Issue 37, September 2003
Editor’s letter
We play a lot of games around here. It is, after all, kind of the point of the job. But we also spend a lot of time playing games that, strictly speaking, we don’t need to play. Pro Evo 2 is the most obvious but Timesplitters 2 gives it a run for its money.
So it’s good to see two new games turning up and dominating the hours with which we are supposed to be doing something else.
First up was Soul Calibur 2. The macho posturing while controlling a short-skirted lass, the dance celebrations and the general in your faceness of the match-ups hooked the office immediately, and – until Tim got too good – we were playing it more than we were actually working. Which is bad. Good, but bad.
Freedom Fighters took longer to get hold of us but once we got used to controlling our little army, shooting the hell out the Reds was a whole Cold War full of fun.
And, would you believe it, we don’t just spend our wage-slave hours playing videogames. There’s a whole world of entertaining chat to fill our days. As there’s no space left, I have constructed a clever grid for you just down there.
Enjoy!
Richard Keith, Editor
Features
The Snake Eater Files – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
And Here Come the Belgians! – XIII. Who says nothing worthwhile comes from Belgium?
Martial Law – True Crime: Streets of LA
Monthly Articles
Funny Nicknames – This month, Russian things, in honour of Freedom Fighters.
“Oh Good Gawd!” – The worst promotional item and/or screenshot sent to the magazine. This month, a little deckchair to put your mobile phone in.
Previews
Colin McRae Rally 4 – “Colin McRae Rally 4 may seem on the surface more like CMR 3.5 but the many changes make it more promising than that. It’s far more useable, makes more of its content and looks boss.” Boiling
Hardware Online Arena – “Hardware Online Arena has been a real success in beta trials. The game’s nothing without its online facets but that’s just one more incentive for you to get broadband, right? Review next issue.” Warm
The Simpsons Hit and Run – “The Simpsons Hit and Run could be what the franchise has been waiting for. But when are they going to stop piggy-backing successful games and come up with original ideas and gameplay?” Warm
Need for Speed Underground – “Need for Speed Underground brings a new breed of illicit driving to PS2. It’s dirtier than Burnout 2 and, even at this early stage, trounces Midnight Club 2 in graphical terms.” Boiling
Everquest Online Adventures – “Everquest Online Adventures won’t appeal to quick-fix action junkies and the subs fees will alienate many. Despite this, it’s still one of the most immersive game worlds ever created.” Hot
Conflict Desert Storm 2 – “Conflict Desert Storm 2 is the only game out there that’ll give EA’s Freedom Fighters a run for its money. Next month, we’ll review CDS2 to find out whether that run is a jog or a sprint.” Boiling
Splashdown 2: Rides Gone Wild – “Splashdown 2: RGW has promise as an action-packed arcade racer. The fact that you’re not racing on tarmac goes in its favour, and the dynamic environments are fun. Await the review!” Hot
Beyond Good and Evil – “Beyond Good and Evil brings a hefty scoop of well-judged style to what’s fast becoming a standard form – the wide-open puzzle world. Definitely worth keeping an eye on for this November.” Hot
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is an action adventure that looks the part and feels confident, too. Unless someone throws a falafel in the works, this should be superb.” Boiling
Judge Dredd: Dredd VS Death – “Judge Dredd: Dredd VS Death is what you’d expect – a good shooter straight out of a future hell with some nice touches. Whether its fanbase will drive sales through the roof is to be seen.” Warm
Freestyle Metal X – “Freestyle Metal X is a little flat at first but playing the tutorials and opening new stuff soon has it picking up the revs. It’s a little scrappy so far but Midway seems to have captured the fun.” Warm
Warhammer 40K: Fire Warrior – “Fire Warrior is certainly going to provide blasting action in spades. It’s going to be tough if the difficulty levels stay as they are. We’re keen to see how far this progresses.” Warm
SSX 3 – “SSX 3 is shaping up to be a wintery frost-coated classic. It’s utterly open-ended, loaded with depth and supremely satisfying to play. We love it like Jesus loves sinners.” Meltdown
Rise to Honour – “Rise to Honour is looking real nice, and we’re itching to take the little fella through his paces with a bit of hands-on action. Whether Li’s name alone is enough to carry a game is doubtful.” Hot
Updates for Rugby 2004, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, Unlimited Saga, The Hobbit, Alter Echo, Spyhunter 2, Dog’s Life, Freaky Flyers and Kaan: Barbarian’s Blade.
Reviews
Soul Calibur 2 – “Utterly essential for fight fans and capable of converting non-believers like Jesus on a good hair day.” 10/10
Freedom Fighters – “Slight imperfections are swamped by an utterly addictive and clever game experience. You must play this.” 9/10
Charlie’s Angels – “A motorway pile-up of a game that stores its horror in a flashback. No wonder Charlie hides.” 1/10
The Great Escape – “Affectionate film tribute that’s more stealth than action. A tad clunky and gentile but a jolly good show.” 7/10
Pinball – “Here’s one for nostalgics and those easily confused by polygons.” 6/10
Road Trip Adventure – “A weirder road adventure than Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Take that trip.” 6/10
Seek and Destroy – “As confusing and pointless as any real battle – a little politics for you there.” 3/10
Raging Blades – “Simple hack ‘n’ slash that’ll keep you busy for a couple of days – longer with a multitap and mates.” 6/10
Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb – “Rough around the edges, and old skool, but loveable at the same time. A lot like Dr Jones himself, in fact.” 7/10
Frogger Beyond – “Frustrating, poor graphics, a lack of variation. This Frogger is best left in the pond. Ribbit.” 4/10
European Tennis Masters – “Unremarkable, expect for the ball physics and daft commentary. Cheap, cheerful but not truly awful.” 4/10
Pro Beach Soccer – “A niche activity like this needs a classic, imaginative simulation to garner interest. This ain’t it.” 4/10
Maken Shao: Demon Sword – “Lovely manga-style character designs and a good plot, marred by repetitive action and bland textures.” 5/10
Fighting Fury – “Basic graphics, weak gameplay. Very much pre-Tekken and nowhere near the quality of Virtua Fighter 4.” 3/10
Hardcore
Part 2 of the Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness walkthrough and walkthroughs for Starsky and Hutch, Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter, Die Hard: Vendetta and Dead to Rights, plus Rygar: The Legendary Adventure, Activision Anthology, Black and Bruised, NBA Street 2, Wakeboarding Unleashed and World Championship Snooker 2003.
Disc Content
Playable Demos
The Great Escape
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Die Hard: Vendetta
Splashdown 2: Rides Gone Wild
Alter Echo
Splinter Cell
Ape Escape 2
Ratchet and Clank
World Rally Championship 2 Extreme
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Dynasty Warriors 3
Footage
Amplitude
Jak 2: Renegade
How to Eyetoy – A how to guide for using Eyetoy, presented by Jon Culshaw.
Trivia
* The bar chart measuring office discussion referred to in the Editor’s letter makes its debut in this issue, and became a monthly fixture until Issue 89.
* A picture of Jak in this issue has him wearing a face mask with the speech bubble “SARS mask optional.” It’s unfortunate that the joke is timely once again, at the time of this writing.
* Burnout developer Criterion has a unique way to get out of having to address rumours about Burnout 3 and their new FPS Black: pretending to be a Chinese restaurant.
* The build of Beyond Good and Evil previewed in this issue has a design for Jade that differs from the one used in the final game. Here, she’s wearing a white t-shirt that covers her upper body, whereas in the final game, the t-shirt is shorter to show off her midriff, but she has a green jacket and belt on top of it. Her trousers are also a lighter shade of blue than in the finished game.
* Not only do we have the first 10/10 since issue 27 in this issue, we also have the first 1/10 since issue 30. Talk about opposite extremes!
* This month, OPS2 get trolled by readers not once, but twice! First up, in response to OPS2 asking for pictures of reader’s girlfriends, someone finally sends in a photo to review… but it’s their mum. She scores 9/10, losing a point for “vacuuming when I’m on my PS2.” Second is the winner of the Lara Croft sex doll competition from issue 35, who sends in the most innocent entry, without any sort of crassness or innuendo: “I was looking for a girl on the internet with your exact looks. You’re perfect for me. Let’s go to my house and talk some more.” For extra points, they also neglected to include their name and address on their entry, so they couldn’t claim the prize.
Quote of the Month: “Look at that smile – he looks like he really likes tennis.” This wholesome bit of commentary hails from European Tennis Masters. It’s just as good as Pro Evo’s iconic “The sun is beating down, but the wind is shooting through the stadium.”
Cover price: £5.49
Page Count: 146
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