Issue 11 (September 2001)

Issue 11, September 2001

Editor’s letter

“If you’ve played videogames for anything more than a nanosecond, you’ll know the future’s not a pretty place. The hourly threat of thermo-nuclear apocalypse, bone-smelting diseases lurking around every corner, a somewhat dubious style fascism that makes the wearing of either Meatloaf’s cast-off biker jackets or a dog-infested suit of trampy rags mandatory… Nope, the future ain’t pretty at all.

Why do videogame developers have a preoccupation with blowing the living daylights out of generations to come? Because it makes for bloody exciting games is the obvious answer – who wants some fluffy-bunny game full of Logan’s Run extras chatting idly about their laser-powered wind chimes when you can have tentacle-waving vigilantes hurling space grenades from the 257^th floor of the GammaTech Building at the assembled muties, freaks, droids and perps who lurk below? The future is a great playground for great videogames but given this is the Playstation 2 – with its Emotion Engine an’ all – shouldn’t developers’ visions of tomorrow be a little bit more, well, involving? Post-apocalyptic cyberpunk backgrounds are all well and good but given we’re all a little, let’s say, familiar with such scenarios, don’t we at least deserve a couple of extra twists when we buckle up for the ride this time round?

We give you Deus Ex. True, its dystopian view of a neon-splattered Hong Kong will be somewhat familiar to those who’ve ever dreamt of electric sheep but it’s the sheer thought that’s gone into Ion Storm’s BAFTA-winning first-person shooter that makes it worthy of the PS2. Here is no find-key-open-door-disengage-brain experience – the Texas-based developer is offering you the chance to almost direct the game for yourself, with a true choice in what you do and, most importantly, how you do it. Take a spacewalk to page 96 to see how Deus Ex will rewrite the PS2’s future (and then take a look at our feature starting on page 84 to see what the future would probably not be like if the Playstation 2 had its way.)

So what does the future hold for the world of Playstation? Hopefully it’ll be full of games exhibiting the same intelligence and nous as Deus Ex and fellow sci-fi shooter Project Eden (previewed on page 22), but even if the Playstation 54 charts of 2164AD are full of sequels, if they’re sequels displaying the same reupholstered stylings as this issue’s returning stars WWF Smackdown!, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Final Fantasy and FIFA are currently showing, then tomorrow’s gamers will be in for a blast.

Of course, we’ll all be working as mindless drones in Penal Colony X-12A orbiting the planet Motorbooty by then but…”

Mike Goldsmith, Senior Editor

Features

OPS2 Interview: Jason Rubin

The Big Kickoff – FIFA 2002

King of the Ring – WWF Smackdown! Just Bring It

The Future According to Playstation 2 – A timeline of the PS2’s many futuristic games and what such a world would look like. It starts with unsold copies of Space Ace shot into the sun, through prime minister Lara Croft re-nationalising the railways, and ends with a self-aware PS2 taking over the planet with a troupe of monkey jesters.

Battle of the Beat-‘em-ups! – Pitting Tekken 4 and Virtua Fighter 4 head-to-head to see which comes out on top. At this pre-release stage, Tekken 4 is deemed the winner in a close fight.

God from the Machine – Deus Ex

Monthly Articles

The Beautiful Game – Stealing bits from other games and mashing them together to make the ultimate super-game. This month, light gun games.

Pocket Heroes – This month’s cards are Parappa the Rapper, and JC Denton from Deus Ex.

30 Days in Tokyo – This month, a McDonalds demo disc with custom McDonalds themed levels for Parappa the Rapper 2 and Ape Escape 2001.

5X5 – Asking 5 questions to 5 industry figures. This month’s theme: videogame movies.

Designer Genes – Readers write in with their game ideas and pitches. This month, Sphere Warriors, a futuristic spin on Twisted Metal in which the contestants roll around in spheres which are armed to the teeth, with the prize of securing a place in Paradise.

What If? – Replacing Game Over as the backpage feature, What If? imagines various scenarios of gaming having an extreme impact on the real world. This month, what if wars were replaced by gaming tournaments between the leaders of the warring countries?

Previews

Silent Hill 2 – “This frightening sequel to the original PSOne Silent Hill could just set a new benchmark in psychological horror gaming.”

Project Eden – “Will Core’s adventures in the Underworld prove to be a sparkling gold mine or a rank pit of despair?”

Giants: Citizen Kabuto – “There’s plenty of gaming on offer here, but does the mixture of styles survive the PS2 transition?”

Spyhunter – “Will Spyhunter turn out to be the James Bond or the David Shayler of old skool espionage?”

Rayman M – “Rayman M is not going to revolutionise videogaming. However, it should turn out to be a full-on party game, and we like that.”

Soul Reaver 2 – “Promises to deliver everything you loved about Soul Reaver plus loads more weapons, creatures, skills, puzzles and locations.”

Thunderhawk: Operation Phoenix – “Like a re-run of lost telly classics Blue Thunder and Airwolf, TOP is back to prove oldies mean goodies.”

G Surfers – “Wipeout-style future racing backed up with comprehensive and highly promising track editor. Could this be the start of a DIY boom?”

Motor Mayhem – “Explosive, brainless yet never less than hugely entertaining.”

This is Football 2002 – “Hundreds of teams, dozens of tournaments and a plethora of moves are mixed together in Team Soho’s football challenger.”

NHL 2002 – “Despite aesthetic similarities to the 2001 edition, NHL 2002 looks to be the ultimate ice hockey title.”

Reviews

Dark Cloud – “A traditional RPG buoyed spectacularly by a fascinating world-building aspect. One of the best PS2 RPGs available so far.” 7/10

World Championship Snooker 2002 – “Encapsulates everything about snooker – both good and bad – and is thus incredibly playable.” 8/10

Modern Groove: Ministry of Sound Edition – “As an interactive lightshow it’s hard to beat, but you might well just turn it on and let it do its own thing after about half an hour.” 6/10

Victorious Boxers – “A brave attempt to be different, but Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 and Knockout Kings already have the boxing game market sewn up.” 4/10

Rune: Viking Warlord – “Lacks originality, good looks and a believable game world. Rune should be left where it belongs, in the Dark Ages of gaming.” 4/10

Extreme G3 – “A souped-up neon beast of a bike racer that requires skill, brains and will not flatter mediocre gamers. Strictly for the hardcore and not for the faint-hearted.” 8/10

Tokyo Xtreme Racer – “Safe and solid, but at the expense of any real racing performance. Oh dear.” 4/10

The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas – “You should not care less about this game. Oddly, it seems, neither did the developer.” 2/10

PSOne Reviews

Digimon World – “A likeable variation on the Tamagotchi theme. That said, the routine may start to grate after a while…” 7/10

Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends – “Another cartoon licence that should have never been allowed to escape from the satellite TV schedules.” 3/10

Tintin: Destination Adventure – “A tragic waste of a perfectly decent licence. Despicably shallow and far, far too easy. Terrible.” 3/10

The Little Mermaid 2 – “A reasonable sub-aquatic platformer in the traditional Disney mould of bright, friendly graphics and mucho collecting of gold coins.” 5/10

Hardcore

Part 1 of the walkthroughs for Red Faction and Escape From Monkey Island, plus Army Men Air Attack: Blade’s Revenge, Zone of the Enders, Onimusha Warlords, Sky Odyssey, Fur Fighters, Crazy Taxi and Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing.

Disc Content

Playable Demos

Lotus Challenge

World Championship Snooker 2002

Footage

Final Fantasy X

Devil May Cry

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Resident Evil: Code Veronica X

Time Crisis 2

Spyhunter

ESPN X-Games Skateboarding

ESPN X-Games Snowboarding

ESPN Winter Sports 2002

MX 2002

Twisted Metal: Black

Trivia

·         I played the demo for the Tintin game on a PSOne demo disc, and it was a terrible demo! You had to fly a plane and collect coins to top up your plane’s fuel. The problem is that your plane ate through fuel so fast that the tank is practically empty before you even get to the first coin, so the demo’s over in seconds and you barely got to do anything. I assume the developers made the fuel consumption faster for the demo so that you couldn’t use the demo as a substitute for the full game, because I shudder to think of the alternative.

·        The Formula One 2001 controversy from the previous issue continues, with two whole pages devoted to a Q and A with the developers on the various issues readers had written in about.

·         There’s a report of the licence for a Hannibal Lecter game being acquired. How would you even go about making a Hannibal Lecter game? I’m imagining a more gruesome version of Cooking Mama.

·         The number of this issue, combined with the publication months makes for an eerie and unfortunate coincidence.

 

Quote of the Month: “Tom is the cat. Jerry is the rat. Tom is bad. Tom chases Jerry.” How dare Jason Rubin say Tom is bad! Jerry is the real menace! I do approve of him calling Jerry a rat though. #TomDidNothingWrong

Cover price: £4.99

Page Count: 146