Issue 44, March 2004
Editor’s letter
Car crashes. Not nice, clearly. But, equally clearly, fascinating. Seeing a crash is an adrenaline-bolting, heart-thumpingly exciting event, even when it is just a couple of Ford Foci slapping into each other at a t-junction. Which is one of the reasons we and, from the reaction to last month’s exclusive news announcement, you are so looking forward to the chrome-busting return of Burnout.
The first two Burnouts were everything we wanted from an arcade racer – the first driving games to understand that sometimes all we want to do is drive very fast and when we crash into something, be able to see and, crucially, feel it. Powerslide your way to page 58 for the world exclusive playtest.
Talking of car crashes, we must admit to feelings of slight concern over Driver 3, sorry Driv3r, over the past year or so. We loved the PSOne versions – for those who weren’t there, Driver’s film-centric 3D roaming changed everything, paving the way for GTA3 and Vice City – and have been looking forward to PS2’s turn for years. Thankfully, we’ve now played it and can stop worrying because everything is going to be fine. To know how good it is, you’ll have to wait a couple of months for the exclusive OPS2 review.
Richard Keith, Editor
Features
War is Hell – Shellshock: Nam 67, with fictional letters and postcards from soldiers in the conflict to demonstrate the horrors of the Vietnam War.
Is this the Ultimate Racing Game? – Burnout 3
Think Tank – Designer Genes returns temporarily, as a group of creatives from outside the videogame industry are challenged to come up with fresh new game ideas. My favourite is Shopping Maul, where you play as a disgruntled shop assistant who must fight through crowds of shoppers to get your lunch and get back to your workplace before the lunch hour ends.
Monthly Articles
Funny Nicknames – This month, kung-fu movies, to tie in with Rise to Honour.
Could Be a Classic – An original non-sequel gets some focus. This month, Mashed, the spiritual successor to Micro Machines. Not only was it the first game from this feature to actually be released, but it also lived up to this early hype. Not bad!
She’s Got Game – A new column from Kirsten Kearney from the perspective of female gamers. This month, why Kirsten wouldn’t want a non-gamer boyfriend.
Replay – Revisiting Onimusha 2 and Spyhunter, reader reviews for Dog’s Life and The Getaway, cheats for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, The Simpsons Hit and Run, Max Payne 2, Battlestar Galactica, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Need for Speed Underground, and a walkthrough for Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.
OPS2 Investigates – This month, Child’s Play, the easiest games on PS2. There’s a mix of actually easy (Eyetoy Play, Hulk), and easy if you don’t play as intended (Silent Scope with a mouse, Time Crisis 3 with the lightgun jammed right up to the TV screen.)
Back page list – This month, 12 reasons why playing games alone is the best.
Monitor
Driv3r – “Forget the GTA comparisons, Driv3r is a law unto itself. We’ve got the exclusive review coming up the month after next and if that hasn’t got you gripping the gear stick a little harder, nothing will.” Meltdown
Risk: Global Domination – “It’s the board game in electronic form. No more, no less.” Warm
Rainbow Six 3 – “Think Splinter Cell quality fused with SOCOM accessibility and Rainbow Six 3 is looking very good. Firmly in our sights for a review next issue, find out if it can put a bullet through SOCOM 2’s heart.” Hot
.Hack: Infection – “A promising RPG that mixes The Matrix with Final Fantasy.” Warm
Cy Girls – “Cy Girls may not be the most imaginative actioner ever conceived but it feels confident and looks stylish. That could well be enough to push the game into sleeper hit territory.” Hot
Bad Boys 2 – “While there is technically still time for Bad Boys 2 to sharpen up its gameplay, we’re not exactly holding our breath for a sleeper game classic. Still, stranger things have happened. Probably…” Tepid
World Championship Rugby – “The studio behind Jonah Lomu Rugby is set to deliver another proficient and enjoyable take on England’s new favourite sport. Smart, attractive and technical but a little short on gameplay options.” Hot
Isle of Man TT – “This racer’s looking good. Happiness is a warm Ducati Monster.” Warm
Fight Night – “Without a shadow of a doubt this will be the best boxing game ever made. Whether that makes it a must buy or not, we’ll have to see when we get hold of a more complete version next month.” Hot
Hitman: Contracts – “We’re still waiting to slip on the strangling gloves ourselves, but from the details we’ve gleaned so far, Contracts remains one of the most exciting prospects on PS2. Exclusive playtest next month!” Meltdown
Singstar – “We’ve been saying it for ages, but we’ll say it again. Karaoke games are set to revolutionise console gaming. And to date, Singstar is the number one diva. Start clearing your throat now.” Boiling
Transformers – “It’s got the looks and the gameplay and big robots that turn into cars – what more could you ask for? A well-paced, immersive adventure, perhaps? Come back next month to find out if that’s there too…” Hot
Samurai Warriors – “Offering new environments, custom characters and more fighting than you can shake a gem-loaded ornamental sword at, we reckon Samurai Warriors could become quite a dynasty.” Warm
Juiced – “Need for Speed Underground has proved the desire for bling cars. Fancy it with great handling and visuals too? That’s what Juiced is offering you. We’re starting to be convinced that it’ll deliver, too.” Boiling
Onimusha 3 – “Go on, admit it. You’re excited about Oni 3 too now aren’t you?” Boiling
Final Fantasy XII – “From the few details we have we expect Final Fantasy XII to continue the epic standards of the series. Whether it will bring anything new to the experience, though, is another matter altogether.” Hot
Killzone – “Any shooter is only as good as its arsenal. Thankfully Killzone comes bristling with widow-makers and they’re all outrageously satisfying to fire. Yet another reason to drool over this beauty.” Meltdown
Reviews
Rise to Honour – “Let down by a few poor set-pieces and a ropey plot but brilliant whenever the fighting kicks off. Like most of Jet’s films, in fact.” 7/10
R-Type Final – “Do the quiz? This game is a difficult one to score. We love it, but then we’re mostly ‘a’. It’s so beautiful it makes us cry.” 7/10
Forbidden Siren – “Unique, ambitious, genuinely scary and brilliantly executed, this is as good as psychological horror gets. It’s very, very hard, though.” 9/10
Mafia – “An entertaining mix of shooting and driving set against a great cinematic backdrop. Not exactly the Don but definitely a made man.” 7/10
Spyhunter 2 – “Spyhunter 2 takes a decent fusion of shootin’ and drivin’ but trips up with lacklustre production values. It’s okay, but we prefer the original.” 6/10
Hyper Street Fighter 2: Anniversary Edition – “Essential if you’re a fanboy and have mates as obsessed as you, but insanely hard for newbies and the 2D styling will confuse some.” 8/10
Nightshade – “Nightshade has some decent ideas but there’s nothing here that improves on Shinobi’s mix of basic gameplay and flowing scarf.” 6/10
Sonic Heroes – “A turbo-charged gem that refuses to go down the fashionable ‘platform adventure’ avenue, in favour of slick old-skool thrills.” 8/10
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy – “A thoughtful if unremarkable adventure with a few decent ideas. We like the setting, we like the puzzles but it’s all very average.” 6/10
Cricket 2004 – “Just about everything a gamer who loves cricket could wish for. It’s highly addictive, vast in scope and superbly executed.” 8/10
Spawn: Armageddon – “While competent enough, Spawn: Armageddon is an uninspired DMC clone. Stick with Dante’s original outing, just £20 on Platinum.” 5/10
The Haunted Mansion – “Very short but brilliant and absorbing while it lasts. The low price makes this a respectable slice of platform goodness.” 6/10
Kya: Dark Lineage – “Not a groundbreaker, but Kya has enough originality and playability to make it stand out in an increasingly crowded genre.” 7/10
Whiplash – “The funniest game since Futurama – but monkey facials and blazing bunnies still can’t bring this up to the level of Jak and Ratchet.” 7/10
Wrath Unleashed – “You have to wonder why LucasArts bothered. This is a dull franchise that has less chance of taking off than Concorde.” 5/10
Dragon’s Lair 3D: Special Edition – “A best-forgotten franchise pointlessly resurrected with little style and some irritating control issues. In a word: poor.” 2/10
Puyo Pop Fever – “Quite possibly the second best puzzle game of all time – after Tetris – and one which cannot fail to put a smile on your face.” 8/10
R: Racing Evolution – “Falls firmly between arcade and sim stools and aces neither category. Sadly, Ridge Racer is no longer the race leader of old.” 6/10
Urban Freestyle Soccer – “A decent stab at four-a-side football with tongue firmly in cheek, but no lasting appeal for serious fans of videogame ‘soccer’.” 6/10
Mega Man X7 – “Fine for an afternoon’s jumpy fun. But compared to the scope and scale of PS2’s best platformers, it looks practically medieval.” 4/10
Goblin Commander: Unleash the Horde – “A fresh take on an established genre which really makes it work for PS2. There’s a lack of vibrancy but enough fun to warrant a look.” 7/10
Fightbox – “A truly terrible game can be enlightening, making us realise how good we’ve got it most of the time. That said, this is total toss.” 1/10
Rollercoaster World – “Miniscule pleasure for a while but basically everything a theme park shouldn’t be.” 4/10
A Train 6 – “The ultimate anorak’s sandbox and engaging to anyone after a slow-paced experience.” 6/10
The Seed: Warzone – “Competent yet uninspiring effort that’s never been within a mile of fun.” 5/10
Detonator – “Far from terrible puzzler but not close enough to a good one to warrant attention.” 5/10
Disc Content
Playable Demos
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing
Rainbow Six 3
Crash Nitro Kart
Downhill Domination
Urban Freestyle Soccer
Whiplash
Kill.Switch
Nightshade
Footage
Driv3r
.Hack: Infection
The Hobbit
The Making of Forbidden Siren
Save Files
Timesplitters 2 – Another DLC level, this time based on the OPS2 office.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
SSX 3
Chaos Legion
Trivia
* This is the first issue for Ben Richardson. Meanwhile, Tim Clark is promoted to Deputy Editor.
* New franchises debuting in this issue include Call of Duty, back when it was set in World War 2 the first time round, and cult classic Viewtiful Joe.
* “Please, nobody say Tomb Raider…” in relation to Driv3r being delayed to summer 2004. With the benefit of hindsight, I will. Speaking of that promised exclusive review, two other magazines got it instead. You may already know of Driv3rGate, but I’ll summarise it in a later post if not.
* The R-Type review consists of a series of statements, followed by a multiple choice, with the answers (mostly a’s, b’s or c’s) determining whether or not you would be interested. (The best answer is the C option for “Japan means to you?” “All my Yu-Gi-Oh cards come from there and they’ve all got big swords that I could use to kill Jes Harris from 3B with ‘cos he called me a bummer.” I’m assuming the niche appeal is why this game didn’t score higher despite the relatively glowing review quote.
* I played Fightbox once. A friend had an unopened copy, that I convinced him to open. Let’s just say that 1/10 was well-deserved. I hope it’s not a collector’s item, otherwise I cost my friend a potential fortune.
* This month’s letters page sees the first appearance of OPS2’s most prolific letter writer Daniel Gay. He will go on to make regular appearances for the rest of the magazine’s run. There’s also someone writing in pretending to be Sony and asking for the preview copy of Killzone back, who is marginally more convincing than Homer Simpson when he went to the post office and pretended to be Mr Burns.
Quote of the Month: “He has no strategy, so no strategy can beat him!” Beginner’s luck in a nutshell.
Cover price: £5.49
Page Count: 146
And finally, this is being posted on November 24th, 2020. Why does that matter? Because on this day 20 years ago, the Playstation 2 was released in the UK. Not only that, the first issue of the Official Playstation 2 Magazine was published on the same day. I'll take this opportunity to wish both of them a happy 20th birthday!
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