2006/02/28

Bargain Bin Deals

While there have been several a lot of new games coming out in the past month, none of them have really caught my attention to warrant purchasing. To that end I've scoured the bargain bins of several game shops and came up with the following games:

Cy Girls
An adventure game featuring characters based on a line of dolls from Japan made by TAKARA. This is a double disc game and each disc features a different Cy Girl, Ice, a blonde bombshell, and Aska, a ninja girl. Check back soon for my review.

Rahxephon
Game based on a Japanese anime series, with a story similar to Neon Genesis Evangelion. I personally have not watched any of the anime, but I have an interest to. Maybe this game will push me to check it out?

Ultraman Fighting Evolution 2
Yeah, I'm a life long Ultraman fan. So when you can pick this up at a bargain bin price, why not? I'm not expecting a deep fighting game system like the Tekken or Soul Calibur series of games, but I don't really care.

2006/02/14

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was one of my all time favorite PS2 adventure games, but the sequel, Warrior Within just didn't do it for me. Maybe because of all the sudden changes like the Price suddenly getting an attitude change and the darker, grittier feel and story of the game? Thankfully, The Two Thrones reinstills my faith in the series as much like the first game it just draws you in with a great story, great gameplay and some welcomed gameplay innovations.
The game is a direct sequel to Sands of Time and Warrior Within, so it's the same Prince as he returns to his homeland only to find it burning as he arrives. His ship gets sunk, his girl gets kidnapped and sacrificed, and the Sands of Time are again unleashed, leaving the Prince half-infected and fighting to take back his kingdom.
The story really pulls you in, and with the classic gameplay mechanics still intact, long time players will be able to jump right in, only having to learn some of the new Quick Kill moves, which are stealth attacks where you sneak up behind an enemy and take them out silently. This is a cool and unique addition to the gameplay as you get a real sense of satisfaction when you get it right. The new stealth aspect to the game fits right in too.
There's also the new Dark Prince, as I like to call him. At certain points in the game the Price will be taken over by the Sands of Time, but still have control over his body. But your health meter drops as he moves on in this mode so it's important to get past the area as fast as you can, breaking objects or killing enemies for sand to replenish your health along the way.
The classic puzzle elements of the previous games are intact, and everything can be solved with some thought and a little looking around. As big as the environments can be, you never really get lost or feel a sense of not knowing what you should be doing next.
Combat is the usual hack'n'slash the game is known for, with combos now depending on the type of secondary weapon your holding. There's a small variety of enemies, but the boss battles can be quite challenging at times. One boss even takes a que from Shadow of the Colossus as you have to battle this huge giant in a closed off arena, using the environment to try and mount your huge foe so that you can attack his weak spots.
Overall, long time fans of the game will easilly get into this one, and if you've never played any of the previous games in the series, it's probably recommended that you do so you don't miss out on any of the storyline as all 3 games are connected. This is easilly one of the best action/adventure games ever.

Game Rating:
Graphics - 9
Sound - 8
Gameplay - 9
Lifespan - 8
Overall - 9

2006/02/05

Time Splitters: Future Perfect

Usually I don't play first-person shooters on console games unless it's something really good. Time Splitters: Future Perfect is a good example of this as it's been getting rave reviews all over the place, so much so that after seeing reviews of the game I decided to check it out for myself and didn't regret it.
The main story of the game sees you play as Cortez, a Vin Diesel look-a-like who's also one of the best soldiers of a human resistance force against the Splitters, and alien race bent on mankind's extinction. As Cortez, you travel back in time to stop the invasion of the Splitters and your adventure takes you to several time periods from World War 2 to a Terminator like future run by robots. The cutscenes in the story mode can be quite funny as Cortez makes his way to achieving his mission and working together with the likes of an Austin Powers like spy from the '70s, an android that develops an attitude after being infected by a virus, a spunky teenage girl as you romp through a zombie infested mansion, and other zany characters which you can unlock and play as in the other game modes as you progress.
And in addition to the main story mode, there are a ton of various other game modes to play through as well to unlock more hidden stuff in the game, which easily lenghtens the lifespan of the single player mode for those of you who can't play online with others. Game modes include an arcade mode where you can play against CPU controlled players, or in the League mode where you can beat various CPU controlled characters to get the top score. There is also a Challenge mode where you play a variety of weird mini games like zombie monkey beheading, monkey diso and sport of kings, MONKEY CURLING! All in an attempt to complete the full game and unlock all the hidden characters and cheats in the game.
I've completed the story mode as well as completed many of the League challenges and misc challenges in the game, but my stats say I've only complete about 33% of the game!
Everything else about the game is also nicely done. The characters graphics are really good for an FPS game as you can see good details in the character design both during gameplay and the cutscenes. It's also good the game doesn't slow down when you have about a dozen characters on screen at once. The audio is also really good with great voice acting and background music. I'm surprised they didn't get any big name actors to voice the game's many characters.
Overall, I highly recommend Time Splitters: Future Perfect if your looking for a good FPS game for your PS2. You can't go wrong with this one.

Game Ratings:
Graphics - 9
Sound - 9
Gameplay - 8
Lifespan - 8
Overall - 8