possible to argue his price down to 250,000 if you're strapped for cash. He has no overdrive, cannot cast spells, and will not allow you to control him. Yojimbo demands gil to attack. Hand over 1 gil and he'll attack with his dog, Daigoro, or do one of his sword strikes. If you give him a lot of gil, he'll break out Zanmato, a violent decapitation move. Exceed 9999: Equipping Auron’s Masamune allows Yojimbo to exceed 9999 damage. THE MAGUS SISTERS (CINDY, SANDY AND MINDY) Final Fantasy X's greatest summon features the triumphant return of Cindy, Sandy and Mindy, the Magus Sisters from Final Fantasy IV. Back in the day, these gals were nefarious bosses, but now they're fighting on the side of good. No other Aeon can match the raw power of these ladies. However, recruiting these chicks requires a lot of work. First, you must capture one specimen of each monster roaming the Calm Lands and Mount Gagazet. Return to the trainer in the Calm Lands to receive a small prize. (Investigate the strategy section concerning monster capturing for a detailed explanation.) Once all 21 of these critters are in the bag, head to the southeast corner of the Calm Lands on a chocobo. You'll see a yellow feather on a ledge. Investigate the feather and you'll jump to a hidden ledge. Disembark from the bird and walk to the Remiem Temple. Yuna must now face off against the Aeon trainer against every Aeon she possesses. You can heal between bouts, so it shouldn't be much trouble. Eventually, you'll win two items that will open the nearby door to the Fayth of the Magus Sisters. On the way out, you can chal- lenge the Aeon trainer one last time for a special item. She calls the Magus ምፒ Sisters, so using Anima is your best bet. Controlling the Sisters: You can't directly control the actions of the sis- ters. Each one has options such as “Help Each Other,” “Go, Go,” and “Do As You Will.” Choosing these general cate- gories affects what actions they will take. Fighting commands are generally the best choices, but healing and defen- sive strategies work well in longer boss encounters. If one of them does some- thing really great, choose “One More Time” during the next round to repeat it. Special Attacks: The girls will randomly perform these moves when issued the “Fight!” command. Cindy—Camisade—This hydro-powered body slam hits hard. Sandy—Razzia—Want to do 99999 dam- age? Try this. Mindy—Passado—Multiple stinging shots fly from her shapely behind. Overdrive: Delta Attack—lf the Overdrive meters of all three sisters are full, tell them to “Combine Your Powers" to dish out the Delta Attack. Like any good FF final summon, it's obscenely long, quite beautiful and totally deadly. AL BEHD LANGUAGE Final Fantasy X combines the fun of role-playing with the thrill of foreign- language class with the Al Behd Primer minigame. Rikku’s race of desert- dwelling people speaks a language called Al Behd. Tidus can’t understand a word of it at first, but by finding 26 books peppered throughout Spira, he can become fluent іп the exotic tongue. You'll be able to comprehend what all the Al Већа are talking about, plus you'll also be able to decipher some ancient writings. Primer І. On the deck of the Al Behd salvage ship that rescues Tidus S Primer ІІ. Besaid Village, Crusaders’ headquarters Primer Ill. Transport ship from ቁ Besaid to Kilika, power room < Primer ІМ. Kilika Bar 2 = Primer V. Transport ship from 3 Kilika to Luca, control room Mite Rut fp saka araid, arama: Primer VI. Luca Stadium, Underground floor B Primer VII. Luca Viewing Room, on the counter Primer XX. Al Behd city of Home, residential area Primer XXI. Al Behd city of Home, Primer VIII. Mi'ihen Road, a gift road area from Rin Primer XXII. Bevelle Temple, | Primer IX. Mi'ihen Road, New Monk's Road | Road North Primer XXIII. Calm Lands, Primer X. Mushroom Rock Road, Northwest area Cliff area Primer XXIV. Remiem Temple Primer XXV. Cave under the Mountain Primer XXVI. Omega Ruins Primer ХІ. Djose Road Primer ХІІ. Moonflow, North Shore Primer XIII. Guadosalam, in a room on the far left Primer XIV. Thunder Plains, a gift from Rin Primer XV. Macalania Forest, on the road to the lake 8 Primer XVI. Macalania Lake, in front of the inn Primer XVII. Sanubia Desert, cen- tral portion, left side Primer XVIII. Sanubia Desert, cen- tral portion, right side Primer XIX. Al Behd city of Home As you collect the primers, the letters of the Al Behd language that you know will appear as red text. If you gather all 26, Rin will give you a bunch of Reverse Keys, items that add Double AP toa weapon. You can also use transfer collected Primers from another save game via the Combine Spheres located at Inns. СЕ AIRSHIP COORDINATES Although you don’t actually get to drive the airship per se, you can tell it where to go by feeding it coordinates. Here's a list of all the secret locales. Search Input X-74 Y-36 = Omega Ruins GODHAND = Mushroom Rock Х-15 Y41 = Sanubia Sand Dune VICTORIOUS = Besaid Ruin 1 X-16 Y-57 = Yevon Temple MURASAME = Besaid Ruin 2 X-31 Y-73 = Besaid Rainbow Waterfall X-34 Y-58 = Mi'ihen Abovewater Ruins ЕЕ кон: Kt MN X-42 Y-57 - Battle Site Рат There are also three secret Al ees ا‎ ' ns Behd passwords that unlock КЕККЕ ТЕСЕ LIYA 222407 00 secret areas. Type these іп using all capital letters. Official US. PlayStation Magazine (121) TOP SECRETS ULTIMATE WEAPONS Every character in FFX has an Ultimate Weapon, a super-powered implement of destruction that makes thrashing monsters a breeze. To hunt for these legendary tools, you'll need the Celestial Mirror to open magically locked chests. The mirror is a prize for winning the Chocobo Race on the right side of Remiem Temple. However, when you receive the mirror, it is too weak to open chests. You must power it up by taking it to the Macalania Forest. Take your airship to the Highbridge and head south to the forest. Take your first left and you'll find some people talking. When you speak to the man оп the left, һе’ remember that he's late for an appointment and run off. Follow him south and you'll reach the Macalania Woods. He’s waiting there with his wife. Talk to him several times until he mentions his missing son. On the left side of the screen, you'll spy a shimmering, translucent pathway. Take that path and follow the branch to the left. You'll find the boy, who is happy to be reunited with his folks. You'll also find a giant glowing crystal. Hold the mirror up to the glowing mass to energize it. Each of the seven Ultimate Weapons requires two special items to unlock its potential: a crest and a sigil. You must return to the glowing crystal in Macalania Forest to use the crests and sigils on the weapons. TIDUS-CALADBOLG Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Avoid Counter, Magic Counter This snazzy sword is located at the northwest end of the Calm Lands, down a narrow little pathway. A person blocks the way until you successfully win all four chocobo contests in the Calm Lands. The chocobo trainer is located in the center of the area, near the save sphere. The first three trials are quite easy, but the fourth race is tricky. Grab balloons to lower your time! тə. What's with that crazy name? Well, it's the name of an ancient Celtic sword that ап Irish folk hero once wielded. It is said that the name “Excalibur” was derived from the name "Caladbolg." See, you actually learned something today! Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 958574ሮ 318 HP 7976 MP 784 HP 2244 MP 178 Tidus' Crest Return to the room in Yevon Dome in which you fought Yunalesca. The crest waits іп a treasure chest there. Tidus' Sigil Return to the fourth chocobo-train- ing race in the Calm Lands and achieve a perfect score. You must concentrate on dodging birds while getting 15 balloons to win the race with a time of 0:00. Keep trying at it, as the balloon layout changes each time. Eventually, the layout will be in your favor. The sigil is yours! Winning this race with the unbeliev- able time of 0:00 is not easy. Don't give up if you lose a few times, as the balloon patterns change ran- domly. Keep practicing and you'll eventually win out over that bird- brained trainer. WAKKA - WORLD CHAMPION Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Double AP, Avoid Counter Aeon Effect—Allows Ifrit to break the 9999 damage limit. This stylish ball is a gift from the Luca bartender once you've suc- cessfully won five Blitzball games. Wakka's Crest Find this in the Besaid Aurochs' lock- ег room at Luca Stadium. YUNA - NIRVANA Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Double AP, MP Cost 1 Aeon Effect—Allows Valefore to break 9999 damage limit The monster trainer will give you this after you capture one of every monster roaming the Calm Lands. Yuna's Crest Return to the Besaid Beach. You'll find Yuna's Crest in a chest there. Swim into the water and head up the coastline until you see it. AURON -MASAMUNE Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Pre-emptive Attack, Counter Aeon Effect—Allows Yojimbo to break 9999 damage limit Near the Cave Under the Valley [where you found Yojimbo} you'll find a Rusty Sword. Take this blade to the Mushroom Rock Road. On the left side of the road, you'll find a small nook with an elevator. Insert the Rusty Sword into the battle monument there to uncover the Masamune. Auron's Crest Look in a chest on the Old Mi'ihen Road. You'll need a chocobo to reach it. Wakka's Sigil Blitzball masters may win this as a random grand prize in Blitzball. You must first have all four of Wakka’s Overdrives. Capture monsters from Calm Lands and Mt. Gagazet to open the way. Yuna's Sigil You'll receive this after beating all eight of Bergimene’s Aeons at Remiem Temple. Auron's Sigil This one takes some work. You'll have to capture one specimen of each mon- ster in 10 of the different monster- training regions. The crotchety mon- ster trainer will reward you with the Sigil for your effort. ፡.. > 8 LULU - ONION KNIGHT Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Magic Booster, MP Cost 1 Aeon Effect—Allows Shiva to break the 9999 damage limit. Cuddly and aromatic, this lil’ onion first appeared in Final Fantasy III, опе of the Japanese Final Fantasy games that never came out in the U.S. To find this valuable vegetable, return to the Baaj Temple. [It's where you got the Anima Aeon.] You'll find a hidden chest near the RIKKU - GODHAND Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Double AP, Gillionaire Simply input the password "GOD- HAND" into the airship and grab it from the chest. Rikku's Crest Take this from a chest in the northwest corner of the Sanubia Desert (fourth section]. Rikku's Sigil Challenge the sneaky Cactuars of the Sanubia Desert to find this Sigil. Start at the Cactuar monument in front of the sand- storm. It will tell you the where- abouts of one of the 10 missing Cactuars. When you find each УЕ УА. Tidus не ВВ dao Lulu „ЗР 2280 MP BA2 wall in the lake. When the camera zooms in, you're close. Lulu's Crest Take another trip to the Farplane in Guadosalam to find this Crest. Lulu's Sigil Successfully getting this sigil is a horrific ordeal. Masochists should go to the Thunder Plains to begin the cruel quest. If you can dodge 200 consecutive bolts of lightning with the X button, you'll find the Sigil in the chest in front of the Inn. If you mess up once, it's all over. Dodging 200 bolts will take about 40 minutes. Dodging 200 consecutive bolts is a nightmare. Seriously, we don't sug- gest you attempt it unless you simply must have everything. Equip a weapon with the "No Encounters" ability before you attempt this feat. опе, it will play a quick game with you. You must capture it before the timer runs out, but if it sees you moving, you'll lose. It's not actually important to win these games, so don’t worry if you fail. Return the green orb to the monument to get a clue about the next Cactuar. The Cactuars appear in a random order, so here are their locations. Kimahri "P 2244 MP 178 Ў “Зита тан 7 KIMAHRI - SPIRIT LANCE Abilities—Break 9999 Damage, 3x Overdrive, Double AP, Avoid Counter Aeon Effect—Allows Ixion to break the 9999 damage limit. You'll spot glowing Cactuar monu- ments scattered throughout the Thunder Plains. Press the Square button to pray at three of them. Follow the ghostly Cactuar that appears to a wrecked thunder tower. Pray at the base of that tower to reveal a treasure chest. Kimahri's Crest Investigate a concealed chest in the area of Mt. Gagazet just beyond where you fought Seymour. It's behind a pillar on the left. Kimahri's Sigil Win the butterfly-catching mini- game in the Macalania Forest. You must touch all the blue butterflies within the allotted time limit. Touching a red butterfly incites a battle that wastes precious time. It's much tougher than it seems. @ Tomay—At the Bikanel Island oasis (1st desert area) @ Rovivea—Northwest area of the 2nd desert area Ө Chava—Hiding behind the Al Behd 20% off sign in the 4th area Ө Alek—Running around the ruins іп the West section of the 3rd area [5 Aloja—Running around the ruins in the West section of the 3rd area @ Vachella—Hidden behind the save sphere in the 2nd area Ө Robeya—in a treasure chest іп the Southwestern part of the 3rd area Ө 15гга— п ап antlion pit in the 4th area. (Leave the area, then return.) Q Elio—At the D] Bikanel Island oasis, but he warps onto your airship. @ Flaile—He appears back at the monument once get 9 Cactuars. Strategy Guides Need a little more help in getting through some of today’s hottest games? We're here to tell you if their guides are worth your cash. Final Fantasy X Wow. BradyGames really outdid itself with this expansive, all-inclusive official strategy guide. Not only is the walk-through nearly airtight while remaining relatively spoiler- free, but the guide also includes tons of extras and lots of tidbits that are just fun to read. In fact, you might find yourself flipping through the comprehensive Bestiary section even after you beat the game, just for kicks. The guide also makes a valiant attempt at demystifying the murky game of blitzball. But the crowning jewel has to be the foldout poster with the complete Sphere Grid on one side and a chart of all of Rikku’s possible Mix overdrives on the other side. Very cool indeed. This is the only guide you'll need. Final Score: @@@@@ Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty If there is a more com- plete guide about any game anywhere, I'd like to see it. MGS2’s guide is a home run. A triumph. A legendary exercise іп perfect strategy guides. It's deep, it's precise, and its only real failing is that it’s so specific that you might have a hard time finding exactly where you are in the game. But when we ran into trouble, this is where we turned. ІСІ give you а load of secret things that are easy to miss, dog tag locations, plus it’s freakin’ pretty. You'll love it. Final Score: өөө Legends of Wrestling If you're struggling through the slow motion of Legends of Wrestling, and you're in need of a strategy guide, reconsider plopping down the coin for Prima’s official guide. Because what you'll get here is a history les- son. Not that it’s a terribly bad thing. In fact, the history lesson is quite informative, espe- cially for those unfamiliar with the antics of Terry Funk and Koko B. Ware. Otherwise, for gameplay tips, this deserves a body slam. Troubled gamers, stay far away. Final Score: @@ Max Payne Not only are the screens ridiculously dark and the layout soporifically bland, this guide is also rife with text errors and questionable guidance. The big no-no here, though, is the fact that in spite of the guide being designat- ed for PS2 and Xbox, it makes reference to things like hitting the F5 button too quick- save (neither that feature nor that button can be found on the PS2) or pressing the right mouse button to launch into bullet time. Whoops. Final Score: @ Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 423 TOP SECRETS TRICKS FROM THE 10 BEST-SELLING PLAYSTATION 2 GAMES ® Grand Theft Auto ПТ These cheats work while playing the game. Don't mind your character doing a strange dance. All Weapons Cheat R2, R2, L1, R2, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up Lots Of Money Cheat R2, R2, L1, L1, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Rithg, Up Full Armor Cheat R2, R2, L1, L2, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up Full Health Cheat R2, R2, L1, R1, Left, Down, Right, Up, Left, Down, Right, Up Blow Up All Cars L2, R2, L1, R1, L2, R2, Triangle, Square, Circle, Triangle, L1 Extracurricular Automobiles Pick up any service vehicles and put them to use when you're not doing a mission, and you'll score some goodies. Police Bribes Steal a law-enforcement vehicle (Police Car, Enforcer, ЕВ! Car or Tank) and press R3. In this mode you must chase down criminals and kill them. Kill 20 criminals on each island and Ө METAL GEAR SOLID 2 If you haven't played MGS2, what are you waiting for? Get to it. Here are some tricks to keep you attentive. Animal Rights If you shot enough seagulls with any gun, they'll either crap on you or peck you. Headdresses 1. After you beat the game once, start a new game. Then, select Tanker for the level. Get as many dog tags as possible on any of the level difficulties. If you get 30 or more, you will get the Bandana. It gives you infinite ammo. 2. Collect all the dog tags and you'll receive the Blue Wig. It gives you infinite air while swimming. 3. After beating the game with 150 dog tags, you receive the Orange Wig which gives you infinite grip. Another mode? Beat the game once and the Extreme diffi- culty level will be unlocked. Riding on a conveyor with boxes Take a cardboard box to Strut E: Parcel Room. Get in the box, and jump onto the conveyor belt, in the top right-hand corner of the room. You will be transported to a different area, based on the box you used. Try them all, and see where you go. (124) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine you will be rewarded with three Police Bribes at your save point (1 for each set of 20 killed on each island). Hospital Run Find an Ambulance and press R3. Save 35 pedestrians and a health refill will appear outside any of your save points. Save 70 pedestrians and an adrena- line pill will appear outside any of your save points. Complete the Ambulance level 12 and Infinite Run will be granted. Fire Away While not doing a normal mission, get in a Fire Truck and press R3. There is a Fire Station on each island. Put out 20 fires on each island and a Flame- thrower will always appear at one of your three save points. © TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER 3 Bevy of unlockables To unlock these people/cheats/places, you'll need to beat the game with each skater. Each time you beat it, another will be unlocked. Go to town. . Darth Maul . Wolverine . Warehouse Level Officer Dick Private Carrera . Burnside Level Ollie, the Magic Bum . Kelly Slater 9. Roswell Level 10. Demoness 11. Snowboard Mode 12. Always Special Mode 13. Perfect Rail Balance Mode 14. Super Stats Mode омосро м FÜRCE GRAB 1.300 15. Giant Mode 16. Slowmo Mode 17. Perfect Manual Balance Mode 18. Tiny Mode 19. Moon Physics Mode 20. Expert Mode 21. First Person Mode Pre-created maulers Enter in the names of these characters [case sensitive] in the Name section while in Create-a-Skater. They will appear as a hidden character with some unique fea- ture. 062287 Braineaters Crashcart DDT Eastside Frogham Gorilla Grass Patch Mini Joel Pimpin Frank Rastapopolous Skillzilla (or by entering Gi Skillz) Stacey D Hidden combos Lots of times you'll be doing a bevy of kick- flips and you'll hear the Hidden Combo sound. Basically, if you do the same move twice in a row, and quickly, you'll do a hid- den combo. If you do back-to-back kick- flips, it'll be a double-kickflip. You can do triple kickflips, too. The same thing applies for impossibles and heelflips. @ MADDEN NFL 2002 Taking it to the NFL Cadence Counts When you get to the line of scrimmage, you want to snap the ball, right? Might as well get on with it; it's a video game, right? Well, not in the case of Madden. Basically, if you keep snapping the ball at the same time, you're going to get creamed. The defense is going to pick up on your snap count and bum-rush you every single time. Basically, patiently call out a few “hutt-hutts” by tapping Circle, then snap the ball at different times, using the play clock as a marker. It'll save you frustration, and it'll save your quarterback from get- ting severe headaches. Pointing Fingers When you're on offense, rushing up to the line of scrimmage and snapping the ball is the easiest way to go four-and-out. Patience is the key. And there's a trick to get great blocking, too. After calling your play (the sooner, the better], you'll go to the line of scrimmage. If you wait, and there's enough time on the play clock, your center will start pointing to defensive players. He's basically calling out blocking assignments. If you snap the ball after that, you'll get insanely better pass protection and much better run blocking. It's a simple, subtle thing, but it makes such a huge difference that the results will be staggering. Ө JAMES BOND 007: AGENT UNDER FIRE Gold and Platinum Medals Here's how it works: We give you the medal, and the points you'll need to get it, then the reward. Simple enough. Level 1: Trouble In Paradise Gold: 50,000, Golden Gun Platinum: 50,000 + 007 Icons, MP Map - Rocket Manor Level 2: Precious Cargo Gold: 50,000, Golden CH-6 Platinum: 50,000 + 007 icons, MP Game Mode—Golden Gun Level 3: Dangerous Pursuit Gold: 70,000, Unlimited Missiles Platinum: 70,000 + 007 Icons, MP Model— Stealth Bond Level 4: Bad Diplomacy Gold: 70,000, Golden Accuracy Platinum: 70,000 + 007 Icons, MP. Powerup—Gravity Boots Level 5: Cold Reception Gold: 90,000, Golden Clip Platinum: 90,000 + 007 Icons, MP Model - Guard Level 6: Night Of The Jackal Gold: 90,000, Gold Grenades Platinum: 90,000 + 007 Icons, MP. Weapon—Viper Level 7: Streets Of Bucharest Gold: 100,000, Lotus Esprit Platinum: 100,000 + 007 Icons, MP Model— Alpine Guard Level 8: Fire & Water Gold: 100,000, Rapid Fire Platinum: 100,000 + 007 Icons, MP Weapon—Calypso Level 9: Forbidden Depths Gold: 110,000, Golden Armor Platinum: 110,000 + 007 Icons, MP Modifier—Full Arsenal Level 10: Poseidon Gold: 120,000: Golden Bullets Platinum: 120,000 + 007 Icons, MP Model—Cyclops Oil Guard Level 11: Mediterranean Crisis Gold: 130,000: Regenerative Armor Platinum: 130,000 + 007 Icons, MP. Model—Poseidon Guard Level 12: Evil Summit Gold: 130,000 Unlimited Ammo Legends of Wrestling Unlock the hidden wrestlers Captain Lou Albano: Beat Career mode with a “Hated” legend. Jimmy Hart: Beat Career mode with а "Loved" legend. Dory Funk: Beat Career mode with Terry Funk. David Von Erich/Michael Von Erich: Beat Career Mode with Kevin Von Erich Fritz Von Erich: Beat Career Mode with Kerry Von Erich Sabu: Beat Career Mode with The Iron Sheik King Kong Bundy: Beat the Southeast Territory (Career) Ivan Koloff: Beat Vs. Tourney. Mr. Fuji: Win Tag Belts in Tourney. Robert Gibson/Ricky Morton: Beat Tag Tournament Platinum: 130,000 + 007 Icons, MP Model—Carrier Guard © WWF SMACKDOWN: JUST BRING IT Tackling the WWF Fred Durst The easiest or hardest card requires you to use The Undertaker to score at least a 15 in a Slobberknocker exhibition match. This can be a real headache, since you'll only have 10 minutes, but we believe in you. The best trick is to avoid weakening your opponent. Just go right at him with a running clothesline or a Tombstone (Down + Circle on a groggy opponent]. Either will turn your opponent to mush, Мах Раупе Level Select Play through the game until you pass the the subway level. Then press the SELECT button to return to the main menu and press the following: Up, Down, Left, Right, Up, Left, Down, Circle. Eight Pain Killer Pills Press Start to pause, then press R2, R1, Triangle, Circle, X, Square Hidden Arenas To unlock the backlot, gymnasium, beach resort and casino arenas, sim- ply beat the Career mode. Then you can wrestle in these "arenas" during Exhibition mode. The cheap way to unlock everyone At the Main Menu press: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Triangle, Triangle, Square. pm aalaleatiae and you can pin him for a three count. Remember to mix in a fair share of chokeslams, as well (Up + L1 on a grog- gy Opponent). One-on-two with the APA To fight the APA follow this method: 1. Turn down the Tag-Team Shot. 2. Talk trash on the mic. 3. Go talk to Michael Cole. 4. Tell him you want to beat the hell out of the guy. 5. Do not go to the parking lot. 6. Go to the APA office (right-hand door as you go down the stairs). 7. Tell the APA to get off their ass and do some work. 8. The match should start in their office. Here's a hint: Don't hang around in their office. Get to the ring so you can dive into the crowd and get a breather. Extra create-a-wrestler points Use a created superstar and follow these steps to get 55 extra points. 1. Turn Vince down. 2. Talk trash. 3. Tell Michael Cole you want to kick his butt all over the arena. 4. Go to the parking lot for the match. 5. Win the match. All weapons and full ammunition Pause the game and then press L1, L2, R1, R2, Triangle, Circle, X, Square. Infinite Ammo Pause the game and press: L1, L2, R1, R2, Triangle, Square, X, Circle Invincibility Pause the gameplay and then press L1, L2, L2, R1, R1, R2, R2. You may have to enter this code in again after saving 6. Show up onstage for the next super- star. 7. Win the next match. 8. Win the match at Wrestlemania. @ NBA LIVE 2002 Mo' money for your salary cap Before starting a new franchise, go to "Roster Management." Release your highest-paid players to the Free Agent Pool. This works for every team. Start a new franchise, and go to the "Roster Management" screen. Select "Sign Free Agents" and you can now sign your high- priced players back to your team for the league minimum. lverson's armband To get the effect of Iverson's armband, select all armbands while creating a player. It will look like Iverson's armband/sleeve. © GRAN TURISMO 3 Racing tips Professional mode First, choose Arcade mode, then high- light the Hard difficulty level. Hold L1+R1, and it will change to Professional. Stay In Same Gear When in Automatic Gear Shift mode, hold R2 and you will stay in the same gear. [This is useful if you don't want the automatic shifter to change gears up or down while turning.) Ө CRASH BANDICOOT: WRATH OF CORTEX Tundra fundra After you have defeated the Boss in level four and earned the bazooka, return to level one, Arctic Antics. Shoot the three woolly mammoths to get extra lives. (9 JAK AND DAXTER: THE PRE- CURSOR LEGACY Alternate ending Successfully complete the game after collecting at least 100 Power Cells. Faster credits Once the names of the Naughty Dog staff have been shown and have disap- peared off the screen, hold X or Circle. The credits will speed up and be com- pleted in a few seconds. DVD EGGS Moulin Rouge Special Edition DVD There are quite a few'dazzling tricks оп Baz Luhrman’s blindingly brilliant musi cal. Here are four we found to our li 1. On Disc 2, access "The Cutting Коо! feature. There will be a short list of items cut from the film and commentaries. Highlight Main Menu and then push your directional arrow Left to highlight a red windmill. The snippet is of "Your Song" sung ту Mr. Ewan McGregor, but the cam- era is on Nicole. For a moment she has a case of the giggles but they continue to film. Then Ewan and Nicole both decide to lip-sync to Elton John’s song karaoke style. 2. Also on Disc 2, go to the area titled “The Dance." There will be a listing of the various dances from the movie. The first box says "A word from Baz." Highlight this box and then click Right. A silhouette of a fairy will appear. Clicking that will take you to a short behind-the-scenes clip of Baz explaining the motivation for “El Tango De Roxanne” to Jacek Koman and Caroline O'Connor. 3. Put in Disc 2 and click More. Put your pointer above the ር in dance, and a red fairy should appear. Enjoy. 4. On the second disc, click The Stars, then click Next to go through the video, click More, above John Leguizamo. Guess what? A red fairy appears. Planet of the Apes DVD While watching this flick we realized we were watching a movie about apes. If you like it, this never occurred to you. Regardless, on disc one, get to chapter 35. At approximately 1:25 minutes into the chapter when the statue of Thade is pre- sented in full view, hit the play button again, and you will instantaneously be transported to a “making of" scene and decisions made about the statue. Informative. Scary Movie 2 DVD This egg is as lame as this steaming road apple of a movie, but we know some of you suckers got the DVD for X-mas. So, go to the Bonus Materials section from the main menu. Once there, go to the deleted scenes. On the first menu of deleted scenes, scroll down to the arrow. Once the arrow is highlighted, press Left on the controller to highlight a cat. Press enter to hear the bird talk. Almost Famous Bootleg Cut DVD On Disc 2, head to The Cast heading in the Special Features menu and click on Fairuza Balk's bio. Press up to highlight the polaroid and hear some Crowe com- mentary before viewing a seven-minute scene featuring Kate Hudson and Patrick Fugit exchanging lines ad nauseum. Also, under the Audio menu, press Right while on the first commentary track to highlight the center of the record. It's а funny little moment between Fugit and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (1: TRICKS FROM THE 10 BEST-SELLING PS ONE GAMES @ HARRY POTTER: THE SORCERER'S STONE Alternate Ending When you complete the game the credits will start to run, and will continue for nearly 10 minutes. When it's finished it will tell you who has won the Hogwarts House Cup. If you have collected all 17 Famous Witches and Wizards cards, you'll be granted an alternate ending. Bertie Bott Beans Collect the following amount of Bertie Bott beans to unlock an item behind a portrait at Hogwarts. 50 Yellow Beans: Nimbus Two Thousand 70 Blue Beans: Glove for Quidditch 80 Green Beans: Card 100 Red Beans: Advanced Flipendo Climbing bookshelves If you approach a bookshelf and find that you cannot climb it, press Square on a piece of a wall that is different or a lighter color. Behind bookshelves Behind one bookshelf you have to shoot pumpkins, cauldrons and chocolate frogs with your Flipendo. You will have to shoot them back for a Slytherin. This is located in the Slytherin door across from your door in the entrance hall. @ TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER 3 BONELESS + 2100 X2 Disco Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Officer Dick. Moon Physics Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Bam Margera. Perfect Balance Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Kareem Campbell. Sim Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Geoff Rowley. Skip to Restart Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Tony Hawk. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine Slow Nic Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Chad Muska. Smooth Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Elisa Steamer. Stud Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Kareem Campbell. Super Revert Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Jamie Thomas. Wire Frame Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Bucky Lasek. Kid Mode Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with Steve Caballero. Darth Maul Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions one time with any character in Career mode. Officer Dick Complete all the goals in the game and get gold medals in all three competitions in Career mode with a created skater. Note: This also unlocks the Downhill level. Wolverine Complete all gaps in all regular levels with any skater. Ө TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER 2 Unlocking the best in skateboarding Enter these wonderfully fun cheats correct- ly and the screen will shake. Master Code Press Start to pause gameplay, then hold L1 and press X, X, X, Square, Triangle, Up, Down, Left, Up, Square, Triangle, X, Triangle, Circle, X, Triangle, Circle. The screen will shake to confirm correct code entry. Choose the “End Run” option to unlock all cheats, FMV sequences, bonus skaters and extra levels. The code spells out XXX, Stud, Lust, Ecstasy, Ecstasy. Note: This code will not unlock Private Carrera. But it will unlock the '80s Tony Hawk. То find him, go to the character selection screen, choose Tony Hawk, and select Style C on the options. Flight Mode Hold L1, then press Up, Up, Up, Up, X, Square, Up, Up, Up, Up, X, Square, Up, Up, Up, Up at the main menu. The wheel will turn to confirm correct code entry. Begin gameplay and press one of the following buttons to fly. You can also enter this code after pausing gameplay. The screen will shake to confirm correct code entry. As long as you are in the air, you can continue to complete objectives, even when time runs out. Once you land, the game will add up your score. Float up: Hold X. Hover: Hold Triangle while in the air. Move skater in air: Use the D-pad. Drift left: Hold L1. Drift right: Hold R1. 180 spin left: Hold L2. 180 spin right: Hold R2. Ө MADDEN NFL 2002 Easy Sacks Go to Dime formation, then select "Double Slot." Watch your defensive ends go for a sack. "Line Shift" will also work as well. You'll find this under the Raiders handbook. Q ROCKET POWER: TEAM ROCKET RESCUE Level Select Successfully complete the game in Story mode. All levels will be unlocked, allowing the icons to unlock the bonus characters to be found. Play as Angelica Pickles Successfully complete the game in Story mode. Play the game in Story mode again and go to the very last level in stage 4. Go to the building were you can ride up the Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation All Secret Items +R1+R2+ Level Skip blue walls. Grind down the pole at the top to get Angelica. Play as Conroy Blanc On stage 2, in “Free Ride,” go about halfway into the level, and stay to the left immediately after the first jump. You will see a log followed by two more logs. When you grind down the last one, you will get Conroy's head. @ MONSTERS, INC. Maximum Health While holding L1 + R1, press Circle, Circle, Circle, Square, Triangle, X, Triangle while playing the game. (9 GRAN TURISMO 2 Get High-Resolution Mode The only way to do this in Arcade Mode is to win all tracks in Arcade Mode with the difficulty set on Hard. In the Simulation mode, you can earn licenses until you have. the International A License. Then go drive the GT League and win every cup. Increase Days easily Go to a race, when you are there with the "Start Race" selection, go to 'Exit." Tricks Forum Welcome back to ОРМ5 Tricks Forum. You һауе questions and tips and we һауе answers and quips. Enjoy. Back to pedestrian pedestrians | recently tried out your Insane Pedestrians code to have a bit of fun, and after | was done, | saved. Then when | went back, | tried taking off the code and couldn't, and it was preventing me from beating the game. So is there a way to turn those codes off? The others seem to turn off, but not those ones. Chris D. ОРМ" answer: Chris, let us lay this down for you simply: Cheaters never win and winners never cheat. Actually, that’s rarely true in this section, but it applies this time. As far as we know, and we've done much digging, there's no reversal of this code. Which stinks in a very smelly way. Catching Cold If Snake spends too long in the rain, he'll become sick. This is indicated by snake sneezing. Sneezing often risks alerting nearby guards who have a sub- stantial hearing range (better than visu- al range). Rid his symptoms by using a Pentazemin. Jojobodhivania(aaol.com OPM's answer: We think the thinking world is already well aware of this sim- pleton fact, but in case any of the dolts missed it, we figured we'd show this оле last time. Dynasty Warriors 3 Can you please show me some hints for Dynasty Warriors 3? Kirby OPM’s answer: With а name like Kirby, we cannot resist your request. Here are a few to keep you stabbing away at the locals: 1. If you have a saved game from Dynasty Warriors 2, DW3 will detect those characters and add them to your arsenal. 2. To get a real funny-like secret ending, follow these steps: A. Go to Options on the main menu. B. Go to Opening Edit. C. Highlight “Replay.” D. Hold all four shoulder buttons and press X. You can’t beat this price! In СТАЗ, you can get a dented car as good as new. Take it to your hideout garage and park it, then walk out (mak- ing sure the garage door doesn't close). Next take out any weapon to damage the car. Start firing at the car until you see flames. Before the car blows up, walk out of the garage and let the door close before the car blows up: You will notice the car didn't blow up. Walk back up to the garage, and your car will be fixed up and repaired. Michael Hosepian Dove Hunterfdhotmail.com Apu gets out"rage"ous GE Vit 13 иий Start out by changing the date on your PlayStation 2 to 12/25/2001. Then, start a new game and you will һауе а new character and car. [It's Apu dressed in a Santa suit, and a sedan painted red and green!). This car cannot be saved, so you have to change the date every time you play. Eric Lewis OPM’s answer: Not a bad tip. But try these dates for even more Simpsons wackiness, like the picture above. 1/1/02, 11/22/01, 10/31/01 save your game. Then talk to them, get your loot, save your game on a DIFFER- ENT space! Then RELOAD the previous save game (the one before you got your experience). BEFORE you talk to the people again hit , change play- ers, import your character from your most current save [the one AFTER you talked to the people). If you're confused, check the timing of the save games. Now, talk to the people again. You will receive more experience! Keep repeat- ing until you level up or you just get tired of leveling up! Nevguy Payne-less | need some help with Max Payne for the PlayStation 2. Can OPM find me some codes? N/A N/A OPM's answer: With a name like that? You bet! But we put them two pages back, so flip over to the PS2 tricks to beat up on the baddies in Max's world. GTA3 Mission Pointers Gangcar Round-Up (Telephone/Yardie mission on Staunton Island) When you start this mission, it'll take everything off your screen but the pink dot to where the garage is. Which makes it a little more difficult, seeing as how you've got to come all the way back to flip the nextLTC rail in the opposite direction as the previous one, so you | have kind of an S shape [repeat E process four or five times). After your — fifth or sixth S-shaped rail, make anoth- ег semi-circle out of three LTC rails, the same as before. Be sure to leave both ends open, so that while grinding, you- Will be thrown from the semi-circle rail back onto the S-shaped curved гай. | While performing this trick, make sure to hold down the Triangle button. You can rack up way over a million points. My high score using this trick was over 350 million—without codes (you won't need 'em]! Curtis Crabtree hcalafrontiernet.net THPS3 Differences І got THPS3 on PS one for Christmas, and | noticed a few variations in the game from the PS2 version. When | got to Suburbia | saw that there was no “Help the thin man" and no haunted house. Also Canada is one of the last levels. What is going on? Bucky OPM's answer: The PS one version just can't support the graphics and is a dif- ferent game. Plus, it gives PS2 owners a reason to get back to their PS one roots. "My high score using this [THPS3] trick : was over 350 million without codes!" Opening Baldur’s Gate Duplicate items, armor, weapons In either one- or two-player mode, save your game, drop your weapon, change players, and import your same character from your last save game. Check your inventory. You will have the sword you just dropped, and another one of the same on the floor. You've just doubled your weapons. If you want to double everything, save your game, drop every- thing, import your character, and he/she will have everything in the inventory again, plus you can pick up everything you dropped earlier. So, if you had two swords when you saved, you will now have 4!! By duplicating weapons and armor enough, you can then sell them and get the best of everything in the shop even before you start the sewers! Duplicate experience! After you've completed certain tasks, you will receive experience when you explain yourself to those who asked you to do the task (for example, defeating the orb, and finding the medallion in the crypts, there are other areas to dupli- cate experience). First, BEFORE you talk to the people who give you experience Staunton Island from Portland with the Diablo Stinger and the Mafia Sentinal without damaging them. Here's how | did it: 1 went ahead and got the Diablo Stinger and the Mafia Sentinal cars from Portland and brought them to my garage hideout in Staunton Island before | took the mission. | did it prior to picking up the telephone so | didn't have to worry about hurting the car and so the star for my hideout would still be on my map. This way you've only got to take them a block or so without hurting them. Easy. Then just pick up the Yakuza Stinger from Asuka's condo parking lot and take it to the garage. Will Bailey sinister(ahouston.rr.com Semi-circling THPS3 Іп ТНР53, from the main menu go into the park editor. Once there, select rails: low tight corner (LTC). Bear with me, this is hard to explain. Starting in a cor- ner, make a semi-circle with three LTC. rails. On one of the ends of your LTC semi-circle, attach an LTC rail so that it doesn't close off the semi-circle, but goes away from the semi-circle. Then Official US. PlayStation Magazine 02) k S IN A PERFECT WORLD... ADVERTISER INDEX Yeah, we all enjoy the PS2 with its great graphics, fine games and overall coolness. But very few of us actually possess the most ideal setup for our wonder system. We can all fantasize, though, right? If we could have it any way we wanted, 300 Company ............. 6-7 this would be it. www.3D0.com Acclaim Entertainment ....... 41 www.acclaim.com Вайса) eese durs ise: 63 www.bandai.com CNET Networks - Gamespot . .107 www.gamespot.com Codemasters Inc. «70-71 www.codemastersusa.com Columbia House ....... 66a-66b www.columbiahouse.com Crave Entertainment ..... . 45, 47 www.cravegames.com DC Shoes sns оона 39 Www.dcshoes.com Eidos Interactive 4-5, 19, 34a-34d, b6-57 cas siete etic www.eidos.com Electronic Arts . .16-17, 21, 22-23, 50a-50h .. .WWW.ea.com Electronic Entertainment Expo101 www.e3expo.com Infogrames ............. 76-77 www.infogrames.net Infogrames’ „7.2 30-31 www.infogrames.net Infogrames ..... 94-95, 130-131 www.infogrames.net Konami of America .......... 13 www.konami.com Kraft .. www.candystand.com LucasArts Entertainment Company ......... 14-15, 48-49 www.lucasarts.com А | Flat/widescreen р | One of those pillows (б | Craftmatic bed J | Some kind of MN D а ыса plasma TV mounted to with the remote-con- nurse/helper to — ው bedroom wall trol pocket on the side [H] Surround-sound administer "bed 0” ыы ШЕ receiver with wireless baths" and bring food Bere Commu EST 8] Subwoofer under bed [E | Logitech cordless con- speakers placed and drinks onda 203 2035:32:33 12073 (for ass-rumblin') troller around bed Spine ያች en. ' ; K] TiVo (for taping shows SA EINEN C | Digital cable/satellite Е|Р52 І А mini-fridge for you miss while playing Takei Interactive! ... receiver snacks and sodas Final Fantasy X) www.rockstargames.com Tecmo «scs ችማ 81 www.tecmoinc.com THO аа ga 132 Caption Contest RAP EE Every month, we select a screenshot Vivendi Universal - Sierra from a featured game and ask you to Entertainment ...... 82a-82h, 83 come up with a funny caption for it. ? www.sierra.com Triple Play 2002 is ripe for the witty text supplement this month. Send your incredibly hilarious entries to with the subject of CAPTION CONTEST. WINNER! CAPTION THIS “Sure she can wield a magical blue- Looks like a little mid-inning chat in flamed staff—but can she cook?” progress. But what are they saying? Let Stanley Fligner, fligner@jps.net us know now. (128) Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine On sale March 12 PlayStation MAGAZINE Sega's fighting GAMECUBE + s Holiday 2002 franchise kicks САМЕ GUIDE FOR PC AND VIDEO GAMES its way onto the PS2. But does it have what it takes to take on Tekken? Find out | next month! Plus, another killer PS2 DVD demo disc, featuring Maximo, High Heat MLB 2003, Airblade, Gitaroo Man, PaRappa 2, Drakan and much, much more! You won't want to miss out on all the extras we've got packed onto the disc and jammed into the magazine! On sale now [ELECTRONIC CAMINE MONTA LYA Maximo EGM dishes the scoop on Capcom's latest 3D adven- ture, Maximo. Find out if this homage to classic 2D plat- formers is the first great game of 2002. Plus, a visit to game university DigiPen. On sale now Pac Is Back! Pac-Man World 2 brings everyone's favorite dot-gob- bler into the next generation with an exciting new action platformer that mixes the best of the old and new schools of gaming. On sale now COMPUTER GAMING WORLD Unreal II The first-ever hands-on look at the most spectacular first-person shooter the folks at CGW have ever seen. Don't miss their gameplay impressions and new exclusive screenshots! Editorial content subject to change» Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (29) 862500 “...the team behind the wheel is Reflections, the folks who. SO you Can count on it being full of huge crashes, out of cont like a recipe for some awesome vehicular carnage.” гсм. сол monstrate 1] esign and per FROM THE CREATORS OF THE BLOCKBUSTER SERIES “DRIVER” Pre-order your copy today. s. * Fur movies, Screens iiiter dr r! tman info go to... - Stuntman ©2002 Infogrames, Inc. All rights reserved. Created and developed by Reflections Interactive Limited, an Infogrames studio. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Manufactured and marketed by Infogrames Inc., New York, NY. > RATING PENDING Visit www.esrb.org or call 1-800-771-3772 for Rating Information www.thq.com ымны... В Сапы кета T Е * The most popular videogame ever created is back with а new look and variations. * Lush 5D worlds evolve and animate as a reward for dearing lines and reaching goals. See what each world 15 meant to look like. * Exciting challenges await you with 6 variations of Tetris >; in Story Mode and Arcade Mode, including the all new Hot-Line Tetris, Cascade Tetris and Fusion Tetris. ы * Enjoy Tetris Worlds together when up to four people play to see who Is the best. h (Two players only on GameBoy 'Advance) Deceptively simple, completely addictive. w Ea ጭ (CAME BOITE 55 PlayStation.2 | www.tetris.com e { www.tetrisworlds.com 3 Made with love by