Preview: 24: The Game

SCE / Playstation 2 / Mature

While any half-baked action movie that comes out seems to get an equally half-baked game tie-in, the best of the action TV shows rarely get such an opportunity. Think of the wasted opportunities: a Friends dating sim, a Law & Order detective game, Simpson’s Skateboarding! (oh wait…). In terms of current TV shows they don’t get much better than 24 and now the popular show gets its chance to prove the TV-game market in the unoriginally titled: 24: The Game.

The game follows the events of the second and third seasons of the series (or so I’m told) and leads Jack Bauer on a quest to prevent an assassination attempt on the vice president. And while saving the VP may not seem like entirely useful work Jack takes his work very seriously. What would be a fairly straightforward mission in real life leads Jack through a seedy made-for-TV underworld complete with drug dealers, terrorists, and kidnappers for gamers to hunt down.

Outside the story, 24 follows most basic movie game conventions. It includes voice acting by the actors who play the main characters, cinematic cutscenes, and, as tradition dictates, a glaring flaw that either masks or accentuates the game’s otherwise bland gameplay.

The big defect here is the camera, which hugs way too close to the admittantly handsome Mr. Bauer and flails wildly when asked to actually target something. Not only does this render the game largely unplayable, but has a tendency to nauseate the player (my carpet still smells a little funky).

Outside of the epileptic camera everything else about the gameplay is typical, if not good, third-person shooter gameplay. There are a good number of weapons but nothing else is really remarkable. The graphics and sound are nothing special either so it will fall to the story to carry the game, which it may or may not be able to do.

Really, from what I can tell from the demo, the game is less a roller coaster ride and more like a spin on the tilt-a-whirl. You’re twice as likely to throw up and the view isn’t nearly as nice. We’ll see in late February/early March.

By Zack Rovinsky

Preview: Shadow Of The Colossus

Sony CEI / Playstation 2 / Rating Pending

When Sony’s Ico came out in 2001 it almost single-handedly sparked a games-as-art, movement and received unanimous praise and game of the year nominations from many places. Since then Team Ico, as they are referred to, have been working on a game that is, while not a sequel, a game that embodies a similar spirit as Ico. That game is Shadow of the Colossus.

SotC has you playing as a young man/woman who must bring down a series of colossi. As in Ico nothing is made totally clear but that ambiguous approach to the main character’s story (and gender) fits the game and it’s style. It also allows players to imagine the motive for killing these giant beasts as their own, adding a role-playing element.

Each of the sixteen colossi is assertively unique and functions as a puzzle that must be solved. In the demo, for example, a player must first climb onto the fur on the creature’s leg and then stab to bring it down to one knee. One must then continue climbing to a series of rest platforms on it’s back. You can then scale more fur to the top and stab the giant in the head to bring it down.

The main thing to monitor during gameplay, other than health, is a shrinking pink dot that serves as a grip meter. As a colossus thrashes around the player will start to lose their grip and must find a safe place to rest before continuing onward.

Between each of the colossi are massive, beautiful environments. As in Ico a player has the choice to explore their environs as they please before moving to the next objective. Riding the available horse adds to this enjoyment as the horse control feels joyously natural.

The only hitch to this exploration is that trekking across such massive landscapes to reach the action will try the patience of gamers without the right temperament. Riding a horse around an open field isn’t for everyone and may be perceived by some as a major flaw. Another problem with the environments is a good deal of environmental pop-up. The aging PS2 can’t support such large, well-rendered landscapes all at once, and gamers will find themselves only about one acre behind the game engine.

In short, the games-as-art crowd is going to love this one, the unique approach and wonderful visuals craft an experience that goes beyond traditional gaming. It’s just that this experience isn’t for everyone, and even the artsy may have issues with those slow-loading, wide-open, spaces. We may be hearing the term “flawed masterpiece” thrown around a lot when Shadow Of The Colossus is released in mid October.

By Zack Rovinsky

Preview: LA Rush

Midway / Playstation 2 Xbox PC / Teen

LA Rush, has long a big arcade racing power for Midway, with racing locations fleshing out the titular city in what was, for the time, great detail. Now it’s being revitalized with the popular West Coast Customs (WCC) license for modern consoles to go up against Rockstar’s Midnight Club 3.

LA Rush shares a premise with almost all the other street racing games out there: race, race some more, pimp your ride, race said pimped ride, repeat. What Midway hopes will set LA Rush apart are two major things. First is the West Coast Customs license. WCC is currently the biggest name in car customization thanks to the success of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, and they lend their expertise, as well as their likenesses, and kooky personalities, to the game. Second is the huge, detailed Los Angeles the developers have crafted. Mapping nearly every city street from the Hollywood hills to South Central, it’ll be a joy to explore.

The actual racing is what you’d expect from an arcade racer, plus several key features picked up from the competition. Borrowed from Burnout are some pretty spectacular crashes and ride damage. Crash into something head on and time will slow to show doors, panels, and various other bits and pieces flying off your car.

Like Need For Speed: Most Wanted the cops will chase you around if you tick them off. There is even a GTA-style warning system going from one to six. The cops in LAR seem to be much more competent and aggressive than the ones in Midnight Club so it’s best just to avoid them. Likewise the driver AI for both rival and bystander is surprisingly competent. Cruising around the streets of LA will show the local populace driving, pretty much as you’d expect them to in real life. Coming from Midnight Club is the detailed and realistic car customization, and a cruise mode for exploring the massive city.

The only real question mark here is in the driving. The demo showed certain competence but to dethrone the reigning kings of the genre LAR will have to capture the exiting, adrenaline-fueled, cerebral racing of the major competition. Only time will tell.

It is evident that Midway is putting a lot of effort into the revitalization of one of its classics. From the WCC license to the city itself everything smacks of a quest for perfection. Whether that will capture the magic of the other arcade racing giants is yet to be seen. Look for that magic when LA Rush hits in early October.

By Zack Rovinsky

Preview: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Midway / PS2 Xbox / RP

Mortal Kombat has a firmly cemented reputation as the most violent fighting game out there. It’s a wonder that this ultra violence has never been translated into a Mortal Kombat beat-em-up, until now. MK Shaolin Monks translates the characters, settings, and fatalities of the MK fighting games into a simple side scrolling action game that I was lucky enough to get my hands on in demo form.

Gamers will play mainly as one of two familiar MK characters, either Liu Kang, or Kung Lao, as they traipse through assorted, blood-splattered environs, beating the crap out of all who stand in their way. This crap beating is accomplished with four basic moves, quick moves, uppercut moves, heavy moves, and throws, each of which has a special variant for each character. All these moves are combined into long flowing combos that will gain experience points, as well as build towards the horrific Fatalities, which were unfortunately blocked from view in the demo (though you can get the idea from the sounds). Sprinkled around these fighting environments are various MK trademarks such as environmental hazards and weapons of both the slashing and throwing variety, and all this leads to an end of level boss fight with one of the evil MK characters (Baraka in the demo).

It’s no secret that this formula has been around for years but Midway strives to do it to perfection with a unique MK touch. Combos flow very nicely and there is never a lack of action. In the end it seems the only thing that can derail Shaolin Monks is what has befallen so many games like this before, repetitiveness. We shall see when Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks hits a fatality on stores in mid-September.

By Zack Rovinsky

Preview: Flatout

Bugbear / PS2 PC Xbox / Teen

While others may enjoy them for other reasons, there is one simple reason why I enjoy Burnout and the ATV games; the crashes. these games provide glorious crunching of steel and bone enough to bring out the psychopath in all of us and the unimaginitively named Flatout aims to be their bastard love child. With many people’s game of the year to compete with you need something to set you apart and Flatout strives to do this, not through its racing but through its mini-games. Said mini games are portrayed in a stadium and make ample use of the fun and hilarious driver ejection feature as well as the good car and ragdoll physics engines. Sadly only one, the high jump, was availible in my demo disk but it was very easy to get hooked on the simple mayhem.

Imagine launching your car up a ramp and at the apex of its flight ejecting the helpless ragdoll driver in a shower of broken glass. Sending him up towards a hight marker before he is brought back to earth. Sometimes he hits the landing pad but usually he does not and slams into the pavement or into a net either way smashing his bones into smithereens. this is the high jump Flatout style.

Flatout also has a grittier demolition derby feel to it to appeal to dirt racing crowd, as will the otherwise unappealing soundtrack, but, as in Burnout, don’t expect too much from the racing. Control is, as expected, touchy and arcade like and the tracks are basic at best. Appeal of the game will have to come from the unique mini-games or else this will be left in the dust. We shall see when it crashes into stores mid-July. By

By Zack Rovinsky