DECEMBER 06

05

www.playd.co.uk
FREE multiformat videogames magazine

Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories or Glorious Return?

edit.
The games industry seems to come
alive at this time of year and 2006 has
been no exception. We’ve been treated
to two console launches in the past
couple of months, unless you’re from
Europe that is, because we love to wait
another 4 months and get charged twice
as much. We did get the Wii just in time
for Christmas though so it’s not all doom
and gloom.
As for the Wii launch, it wasn’t bad
as far as launches go. There was the
usual disappointment for a few people
concerning the availability of consoles
and the launch titles were far from
impressive but this is something we’ve
come to expect from console launches.
2007 should be an interesting year for
the big three and with all this competition
for our hard earned cash, it should
certainly be a very good year for us
gamers as well.

Tom Bennett
tom@playd.co.uk
Editor
contents

PREVIEWS
09 Alan Wake (360)
11 Far Cry Vengeance (Wii)
12 Lair (PS3)
14 Supreme Commander (PC)
16 Too Human (360)

FEATURES
18 Girls in the Game?
23 Collection Builder

REVIEWS
28 Archlord (PC)
30 Blade Dancer Lineage of Light (PSP)
32 Defcon (PC)
34 Disgaea (PS2)
37 Family Guy (Multi)
38 Gears of War (360)
40 Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP)
42 King Of Fighters Neowave (PS2)
43 Mercury Meltdown Remix (PS2)
44 Need For Speed Carbon (Multi)
47 Okami (PS2)
50 Starfox Command (DS)
52 Why don’t you own... Deus Ex? (PC)
55 The Vault... Advent Rising (Xbox)

REPLAYD
60 Magic Carpet (Multi)
62 Breath of Fire IV (PSone)
65 Turtles in Time (SNES)
68 Silent Hill (PSone)
72 A Breed Apart - Team17
staff vacancies
Editor Due to expansion, we are currently looking for people to fill a
Tom Bennett number of positions here at playd.
tom@playd.co.uk
Replayd Editor - must possess a deep knowledge of and
Art Editor enthusiastic about the retro scene as well as possessing a high degree
James Cooper of writing skill. Must also be able to make deadlines and co-ordinate the
james@playd.co.uk replayd section of the magazine with our other writers and the Art Editor.
News Editor
General Writers - must be familiar with and enthusiastic about videogames
Chris Waring
culture. It is crucial that you are able to make deadlines. Technical ability and a
chris@playd.co.uk
high degree of accuracy with regard to spelling and grammar is a must, as is the
Staff Writer ability to understand and take on board feedback and criticism of your work.
Sean Bonner
sean@playd.co.uk How to apply - to apply for any of the above positions send an email to tom@playd.co.uk
and tell us why you think you should be considered for the position and what sets you apart
Staff Writer from the opposition. For all positions, please include a 1,200 word review or article on any
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emily@playd.co.uk

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PRODUCTION
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Adobe Illustrator CS2 We apologise for any gnashing of teeth this may cause.
 December 06
 at the forum
We’ve teamed up with www.nowloading.co.uk, a haven for gamers, to bring you the latest musings on
the world of videogames. This month’s chosen topic, the fifth anniversary of the original xbox...

Jusatsushi: I picked up the £200 pack that came with JSR, Sega GT and bought Halo too... I remember playing
Halo for the first time and landing on the planet... OMFG I can see individual blades of grass! The machine packed
a hell of a punch and to be honest still does when you see it pushed (Strangers Wrath/Splinter Cell). Never
took it online though, but it was worth buying just for KOTOR, Jade Empire and SW...

Smurph: A little known game that doesn’t get the credit but was an amazing game for mates round
the TV was Kung Fu Chaos. Hilarious. Plus, link up Halo was brilliant too. And like Xeph, I was a fan
of Otogi. Panzer Dragoon Orta! How I miss thee! MS, get it backwards compatible now! And I also
loved their answer to Wipeout, Quantum Redshift.

Pedro: Funnily enough, I bought mine after the 360 was released. Was an ebay purchase,
and a good one. I basically joined it for the Live shenanigans- and they’ve lived up to every
utopian promise. I managed to get a fair few games for it too, inbetween january and End of
May- I managed to stir up some old classics, Halo, Crimson skies (still have, still would like
to play at some point soon). Porky Lent me a few aces as well, and it was marvellous (I Still
Have them, BTW, when do you want them back?). It did die a little early to be honest, but
c’est la vie.

Xephon: One of the reasons I waited to get an Xbox was to play games I couldn’t get
anywhere else. Early on, there were too many PS2 ports for my liking (some better, some
not so good). But I wanted games that were designed for the Xbox, only for the Xbox. I’ll
never forget the first time I saw Otogi. That was it. I wanted one.

TwinHype: I got one at launch and funnily enough split up with my girlfriend of 4 years the
night before so I took some time off work because of ‘personal issues’ - of course everyone
new at work about the split and were very supportive but what they didn’t know was my
recuperation over the next 2 (yes 2) weeks was a shit load of Halo and Oddworld!! Hurrah.
Some quality quite time with a brand new console, and your family bringing you pizza because
they’re worried about you (suckers) what more can you ask for.

redman: I got mine very late, November 2004 and got Halo 1 and 2. Loved and played through both,
with Outrun 2 they were my faves. However the absolute best thing about the box was LIVE. Truely
awsome. I got a mad thrill out of even hearing the voices for the first time: Japanese ones playing Outrun 2.
Quite a few all night sessions with Halo 2 followed. Happy days.

 June 06
previews

09 Alan Wake (360)

11 Far Cry Vengeance (Wii)
12 Lair (PS3)
14 Supreme Commander (PC)
16 Too Human (360)

by James Cooper
Publisher: Microsoft • Developer: Remedy • Available: TBA • Systems: 360 / PC
Alan Wake
The future of survival horror is called Alan. How odd...
S urvival horror has come a long way.
From the tight, austere and horribly
tense rooms of Alone in The Dark and
Resident Evil’s mansions to vicious
energy of Resident Evil 4 and the dank,
sprawling hell of Silent Hill, Condemned
and Dead Rising, it’s a genre that seems
to be constantly reinventing itself.
It’s easy to see why. After all, once you’ve
experienced a scare in a game, it’s
almost impossible for the same thing to
scare you again (dogs bursting through
windows aside). Therefore, Remedy are
promising another redirection with their
latest title, Alan Wake.
The player assumes the
role of Alan - a
best-selling
 December 06
PREVIEW
suspense author - as he flees to a small
town to recover from the disappearance
of his fiancée. The small town in
question is ‘Bright Falls’ in Washington,
and it seems that it has been horribly
misnamed. Never has a town appeared
less bright. As you delve deeper into the
mysterious happenings in the town, it
becomes clear there is something really
very wrong. Horrid creatures, an intense
psychological plot and a massive open-
world environment have all been promised
as Remedy attempt to make Alan Wake
the next ‘big thing’ in survival horror.
However, just two elements in particular
have really caught our imagination.
Firstly, the light engine. It’s looking quite
splendid, and extremely realistic. But this
is no mere window dressing (even if it is
stunning), Remedy are claiming that light
is your greatest ally and weapon as you
progress. As the game progresses days
get shorter and nights get longer,
forcing the player to seriously
think about how they
use their light
sources and
 PREVIEW

conventional weapons - especially as

your enemies seem to gain strength from
the shadows.

If this is implemented well, and not just an

‘inverse-Splinter Cell’ gimmick, this could
lend itself very well to the visceral shock
and panic that this genre always seeks
to inflict upon its victims. Who can forget
the horrors of half-seen enemies in Silent
Hill or the sudden, vicious attacks from
complete darkness in Condemned?
The second factor that has piqued our
interest is the promise of an “Episodic
Narrative”. Developers have for some time
been looking to free us from the shackles
of a traditional level structure by giving
us open-worlds to play in. However, the
resulting wealth of choice and dearth
of direction is not really suitable to the
survival horror genre - a genre that, almost
“the resulting wealth more than any other, relies on a strong
story and progressive element to drive
of choice and dearth of the player further into a world that he
direction is not really doesn’t really want to see. As the story
progresses, apparently in a similar way to
suitable to the survival a dramatic television series, new abilities,
gameplay elements and characters
horror genre - a genre become available, hopefully providing the
that, almost more than player with both choice of how to play and
narrative direction.
any other, relies on a
There’s no doubt that it’ll be a difficult
strong story” balancing act, but if Remedy can pull it
off then the signs are they could have a
real hit on their hands. We can’t wait to
help our hero explore the dark recesses
of Bright Falls. Even if he is called ‘Alan’.

10 December 06

by Sean Bonner
Publisher: Ubisoft • Developer: In-House • Available: Q1 ‘07 • Systems: Wii
Far Cry Vengeance
Will it be a far cry from it’s predecessors?
D ue to be released in America
on December 12th, Far Cry:
Vengeance looks set to be one of the
more interesting titles available for the
Wii. Although it will essentially be an
enhanced remake of the Xbox version, it
is the Wii remote’s unique control system
that sets it apart from its older brother.
There will be three new maps available to
play on, which have also been included in
the single player storyline. There will also
be new weapons and a handful of new
vehicles for you to play with.
Jack Carver, the game’s main
character, isn’t looking at his best
however, from the videos and
screenshots released so far, his arms
look equivalent to those in the all-
conquering online multiplayer game
Counter Strike. Hopefully this can be
rectified before release, although it’s not a
major issue.
Nevertheless, as stated before, it will
be how the game handles that will make
or break it. What’s the point in buying
a new game that is identical to the one
that came before it, except for a few new
weapons and levels? As with all games
for the Wii, it will be the unique control
system that will be the main selling point.
For example, when players are
dual wielding weapons the Wii remote
and the nunchuk allow them to have
greater control over your ammo usage,
PREVIEW
by separately firing each one. Also, it
will allow greater control over when
reloading. No longer will players have to
reload both weapons at the same time
and be caught standing in the crossfire
being shot to high heaven by every
nearby enemy. As of yet there is no
option to aim each one independently,
with both weapons using the same
crosshair. Independent aiming is on
the wish list, but with the release date
looming, there may not be the time to
implement it.
  Another feature of the game that may
be enhanced by the Wii remote is the
vehicles. With a wide range available, 5 Visually, Vengeance is looking quite basic, certainly nowhere near the Xbox version.
from boats to jeeps and everything
in between, it opens up a whole new
method of play. Independently aiming
your gun with the Wii remote while driving
the car with the nunchuk is one option.
Given that the Wii remote is a new
concept though, will people be able to
pick up and play like Nintendo has aimed
for with its other games? Will this version
of what is, essentially, an Xbox game be
worth forking out £40 for? There will be
other original games available that may
deserve your attention first, but hopefully
it will be worth a look. Keep your eye on
this one as it has the potential to be one
of the better Wii games.
11 December 06

by James Cooper
Publisher: SCEA • Developer: Factor 5 • Available: TBA • Systems: PS3
Lair
Fiery death from above. Oh, the joy.
As anyone that knows us will readily
tell you, we’re big fans of dragons.
Leathery, flying, giant scaly beasts with
napalm-breath and the strength of a
small army are inherently great video
game characters. Even when the game
in which they appear is weak, dragons
are rarely less than exhilarating (barring
Spyro, naturally). It’s with trembling
hands, crossed fingers and quaking
breath then that we introduce Factor 5’s
launch title for the PS3 - Lair.
At it’s most basic, Lair comes across as a
cross between Factor 5’s ‘Rebel Assault’
series and ‘Dynasty Warriors’. To say
that, however, is to do the game a great
disservice. Lair is ripe with potential.
Promising to put you in control of a
dragonrider whose steed is trained for
aerial and land-based warfare, Lair tasks
PREVIEW
you with taking on armies of hundreds,
thousands even, with nothing but your
sword. Oh yes, and the small matter of
a two-hundred ton, armoured behemoth
with breath like a sun-flare and claws
that could reduce the number 9 from
Exeter to component parts in a matter of
seconds. Excellent.
“the small matter of
a two-hundred ton,
armoured behemoth”
5 Fulfill all your ‘Nazgul on the Pelennor Fields’ fantasies. Or maybe that’s just us...
The biggest problem with dragons is
conveying an appropriate sense of
weight. We are, after all, dealing with
a creature the size of a whale that the
laws of physics say can’t exist (power to
weight ratio and all that). Can Factor 5
5 The feeling of weight is crucial to the game’s success. Hopefully it’ll be implemented well.
12 December 06

5 Dragons fighting dragons, miles up in the air. We fail to see how this is not ‘A Very Good Thing’.
convince us that we’re really in control of
a couple of hundred tons of viciousness?
To be honest, we’re not sure. The biggest
problem comes from the game’s ‘big
sell’ - the fact that it utilises the PS3
controller’s recently announced motion
control system. Unfortunately, this
doesn’t seem to be conveying the sense
of weight and inertia that you would
expect. Granted, it’s not an easy thing to
get right - you want the feeling of mass
and power without having to fight to
turn the thing mid-air - but we can’t help
worrying that the finished effect will be
more eagle than giant war-lizard.
“huge ground Nevertheless, we are promised huge
campaigns against ground campaigns against armies of
opponents, epic air-battles against other
armies of opponents” dragonriders and a “deep storyline” with
13
PREVIEW
“visceral gameplay”. All of which can’t be
a bad thing - even if they only manage to
come through with half of them.
One thing we can certainly say is that Lair
is looking splendid, easily as good as the
early renders suggested, yet in real-time.
Models are extremely well rendered, the
draw distance is vast and the proliferation
of next-gen effects such as HDR, bump-
mapping and a myriad other effects,
have given Lair a strong, consistent and
well-developed art style. Frankly, if the
frame-rate can be kept consistent and
the physics model doesn’t let the side
down, we can see Lair being one of our
favourite early PS3 titles. We’ve already
pencilled it in on our shopping list for next
spring, and we think you should too.
December 06
 PREVIEW
by Sean Bonner
Publisher: THQ • Developer: Gas Powered Games • Available: 2007 • Systems: PC

Supreme Commander
Crush your enemies with giant spider mechs. Excellent.

F rom the guys that brought you Total

Annihilation comes a whole now type
of Real Time Strategy game. Chris Taylor,
each race is human, we are promised
that they will all have a completely
different feel to them.
Here Taylor aims to change things for
the better with epically large maps. With
the maps being so vast, there will be
one of the masterminds behind one of However, having three different races a number of battles taking place, all at
the most popular games of all time, finally is pretty standard and it is how these the same time. Supreme Commander
returns to the RTS genre with what is races actually fight it out that is truly is all about distance and time. For
being hailed as the ‘spiritual successor’ different. Taylor finds other RTS games example, in a naval engagement, where
to Total Annihilation. At its core, Supreme lacking in that they don’t give a proper numerous battleships and destroyer are
Commander promises to be epic with feel of the battle, their scale is too small. fighting it out against an enemy force,
maps up to (and over) six thousand
square kilometres in size. That’s more
than twice the size of Luxembourg. Yes
that’s right, some maps will be twice
the size of a country. But why so big, is
it really necessary? Well, the idea is to
give players a feel for war. Previous RTS
games have pitted two adversaries with
a base against each other, eventually
culminating in a large all-out battle to
decide who emerges victorious. It is here
that Supreme Commander’s similarity
with conventional RTS titles ends.
Supreme Commander is set in the
future and sees the human race split into
three warring factions, the United Earth
Federation, the Cybran and the Aeon.
The UEF are regular humans armed
with all manner of futuristic weapons,
the Cybran are humans with microchips
implanted in them and mainly use
mech type vehicles, and finally there
is the Aeon, who after adopting alien
technology, believe they have to cleanse
the world of the other two races. While

14 December 06

when zoomed out you can see the
whole battle, but when you zoom in to
a particular ship, players can’t see the
enemy due to the distances involved.
Players do get a real sense of scale,
especially when it is  realised that this
battle is taking place on a remote part of
the map. In fact players could have many
large-scale engagements and still have
plenty of room to manoeuvre their troops.
As expected though, the standard
RTS gameplay elements will be present,
for instance players will need to build
a base to supply and construct your
armies. However, there are some
differences. If you order a couple of
different troops to converge on the same
target, they will automatically adjust their
“Who doesn’t want to
see their fleet... sprout
legs and walk inland?”
15
PREVIEW
speed to ensure they arrive at the same
time. This a unique feature to Supreme
Commander as users will no longer have
to rally your troops at a certain point
and then send them to battle all at the
same time. Additionally, attacks can be
launched quickly and easily from different
sides at the same time.
This is not the only new feature in
Supreme Commander. Due to the large
scale of most of the maps, it will be
difficult and time consuming to scroll
around to different sections of the map
as you would in other RTS games.
To combat this, players can use dual
screens, using one to display a zoomed
out view of the whole battlefield and the
other to zoom up close, directing your
troops personally. But, if you’re not lucky
enough to have an extra monitor, then
you can split one screen into two and
use each side asif it were a separate
screen. It’s a pretty handy addition and
could come in very useful when trying to
co-ordinate an attack on the enemy.
Overall Supreme Commander is
looking very promising and from what
we’ve seen so far, we are getting quite
excited about this one. Who doesn’t
want to see their fleet of destroyers
saunter up to the coast, sprout legs
and walk inland to join another battle?
However, one of the most striking
aspects of this game is the sheer scale of
it. No RTS has ever attempted this epic
scale before and if Gas Powered Games
can pull it off, then they’re onto a winner.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed.
December 06
 PREVIEW
by James Cooper
Publisher: Microsoft • Developer: Silicon Knights • Available: TBA • Systems: 360

Too Human
Too ambitious?

T ake the award-winning developers

of Eternal Darkness, add a next-gen
system, the Unreal Engine 3, a sci-fi
drag
any enemies
setting and a sweeping, epic storyline
within reach - and
to be told over a trilogy, and what do
some in the distance - into
you get? You should arrive at something
the fray, it’s currently looking like
like ‘Too Human’, a terrifically ambitious
the hybrid offspring of God of War and
project from the Canadian development
Devil May Cry, but with the art direction
studio.
and realised world of Warhammer
40,000. That’s no bad thing, especially
The player must step into the shoes of
when the developer is promising “fluid
Baldur, a cybernetic god charged with
grace of heroes and enemies in battle”.
protecting the human race, who are
on the verge of being wiped out by an
In fact, Silicon Knights are promising
assault from ancient machine forces (if
that the combat system will be so
anyone says “Matrix”, there’ll be trouble).
complex and deep that with “the press
of a button” the player will be able to
Too Human’s real selling point is the
“chain together hundreds of rapid-fire
fluidity of the combat. Combining melee
attacks and combos with ease”. Could
and ranged firearm combat into unique
this really be possible? Can we really
combo strings and complex moves that
expect an action-title with the tactical

16 December 06

depth and move-set of a 2D fighter like
Street Fighter 3? We doubt it, we’re far
more convinced that Too Human will fall
firmly into God of War territory. Of course,
that would be a very good thing anyway,
and a real feather in Microsoft’s cap as
the 360 doesn’t really have an exclusive
action-IP to directly rival either of Sony’s
heavy hitters yet.
As you would expect of any title that
uses the Unreal Engine 3, Too Human is
looking technically very accomplished,
with a unique style that seems neither
traditional sci-fi nor fantasy. It’s certainly
refreshing to see a developer making a
break from the ‘gothic-noir’ or ‘space
marine’ staples that have for too long
saturated the action genre.
17
PREVIEW
NEXT-GEN GOODIES
As well as the splendid visual
treatment, Too Human will benefit
from a number of other ‘next-gen-
features. We’re told that the final
game will feature “pulse-pounding
battles against hundreds of on-screen
enemies”; a sweeping orchestral
score, motion-capture by the
acclaimed group F.A.S.T. and four-
player online co-op gameplay through
Xbox Live. Four player online co-op?
Now that really does sound special...
Microsoft and Silicon Knights clearly have
very high hopes for Too Human - they
have already announced that it is the
first part in an intended trilogy. This is
certainly a brave move, if the game is a
huge success - a la God of War - then all
the hype and pre-amble can be judged
entirely worthwhile. If, however, it turns
out to be just another action game, then
they are left in the sticky situation of
having a game on their hands that they
have promised two sequels for, yet may
not be financially viable.
It’s too early to call at the moment, but
we’re confident that the bones of an
excellent game are there. Once we’ve
been able to get a real ‘hands-on’ we’ll
have a better idea of Too Human’s
potential, until then we’ll file this one
under “promising”.
December 06
 G irls in the currently male-dominated
games industry has become a
subject that one should approach
carefully today. I cannot count the
number of guesses and ideas have
been put forward about why the games
industry has always tended to have
a male focus. Does it genuinely have
anything to do with most characters
being male? Is it the typical shoot
‘em up, beat ‘em up, destructive car
crashing, racing and sports games that
Girls
puts females off from the beginning?
I’m sure we’ve all read articles, opinions
and comments that finish off without
coming to any useful, factual conclusion
and although the number of women
connected to video games may have
no baring on your virtual hobby, women
still have a presence; be it within the
production of a game, the sexually
provocative and argued-over Booth
Babes, the girls who go about their own
in the Game?
hobby or those placed within the public
spotlight.
The Entertainment Software
Association (ESA) states that 38% of
gamers in America are female, which is a
fairly large proportion to what you might
predict. Perhaps more surprisingly, when
it comes to online gaming the difference
between male and female participants
by Emily Knox is even closer, despite the unnecessary
abuse some women claim to receive
from, what has to be said, a minority of
males who cannot grasp the concept of
woman plus computer game. Another
interesting statistic is that women over
18 make up 30% of the game playing
population, while boys aged 17 or
younger are just 23%. It’s not a new
fact to all of us that the socially inept,
spotty male teenager stereotype is wholly
inaccurate. In reality, the average age of
a gamer is 33, and he spends triple the
18
amount of time playing sport, following
creative endeavours, volunteering in the
community or doing religious activities,
than he does gaming.
Go back to an early Christmas, or
childhood birthday, and you can bet
that most of today’s gamers began
their hobby from an innocent video
game console bought as a present.
Calling on my own experiences, I vividly
remember swapping Game Boy games
with my female group of friends, but
today I wouldn’t think of it. As I grew up,
I discovered gaming became a kind of
social taboo for girls. Video games were
never marketed towards women, and I
felt like I was supposed to be “weaned”
off them to become ordinary for my
gender (evidently, I was not), so, can
marketing and the pressures of society
be the factors that cause most girls to
either ditch gaming, or never dip into
it at all? Vixen, part of an independent
female gaming duo “VersuS”, seems to
agree. “As I was growing up I often felt
ashamed to admit my hobby but it does
not mean that I wasn’t into video games.
I kept it quiet even though I have been
playing pretty much all platforms since
the age of about six years old.” Vixen
certainly isn’t the only gamer I have come
across describing a period where she
may segregate herself from her social
peers because of the hobby she pursues,
which she chooses to continue almost in
secret.
If this behaviour is true of most female
gamers, then a huge amount of women
are not accounted for when it comes to
the surveys and statistics we see. It is
most admirable to find there are infact
a large number of female gaming clans
and communities available for all girls
(and sometimes the boys) to join in with,
from the largest all-girl, widely-known
December 06
and competitive PMS group, to the
independent and friendly gamer pair that
create VersuS.    consider feminine, everyone knows
The sheer range of video and
computer games available right now,
expanded by the arrival of the Nintendo
Wii (aimed at people not normally
considered gamers) and Playstation 3,
surely shows that the so-called lack of
female gamers cannot be down to the
games themselves. There is a strong
selection of the ‘pink and fluffy’ games,
The Sims for example is a quality title and
evolves some girls into hardcore gamers
because of the sheer amount of time
they put into creating their Sims, living
their own virtual lives and designing their
surroundings as they please. Eyetoy on
Playstation 2 has provided a wealth of
slightly different games, making fun use
of waving your arms at a camera, as
long as you are happy to endure Sports,
‘Dancing’ or guiding Lemmings. There is
an abundance of dancing and karaoke
games on Sony’s console, Singstar being
a notable example. If that’s too much
like hard work, Nintendo’s DS provides
instant, pick up and play fun in something
simple such as Zoo Keeper, or perhaps
more engaging like Nintendogs.
Of course, this is merely speculation
on what female gamers are imagined
to love. It could be completely wrong.
Maybe they would rather partake in a
violent guns-blazing bloodbath? The
problem is that no-one actually knows,
because curious females rarely dip
into the social pool of gamers that
populate game discussion forums and
say, “Actually, I would quite like this in
a game.”, and when said in the wrong
place (or even the right place), girls will
be greeted by a flood of comments,
one of which cannot resist saying the
word ‘boobies’ or a crude request for
‘pics’. Having established that there
is in fact a wealth of titles you might
that the (possibly overused) opposing
genres of action, beat ‘em up, FPS,
RPG and racing are never hard to come
by. In the not too distant future, we will
be witnessing the sixth instalment of
“It’s doubtful that Lara
will age in the same
way as the rest of us.” Formed with the launch of Xbox Live, the PMS clan (or “Psycho Men Slayerz”) was
initially a get together of girl gamers seeking out other girls to play with, partially due
to the harassment that female players can receive online. The group also established
Tekken, Final Fantasy XIII, a new Tomb
itself within Playstation 2 online, facing the same problems and also looking for female
Raider game, a new Rainbow Six outing
friends. When the two groups were merged in January 2005, the largest and apparently
in Vegas… for some characters and
first all-female gaming clan was born.
brands, there really is no end. With
publishers still keen on securing the
fanboy dollar, a saggy-breasted Lara
Croft with false teeth, still shooting
generic rottweilers and bad guys, while
leaping around historic buildings looks
highly unlikely, the franchise wouldn’t
survive such a drastic change. It’s
doubtful that Lara will age in the same
way as the rest of us, although it would
be nice to imagine she will pass the torch
on some day. “It’s a win-win situation
– we get a better variety of products,
and the industry gets bigger revenues
by appealing to this relatively untapped
market”, describes Jam from the UK Frag
Dolls.
There are games of all variety
available, and the range only grows
wider. This strange, mythical ‘lack’ of
variety for female gamers is absurd,
maybe the problem, which has tended
to be perceived by males, is due to the
majority of programmers being male?
In 2005, a lecturer for computer
games programming at the University of
19 December 06
Derby commented that; “Girls do want
to play games but no-one is making
games for them.” While in that year the
computer programming course running
at Derby had 106 applicants, all of which
were men. Perhaps the only real shortage
within the industry is that of women
behind the process of creating a game,
programming in particular, therefore
following with “The industry sees this big
untapped market but they don’t know
what to do”, does make sense. What is
ironic is that the only statements claiming
shortages of female gamers and games
for women are coming from men and the
general consensus is that the women
playing the games are in fact suited
“When you look at the creation of a game, women are generally more often
found in the role of artwork, or marketing, whereas programming is definitely a
male dominated role.”
and satisfied with the games on offer,
otherwise they wouldn’t play them in the
first place. I am myself in the midst of
preparations for a university placement,
possibly in the field of programming
and I can vouch for the shortage of
other girls applying to similar courses.
I attended a talk on the computer
games programming course at Teesside
University and found myself in a large
room, entirely of boys and yet I do not
consider this a problem, as the novelty of
coming across another girl I would merely
consider strange and lucky.
When you look at the creation of a
game, women are generally more often
found in the role of artwork, or marketing,
whereas programming is definitely a male
dominated role.
The Frag Doll community is another
recent phenomenon. The forum alone
proves the existence of passionate
female gamers, not just through the Dolls
themselves, but with many other regular
female members who use the site, and
regarding the usual ratio of males to
females on a games discussion forum,
this is quite special. Going from the
information given, the purpose of the (UK)
Frag Dolls is “to promote their (Ubisoft’s)
games whilst encouraging anybody and
everybody to pick up a pad and play.”
It’s a statement I wholeheartedly agree
with. No effort is made to hide the fact
that Ubisoft sponsors them and although
they are paid to promote a product, the
girls are dedicated gamers with both
broad and different tastes in games, not
restricted simply to the ones produced or
developed by Ubisoft.
  Having taken part in the recruitment
for the UK Frag Dolls myself in ‘05, I
paid extreme attention to the goings-on
both at the interview day and the way
the final selection was received in online
communities and magazines OPS2
and OXM. However, the events at the
interview day were worded somewhat
differently to how I remembered them.
The first line in the article in OXM 47 read;
“After weeks of interviews, auditions,
photo sessions and, of course, hardcore
games playing” - which in reality was
filling in a prior questionnaire, sending
one photo, and writing a small essay,
to the interview day, which consisted of
being interviewed and casually playing
20
the games laid out before us. The so-
called “intense day of deathmatching”
involved one friendly match of Halo 2 we
played with the US Frag Dolls over Xbox
Live. After mulling it over, the pretence
over the actual day was quite necessary
if Ubisoft wanted gamers to take these
girls seriously. “After having a laugh with
Bomberman on PS2, drinking coke and
eating crisps, while chatting to each
other and various magazine editors, we
picked these 5 girls”, simply would not
work. It’s a shame that the interview day
wasn’t what the magazines said, as I
fully believe if it was down to the same
15 girls, everyone could have impressed
with skills, knowledge and passion in one
game or another, because I do not doubt
the genuine gamer in any of them.
Abuse and fuss is hurled at the Frag
Dolls in all their divisions (especially
in America and the UK) for their
appearance; some people dislike them
both for looking ‘too good’ and being
‘ugly’ at the same time, and arguing that
they are merely a marketing ploy. Despite
the negativity that has been received,
Frag Doll Sarin comments “One of the
great things about Frag Dolls is how un-
intimidated people feel by us. We seem
able to game with just about anyone 5 Are character
in a pleasant and relaxed way.” On the designs like this
subject of the Frag Dolls being a strictly exploitative, or the sign
all-female team, she continues, “I think it of strong, sexually aware
is important that our group is all women female leads? We know
to maintain this approachable feeling where our money is...
and welcoming ethos.” While no-one
December 06
 denies the girls are most definitely in the
PR department of Ubisoft, at least they
aren’t dancing around a pole in bikinis, at
least they really do play games and most
importantly, you can chat to them about
games, you can play games online with
or against them, and what they look like
is not a factor in the close community the
Frag Dolls have brought together.
On the other hand, it is unlikely you
could have a conversation with depth
about gaming to a booth babe at any
games convention, their role is marketing
purely and simply with their face and
body, and this is
enough to lure some people into playing
a game. This, however, can be strikingly
similar to the task of a main female
character in a game. Obviously to anyone
with sense the quality and playability of
a game is integral to its enjoyment, but
the reasoning behind such things as Ivy’s
bum cheeks on display in Soul Calibur
2, and most other typical fighters with
giant breasts, short skirts, and armoured
bikini’s is simple. Or, on the other hand,
is it a demonstration of the strength
behind virtual, beautiful, and powerful
women? The entrance

of Prince of Persia’s Shahdee in Warrior
Within is a prime example. In the middle
of the sea, amidst dark stormy and
treacherous weather, she confidently
begins the assault on the prince’s ship,
whilst blatantly being leered at by her
army of minions. Despite the apparent
inadequacy of her revealing attire, she
goes on to defeat the prince in battle
with ease; surely this is a display of the
may be, the case can easily apply to
most video game heroes as well as the
heroines; they usually have perfectly
constructed and admirable bodies,
being slender, muscular, handsome and
talented in one area or another. Male
characters could present man’s ideals
of what his perfect model is, while the
all the women are constructed to be
aesthetically pleasing. It is rare to stumble

“they’re [women] supposedly being portrayed in

a sympathetic light... [but] they’re still mostly just
being objectified” - Greg Kasavin, Executive Editor of GameSpot
start,
and questioned from the
Us Ga me .co m gir ls have been scrutinised y, alth ou gh sin ce strong female character that some claim across a genuine Olga, as seen in Metal
The Watch line galler
ap pe ara nc e of its me mbers in the WUG’s on us es mo re on
we need more of. On this subject Greg Gear Solid 2, with tomboyish hair, military
simply for the de, and today it foc Kasavin, executive editor of GameSpot attire, and no obvious attempt made to
changes have been ma
the site kicked off, many ed in fan art and writing art
icles. comments, “they’re [women] supposedly appear dashingly sexy.
e inp ut for m the fem ale members involv site ins tea d acts as a
creativ
no t co nfo rm to a WUG clan, the being portrayed in a sympathetic light or Women can and continue to suitably
The girls who unite he
re do ty being focused
fem ale ga me rs, with it’s main speciali cast as strong, respectable characters, play any role within a game, from the
gathering point for all an d an y ongst themselves, make they’re still mostly just being objectified innocent hopelessness of Yorda in the
the op po rtu nit y to dis cuss gaming issues am
on giving women ustry. and are presented to suit an adolescent tear-jerking Ico, to the enduring strength
rn about the gaming ind
new friends, and also lea male audience.” However true this and near complete independence of

21 December 06

WOMEN IN GAMES CONFERENCE
Voicing the opinions of women since
2004, this is a conference attended by
both men and women from all areas
of the games industry, to discuss the
ways in which women can progress
forwards. There is particular focus on
the conference being a useful provider
of insight for women in the process of
developing and researching games.
The 2007 conference will take place
in April at the University of Wales in
Newport, and as with every year, will
have a wide range of speakers from
different gaming aspects.
22
Lara Croft. Strong and talented female
roles are also prominent throughout the
aforementioned Metal Gear series, be it
the brainy yet fated Emma Emmerich, or
Eva of MGS3 who must endure abuse
from Ocelot and Volgin before she can
complete her mission. The Boss is
also the most obvious female figure of
strength, her code name speaks for itself,
as does the story being interspersed with
her providing experienced musings to all,
and regularly laying the smack on Snake.
Although it’s typical for films and books
to portray women in need of help from a
chivalrous male, many well-known video
game series provide a strong female
character, who can both assist and
disrupt the gamers’ line of tasks without
needing to be rescued.
But therein lies a problem. Most of
the strong female roles are unplayable
external characters, and although there
are games with female leads, these titles
are often not up to the sublime quality of
God of War, Half Life, Zelda, and other
strong titles. Instead the shelves are
dogged lacklustre outings such as Alias,
Catwoman, Death by Degrees, Haunting
Ground, and Rogue Ops, which rely
mainly on the popularity and beauty of
their female lead to sell a game that leaves
a great deal to be desired in the areas
that make it fun to play. Namely, quality
of the gameplay, with suitable and easy
to use controls, a storyline which exists
and makes sense, and features that aren’t
poorly copied from popular games.
Despite the tat that a title using a
female lead usually turns out to be, a
select number of games have created
one successfully. The Silent Hill series
had ‘Heather’ as the main protagonist in
the third instalment of the game, and at
no expense to the twisted, nightmarish
world created, which tends to play on
the gamers mind more so due to the
(initial) normality of the character, and
the situations beginning in ordinary
surroundings; in Heathers’ case, an
innocent visit to the mall.
Primal, a gaming gem similar to
Beyond Good and Evil, is another good
example, the main character, Jennifer,
does grow in strength, and although
assisted by a freely switchable gargoyle,
she must ultimately overthrow her male
equivalent in battle alone.
The future for girls in the gaming
industry is bright, open, and becoming
increasingly noticed throughout all areas.
Girls are being actively encouraged to
partake in the creation of games, and
provide fresh ideas, and perhaps some
more popular titles for the ladies. A fairly
recent Nintendo DS Lite advert features
a woman playing her DS everywhere
throughout her day, an encouraging
sign that women are a market that can
and is being targeted, and can be more
adequately provided for.
On the horizon, Heavenly Sword’s
Nariko will set the standard for a wave
of positive new heroines for the latest
console gamers, from a title which looks
nothing short of amazing, with Nariko
herself hopefully taking centre stage
throughout the game.
Women are, and probably will always
be the minority in the world of video
games. While gaming generally grows
and reaches out to more people with
time, even the minorities will grow. The
arrival of the Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii,
and one day for the UK, the Playstation
3, with the new capabilities in power
and features can only allow the scope of
future genres to grow, and this is good
news for gamers from all walks of life.
December 06
Collection Builder SUPER MARIO WORLD
System: SNES
Developer: Nintendo
Leaps and bounds: HHHHH
As if your shelves weren’t already bowing under the
The greatest Mario game ever made?
weight of gaming goodness, here’s another collection of In a word, yes. This is the game that
titles that you really should own. At least you should if introduced a number of excellent
additions to the Mario universe - a world
you enjoy jumping on turtles and suchlike... map (first seen in Super Mario Bros.
3) gave access to 72 levels with 96

P latform games have, for many years, been the staple of gamers everywhere. From
Super Mario Brothers on the NES to modern genre-benders like Psychonauts, Jak &
Daxter and Ratchet & Clank, they have enjoyed massive sales success and cultivated a
exits (not the 96 levels the box claims
- naughty Nintendo). The visuals are
spectacular - far and away the best seen
loyal and vocal fanbase along the way. up to that point. Level design is nigh-on
perfect and refinements to the traditional
Sadly, many developers have moved away from the traditional platform game. The advent Mario gameplay
of 3D has undoubtedly damaged the genre, for every Mario64 that gets things just right, (such as having to
there are a dozen Vexx’s that barely get anything right. The fact that many movie tie- Jump Spin to destroy
ins, especially those aimed at children, take the form of platform games and are almost certain blocks) made
universally shoddy in execution hasn’t helped things. It’s got to the point where many the title something
gamers view platform games as ‘for kids’ and quality titles often get ignored or not taken new and exciting,
seriously. Well, here at playd we love our platformers, so without further ado, here’s a list even for veterans.
of a few of our favourites. Give them a whirl, you’ll be jumping for joy if you do...

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

System: Megadrive / Master System
Developer: Sega
Leaps and bounds: HHHHH

It may be an obvious choice, but the

original, and in our minds the best,
Sonic game really should be something
everyone experiences. Before a plethora
of extraneous characters and mundane
tasks and bonus levels tore the heart
out of our spikey blue hero, Sonic was
all about speed and perfect timing.
The Green Hill Zone in particular is the
quitessential Sonic level - perfectly
capturing the essence of the game. A
wonderful, joyous game that has stood
the test of time surprisingly well.

23 December 06
 PUTTY EARTHWORM JIM
System: Amiga System: Megadrive / SNES / Amiga / PC
Developer: System 3 Software Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Leaps and bounds: HHHH Leaps and bounds: HHHHH

One of the oddest and most original platform games Putty is odd. Earthworm Jim is a
we’ve ever seen, Putty veers from the sublime (hopping bad LSD trip on top of a night on the
carrots dressed as Arnie, replete with Uzi 9mm) to the mushrooms. Where else would a cow
ridiculous (cats bursting through the background and hurtling through the air be an integral
laughing when you die). The basic premise is that you part of the first level? In what other game
are a blob of putty with the ability to stretch, inflate, do you take the role of a humble annelid
float, flatten and burst. Using these imbued with super-human powers by a
abilities to traverse each level is a joy - mysterious cybernetic suit? How many
and a lesson for game designers. Odd, games do you know where you use
brilliant, essential. yourself as a whip? Wonderfully drawn
and animated with hilarious sight gagas,
superb sound production and wilfully
bizarre levels, you owe it to yourself to
experience this.

RATCHET & CLANK

System: PS2
Developer: Insomniac
Leaps and bounds: HHH
SUPER MARIO64
The ‘run and gun’ platform game System: Nintendo 64 / DS
turned up to ‘11’. While there are strong Developer: Nintendo
elements of traditional platforming, Leaps and bounds: HHHHH
jumping and exploration, Ratchet and
Clank’s raison d’etre is the weapon The first time that 3D platforming was done really well, and as far
system. Deep, cunning, utterly over the as many gamers are concerned, the pinnacle of the genre. We
top and frankly one of the best things wouldn’t agree with them, but there’s no doubting the excellence
to come out of the last generation, of the title. The camera - so often the bane of 3D third-person
it’s like nothing you’ve played before. titles - is beautifully implemented, never getting stuck or
The interplay between the two main leaving you with the old ‘impossible jump’ scenario. Nintendo’s
characters is very well done, and the experience of crafting balanced and enjoyable mission-structures
tone of the game manages to tread the and tight level design was carried over from the SNES titles, and
fine line between accessible fun and the whole game really is an unmitigated joy to play. Oh, and while
immaturity perfectly. the DS version is good, but the original N64 version is better.

24 December 06
 CASTLEVANIA: CASTLE OF ILLUSION
SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT System: Megadrive
System: PSone / Xbox Live Arcade Developer: Sega
Developer: Konami Leaps and bounds: HHHHH
Leaps and bounds: HHHH
Was there a better animated Megadrive title than Castle of
The Castlevania games have always been held in Illusion? If there was, we never saw it. As part of a series of
awed respect by gamers in the know. However, Disney tie-ins, Castle of Illusion surprised everyone by being
Symphony of The Night manages to eclipse all the not rubbish. In fact, it’s utterly compelling and stands out
titles that had gone before with an open-ended as not only one of the best platformers on the Megadrive
structure and RPG elements that veered it away from - a system blessed with more than its fair share - but one
previous entries ion the series and provided a deeper, of the best games for the system,
more thoughtful and ultimately much better full stop. Succulent animation, a
game. These aspects, along with the fact perfectly pitched difficulty level and
it tied up a number of loose ends that had the finest, catchiest music we’ve
developed in the series’ plot - and of course heard in ages combine to make
the splendid 2D visuals - helped to give the Mickey’s adventure a must.
title a special place in many gamers hearts.

NiGHTS INTO DREAMS

System: Saturn
Developer: Sega (Sonic Team)
ROCKET KNIGHT ADVENTURES Leaps and bounds: HHHH
System: Megadrive
Developer: Konami Ah, good old NiGHTS. When you ask people which
Leaps and bounds: HHHH Sega titles they want to see return from grave
of the Saturn, there’s only ever two answers;
Coming at the height of the ‘Sonic vs Mario’ debate of Panzer Dragoon Saga and NiGHTS. Without
the late 80s and early 90s, Rocket Knight was sadly wishing to sound contrived and corny, NiGHTS
ignored as a ‘wannabe’ title. It was far more than that. is a dream to play. The games highlight is the
While not as instantly cool or recognisable as Nintendo unique flying system which allows moves to be
and Sega’s mascots, Sparkster stands as a jewel in smoothly and seamlessly strung together. The
Konami’s crown. Traditional platform levels mixed with use of the packaged Analog pad (one of the first
eight-way scrolling rocket-pack levels, Gradius-style available) made it as easy and accurate as it
side-scrolling levels, strong design and excellent visuals was imaginative. An evolving music system and
to make the game a real treasure. Incidentally, ‘easy’ very clever high score system further distance it
mode drops the final level - making it impossible to from the realms of the ‘standard’ platform title.
complete, while ‘hard’ mode is almost impossible with Beautiful, unique and hugely addictive,
a single life, one hit kills and no continues. Fiendish. we can’t recommend it enough.

25 December 06
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reviews
28 Archlord (PC)
30 Blade Dancer Lineage of Light (PSP)
32 Defcon (PC)
34 Disgaea 2 (PS2)
37 Family Guy (Multi)
38 Gears of War (360)
40 Gitaroo Man Lives! (PSP)
42 King of Fighters Neowave (PS2)
43 Mercury Meltdown Remix (PS2)
44 Need For Speed Carbon (Multi)
47 Okami (PS2)
50 Starfox Command (DS)
52 Why don’t you own... Dues Ex? (PC)
55 The Vault... Advent Rising (Xbox)

by Sean Bonner
Publisher: Codemasters • Developer: In-House • Available: Now • Systems: PC • Price: £29.99
Archlord
‘Arch’ means ‘first’ or ‘chief’. Yeah, right...
I nitially promising, Archlord is a major
let down in many areas. Taking its
cues from the standard MMORPG, it
offers very little in the way of innovation
or imagination. The premise of the
game is an interesting one. One player
with sufficient experience and strength
can eventually rise - after devoting a
significant amount of time - to become
the Archlord, the ruler of the universe and
lord of the land, so to speak. However,
to get anywhere close to this goal, you
will need to have or be a member of
a strong guild and even then there will
be competition over who becomes
number one. Its lack of originality means
sacrificing your social life to become the
king of a fictitious land won’t endear the
game to those who aren’t fans of the
genre already.
As is the standard for fantasy
MMORPG’s, you can pick from a choice
of three races: Human, Elf and Orc.
Each of these races are in turn divided
into classes. Humans have Knight,
Archer and Sorcerer, Elves have Archer
and Sorcerer and Orc’s have Berserker,
Hunter and Sorcerer. Unortunately,
despite the subtle differences in the three
races, it is fairly standard fare and there
is actually little difference between the
classes - beyond a few health points and
different weapons, an Orc Berserker is
the equivalent of a Human Knight .
REVIEW
Character customisation is also
disappointing . As a result, pretty many
new players look almost exactly the
same, with only their names to tell them
apart. Players can of course purchase
new cloths from the stylist, but it’s not
really enough, especially considering
what other MMORPG’s offer. When it
comes to arming your avatar there are
some unnecessary restrictions, such
as requiring you to be of a certain level
to wear a higher class armour or equip
better weapons. Regardless of whether
you have the money for the kit, you won’t
be able to use it. It would be better to
allow players to use whatever weapons
they can afford to buy, regardless of their
current level. It’s quite frustrating trying to
fight off higher level monsters with lower
level weaponry when players can in fact
afford to buy better ones.
The quest system that has been put
in place is lacklustre at best. Often only
requiring players to deliver a letter to
someone else in the village or to the next
town, or killing a set amount of monsters
that are apparently over running the area.
These side quests don’t offer much in the
way of diversion, especially to a veteran
MMO player.
The graphics are, like the rest of
the game, rather poor. Even at its best
settings they don’t really offer any
competition to the genre leaders. They
28 December 06
 REVIEW

do the job, but that’s it. During play whilst

running across a field, a lot of green
and blue strands would flash on the
screen, but it became apparent that fully
grown bushes were flying through the
air, not the sort of thing to be expected
in a finished game. This was far from
an isolated incident and marred any
enjoyment of the game.
On the bright side of things though,
Codemasters have opted for free play,
which is good news in any gamer’s book.
This coupled with the upcoming ‘Archlord
Episode 2’ expansion pack, which will
also be free to download, will hopefully
make it a more bearable game to play.
The worst aspect of Archlord is the
levelling up system, or lack thereof. When
players first start out it’s standard fare.
But after a few levels, repeitition kicks in
and you’lll find yourself doing the same
thing as you were ten levels ago, albeit
with tougher enemies. It is incredibly
boring to level up and after ten or eleven
re-runs of the same events, you’ll begin
to look elsewhere for your MMO fix.

Considering the competition in the

MMORPG market, such as World of
Warcraft, Guildwars and Everquest,
Archlord falls way short of the mark.
There is almost nothing to entice
players away from the other top
games in the genre and make them
switch to Archlord.

5 There are positive aspects to Archlord. For instance, this armour looks quite nice. 2
29 December 06
 REVIEW
by Chris Waring
Publisher: NIS America • Developer: Hitmaker/SCE Studios Japan • Available: Now • Systems: PSP • Price: £29.99

Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light

Great RPG’s on the PSP are rare. Can this redress the balance?

E verything about this game says

“average”. Despite the lovely anime
opening, the game goes quickly downhill
from there. It’s not that it’s a really bad
game it’s just so unerringly dull for the
first hour. It’s odd that game developers
don’t make their games more interesting
during the opening levels if they really
want to hold a player’s attention, they
really need to make games a little less
bland than this one is. Bland levels, bland
people, bland design, bland targeting,
bland missions…you get the idea.
Our spiky haired hero this time is a
young man called Lance and we join
him aboard a ship on his way to the
island of Foo (best not to ask) looking
for adventure. Drawn from the generic
pool of RPG heroes, there’s not much
about Lance to distinguish him from
the numerous other spiky haired do-
gooders that have appeared down the
years. The companions he picks up
later aren’t much better. Arriving on the
island, we are introduced to the brilliant
notion of targeting people to talk to
them. This also applies to opening doors.
The idea that you could just walk up
to someone/something and press X to
interact seems to have bypassed the

5 “I can give you the name of a good dentist if you like...”

developers. It quickly becomes tedious. distance is another bone of contention.

Cycling through targets is another novel
idea seemingly designed to bore us
half to death. It usually goes something
like this – target door, select and enter
building, cycle through people, select,
talk, cycle though again, select, talk,
receive mind numbing retrieval mission,
die of boredom.  Dull, dull, dull. Character
animation is limited – faces look flat
and emotionless – and special attacks
are functional rather than flashy. Draw
Deserts, grasslands and forest are
misty more often than not, with the
blandness affecting the lack of detail in
the landscape. Usually the only things of
interest are the skulls floating about.
Get outside to the countryside
and take part in battles and the game
suddenly comes to life. Groups of
enemies are represented by floating
skulls and can be avoided if players wish
to do so, even running away is an option,

30 December 06

but nobody ever levelled up their party
by running away. Weaker enemies will try
to get away, while stronger creatures will
harass players until they get out of range
although this isn’t always possible. The
back of the box promises a “completey
(sic) real-time battle system”, although
if the action is as bad as the spelling, it
might be best to give that a miss too.
The system isn’t real-time in any sense
that’s recognisable, instead a Lunar
Clock counts down the seconds to when
a move can be made. Each character
has his (or her) own countdown, so while
inputting commands is in real-time, the
“To say this is one of
5 A shop. Where you can buy swords and other weapons. Will the originality never begin? the two highlights says
much about it.”
resulting moves are most definitely not.
Players are left counting the seconds
they could have been doing something
far more interesting. Things are saved
somewhat by the Lunar Gauge,
representing the magic shared by all
the members of the party. As a battle
progresses, the gauge will fill until it can
be used with special attacks. Strategy
plays a part as enemies can use this
gauge too, completely wiping out a party.
Also, while attacking an enemy as they
are powering up will return the points to
the gauge, they can do the same to you.
Blade Dancer’s main selling point
that distinguishes it from the run of the
5 You may have noticed the screens look rather grey. There’s a good reason - it’s a very grey game.
mill, however, is its crafting of weapons,
armour and handy items like potions.
31
REVIEW
While players can still buy weapons
in shops, those discovered during the
course of play are often stronger. Here’s
the nifty bit – taking them to an appraiser
will reveal the recipe needed to make
such weapons, as after repeated use
they will shatter. This item creation is
highly useful when out in the middle of
nowhere as it saves trekking back to
town through hordes of enemies. To
say this one of the two highlights in the
game says much about it. The other?
The wireless multiplayer. More copies
of the game are required, but character
levels can be adjusted to match another
player’s and secret items and weapons
can be discovered together that can be
used in the single player game.
In truth, this isn’t so much a bad
RPG, as an average one, but in this day
and age when the likes of Disgaea are
coming to the PSP, it’s a major criticism.
Maybe game designers should stop
chasing the idea that games should look
realistic on the PSP and try for a more
original artistic aesthetic.
If an average RPG, item creation and
relentless level grinding are your thing,
then this is the game for you. In reality,
the PSP has games of a higher calibre
than this. Titles like this don’t help the
consoles’ reputation.
6
December 06
 REVIEW
by Chris Waring
Publisher: Introversion • Developer: Introversion • Available: Now • Systems: PC • Price: £10

Defcon
Wargames. Minus Matthew Broderick.

A t first glance, the most obvious

influence on Defcon is the scene
in 1983 movie War Games, in which a
super computer controlling the nuclear
warheads has the futility of war taught to
it by Ferris Beuller (or Matthew Broderick
if you prefer). The game looks like it may
have missed its true era by about 15
years, global thermonuclear war is a term
not in use much these days - the Cold
War is long gone and the world has only
one real super power, albeit in the hands
of an idiot. Looking at recent events it’s
obvious that Defcon really is of it’s time,
more relevant now than it ever could
have been. Smaller countries claim to
have their hands on nuclear capabilities,
terrorism is on the increase and now
Introversion has given us the chance to
blow stuff up too.
The title is from the same brains
behind the genius of Darwinia and
Uplink and is decked out in what has
become the team’s signature retro-
modern minimal design. While their
previous games may have needed
5 Somehow the minimalist presentation just makes the mass slaughter even more chilling.

“it’s obvious that Defcon really is of its time, more

relevant now than it ever could have been.”
some explanation, even to the most
ardent non-gamer it must be obvious
what this is all about – waging nuclear
war. With a map of the world laid out
before them, players must decide where
to place their forces and defensive
capabilities and players not only have
silos, but radar posts as well to detect
incoming attacks. The silos can take a
bit of punishment before they crumble,
but the radar stations are rather more
delicate. In addition to these, players
have aerial and naval forces. From their
airbases, bombers fly to their destination
and nuke the targets, while fighters
take down opposition bombers and
attack naval forces. The navy consists
of the undetectable submarines,
although they must surface to launch
attacks; undefended carriers, which can
launch planes and hunt for subs; and
battleships, which can take on anything
they find.
The game begins at Defcon 5,
with players deciding where to place
units. At Defcon 4, radar begins to give
information on enemy units in range.
Once Defcon 3 and 2 are reached,
normal defensive and attacking options
are involved and units mobilized, before

32 December 06

Defcon 1 when the nuclear missiles are
unleashed. This all takes place against
the clock, which counts up, at varying
speeds that can be set by the player
(apart from two modes, where the speed
is locked). This is when all of players’
previous tactical decisions are laid bare.
Right clicking over an icon, players can
direct their defences to do as they wish.
For example, in defence mode the silos
will attempt to take down incoming
attacks from planes and missiles,
although they can be overwhelmed by
many nuclear attacks. Ordering them to
fire one of their ten ICBM’s at a target
within range has to be chosen, but also
reveals their position to other players. The
airbases can be ordered to send fighters
up to take out incoming missiles or attack
nearby fleets. Bombers are a sneakier
option to deliver nuclear weapons, but
even so, only carry one bomb and can
be taken down by anti aircraft fire. Sitting
33
back and watching the action is never
really an option, as orders have to be
consistently dished out in order to win.
Or rather, to survive the destruction and
have more survivors than the opposition,
for players score two for every enemy
kill and one for every hit taken. Although
the scoring mechanism can be altered
– Survivor gives every player 100 points
and the only way is down.
Defcon has a wealth of modes
beyond the single player. In Bigworld for
example, the world map is twice the size,
the ranges of all weapons and radar are
halved and it runs at half the speed of a
normal game, at it’s opposite is Speed
Defcon, running for all of 15 minutes.
In Office mode, players can hide their
games from roving bosses, as it’s easy
to drop the game into the background
quickly and lasts only six hours. It is
online in the multiplayer and alliance
making that the game shows its true
REVIEW
depth. Up to five players can form an
alliance, but only one player can win the
game. Forming an alliance will expand
radar coverage and planes can fly over
more territory, but players need to watch
their backs, as alliances can be broken
without warning.
Rarely does such modest
presentation look so cool. That it evokes
the minimalist Cold War era computers,
with a stylish, modern production is a
triumph in itself. Watching as the white
blooms smother a map, with mournful
music playing that Brian Eno would be
proud of, as casualty numbers mount in
familiar European cities for example, it’s
hard not to be moved. That they have
managed to produce games as varied
as Uplink to Darwinia and now Defcon,
surely rates Introversion as one of the
few development teams worth keeping
an eye on. Long may their independence
continue.
To enjoy an original (and very cheap!)
gaming experience, this can be
downloaded from Steam right now.
Both fans of Introversion’s productions
and those new to their gaming output
will find much to enjoy here. Quite
simply, this is one of the essential
games of the year.
8
December 06

by Chris Waring
Publisher: Koei • Developer: Nippon Ichi • Available: Now • Systems: PS2 • Price: £34.99
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
Time to clear the calendar and get ready for the prinnies.
H ow do you follow a best selling
and universally acclaimed title?
Do you listen to the fans and critics
and not trust to your own judgement,
or stay true to the original ideas that
made the first game so highly regarded?
Remember, this is a game that not only
gained deserved recognition across
the industry, but is rightly held in high
esteem as a genre defining title of its
generation. It seemingly set an impossibly
high standard for any sequel to follow,
glowing praise from the multi-format
mags, adored by those who know a
good strategy RPG when they see one
and now so hard to find it’s a bona fide
collector’s item. Well, if you’re the clever
chaps at Nippon Ichi you tweak, hone
and polish an almost perfect game to
create something that feels familiar and
at the same time add enough to make it
fresh - a difficult balancing act to achieve.
Despite similar forays into the genre with
Phantom Brave and Makai Kingdom,
Disgaea remains the title Nippon Ichi
is best known for. Disgaea 2: Cursed
Memories arrives with the weight of
expectation upon it. Can they produce
the same magic twice?  encountered the first game, the tutorial
Those familiar with the first game
will find little has changed. The game
uses Adell’s home town as a central hub
where there are familiar stops like the
Netherworld Hospital, where players can
REVIEW
restore health and pick up prizes, plus
the weapon, item and clothing merchants
are present too. A player’s customer
rating climbs higher the more they buy
from the merchants, so better items
become available. The Dark Assembly
returns, albeit with some minor changes.
A characters mana is used to create
new companions for the team, including
monsters and enemies that have been
“getting into a spot of
bother with the courts
isn’t necessarily bad...”
defeated in the course of play. Another
cool feature is the Dark Court. The
court issues subpoenas that can either
be ignored (at no penalty) or picked up
to be defended. As this is a world of
demons, getting into a spot of bother 5 Total damage ‘0’? Look at it! How can that be ‘0’ damage?!
with the courts isn’t necessarily a bad
thing – being found guilty brings rewards,
while being found innocent brings
punishments.
Even if players have never
manages to explain battle basics very
well. Very little has changed from the
first game however and goes much like
this – choosing who to arrange on the
field within a grid system, then moving
34 December 06
 REVIEW

them to engage enemies. Fighting from

the side or back increases the damage
inflicted and keeping mages, healers
and ranged weapon users back is just
as important as having heavy duty
fighters up front. Also making a return
are the Geo Nodes. Colouring an area
to influence a party (both player and
enemy), they can increase an enemy
attack or increase Mana. They can be
moved and destroyed, although later in
the game they move under the influence
of Geo Monsters and are as capable of
helping a player, as they are an enemy.
Annoyingly, they can wipe out a carefully
planned attack, but it does make players Skyscraper, I Love You
more aware of the level they are playing
Characters can pick each other up
on. Mastering the Geo Nodes brings
and throw them farther than they
its own benefits, in greater rewards at
might have been able to move on
the end of a skirmish and can make the
their own. Throwing them closer to
difference in winning and losing as the
enemies and Geo Nodes can make
game progresses.
up plenty of ground and give players
As to the story, it’s a more
an advantage. This actually allows
straightforward affair then the first. Adell
one of the quirkier battle attacks – the
is a man with a mission - he is the last
stacking of a team to create a tower.
human left after a curse turned everyone,
An enemy will get knocked up all the
including his family, into demons 15
way up to the top where an awesome
years previously. Now he wishes to
attack is unleashed. One of the more
take revenge on Overlord Zenon as
fun moves in the game.
the curse leaves these demons unable
to remember their former human lives
and strips away all conscience. Zenon,
known as the God of all Overlords after
he destroyed more than a thousand of
them, has a daughter, Rozalin and it is
she who is mistakenly summoned at the
beginning of the game binding her to
Adell, much to her disgust. There’s an
uncanny similarity between the two leads
in this game and the first title – both male

35 December 06

“There’s an uncanny similarity between
the two leads in this game and the
first title - both suffer from duplicitous
female followers.”
Pirates of Penance
Some of the deadlier foes that pop up
now and again are the pirates. They
can wipe out a party member in one
turn and are to be avoided at all costs.
Carefully calculated attacks can take
a turn for the worse if they appear
and it’s likely that a great number
of a player’s characters will be lost.
Fighting through to the nearest exit is
5 Total damage ‘0’? Look at it! How can that be ‘0’ damage?! the best option.
36
REVIEW
protagonists suffer
from duplicitous
female followers.
The game’s humour
is still present, with
the television reports
providing some of the
better moments and
it’s a player with a stone cold heart that
finds little to entertain here.
While much of this can seem
daunting, becoming immersed in the
gameplay is what attracts many players
to these games. The usual camera issues
found in games of this type are still here,
but this is nothing that would ever deter
an avid SRPG player. Perhaps the titles
biggest fault lies in its overwhelming
similarity to the first, but when a game as
great as Disgaea comes along, it’s hard
to not want more of the same. Nippon
Ichi has managed to create such a title
– it’s a fun, engrossing game that requires
players to use their brains and give up
much of their time. There won’t be many
complaints.
How does Nippon Ichi do it? Another
awesome SRPG full of humour,
engaging characters and enough
gameplay to ensure you need never
play another game all year. More
please!
9
December 06

by James Cooper
Publisher: 2K Games • Developer: High Voltage • Available: Now • Systems: PS2 / Xbox / PSP • Version reviewed: PS2 • Price: £29.99
Family Guy
At least it’ll be funny, right? Right?
V ideogames of popular TV shows
nearly always fall into two categories:
the average and the terrible. I say ‘nearly’
because there have been exceptions; the
first Buffy game springs instantly to mind,
as do one or two of the Simpsons titles.
So, how does Family Guy - based
on the hilarious hit TV show - fare then?
Not well. One of the problems facing
developers creating this sort of game
is how to work an ensemble cast into a
videogame. High Voltage have chosen
the path of allowing you control over
the three most popular characters
(Peter, Stewie and Brian), giving each a
specific style of gameplay and a seperate
storyline and interspersing the whole
think with the flashbacks and random
moments the show is famous for.
Unfortunately, it’s all a bit of a mess.
Peter’s sections are akin to a flawed,
poorly executed beat ‘em up from the
mid-eighties - you pound buttons,
executing limited two and three move
combos on passers-by and try not to
tear your hair out in frustration as the
lock-on feature fails again and you lose
track of the enemy you were fighting.
Who may or may not be affected by
your punches and kicks - it appears
to be utterly random. To say that this
is annoying is an understatement. I
very nearly put my head through the
television.
REVIEW
Then comes Stewie, whose missions
take the form of basic platforming action
with a dash of ‘run and gun’ thrown in for
good measure. While in places they are
quite enjoyable (comparatively), poor level
design, vague controls and slippy-slidey
levels (what is this, 1988?) which frustrate
to the point of apoplexy, combine to
hamstring them before they’ve really
begun.
So it’s left to Brian, the faithful
hound, to maintain the family honour.
And how will he do this? By the use of
basic stealth missions, of course! If you
haven’t lost the will to live by this point
then you soon will when you realise all
the advances in stealth games (especially
enemy AI and random routes) have
been completely ignored. Enemies
move on pre-arranged, non-negotiable
paths, reducing these levels to a by the
numbers memory test.
Hang the whole thing together with Stylistically bland with poor controls
a dash of gross-out humour - with non and - bizarrely for a game based
of the show’s subtlety - utterly mediocre on such a funny TV show - a belief
presentation, an utterly stupid plot, some that random weirdness can replace
fatally inept attempts at humour and humour, Family Guy takes the path
basic sound design and you have all the most trodden and treads it badly. As
hall marks of a cash-in. Peter might say, “this sucks”.
I had hopes that this might be quite
good. I should have known better.
3
37 December 06

by James Cooper
Publisher: Microsoft • Developer: Epic Games • Available: Now • Systems: 360 • Price: £49.99
Gears of War
Lock, load and prepare to drop that jaw.
Y ou don’t need us to tell you about
Gears of War. By the time you read
this it will have been out for a little over
six weeks and you’ll already doubtless
have played it to death (in fact, as of
15th December it’s sold 2 million copies
worldwide). So why, you may ask, are
we reviewing a game that most of our
readership probably already own. Well,
quite simply, it’s too important to ignore.
Believe the hype, Gears of War is
everything we’ve been told it could be
and everything we could reasonably
expect - apart from one of two minor
problems, but more on them later.
Inevitably, the first thing that hits you
with Gears of War is the visual treatment.
Stunning, amazing, gob-smacking,
pick an adjective, none of them can
prepare you for the first time you see
this game running in High Definition. The
texture detail, modelling, art direction
and effects are absolutely spot on,
giving the game a familiar yet alien style.
Monochrome ruined cities, dying flora
and fauna, smoke, fire and tarnished
metal are captured perfectly. As far as
‘photorealism’ in games goes, this is
far and away the best example we’ve
yet seen. Yet it still maintains a distinct,
super-real, almost comic book feel due
to the über-macho styling of the central
characters.
Which brings us neatly to the first
REVIEW
problem the game faces, it certainly
won’t be to everyone’s taste. The art
direction will be enough to put some
people off immediately, and there’s no
denying that the shallow story and two
dimensional characters give the game
all the emotion and depth of a late-80s
Arnie film. However, to hold this against
Gears is to miss its purpose. It’s not
meant to connect emotionally in any
other way then by tapping straight into
your addrenal gland. It’s not here to tell
a big, important story and address adult “It’s not here to tell a big, important story... it’s here
themes. It’s here to let you play with
guns, pretend to be the big hero and
to let you play with guns...”
shoot, eviscerate and generally eliminate
with extreme prejudice any nasty aliens
that get in your way. And it succeeds.
One thing to note - this is a very
violent game. Epic has pulled no punches
and definitely hasn’t spared the claret.
Headshots and chainsaw executions are
greeted with fountains of bodily juices,
splattering the player and even the game
camera. It really does earn that little red
‘18’ sticker on the box. Not one for the
kids then.
The enemies you face - also know
as the Locust hordes - are quite a varied
bunch and they display some fine AI,
nipping behind cover and waiting for
opportunities to attack or take you out
with a well-timed headshot.
This brings us to the game’s USP, 5 Each level is littered with hiding places and cover to crouch behind. Make sure you use it.
38 December 06

the ‘cover and shoot’ mechanic. It’s
very well implemented, so well that you
can traverse an entire area and rarely
have to leave cover for more than a few
moments. The controls make ducking,
diving and blind-shooting child’s play, and
soon become second nature. By the end
of the first level you be diving between
cover, blindfiring, taking headshots and
chainsawing unfortunate Locust sentries
like a seasoned pro. It’s a good job too,
because if you don’t get used to using
the cover the game provides, you’ll last
seconds. Just like in real life, gung-ho run
and gun action will only get you killed,
and killed quickly. If you want to survive,
you need to constantly be scanning each
area for cover and opportunities for safe
progression and firing positions.
Herein lies the games one real fault
though. Yes, the levels are beautifully
designed, the weapons are visceral and
grea fun to use and the game never loses
its grip or excitement factor. However,
you’ll find that after the first three or four
hours, apart from a few spectacular set-
“Fun, bloody, back-biting,
addrenaline fuelled whimsy it may
be, but when it’s done this well,
we really don’t care.”
39
REVIEW
pieces, you’ve seen everything the game
has to offer. This isn’t to say it loses its
appeal, just that it’s a little disappointing
that the entire game is effectively
approached in the same manner as the
first couple of levels.
The other real criticism is that the
single player game is a little short. Eight
to ten hours will see you complete it
without too much effort. Yes, there are
tougher difficulties to tackle, but the real
long-term appeal lies elsewhere.
This game feels as if it was made for
its online multiplayer and co-operative
modes. That’s how good they are.
Nothing we’ve played since Halo 2
comes close to the thrill of playing Gears
online, especially if you can get a group
of close-knit and evenly matched players
together. Fun, bloody, back-biting,
addrenaline fuelled whimsy it may be, but
when it’s done this well, we really don’t
care. In all it makes what was already a
very good game into a great game.
Gears is not the best game we’ve
ever played. It is the best game on
the 360 though, and certainly one of
the best games of the last few years.
Technically astounding, brutal in its
execution and with online play to
die for, Gears of War is an essential
purchase for 360 owners.
9
December 06

by Chris Waring
Publisher: Koei • Developer: Inis • Available: Now • Systems: PSP • Price: £29.99
Gitaroo Man Lives!
It’s Gitaroo Man, but on the bus.
F irst, the bad news - Gitaroo Man is
as thumb-bustingly hard as it ever
was on the PlayStation 2. The game still
requires players have to have the hand-
eye coordination of a superhuman on
amphetamines to master some of the
more dastardly levels.
To some that might actually be
the good news. For many this is the
epitome of rhythm action games, with
an idiosyncratic style all of its own, both
visually and musically and was an ideal
candidate for conversion to the PSP. In
fact, apart from a few minor additions,
5 Putting new meaning to the term ‘Mad Axeman’.
this is essentially the same game as the
PlayStation 2 release.
The star of the show is U-1, a whiney
loser, constantly bullied and ridiculed by
a fellow classmate and ignored by his
dream girl, Pico. Things change when
his talking dog Puma informs him he is
the last of the Gitaroo Men, a long line
of musically gifted heroes. From there
it only gets more bizarre. Teaching U-1
his true path in life sets him up to be the
target of many foes, not something he
truly wishes for himself, longing instead
to prove worthy for Pico. When Puma
40
5 Yes that’s right, a hammerhead shark. In a rhythm action game. Just go with it...
“once players become accustomed to the feel of
this, it becomes extremely satisfying to hit even the
most staccato of riffs.”
hurls the Gitaroo at U-1 for the first time,
it triggers a tutorial that teaches players
the game basics and later transforms U-1
into Gitaroo Man and Puma into AC-30,
ready to do battle.
This is where Gitaroo Man really
shines. Instead of the usual simplistic
button presses in time to the music, a
trace line will approach from any side
of the screen, which players have to
direct the analog nub towards. Guitar
chords then appear as various lengths
of icon and are played by pressing and
releasing the circle button for as long as
REVIEW
they appear over the dot in the centre
of the screen. These are usually in
rhythm with the music and once players
become accustomed to the feel of this,
it becomes extremely satisfying to hit
even the most staccato of riffs. All of this
effort builds the charge at the top of the
screen, essentially the Gitaroo Man’s
life bar. It should be said that the nub
is a better tool than the PlayStation 2’s
analog stick at this and makes for a more
pleasurable playing experience.
This leads into the battle mode
proper, where the enemy can now take
December 06

“if players have previously owned the game, there’s
little here to tempt them to part with their cash for
what amounts to a straight port.”
damage from well played solos. However,
Gitaroo Man can also take damage if riffs
are missed, or during the guard phase
of the battle. Guarding involves pressing
the face buttons as they cross the central
dot, for example, Mojo King Bee’s (a
funky dude in a giant bee costume
playing trumpet like Herp Albert) attacks
are in time with the notes he plays on
his trumpet, so hitting them becomes
a simple matter of listening to the tune
he plays. Manage to get through this
and players enter the Final mode, where
damage is dealt with an intense guitar
solo. Dexterity and memory are tested to
the limit right through the game as there
will often be more than one trip through a
battle. As well as finding the nub superior
to the pad’s analog, the face buttons
on the PSP actually lend themselves
to the frantic gameplay. Placed close
enough together to allow a thumb to be
rested in the middle of the buttons and
then “rolled” onto the required selection.
Well, perhaps apart from the infamous
Ben-K (the hammer headed shark)
level, frustration and confusion on a
monumental scale.
The only place the game falls down
is the lack of additional modes and
material for this edition of the game, with
an English version of the second level
5 Ming Ming, a truly terrifying name for a truly terrifying, er... cat. We think.
song and two multiplayer modes, Versus
and Duet, the only new added extras.
41
REVIEW
Both are what you might imagine. Via the
ad-hoc set up, two players can battle
away though songs from the main game,
but Duet is more of a disappointment
as it contains all of two songs. More
songs from the game would have been
appreciated. All of which might suggest if
players have previously owned the game,
there’s little here to tempt them to part
with their cash for what amounts to a
straight port.
However, this is one of those games
that slipped under many gamers’
radar the first time around and, as is
the fashion these days, it’s one of a
growing list of titles most often held up
as a standard bearer for all that’s right
in original gaming. Don’t let it get away
again.
Gitaroo Man is one of those games
that the hardcore love, as much for the
difficulty as for the daft story, quirky
design and sheer determination it takes
to complete it, but first timers shouldn’t
let that put them off. A game that’s as
likely to have you cussing loudly and
frequently as enjoying yourself.
7
December 06

by James Cooper
Publisher: Ignition • Developer: SNK • Available: Now • Systems: PS2 / Xbox • Version reviewed: PS2 • Price: £29.99
King of Fighters: Neowave
So many characters, so little time...
S omething described as ‘Neo’ is
something that is new, or a revived,
rejuvenated form of a classic design.
Here we immediately come to the crux
of the matter when addressing King of
Fighters Neowave’s worth - it feels, looks
and plays in almost exactly the same way
as every King of Fighters game that has
gone before.
Not that this is necessarily a bad
thing - the series has always produced
solid, playable games with a balanced
“character animation and detail has actually been
improved from the arcade version...”
and tight fighting system and a dedicated
fanbase. The trouble is, this latest release
promised us “an all new fighting system”
and a game built from the ground up for
new arcade architecture. We can’t help
but feel a little disappointed.
However, there are additions to
the gameplay - for instance there are
now three fighting ‘styles’ to choose
from. ‘Max 2 Mode’  allows you to pull
off special moves once your health is
dangerously low, ‘Super Cancel’ allows
you to cancel moves in progress and
wrong-foot your opponent and ‘Guard
Break’ allows the player to exchange
on ‘super bar’ for the opportunity to
break through their opponent’s block.
REVIEW
While these modes to offer a variety
of gameplay options, they really don’t
expand on the fighting engine that has
been refined throughout the years. Make
no mistake about it, this is classical King
of Fighters  with bells and whistles.
From a technical perpective,
character animation and detail has
actually been improved from the arcade
version, and the hi-res backgrounds are
a world away from the flat backdrops of
previous incarnations. It really does look
quite beautiful at times. Add to this a
simply enormous roster of 43 characters
(with more to unlock), one-on-one and
team battles and the return of some old
favourites from the series’ history, and
King of Fighters fans will no doubt find
much in Neowave to satisfy them. Sumptuous visuals and a wealth
For the rest of us though, while it’s a of options hide a fighting system
fun and challenging game with a deep that’s really getting on and needs an
fighting system and almost limitless injection of imagnation of it’s to survive
potential for learning and refining your for much longer. For now though,
technique, there’s simply not enough Neowave is a worthy, but by no means
new material here to justify it being an essential, fighting game.
obligatory puchase.
7
42 December 06

by Emily Knox
Publisher: Ignition • Developer: In-House • Available: Now • Systems: PS2 • Price: £29.99
Mercury Meltdown Remix
Mercury Meltdown, minus the PSP.
D o you fondly remember being shown
a warmed up little blob of mercury in
a chemistry lesson? Looking completely
smooth in perfect shining silver, and
acting unlike anything you’ve seen before
as it slides around in a sealed test tube?
Mercury Meltdown: Remix captures the
element perfectly and makes it 100%
safe to play with. In a similar style to
PSP’s Loco Roco, you guide a blob
of mercury from A to B by tilting the
surroundings in over 200 levels, avoiding
and utilising a wealth of special objects
to reach your goal, involving hammers,
guillotines, magnets and more.
Remix is an extension of the PSP
version of Mercury Meltdown, with the
improved graphics and extra levels
that the PS2 can easily cater for. The
mercury itself is rendered wonderfully,
and can be pleasingly altered from its
usual appearance, outlined by a thick
black line, to a more realistic style, which
makes a surprising difference to how
easy it is watching your mercury upon the
brightly coloured levels.
The behaviour of the mercury is
excellently done; tilt your blob into a spike
or corner and it splits in two, heat it up
and the blob spreads outwards, sliding
faster and separating more easily. The
mercury can also be cooled into a sphere
to roll down slides and ramps as though
you were playing with marbles, and even
REVIEW
painted and mixed with different colours
to open specific doors and activate
switches. Indeed, simply playing with
the mercury for no real purpose is fun in
itself, it’s just a pity the ‘playground’ area
is rather small and limiting, and cannot be
changed for your own amusement.
Gameplay, which is mostly quick,
fun and puzzling, suffers with the regular
‘Saving… Do not remove memory card in
PS2 Slot 1 or reset/turn off console’ after
every level, which disrupts the speed and
flow of this style of game.
The unlockable Party Games are
a fun distraction from the main game,
and involve five different tasks, such as
racing your mercury round a track, and
attempting to remain on a platform for as
long as possible while being aggressed 5 The movement and physics of the mercury blob
by a fan. Although the word ‘Party’ in a are extremely well implemented, giving you real
confidence that when things do go wrong, it really is
game tends to imply multiple players,
your own fault.
these are still single player games that
challenge the AI, rather than the more fun
possibility of human opposition that was Puzzle games don’t come much
possible in PSP format. simpler, or more addictive, than this.
Remix is a fresh slice of simple fun, Technically proficient with plenty of
assisted by an unusual blend of both content and mini-games to unlock,
dance music and guitar riffs. Although, in fans of the genre are sure to enjoy this.
our opinion, it’s overpriced for what it is. However, we can’t help but feel it’s a
better mobile game that home game.
Still, it’s great fun either way.
7
43 December 06

by James Cooper
Publisher: EA • Developer: In-House • Available: Now • Systems: 360 / Wii / PS3 / PS2 / Xbox / Gcube / GBA / DS / PSP / PC • Version reviewed: PS2 • Price: £34.99
Need For Speed Carbon
It’s that time of year again...
T he Need For Speed franchise
has become something of the
commercial-darling. Ever since EA took
the reins, it’s gone from strength to
strength, selling copies by the lorry-load
and providing yet another annual revenue
stream for the all-powerful publisher.
Unlike EA’s other yearly updates,
however, the quality has always been
fairly consistent. Each title has been a
“the physics of the handling models doesn’t
convince, the muscle cars in particular varying
between power oversteer and rampant understeer.”
solid, playable, if a little lightweight and
unexciting, diversion. Which brings us
neatly to ‘Carbon’, EA’s latest addition
to the series. And it does everything you
expect from the series, yet oddly also
does a few things we hadn’t expected.
First things first, the basic game
really hasn’t changed that much. Despite
the window-dressing of ‘canyon racing’
and battling other ‘crews’ for territory,
essentially this is the same arcade racer
you’ve been playing for the last three
years. EA have tweaked the general
methods of play - boss battles and other
important races now take place in the
breakneck world of canyon racing - and
made a few additions to the car-tweaking
REVIEW
and collecting, but otherwise it’s all very
familiar.
Taking the form of a free-to-roam city
divided into four main ‘territories’ each
divided into regions, you acquire territory
by winning races and challenges. The
race types are all very familiar - point
to point, circuit, drift etc. - but well
implemented and, when added to the
challenges of roaming racers around the
5 You too can make a good sports car look like a dog’s dinner. Er... hooray!
city and the host of unlockable content,
make this a title that at the very least
gives you plenty of game for your money.
As with all driving games though,
no amount of options and content can
make up for a poor driving model, and
this is where Carbon falls down. Yes,
it’s all very solid and arcade-like, but the
physics of the handling models doesn’t
convince, the muscle cars in particular
varying spectacularly between power
oversteer and rampant understeer.
While the ‘Tuning’ and ‘Exotic’ models
fare much better, there is still a distinct
lack of weight to the cars. Even when
you’ve earned a plethora of money and
tuned your ride to the hilt, it never feels 5 The titular ‘Carbon Canyon’ races are a real pain, the road undulating too quickly for the controls.
44 December 06

SO YOU WANNA BE AN
AUTOSCLUPTOR?
The ‘Autosculpt’ technology that
EA are shouting about is actually
remarkably limited in its scope.
Basically, you can alter the various
visual enhancements of your cars in
preset areas. For instance, a bonnet
scoop may be able to be altered in
width and height bu not depth. While
you can create some truly unique
machines, it’s not the licence to create
Batmobiles that we were hoping for...
45
like a fire-breathing, rip-roaring racer,
maintaining a  strange float-away feeling.
It’s very odd.
Of course, this problem has always
afflicted the Need For Speed series, and
this iteration has, if anything, improved
the driving model. However, next to the
prancing stallions and roaring bulls of
Project Gotham and Burnout, Carbon is
something of a lame rabbit.
“the physics of the handling models doesn’t
convince, the muscle cars in particular varying
between power oversteer and rampant understeer.”
It’s not helped by the tecnical issues
that afflict it either. We tested the PS2
version, and the framerate regularly
stutters and slowdown is almost always
in evidence when there’s any kind of
on-screen action. Also, bear in mind
that the screens you see here are from
the 360 version (the only screens EA
would release) - the PS2 version looks
significantly worse with some slightly
ropey textures and a distinctly ‘gloomy’
look. In an effort to deepen the ‘urban’
feel of the game, EA have veered a
little further away from the bright neon
excesses of previous games in the series.
I think this is a mistake, as the over the
top nature of the game needs to be
reflected in its visuals, this is never going
to be a realistic racing game after all.
That’s not to say that Carbon
offers no fun though. There’s a strange
satisfaction to tuning and racing your
‘rides’, trying to make your car the
REVIEW
most ridiculous in a game of caricatures
has plenty of entertainment value. The
‘Autosculpt’ feature that allows you to
mould the various parts of your car to
create a more individual look, while by
no means as versatile as EA have made
out, is a good feature and if expanded
upon shows real promise for future titles.
In general the customisation aspect has
been deepened and remains as shallow
as ever - although depth has been added
via a vinyl creation system that seems to
have been lifted almost wholesale from
Forza.
The drift races  are, as ever, a real
highlight of the series. Stringing together
utterly ridiculous drifts into vast combo-
chains as you attempt to beat your
own high-score is almost endlessly
entertaining, and I found myself playing
these more than any other races in the
game.
The new-fangled boss battles, which
take place in the titular ‘Carbon Canyon’
outside the city limits, are a real pain in
the neck. First you have to beat them
on the streets of the city, then you have
to race them twice in the canyon - first
time you have to pursue them as closely
as possible, on the second stage you
take the lead and have to finish as far in
front as possible. While EA may be trying
something new here, it smacks of lazily
December 06

extending the game by making the player
complete the same race more than once.
It certainly acts as an artificial difficulty
ramp as the Canyon tracks are the most
difficult and frustrating of the game -
particularly if you have chosen to attack
them in one of the game’s muscle cars.
Having a crew that races along with
you has been something EA have pushed
and emphasised in all their PR and
advertising for this game too. While it’s an
interesting and nice addition, it doesn’t
really alter the core gameplay. The idea is
that you are able to maintain a ‘crew’ of
up to three wingmen that come in three
guises: Blockers (who’ll take out rivals
at your command), Scouts (they find
shortcuts and alleys for you) and Drifters
(you can use their slipstream to get a
speed boost). While this should in theory
be very useful, in practise there’s little use
in using anything other than a Blocker,
as once you’re in front they can cause
havoc in the pursuing ranks, giving you a
few precious seconds lead.
If you can look beneath the faux-
gangster attitude, ludicrously over-acted
5 Some of the concept cars you can unlock are lovely. We like this Camaro. Mmm, candy apple red.
46
REVIEW
(and horribly intrusive) cutscenes and
the lightweight arcade handling, there’s
plenty to enjoy with this game. It provides
a real challenge, there’s plenty to do with
dozens of cars to unlock, it looks quite
nice if you can excuse the wayward
framerate, the soundtrack suits the game
perfectly and the customisation aspect
gives proceedings a degree of personality
and attraction that might otherwise be
missing.
All in all, it’s a better than average
driving game, but I find it difficult to
recommend when luminaries such as the
Burnout, PGR, Forza and GT franchises
offer so much more ‘bang for your buck’.
Still, there are worse ways to spend £40,
and if you enjoyed previous installments,
I’ve no doubt this’ll be right up your alley.
It’s a horribly lazy piece of journalistic
shorthand, but if you like this sort of
thing, then you’ll like this. If, on the other
hand, you’ve never like the Need For
Speed franchise, then this won’t change
your mind. It really is that simple.
EA continues to incrementally improve
its Need For Speed franchise. At the
current rate, we should see a truly
‘must-have’ variant in a few years
time. For now, however, it remains an
average arcade racer with some nice
ideas tacked on.
6
December 06

by Chris Waring
Publisher: Capcom • Developer: Clover • Available: January ‘07 • Systems: PS2 • Price: £39.99
Okami
A wolf in Link’s clothing, or something more?
T here are very few games that become
so intuitive that it is easy to forget
that there is any input on the player’s
part, where what is happening on screen
bares little relation to a button press or
a turn of an analog stick, as ordinary
actions become extraordinary visuals.
Any screens simply do not do this game
justice, it has to be seen in motion to be
fully appreciated and even then, playing
is better than watching. It has continued
to receive positive press in the west
during development, with favourable
comparisons to Nintendo’s Legend of
Zelda: The Wind Waker and from the
minds at the soon to close Clover, Okami
has much to live up to.
Amaterasu is a white wolf, sporting
red tattoos and carrying a weapon on
its back, not a usual lead, but this is as
far from a usual game as it’s likely to
get. The wolf is the representation of the
sun god on earth and the reincarnation
of Shiranui, a god thought long dead,
its powers lost over time – the Celestial
Paintbrush techniques – and the original
slayer of Orochi. Brought back due
to the havoc wrought by the return of
Orochi, all of the lost powers have to
be rediscovered to defeat not only this
major foe, but to progress through the
game. Each of the thirteen moves is
held by another animal-god, whose
constellations have to be revealed
REVIEW
and restored. It’s a deft touch that
constantly moves things forward and
reveals the true nature of the game
- Okami is really an RPG in disguise,
albeit as a supernatural adventure, with
random battles that can be avoided (the
demon scrolls) and weapons that can
be upgraded. Amaterasu is not alone
on its travels; a miniature wandering
artist named Issun wants to see all the
“this is as far from a
usual game as it’s likely
to get...”
paintbrush techniques. He provides a
running commentary, drops hints on
what players should do next and injects
a healthy dose of humour. His bug-like
stature causes him much consternation;
even so, he has quite an eye for the
ladies. All of the characters are beautifully
realised with plenty of personality. Their
stylised reactions range from steam Tales of the Unexpected
literally coming from their ears or even
question marks appearing over their There’s a tale in Japanese folklore of an old woman so desperate for a child, she’d have
heads. one even if it was one inch tall. Her wish is granted. The character of the wandering
The game’s most unique feature is artist Issun is based on this tale, although it’s doubtful that the boy from the original
this Celestial Paintbrush, with its pause- tale was as obsessed with women (or “babes”) as Issun apparently is. And while
and-paint method. Games stand or deliberately portrayed as genderless in the game, Amaterasu is based on a goddess
fall by their implementation of unusual from the Japanese Shinto religion with Nagi (originally Izanagi) and Nami (Izanami) taken
features and the fact that this becomes from the same stories.
47 December 06

second nature within minutes says much
about the intuitive input. With a press of
R1, the action pauses and takes us into a
sepia toned canvas, then a sweep of the
right analog in the required movement
to produce the desired effect - a circle
can restore cherry blossom to trees and
a simple line inflict damage on enemies.
In fact, circles and lines form most of
the shapes used and even though the
action has been stopped, the frozen
frame can be moved to achieve the best
angles. Greater powers are discovered
as players travel further across Nippon,
drawing bombs and slowing down time
amongst others. As with most games of
this nature, discovering what lies within is
half the fun and many hours can be lost
simply running across the landscape.
Music for the Masses
Mention should be made of the in
game soundtrack. Ranging from
the tense to the lightly comical,
from the subdued to the epic, it
never disappoints. As expected in
a game such as this, the music and
instruments are heavily influenced
by traditional Japanese instruments
and music, with some of the major
themes receiving full orchestration.
Comparable to the much loved
Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack
and even some of the major movies to
appear from the east, players will find
themselves humming the tunes before
too long.
REVIEW
Doing battle with demons brings
financial and karmic rewards. Demons
are found in the open countryside,
represented by floating demon scrolls
usually, but also by portals that once
beaten will restore the surrounding
countryside to its former glory. Once a
scroll has been touched, a wall will spring
up (some can be pierced to escape) and
battle is joined within this confined space.
Despite the amount of fighting in the
game, it’s actually quite difficult to die as
a result. With most of the early incidental
battles a simple case of repeating roadside merchants to buy items and at Restoring the clover is an irony that
the same move later additions to the dojos to learn new moves, the perennial should not be lost on many. The orbs
arsenal prevent these encounters from double jump for example, new moves can then be used to increase the amount
becoming stale. The major challenges for battles and weapon upgrades. of life and ink available and how much
come during the epic boss fights. These Praise Orbs are released by restoring money can be carried. Items can also
creatures often are so huge in scale the countryside to its former glory and be found by digging and locations are
that the camera has to pull back and an ridding an area of poisoned parts and, identified by a glowing column. These
element of puzzle solving is involved in perhaps one of the most visually stunning lights vary in location from day to night,
their defeat. Even here, dying rarely looks set pieces in a game for quite some so it’s worth revisiting a location more
like being on the cards. An increased time, sees flowers and vegetation sweep than once.
difficulty level would have been a nice across hills and valleys accompanied by Beyond its fantastic playability,
option. glorious music. It’s a shame there aren’t Okami’s other main calling card is its
The money from these battles (the more of them. More orbs can be found visual style. Originally envisaged as a
amount of which varies on the time taken by feeding the animals that return and realistic sim, the switch to the cel shaded
and damage received) can be used at from digging up the four leafed clovers. was due to the limitations of the ageing
48 December 06
 REVIEW

hardware of the PlayStation 2. Never expanding list of games arriving late imprecise, especially drawing a line
have the limitations of a console led to a in the console’s life that have opened from one point to another. In one of
game as beautiful as this and not since many gamers’ eyes as to what can be the major boss battles for example,
Shadow of the Colossus’ other leading achieved. drawing such a line from a flower to a
character, Argo, has an animal been so No matter how beautiful or enjoyable hook on the back of a huge spider with
realistically and attractively animated. a game, there are some flaws. Slowdown anger management issues, becomes a
Although far from unique, the cel shaded in some areas is the most noticeable, lesson in patience. Some of the brush
look here is a luscious experience, not but never occurs for long enough for strokes are infuriatingly similar to each
something that was expected from it to become a game breaking fault. other – attempting to return the blossom
Sony’s console, joining as it does an Paintbrush strokes can be frustratingly to a tree can easily produce a gust of
wind instead or even turn night to day
“Slowdown, in some areas is the most noticeable, – requiring a steadier hand and a less
cavalier drawing technique. These are
but never occurs for long enough for it to become a minor concerns however, in a game that
is so successful otherwise and are only
game breaking fault.” so obvious because the rest of the game
is a joy to play.
Legend of Clover Rarely has a game promised so much
and delivered so well. That this will be
Some have commented on the one of the only major titles from Clover
likenesses with Nintendo’s Wind is very sad, sadder still the fact that we
Waker chapter in The Legend of may never see a sequel. It is one of the
Zelda series. Beyond the obvious cel PlayStation 2’s most glorious titles and
shaded style of each game, those deserves your attention as one of the last
players familiar with this episode may great games to arrive on the console.
be struck by déjà vu upon entering
the Tsutamaki Ruins within Agata
Forest. While not as detailed as the
GameCube game, the atmosphere
bears a remarkable resemblance to Is it original? Yes. Does it do what
The Forbidden Forest Link enters it does well? Yes. Is it an essential
after meeting the Deku Tree. Okami game? Yes. Is it the most beautiful
also features flowers that will pull game on the PlayStation 2? Quite
Amaterasu to it after having a line possibly.
drawn from one to the other. Any
similarity to The Wind Waker’s Baba
Buds is surely cosmetic. Despite
this, the art style used in Okami is
unlike any game before, steeped in
Japanese influences as it is. 10
49 December 06

by Yussry Houson
Publisher: Nintendo • Developer: In-House • Available: 26 January ‘07 • Systems: DS • Price: £29.99
Starfox Command
Can it really live up to its glorious ancestors?
N ormally a review for this will start with
an introductory paragraph about
nostalgic memories of Lylat Wars. The
difference in this case is that I have not
played it. This means that comparisons
between the two games cannot be
made. On the other hand, it means that
I should be able to review this without
judging it against one of the N64’s
classics (or so I have been told).
To begin with, this is more than
just a space blaster game, hence the
‘Command’ part of the title. The game
starts off with an RTS-style map, where
you use the touch screen to select which
group of enemies to attack in each
mission. This initially appears to work
“The issue in question is that, while you are free to
formulate a strategy as you see fit, these often fail.”
very well. The touch screen works well
and the strategy, while basic, proves to
be an interesting little diversion from the
main game. There is, however, a problem
with the strategy element which is most
noticeable with extended play.
The issue in question is that, while
you are free to formulate a strategy as
you see fit, these often fail. There seems
to be one correct way of completing
the level, which is usually only apparent
REVIEW
after trial and error. There have been
numerous occasions where I was able to
get near the end of the strategy section,
only to run out of the limited turns given
and have to start over again. With no
mid-level save function, there is a lot of
restarting the same levels over and over
again. That said, it is a nice diversion
from the main game, and it would be
harsh to try to compare it with the mighty
Advance Wars.
After tracking down an enemy you
get to the meat of the game, the space
combat. Each level gives you a time limit,
extendable by collecting pick-ups or
blocking enemy lasers and the main goal
of these is to destroy a set number of a
specific type of enemy as determined at
the start of the level. There is a distinct
lack of variety in objectives within this,
and one cannot help but feel that it could
have been so much better with more
variety.
The battles for the most part play
quite smoothly, and are basically
dogfights against the enemy within a
small open environment. Here we can
see the limitations of the DS hardware,
50 December 06

“The touch screen
works surprisingly
well here, being
smooth and accurate
to use. The only
fault... is that sharp
turns are not really
possible.”
51
as the environments seem very similar
with not much by way of background
detail. There are very few instances, for
example, where one can fly and dogfight
amongst buildings, or any other scenery
for that matter.
The controls for the battles on the
other hand, are quite impressive. First
of all, hand cramp is at a minimum
after playing, as all controls are on the
touch screen except for the ‘fire’ button,
which is in fact every main button on
the handheld. The touch screen works
surprisingly well here, being smooth and
accurate to use. The only fault with this
method of control is that sharp turns are
not really possible. That said the enemy
ships fly so slowly that it is not much of
an issue. This does, however, mean that
intense, fast-paced dogfights just do not
happen.
The last thing of note is the lifespan
of the game. Single player seems quite
short lived, and it is possible to get
to the end of story mode within a few
hours. Upon completion thought there
are alternating paths through the story,
with a total of nine potential endings.
That’s not too shabby, but it does
mean replaying large chunks of already
completed plot lines just to get to the
interesting alternative levels and endings.
These alternate routes seem tacked
on to increase the length of the game,
but based on the length of story mode
they are essential to making the game
approach anything close to being value
for money.
The lifespan is boosted further by the
multiplayer. Link up play and Wi-Fi are
REVIEW
both available, but things do not start
well. There are very few people online
to play against (hopefully this will be
remedied by the time it gets released in
Europe) and when one can finally locate
enough competitors, there seems to be
a high dropout rate. What makes matters
worse is the lack of options. There are
none. All games are four player dogfights
with no choice as to duration or vehicle
types. The actual games are quite fun
and even a no-hoper such as myself was
able to get a few victories in with a little
practice.
Looking back at this review there
are plenty more negatives than there
are positives. However, while the game
as a whole experience is quite good,
one is left with the feeling that with a
little bit more effort this could have been
something special. As it is, it just makes
me eager to see what the sequel will
be like, if there ever is one. For fans of
Lylat Wars, it probably won’t live up to
expectations, but it is definitely well worth
a play.
Taken as a standalone product,
Starfox Command is an above
average action game that many
will find perfectly adequate. When
its heritage is taken into account,
however, the final product is all the
more disappointing. Roll on the
improved sequel.
6
December 06

by Sean Bonner
Publisher: Sold Out (PC) / Eidos (PS2) • Developer: Ion Storm • Systems: PC / PS2
A game that crossed genres like no
other before. Enormous, amibitious
and, for the most part, very
successful. Why don’t you own...
D eus Ex is a Latin term used
to describe a person or thing
that appears out of nowhere and
unexpectedly solves a great conflict.
The very meaning of this game’s name
describes it perfectly. From the creator of
such excellent games as Thief, System
Shock and Ultima Underworld comes
another hit. Deus Ex is a first-person role
playing game. Yes that was intentional,
confused? Don’t be. For this game is
much more than a run-of-the-mill, go
there, unlock that door, complete this
objective, kill the boss and complete the
mission title. Warren Spector certainly
lived up to his reputation as one of the
elite games developers with this game.
Deus Ex is set in the near future when
a deadly plague is ravaging the earth
(mostly in the US) and the only known
cure is a manufactured vaccine called
Ambrosia which is in desperately short
supply. So, if you’re not rich, famous or
important then you will effectively die in
the gutter. It is unclear as to the exact
date in which the game takes place as
numerous newspapers and ‘infocasts’
give conflicting dates. However, in Deus
Ex: Invisible war, the second instalment in
the series, the date was fixed at 2052.
In the years from now until then,
several factions have emerged as
leading powers. You begin the game as
JC Denton, an elite agent of the United
WHY DON’T YOU OWN?
Deus Ex
Every decision changes the world...
Nations Anti Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO).
The main opposition to UNATCO
is the National Secessionist Forces
(NSF), a so-called terrorist force who
have taken it upon themselves to steal
Ambrosia shipments and redistribute
them to the people. However, as you
progress through the game you will
soon realise that not all is as it seems.
You will eventually switch sides and
“as you progress... you
will soon realise that
not all is as it seems.”
begin to unravel a tapestry of deceit and
conspiracy theories culminating in one
of three different endings. Yes, this game
has three different endings depending on
the choices you make as you progress
through it. There was a rumour once that
there was also a fourth ending, but this
is only accessed by editing a file in the
Deus Ex system folder to enable cheats.
But doing this is complete pointless as
using any cheats will completely sap the
fun from the game.
As you begin the game you will
probably find it much the same as most
FPS games out there. Play through a
level to achieve some set objective, while
killing any henchmen along the way.
52 December 06

You have to enter the now blown up
statue of liberty and eliminate the NSF
“the essecnce of the game is not in how it plays...
leader who has barricaded himself in the
building. However, even at this very early
stage the games begins to differ from
the standard genre fare. For starters you
have to choose your first weapon, and
thus determine how you will approach
the task at hand. For example, you could
pick the arm-mounted crossbow and
opt for the stealth approach and try to
find the back entrance, or you could
choose the pistol and try and fight your
way in the front door. This choice of how
to complete your objective is a recurring
theme through the game, yet it never
gets old. You will always end up second
guessing your self thinking “but what if I
did it this way”.
Also, another factor that influences
the type of player you will be is that at the
beginning and throughout the game you
can upgrade skills such as lock picking
(for the more stealthy player), hacking,
environmental expertise, and numerous
others. While JC will be able to use every
item immediately, his proficiency with
each of them will increase depending on
which skills you decide to upgrade. So,
for example, if you upgraded lock picking
you can unlock doors much quicker and
thus avoid a sticky situation.
On top of this, you can further tailor
your character to your playing style with
the use of Augmentations. Although I
don’t want to give away any spoilers,
your character is a bio-engineered agent
who can use nanites to give him special
abilities. At first you have none of these
abilities and must collect augmentation
the most interesting and engrossing part of
Deus Ex by far is the storyline.”
53
WHY DON’T YOU OWN?
canisters in order to upgrade. Also, you
can only have one augmentation per
body part, leaving you with the difficult
decision of what ability to choose,
especially considering there are many
more augmentations than body parts. So
if you decide to enhance your eyes you
can choose to have better targeting or
enhance your eyes to have night vision.
With so many different ways to customise
your character’s abilities you could
conceiveably have a veritable tank of a
man, or even the complete opposite - a
light-footed, stealthy, ninja-esque agent.
It really is up to you.
Although this sort of customisation
may be somewhat standard these days,
back in 2000 it wasn’t and it gave the
game a real RPG feel, despite clearly
being an FPS. Even still, the essence
of the game is not in how it plays or the
mechanics of it, the most interesting and
engrossing part of Deus Ex by far is the
storyline. It’s quite difficult to describe
without giving away what is going on.
Actually scratch that, its difficult to give
away the storyline full stop, due to how
complicated it is.
At first you begin as the bog standard
super agent that can complete almost
any mission, but you will soon come to
realise that there is a lot more going on
than just the outbreak of the Grey Death
and shortage of its cure, Ambrosia.
There is actually a huge conspiracy by
a number of factions all vying to take
power and rule the world, some more
benevolent than others.
The Illuminati, specifically refers to an
elitist Bavarian secret society, but more
December 06

often, as it does in Deus
Ex, it refers to a group that
is reputed to control world
affairs. As JC Denton, you
come to meet the Iluminati
in Paris after which they
ask you to restore their
weaning power to rule
the world with an invisible
hand. However, other
factions, individuals and
computer systems are
intent on preventing this.
And no, that was not a mistake. The
Helios AI aims to merge with JC Denton
and rule the world as a benevolent
dictator with infinite knowledge and
reason. The final and third ending sees
Trace Tong, another character in one of
the game’s factions, want to destroy the
global communications hub and plunge
the world into a new dark age, thus never
allowing one person to gain so much
power as to control the world.
Although I may have basically told
you the endings of the game, there is so
much more than just seeing the endings.
The progression of the storyline as you
54
WHY DON’T YOU OWN?
continue through the game, seeing
what results from the decisions you
make, is what really makes this game
unique. To date there have been many
games that have tried to reproduce the
success of this title, they have tried to
make another first-person RPG and, to
date, none have succeeded. There have
been valiant attempts, but none have
the tremendous storyline, interaction,
character development and excellent
customisation offerd by this title. Deus
Ex: Invisible War, the sequel to Deus
Ex, tried to build on the success of its
predecessor, but due to the phenomenal
success of Deus Ex, it could not live
up to the hype. Also, the fact that there
were three endings hampered Invisible
War’s storyline as it tried to assume that
all three had happened. Even so, the
game was by no means terrible, it just
may have been  better to have the first
iteration of the series as a standalone
game, rather than attempting to continue
an already finished story.
Although visually Deus Ex is by no
benchmark, the excellent character
development, interaction and
customisation more than make up for
this. However, it is the storyline, and
how the decisions you make affect the
outcome, that truly makes this game
worthy of 35 game of the year awards.
9
December 06

by James Cooper
Publisher: Majesco Entertainment • Developer: GlyphX Games • Systems: Xbox / PC • Version reviewed: Xbox
Another game that needs locking
in our gaming vault, never again
to see the light of day. Need we
remind you of the horrors of...
W hen I was a lad, I used to love
climbing trees. I would imagine
most youngsters do. One of the very
first things you learn when climbing our
bark encrusted friends is the principal of
reach, or more specifically, where your
reach ends. Over-ambitious? Reaching
too far? Then it’ll be a few weeks in
plaster for you. After your first big fall, you
soon learn that the branch you thought
you could reach might as well have been
the moon. So, you set yor sights a little
lower and concentrate on having fun.
Personally, I don’t think anyone at
GlyphX Games has ever climbed a tree,
as the principal of not over-reaching
oneself seems to have passed them by
with a whooshing sound.
Advent Rising was supposed to
be an epic. A sweeping space-opera
concerned with the future of mankind,
told over a trilogy and promising
production values to match its ambitious
storyline, GlyphX were always reaching
for the stars. Sadly, they missed.
That’s not to say that the intent was
misplaced, the bare bones of a very good
game are there, however, there are so
many technical and gameplay issues that
what could have been a very good sci-fi
shooter has turned out a bit of a mess.
Perhaps the best way to explain what
went wrong is to look at Majesco’s press
release for the game, and analyse some
THE VAULT
Advent Rising
The only thing rising is our bile...
of the promises they made concerning it.
“Unprecedented single-player
gameplay that allows gamers to play
through the thrilling action sequences of
a blockbuster movie or game, rather than
just watch them”
It plays like any every other third-
person sci-fi shooter you’ve played.
There’s nothing ‘unprecedented’ or
‘thrilling’ about it. In fact, only thing I
found ‘unprecedented’ were the number
of bugs I enountered, but more on that
later. Also, contrary to the press release,
all the best action and set-pieces happen
in cutscenes. So you do “just watch
them”.
“Built using next-generation Unreal
technology, integrated with the Karma
physics engine”
If by ‘next-generation’ you mean
“has ropey AI that means enemies leave
you alone as soon as you go past them,
can’t find cover and regularly bug and get
hitched on the scenery”, then yes, this
is ‘next-generation’. The physics engine
in particular throws up some wonderful
bugs and appears to be completely,
utterly broken.
“Unprecedented collaboration with
award-winning, sci-fi author Orson Scott
Card on sweeping storyline”
Supposedly, acclaimed science fiction
writer Orson Scott Card was involved
with the script. The question I feel 5 Bob completely lost it when his mates suggested another game of Advent Rising...
55 December 06

IF IN DOUBT - OFFER MONEY
In a shameless attempt to get
people to buy a game they obviously
knew was broken beyond repair,
Majesco decided to offer gamers
the chance to win $1,000,000, in
exchange for purchasing Advent
Rising, naturally.
Applying only to the first 500,000
copies sold, each week an ‘easter
egg’ was  downloaded via LIVE
that hid the letter ‘A’ somewher in
the game. Clues were published on
Majesco’s website and it was then
a race for gamers to find the ‘A’ and
enter the unique code they were
give on Majesco’s site. With rewards
ranging from $10,000 in the first week
to the promised $1,000,000 in week
six, it was too tempting a proposition
for many gamers. Although the
contest was only open to residents of
the US and Canada, it was a clever
marketing ploy - one that ensured
many gamers bought Advent Rising
despite the horrendous technical
issues.
compelled to ask is “where exactly”? The
game takes the form of a bog-standard
third-person sci-fi shooter with a few
scripted set-pieces thrown in for good
measure. Hackneyed and derivative in
the extreme (the human race is under
attack from an evil alien race and only
you can stop them), the story wears
its influences pretty boldly on its sleeve
“I’d have loved to command them, if only the control
system wasn’t so fundamentally flawed...”
while at the same time trying to present
them as something new. Fans of Halo,
Star Wars and every other sci-fi movie or
game in existence will have seen this all
before. Many times.
“Develop amazing superhuman
powers including energy blasts, levitation
and energy shields”
Or “develop amazing superhuman
powers that make the game far too
easy”. By the time you get a little way
into the game, you psychic abilities
are so powerful that they render the
entire experience moot. It becomes a
walkthrough.
“Wield an arsenal of awesome
weapons, all with unique alternate fire
abilities”
“Awesome weapons” like machine
guns, pistols, lasers and rocket
launchers. Wow. I’ve never seen those in
a videogame before. Although, to be fair,
they all work well, they feel quite meaty
in operation and the ability to pick up
weapons on the fly and dual-wield almost
56
REVIEW
anything is quite well implemented. Still,
it doesn’t make up for the unimaginative,
lacklustre weapon set.
“Command a vast array of incredible
vehicles including human and alien
assault vehicles, hover tanks and flying
vehicles”
I’d have loved to command them,
if only the control system wasn’t so
fundamentally flawed that it feels like
everything has a mind of its own. Which
brings me neatly to my major ‘picked
bone’...
“Versatile control scheme that
allows for acrobatic movement and
precise targeting of enemies while
quickly switching between weapons and
powers”
Oh, how I laugh. Yes, the targetting
is precise, but then it should be as the
game utilizes an auto-targetting system.
The thing I particularly enjoyed about the
‘versatile control cheme’ was the way
it latched automatically onto anything
I could interect with (such as ammo or
health packs) when all I really wanted to
do was attack the twenty enemies that
had surrounded me.
Then there’s the fact that the dodge
and pick up actions are assigned to the
same button. Picture the scenario - an
enemy attacks, you go to dodge but
failed to notice the ammo clp by your
feet. Your avatar goes to pick it up, and
December 06

“Oh my word, the frame-rate issues...” you die. Frustrating to say the least.
Then you encounter the genius
decision that assigning and switching
weapons and psychic powers in the
middle of a firefight (surely when you
need to do it the most) should take a
couple of seconds too long. Just long
enough, in fact, to ensure your enemies
can get a few cheap shots in. If their
atrocious AI picks you up, of course. On
occasion I stood behind enemies that
just completely ignored me, even when I
started pumping bullets into their backs.
Brilliant.
Then there’s the frame-rate issues.
Oh my word, the frame-rate issues.
To say the game slows down a little
is like saying that running through
brambles naked ‘might scratch a bit’.
Sometimes the game drops to single
figure frame-rates, chugging along and
making it unplayable. The worst thing
is, this happens at completely random
times, no necessarily when there is a
lot going on, you could just be walking
through an empty area and the game will
suddenly hitch-up and limp along for a
few seconds. It’s not as if the developers
have the excuse that the game is visually
astounding either - it’s average in the
extreme, bordering on bland.
“Soundtrack performed by the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Los
Angeles Orchestra”
The soundtrack is excellent -
atmospheric and beautifully orchestrated.
Unfortunately, while most games have
had ‘dynamic soundtracks’ for some
time, GlyphX seem to have missed the
point somewhat. Sometimes, you’ll be in
57
REVIEW
the middle of a huge action sequence,
and the music will fade out or stop
entirely. Other times, entering a perfectly
non-descript and empty room will result
in a choral fanfare of the mightiest
proportions. Frankly, it’s bizarre.
Added to all of these technical issues,
the compromised aesthetic of the game
- many enemies and areas being horribly
reminiscent of Halo, the laughably over-
acted cutscenes, derivative storyline,
glitches, bugs and general shoddiness of
the finished product make me think that
GlyphX didn’t just reach a branch too far,
but that they should have stayed out of
the tree altogether.
There are one or two nice ideas here,
and in the hands of an accomplished
developer maybe it could have been
a very good game - possibly even the
epic trilogy it was purported to be.
Nevertheless, after the complete hash
that was made of this titles, I doubt we’ll
ever see any more ‘Advent’ games. In all
honesty, that’s a blessed relief.
Advent Rising is a classic example of a
game that over-reaches itself without
ever getting the basics right. Never
has the expression “all mouth and
no trousers” been so apt. A technical
mess that will be remembered only as
a lesson in misplaced ambition.
3
December 06
Looking for cutting-edge design?
Look no further.

pixelninja@btinternet.com
60 Magic Carpet
62 Breath of Fire IV
65 Turtles in Time
68 Silent Hill
72 A Breed Apart - Team 17
by James Cooper
Magic Carpet
M agic carpets have been a staple of
any videogame set in the Far East
since time immemorial. There’s a very
good reason for this, and that’s that they
are a whole heap of fun.
Bullfrog realised this and set about
providing us with one of the most original
(and sadly ignored) games of the mid-
nineties. In Magic Carpet, you take the
role of a young Mage whose aim is to
restore order to the devastated worlds
through which you fly, destroying the
hideous monsters - giant worms, griffons
and crustaceans to name a few -and
rival wizards that populate the land. The
unusual aspect of the game was the
fact that you used magic and spells to
combat your enemies. This power could
be increased by collecting ‘mana’ which
was stored in the player’s castle. The
more mana you had in store, the more
powerful your spells became.
Completing each level was a matter
of defeating enemies and collecting mana
until a required percentage of the world’s
total mana had been captured. But it was
the manner in which you accomplished
this that was so much fun. Spells were
varied and visually extravagant, taking
the form of everything from basic fireballs
to lightning bolts and meteor showers.
Some spells, such as volcanoes or
earthquakes, even affected the terrain
in real-time, something that was truly
amazing at the time.
As well as the offensive spells, your
character had the ability to use defensive
and healing spells, adding to the variety
and strategies available to the player.
These were vital as the enemies were
powerful and intelligent - some even
able to absorb loose mana and use the
player’s own spells against them. The mix
of wonder and frustration as a giant crab
took you out with your own fireball spell
had to be experienced to be understood.
Another aspect of Magic Carpet that
amazed many gamers at the time was
it’s 3D engine and physics engine. Still
in its infancy, 3D rendering techniques
were very basic by today’s standards,
yet somehow Bullfrog managed to
incorporate dynamic lighting and music,
terrain that morphed in real-time,
reflective water effects, transparency
effects and even particle systems.
Make no mistake - this game was a real
technical achievement, yet it still flew
along at a right old pace.
While it picked up many awards
and some glowing reviews, the Magic
Carpet experience wasn’t all peaches
and cream. While the 3D engine was
impressive, the same texture-set was
used throughout the game, creating
a title that became visually quite
monotonous after a while. The lack of
a ‘quick-save’ until you had acquired a
60 December 06
FREE HEADACHES
Magic Carpet utilised a unique
technology that used red and blue
glasses to produce 3D visuals. It even
supported VR headsets that were
quite popular for a short while with
PC gamers. Needless to say, it was a
feature that very few saw as anything
other than a gimmick. Extended play
(more than about ten minutes) using
either of these visual ‘enhancements’
resulted in the traditional nausea and
migraine associated with 3D and VR.
Which isn’t really a selling point.

“Technically excellent, castle in each world meant that if you

great fun to play and died before you got your castle, you
had to start the level over again. The
far deeper than its ‘3D most amusing bug had to be the enemy
shooter’ tag suggests” Mages that would occasionally freeze in
mid-air and become invincible, forcing
the player to restart the level.
However, these faults really don’t
ruin the game, and multiplayer matches
the KNOWLEDGE for up eight players (on PC) rounded
Game: Magic Carpet off a package that deserves to be
Publisher: Electronic Arts remembered. Technically excellent,
great fun to play and far deeper than it’s
Developer: Bullfrog
‘3D shooter’ tag suggests, we heartily
Year: 1994 recommend you pick up a copy of Magic
Version: PC Carpet if you see it. We have a feeling
Also available: Amiga / that in the future it’ll be rightly regarded
PlayStation / Saturn as a classic.

61 December 06
by Chris Waring
Breath of Fire IV
A JRPG with dragons and such? Yes, please.
C apcom have rightly become
recognised as one of the leading
publishing and development houses
in the industry, not afraid to take risks
with original ideas and with established
franchises. Think of Capcom and more
often than not Devil May Cry, Okami,
Resident Evil and Viewtiful Joe will be
some of the first titles to come to mind.
In the heyday of the PlayStation, they had
one other successful franchise on their
hands, in a genre it has rarely ventured
into before or since with such success on
home consoles – the RPG. With Breath
of Fire, they had a strategy RPG that was
well loved by those players willing to try
out this highly original series. After the
first two games debuted on the SNES
the series jumped ship to the PlayStation
and with Breath of Fire IV, everything fell
into place.
While this is a role playing game
definitely of the “old school” – isometric
view point, pixel perfect visuals, a
62
convoluted and absorbing story, good
versus evil, a world to be saved, a rural/
pre-industrial setting – the game has
aged far better than many of its siblings
and stands up to close scrutiny today.
From the delightful anime opening, to
the beautifully crafted sprites, the game
is as striking now as any of the more
recent offerings in the genre. Although it
isn’t as deep or as complex as some of
the latest titles from Nippon Ichi, what
it lacks in depth it more than makes
up for in playability, humour and great
characterisation.
Breath of Fire series, Ryu is a recurring
We join Nina and Cray aboard their
character in the games, as is Nina,
flyer as it crosses a broad expanse of
although they are not the same person
desert, during their search for Nina’s
in each game. What is unusual is that
missing sister, Elina. Suddenly, a huge
initially he has no idea of his powers
dragon rises from the sandy depths
and as opposed to previous games, the
and begins to chase down the fragile
dragons are set rather than the arbitrary
vehicle. They evade the creature for as
choices made in previous games. This
long as they can, but it deceives them
talent makes him the target of the Fou
- without warning, it leaps salmon-like
Empire and its forces as they seek to halt
from below and then with a well aimed
the realisation of an ancient prophecy.
dive, it disables their transport. They
The empire was founded by one Fou-
find themselves stranded in the middle
of the desert with no means of repairing
Lu, who claimed on his demise that he
would be resurrected. This resurrection
their flyer. Nina volunteers to go to the
nearest town to pick up some spares,
leaving Cray to guard the ship. It’s not the KNOWLEDGE
long before Nina’s adventures begin. Game: Breath of Fire IV
She stumbles across (then into!) a crater, Publisher: Capcom
meets a dragon that she feels no fear of, Developer: In-House
then a naked boy with no memory of who
Year: 1990
he is. This sort of thing is not unexpected
Version: PlayStation
in a Japanese RPG.
The naked boy with the memory loss
Genre: RPG
is Ryu and he can not only command
Dragons to do his bidding, but also
transform into a Dragon himself. In the
December 06
forms part of the story that we witness
and we come to learn that Fou and Ryu
are not only connected by their talents
but on a deeper level that won’t be
spoiled here. The game stays with Ryu
and his adventure for the most part,
but occasionally we join Fou-Lu on his
journey to awaken his potential and
reclaim his Empire. Nina and
Ryu are joined
in their quest
by Nina’s
protector,
Cray, a member of the tribal Woren,
a half man, half cat-like warrior race.
“While previous Breath of Fire games had limited
Later they add the odd and eccentric the number of combatants to three, all available
Ershin to the group. It’s a steam-punk
version of R2-D2, whose idiosyncrasies members of the group can be used at any time in
conceal its true identity and purpose. It
always refers to itself in the third person,
this fourth installment.”
but is later revealed to be a vessel for
a series regular; the mercenary Scias,
who initially joins with ulterior motives
but soon becomes a valued friend; and
finally Ursula, a general in the Imperial
Army, sent to capture Ryu, but who
is persuaded that since they are
all going that way anyway, she
should go with the team.
These six then are
the team that
players travel
with across
the world.
While
previous
Breath of Fire
games had
limited the
number of
combatants
to three, all
available members
of the group can be
used at any time in
this fourth instalment.
Some characters could
recover AP by resting and
some would even restore the AP
of those characters in play. If one
became too injured to continue
they could be swapped out, or if
one team mate had an attack that
63 December 06
would come in handy they could be used
instead. Swapping characters in and out
became useful for building up attacks
and amplifying them, to spectacular
effect. If for example, Ryu’s Burn is
followed by Nina’s Cyclone then that is
magnified into what’s called a Simoon,
an attack combining fire and wind.
Similarly, if Cray’s Rock Blast is followed
by Ryu’s Burn, then the attack magnifies
into Eruption – the ground parts and a
column of lava rises and then falls on
each enemy. The most powerful results
from chaining three moves together, for
example, Stone Pillar (Cray), Burn (Ryu)
then Fireblast (Ursula) will result in the
two fire based attacks becoming deadlier,
with Ursula’s Fireblast amplified into a
Magma Attack, hot boulders raining
down from above. Certain enemies were
also susceptible to certain attacks, a
Fire Ant to an Ice attack for example.
Learning enemy weaknesses for many
battles was essential. Enemy spells and
attacks could also be learned during the
course of the game, simply by guarding
during one turn.
Into this mix were thrown the
Dragons, not just any Dragons, but
creatures of such fearsome grace, you
can be forgiven for forgetting for just a
second, that this game is running on
a 64-bit console. Drawn from both the
Eastern and Western mythology, these
creatures were the alter egos of Ryu
and each had a special attack of their
own, plus each Dragon had its own
cut scene when utilized in battle. The
Dragons that the team went in search
of also bestowed particular moves that
Ryu could use without changing into his
dragon forms.
The music was created by Yoshino
Aoki, also responsible for Mega Man X3
(Capcom sound team) and Breath of Fire
III (with Akari Kaida) and was an unusual
mix of eastern vocals and instruments
64
and the more usual orchestration, with
one standout track featuring a sitar.
The music, while sometimes repetitive,
is never irritating and with themes for
each town, a fantastic battle theme and
a beautiful opening song, this is one of
the better RPG soundtracks. There
is very little vocal work in the
game with the original
Japanese expressions
left intact and
conversations
handled via
subtitles.
All the good
hallmarks of
a turn-based
Japanese
RPG were
present and
correct in Breath of
Fire IV - a world to
be saved, beautifully
designed and
realised characters,
a wonderful fantasy
setting, all built around
a gripping story. As well received as
the PlayStation 2 iteration Breath of
Fire: Dragon Quarter was, perhaps it’s
time Capcom had a look at how well
Nippon Ichi are doing with their RPG
series and make another Breath of
Fire game in the old isometric style.
In the meantime, this pinnacle of the
series deserves to be played still and
remains to this day, a highlight of the
PlayStation’s extensive RPG library.
December 06
by James Cooper
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES IV
TURTLES IN TIME
T he scrolling beat ‘em up has been
an arcade staple since the days of
Double Dragon and Final Fight. Apart
from the two aforementioned giants
however, few have managed to capture
the fun and prowess of Konami’s
‘Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles’ arcade
game and it’s sequel. Allowing up to four
players to combat the forces of the Foot
Clan simultaneously, they are superb
games, both technically and in play. They
came along at just the right time too,
riding the wave of popularity the IP was
generating thanks to its ubiquitous TV
show and marketing campaign.
While many of the home conversions
failed to capture the spirit of the original
arcade titles (probably something to do
with only having two players on screen)
the SNES conversion of the second
arcade title is a classic. Forget the “IV”
moniker - which was dropped in Japan
for the sake of clarity - this is the best
home conversion of Konami’s second
‘Turtles’ arcade title.
Plot-wise, it’s as mad as the TV
series. Krang has stolen the Statue of
Liberty and when the Turtles battle their
way to the Technodrome to confront him,
65
Shredder sends them through a time-
warp. Bouncing around in time, you have
to fight Shredder’s forces to make your
way back to the present day and stop
him and Krang.
The Turtles licence always lent itself
particularly well to the scrolling beat ‘em
up genre, the characters giving a range
of fighting styles and balancing each
other well. You had Donatello (slow but
huge range), Raphael (very fast with short
range), Michaelangelo (see Raphael)
and Leonardo (the ‘all-rounder’), giving
gamers the ability to experiment with
different combinations of joint attack,
and some combinations were certainly
the KNOWLEDGE
Game: Turtles in Time
Publisher: Konami
Developer: In-House
Year: 1992
Version: SNES
Genre: Scrolling beat ‘em up
December 06
“The only problem we ever had... settling the old
‘who’s going to be Leonardo’ argument...”
much better than others - our favourite
was Donatello and Leonardo, who were
almost unstoppable in the hands of
two capable players. The only problem
we ever had with the character choice
was settling the old ‘who’s going to be
Leonardo’ argument - which regularly
ended in a game of ‘slaps’ to decide. Our
hands hurt just thinking about it.
Once past the initial stages, the
game soon threw up all manner of
historical settings which were all very
good-humoured, bright and wonderfully
realised.  From pre-history to a 16th
century pirate ship, the wild west and
eventually the future, the scenarios
were varied and really helped the game
hold your interest. In fact, the visuals in
general were of a very high standard with
large, smoothly animated characters and
detailed backgrounds. Naturally, some of
the visual features of the more powerful
arcade hardware had to be excluded
- such as weather effects and some of
the background detail - but the SNES
certainly acquits itself very well and is the
best-looking of the home conversions by
a country mile.
A particular standout of the SNES
version has the be the “Neon Night-
Riders” stage. This sees the Turtles
zooming through a futuristic setting on
hover-surfboards while battling Foot
soldiers, robots and even helipcopters.
While in the arcade this took the form of
a side-scrolling section, Konami took the
66
unusual step of completely redesigning it
for the SNES. It became an F-Zero style
extravaganza of Mode 7 effects - at least
until the boss character appeared, when
it switched back to the standard side-on
viewpoint. To say this was a nice surprise
is something of an understatement,
and is a good indicator of the love and
attention that was clearly lavished on
this conversion by the developers.
Something also demonstrated in some
of the lovely little touches and changes
from the arcade game that graced the
SNES version. For example, in the SNES
version you could choose to use either
the animation colour scheme (where all
the Turtles have the same colour skin)
or comic colour scheme (each Turtle
has their own skin tone). A small touch
maybe, but it’s further evidence of the
KNOW YOUR ENEMY!
Coming in all manner of varieties,
from the purple weakling to the pink
shuriken throwers and fiendish yellow
bomb and boomerang hurlers (oh,
how we hate them!), the Foot Clan
soldiers are the common enemy
you’ll face time and time again. Other
you’ll ‘lay the beat down upon’ during
your travels include Pizza Monsters,
Boxing Robots, Stone Warriors and, of
course, the Turtles’ nemeses; Bebop,
Rocksteady, Krang and Shredder.
December 06
 lengths Konami went to to ensure that
Turtles In Time was more than the usual
cheap arcade conversion.
The only criticism we can level at
Turtles in Time is the fact that it didn’t
take advantage of the SNES controller
when optimizing the control system. Why
the arcade’s original two-button system
is maintained on a controller that had six
is beyond us. Some have accused the
game of being too short - which we can
understand, but find a little unfair given
the work that Konami clearly put into
making the SNES version a bigger and
better experience than it’s arcade cousin.
Also, the game can become a little
repetitive, sticking quite rigidly to the age
old ‘left to right, hit some guys’ formula of
scrolling beat ‘em ups. While this is more
a fault of the genre rather than Turtles
In Time, a little more variation in enemy
design and type wouldn’t have gone
67
HE SOUNDS FAMILIAR
In something of a coup for the time,
Turtles In Time’s soundtrack was
composed by Kozo Nakamura,
the very man who’d composed the
TV series’ music. The coups didn’t
end there though, the voices of the
characters in the cut-scenes were
recorded by the same actors as the
TV series too (except Shredder).
Along with the extremely faithful visual
treatment, this helped the game
maintain a truly authentic feel. As an
example of how to tie a game in with
a TV show and not squander the
licence, it’s superb.
amiss. Still, none of these criticisms are
game breakers, and they certainly don’t
detract from the overall experience.
Visual splendour and variety,
balanced gameplay, extra levels over
the arcade game, new boss battles and
extra play modes make this the best
Turtles game available in our opinion, and
a shining example of how a very good
arcade title can be made into a truly
stellar home experience.
Turtles In Time (or ‘TIT’ for short - oh,
how our 13 year old selves laughed) is
not just a fine beat ‘em up, it’s one of
the best games on the SNES, and that
qualifies it as one of the best games of
the nineties. Not bad for four mutated,
amphibious pizza eaters and their giant
rat Sensei. Cowabunga, indeed.
December 06
by Chris Waring
“The resort of Silent Hill slips into quiet desolation, now that
the peak of development and growth has passed by…”
S ilent Hill was not the first of its kind,
but it was the first to do what it did
the way it did. Arriving on the PlayStation
in 1999, it was as much a psychological
horror as one of survival and gamers who
had become used to the schlock horror
of Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark
were left wholly unprepared for what lay
within the environs of the town of Silent
Hill. Actually, we were all unprepared for
the deeply unsettling events, characters
and creatures that were discovered in
this fog-bound, former tourist resort. The
game took many of its cues from movies
and literature that present horror from
a psychological perspective, scaring
players on an instinctive level, rather than
trying to just make them jump. The game
succeeded in creating an unsettling
experience like no other had before it.
The mantle of fog covering the town
was as much a limitation of the hardware
as a design decision, becoming a
significant part of the Silent Hill mystique
and a fine manner in which to increase
the dramatic tension within the game
and the player’s disorientation within the
labyrinth of the town’s streets. Running
down these roads and alleyways, chased
and harassed by the sound of leathery
flapping wings, suddenly stumbling
across a skinless, slavering dog, finding
deep chasms where roads used to lie,
the fog hid all of this from the player and
68
was integral to the horror that slowly built
around Mason’s search for his daughter
Cheryl. This initial basis for emotional
attachment was later found to be based
on a tale of abandonment, Mason and
his wife found this child by the road side
and raised her as their own. The tale
opens with a journey by Mason and his
adopted daughter driving to Silent Hill.
They are passed by a female cop, whose
bike Mason later sees abandoned by the
road side. Moments later, he swerves
to avoid a small figure in the road and
crashes his car, causing him to lose
consciousness. Coming to, he finds
his daughter has disappeared from his
side and looking at his surroundings,
he discovers a strange town smothered
in fog. Taking his first faltering steps,
he follows what he believes to be his
daughter into an alleyway, one that
is strewn with mutilated carcasses,
hospital gurneys with sheets draped over
unknown shapes and an abandoned
wheelchair.
Perhaps the most shocking thing
about this opening section of the game
is the attack that takes place at the end
of the alleyway, for Mason has no way
to protect himself and cannot run away.
Collapsing, he dies…it’s a horrifying way
to introduce the player to the game,
suddenly taking away the main character
within the first few minutes. He’s not
dead for long however, awaking with a
start in a diner with the female cop he’d
seen previously. Cybil introduces herself
and they discuss what is going on in the
town. This somewhat stilted conversation
has not aged well, but should not be
taken as an indication of the game as a
whole.
The player is further bewildered by
the momentarily fixed camera angles
during play, one of the most dramatic of
which suddenly occurs in this opening
scene as Mason pursues his daughter.
It pulls up into the air at an odd angle to
follow Harry as he walks around a corner,
then drops down again as he passes
by. For even though the player can fully
rotate the camera around Mason, at
times the game will take back control and
either swing the camera around in such
a way to obscure danger from the player,
or it will fix it in a cinematic position
to further underline the lack of control
December 06
 the player finds the main protagonist
in with any given situation. This can
happen when danger is just around a
corner and heightens the peril players
find themselves in. One small piece of
equipment that gives the player some
slight power over what’s happening is the
radio. With line of sight restricted by the
fog and the camera sometimes lurching
out of control, the static produced
was often as frightening as any of the
creatures about to be encountered.
More often than not, running was a
more sensible option than standing and
fighting. Mason is an awkward and tricky
character to control. His very obvious
lack of shooting skills and the situation
he finds himself in, all contribute to the
deliberately poor handling players find in
steering him from one point to another.
He can turn on the spot, but aiming with
accuracy at any great distance is beyond
him, leaving him open to attack if shots
aren’t fired off in rapid succession when
an enemy gets very close. His night
vision isn’t up to much either and when
Who’s who? fog is swapped for night-time, the only
Who is Cheryl really? Well, this is where it gets complicated. She’s
actually one half of Alessa. It gets worse. Her mother, Dahlia, is part
of a sect trying to have a God reborn and Alessa was supposed to
the KNOWLEDGE
follow in her mother’s path in the sect, but refused. She was also Game: Silent Hill
due to give birth to the God that her mother’s sect worshipped. This Publisher: Konami
too she refused so her mother burned down the house where she Developer: Konami
was living to bring about the birth. Still with us? She split herself Year: 1999
in half and the other half was the baby Mason and his wife found. Version: PlayStation
Alessa herself fell into a coma and her nightmares began to affect Genre: Horror
the town, leading to the hell that Silent Hill finds itself in. When
Mason crashes, the two girls merge back into one person. The story
of Alessa and Cheryl would not be finally resolved until Silent Hill 3.
69
“Mason is an awkward
and tricky character
to control.”
aid is a small pocket torch and players
can only see as far as the small circle of
light and even inside, the reach is limited,
throwing shapes and shadows across
walls. Add to this his need to catch his
breath after running for any length of time
and it creates a feeling in the player of
sympathy for his predicament – “would
I be able to do any better in a similar
situation?”
The town of Silent Hill was once
a bustling tourist resort - a set piece
battle on a merry-go-round one of the
highlights - although this wouldn’t be
explored further until the second and
third games in the series. This makes
the horror all the more disconcerting as
the action takes place (in the early part
of the game at least) in such an ordinary
New England town, the exact location
is unknown and would shift states in
subsequent games. The nondescript
looking buildings are at striking odds
with the situation Mason finds himself in.
This “normalcy” doesn’t last. The layers
that Mason and later characters travel
through are a journey into a personal
hell. From an ordinary town, to fog filled
nightmare then finally into the terrifying,
troubling, dark and surreal version of
Silent Hill. This final version of the town
in the first game features raised and
rusted metal walkways, along which new
monsters stalk Mason, like the grunting,
December 06

What was that?
Whether it was the static from the
radio, or the sounds from the murkiest
recesses, the sounds in the game
play an important part in making
players afraid of the dark, of an empty
corridor or of what’s around the next
corner, from the animalistic sounds of
the creatures to the random metallic
sounds that fall just beyond the reach
of the torchlight. These contributed to
the oppressive atmosphere as much
as any of the visual effects.
70
“The most evident influence on the series however,
was the movie Jacob’s Ladder...”
gorilla-like creatures that hunt in packs,
blood stained interiors with silent, baby-
ghosts and is always the place where the
final scenarios are played out.
The game also sets the scene for
later games by piling on the imagery and
subtle influences that would become the
hallmarks of the series. As previously
mentioned, the abandoned wheelchair
is one such motif that appears, as
do several institutions and locations
– schools, hospitals, fairgrounds, public
toilets. Toilets in particular feature heavily
in Japanese horror tales. Stories told to
scare children would tell how the unwary
could fall in and disappear forever, this
from a time when open toilets were still
common. The most evident influence
on the series however, was the movie
Jacob’s Ladder. Following a Vietnam
soldier through his own personal
purgatory, things become progressively
more surreal as he discovers what is
really going on around and to him, a
recurring theme in each of the games.
And although the film’s visual influence
wouldn’t be felt until the second and third
games, this journey from the ordinary,
through the unreal to the gruesome is
mirrored in Mason’s efforts to reclaim his
adopted daughter. Looking at the map
of the streets in this first game reveals a
literary influence, leaning towards horror
and science fiction. Older gamers may
remember the work of John Wyndham,
he was responsible for end of the world
scenarios in titles such as The Day of
the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes, but
it’s The Midwich Cuckoos from which
the elementary school takes its name.
Other writers have their work and names
referenced here too. Stephen King and
his alter ego, Richard Bachman, are also
alluded to – there’s a Bachman Road and
some of King’s books get name checked
on posters around town. Other authors
whose names are used include Dean
Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Dan Simmons,
James Ellroy and Robert Bloch amongst
others. Despite the bewildering amount
of influences and imagery, the game is
easy to enjoy without all of the baggage.
Playing the game now arouses
mixed emotions. Initially play will
confound rather than terrify, amuse
rather than chill, the “shifting sands” of
the in game graphics can distract from
the atmosphere the game so diligently
builds from the outset. The vocal acting
leaves a lot to be desired and the FMV
is looking decidedly plastic these days.
But allow yourself to be drawn into the
mad, mad world of Silent Hill and such
concerns are soon forgotten and as play
progresses survival becomes the utmost
priority. What Silent Hill manages to do
is draw players into its world by wanting
to survive the monsters, by the strength
of the story and the sympathy the player
feels for Mason, but most of all to try to
understand just what the hell is going
on. With four different endings available,
December 06

Riddle Me This...
Another staple of the horror genre are
the impenetrable puzzles. In Silent Hill
they also came in the shape of clues
left around for players to find. More
often than not, they were essential to
progress in the game. One such was a
poem about five birds which had to be
deciphered in order to correctly play
the keys on a faulty piano keyboard.
All to get a silver medallion. Another
uses colours to help unlock a door:
“Clouds flowing over a hill.
Sky on a sunny day.
Tangerines that are bitter.
Lucky four-leaf-clover.
Violets in the garden.
Dandelions along a path.
Unavoidable sleeping time.
Liquid flowing from a slashed wrist.”
Correctly placing coloured plates
(clouds are white, sky is blue, etc)
unlocks a door. Most were uses
of logic, but if pieces of the puzzle
were missing, exploring further or
backtracking were sometimes the only
option. Turning to a guide was a last
resort.
“This is the beginning
of a series like no
other... something
wholly original.”
71
rated from good to bad and the joke
“UFO” conclusion, which one a player
received depended on actions at critical
points in the game. We wouldn’t know
which one was the “real” ending until the
first sequel proper, Silent Hill 3.
So is it worth playing now?
Absolutely. This is the beginning of
a series like no other, a horror series
that takes its’ influences from as many
western sources as Japanese, to make
something wholly original. Some games
age well, some games age poorly, but
despite its limitations, even after all this
time, this game still has the power to
unnerve and disturb unlike many of its
contemporaries.
Creature Feature
The variations in monsters between
games are easily explained by the fact
that they are a manifestation of the
inner demons of the main characters,
although in the first game they are
usually related to Alessa and her
childhood in some way. For example,
the pterodactyl-like creatures Mason
sees are because Alessa’s favourite
book is The Lost World. Similarly, the
Puppet Nurses and Doctors represent
Alessa’s fear of Hospitals and medical
staff in general, the skinless dogs are
her fear of large dogs and the rompers
(the gorilla-like creatures) are her fear
of adults. Later games would relate
the creatures to the protagonists
themselves.
December 06
by James Cooper
A BREED APART
THE STORY OF TEAM 17 - A VERY BRITISH DEVELOPER...
I remember my first encounter with a
Team17 title well. It was 1992 and I was
just 14. There I was sat in my bedroom,
lights off, cruiser joystick gripped firmly in
my sweaty palms, and I was panicking.
Why? Well, the game was Alien Breed on
the Amiga and I had just completed the
first level. Or so I thought.
As I destroyed the reactor, the screen
started flashing red and a countdown
started. A rather alluring female voice
began to calmly inform me that not exiting
the level at the earliest opportunity would
probably be a very bad thing for my future
prospects. Scrambling for the exit lift, I
desperately tried to remember the path I
had taken through the level. Just to make
things even more interesting, the alien
hordes seemed to think this was a good
time to launch a full-on attack. The cherry
on the parfait was that I was nearly out of
ammo. And health.
Needless to say, I died. Horribly. But
it was the first time that a game had
72
FEATURE
really panicked me. The first  time I’d
felt such a visceral surge of adrenaline
while gaming. In fact, the first time I’d
experienced a real, honest-to-goodness
emotion while playing. Sure, I’d been a
gamer for years and had been excited
by lots of games, but this was different.
This had made me break out in a sweat,
made my heart pound until I could hear
the blood rushing in my ears. Everything
about this game just felt right. It was
technically superb, atmospherically spot-
on and fiendishly difficult, but never unfair.
Well, mostly never unfair - there was
the odd moment when the lack of a key
or ammo and seemingly never-ending
supply of aliens conspired to have me
hurling my joystick against the floor, wall,
window or anything else within reach.
Despite the fear and difficulty, did I
continue to play? You’re damn right I did.
My brother and I spent more time than
could possibly be healthy playing co-
operative Alien Breed. Then along came

Alien Breed 2 and Alien Breed: Tower
Assault, upping the horror/panic action,
ramping up the difficulty and amazing
gamers and reviewers alike with their
stupendous technical achievements.
A social life was suddenly a thing of
the past, my compulsion became an
addiction.
In fact, my brother and I were so
impressed with the first Alien Breed
game that we purchased just about every
single title that Team17 published on
the Amiga. After the Alien Breed games
came Assassin, Project X, Superfrog,
Body Blows, Arcade Pool, Super
Stardust and more. Whichever genre they
entered, Team17 brought with them their
innate ability to look at what was already
available and push it a little further to
create something truly impressive, both
in a technical way and with regard to
their tight gameplay mechanic. Thus it
was that they entered into the pantheon
of hallowed Amiga developers, and
were mentioned in the same breath as
the Bitmap Brothers, Core Design and
Sensible Software - companies that in
FEATURE
the early to mid nineties, just could not
put a foot wrong.
Starting life in 1987 as 17-bit
Software, they specialised in producing
and publishing games for the extensive
public domain scene that thrived in the
Below are someof the highlights from
Amiga community. By 1990, however,
Team17’s history, both as a developer
they were ready to release their first
and as a publisher:
commercial title, the car chase game
‘Miami Chase’. While this first game was
Miami Chase 1990
released under the moniker ‘Team 7’,
Full Contact 1991
they quickly adopted the Team17 name
Alien Breed 1991
and went on to develop and publish Full
are still heralded by Amiga gamers as Assassin 1992
some of hte best titles available for the Alien Breed Special Edition 1992
system. Project X 1992
Unfortunately, in 1995 and 1996, Alien Breed 2 1993
Team17 released Alien Breed 3D and SuperFrog 1993
Alien Breed 3D 2: The Killing Grounds, Project X Special Edition 1993
respectively. Ahead of  their time in many Apidya 1993
ways, they were victims of the limitations Overdrive 1993
of the hardware. Even the Amiga 1200 Body Blows 1993
AGA chipset just wasn’t up to the task Arcade Pool 1994
of running the game that the team Super Stardus 1994
obviously had in their heads. To be fair, Body Blows Galactic 1994
the games were not a complete  failure, Alien Breed - Tower Assault 1994
and captured much of the Alien Breed Assassin Special Edition 1994
atmosphere. But with ropey controls, a Ultimate Body Blows 1994
Contact - a very respectable fighting
small viewable window and low resolution ATR - All Terrain Racing 1995
game for the Amiga that is still highly
semi-3D environments, the 3D Alien Worms 1995
regarded today. They swiftly built a
Breed games just didn’t fulfill the hopes Alien Breed 3D 1995
reputation for developing and publishing
of many fans - especially now that Sony’s Alien Breed 3D II 1996
technically adept games that pushed the
PlayStation had hit the market and X2 1996
Amiga hardware to its limits while still
true 3D environments were becoming Arcade Pool II 1999
providing fun yet challenging gameplay.
common. Worms Armageddon 1998
In fact, many of their early titles are
Of all of Team17’s Amiga games, the Worms Blast 2002
rightly regarded as classics not just of
Alien Breed 3D titles have aged the worst, Worms 3D 2003
the Amiga scene, but of the 16-bit era
being almost unplayable by modern Worms Forts: Under Siege 2004
in general. Alien Breed and its sequels,
standards. Strange then that the 2D Worms 4: Mayhem 2005
Assassin, Project-X, Body Blows,
games still feel so well put together and Worms: Open Warfare 2006
Superfrog, Apidya and Super Stardust
73 December 06

stand up to a critical eye, even today. If
the team had made their first 3D attempt
on the original Playstation, it could well
have been a very different story.
Nevertheless, Team17 found their
golden goose when, in 1995, Worms
happened. I say that it ‘happened’
because Worms was not just a product.
It wasn’t another sequel or game that
fitted into a well known genre. It was that
rarest of things - a completely original
idea. Frankly it was an event, and the
speed with which it flew off the shelves
and spread onto a number of other
systems was frightening. As Team 17’s
flagship product, it has continued it’s
meteoric rise through various incarnations
(Worms 2, World Party, Armageddon,
3D, Forts) until reaching the stage we are
at today, where it has sold many millions
of copies and a version of the game has
appeared on just about every major
games system and handheld device,
from mobiles and the GBA to the SNES,
Saturn, PS2, PC and Mac.
Along the way, however, Worms
has evolved into a very different
animal (invertebrate, whatever). Now
a completely 3D game, the team has
come in for some fairly vocal criticism
from their fans for moving the series
away from it’s 2D roots. The move into
3D brought with it a slowing of the game
speed, necessary due to the limitations
of the camera system, but frustrating
to those that had followed the series
from its inception and become used to
swiftly swinging across the screen with
the ninja rope, dropping dynamite upon
their opponent AND making good their
FEATURE
HANDBAGS AT TEN PACES
One of the darkest periods in Team17’s history has to be the Amiga
Power debacle of the mid-nineties. Amiga Power was one
of the best-selling Amiga magazines, and certainly the most
controversial in terms of content and reviewing style. Often
they were criticized for being arrogant and hating
their readership and even the Amiga. While these
accusations were plainly ridiculous, there’s no
doubt that Amiga Power did their fair share of
baiting - especially with Team 17.
Despite the fact that early Team17 titles such as
Alien Breed were warmly received by Amiga Power, Team 17 poked fun
at the magazine and criticized their reviewing policy using in-jokes in their games. It all
came to a head in 1995 after Amiga Power negatively reviewed Kingpin and ATR - quite
fairly to be honest as the games were below average. Unfortunately, the developer took
umbrage and their response was to file a lawsuit. They demanded that Amiga Power
ceased “lying about their games”, contended that the reviewer of Kingpin had not
properly played the game, and that the review for ATR had been completed “in a style
not affording the gravity demanded by a racing game”.
The result of the lawsuit was never announced. However, Team17 refused to send
any more review code to Amiga Power - forcing the reviewers to go out and buy their
own copies upon each games release. This certainly
5 Arcade Pool (top) was a fantastic little
affected Amiga Power’s reviewing policy with regard to
game, with some of the best ball physics that
had been seen at that point. Super Stardust Team17 products, with Worms (probably one of the best
(above) was a tremendous, and vastly games released on the Amiga) scoring an unfair and
underrated game in the vein of Asteroids. meagre 60%.
This ill feeling continued to fester between the two
parties, Team17 even going so far as to demand that
6 You don’t need us to tell you what this is... other magazines within Future Publishing did not share
review code with Amiga Power staff. Despite alleged
attempts to mend the rift by successive editors of
the magazine, the feud continued until the demise of
the magazine. A shame really as, despite occasional
touches of arrogance, Amiga Power were the best of
the Amiga games magazines, their inability to maintain
a good relationship with one of the most loved Amiga
developers can only have contributed to their downfall.
74 December 06

ASSASSIN
Assassin is a great (if
a little cheeky) title. Clearly a
‘homage’ to Strider, even down to the
main character looking virtually identical,
it quickly went on to become an Amiga
classic. As usual for a Team17 title, it excelled
visually, but it was in the excellent level design
and well judged learning curve that Assassin
excelled. While many games of this type
from the early nineties punished the player,
Assassin never felt like it was too hard.
You always managed to get that little
bit further, and that was what
kept you coming back
for more.
75
FEATURE
escape - all in less than 30 seconds.
You try doing that in 3D. The vagaries
of the added dimension also brought
with them problems of accurately aiming
(especially with the effects of wind), and
judging distances and power - all integral
features of Worms’ gameplay.
Despite these shortcomings, Worms
is still a good game, maintaining much
of the trademark irreverent humour and
twisted cynicism that fans of the series
have come to both love and expect,
“I don’t think you’ll
find another game
where the most deadly
weapon is a prodding
finger...”
while adding some wonderfully fresh
graphics and far more detailed animation.
I don’t think you’ll find another game
where the most deadly weapon (and the
one that causes the most annoyance
to your adversary) is a prodding finger.
Anyone annihilating your last Worm using
this technique is sure to become the
object of swift and terrible retribution.
Worms is now onto it’s third
incarnation as a 3D game, and is
still selling extremely well. The recent
announcement that Worms, in its original
2D form, will be coming to Microsoft’s
Live Arcade service has also thrilled fans.
Although, as of writing this, there’s no
word on which version of the game will
December 06

SUPERFROG
Nintendo had Mario, Sega
had Sonic and the Amiga had
Superfrog. While not reaching the
dizzying heights of the fat plumber of hs
spiky nemesis, Team17’s platformer is a
solidly playable, visually imaginative title that
deserves more respect than it gets. It suffers
from a lead character that isn’t the easiest to
identify with (a frog in a cape), and the usual
afflictions of the platform genre are present
and correct (life-or-death leaps, staid level
design), but there’s something innately
lovable about the whole thing that
just makes us want to forgive all
its faults. Give it a try.
FEATURE
BODY
“A well BLOWS
One on one beat ‘em ups were
balanced and incredibly difficult to implement well on
the Amiga. The lack of a guaranteed multi-
fun game with button pad (although many Amiga owners used
some nice the Megadrive pad or other similar models) meant
that developers had to map complicated move-sets
characters...” into eight directions and a single button - no mean
feat - and many failed horribly (see the Amiga version
of SF2). IK+ is probably the perfect example of a
single-button control method in a fighter, but Body
Blows runs it a close second. A well balanced and
fun game with some nice characters, excellent
visuals and responsive controls, Body
Blows certainly deserves its reputation
as one of the best fighting
games on the Amiga.
“there’s something
innately loveable about
the whole thing that
just makes us want to
ALIEN
forgive all its faults...” BREED: TOWER
ASSAULT
Improving on the previous incarnations
in almost every way, Tower Assault is by
far the best of the Alien Breed Titles. A panic-
stricken, horrific atmosphere combines with
hordes of tough enemies, spectaular graphics
and some of the finest sound design seen on the
Amiga, to provide gamers with a truly atmospheric
game. It’s challenging too, there are 50 levels with
multiple exits, resulting in a not inconsiderable
250 different routes through the game. Tower
Assault is a contender not only for the title
of greatest Amiga game ever made, but
for the title of one of the greatest
games ever made.
76 December 06

“Throughout the 16-bit era, Team17 deservedly earned a reputation for creating
technically impressive titles that played very well.”
be making the leap to Live, you can be
sure that we’ll be spending an inordinate
amount of time perfecting our ninja rope
and cluster bomb grenades over the next
few weeks - ready to take on the world.
Recapturing some of the speed and
exhilaration of the 2D game will be a
difficult task, but one that certainly isn’t
beyond them. In fact, it’s not the first of
their franchises that they have tried to
move into a new generation. In 1999
Team17 were apparently working on a
continuation of their Alien Breed games
called ‘Alien Breed Conflict’. Destined
for release on the PC, sadly the project
was cancelled quite early on and never
saw the light of day. However, in 2003
another attempt was made to resurrect
the series when Alien Breed 2004 was
announced as being in production for the
PS2. Rumoured to be using the ‘Baldur’s
Gate: Dark Alliance’ game engine - which
we think would have been perfect - the
game was eventually dropped due to a
77
FEATURE
lack of publisher interest.
Today, Team17 - still one of the
largest independent developers in Britain
with more than 70 staff - are actively
looking for people with experience
of the Unreal Engine 3, again raising
hopes among fans that the Alien Breed
franchise is due for a dusting off. It would
certainly fit in with the current vogue
for sci-fi based action games such as
‘Resistance: Fall of Man’ and ‘Gears of
War’. With Team17 stating that they are
not working on an FPS, however, many
question what form the game would take.
Could a top down, isometric viewpoint
still work in this modern age of gaming,
or would Team17 choose to take the
third-person approach seen in Resident
Evil 4 and Gears of War? Whatever the
answer, there’s no doubt that there is still
plenty of interest in the Alien Breed titles.
Throughout the 16-bit era, Team17
deservedly earned a reputation for
creating technically impressive titles
that played very well. While their current
emphasis on the Worms franchise is
completely understandable in the current
economic climate, it would be nice
to see them branching out into some
of the genres they previously worked
in. Hopefully, we will eventually see a
resurrection of Alien Breed (without a
doubt the strongest of their IP’s after
Worms), then a whole new generation of
gamers will learn to dread the klaxon call
of the Reactor Countdown and be very,
very afraid of the dark...
December 06
Rolling Thunder (ZX Spectrum)
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79 December 06
Continue?
by James Cooper
A nice, big cup of ‘shut the hell up’.
G amers, eh? What’s their problem?
Honestly, sometimes they make
me weep for the species, they really do.
This week (at least, the week I’m writing
this) has seen the launch of the PS3 in
Japan and has provided a boatload of
evidence for those that wish to continue
expounding the view that videogames
are for children and children only.
Pick a games website, any games
website with a discussion forum, and
I’ll guarantee that you’ll find at least one
thread that expounds some area in which
Sony have “failed”, “lied”, “conned”,
“cheated” or generally misled the gaming
community. People have been shouting
things like “there’s no games ready”;
“it scratches too easily”; “they’ve sold
less than one game per console which
shows they’re doomed” and other such
hyperbolic nonsense.
The worst part is, most of this
‘discussion’ masquerades as serious and
informed opinion. In reality it is little more
than malicious gossip and over-reaction.
Usually by the vociferous Nintendo and
Microsoft community. However, that’s not
to say that the Sony community has been
any better. Like fish on a line, Sony ‘fans’
the world over have been drawn into
the pathetic cycle of defending lies and
rumour with even more unsubstantiable
drivel. It’s really very sad.
The one thing that almost every gamer
seems to agree on is the fact that games
need to grow up, and no that doesn’t
mean that guns, gore and breasts
need to proliferate (we’ll discuss that
another time). What it does mean is
that the community needs to grow up.
Games ARE a mature medium. They
can handle serious issues well, they
can entertain, delight, sadden, enrage
and ask questions almost as well as
any other medium. The immature and
jeuvenile content of many games merely
reflects the attitudes and mental age that
many gamers project to the wider world,
the very same gamers than moan and
whinge constantly about the industry not
being taken seriously next to film, music
and literature.
How can the wider world take us
seriously when too many of us are willing
to argue for a week (or five) over the
vaguest of press releases or the most
incredulous of rumours? Our problem
seems to be that we just don’t appreciate
how good we’ve got it at the moment.
Just look at the machines we have
available to us. Between the 360, Wii and
PS3 we’re being offered an unparalleled
level of interaction, immersion, depth,
visual quality and sound design.
Gameplay features we dreamed of
during the eighties and nineties are
now standards. We take customisation,
online play, freeform gameplay, real-world
physics and surround sound for granted
now. If a game doesn’t tick at least two
or three of those boxes, we want to know
why - and rightly so.
The thing is, fourteen years ago £150
would have bought you a Super
Nintendo at launch with the ability to play
80
fairly simple 2D games, none of which
would have offered any of the features
modern consoles now do as standard.
You’d have also had to pay in the region
of £50 for a game. Whereas today even
the Wii - the most basic of the ‘next-
gen’ consoles - offers games with many
advanced features.
If you adjust for inflation, it’s also
significantly cheaper than the SNES was
at launch. In fact, the equivalent cost of
a SNES in 1992 will now get you a 360
- a console with a world of features and
potential that we couldn’t have even
dreamed of back in the early nineties. I
know people that paid much more than
the PS3’s highly contentious £425 price
tag for a console called the ‘NeoGeo’,
which if I remember correctly, offered
better graphics than the SNES and not
much else. Heck, I know people that
paid more than £400 for the original
PlayStation, whose sole ‘feature’ (other
than playing games) was its capability to
emulate a really cheap CD player.
All opinions and comments expressed in this column
are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of Play.d magazine. So don’t you go
giving us evils.
Yet these very same people are up in
arms and screaming at the top of their
voices about the cost of the PS3, which
offers about a million times (may be a
guess) more functionality for just over half
the comparative cost!
If we want people to take the industry
seriously, if we want people to accept
our hobby as appropriate for adult
consumption, then we all need to
grow up a bit. Let’s show a bit more
appreciation for what we have. Let’s
remember how little we used to get, and
how much we paid for it. We all need to
take a step back and realise that we’ve
really never had it better, or been given
such choice and innovation for so little
expense.
In short, let’s all have a nice, big cup of
“shut the hell up”
December 06
even monkeys fall from trees
by Chris Waring
It’s not like the old days.
Some time ago, a friend of mine told me
there was no imagination left in games
anymore. No originality, no weirdness,
nothing to challenge our idea of what a
game can be and should do. Being a fan
of the current gen, I naturally disagreed.
He said that games from the 32-bit era
and even before had more imagination
in them than any game of the 128-bit
era you might care to mention. They had
strangeness, oddness, pure innovation
and inventiveness, as if beamed in from
another world, which games these days
just couldn’t posses. We never did agree.
With the advent of consoles capable of
creating gameplay in 3-D worlds, I really
fell in love with the whole idea of losing
yourself in someone’s else’s creation, play
with an avatar that could do things and
go places on screen that you could not in
real life, sometimes in a stylised version
of reality, sometimes planet hopping. One
that let you do what you wanted, within
the confines of those invisible walls,
island-bound cities and the limitations
of the hardware itself, but let you believe
all the time that anything was possible.
Those older games held little attraction
for me anymore, when I could lose hours
to the likes of GTA III or Ico.
For Christmas 2004 a couple of friends
treated me to a Mega Drive, with Sonic
the Hedgehog and Sonic 2. I enjoyed
them hugely for a few weeks, but having
a living room full of current gen loveliness,
it was eventually relegated to the
bedroom and hooked up to a portable
T.V. where it simply gathered dust. Titles
like Devil May Cry 3, Shin Megami Tensei:
Nocturne and Katamari Damacy had me
hooked. Good times.
Now it’s nearly the end of 2006 and
I finally managed to get some more
games for the Mega Drive. Titles like
Dynamite Headdy, Strider, Rocket Knight
Adventures and Cosmic Spacehead.
Games that are so left field, it’s hard to
imagine anything like them appearing
now, outside of a limited release in
Japan. Nowadays film tie-ins, yearly
updates to sports titles and the relentless
march towards realism are the norm and
seemingly a requirement for publishers
who wish to break even and stay afloat.
Take Cosmic Spacehead. It’s a
point and click type affair linked
by platforming sections. Early
on, there’s a scary monster
that players have to figure out
how to get around. It can’t
be fought or spoken to. In
another area, a balloon
had been acquired.  If
players gave the balloon
to the monster, it floats
away and the adventure
continues. Could you
81
imagine anything as simple or odd
happening in any game today?
If it was to happen anywhere, it would
most likely happen on a Nintendo
console (oh Sega, do the right thing),
highly probable on the PlayStation 2, but
I doubt anything like this would even get
a sniff of a Microsoft console. I know they
do retro on Live Arcade, but as far as
the Xbox brand is concerned, a peculiar
game, with surreal gameplay and a hefty
dollop of oddness? I really don’t think
so. The Xbox brand is far too American
to see games of that ilk. Giving enemies
balloons to float them out of the way isn’t
how the Americans like to do it.
All opinions and comments expressed in this column
are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of Play.d magazine. So don’t you go
giving us evils.
Even stranger, Cosmic Spacehead is
actually British! Yes, you read that right - it
was created in Britain by Codemasters.
The British game development scene
in those days was as fertile a place for
games as Japan ever was, but then
business concerns became paramount
and we all know what Codemasters do
now, as many others do. Now don’t get
me wrong, there are games out there right
now that are quite bizarre, hugely original
in terms of gameplay and visuals or just
so downright original that they beggar
belief. How about Katamari Damacy, or
Freak Out, or Pikmin, or Doshin the Giant,
Okami, Paper Mario, Killer 7 and Magic
Pengel? They’re all fantastic games and
all on one Japanese console or another
and all sadly the exception rather than the
rule. This is an argument that will ever go
away and it’s as much about the hardcore
gamers versus the mainstream. One can’t
exist without the other.
But as for my Mega Drive, that’s still
being fired up to play Dynamite Headdy
as much as the PlayStation 2 is for
Okami is right now. I think my friend may
have had a point. I’d better find him to tell
him he was right.
December 06
The Misanthropic Guide to Gaming
by Yussry Houson
Jingle all the way (to hell)...
W elcome back. It has been a while
since I vented my spleen about the
irritating things about being a gamer. As
you may have guessed from the subtitle,
this column is about Christmas, being
quite relevant for the time of year.
Christmas used to be great. I’d write a
long list of games on a piece of paper,
and feign surprise at the ones I ended
up getting, having already searched
under my parents’ bed for them. Some
may say that this takes all the fun out
of Christmas. My family thinks that it is
better to get someone something they
like rather than having to find the receipt
that no doubt was consigned to the
bin in July when the present was first
purchased. Ah, happier times.
This was a good five years or so ago now,
so presents aren’t a big deal, what with
being all grown up and having a job. This
is where gamer hell begins. No doubt we
all bemoan the lack of games for months
over the summer, but the reason for this
is not that the developers are on holiday,
its that they think all of us should be. They
don’t seem to take into account that I,
like many gamers, have an aversion to
sunlight. So this is partly why we have to
wait until September for anything new (and
half decent) to play. However, the biggest
reason for the lack of summer games is
that publishers want to save them for the
Christmas rush. I don’t blame publishers
of rubbish games trying to make a quick
buck from parents who do not know the
difference between a poor movie tie-in and
a genuinely good action game. For the
rest of us it’s a case of all the good games
we’ve been tracking the development of
for years being released at once - meaning
we have to buy multiple ‘Triple A’ titles at
around the same time. Of course this only
hurts your wallet what with having to buy
things for other people as well, usually
people you don’t like or rarely see.
So the poor simpletons like me end up
with nothing. Of course we could avoid
buying things on release day, but ours is a
hobby where being first is important. There
are still plenty of great games on the old
Xbox I never got round to playing, but who
really wants to when the likes of Gears of
War have just come out on the 360?
So we’ve looked at the availability of
games at Christmas (sort of), but now
onto the most angrifying (yes, I made
the word up, and no I’m not changing
it) thing about Christmas. Shopping.
An obvious point granted, but one that
gets me so angry I dream of taking a
chain-gun to the high street with me
and clearing a path ahead littered with
shredded corpses just so I can get into
a shop without having to touch the great
unwashed. Of course this is a problem
that is not specific to gaming, but it is
perhaps worse for us than any other
consumer. Game shops are generally
quite busy, what with many a bored
teenager and jilted partner wandering
aimlessly around the store. Christmas
just multiplies this ten-fold. We have
the added bonus of the Holy Trinity of
irritating shoppers thrown into the usually
tiny game retailer: Parents, Pushchairs
82
All opinions and comments expressed in this column
are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect
the opinions of Play.d magazine. So don’t you go
giving us evils.
and Pensioners. All three seem to
conspire to make browsing for a bargain
that much more difficult. These days if a
member of one of these groups is in my
line of sight I’ll rush to the nearest exit.
Not for my benefit, but for theirs, to save
them from an ear-bashing at least, or a
Daily Mail baiting ‘games make people
violent’ campaign because I ripped off
a little old lady’s arms and beat several
children to death with them.
I could just shop online, what with
it being cheaper and all, but I’ll be
searching for an old Xbox game from last
Christmas that you can only get second
hand, or for a fortune on eBay. Now don’t
get me started on eBay...
Last couple of points: firstly, I misquoted
last issues film quote. It was from Clerks
by the way. And secondly, I’d like to
congratulate whoever did the
art for my last column. It
was inspired. I’m hoping
for Dead Rising this
time. (All out of Dead
Rising pictures. Will
a chain gun do?
- Art Ed)
next issue February
Marching to deliverance