Issue 49, August 2004
Editor’s letter
Star Wars creator George Lucas once said that getting audiences to be emotionally involved was easy – just put a loaded gun to a kitten’s head. So I tried it. It worked. Well, it would have but it wasn’t a real cat or a real gun. And, besides, we were quite busy at the time…
Apart from a convenient opening and a chance to prove I’ve read Easy Riders, Raging Bulls there is a point. Can you have a game – especially one set in the Bond universe – without a good guy to root for? Where is your sympathy going to be as you blow away Bond and team up with Goldfinger?
To me it’s an easy question as being the bad guy – as GTA has conclusively proved – is always more fun than keeping on the straight and narrow. Most gaming goodies might be fairly murderous in your hands, but there are always things you can’t do to keep the story working. And where all Bond baddies lose to 007 in the end, this isn’t going to be your fate.
Of course, unless you’ve decided to skip the first 17 pages, you already know all about Goldeneye and whether the idea of being a Bond baddie works for you or not. Let us know your thoughts. For now, though, let’s get to all the other great games out there.
See you same time, same place on Thursday, 12 August.
Richard Keith, Editor
Features
Could you put a bullet in 007’s brain? – Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. This unique feature is done in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure story.
Ready for the Ride of your Life? – A driving game special, featuring Gran Turismo 4, Burnout 3: Takedown, Juiced and Colin McRae Rally 2005. Also has the hilarious sight of George Walter dressed as a chav and flipping off the reader.
Most Wanted UK Game Awards 2004 – A competition for readers to vote for their most wanted games of 2004.
Never pay for a phonecall again – 42 things you never knew PS2 could do
Monthly Articles
Funny Nicknames – This month, if the staff were James Bond villains, what would their signature weapon be?
Could Be a Classic – An original non-sequel gets some focus. This month, Michigan: Report From Hell. A survival horror game where you play as a cameraman covering a monster outbreak… or you could film up the female reporters' skirts instead, you pervert!
She’s Got Game – A column from Kirsten Kearney from the perspective of female gamers. This month, Singstar’s potential to get more people interested in games.
Replay – Revisiting The Thing and Midway Arcade Treasures, reader reviews for Fight Night 2004 and MX Unleashed, and cheats for Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Onimusha 3, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Transformers, Red Dead Revolver and The Suffering.
OPS2 Investigates – This month, “You want me to hit you?”. Richard Keith gives boxing a try.
Back page list – This month, 10 decades in the future of Playstation.
Monitor
Resident Evil: Outbreak – “Any game that makes us love to loathe zombies all over again has got to be good. Sure, it’s not online, but we’re hoping that all that will change when Capcom releases Outbreak File 2…” Hot
Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy – “Flinging guards around like helpless meat puppets? It’s the new stealth. The battle’s on between this and Second Sight, but Psi-Ops’ raw viciousness could well give it the edge in the long run.” Hot
America’s 10 Most Wanted – “This is sensitive stuff. Politically and morally dubious, only time will tell whether America’s 10 Most Wanted can put the ‘fun’ back into ‘neutralising fundamentalist terrorist activities’.” Tepid
Ratchet and Clank 3 – “There’s something familiarly cosy about wasting aliens with a horde of tiny killbots. The emphasis on multiplayer is certainly interesting – but will the platform stylings put deathmatch purists off?” Hot
Sega Superstars – “Let’s just say we’re interested and leave it at that.” Warm
Killzone – “After last month’s extensive hands-on session, it’s intriguing to discover the back stories behind the stars of the game. And, yes, we still can’t stop playing it or pining for that elusive finished version.” Meltdown
Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone – “With excellent visuals, a trusted control system and some original gameplay elements, Demon Stone looks like a very tasty proposition. The lack of a multiplayer option is a fairly hefty blow, though.” Hot
Playboy: The Mansion – “You can see what they’re doing here – Sims-style gameplay wedded to Playboy titillation to tempt the hormonal into purchase – but it’s to be seen whether it can match up to The Sims for playability.” Warm
Crimson Sea 2 – “We like Crimson Sea 2’s kind of mindless violence around here.” Hot
The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age – “The inherent beardiness may turn off casuals hoping for another decapitate-‘em-up, but The Third Age promises to delight hardened goblin-fanciers looking for another Tolkien fix.” Hot
DJ: Decks and FX – “As DJ Gorgeous proved, DJ: Decks and FX will definitely keep a real-life dance floor pumping. We can think of no finer recommendation. At last, a proper DJ in a box with a top notch track list.” Hot
The Incredibles – “Needs work to be more than your average licensed platformer.” Warm
Project Snowblind – “Snowblind might have come out of leftfield, but it looks and feels superb. If the story element is half as strong as the technical achievement, even the mighty Killzone will be feeling the heat.” Hot
Mortal Kombat: Deception – “Variety is fast rivalling brutality as MK:D’s defining characteristic.” Hot
25 to Life – “It’s early days and you know how we hate to jump to conclusions, but 25 to Life is shaping up to be the urban SOCOM – an exciting online game with a cracking single-player mode to go with it, too.” Hot
Killer 7 – “Will it actually be any good? No idea, but Killer 7 is utterly original and looks cooler than a permafrost duvet. We’ll have much more when someone tells us how it’s actually going to work.” Hot
Reviews
Spider-Man 2 – “Sets a new standard for movie crossovers, delivering a thrillingly freeform experience marred only by the occasional uneven mission.” 8/10
Catwoman – “One for the masochists – and not just because of that outfit. Tougher than leather and frustrating like the ten-minute freeview.” 5/10
Formula One 2004 – “The drab appearance, twitchy handling and some minor irritations mar an otherwise solid and rewarding F1 driver.” 7/10
Shellshock: Nam 67 – “A few dangling corpses don’t make for a harrowing game, but there’s enough atmosphere here to lift Shellshock above the norm.” 8/10
Driv3r – “After all this waiting, Driv3r is a big disappointment. It’s scrappy and feels half finished – approach with extreme caution.” 6/10
Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers – “Combining a WW2 shooter with RPG and strategy-lite elements has produced a likeable and engaging one-off. Good stuff.” 7/10
Ex Zeus – “Ex Zeus is an ugly, boring, stupid button basher. If you want old-skool shooting, try Gradius. Christ. We can hardly sleep for grief.” 1/10
Indycar Series 2005 – “Authenticity, speed and excitement – a class example of what racing games should be like. Bit heavy on the disc access.” 7/10
Disc Content
Playable Demos
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Hitman: Contracts
Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2
Mashed
Formula One 2004
Footage
The Getaway: Black Monday
Spider-Man 2
Death by Degrees
Killzone
Area 51
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Onimusha 3
Mashed
Ratchet and Clank 3
Pro Evolution Soccer 3 tips
Goal of the Month
Challenges for SSX 3, Need for Speed Underground, Eyetoy Groove, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Driv3r
Online Rankings for Hardware Online Arena, SOCOM US Navy SEALs 2 and This is Football 2004
Ask OPS2
Save Files
Timesplitters 2
Final Fantasy X2
Hitman: Contracts
Trivia
* This month’s cover has a hole in it! Don’t worry, it’s meant to be there, in order to recreate the iconic James Bond opening sequence, with the image on the magazine’s first page showing through the cover. Speaking of the cover, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent’s subtitle was changed to Agent of Evil at this time, only to be changed back to Rogue Agent almost immediately afterwards. Unfortunate that the title should be changed just as the game ends up on the cover.
* This is the first issue for new art editor Simon “Wednesday” Middleweek. It is also the first issue for Nathan Ditum. He wasn’t part of the main team for long, but he did stick around on a freelance basis for a while. Nowadays, he’s one of the hosts on Playstation Access, which you should check out on Youtube.
* The most bizarre running gag of the magazine: Photos of Tim Clark in this issue feature him wearing a paper bag over his head.
* Games that would never be made today #7: America’s 10 Most Wanted. Why not? It’s blatantly ripped from the headlines, in a way that any game trying to do the same today would have to be rushed-out rubbish in order to be released before everyone moves on from the news story that inspired it.
* This is the quietest month in a long time in terms of reviews, with only 8 new games. At least Spider-Man 2 is an all-time classic.
* If you’re wondering why Driv3r scored 6/10, the review explains that while the main game is dreadful, the film director mode is good enough to salvage the overall package to some extent, and without said mode the score would have been lower. Of all the PSOne franchises that fell off in the transition to PS2, Driver is the worst casualty because, unlike the others, it never regained its former glory and quietly fizzled out, having been rendered obsolete by Grand Theft Auto.
* I also mentioned Driv3r-Gate briefly in a previous post and promised an explanation, so here it is. Enter the Matrix got decent reviews and sold gangbusters off the back of the films despite being unfinished, so Atari thought they could pull the same trick again with Driv3r, which they wanted out before San Andreas by any means necessary. It did indeed sell gangbusters again thanks to a smash-and-grab marketing strategy, but the reviews weren’t nearly as kind – with the exception of two 9/10 reviews from two magazines owned by Future Publishing, which didn’t mention any of the game’s issues and were published long before the game’s release. Naturally, readers cried foul and went on the Future Publishing forums to complain, only for Future staff and paid shills hired by Atari to run damage control before Future nuked all discussions and covered up the whole thing.
Quote of the Month: “If God ever takes a break from whatever it is that fills his days and plays this, within half an hour he’ll impulsively squeeze the universe to a point of infinite mass and let it all explode again.” Let’s just say that Driv3r didn’t live up to the hype.
Cover price: £5.99 – The price is increased this month, and stays at this price point for the rest of the magazine’s run
Page Count: 146
No comments:
Post a Comment