Review: Rock Band 2

Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 2

Harmonix / PS3, PS2, Wii, Xbox 360 / Teen

Reviewing games is usually a very insular process. You get the game, you lock yourself in a room with it, and you futz with it until you have an opinion and a bunch of talking points. The only place other people come into the equation is if your mom decides to bring you pizza rolls and ask why you haven’t gotten a “real” job. As pitiful as this seems the system usually works, but it hits a few snags with a game built from the ground up to start parties like, say, Rock Band 2.

So, being young, crazy, and surrounded by other people of the like, I decided to try and cram as many people as I could into m tiny dorm to do some of my futzing for me and collect information on how other people view a game I’ve turned into a private obsession. Luckily for my self-esteem, the consensus was “fun”.

Before we get to the group work, some technical observations from the “professional”:

1. The “talky parts” have been fixed, and by fixed I mean made so easy they’ve become meaningless. You can 100% Testify while ordering a pizza.
2. The drum trainer is genius, if you can’t get better by using it; you had no rhythm to begin with.
3. There are now drum solos, but there are only six of them and half of those are uninteresting or unchallenging. Oh well, no one likes a drum solo anyway.
4. The only change to the tried-and-true guitar gameplay is the addition of hammer-on/pull-off chords. If you know what that means you’ve already bought the game and are using this review as masturbation material.

But enough about me, lets get to the party.

As soon as I go the game home I opened our dorm-room door and started propositioning passers by like a Dutch prostitute in a red-light district window. Through my persistence I assembled an interesting group of players:

• Dan - Guitar Hero expert. Rumor has it he got so good by playing constantly while under house arrest
• Evan (from 511) – Came in drunk and insisted he could play Joker & The Thief on hard guitar (he couldn’t) then wandered off to race people through the lobby. Came by next day and apologized.
• Wes – Tobacco chewer who gave every instrument a shot. My mic has smelled funny ever since.
• Jimmy – Roommate from most racist town in the state. Insists he likes black people. Loves the Grateful Dead more that is reasonable for any non-stoner.
• Jacob – Other roommate. Only actually comes to room if he needs a place to sleep or has enough time to play a game of Madden between activities. Plays a mean medium bass.
• Red – Floor punching bag, butchered Black Hole Sun on vocals.
• Steve – Generally bewildered, played bass
• Kayla - Real singer from a musical family. Blazed through Maps on expert like they really don’t love him like she does. 
• Austin – Sometimes singer, super geek, responsible for fan-favorite drummer Protoman.
• Brittany – RA, said she would sing Livin’ on a Prayer then chickened out.
• Kelly – Wandered in, played a couple songs, wandered out, said it was cool. Probably stoned.
• Blake  – Good guitarist, better at Halo
• Kaitlin – Jimmy’s friend from different hall. Defies all the stereotypes about girl drummers.
• Krikor – Last roommate, talented violinist who holds 17 state weightlifting records. Yeah, you read that right.
• Big Scott - Also can sing, brought his own fancy-pants wireless guitar.
• Me – Jack-of-all-trades and the person in charge of the DLC choices. Can guitar and sing on hard if I want to show off.

Jimmy and I kicked things off by trying to unlock all the songs we could. We knew we had to grab potential party favorites like Down With The Sickness and Any Way You Want It, but I also wanted some personal favorites like Alex Chilton and Uncontrollable Urge available.

As we grinded our way through the tour to unlock all we could, there was a steady stream of interested faces by going by our door. No one actually tried to play they just stared. It was like being in a zoo, but with better music and less stink. Eventually we decided to give up the grind and start inviting the gawkers in.

The first visitor was Austin, who had played with us on Rock Band 1 before, and has real drumming experience from getting kicked out of a garage band for not being serious enough. Knowing we had a capable crew we kept touring for unlocks, but that would have to change soon.

Slowly other visitors entered until we had 8 people in our tiny 8×15 room. The core band finished the set and then motioned to the watchers to come forward, take up the instruments, and turn on the no fail mode for their shot. It was then that I finally got to rest my pipes as Red took up the mic for Black Hole Sun. 5 minutes and 35% later Red was off the mic and I was back on.

While some others had success with the vocals no one really had their 2001 monkey at the obelisk moment with the drums. Evan, Dan, Blake and Steve all tried with a too-stiff grip on the sticks and never got a hold of it. Wes got closer but almost broke my pedal. The non-experienced person who did the best was Jim’s study-buddy Katlin, who made her way through Simple Man on hard with few mishaps. Despite my own efforts to get everyone to try everything, it became a reoccurring theme that no one really wanted to stick anything out to get better; they just wanted to have fun.

And fun is what we had, with more people dropping in and out, usually on some form of guitar. We had the band experience I always dreamed of, and I got to sing Chop Suey more than I ever wanted.

Even when I wasn’t trying to draw people in I somehow managed to. I was minding my own business one night and doing some solo singing when Scott caught the sound of Master Exploder. We ended up playing ’till 2 am, not doing anything too intensive, just having fun.

It was like that for a few more days with some people coming in and dabbling, some spending serious time with it, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. I got to feel like a gaming evangelist, bringing people into the fold. Then Jim broke the drumsticks and it was all over.

I may be using the word too much but dammit, we had fun, and that was what the game is all about. You don’t have to play on expert or work the heaviest metal songs over and over until you get the solo right. You just have to pick the level you have fun at, and a song that everybody knows and prance around like a rock star. Also, I have firsthand experience with the hardcore appeal the game has to offer.

As has been said many times before Harmonix is a group of musicians making games to create new musicians, or at least people who know a little more than when they started. Every week there’s either something fresh to dig into that I wouldn’t have listened to otherwise, or I get to learn the bassline I never noticed in a song I love.

For some it may be about the music, for some it may be about the multiplayer fun, some may even be drawn to the challenge of nightmarish songs like Painkiller. Whatever your calling Rock Band 2 has something for everyone… except, perhaps, people who really, really love Aerosmith.

9/10

by Zack Rovinsky

 

Review: NCAA 09

Now With Even More Shady Boosters

EA Tiburon / All Consoles / Everyone

After a few years being portrayed as the bane of both gamers and humanity’s creative spirit, EA seems to have settled into a comfortable role as the king of “pretty much what you’d expect” (a darn sight better than Activision: the king of “again with this shit?”). They rarely surprise but they even more rarely dissapoint. If that’s what it takes to make hundreds of millions of dollars it makes you wonder why other people try so hard. The only thing really worth mentioning is when they screw up and, low and behold, they did. But, as with many things EA, it’s not really as big or as small a deal as many would have you believe.

First, lets just get the new stuff out of the way. The grass now resembles a well-mowed green shag carpet rather than a gym mat with grass clippings scattered on it, which is an improvement in my book. The create-a-player and campus legend modes have gotten just a bit deeper since last year. The replay options have been fine-tuned. Custom TD celebrations allow you to chose between kneeling to thank god, jumping around, partying with the mascot, or just running around like a jackass. The player models now resemble actual 18-22 year old human males rather than an anime artist’s over-muscled rendering of football players. Finally, as always, the rosters are updated to exclude all the guys on the covers. 

All of this is staying within the realm of “pretty much what you’d expect”, but that’s when laziness and complacency rear their ugly heads. There are serious issues in a few vital places that don’t break the game, but can cause headaches for players. The CPU sliders, which are supposed to affect the level of computer-controller opponent play, do absolutely nothing. Instead, the human sliders, which affect the play of all your teammates you don’t have the giant super-brain to control, affect both human and CPU play levels. They cancel each other out and bring us back to doing absolutely nothing. Also, the online dynasty, meant to be the future of fantasy football, sometimes simulates games humans have already played. Messing up the results and screwing the whole endeavor. 

There are more little disappointments beyond the technical fuck-ups too. It’s way, waay too easy to just blow past CPU defenders with a speedy player. I should know, it’s the basis of my success in campus legend mode. Also, 3 games into the next generation EA still hasn’t bothered to render the stadiums of smaller division-1 schools, instead sticking them in generic bowls. As an attendee of one of those smaller schools this majorly pisses me off. I want my Kelly-Shorts!

On top of all that is the general feeling that NCAA isn’t nearly as ambitious as Madden. While big bro’ is touting a game that adapts to the player’s skill and really teaches the game,  NCAA is still chugging along with ignorable features, roster updates, and mascot games. Of course, I wouldn’t be talking about all this if they had just made the game polished and solid.

Instead, they’ve traded uninspiring for unacceptable. EA’s laziness has cost the franchise it’s hard earned reputation, screwed over fans who thought they could buy another annual sports game update without any nasty surprises, and shone a light on just how stuck and half-assed their college football games have become.

At least, in a world with any justice it would. Instead things will be back to normal for NCAA 2010 and, as long as they make sure the game isn’t broken, we’ll be back to putting up with “pretty much what you’d expect”.

5.5/10

By Zack Rovinsky

 

Review: Turok

Bringing A Bow To A Gun Fight

Propaganda Games / Playstation 3 Xbox 360 / Mature

It’s odd that in a society so devoted to moving forward, we have an insatiable appetite for nostalgia. Just look at the movie theater where Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Miami Vice were all brought back from the dead with middling results. Or on TV where you can see updates of American Gladiators and Knight Rider anchoring NBCs spring offerings with equally middling results. It’s not surprising therefore that gamers have similar lust for their childhood memories and have shown a willingness to pay to get them back. That concept led Touchstone to dig up one of gaming’s more memorable fossils; the dinocidal Turok series.

As expected you play as Turok, this time a space marine with a mohawk fetish who’s only relation to the protagonists of previous games is his Native American ancestry, choice of weaponry, and predilection for running into dinosaurs on a regular basis. Oh, and the silly name. Turok was once a prisoner given a second chance in a famed regiment called the Wolf Pack under charismatic leader Roland Kane. After turning his life around under Kane’s guidance his mentor goes rouge and Turok is transferred into a new company sent to track down Kane. In case you’re wondering, yes that is a bit of a rip-off of Metal Gear Solid 3, but here’s where things take a turn. Turok’s ship is shot down on a planet full of dinosaurs. Why? Because dinosaurs are awesome that’s why.

What ensues is a first person shooter that is, you guessed it, middling. You get a standard set of weapons with assorted dual wielding possibilities plus a couple of low-tech alternatives: a bow and arrows, and a hunting knife. In most games those weapons would probably be a mild gimmick and little more, but here you’re actually better off using them than you would be charging around with the standard FPS combo of dual SMGs and a bad attitude.

The reason for this is that the targeting system is extremely difficult to control to the point where any attempts at shooting accurately is simply not worth the frustration in tense firefights or dinosaur ambushes. This also manages to ruin the bow, which would be a highly effective stealth and sniping tool if it weren’t so hard to aim. Even if you have the patience to use the bow effectively, the game treats finding ammo for it as some sort of reward for exploration. Arrows will only be found in secret areas, and if you run out, you can expect to spend a good deal of time combing levels you’d rather just breeze through looking for arrows. You can forget about picking up your spent arrows too. Once they’re gone they’re gone for good.

While the targeting is the biggest problem with Turok, the arrow annoyance is one of a bunch of other little issues that, for the most part, seem like results of developer inexperience rather than incompetence or some sort of demented grudge against the player. For one, Turok is a rather bouncy fellow from the way he walks and jumps to the way he climbs ladders. This, combined with the camera’s constant need to whoosh in and out of Turok’s head like some sort of indecisive poltergeist, makes for a rather nauseating experience. I, for one, had to take a number of breaks during gameplay to keep from ruining my favorite lounge chair.

Even though the knife is often the best weapon available for multiple situations the game throws at you, there’s a problem there as well. For some reason the special knife kills that are what actually make the knife useful and deadly must be initiated after an on-screen button prompt rather than just responding properly when you’re in range of a bad guy. This means that if you’re trying to use the knife in a frantic scuffle with a dino or trying to get a drop on a human enemy, you must wait for the prompt rather than relying on your own sense of timing. This generally makes using the knife a choppy and unintuitive experience.

On top of that, the game really seems to try to encourage stealth from the player. It gives you less health than most FPS protagonists and a number of silent and deadly weapon options. Even then it’s inevitable that Turok’s going to end up in a few big firefights and, it’s almost equally inevitable that the player will die once in a while during these big firefights because of limited, stealth-encouraging, health. Rather than getting sympathy in this situation in which you’ve basically died as a result of developer laziness, the game acts like it’s your fault for failing to live up to their expectations, shows you an annoyingly long load screen, and then dumps you back at whatever checkpoint you had the luck to have reached before. This can be up to 10 minutes of gameplay back from the firefight, and it can take multiple tries at times to figure out the best way to dispatch the regiment of enemies waiting for you up ahead. Needless to say, this got frustrating quickly.

There are also a few other little things like the level design, which is linear, boxy, boring, and just downright ugly. Touchstone seems to have put together a rather good voice cast including Timothy Olyphant (fresh off a game-related project in the Hitman movie) the black alien guy from Stargate, and home wrecking game show host Donnie Whalberg, but the sound quality of in game effects and dialogue is terrible for some reason.

Mostly Turok just gives you a general feeling of playing a game that was crafted with less than steady hands. A game made by a developer using you as a guinea pig so they can learn from their mistakes and make a better game next time. More power to them if they can get better. But did they have to sacrifice good ol’ Torok along the way?

4.5/10

By Zack Rovinsky

 

Review: Def Jam Icon

B-b-b-brawlin’

EA Chicago / Xbox 360, Playstation 3 / Mature

 

Anyone who’s ever witnessed a scuffle outside a trendy nightclub, taken a look at DMX’s arrest record, or sat through any number of movies where ass is kicked in a club setting knows that Hip-Hop and violence seem to find each other quite often. So, it was no great surprise when EA started making hip-hop fighting game series in a partnership with the Def Jam record label. It was surprising, however, that the series was actually good, thanks to the use of the developers behind the N64’s superb wrestling games. The Def Jam series has since evolved from wrestling game to brawler, to a stylized hybrid the likes of which we haven’t quite seen before known as Def Jam: Icon.

 

As with the previous games in the series, you make your own character with one of the better create-a-player modes you’ll find in any game. You’re a random dude who, after beating the crap out of a meathead in a club, is invited to work as an enforcer/producer for the record label owned by Curtis Carver, a once prominent force in the industry that has fallen on hard times. You’re soon introduced to the competition, Troy Dollar, played, in a downright confusing casting choice, by funnyman Anthony Anderson. You’re put right to work as a type of hired thug, and that part of your job doesn’t change at all as you progress up the ladder at the label. Even when you become a big-name producer, you’ll still be slapping around people to build your business. That’s right kids, every conflict in this game is solved by beating the holy hell out of those who would dare oppose you.

 

The fights themselves are set under a colored haze in environments that literally bounce to the beat. Each fighter picks a song from the licensed soundtrack and whoever is in command of the fight has their track of choice controlling the movements of the level. Using the environment’s movements and surges is essential to wining fights. Each stage has a number of points that make a dramatic movement at high points in the beat and can be used to deal a big blow to opponents. You also have some control over the environment as you can use a turntable-scratching gesture to trigger a high point and cause the stage to surge, hopefully hitting your nemesis. While this dynamic is certainly interesting for a time, you’ll need to pull it off over, and over, and over again to win all your fights, and there aren’t enough levels to keep it interesting.

 

The between fight setup is pretty much the same as last time with your guy being quickly told who he’s going to fight and why before being simply let loose like a bull in Pampalona. However, there is something new to do betwixt slobber-knockers besides shopping and playing dress-up with your hard fighting, hip-hop doppleganger, run a record label. Yes, your character is given control of a hip-hop label and, as a music producer, your primary duties are to sign artists, release albums, and beat the giblets out of people who get in the way of those first 2 activities. The music part of those duties are accomplished using the computer in your crib between fights. You will release albums from your stable of rappers, determine the marketing budget, then watch them shoot up the charts as you rake in the profits. You will also have to keep your artists happy by shelling out money for private planes, video games, and, occasionally, legal fees(seriously). As interesting as this may seem there isn’t all that much to do in running the business and what there is to do is generally idiot-proof.

 

If the career mode and straight up fighting isn’t so great how about online play? Alas, the game gets so unresponsive online it’s hardly worth the trouble. So much for that.

 

Even if the gameplay isn’t so great there are some positives here to keep people interested through the mediocre parts. The game looks great and has the same level of quality character models and graphics as Fight Night 3 with a sense of style that few games can match. Also, the soundtrack is great, if you’re into that sort of thing, and is completely uncensored. Every dirty word is there to make your pugilistic experience that much better.

 

If you like rap and fighting games and wish they could be somehow combined, then this is your game. It’s worth a rental even for fighting fans who are looking for something a little different. Just be warned that the experience looses steam quickly.

 

6.5/10

By Zack Rovinsky

 

 

Review: Crackdown

The Million-Dollar Man Simulator
Realtime Worlds / 360 / Mature

When we were first introduced to Crackdown the premise seemed to be a no-miss hit. “superpowers? an open-ended city? plenty of people to kill? Great! where can we sign up?” But, then we heard that a Halo 3 beta invite would come with every copy in the first shipment of Crackdown and expectations took a dramatic shift into “bomb” territory. The answer, as usual, is somewhere in between. Crackdown may not be a really great game, but it’s not a Halo 3 beta invite with a free game either.

In Crackdown you are an unnamed agent, the pride of a high-tech police force known as “The Agency” who has been engineered with upgradeable, super-human abilities and tasked with taking partly beautiful Pacific City back from three vicious gangs packed to bursting with ethnic stereotypes, and a limitless number of flunkies for you to kill. Each gang controls one third of the island city’s area and as you progress through them the gang soldiers become more deadly and your job gets harder.

Removing the gangs is a matter of taking out key gang generals one by one until the kingpin is weak enough to take out. All of these are accomplished via infiltration missions, which, thanks to the game’s free roaming nature, can be approached any way you can think. Be warned though, these bosses are not easy and it’s worth the time to upgrade before taking them on.

There are 5 basic abilities: agility, strength, driving, explosives, and firearms. All are upgraded by killing gang members with a certain method (i.e. grenades for explosives, melee attacks for strength) with the exception of agility, which requires you to collect agility orbs distributed throughout the city’s skyline.

This is where the issues start to come in, the driving skill is near impossible and incredibly frustrating to upgrade. There are three ways to do this: running down gang members while trying to dodge innocent pedestrians (which would negate the points you gain) in a car that you can barely control until you upgrade, races which are impossible to win until you beat the game and can turn off the gangs who’ll shred your car before you can clear 5 checkpoints, and stunt jumps which almost universally require the use of hard-to-find ramp trucks that you must precisely place and hope aren’t moved while you fetch a suitably fast car to jump them while still dodging pedestrians and gunfire. It doesn’t help that you inexplicably can’t shoot from your car despite such a feature being an integral part of every similar game since 2001.

This frustration is often worsened by the presence of your agency contact who is constantly in your ear making repetitive comments and suggestions which are more annoying than helpful once you’ve gotten hold of the game, It’s like being possessed by a Robert Stack sound-alike with short term memory issues.

Beyond the frustrations the game suffers from the fact that the single player game isn’t very long, the story is paper-thin and the action is nonstop and repetitive. Plus the multiplayer opportunities were squandered on a simple and pointless co-op retread and an online interface that makes no sense.

All that being said, it’s impossible to deny that the game is fun, but it simply isn’t very deep or original. The nonstop action gets old too fast and this stuff has all been done before in some form or another.

I know it’s hard to make a game of this type that can escape the shadow of a certain other franchise named for a felony that I won’t name here, but Crackdown, while fun for a handful of hours, simply isn’t any more than that.

7/10
By Zack Rovinsky

Review: Far Cry Instincts Predator

Death In Paradise
Ubisoft / Xbox 360 / Mature

In a bloated FPS market it’s not easy to carve out space for a bloated franchise, but Ubisoft has managed, with amazing graphics complimented by breathtaking tropical scenery to do just that with their Far Cry series. Now, within the space of two years, Ubisoft has released the fourth Far Cry on its third different console, this time to compete on the Xbox 360. Going up to compete with the likes of Call Of Duty 2 and Perfect Dark Zero is the half-port, half sequel, but all long-winded, Far Cry: Instincts Predator.

The instincts part of Instincts Predator is a straight port of the Xbox version. You play as Jack Carver, a man of more grunts than words, whose Jewish-mother like worry about the well-being of his boat causes little surprise when said boat is blown to kingdom-come. Now stranded on the island he was visiting, Jack falls back on his Navy training, and proceeds to hunt down the sick people responsible for the destruction of his beloved dinghy. Since things can never be as they seem on a beautiful island, those people turn out to be a group of suspiciously well-organized mercenaries who are there to capture Carver and use him in genetic testing with a serum designed to reverse human evolution to a more primal state. Under the supervision of a mysterious South African badass known as Crowe, the mercenaries capture Jack and administer the serum, only to have him break loose and wreak havoc when the stuff kicks in. The game concerns Jack’s attempt to rid himself of the super-human powers, and subsequent lack of control over his instincts, that the serum has given him, and, of course, get revenge for his beloved ship.

The gameplay is basic Xbox-style FPS fare, which means it borrows heavily from Halo. Gamers skulk around the beautiful jungle in search of bad guys to massacre, but that skulking and massacring is where Ubisoft has strived to differ from the competition. The game puts heavy influence on stalking and stealth killing enemies rather than the usual bum rush that works so well in other games. Ubisoft has given gamers a trap mode, super-human skills, and tons of foliage to hide in, in order to properly stalk the poor bastards unlucky enough to cross their path.

The enemies themselves also encourage sneaking, but for all the wrong reasons. Rather than making the mercs actually smart enough to prove a challenge, they are simply tougher and can take more abuse than the average bullet-magnet. Sure, they’ll still stand out in the open and absorb hot lead like a dry sponge absorbs spilled milk, but they can take enough damage to provide resistance to a run and gun approach.

To go along with the AI issues, there are also a number of control issues that either don’t make the necessary changes to the Halo formula, or fail to pay heed its strengths. Like in Halo, crouching is mapped to the right stick, but uses a stance system rather than Halo’s simple crouch. The result is that it is exceedingly difficult to crouch and change stance on the fly and, in a game that encourages sneaking, not being able to crouch and go prone easily is means making a lot more noise, and subsequent death. Another control problem is in the vehicle controls. The game has a tendency to throw in a long driving sequence every so often, which includes several precise turns and jumps. At the same time the game attempts to allow full weapon control while driving, and that means that driving is fully controlled by the left stick which, in case you haven’t tried it before, makes driving well near impossible.

Issues aside, about those special powers. In addition to the three types (pistol, sub-machine gun, and special) of weapons players can carry at any given time, Jack is granted a number of “feral” powers with the administration of the mysterious serum he was forcefully given. “Feral smell” is the ability to see the scent given off of living things in the form of an orange haze, which makes tracking a hekuva lot easier. Another tracking advantage is “Feral vision” which bestows both thermal and night vision for use in the dark. The “feral speed” and “feral jump” allow the player to run faster and jump higher. “Regeneration” a slowly restores health in between battles. The “feral attack” is a powerful melee attack, which causes players to rush and swipe a targeted enemy. Finally “feral strength” gives players the power to rip a mounted gun off its moorings and use it as his special weapon.

The multiplayer experience is also a major draw, especially on Xbox Live. The mapmaker continues to be the best in the business, and even adds a few new items to make maps with, most notably: zip-lines. The online multiplayer is heavily influenced by online favorites like Halo 2 and Call of Duty 2 with modes reminiscent of each. Despite borrowing from others, each mode has it’s own added Far Cry touch. Hidden in a special place on each map is the Predator power-up, which bestows upon the discoverer several of the feral powers to use for a limited time. This add-on is certainly prized, but is well balanced with the rest of the multiplayer game.

Despite what’s good and bad about the core game, the prevailing issue is whether or not anyone is really willing to pay another sixty dollars for a slight graphical update, some new toys, and a puny new story mode. Since the graphics were already stellar there’s really nowhere to go with the visuals. Also, since the new equipment consists of a few explosives that undermine the sneaky gameplay focus, an ineffective blowgun, and a few vehicles that are even harder to maneuver than the current crop, those elements are just fluff, and the new story doesn’t hold up well to scrutiny. So, as to whether gamers will pay another sixty bucks for these piddly extras, the short answer is hopefully not.

6/10
By Zack Rovinsky

Review: Sonic Rush

A Rush Of Blood To The Hands
Dimps /DS /Everyone

It’s been a long, long time since Sonic the Hedgehog’s 2D heyday on the Genesis, when he was going sneaker to boot with Nintendo’s mustachioed, plumbing powerhouse. The turning point in that rivalry can be pinpointed at both mascots’ switch to the third dimension. While Mario’s 3D debut is considered to be one of the greatest games of all time, Sonic’s showed a number of flaws that would never be fixed, and become more and more frustrating, in future editions. For years of troubled 3D platformers and random spin-offs, the only place for Sonic’s fan base to get their 2D fix was on portables, and each of those games have been competent, but unspectacular. But, new portable technology brings new portable possibilities, and with the DS, Sonic’s handlers are finally able to combine the 3D effects they love to fiddle with alongside the side-scrolling gameplay the true Sonic fans love. Throw that in with some extra features, and you have Sonic Rush.

The story has Sonic resuming his never-ending battle against the diabolical Eggman but now, Eggman has opened up a portal to another universe and brought over the darker in color, and therefore more sinister, Eggman Nega. Also coming through is a new playable character, the purple, oddly attired, and apparently Hindu Blaze the Cat, who joins the already bloated Sonic character list that only their mothers, and the purveyors of Sonic spin-offs, could love. Blaze starts out as a refreshing loner and badass who, as the name implies, is pyrokinetic. In the beginning, Blaze insists on fighting Eggman alone but, of course, this doesn’t fly with Sonic’s teamwork-loving pals, who badger Blaze about the power of friendship until she finally caves, just in time for the schmaltzy ending. Also dropping in are Sonic’s brainy sidekick Tails, and Cream the Rabbit, along with her little buddy Cheese (it pains me to know this much). Those two will serve as guides who do little more than squeak encouragement from the top screen during map sequences.

To go along with the classic Sonic idiotic story is classic Sonic gameplay plus a bushel of DS-inspired extras. The main action spans both screens, and combines pretty psudo-3D effects with Sonic’s signature fast paced 2D gameplay. The touch screen even gets some action during the half pipe bonus rounds, which are only accessible when playing as Sonic. The DS’s 3D capabilities even get a workout during the boss battles, which keep players on a track in a full 3D environment. The only catch here is that the two playable characters have to share the same 8 levels, and there aren’t enough differences in their abilities to fully warrant playing each level twice. Luckily, the gameplay is fun enough at its core to keep proceedings from getting stale during the repeats.

The levels themselves help in the fight against boredom too. Each level has 2-5 totally unique moves/interactive environment pieces that are an adventure in themselves to figure out and master. These range from wall walking to water sliding, and no two are anywhere near the same. There are also multiple paths through each level spanning either the top or bottom or both screens and featuring it’s own quirks and challenges.

Fun, good-looking, and challenging, and with a good amount of replay value, Sonic Rush is the best Sonic game of the last decade, and just another reason why no one, Sonic fan or not, should be without a DS.

9.5/10
By Zack Rovinsky

Review: Sonic Riders

It Was Either This Or Sonic Kart
Sonic Team / Playstation 2 Xbox Gamecube / Everyone

For a major platforming mascot, Sonic The Hedgehog has done a lot less genre bending than his more, let’s say…Italian counterpart. That didn’t stop him from doing a racing game before, but the foot racing on Sonic R that fit in so well with the Sonic formula didn’t catch on and the fastest thing on two sneakers stuck mostly to platforming after that. Now it seems that after watching so many sci-fi cartoons and movies, Sonic Team has decided to put their namesake on a hover board for another crack at a racing spin-off. Marty McFly would be proud.

The story goes that while searching for the dragonballs of the Sonic world, chaos emeralds, Sonic and pals were confronted by some mysterious birds riding hover boards. Sure-enough, push comes to shove and the two crews end up together in a racing tournament hosted by the nefarious Eggman, no doubt for the continuation of some evil plot or another. Truth be told, story is never the strong suit of any racer, so the good ones will either: not even try, or have the goods to back it up. Surprisingly, Sonic Riders pulls off the latter with a wholly unique and deep brand of board racing.

The racing is actually much more complicated than one might think. From the starting line to the jumps to using boost, timing is king. For example if a player doesn’t charge up their jump they may not get enough air to pull off a sufficient trick but if they charge the jump too long then they will slow down too much and lose ground on the other racers. There are actually a lot of different elements to the races, the basics are that throughout the race there are jumps, turbulence, pit stops, and what I like to call stick segments.

The jumps vary between regular and trick jumps. Regular jumps are just variations in elevation that require charged jumps by a player to be tricked off of. Trick jumps are more common and will boost the player along, automatically providing enough air for tricks. As for the tricks themselves, each is graded for landing and difficulty and the grade affects a player’s speed, and good grades will award players with extra boost. A player must attempt a trick of sufficient difficulty for each trick jump if they land properly they suffer no loss in speed and are rewarded with boost. If they land awkwardly or don’t go big enough they receive a low grade and have their speed reduced.

Turbulence refers to a jet stream that occasionally spouts out in the wake of opposing racers. Gamers can ride that jets ream for increased speed and can even trick off of it and they can be lifesavers on a tight corner.

If a player burns through all their boost they’re forced to either: find a boost item, pull off a trick, or find one of the pit stops on each track. The pit stop is just a quick stop if you have enough boost, but someone who’s running low may need to spend more time.

Lastly, every track will have a stick section where a player must twirl their joystick to maintain speed. These portions can be crucial to position and encompass a range of activities from sliding down a rail to riding a giant flying arthropod. You read right, a giant flying arthropod.

All these factors do take a lot of practice and only the most dedicated will truly master it, but that’s what makes the game such a pleasant surprise to those expecting a simple mascot cash-in. Really the biggest issue beyond the laughable story and dialogue is that the possibilities for great and challenging online play are squandered on PS2 and Xbox where online multiplayer isn’t supported.

Sonic Riders is quite a pleasant surprise for it’s depth and complexity and, as such, is worth a rental for every racing and SSX fan. Sonic Riders is a little unorthodox, but it may just find a dedicated following among LAN partiers and racing fans in search of something beyond pimped rides, race cars, and go-karts.

7/10
By Zack Rovinsky

Review: 24: The Game

A Day In The Life
SCE / Playstation 2 / Mature

In the rare instance when a developer is desperate enough for a quickie cash in game to turn to a TV show for fodder, the shows that get called up aren’t usually the captivating big-budget must see shows that would actually make good games. Instead we see TV games that take a popular animated show and stretch the premise so far it’s barely recognizable, just for that quick buck. In the meanwhile high potential dramas are left alone to their viewing audience until they jump the shark and fade away. It’s only once in a blue moon that a show comes along with the dramatic force to warrant a game tie-in, and that aqua moon is shining upon 24.

Rather than recycling events from a season of the show, the game’s story provides a ton of fan service by fleshing out the mysterious time between seasons two and three. That means that some big questions will be answered, including: how did President Palmer survive the assassination attempt? How did Kim Bauer join CTU LA? And how did Chase Edwards and Jack Bauer become partners? In addition to being introduced Chase and Kim (as well as others) get to take some screen time away from Mr. Bauer as additional playable characters. While the extra characters may be little more than new skins, the character models are pretty enough to warrant giving more characters face time (it also helps to stretch the voice-acting budget).

Outside the fan-fantasy story everything else about the game is average or less. The gameplay is basic third-person shooting where the impressive number of guns one can collect is offset by how difficult it is to fire them accurately. The targeting is a stick-based system that allows a player, after targeting an enemy, to zero in on head and other precision shots using a joystick, in theory. The reality is that doing things right takes way too much time in a frantic firefight, and more often than not you’ll end up switching targets or going to free aim mode.

As previously suspected, the biggest problem here is the camera, which has a frenetic, handheld quality to it that actually seems to fit the show’s presentation. Even so, the problem is less that Jack Bauer is being followed by a cameraman, it’s that the cameraman probably had had a three-beer lunch. The constant lurches and twitches caused by moving characters, nearby objects, or just trying to look around are likely to become a persistent bodily issue for all but the steeliest stomached gamer.

If the camera doesn’t ruin the view the graphics are one of the few saving graces present. The cutscenes are long and indulgent, and show off the attention to detail that has been put in the character modeling, which is the star of the show. On another presentation point, the sound advantages afforded to a TV game really make a good showing. All the main characters are voice by their real show actors and all the music from the show never fails to add to the drama of the cutscenes.

In the end, 24 is a decent TV game handicapped by the vomit-inducing camera, so maybe it’s a good thing the predictably-numbered set of 24 missions each provide just enough playtime for the gamer to realize what good things 24 brings to the table, but are not long enough to cause one to befoul the couch. 24 fans are recommended to enjoy, in small doses.

5.5/10
By Zack Rovinsky

Review: True Crime: New York City

If I can make it there…
Luxoflux / Playstation 2 Xbox Gamecube / Mature

Depending on whom you ask, the True Crime series is either inspired by or a rip off of the more popular Grand Theft Auto series. The similarities of their free-roaming worlds are unmistakable but for one big difference, In TC you’re the good guy and can decide just how good that guy is. While the GTA series started first in the Empire state before heading west, TC is doing the opposite. After it’s moderately successful LA debut True Crime goes to the Big Apple in True Crime: New York City.

The main character this time around is Marcus Reed, an ex-con who was turned into a successful cop by a close family friend. After that friend is killed in a sudden, mysterious explosion, Marcus takes his newly earned detective’s badge and puts it to use trying to get to the bottom of his friend’s demise while cleaning up the free-roaming streets.

While many gamers love GTA for the freedom of being unshackled by any lawful or ethical standard, playing the other side has its perks too, Marcus uses the local police station in Times Square as a base to turn in evidence, collect pay, purchase weapons, and get unmarked vehicles all to use on the mean streets. Also, the NYPD has an impressive array of weaponry at its disposal, everything from beanbag guns to rocket launcher can be carried by those who protect and serve.

When not on missions the game proffers a bunch of petty crimes for players to deal with. These range from robberies, to reckless driving, to bank robberies. These side missions will have to provide the bulk of replay value and the repeating formats of them don’t do the best job they could.

The main premise of the game is whether players want to be good cops or bad cops. Good cops shoot to wound, turn in evidence, and flash their badge a lot. Bad cops plant evidence, shoot to kill, and generally have a lot more fun. These choices are aided by a super-accurate aiming mode that slows time and provides the only real control difference from GTA Whatever the gamer chooses to be they are rewarded or penalized points for their actions and too many bad cop incidents will result in a temporary demotion.

While GTA 3’s Liberty City was more of a caricature of New York, True Crime attempts to cram all of a highly detailed Manhattan into the game. The resulting realism has its ups and downs. While native New Yorkers will be able to navigate as they would in real life, it takes a freakin’ hour to get across the island, just like in real life. The city is also contains a generous amount of indoor environments that are often used for missions.

All those wide open spaces mean it’s time to forgive some graphical issues, while the environs are less fuzzy then in GTA, there is also lots more pop-up, sometimes only a block or two in front of the player. Any graphical quirks can be ignored, however, because the city’s so accurate and load times are reasonable.

Luckily, in the one place that would have gotten rip-off called before the game even hit shelves TC holds back. The music is a large, if unmemorable, collection of the hits of yesterday and the game fodder of today, and you know what that means.

Really NYC is a sequel made for series fans and them only. But while others are very quick to dismiss it as a GTA clone though that label isn’t entirely accurate. True Crime provides just enough that’s new and unique to warrant a rental from GTA fans and those who loved Streets of LA is sure to love NYC as much. While reports have been coming in of game bugs and crashes, I personally had no such issues. Instead the game provides an interesting foil to GTA, not just a cloning.

6.5/10
By Zack Rovinsky