Review: Katamari Damacy
Review: Time Splitters - Future Perfect
Bargain Bucket
E3 Remains
Katamari Damacy.
Submitted by Veko.
Body: Earlier this month I was graced with the presence of one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen. This game is called Katamari Damacy, and it is as unique as the Hulk is at a white wedding.
Just to get past the simple information, Katamari means 'bundle' or 'cluster' in Japanese and Damacy is 'spirit' or 'soul.'
The games concept is simple. Take your small adhesive ball, called a Katamari and roll it around to pick up things. Why is it so amazing then? The grand scale of things is what makes it amazing. Through the game your Katamari, grows from the size of 5 cm to the required size of 300 meters for the last level. At first you will pick up thumbtacks and ants, and strawberries. You’ll continue on through picking up cats, fish, and dogs to desks and people. At the end it will be houses, islands, clouds, bridges, and even, strangely enough, rainbows and tornados.
This game was originally released on the Playstation 2 in September of last year, it can now be found for the price of $20 in many locations. For those of you that have a Duel-Screen or PSP, it’s coming out for those handhelds in the near future. Of course, not too near with Gamefaqs listing it as TBA.
This game’s sequel, titled “We Love Katamari,” is due out on the fourth of October for the Playstation 2.
Katamari Damacy, the most original game on the market, gets a 8.7/10 from Veko.
Time Splitters: Future Perfect.
Submitted by Soup.
In the spotlight of this startup edition of my column is Time Splitters: Future Perfect
Whoa! I think I know a great game when I see it and Time Splitters had me wide-eyed from the first mission. This game is one of those games that can make a whole weekend worthwhile, and you’ll only have beat the missions on easy.
Graphics: The graphics have that trademark cartoony, over the top, look…but damned if they didn’t do it perfectly. The lights and weapons effects are of the highest caliber, the character designs are all flawlessly entertaining , including all of your favorites: Calamari, Snowman, and two new editions to the monkey that will have you rolling on the floor: Cyber monkey, and Ninja monkey. Your weapons are done immaculately, from the satisfaction you get seeing an enemy go down with a harpoon to the face, to seeing the fireworks as you nail some Nazi soldier in the face with a flare gun.
Sound: The sound, as in all Time Splitter games, is simple, and therein lies the beauty. The voices are hilarious with a top-notch voice talent crew that made the characters, in all their wackyness come alive. The music keep pace with the game, seamless and perfectly blended into the background. And the sound effects are as usual, the perfect match for the visuals.
Controls: Woohoo! Finally a game that I can pick up and not have to watch a tutorial in order to move around! The controls are wonderful, you can complete anything in the game you want to without having to think about it. Open a door? Guess what!? It’s as simple as walking up to it and tapping A. The method of zooming in, throwing grenades, switching weapons, etc. is all so simple you’ll not even think about it.
Gameplay: Perfection in simplicity. Run around, shoot people, listen to funny dialogue, and save the human race. Time Splitters is unclogged by any asinine complications, everything is straightforward and easy to handle. Which brings me to what I love about it, it’s for all abilities and players. You don’t have to worry about your friends not being good FPS players, grab’em and I guarantee that they will be giving you a run for your money in 5 minutes. TS offers great, addictive gameplay for people of all gaming ability.
TS:FP has all of your favorite modes, story (see below), challenges which will keep you smashing your head against the wall for hours, arcade league which offers a great deal of challenge and equal rewards, map-maker where you have considerably more space than TS2, and of course the multiplayer, which now supports all of your favorite modes, plus a renovated assault mode and some great levels.
Story: The story of TS:FP is simply well done. Everything is easy to comprehend, as hard as you want it to be to complete, and will make you laugh all the way through. You are again, Cortez, charged with defending humanity. Only this time your enemy is not the time splitters, but rather the man who started the whole ordeal in the first place. You are helped by great AI, which includes Harry Tipper the Free Radical version of Bond, my favorite R-110 the coolest robot around, and who could be better to blow away the baddies with than Cortez’s from other time streams!? Wacky characters, even wackier situations make for a story to remember.
Final Word: Free Radical is a virtual den of artistic and creative geniuses, and Time Splitters: Future Perfect reflects it. And I can't stress enough, how much fun story mode is.
Playability: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 10/10
Entertainment: 10/10
Replay value: 8/10
Total: 9.6/10 “A+”
The Bargain Bucket.
Tired of waiting for the next big title? Paying $60.00 for the next big thing? Only have 25$ to your name but need something to do while wallowing in your self pity? Well you’re in luck!
Here’s a few options if you’re looking for some quick and easy entertainment at the baragian buck.
Star Ocean 3: Till The End of Time:
Patience, patience, patience. This game’s graphics are amazing, the cut scenes, the in world visuals, everything keeps it’s theme, and it’s style. The battle system is one hell of a ride, with customization in good quantity, attacks and strategy in high demand, and all around fun oozing from each sequence.
The sound effects are mediocre, nothing to worry about, but nothing to rave about. And the music following SO standards as simple, but elegant.
The controls while in the environment will never quite feel right unfortunately, and that takes the 1st point of patience. The plot, I was engrossed with this game for the first 10 hours. But the developers made the mistake of too much repetition, too much backtracking, and revealing too many things that you can’t do at the time but have to come back to later. In addition the actual story is far from compelling. These things together use up 2 patience points. Unfortunately I only have three, so completing the game was extremely difficult.
This game for the PS2 should run you about $25.00 new, not quite worth it, so grab it used.
Breakdown :
Breakdown is a must have for Xbox owners. This game is the most innovative game I’ve seen for the box. The graphics are jaw dropping, with simple but elegant level designs, great energy/electricity effects and backed up by realistic as hell sounds. Not to mention the cut-scenes which feature some of the greatest art direction I’ve seen.
And on top of a beautiful game for the eyes is a great game for the hands. The game is not slow, but not fast enough to pull you out of the world. The pitch of the game is hand to hand combat from an immersive perspective, and it’s done immaculately. Your physical attacks are easy to master, and despite a reticule when you pull out your SMG for a dose of ass kicking before pummeling a soldier into a bloody pulp, you will find it easy to aim and wield with proficiency.
This game has a highly addictive story, with plot twists and hooks coming at all the right times. My one compliant may have been the difficulty of the game, this is not a game for those who take it easy. You have to be on your best, or you won’t come close to reaching the game’s full potential.
Be prepared to search though, you may find a copy hard to get. Prices vary but you shouldn’t have to spend over $30.00.
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent
Fun, fun, fun. This game’s graphics are lackluster, sound isn’t phenomenal, and even the story is generic. But hell if I don’t have fun putting a few between an enemy’s eyes while he shoots up one of his comrades that I’m using for a meat-shield.
The premise for this game is that you are an agent who has been discharged from the English secret service after you lose your eye in a mission. You are engulfed with rage and hell bent on revenge, meaning that while your former ally Bond sneaks and slips his way through enemies, you prefer to smash them in the face with a rifle, shred them with dual SMGs, and flatten them with cargo sleds while they try and cross the tracks to get to you.
This game’s dual wield system is just what I’ve been wanting, you can have any one handed weapon you want in your right hand, and any other one hander or grenades in your left. Makes for a hell of a system in conjunction with your mechanical eye abilities that improve as you go. You first get limited X-ray vision, and soon upgrade to all manner of nasty abilities.
A fun game, that in all rights shouldn’t be, well worth the $20.00 I bought it for.
Burnout 3: Platinum Hits:
There’s a reason why this game is platinum…and it’s because it has a soundtrack of real music, graphics which will blow your eyes out of their sockets, and the most addictive game play I’ve ever encountered for a driving game.
The single player circuits are so fun that you’ll be entertained all the way to the last challenge. These include Road Rage (my favorite) where you crash as many of your competitors as possible before you run out of driveable car, Race where you can only get ahead by visciously smashing anybody who wants to get in front of you, GP which is 4 races w/points, Burning Laps where you have to race against the clock and traffic, and probably the most enjoyable part of the game Crash Events where you slam your car into a busy intersection or highway, do as much damage as possible, and watch the show.
There's not much to say about this game that doesn't translate to one thing: Perfected fun.
I’d call Burnout 3, at $19.00 new, the best bargain out there.
Coming from The Pipe to you this month is the best sprite web comic. Bob and George is one of the most highly influential web comics on the internet right now. It stars the blue bomber Megaman and other characters from the video games. The story lines can be a little random, but it helps to raise the hilarity. The comic starts out at the beginning of the Megaman video games and goes up with little “present day” story lines. The characters travel through time and dimensions within the Megaman dimension, adding to the already gut busting humor.
Due to its highly original use of Megaman sprites it has spawned several nock-off comics wishing to get in on the increasingly popular sprite web comic scene. There have been such noticeables as 8-bit theatre and Drsnhaps. Due to the amount of attention it has got has lead to an increasingly large throng of fans, yours truly being one of that multitude. Bob and George also has a section for fan comics, for those just starting out with their sprite comics and in desperate need for some publicity.
For those interested in visiting this wonderful comic simply visit www.bobandgeorge.com The comic is also daily so you just have to check back the next day for the latest absurd comic.
The E3 Remains
E3 was surely kick-ass this year. With the showing of every next-generation console, we gamers were truly impressed. Whether if it was some of Xbox 360's playable demos, Nintendo Revolution's WiFi Online & downloadable library, or PS3's power, the PS3 games, etc. We were truly impressed. But, E3 is surely not always about the consoles. The games are what gamers go their for and their amazing announcement.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which recieved Best Console Game & Best Adventure Game Award (from the Game Critics Awards, along with Best Game of the Show by sites like GameStop, GameSpy, etc.) was surely a tear in a Nintendo's fans eye. Spore (which recieved 4 awards from the GCAs and awards from other sites) will surely be fun and great for the PC Gamers. Metal Gear Solid 4, with its hilarious trailer, and no Hide Outs and the new "No Place to Hide" theme.
Of course, there were more than 200 games that were there. Sony surely had a great PS3 presentation (with Xbox 360 presented about a week before on MTV). Nintendo had a great presentation, but the technical specs and controller (which is said to not be done) left some in the air. The downloadable library was a truly great announcement. Sadly, 360 was only playable by only a few, possibly only by the people from Game Magazines/Sites and some celebrities I believe. IGN were able to get their oily hands on the Revolution, and for PS3 playable/touchable things, I'm not sure.
So this year was surely a great year. Even though the next-generation consoles may have gotten most of the attention. Some of the games were great. Here's a quick list.
-The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GCN)
-Spore (PC)
-Black (PS2)
-Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
-Metroid Prime 3 (REV)
-Metroid Prime: Hunters (DS)
-Halo 3 (360)
-Super Smash Bros. 3 (REV)
-Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
-Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (PS2)
-Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
-Viewtiful Joe: VFX Battle [working title] (GCN/PSP)
-Viewtiful Joe Scratch! (or was it Scratch! Viewtiful Joe?, DS)
-Ultimate Spider Man (Multi)
-Mega Man Battle Network 5 Team of Proto Man/Colonel/Twin Leaders (GBA/DS)
-Sigma Star Saga (GBA)
-Gunstar Superheroes (GBA)
-Super Mario Strikers (GCN)
-Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix (GCN)
-Mario Party 7 (GCN)
-Perfect Dark Zero (360)
-Burnout Revenge (XB/PS2)
-Burnout Legends (PSP)
-Guilty Gear: Dust Strikers (DS)
-Devil May Cry 4 (PS3)
-Battalion Wars (GCN)
-Chibi Robo (GCN)
-Animal Crossing DS (DS)
-Advance Wars DS (DS)
-Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (GCN)
-Electroplankton (DS)
-Okami (PS2)
-Pacman World 3 (PSP)
-Sims 2 (Multi)
-Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360/PS3)
-Fear & Respect (XB/PS2)
-Black & White 2 (PC)
-Ghost Recon 3 (Multi)
-Age of Empires 3 (PC)
-Soul Calibur III (PS2)
-WWE Day of Reckoning 2 (GCN)
-WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2 (PS2)
-Trauma Center (DS)
and the list is practically endless........
-ZeroWil, Ajax, Soup, PoliceGirl