Electronic Arts release yet another flavour of their much flaunted FIFA football incarnation, this time based on the UEFA Champions League.
Continue reading: UEFA Champions League 2006 and 2007, Review PS2, EA Sports
Burnout: Dominator is the next instalment in the thoroughly enjoyable Burnout series. Its predecessor, Burnout 3: Takedown was widely regarded as the pinnacle of the Burnout series having integrated destruction and mayhem to a title renowned for some very fast and very dangerous driving action. So how do you improve on the best? Well Dominator has more than a few tweaks of its own. In come a Rivals mode, a 'maniac' mode and a brand new World Tour option, out go the highly agreeable Crash mode and the online multiplayer option. So where does this leave us?
Continue reading: Burnout Dominator, Review PS2, EA Games
Capcom Classics Collection - Volume 2 is the second compilation pack released for the PS2 featuring 20 games from Capcom's huge back catalogue. In addition to the games are a number of interesting extras and bonuses which will no doubt please fans of the games.
As with compilations of any format the selection usually contains a handful of classics, some hidden and long forgotten gems and inevitably a number of fillers. If you are a fan of retro/old school gaming there is certainly a lot to take a look at in this collection and relive some old memories.
The games available span a period from around 1985 to 1993 and include:
1941; Avengers; Black Tiger; Block Block; Captain Commando; Eco Fighters; King of the Dragons; Knights of the Round; Last Duel; Magic Sword; Mega Twins; Quiz and Dragons; Side Arms; Street Fighter; Strider; Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo; The Speed Rumbler; Three Wonders; Tiger Road and Varth.
On first glance I was a little disappointed with the selection with only a few real big names standing out - Street Fighter 1&2, Strider and 1941.
I also found that many of the games fell into the same genre with the collection featuring a number of Golden Axe clones and Shoot-em-ups.
The real stand out games of the package is as follows:
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo - this is the version that features the debuts of Fei Long, Cammy, Deejay and T Hawk. The game is an all time classic and probably the best version of SF2 ever made - controls are still spot on and graphically it has aged well. One thing to note is that the difficulty is as unforgiving as ever however the tutorial awarded on completion will educate you on the finer points of the game.
Strider - A 2D action platformer which still looks great and is definitely a challenge.
1941 - Overhead shoot em up action in World War 2 planes - lots of action which will require a steady hand and a fast eye.
All of the games are emulated well and are seemingly arcade perfect which has not always been the case in a number of these retro packages. Sound and music is also kept intact and faithful to the original.
While graphics are `arcade perfect' bear in mind that these games are 10-15 years old and as such do not compare graphically to anything available today - this in itself may be enough to put some people off. On top of this it is, the package is a real eye opener as to how difficult games used to be - nowadays you expect to complete every game you buy on at least the normal difficulty - back in the day games were frustratingly difficult and required the patience of a saint and reactions of an F14 pilot to progress - again this may put many people off.
Overall this collection contains a decent slice of retro gaming although a little light on genuine classics - fans of retro gaming and any of the particular games included will enjoy the versions included as they are all good representations of the originals, however not all games have aged well and there is probably not enough here to entice new gamers.
Overall I give Capcom Classic Collection Volume 2...
6 out of 10
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Vanguard is the latest and probably the last in the long running World War II first person shooter series from EA on the PS2. Way back in the early days of the PS2, gamers were impressed by the jaw dropping and emotionally charged beach landing opening level of the first MoH game to surface on the PS2 - Frontline.
Continue reading: Medal of Honor: Vanguard, PS2 Review, EA Games
Everybody's Tennis is fun 'spin' on the game of tennis and approaches things in a light hearted and simple way. You pick one of the various characters available and take on opponents of ever increasing difficulty as you climb up the ladder to world tennis domination. As you progress more characters become available and additional courts, outfits and umpires are unlocked.
Continue reading: Everybody's Tennis, Review PS2
Pac-Man is one of the oldest and most recognisable video game characters in history; here he is the focal point of a kid friendly kart racing game following in the footsteps of Mario and Crash Bandicoot who have also transitioned from platformer to kart racer.
Story
As with most karting games story doesn't really play a part in the game, the main objective is to enter races and win.
Graphics
Graphics are crisp, colourful and clear however at the same time nothing spectacular. When racing the game runs smoothly and with no hint of any slowdown. The problem is there is nothing that makes this game memorable or standout from any other kart racer - everything from the tracks and the game presentation is generic.
Sound
The in game audio comprises of lots of upbeat cartoony tunes based on the original Pac-man theme -the famous WAKA WAKA chomping sound also makes an appearance when the power pill mode is activated. Overall sound effects fit with the game environment although after extended play do start to grate.
Continue reading: Pac Man World Rally, Review PS2, Namco Bandai
It seems that Street Racing titles with custom vehicle modifications seem to be all the rage these days and for The Fast and the Furious, in principle at least, you could see any of the latter `Need for Speed' titles. I am not in any way saying that The Fast and the Furious is derivative or an addition to an overcrowded market, were it not for the first Fast and the Furious movie release, we may not even be writing this review such was the impact it had in revealing street racing to the minds of the masses. Could this interactive release build on the originality at the time of its movie counterpart or would it tread where Need for Speed as already done so on the console platforms?
Continue reading: The Fast and the Furious, Review PS2
Having played Ghost Rider, I find it difficult not to sum it up in the first paragraph. Never having been one to ignore a gut instinct, rightly or wrongly, it seems I am going to write the review in reverse order. I read elsewhere that a chap felt that Ghost Rider was "mediocrity at its finest" and it is easier said than done to find a phrase that feels more comfortably correct. Ghost Rider is undeniably entertaining in small doses but becomes a bit repetitive in the long run and really it has all been done before - perhaps literally but I will touch on this later. This really is a shame because the main character is a flaming skull of a man roaming around the underworld and he really deserves a better medium as such a unique character, than something that is as derived as Ghost Rider undoubtedly is.
Continue reading: Ghost Rider, Review PS2, 2K Games
Okami begins with a (very) lengthy story about how the multi-headed demon Orochi has been brought back to life and turned the land into a waste-ground as he once did in times of old. Accompanying the subtitled story telling is a voiceover that can only be described by likening it to how the adults sound on the telephone in any Charlie Brown or Snoopy cartoon. Initially amusing, but as the story drags on until what seems like twenty minutes have past, increasingly irritating. As the game begins you take the role of the white wolf Amaterasu. Surprisingly this is not an Italian footballer but rather the embodiment of the sun god who banished Orochi the last time he raised his ugly heads using the unimaginable power at his possession that is derived from the sun itself. Your task, alongside your sidekick Issun is to roam the lands 'Nippon', defeating any variety of demons that stand in your way to find the 13 guardians of the brush strokes before defeating Orochi and reclaiming Nippon into peace.
Continue reading: Okami, Review PS2, Capcom
Final Fantasy XII takes place in a fictitious world called 'Ivalice'. The power base in Ivalice is the all conquering Archadian Empire who has been invading and 'acquiring' neighbouring lands as it swarms across the land like the Roman army. As the all conquering empire invaded a small kingdom called Dalmasca, the ensuing battle resulted in the death of the King. The deceased's daughter and the sole heir to the throne of Dalmasca, Princess Ashe, decided it was a great idea for Dalmasca to stand up to the forces of the Archadian Epire and took a stand. Unsurprisingly, things didn't go so well. Many people died. The Princess then met Vaan. You take control of Vaan (who rather suspiciously wants to be a 'sky pirate') and a motley crew of rebels and take the fight to the Archadian Empire. Anyway, enough about the "plot."
Continue reading: Final Fantasy XII, Review PS2, Square Enix
Way back in the days of SNES and Megadrives one of the key genres on any system was the scrolling beat-em-up, classics of the genre include Double Dragon, Final Fight and Streets of Rage. While these games worked perfectly in 2-D they seemed to suffer in the early transition to 3-D and as a result a once popular genre seemed to be left in the past.
God Hand from Capcom's Clover Studios follows the tried and tested scrolling beat-em-up format and tries to regenerate the genre in the final days of the PS2.
After seeing the early hype and trailers for God Hand I was really excited as over the last year Capcom have constantly churned out top quality games and I was hoping that God Hand was more of the same.
Continue reading: God Hand, Review PS2, Capcom
If you are buying this game or reading this page I assume that you are familiar with the concept of `Lemmings' titles. However, for those of you who have randomly stumbled across this page, the objective of the game is to guide your group of kamikaze Lemmings to the exit of the level. Sounds simple doesn't it? Well not when you have an assortment of traps, holes in the ground, lava and whole nasty assortment of other obstacles to negotiate. In order to do this you have an assignment of jobs that you can allocate to any particular Lemming; from carpenter/bridge builder through `bouncers' to diggers, crawlers, suicide lemmings and much more. Per level, you are assigned a time limit and percentage of Lemmings that must survive in order to progress to the next level.
Continue reading: Lemmings, Eye Toy enhanced, Review PS2, Sony Entertainment
Seemingly every summer blockbuster now contains a superhero and there have been numerous superhero based computer games over the years, however many have fallen short of the mark in terms of fun factor and quality.
Continue reading: Justice League Heroes, Review PS2, Eidos
Cricket titles have probably been the least successful sports genre that has made an entertaining transition to the world of computer games. In recent years EA have competed against Codemasters' Brian Lara series to get the transition right but both have had successes and failures, sometimes in similar areas, sometimes in differing ways. Specifically in a one player scenario, it is difficult to recreate the mind games with current artificial intelligence that occur on the cricket field between bowler and batsman that can mean the fine line between winning losing. It may be bringing a batsman out of his crease with successive shorter balls and manoeuvring him into the area you want him before you strike or mind games and sledging, but this is definitely the main reason why it is difficult to bring the game of cricket to this form of multimedia entertainment.
Continue reading: EA Cricket 07, Review PS2
