Tendo City - GameCube Reviews

XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 10:06:53 +0000

Note - Review is a modified and improved/expanded version of my original impressions of the game posted 3/13/2004 here http://www.tcforums.com/forums/showthrea...light=XGRA .

XGRA is a futuristic racing game by now-dead developer and publisher Acclaim. It was, in fact, one of their later releases before the company closed. As such, it is currently the most recent title in the Extreme-G series which goes back to the early days of the N64.

XGRA, or the Extreme-G Racing Association, is a very fun game. The game is what you get if you take the basic futuristic arcade racing game, remove everything not fun, and emphasize all the fun parts. It does have the flaw of being too short and easy (it won't last long, and you'll almost never fail a race), but even so, it's good enough to be worth playing again. At first it will take a little while to get used to the game system, but within a few races you'll have gotten it down and it becomes simple to do very well. Other than the rare hard race the main challenge is achieving the optional team goal, some of which are quite hard. In the spirit of "making it fun", however, those optional goals are just that: not required. You must do them if you want to unlock all the special bikes, but otherwise you can ignore them if you wish.

The game may seem simplistic, but despite that the fun factor cannot be understated. This game is a huge improvement over Extreme-G 3. It is clear that Acclaim Cheltenham's second effort with the series was vastly improved over its first, and it is quite sad that they won't get a third try. Clearly Acclaim Cheltenham agreed with me over the XG3 fans in that XG3 was flawed, and XGRA is now much more like the older Extreme-G titles. It's still got the graphical style of XG3, but better, but the gameplay is much improved. One addition to the game is customization. You can select a pilot, a team (with that team's bike), and change several ratios to change the top speed and handling of your bike. There are eight pilots and eight teams, each of which uses one of three basic bike models, one of three different handling systems, and one of four basic weapons systems. The different handling types truly feel significantly different, so going from one team to the next really does matter. Also, while the "teams" concept returns from XG3, now the pilots are independant of the teams. You choose a team to go with after each circuit, with better teams being available if you did better (by completing more secondary objectives). The game is organized as if it were a real racing tournament being broadcast on TV, from the menu system layout on. The game intro is like the start of a sports show. Once in the menu system though the layout is admittedly somewhat plain, without the interesting looks of XG2 or XG3's menus, but it works and has enough style to look good enough. The sports TV broadcast theme is well integrated throughout the game. There are announcers before the first race of a circuit, having some banter about the upcoming race. Also, during the introduction to each race, there is a flyover with a track description from the game's main narrator. These introductions to the courses are funny and well done, if very corny. The game doesn't have much of any story other than this, and is lacking a solid ending beyond the satisfaction of winning the final circuit, so it's not perfect, but it does have something as a story/theme, which is more than I can say for many futuristic racers...

One of the most important parts of a racing game is its tracks. This game has 14 tracks in 7 environments, a solid variety. The tracks are great and are very well designed. Like so many features in this game, the improvement from XG3 is huge. These are far removed from XG3's sterile, dissasociating tracks that do not really feel attached to the place they are supposedly set in. You never interacted with the environments and spent the whole time on the narrow tracks driving on that one same road surface. Now there are many surfaces you drive on. It varies from open surface areas to streets on the ground to floating roads like XG3, and even those last though even those are more varied, with parts solid and parts cool looking metal-grate floors. And the width varies, from narrow roads to big open canyons. In addition, the tracks branch and split and twist over themselves. Multiple paths abound. Simply, the track designs are fantastic. The tracks are very well designed and truly feel like they belong in the places they are set in. This is a huge change from the previous game, and its importance to making this game great cannot be understated. In addition, most tracks also have an Extreme Weather variant which makes the track much more challenging. From sandstorms on the Mars tracks to rain in the city or the blinding snow of Vostok, Extreme Weather is awesome, and is done with the game's trademark attention to detail -- for instance, in Vostok when you enter a tunnel the snow stops for an instant, until you emerge from the other side and get blinded by the white again. This is very cool and it affects your play too -- you can actually get lost at times, though the game keeps you on course by not allowing you to drive backwards. Just keep going and you'll get there eventually, though like with all good racing games learning the track helps. XG3 had uniform tracks, always with the same road surface and design. It got very boring very quickly. You never actually interacted with the world and never even drove on the surface! In addition, the game had a grand total of one shortcut (though there were two or three other places with track splits as well). XGRA changes all that, and all for the better. From the beautiful space station with its zero-G twisting corkscrew path through the silence of space to the snows of Vostok, XGRA has fantastic track designs that really draw you in to the game's world. And it doesn't hurt that they're also incredibly fun to race on...

The game's controls work very well. The game is, as advertised, slower than XG3 -- But that's a good thing! XG3 was perhaps a bit too fast for its own good, and the minute decrease in the top speed means that it's a bit easier to control your bike. It's still an incredibly fast game, so nothing was truly lost. The bike controls are vastly different this time around. Bikes feel much heavier and turning is quick -- just like the graphics, a cross between XG2 and XG3. I really like the improvement here. The loss of speed is minimal and the much simplified controls work so much better for this kind of game. Extreme-G isn't F-Zero and never should be F-Zero. It's Extreme-G, and it's about blasting through a track above the speed of sound. You should be worrying about the upcoming turn, not managing your shield meter or stopping at the next pit stop... and that's exactly what you do this time. The game focuses you on the racing. The whole control system is replaced: there is now one brake, instead of two, and it simply slows you down. The shield and weapon energy recharge strips are similarly removed. Instead, your ship automatically regenerates its shields and weapons slowly, or you can use powerups to recharge more quickly if you feel it necessary. This is all done thorugh the new weapons system. In XG3, you bought weapons and switched beween them inrace. It was hard to aim and hit people with most of them and often you just didn't use them. Also everything was on one trigger. Now, you have two triggers, like XG1 and 2. There is a main weapon -- which varies depending on which team you are (the main weapons are a machinegun, lightning gun that bounces, grenade launcher, rockets, etc) -- and a secondary weapon system, which best compares to the system in Gradius. On the top center of the screen is your items bar. The currently selected choice will be highlighted. Power ups are scattered across the courses. Like Gradius, each time you get a powerup it moves to the next box on the list on top of the screen. And like Gradius when you're at the weapon or powerup you want you press select to choose that option. Then, pressing that button again will activate your choice. This system replaces not only the weapon system, but is a major part of your shield and weapon recharge system as well. The secondary weapons include returning items like the Leech (drain shields and speed from the person in front of you), speed boost, mines, and the sideattack weapon, but there are new ones like a nuke bomb, options to fill up your weapons or shields, and the Deathstrike. There is a bit of a balance problem, however. The Deathstrike instantly destroys the CPU vehicle in front of you. It makes killing your opponents easy. It's the last powerup so it takes a few to get to but once you get it you can target someone and have them instantly killed. It makes most all the powerups before it not that useful... and is just too strong. Not that great for a games that is already too easy... however, it is in other ways welcome -- it is actually quite hard to destroy the other racers without it, because the main gun is at the start quite weak and requires time or good aim. The same goes for the other weapons. Before you unlock the Deathstrike, kills actually can be hard to get. With it, the game may be unbalanced, but if unbalanced means fun, I'll take imbalance...

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the game system has changed dramatically from XG3. Gone are the shield and weapon bars that had to be carefully managed and slowly recharged on infrequent recharge strips you often had to stop on to fully use. Gone is the broken, useless weapon system. Gone are the dual airbrakes and the overly complex controls they brought. In is simplicity and fun. The auto-recharge for weapons and shields removes most of the frusteration about running out of either. The simple powerup-based item system works very well and is easy to use. Having a main gun and a secondary item, with one brake, like XG1 or XG2, returns the game to the style of its predecessors while still being unique (for those games had a very simple 'collect weapon X pickup, then use weapon X pickup, etc' system, while this one is much deeper and more interesting). Also, while a speed accelerator is one of the items, it doesn't speed you up as much as XG3's Boost button did. Instead, Wipeout-style, the tracks are full of boost arrows -- though the number of them puts any Wipeout game to shame. The arrow-filled tracks, speeding you along, are a beautiful sight to look at, not to mention much more fun to race on. Oh yes, and if you go off course you simply get reset back on to it, instead of instantly failing the race like XG3. Much better.

The totality of these changes really changes the dynamic of the game from games like XG3 or F-Zero. By removing the hassle and slowdown of having to stop for shield or weapon recharge, they keep you moving and keep you having fun. Now, you never need to stop and never need to stop having fun. It is true that it makes it harder to kill others, as their shields recharge too, but hit them hard enough fast enough, or simply use a Deathstrike, and they will go down. This takes practice though -- your first time through the game, the hardest secondary missions will probably be the killcount ones. Skill in this will come with time. You just need to learn to hit harder and faster than perhaps you did in XG3 or Wipeout. It works pretty well overall and with effort you can destroy most of the field when you try. Between all of these features, this is a great game you won't soon stop having fun with.

Oh, the structure of the game modes. First, single player is broken into speed classes. In each one you have a set of challenges. Each challenge, or circuit, will have a specific ruleset and number of tracks, and you need to win each one by points on the leaderboard (all first places is thankfully NOT required). The challenges start at 3 tracks long, with 6 challenges, but by the top speed class there is just one, eight tracks long, with the rules changing each time. The rulesets cooincide with the multiplayer mode game types. These include Normal Racing (do the standard number of laps for your class), Warmonger, where there are turrets on the track shooting at you and you get points for kills, Pure Racing (no weapons), Extreme Weather (explained above), Short Race (fewer laps), Endurance (more laps), etc. Unfortunately you can't double these up, so you can't do a extra long rainy Warmonger race, but it adds nice variety anyway. The main goal is winning, though, of course, so you have enough points to beat the challenge and the speedclass. However, there are also secondary objectives, special goals for each mission given to you by your team. These vary from 'Beat Rider X' to 'Beat 4 riders', 'destroy 2 riders', or 'destroy 4 signs for team X' (this one's interesting. You have to shoot and blow up signs that are above the track for the team in question... there will be red markers on them to show they are the ones you must blow up but you'll have to explore all of the many paths of some tracks to find enough signs. :)), and some others. If you succeed, you'll get rewards -- weapons, upgrades for your bike (this is how you get them now, instead of buying them like XG3 -- yes, this means you can't choose what upgrades to get and are simply given them, but it works well, so I didn't feel like I was missing anything), unlocked features... but if you fail? You just won't get them. You are allowed to fail these and progress through the game, unlocking those things will just take longer. This makes the game even easier. I regularly fail. If it made you succeed these, the game would be significantly harder... still though, if you want the best bike you'll have to come back and play the game again and not fail any secondary objectives, so like usual they both make the game fun (by allowing you to beat it without too much trouble) and make it fun (by giving the expert something to do by having to beat them all).

As for multiplayer, it works well. Unfortunately the two-player co-op campaign from XG3 is gone, and is missed, as that mode was one of the best in that game, but the four-player splitscreen (with computers to make a total of eight vehicles) is intact. This mode is simplfied in comparison to the main single player game. You have no choice of drivers and no workshop to tune your bike. Just choose a team and track and race... the pilot option isn't missed as that seems to make a minimal impact, but the customization is a bit unfortunate. Nothing huge though. You get all fourteen tracks, all of the bikes and their disparate looks, handling systems, and weapons, a full field of vehicles, and access to all of the different game modes (Extreme Weather, Warmonger, etc). Find some people who like arcade racing and there's more than enough here to entertain for hours and hours.

Finally, I will address the graphics and sound. The graphics are good. Admittedly it shows its origin as a PS2 port, but even so it looks quite nice and the sheer graphical style of the designs shines. The game, quite simply, looks beautiful and is incredibly stylish to look at. The sound is about as you'd expect, well done without any flaws of note. The music is similar. The game has a fantastic arcade racer shoundtrack. However, there is a flaw here-- for some reason, in addition to the main techno ("Dance") soundtrack, the game has a "Rock" soundtrack too. The rock soundtrack is awful. However, you can disable it and turn on only the Dance option -- this is HIGHLY recommended. Leave the rock off permanantly and you'll have a great time with this game's very good racing game techno soundtrack. No flaws here.

In conclusion, XGRA is a great game. It may be easy (my first time though I beat the game (not all the secondary objectives, just the main game) without ever failing or having to retry a race) at first, but deeper in, and if you try the secondary objectives, its gets respectably hard. Try for all first place finishes with bonus objectives and you've got a serious challenge on your hands. This game is just plain fun to play. It truly is racing with everything fun put in and everything not fun removed, and it is one of the best racing games of this console generation. Highly recommended.

Gameplay: 10/10
Single player: 9/10
Multi player: 9/10
Sound/music: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10

Total (not an average): 9.5/10. Fantastic game, one of the best racing games of this generation. Anyone who has any interest in arcade racing should not just consider this a must buy but own it already.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

Tue, 24 May 2005 02:47:41 +0000

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (henceforth simply "Paper Mario") is the spiritual successor to the SNES Super Mario RPG, GBA's Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga, and of course the original N64 Paper Mario. Princess Peach has found a strange map that she believes will lead to treasure, and she writes to Mario so he can come and help her look. Mario then sets out for the dreary port town of Rogueport, where he runs into plenty of trouble, but no sign of Princess Peach. After meeting a spunky young Goomba named Goombella, Mario discovers the map is the legendary "Magical Map" which will point the way to the seven Crystal Stars, which will open the Thousand-Year Door, hidden deep below Rogueport. What lies behind it? Nobody can say for sure, but there are many who wish to find out. Mario soon learns the mysterious X-Nauts are behind it, and he races to find the Crystal Stars before they do, because who knows what they could be planning.

This game also has one other great feature: it's hilarious. The same quirky humor found in Super Mario RPG and Superstar Saga is alive and well in this game. Whether you're watching Princess Peach try to teach a supercomputer the meaning of love, watching Bowser and his cronies try hopelessly to find the Crystal Stars themselves, hearing Luigi tell you about the equally bizarre journey of his own, or watching the incredibly inept X-Naut lackeys fail time and time again, this game will keep you laughing from beginning to end.

GRAPHICS

One of the features that makes Paper Mario so endearing is it's unique graphic style. While the 3D environments and worlds are big and vibrant, all the characters, enemies, and anything else that moves are all paper thin. An unusual style, to be sure, but Nintendo pulls it off flawlessly. The characters and environments mesh together well, and the game never looks odd. Also, since the sprites take so little processing power, there can be hundereds of them moving around on the screen (and sometimes there are!) without a problem. The game also takes advantage of Mario and gangs thinness by allowing Mario to turn himself sideways to squeeze through tight spots, roll into a tube to roll into small areas, and into paper airplane so he can glide to faraway ledges.

The worlds themselves are detailed and look incredible. From the dreary and dirty Rogueport, to the surreal Boggly Woods, to the flashy and bright stadium town of Glitzville, to the creepy Twilight Town, the graphics never fail to impress.

SOUND

You'll hear plenty of familiar Mario sounds here, the jump, the stomp, the shell kick. Nothing new there, however the music is almost all brand new and very well done. Each stages music fits in well with all of the worlds.

GAMEPLAY

Mario meets many colorful characters in his journey, and he finds many willing to join him. To proceed through the game, you'll need all of their skills. Shy Koopa Troopa Koops can shoot out his shell to press faraway switches and grab items. Wind Goddess Madame Flurrie can use her powerful breath to blow away obstacles. You can ride newly hatched Baby Yoshi (and you can name him anything you want) can make you move faster and hover over short distances. You'll meet other characters too, all of which have their own skills to help Mario on his quest.

Stages and situations vary greatly from stage to stage. One requires Mario to sign up for a fighting competition, and fight his way through the ranks, during this time his manager assigns him a new name to fight by (I won't tell you, it'll be funnier if you see it for yourself), competitors try to bribe and poison Mario before his fights, and other such instances. Another stage is set completely on a moving train, where you have three days to solve a mystery and find who is behind some dastardly deeds on the train. Yet another results in a doppelganger stealing Mario's appearance and posing as him, while Mario must attempt to reveal him for who he is to get his body back. The stages are always fun and a joy to complete.

Battles themselves have a unqiue and interesting twist added to them as well. Every battle Mario and party faces is set on a stage with spectators in the audience. This may sound cheesy, but it works really well. The more people in the audience, the faster you can fill your "Star Power" guage and unleash powerful combo attacks. Additionally, depending on your performance, the audience can throw you items like coins, health refills, mushrooms, and ton of other useful items. Conversely, if you're not doing well the audience may throw hammers, rocks, and such at you. In this case, you have to watch the audience for anyone wishing you ill will and kicking them out of the audience before they get a chance to throw. Kick out a fan who was trying to help you, though, and your audience will diminish. Furthermore, the stage itself can be your enemy. Props and backgrounds can fall down if the stage is rocked, lights can fall from the rafters onto Mario, his ally, an enemy, or into the crowd. No two battles are alike, and there is no predictability, and in this way, even the most mundane and repetitive of battles feels fresh and fun right till the end.

REPLAYABILITY

Once you've beaten the game, there's not much left. You could try to go back and find more badges, star pieces, or try to beat the optional 100-level dungeon, but for the most part, one play through is all it's really good for.

All things considered, Paper Mario is still an entertaining, funny, and worthwhile adventure, and I would definitely recommend checking it out. I rate the game 9.0 out of 10.

Soul Calibur II

Tue, 04 Nov 2003 04:03:57 +0000

In an earlier review of mine, I said there was no such thing as a perfect fighting game. I now stand corrected. Soul Calibur II comes as close to a perfect fighter as you can get, as close as you'll see for quite I while, I believe.

Soul Calibur II actually has a story behind it to explain why all these people are wailing on each other. An evil sword known as Soul Edge, which can devour mens souls, threatens to enshroud the world in darkness. All of the fighters either want this unimaginable power for themselves, or want to destroy the evil sword for good.

Featuring a roster of 23 characters, there is something for everyone. Whether you prefer the lightning-quick Raphael, the powerful Astaroth, the freaky Voldo, or the bizarre Yoshimitsu, with enough practice, you'll become a feared fighter. If you're smart enough to own the GameCube version, you'll be able to kick ass with Link from the Legend of Zelda. But if you prefer less cool characters (:D), you can get Tekkens Heihachi on the PS2 version, and comic book character Spawn on the X-Box.

Soul Calibur II is all about control. At all times you can run in any direction you choose, be it away, towards, or around your opponent. While running around, you have a big selection of moves which can all be fairly easily accessed to unleash upon your opponent. Beware, because if you think simply pummelling your opponents with button mashing attacks will get you to Soul Calibur zen, you are sorely mistaken.

While your opponent is trying to attack you, they can do any number of things to throw your strategy into disarray. Guard impacts cause characters to stumble over their weapons, attempting to get them back to fighting position, during which time, they can easily get in a hard hit. If you're blocking, every characters has Guard Breaks and Unblockables. Guard breaks will, obviously, break your guard and leave you reeling and unable to defend or attack for a second. Unblockables are just as they sound. Unleash one, and blocking won't save your enemies.

Every fighting game requires practice to become formidible, and SCII is no exception. While some moves can be executed by simple button presses and combonations, the big attacks and unblockables usually take a little more practice to master. The shining attribute of this game is that no matter what attack is used, the other fighter has a perfectly accessible way to escape or counter it. Press a button just after you're grabbed, and you'll break free. If vertical attacks are keeping you at bay, step around them. super-fast attacks whittling you down? Block them, or guard impact them and smash them right back. Not only must you choose your attacks wisely, so as not to expose yourself to Guard Impacts, but you must also watch what your opponent is doing. Strategy is almost more important to this game than the fighting itself.

So you've mastered your moves and become skilled with a certain character. Now it's time to show your stuff. You can go through Arcade, where you fight through 6 battles, a destined battle, then a battle with Inferno, the keeper of Soul Edge. Survival, Time Attack, and Team Battle pretty much speak for themselves. Weapon Master is the real meat of the Single Player game, though. Pick a character, and lead them through a quest across a continent to destroy Soul Edge. Not only that, but each character has 9 weapons that can be bought from stores and won, each with their own attributes. You'll soon have favorite weapons you'll never want to go into battle without. Also you can unlock cinemas, weapon demonstrations, characters, arenas, art galleries and much more cool stuff just waiting to be discovered.

It's a fighting game, so fighting against a friend is great. However, if you're fighting a game against a person whos lower than you in skill, they will not have fun, and vice-versa. It's best if you both start and learn it at the same time. If you have an opponent who can fight as well as you, you'll spend HOURS fighting the night away.

I love this game, and if there was one thing I would have changed about it would have been adding a VS Mode like Melee. Pick your character, pick an opponent, and fight. All things considered though, this game is an incredible accomplishment, and no gamer should be without it. Go buy it. Now.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 06:33:30 +0000

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
for Nintendo GameCube
Published by Interplay and (its RPG division) Black Isle
Developed by High Voltage Software
Released in 2002

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is the console-only action-RPG offshoot of the very good PC RPG series "Baldur's Gate". While the game admittedly doesn't follow the D&D rules all that well, it is a fun game to play by yourself or with a friend if you like this style of mostly-mindless action, in the Diablo or Gauntlet style (but different, of course).

Gameplay: BG: DA is a fairly simple game. You choose one of the three characters -- Elven Mage, Human Archer, or Dwarven Warrior (each with preconfigured stats), and start out. You start easy, killing giant rats in the Baldur's Gate sewers. At the beginning, the game is easiest with the Warrior, medium with the Archer, and hardest with the mage, as would be expected. All of the characters are good, but there is one frusteration -- missile weapons are annoyingly hard to target. Even with the Archers' targeting line while firing, you'll invitably miss several times before you hit anything... and the same goes with missle-like spells that the Mage has. Annoying, and it got me to quickly abandon the idea of using missile weapons or spells of that kind. But other than that, the characters are well balanced and the rest of the weapons are useful. And when you are by yourself, of course, you'd want to be good in melee weapons anyway...

So, you explore the environments. The game is quite linear, and while there are plenty of dead ends its always clear when you have found the correct path, and there aren't alternate paths in most of the game. When there is, its a large open area which has specific exit points you'll have to end up at. But the linearity is okay because it keeps you focused on your goal of advancing. Contributing to that is the fact that once dead, enemies never respawn -- their bodies stay on the ground for the rest of the game. So you can't get much above the level you are supposed to be at and make the game easy. Its great that enemies don't respawn after playing games like Diablo II... you can actually quit the game and load again and not worry about the enemies being back. Unlike that game.

The combat is simple, with a attack button and the d-pad for switching spells and active weapon, and fun. Its not D&D at all, as you have a magic meter and spells take up specific amounts of magic points each time you use them, but for the game's style that kind of magic system is really needed. You'll only complain if you're a D&D purist. And hte weapons and spells are nice, with a great variety of weapons, spells, and special abilities at your disposal.

Whenever you want, you can use a potion that warps you back to the town location, where you can sell items filling up your inventory that you picked up and buy better armor and weapons. Then use the potion again and warp back. Saving is also fairly good, as you can save at save points that are liberally scattered around the game. The only problem is that because of a poor port, it takes a ridiculous amount of time to save. But once done its saved everything as it is at the save station. Of all the supposed problems in the port of this game, this is the only one that I ever noticed. There are enough of them to never make it too much of a chore to get back to where you were, especially with the fact that enemies that you killed are permanantly dead.

When you level up, it gives you a choice of abilities to put points in to. Each character has a unique selection of skills to upgrade, and they range from increasing your hit points to various spells and special abilities. Better ones or higher levels of ones require more points, so you have to choose abilities fairly well -- you won't have anywhere near all of them at the end. Pick what you need.

And if you win the game once, you unlock a Gauntlet where you use famous Forgotten Realms hero Drizzt Do'Urden (there's no Elminster in the game, but I'll take what I can get... :) ) in a very challenging timed dungeon. If you beat it, you unlock the ability to use him in the main game. You can also unlock Expert Difficulty, but I'm not sure if that is done with the Gauntlet of by beating the game on Hard. It is probably the Gauntlet. Because of the Gauntlet and Expert mode, the problem of the admittedly short (it won't take long to beat the main game on any of the three main difficulties) and easy main game (on Easy, the difficulty is VERY low; on Normal, its a bigger challenge but not especially hard.) is negated. 8.5/10

Grapics: For a port of a PS2 game, the graphics are good. They aren't as good as they could be, but they get the job done well and look nice. The water effect especially is very nice looking, with great ripples as you walk. And the slowdown that was supposedly so bad in this game? If there is any, I never saw it. The framerate is steady and the game doesn't run slowly. 8.5/10

Sound/music: Nothing special, standard fare really. The music is okay but not great and the sound effects are good and go well into the game. The only flaw I can think of is that the shopkeepers (all of them throughout the game) talk CONSTANTLY and repeat the same five or so things over and over. It gets very old really fast whenever you're in a shop. 8/10

Single Player: Its harder to be a distance-based character (archer who uses lots of arrows, or mage with longrange spells as a base) in single player, but you'll probably want to be a closerange character anyway because of the poorly done range weapon aiming so that isn't a big problem. Otherwise this mode is fun. Not as good as co-op, but if you lack a friend around its a decent alternative. 8/10

Multiplayer: The game has a 2-player cooperative mode. While its possible to import a character from another savegame on the memory card and thus use a overpowered character in this already easier mode, its not that much fun unless you really want to tear through the game. Its best to start both characters at level one, and this mode is great. The only dissapointment is that you can't do a three player mode with all three heroes. 9/10

Final Notes: This is a well done action-RPG for the Gamecube, It does have flaws -- there are some small problems with the port, the savegames are 29 blocks each (at save points you can choose to overwrite your save or make a new 29 block save on the card), but each save can include 2 characters (in cooperative mode), Drizzt if you unlock him, and both a easy/normal/hard and Expert mode game, so for your main save its not so bad. The long save times can get annoying though. Even so, the game is good, and fun if you like action games with some RPG in them (more RPG then Gauntlet, but less then Diablo), and a wide variety of great weapons and spells. I recomend it to anyone who likes the genre.

Gameplay: 8.5/10
Grapics: 8.5/10
Sound: 8/10
Singleplayer: 8/10
Multiplayer: 9/10

Total: 42/50 or 84/100 is the average of those categories. That's a pretty good score, but it should be a bit higher considering all the factors.

Final score: 86%. Recommended.

Super Mario Sunshine

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 10:12:50 +0000

Review: Super Mario Sunshine
Platform: GameCube
Release Date: 8/27/2002
Rating: 6.5/10

Super Mario Sunshine was the hotly anticipated sequel to Super Mario 64, widely considered one of the greatest games of all time. It released to a lot of fanfare, and quickly became the feature game in Nintendo's first GameCube/free game bundle packs. Mario and Peach are heading for some fun and sun on a tropical island resort called Isle Delfino. Isle Delfino is home to the Piantas, a multicolored fat people with awful eyesight. Upon arrival, however, it is discovered that someone who somewhat resembles Mario is going around and plastering everything with graffiti. On top of that, someone's stolen all the Shine Sprites, which happen to be the sole source of solar energy in these parts. Since the perpetrator bears a marginally passing resemblance to Mario, he's locked up. Later, he is released on the condition that he cleans up all the graffiti. To do this, he is given a backpack called FLUDD, which has various water-spewing functions.

A true prize-winning story, to be sure!

GAMEPLAY: 5.0

If you played Super Mario 64, there is really little that is new outside of the various functions of the FLUDD pack. The FLUDD can spray a water jet in any of it's forms, but has three special functions as well. The default special function is the Hover jet, which will allow Mario to float for a few seconds, and is generally the most useful. Then there is the Rocket function, which blasts you skyward, and is essential for reaching high places. The most fun, if not functional, is the Turbo pack, which launches you at insane speeds, even over water. All of these functions require your pack to be filled with water, so you will always have to keep in mind where the nearest source of water is, lest you find yourself without.

There are some times when you won't get to take advantage of the FLUDD, and that is in the varied special stages, which are by far the most frustrating, the most fun, and the most inspired levels in Super Mario Sunshine. Abandoning the static mission-like gameplay of the rest of the adventure, the Special Stages are good, old fashioned platforming, with moving platforms, rotating platforms, disappearing platforms, you name it. Had more of the levels been in this vein, the score would be higher. And you might be asking yourself: Why is it so low?

Well, I do have a number of problems with the game. For one, it's far too easy. I'm not an expert master at most games, especially platformers, but I had this game beaten with 90 shines in less than a week. Second, quite a few of Mario's moves from SM64 are missing! Like Super Mario 64, there are 120 shines to find. Unlike Super Mario 64, many of the shines can only be found by locating a myriad of blue coins, placed all throughout the levels of the game. That is one of the many signs of sheer laziness evident in the development of this game. There are fewer stages to play in than in SM64, with more shine challenges, and while that might seem okay at first glance, you'll soon notice that there are MANY repeated objectives even in the same stage. Many stages have multiple red coin challenges, multiple fights against the same miniboss, and the ridiculously inane challenges against Shadow Mario. Factor in that many of the game's shines come by way of blue coin collecting, and you'll just scratch your head and wonder why Nintendo didn't put nearly the same level of care into Sunshine that went into Super Mario 64.

GRAPHICS: 7.0

The graphics are not really that bad. Sunshine is host to some of the nicest-looking water effects seen in a game, and the environments are of decent detail. It's a shame that the levels weren't more varied in appearance, as you have to spend so much time in many of them, but since the game is built on a tropical theme, that really is to be expected. There are some moments, though, where the sheer beauty of the game will stun you, Noki Bay being one of those. The Special Stages are always an odd assortment, bringing back memories of the childlike design that made Yoshi's Island so neat to look at. The main detriment to the game graphically is that some of the levels just do not look very inspiring or unique.

SOUND: 6.5

Really not much to say. Since the game is thematic, most of the music is tropical in nature, and that is average at best. The Special Stages, like in most aspects of the game, excel with a kickass remix of the classic Super Mario theme.

OVERALL: 6.5

Super Mario Sunshine is hardly a bad game, but it is most definitely not up to Nintendo's usually golden standards. As a game it stands well, and it is better than most other 3D platformers, but as a sequel to what is almost unquestionably the greatest 3D platformer ever made, from a developer with the highest standards in the industry, it falls far short of expectations and one cannot help shaking the feeling that this game is merely a footnote in the great history of Mario. With Super Mario 128 upcoming I hope that they learn from this experience and look back to it's magnum opus predecessor for inspiration, because it's obvious that something was lost in the transition from 64 to Sunshine. I also hope they look at the great job they did with Sunshine's special stages (the frequency of them pretty heavily contributed to the overall score being as high as it is), as those were incredibly fun and straightforward, honest Super Mario gameplay. Sometimes you have to keep in mind that you don't need to fix what isn't broken.

Super Mario Sunshine

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:09:45 +0000

Mario has a tough job, what with all those evil turtles and freaky walking mushrooms to contend with, and from time to time, he deserves a vacation. Even that can't go right for the world-famous plumber. Upon flying out to island paradise Island Delfino with Peach, they are forced to land short on the runway due to a huge puddle of some paint-like substance. Mario crosses it and asks for help, and he's blamed for the mess! As he approaches a water pump he'll use to clean the mess, it props up and introduces itself as FLUDD, created by none other and Professor Gadd from Luigis Mansion. FLUDD identifies Mario and agrees to help him. Upon cleaning up the mess, the Delfino authorities take Mario away and throw him in jail. He is later released, and is sentenced to clean up all the graffiti which now covers Delfino. But one question lingers, why do they think Mario is behind it? You'll have to play to find out.

Gameplay is very smooth here, controls are straightforward and easy to use. It utilizes the analog functions of the L and R key, if you press R down partially, you can move while spraying, or you can press it down all the way to shoot out a stronger and longer reaching stream of water. Mario has a lot of jumps too, and they are all pretty simple to execute. If you turn the control stick 360 and then jump, you'll do a spin jump which sends you higher than the usual jump, and also gets rid of any goop which may have gotten on you. FLUDD has two functions at any one time, there is the normal spray, then one of three different nozzles can be attached. The HoverNozzle allows you to hover (obviously) for a few seconds, the Rocket Nozzle makes you blast high into the air, and the Tubo nozzle boosts your speed, even when swimming.

This game is not about just cleaning up messes like it may appear to be. There are plenty of puzzles to be solved, some force you to do them without FLUDD to help you.

Alas, as good as Mario Sunshine is, it has its flaws. First, there is a lot of stuff happening on the screen at one time and at times there can be some noticeable slowdown. Also some of the camera angles, even though it moves with Mario, can be constricting and there are some times when you can't even see your mustached hero. But the good far outweighs the bad in this game, the slowdown is only for a few seconds, and only at some times do you have trouble with the camera, otherwise, its a great Mario adventure with lots of puzzles and plenty to do. You'll never be bored in this game.

I give Super Mario Sunshine a 9.4 and if you own a GameCube, this is a game to buy before all others on that game rack at the store. Besides, no Nintendo system is complete without a Mario adventure.

The Simpsons: Road Rage

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:08:47 +0000

Mr. Burns has bought the Springfield bus company, irradiated all of the buses and jack fares way up. So Springfield residents start using their own cars as taxis to zip people around town as fast as possible.

This game is frighteningly remiscent of Crazy Taxi but with a few differences, some good, some bad. For one, Springfield is huge, and packed with show references and familiar locations like the Kwik-E-Mart and Springfield Elementary. A good portion of the environment is destructable, such as street lights, trees, and signs. Thing is, they fall very unrealistically. It looks like a toy car driving to a platic tree, it moves with you, wobbles then falls down. In place of the classic green arrow now is a big yellow hand pointing to your destination. There are about 20 characters you can use to drive, (most need to be unlocked) each with their own vehicle. Groundskeeper Willie has a tractor, Professor Frink drives a flying car, and Grandpa drives a tiny Shriners car.

The real treat in this game is the voice acting. Everyone you pick up and all the drivers voices are the actual voices form the show. There are some great lines too. Flanders: "Could you take me to Reverend Lovejoys house? I want him to bless my new haircut" or Abe Simpson after hitting something "Oh, there's my pelvis!". One problem is timing though. In an odd game I drove Flanders to his destination, then picked up and drove Hans Moleman to his destination, and on my way to getting another passenger I finally hear Flanders thanking me for the ride, even though he's blocks away. Again, not good timing.

Simpsons fans (such as myself) should get a kick out of this game. If you liked Crazy Taxi there's really not much here not to like. Rent it first, if you think you'd enjoy it more by all means buy it, but I suggest waiting until your local rental store starts selling used copies for cheap. It's a fun and amusing games, but I personally won't pay 50 bucks for it.

I rate The Simpsons: Road Rage a 7.5 and recommend at least renting it.

Super Monkey Ball

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:08:12 +0000

One of Segas gifts to the GameCube as a third party developer is Super Monkey Ball. Based on the arcade game of the same title, its the game arcaders remember plus more.

You have single player, in which you can play Beginner mode (10 courses) Advanced mode (30 courses) or Expert Mode (50 courses). In each course you must move the entire stage so the monkey inside the ball rolls to the end, along the way picking up bananas and trying not to fall off the edge. It takes a bit of practice to get the controls down so as to steer the monkey right, but once you have it down, its...well, still challenging at times!

Super Monkey Ball is at its best during Party Mode. Wherein you have Monkey fight, where up to four monkeys roll around with big boxing gloves attached to them trying to knock your opponents off the stage. Next is Monkey Race, which is up to four Monkey balls racing along tracks. Finally there is Monkey Target, where you roll down a steep hill then when you jump off, you open your ball and glide to a target across water, where you land on the target determines your points.

There are also minigames to unlock, every time you play Single Player, you get points. When you get enough points you may unlock one of three minigames, Monkey Billiards, Monkey Bowling, and Monkey Golf. All of which are fairly self-explanatory.

If you like getting together with friends with your Cube, Super Monkey Ball is the game for you, it's Party Games and Minigames are a lot of fun. However if you prefer to enjoy your Cube alone, and only venture out to share with friends on occasion, rent this game only. Single Player is fun, don't get me wrong. Fun for a few days. Then it gets kind of tiring and you just want to play minigames. Then they themselves really become no fun without friends to play with.

I rate Super Monkey Ball a 6.5 and I think it's worth at least a rental. If nothing else, you and your immature friends can laugh uncontrollably every time somebody mentions the word "balls".

Super Smash Bros. Melee Secrets

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:07:34 +0000

So many secrets reside in that little disk waiting to be unlocked: characters, stages, trophies, and other goodies. We won't go into the trophies here, but we will tell you how to unlock everything else.

Unlockable Characters
Unlock Jigglypuff: Beat Classic or Adventure with any character on any difficulty or play 50 VS matches.
Unlock Dr. Mario: Beat Classic or Adventure with Mario without continuing or play 100 VS matches
Unlock Pichu: Beat Event 37, Legendary Pokemon, or play 200 VS matches
Unlock Falco: Beat the 100 Man Melee or play 300 VS matches
Unlock Marth: Beat Classic or Adventure with the 14 original characters or play 400 VS matches
Unlock Young Link: Clear Classic or Adventure with ten characters or play 500 VS matches
Unlock Ganondorf: Beat Event 29, Triforce Gathering, or play 600 VS matches
Unlock MewTwo: Play 20 hours or 700 VS Matches
Unlock Luigi: Beat Luigi in Adventure (he appears if you finish Mushroom Kingdom with a 2 in the seconds, like 1:02 or 3:52)or play 800 VS matches
Unlock Roy: Beat Classic or Adventure with Marth or play 900 VS matches
Unlock Mr. Game and Watch: Beat Classic or Adventure with every other character or play 1000 VS matches

Unlockable Arenas
Mushroom Kingdom II: Win Birdo from the Trophy Lottery
Brinstar Depths: Play 50 VS matches
Fourside: Play 100 VS matches
Big Blue: Play 150 VS Matches
Poké Floats: Play 200 VS Matches
N64 Dream Land: Beat Classic, Adventure, or Break the Targets with all 25 characters.
N64 Kongo Jungle: Beat the 15 Minute Melee
N64 Yoshi's Island: Hit the Sandbag 1350 feet in Home-Run Test.
Flat Zone: Unlock Mr. Game and Watch
Battlefield Beat All-Star with any character
Final Destination Beat all 51 Event Matches

Other Stuff
All-Star Mode: Unlock all 25 characters
Score Display: Earn a total of 5000 KOS (this will display your score in time mode.)
Random Stage: Open Brinstar Depths, Fourside, Big Blue, Poke Floats, Mushroom Kingdom II, and Flat Zone
Sound Test: Unlock all characters and stages

So there you have it, now go start unlocking and play this great game to its fullest!

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:06:10 +0000

It's the sequel to the smash hit Super Smash Bros that everyone has been waiting for! Featuring a starting cast of 14 fighters with more hidden characters and levels than you can shake a Beam Sword at!

You have several ways you can play Melee. First there is Classic mode, in which you fight a random assortment of characters in sequence to fight your way up to the evil Master Hand. Along the way you'll also be encountered with good old "Break the Targets" and "Race to the Finish" ("Board the Platforms" didn't make it to Melee).

Next is Adventure Mode. This is more uniform than Classic mode because you play the same levels. It may sound monotonous (and many do think it is), yet I find it to be a delightful side game. You go through levels from games, you fight your way through Mushroom Kingdom, get to dodge racers on the F-Zero track, and fly high over Corneria as you fight Fox and Falco on the Great Fox, then meet Bowser at the end.

As a fighting game, Melee has, of course, a multiplayer game, but not JUST a multiplayer game where you go in and fight. There are special types of Melees you can fight. You can fight giant size for a clash-of-the-titans remake, or tiny sized Melees for that ant-battle feel. Fixed Camera Mode just fixes on the battlefield and doesn't move, and Invisible Melee is self-explanatory! Theres even a Tournament mode for as many as 128 fighters (most are computer players, but wait till the GC Modem unviels! MELEE!)

Another addictive aspect of Melee are the trophies you can collect. Our very own Laser Link referred to them as the most addictive thing to collect since Pokemon cards! You get trophies for all sorts of things, such as beating classic mode with a character. You can wager the coins you win from fighting to the trophy lottery, where the more you bet, the more chance for a new trophy. The trophies can be anything. There's a trophy for the Super Scope, for every playable character, a Goomba, and some from games that never left Japan! There is also a side game during classic mode where three trophies fall from the sky, if you can hit any of them into the basket in the middle of the screen, you get to keep them, if not, well, maybe you'll see that trophy again eventually. There are 290 in total, can you collect them all?

There are also premade Events you can play, such as a battle with Pikachu where you may only inflict damage with Pokeballs and the Pokemon inside them.

Wow. Long review. But that just tells you how much there is to do in Super Smash Bros: Melee. I don't think I even covered a quarter of the cool stuff in this game. A must have, I repeat, MUST HAVE GameCube game! I rate it a 9.5!

Mario Party 4

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:05:24 +0000

The Mario Party series is getting a bit aged, as there isn't much new they can do with the series, however that doesn't keep Mario Party 4 from being one hell of a fun game. Featuring over 50 Mini-games, 8 characters, 5 boards, a Party mode, and a Story mode, Mario Party 4 is going to give your controller the biggest button-mashing bruising since Super Smash Bros. Melee.

It's a simple concept, one to four players can play in a board-game style game which end in a random mini-game after everyone takes their turn with the dice. Along the board, there are coin spaces, which I don't think I need to explain, Bowser spaces, which either calls one of the Koopa Kids to steal some of your coins, or the big bad Bowser himself, who then pulls some stunt, usually a Bowser game, wherein the loser usually either loses all his coins or all his items.

The Mini-games are a stroke of genius. Some of them are just so much fun to play, you'll be headed to Mini-game mode to play them over and over. Among a few of my favorites are Booksquirm, where the characters run around a huge book, avoiding falling pages by getting in holes in the pages. Domination is fun, you hit the A button as much as you can, racking up dominoes each time, then you knock them over after 10 seconds and find out who has the sorest thumb. Let's not forget the Battle Game Bowsers Bigger Blast, where there are switches to press. Each character takes their turn, one switch sets off a huge explosion. The process continues until only one remains. I could tell you more, but for the sake of continuity, I'll move on.

Mario Party 4 is, obviously, at it's best with some friends to play with. If you're not a social gamer, fret not, there is plenty of fun to be had with this game by yourself. Mario Party 4 will keep you coming back for more, and for that reason I rate this game an 8.5!

Luigi's Mansion

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:04:40 +0000

Luigi has won a mansion in a contest! Problem is he doesn't remember entering a contest! He calles Mario up and tell him the good news and Mario says he will meet him there and they'll celebrate. Luigi makes his way through a spooky forest before arriving at his mansion. He cautiously enters and sees everything is pitch dark. A ghost drops a key on the floor and Luigi uses it to open a door...where a ghost nearly scares him out of his skin! Then as the ghost closes in, a strange man with a vacuum cleaner starts to suck him up, but before he can, the ghost hits him and disappears. The man introduces himself as Professor Elvin Gadd (E. Gadd, get it?). Before he can say much else a bunch of ghosts appear and they make a run for it.

Back at Gadds lab he tells you that he has been hunting ghosts for decades, traveling the word and turning them into paintings using his invention, the Ghost Portrificationizer! Upon trying to capture a ghost recently though, he escaped and freed all the other imprisoned ghosts. He asks that while Luigi looks for Mario in the mansion, he would also try to get some of those prized ghosts back. Gadd gives Luigi another of his invention, (this is genius) THE POLTERGUST 3000! He also gives him a Game Boy Horror which is very useful. You can use it to check your map and inventory to name a few things. Armed with the Poltergust 3000 and the Game Boy Horror, Luigi enters the haunted mansion...

Luigi's Mansion is fun, the controls are very straightforward. Push the stick in the direction you want Luigi to go. To capture ghosts with the Poltergust 3000, you must first hit them with a beam from your flashlight, stunning them and showing you their "heart". Then you start to suck them up. To do that, simply press the control stick in the opposite direction of the ghost to Luigi. If the ghost is on the left of the screen, you'll want to press right, and so on and so forth. Little ghosts take only a bit of vacuuming, but bigger ones can take a few tries to get them all.

There are many types of ghosts in the mansion, some are straightforward and will attack when near you, but others can be a bit tricky. Some ghosts grab you from behind, while others can throw banana peels all over the place as you try to suck them in. In the house there are also 50 Boos. The Boos are the ones who freed the painting ghosts and Gadd wants them gone. He adds a special function to your Game Boy Horror which alerts you to a Boo (or Boo shaped object) hidden in a room.

One last thing, in the mansion is lots of MONEY. Its hidden in every nook and cranny, and it would not be a bad idea to collect it all, at the end of the game, how much money Luigi has is turned into your high score. How much can you make in a game?

Luigi's Mansion is a very entertaining game, its flaw is its length. There's about ten hours of total gameplay, which means it's not a good game for people who like ot get immersed in a good long game, but it is good for people who like games that can be beaten in a few days. This is great for a casual gamer. Its very fun, but it's lack of replayability costs it points, I give it a 7. Rent it and see if you like it before you shell out the money buy it.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:03:49 +0000

Don't let the name fool you, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee is not just a clone of Super Smash Bros. Melee, it is an original game that sci-fi fans everywhere will go wild for. Epic battles in real world cities with famous monsters like Megalon, King Ghidora, Rodan, and the all-powerful MechaGodzilla make this game one of the best fighters on the Cube today. Power-ups are scarce so you have little option other than to use every move in your arsenal to send your opponents flying.

You can fight in different sections of such cities as San Francisco, Tokyo and Monster Island with any of the 12 different characters. The visuals in the game are spectacular. The detail on the cities and monsters is absurdy well done, even the smallest detail isn't neglected. You can see the seemingly tiny cars you stomp on explode on the street below. The cities are also fully destructable, meaning if you jab at an opponent and miss or do a bit too much stomping around, you could take down buildings. As fun as this sounds (and it is), you have to make sure you don't overdo it. The army will attack whichever monster has done the most damage to the city with increasingly nasty weapons such as the freeze ray, which makes you a sitting duck for your opponent to hit you hard without chance of missing. The upside is, if you grab the other monster and toss him into a group of buildings, then the army considers him to have knocked them down and they start attacking him. It's a great sight to behold!

Controls are a bit clunky and do take some getting used to, especially if your used to the simple controls of SSB:Melee, once you have played for a while, it becomes easier to pull off those powerful attacks. As I mentioned earlier, the graphics are stunning and you even get a replay from different angles after every fight so you can watch in slo mo as that building you tossed smacks Rodan in his face. Oh, did I mention you can pick up and throw whole buildings? You can, and they do big damage too.

Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee is also a great multiplayer game. Up to four players can fight against one another in a last man standing match, a match to see who can do the most damage to a city in the given time, team battles, a survival mode where you fight against monster after monster and see how long you last.

It's got flaws though, for instance, when you first boot up the game, you have a weak choice of three playable monsters in 4 arenas, you must unlock everything else. Flying monster have a bit of a glitch too. Rodan can be soaring over the city and suddenly get hung up on an invisible wall and twitch there in mid-air for a few seconds before resuming flight. An option to change the sometimes ludicrously difficult computer players AI would also have been a welcome addition. Also the adventure mode is basically the same thing over and over, with rearranged monsters. There's no such thing as a perfect fighting game, but Godzilla made a fair attempt at being one. I give Godzilla a 6.5 and suggest you rent before you buy, as it may not be for everyone.

Gauntlet: Dark Legacy

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:03:01 +0000

The evil wizard Garm has used the power of Runestones to unleash a great evil power named Skorn, who breaks free of Garms control and kills him. Skorn then begins to terrorize the eight realms and scatters the runestones so they can't be used against him.

The history of the arcade game Gauntlet has culminated up to this beautifully rendered game. The game is fairly easy to learn, with three different control styles so as to make it as uncomplicated as possible. In Gauntlet, you have your choice of 8 different characters, each with their strengths and weaknesses, and there are another 8 waiting to be unlocked. You have to throw weapons at enemies to kill them, and thats without powerups.

Powerups include anti death halos. Death can steal health and experience from you if it gets near you, with the halo, the opposite happens, you either gain health or an experience level. Also you can get the Hand of Death, which kills enemies you touch instantly for a short time. You can also charge your projectiles with electricity, fire, acid and other magic. You can find treasure to buy items or you can find them in the levels. Also a certain number of a certain type of crystal will open the doorway to another realm.

This game would be a dream come true for players of Dungeons and Dragons type games or earlier Gauntlet games. I give the game an 8.0 and recommend anyone with a Cube at least try the game. I myself never played any previous Gauntlets and I don't enjoy this type of genre typically, however this game was an exception, I enjoyed it very much.

Resident Evil

Sun, 23 Feb 2003 04:02:02 +0000

The original game from the PS1, completely redone to make it an incredible game, whether your a RE veteran or newbie, you'll love this game. This was the first game I ever played that truly frightened me...got my pulse pounding because you never know if something might come through that window. If I use an Ink Ribbon now, will I have enough when I really need one? What the hell is running towards me!?

The basic premise of the game is some very strange murders have been occuring in Raccoon City. The special force team S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team was sent out to investigate but their helicopter went down in the woods. Nobody was found aboard, alive that is. Alpha Team was sent out to investigate and was forced to enter a deserted mansion. Inside the game heats up. You can play as Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, each character has differing plotlines so its difficult to say much else. Chris has 6 pockets while Jill has 8. You can put an item in a pocket or occasionally several in one pocket (ex. Ammunition). There are many more items to find than you can hold so you must keep most of them in Item Boxes found in various places around the mansion. They are connected so if you put a herb in one Item Box, you can fetch it from any Item Box. They find zombies roaming the house seeking brains...and occasionally finding them.

The first thing you see and one of the things that makes this game so damn great are its jaw-dropping graphics. Everything in the game is beyond meticulous detail, its a sight to behold and its uses every bit of processing power the little 'Cube can muster. An intriguing saving method is used as well. Save points are typewriters and you must use Ink Ribbons to save, you can find Ribbons peppered around the game. No Ink Ribbons, and you can't save. In a game like this where you never know what's next, saving is very important. Also, there is no getting around it: I don't care how much of a marksman you are, you're going to get chewed a few times. If you happen to have found one of the ultra-handy defense items you'll be out of its grip quicker than you can jam a dagger into a zombies skull. If you aren't that lucky though, you're gonna get bit, and it's gonna hurt. You need to find some Green Herbs or First Aid Spray somewhere in the mansion to treat your wounds. If you don't, you become zombie chow, and must restart where you last saved. I reiterate, saving is VERY IMPORTANT :).

But is it strictly a kill-everything-in-sight bloodfest game? Not in the least. Sure there's lots of blood gore and exploding heads (yes, exploding heads), but it doesn't make the game. There are puzzles to be solved, mysteries to be unlocked, hidden items waiting to be found. You wanna survive in this game, you're going to be using your brain just as much, if not more than your gun. For instance, you better burn that zombie you just took down. Don't believe me? Well go on back in that room in an hour and don't say I didn't warn you. As you progress through this unprecedented two disk GC game, you come to find there is much more going on in this mansion than you could have ever imagined...

But, as with every game, it has it's flaws. The most glaring of which is the odd and occasionally restricting camera angles. It can make battles (or even movement) a bit difficult. Also the controls take a little getting used to. Well actually a LOT of getting used to. Lastly, before every room you must watch a cinema of the door opening while the room loads, it gets a little old. These minor shortcomings notwithstanding, Resident Evil is a monumental game that no GameCube collection should be deprived of.

If you want a light-hearted, upbeat game with ghouls and ghosts, stick with Luigi's Mansion, but if you want to play a game that will really scare you, reach for Resident Evil, you better play this game. I give this game a 9.0, now go buy it before I pull out my Incendiary Rounds.