Issue 51, October 2004
Editor’s letter
So, how was it for you? The Killzone review that we’ve been promising for so long has been and gone and now you know. Did it surprise you? Probably not, I expect. But it should make you happy to know that it’s all worth it: the waiting you’ve done and the wait still to come. Because what might not make you happy is that – despite the single-player game being finished – Killzone won’t be out for another two months while they test the online modes. Now while this is clearly bad news for you, we do have a few reasons to be cheerful.
1. It is absolutely, definitely, completely and a stone cold guarantee that this is the first review you can read. It has to be – they finished the game and handed it straight to us.
2. Next month we’ll have the one and only playable demo on the DVD – a full month before the game is released.
3. You’ll also be able to win a life-sized Helghast for your front room next issue.
4. Expect a full online review, more competitions, a guide and lots more in the next two months. The review might be in but we’re still the only magazine for Killzone.
See you on Thursday, 7 October. Expect a few surprises…
Richard Keith, Editor
Features
Most Wanted UK Game Awards 2004 – The nominees for the 2004 UK Most Wanted Game Awards and how to vote for your choice.
What’s Monica Bellucci got to do with Prince of Persia 2? – The answer: she provides the voice of Kaileena, the Empress of Time and the main antagonist of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.
Touch Sensitive – FIFA 2005
Monthly Articles
Funny Nicknames – This month, favourite space characters.
Could Be a Classic – An original non-sequel gets some focus. This month, Johnny Whatever. A punk-rocker tries to bring music back to a fascistic ultra-authoritarian future London in a game that sounds like a cross between V for Vendetta, Brutal Legend and We Happy Few.
She’s Got Game – A column from Kirsten Kearney from the perspective of female gamers. This month, gaming marathons.
Replay – Revisiting Driv3r and Onimusha 3, reader reviews for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Gran Turismo 4 Prologue, and cheats for Pro Evolution Soccer 3, Spider-Man 2, NBA Ballers and Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy.
OPS2 Investigates – This month, Box Art From Hell! A collection of PS2’s worst box art, including WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain, Tetris Worlds, Pryzm Chapter One: The Dark Unicorn, Ico, Gift and more.
Back page list – This month, 10 reasons why playing games makes you irresistible to women.
Monitor
Pro Evolution Soccer 4 – “We’ve been waiting a long time and all the indications are that we won’t be disappointed. Everywhere we look we see improvements, and it’s so smooth it’s untrue. October can’t come quick enough.” Meltdown
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time – “Stunning, but whether it has staying power remains to be seen.” Hot
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – “Trying to put into words how excited we are at getting hold of this potential masterpiece is getting increasingly difficult. Let’s just leave it at this: it’s the most excited we’ve been about a game. Ever.” Meltdown
Club Football 2005 – “Improvements marred by lack of, erm, improvements.” Warm
Viewtiful Joe – “Joe’s been around for a while now and his familiarity makes it hard to get really excited. But games this imaginative and fun are rare, and it’s far too good a gaming prospect to ignore.” Hot
Mortal Kombat: Deception – “Behind the amusing blood-spattered bells and whistles, Mortal Kombat: Deception is an above average (just) slap ‘n’ slasher. Normally we’d be less than excited, but online play could be its secret weapon.” Hot
Obscure – “Obscure succeeds by doing very well what other games can only do satisfactorily. Yeah, we know it’s silly, but it does – and it doesn’t care. And it’s so close to release it’s hard to see what could go wrong…” Boiling
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent – “Still a way to go if EA hopes to deliver a game worthy of the illustrious name, but we’re not writing off Rogue Agent just yet. A bit more research time in Q’s lab could see this one come good at the end.” Hot
The Getaway: Black Monday – “Sam’s a welcome addition to the Getaway family and, although the stealth still concerns us, the prospect of more X-rated Eastenders is getting us excited again. We’ll have more info next month.” Meltdown
The Red Star – “We’re hoping the old-skool gameplay shines through.” Warm
Ghost Recon 2 – “Every bit of news we hear about Ghost Recon 2 is good news. All the problems we had with the original GR are being eliminated like so many North Korean insurgents in the mist. We’re excited.” Hot
Devil May Cry 3 – “For a character powered by the burning fires of Hell, Dante is about as ice cool as they come. Our playtest was just a taster – and now we’re itching to holster up and have another go. Watch this space.” Meltdown
Timesplitters: Future Perfect – “Have we gone too far? Maybe. But of all the games we’ve played recently, none have matched the fizzy-eyed sense of excitement we get from playing the loved-up wonderment that is Future Perfect.” Meltdown
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath – “We’d forgotten how much we liked the Oddworld games – but Stranger is innovative, cracking looking and genuinely amusing. It’s been a while since any of us typed those adjectives in the same sentence.” Boiling
Reviews
Killzone – “The shooter we’ve been waiting for since PS2 launched. Visually it’s amazing and the gameplay rocks harder than you dare dream.” 9/10
Burnout 3: Takedown – “Frantic alone and insane with friends, Burnout 3 is a game that’ll make you fall in love with your PS2 all over again.” 10/10
Headhunter: Redemption – “Despite its glorious looks and stunning music Redemption’s creaky old gameplay means this is a game out of place in 2004.” 6/10
Colin McRae Rally 2005 – “It might not look like much has changed but the improvements – although subtle – power through to make all the difference.” 9/10
Silent Hill 4: The Room – “Feels different – faster paced, stronger in story – without solving old problems or really offering anything else new.” 7/10
Juiced – “Arcade racer types may find the technical approach a tad brittle, but as a breezier sim alternative to GT4, this won’t disappoint.” 7/10
DJ: Decks & FX – “An interesting attempt to create a live mixing experience, though some may become frustrated once they’ve mastered the basics.” 8/10
Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires – “Empires is a worthy mix of strategy and action that adds to the Dynasty Warriors canon, but one more add-on will be one too many.” 7/10
Conflict: Vietnam – “Has similar attributes as ‘Nam 67, but does pretty much everything worse. Either play that or wait for Snake’s jungle adventures.” 5/10
McFarlane’s Evil Prophecy – “Just be thankful we played this for you. McFarlane’s figures may be works of art, but this boring, ugly game is anything but.” 2/10
Army Men: Sarge’s War – “So broken it’s severely wounded. Not just firing blanks, but also malfunctioning like a baby does dribble.” 3/10
U Move Super Sports – “Takes the winning Eyetoy formula and updates it more than enough to tide you along until the next mini-game disc rolls along.” 7/10
.Hack/Outbreak – “A nice idea, but we’ve been strung along too much. The pace has gone up a notch, but it’s just too little, too late.” 4/10
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 – “At heart it’s the same game as last year but with enough improved features and custom stuff that it’s still a must-buy.” 9/10
Spy Fiction – “What it lacks in originality it makes up for in variety. But all that good is thrown away by the cocked-up camera.” 6/10
Disc Content
Playable Demos
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Ratchet and Clank 3
DJ: Decks and FX
Crisis Zone
Spyro: A Hero’s Tail
Footage
Enthusia
Mercenaries
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The Punisher
Crimson Sea 2
Eyetoy Chat
Jackie Chan Adventures
Killzone
Need for Speed Underground 2
Rumble Roses
Sly 2: Band of Thieves
Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005
Driv3r hidden vehicles guide
Goal of the Month
Online leagues for Hardware Online Arena, SOCOM 2: US Navy SEALs and This is Football 2004
Colin McRae interview
Ask OPS2
Game Saves
Moto GP 3
Gran Turismo 4 Prologue
Final Fantasy X2
Hitman Contracts
Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
Transformers
Trivia
* This issue’s cover may be a very simple one, but it’s also one of my favourites for how striking it is. It really sets Killzone apart as being special, that it got this instead of a render of a Helghast soldier or other in-game shot. Speaking of Killzone…
* Games that would never be made today #8: Games made specifically to ‘kill’ a rival console’s killer app (In this case, Killzone.) Why not? To put it simply, Killzone isn’t on Xbox, so it’s not going to have much effect on Halo’s sales, is it? In all seriousness, each of the Big Three have carved out their own niche over time. Xbox has the serious driving and shooting games, Playstation has story-driven single player adventures, and Nintendo has family-friendly and anime-style games. All three are supplemented by multi-format third-party games, so there isn’t the same need for, say, Playstation to encroach on the specialist territory of the other two as much.
* I feel like I’ve been ragging on Killzone a lot lately, so I’m going to stick up for it here. It may have been made to cash in on Halo and probably wouldn’t exist had Master Chief not come before it, but the series does have a unique, intense atmosphere all its own that sets it apart from Halo, and starting from Killzone 2, the series came into its own and lived up to the hype. The Killzone website shut down earlier this month, and between that, Guerrilla moving on to Horizon Zero Dawn, and the fact that it’s been over 7 years since the last game with no sign of a new one, it’s safe to say the franchise is most likely dead. As Sony’s premier shooter franchise, Killzone deserves better than that, especially when you consider that Sony’s other shooter franchises, such as Resistance, SOCOM, Syphon Filter and even Uncharted have all finished too. Keeping Killzone around would have diversified Sony’s collection of active IPs.
* Remember how I needed to come up with a tie-breaker for the battle of psychic games? This issue provided one of its own, as Second Sight enters the Hot 100, whereas Psi-Ops doesn’t make the cut. I called it right, albeit for different reasons.
* Colin Farrell writes in this month to express his regret for buying Driv3r before reading a review. It probably isn’t the film actor Colin Farrell, but wouldn’t it be great if it was?
* New franchise alert! Lego Star Wars makes its debut: “We know what you’re thinking – “Well that’ll be pump, then” – but we reckon it might just be quite good… It has to be played to be believed.”
* The Silent Hill 4 review asks for a PS2 remake of the first game. Their wish was granted years later in the form of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.
* Acclaim’s ghost haunts this issue, as two of their last games are featured, Juiced and The Red Star. These games went unreleased due to Acclaim’s bankruptcy, until they were picked up by other publishers. Juiced only had to wait a few months, but The Red Star was a tougher sell, and it wasn’t released for another three years.
Quote of the Month: “Please, you have to help, I don’t want to die in here!” Do the Super Monkey Ball monkeys have oxygen in there? Does anyone let them out of the balls after each level?
Cover price: £5.99
Page Count: 146
ABC Sales Figures: The drop in sales figures in this 6 month period is around the same level as this time last year, so I’ll chalk it up to the first half of the year being quieter in terms of games, considering we already know the current design was a success from the reader survey.
Jul-Dec 2003 – 188,322
Jan-Jun 2004 – 177,450 (Down 10,872)
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