Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: October 31, 2002

“Aliens,” “Starship Troopers,” “The Thing,” “Predator” and so forth and so on. Point taken. Humans aren’t fond of aliens. If it looks weird, smells funny, hunts us, takes us over, looks to destroy our world or generally hangs out in the vast reaches of space, it’s a good bet that we’ll eventually try to wipe it out. That’s certainly the gist one gets from science fiction of any sort, and it’s a point that’s reiterated again in Interplay’s latest PS2 offering. This time, there’s not going to be a tough one-man army or an elite counter offensive unit going into battle. Nope, just a few people with some firepower, the will to survive and the good sense to “run like hell.” ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: October 26, 2002

There are certain ways to construct a product that make it scream anime – and GunGrave is a prime example. Generally, you take two objects that are common, like “Bubblegum” and “Crisis” or perhaps “Cowboy” and “Bebop,” and then ram them together to form a game that’s cool despite making very little sense. In more than title, GunGrave represents all things anime, and it’s loaded with enough obscure dialog and over-the-top action to impress anyone who owns a copy of “Akira.” This kind of genre specific conversion is always tricky, as it runs the risk of alienating those less familiar with the source material’s conventions, but we’ll see how GunGrave stands up to scrutiny. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: October 21, 2002

Everyone considers the Xbox’s hard drive to be a major selling point, and spends considerable time nodding sagely at its capabilities. As far as gameplay goes, most of us deem the hard drive to be a route to expandable titles and after-market content, perhaps even a vehicle to encourage players to design their own parks in the latest Tony Hawk release. Just when you think you’ve got the cat by the tail and finally understand this whole “hard drive” thing, it turns out the cat’s got entirely different plans, and, in fact, an entire world to save. Enter our hero in Blinx The Time Sweeper. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: October 10, 2002

Activision’s O2 lineup has always been one of the strongest contenders in the extreme sports market, if only because they’ve got the trailblazing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series under their wings. Typically high adrenaline offerings, these games run the gamut of extreme sports, but have always lacked a decent surfing offering. That is, until the release of Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer. To fans of the sport, this gap would come as no surprise; before the launch of TransWorld Surf for Xbox by Angel Studios and Infogrames, surfing games tended to be forgotten before they hit stores. TransWorld showed us that it could be done, and now Treyarch and Activision are out to best the offering that did the impossible by simply being a decent surfing release. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: October 2, 2002

The original Sega GT was a Dreamcast exclusive, and tried to bring the tested formula of Gran Turismo to Sega’s home turf. Its design was theoretically successful, but sloppy controls marred the core mechanics. A few years later and following some major upheavals in all things Sega, the Xbox is the new home for the series with the release of Sega GT 2002. Faster hardware, greater capacity for eye popping visuals and some stiff competition in the forms of RalliSport Challenge and Project Gotham Racing – all of these things should prove reason for Sega to be on its toes for this outing. Polyphony Digital already raised the bar for GT career games on the PS2, so Sega needed to pull out all the stops to truly stand as a cross-system contender. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: September 27, 2002

A SquareSoft RPG where you can jump, virtually unheard of aside from the cute PlayStation offering Threads of Fate, Kingdom Hearts breaks with tradition in more ways than one. Teamed up with Disney, Square’s classic style had to be adjusted to match the more lighthearted approach of the Magical Kingdom while still trying to hold onto the core elements that have made Final Fantasy a blockbuster series. A task more monumental than Orlando’s famous five-peaked palace, Kingdom Hearts has been hotly anticipated since its announcement, but the question remains as to whether the finished product was a happy pairing or a torturous marriage. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: September 26, 2002

When I was a kid growing up in the country, Robotech was the reason I used to sprint from the bus to the house. Something about the careful pacing of the story, or perhaps the deep characters, touched me. Of course, it could have been the whole “forty foot tall robots with missiles and transforming shapes” thing that snagged my pre-pubescent mind. Regardless, the world of Max Sterling, Rick Hunter, Scott Bernard and crew was a part of my childhood that never made a successful leap into gaming. Eventually, the show’s cultural relevance seemed to fade, but in this era of Eighties nostalgia, it’s not surprising that Robotech has reappeared. What is surprising is that all of our early looks at Robotech Battlecry for Xbox set the salivary glands in motion, and left me with a strange urge to get home soon. What game could live up to the expectations of an entire childhood, though? ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: September 19, 2002

Quantum Redshift follows the tradition of the sci-fi racer perfectly. We have memorable, though slightly odd, characters competing for glory, environments so diverse that it’s obvious the people of the future will rarely consider terrain to be an obstacle, and the obvious introduction of speeds fast enough to make our nascent 21st Century ears bleed. If you mix in a few weapons, some shielding and a healthy dose of ego for the drivers, you’ll find yourself in Quantum Redshift territory, which can be plotted out as sharing borders with the likes of Extreme G 3 and, to some extent, SSX Tricky. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: September 18, 2002

Turok has left the Nintendo 64, but perhaps not in the way everyone expected. Playing through Turok 3: Shadows of Oblivion would have treated the player to one of the richer storylines in the series, and one that strongly hinted at a continuation during the final epilogue. Surprisingly, though, Turok Evolution, the latest chapter from Acclaim, prequels the whole storyline by telling the tale of Tal’Set, the first Turok and first Native American to breach the border between our world and the Lost Land. Perhaps with the series’ first jump from the N64, this new beginning is symbolic of a fresh start; then again, it could just be an excuse for us to play around with very large weapons and wave them menacingly at dinosaurs. Either way, we’re happy, so long as things explode satisfactorily when we’re done posturing. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: September 6, 2002

When Mary Shelley penned “Frankenstein”, she did it as part of a quick contest between writers to create a scary novel, but it turned into one of the great works of English literature. Her writing was so persuasive that, as readers, we’re forced into an internal conflict; when you get past the whole bolts-in-the-neck image that movies have foisted upon us, the creature was actually an intelligent, compassionate and morbidly misunderstood character, while his creator was more of a meglomanical jerk than a hero. Our fascination with vampires, werewolves and other intelligent “monsters” is usually along the same lines: we both loathe and romanticize their existence. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: September 2, 2002

Super Mario 64 was a milestone of platformers. It broke with convention, it stretched its world to three dimensions and it managed to do just about everything so well that it’s still one of the best games ever released for the N64. That’s a tough act to follow. Nintendo decided to hold off on Super Mario Sunshine until they could follow in its predecessors footsteps, however, releasing the acceptable but hardly stellar Luigi’s Mansion concurrent with GameCube. Fast-forward a few dry months and Super Mario Sunshine looks poised to spearhead a massive lineup of top-drawer Nintendo titles. Impressions can be deceiving, and it’s hard to imagine anything approaching the radical changes introduced by Super Mario 64 happening in this jaded age, so gamers are likely asking themselves, “What makes this Mario different?” ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: August 28, 2002

Microsoft’s first foray into the NFL world on Xbox showed serious promise, and NFL Fever 2002 clearly showed the benefit of a first-party developer’s insight into the workings of the hardware. With that slight advantage and enough moxy to position itself on the arcade side of the simulation spectrum without introducing the over the top elements we find in NFL Blitz and its ilk. This year, Microsoft has upped the ante and introduced online play to the mix, but at the time of release Xbox Live isn’t ready for the mainstream, meaning the single biggest draw to NFL Fever 2003 won’t be arriving for another few months. The question, then, is whether the online play is the only reason to update to this year’s version, or if the whole system’s been enhanced, with online a very sweet extra down the road. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: August 23, 2002

A few months ago, we took a look at a unique Xbox title called Enclave. Then incomplete, the game nonetheless put forward an impressive graphical presentation and a surprisingly addictive blend of third- and first-person action. At the time, though, the build handed out to the media was a bit of a surprise, as Enclave was originally envisioned as a multiplayer title with innovative ideas on deathmatch and tactical elements in the field. Having recently received the chance to play through the final build, it’s official that Enclave is a single-player release and that the preview code we tackled before was pretty close to the version headed for store shelves. Read on to explore the world of Enclave and discover whether it was worth the wait. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: August 16, 2002

Trapped by the enemy, captured, behind enemy lines and cut off from friendly support. As countless movies have proved, this can be gripping drama and enthralling storytelling. Strangely, no one’s ever tried to put it into a gaming perspective. Sure, you can assume the role of a one-man army in Return to Castle Wolfenstein on the PC, but that’s hardly in the same genre, and does a disservice to those who spent time in POW camps. Not that any game really could, but Prisoner of War, recently released for the Xbox, tries to pay homage to the men who were captured in body but never in spirit. ( read more… )

Review by: Mike Laidlaw
Published: August 14, 2002

With their third release of the series, Sega has officially made Crazy Taxi a gaming staple. Little surprise, really, as arcades who picked up Crazy Taxi made a lot of money when compared to those who didn’t. Similarly, the console conversions were the envy of PlayStation owners and the pride of Dreamcast loyalists for years. Times change, however, and Sega has changed drastically; no longer is Crazy Taxi confined to Sega hardware. Perhaps some surprise lies in Sega’s decision to release Crazy Taxi III: High Roller on the Xbox exclusively. Given that PS2 owners had their first, albeit somewhat bittersweet, taste of the series last year, it would make sense to release on that platform, but with the Xbox the audience is relatively fresh and other exclusives for that system have benefited from the raised hardware bar. There’s a lot of “ifs” surrounding Crazy Taxi III: High Roller, and no matter how much focus we give to the platform and system, there’s still the question of whether Sega could keep the magic for one more outing. ( read more… )