Duke Nukem 64

Duke Nukem 64 is yet another instalment in the wondrous adventures of Duke Nukem, Earth’s best gun totin’, gum chewin’, alien killin’ hero. After returning from single-handedly destroying an alien empire, he crash-lands on earth, which is infested by alien hybrids! Duke must blast his way through tons of aliens, puzzles, and general danger. Along the way, he has to save “babes” which are basically just women who have been restrained by the aliens in some way.

The gameplay in Duke Nukem is great, and easily the best aspect of the game. It’s full of action from start to finish, and there is a large amount of violence(enough to make Giovanni go “ewwwwww” and look away).

Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament is a great series, and surprisingly, the games did not suffer drastically when sequels were made. The best ones are the first and last, last being UT3. The game’s story is actually different from the other ones, but not by much. In UT3, you are hired into service by a large military company, headed by none other than Malcolm. You have to do a variety of missions for the company, in order to get more important missions, so you can eventually take out the monsters that destroyed your town. It’s basically the same ladder climbing system, but with a different reason.

The gameplay is phenomenal, and is great for lengthy play and quick gore-fests alike. You can turn down the gore, but why would you want to? To me, there nothing better than seeing your foe’s brains splattered all over the screen by an impact hammer. Anyway, there are 3 different mode to choose from: campaign, quick play, and multiplayer. Campaign is what I previously described in the plot section. Quick play lets you choose between a bunch of different modes, all of which are ridiculously fun. Deathmatch is your basic blow the hell out of everyone, UT killfest I’ve come to expect. Capture the flag is just capture the flag. Grab the flag, bring it back to your base. Team deathmatch is just the same as deathmatch, but with teams. Vehicle capture the flag is one of the three new modes in the game, and lets you control tons of cool vehicle, from tripods to tanks, in order to get the other team’s flag. In this mode, I have to assume the flag is made of diamonds, seeing as you die a lot for one flag.

Warfare is the best new mode, and lasts longest. You can use vehicles, your hoverboard, or just walk in order to blow up the enemies “nodes”, which are like the shield generator on Endor. They protect the “death star” as I call it. Its actually a spherical generator. Blow it up, you win. Finally, there’s duel. You just have to kill one other guy, and he switches out with another guy, and whoever has the highest score wins.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

We all know how great Metroid Prime is. After all, it’s sold over a million copies and you can pick it up for about $20. Finally, Retro has released a sequel. And it remains…will MP2 suffer from ’sequelitis’?

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a first-person action adventure game published by Nintendo. You take control of Samus Aran, a bounty hunter caught in a fierce battle between two unstable worlds. What do you do? Who do you do? Well, in Retro’s case, you make a sequel to an unbelievably good game that well…feels different.

The control system is still here. The graphics are even better, and the sound is vibrant. What’s missing? Well…the fun. The game is just hard. So hard, that sometimes you’re waiting for a Save Station so you can end your session. The game is out to tell you that only MP1 players should play it.

The game starts with a tutorial level that will leave you puzzled instead of feeling pumped-to-play. Once you get the controls down, you’re introduced to undead soldiers who are out to kill you. Then after that, if you don’t know what Save Stations are, you’ll die…and go through the tutorial again.

After the tutorial, meet your first boss. The boss is a mighty challenge for a first one, and it’s there to teach you…”love your Save Stations”. After the boss, you meet the good guy and then go out to grab things. The game revolves around three bosses you have to kill to go and kill the big boss, Emperor Ing. The ‘kill these big dudes so you can kill this dude’ structure is interesting, but it can get boring. Quick.

Along the way of your scavenger hunt, you’ll enter a parallel dimension: Dark Aether. This ‘other world’ is quite hard to survive in, and the creatures in it are even more annoying than the bosses. You’ll enter a room and see a small creature and spend countless minutes shooting it…and shooting it…and shooting it. It’s like they want to artificially lengthen the game.

And now…Multiplayer. Multiplayer is a mixed experience. There’s only one character you can play as: Samus. Different colored ’sami’, actually. Anyway, the experience gets boring quick and you’ll soon yearn to play something different…something fun.

Metroid Prime 2 is only for Metroid Prime players who want a harder challenge. Everyone else, play something else.

Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal

When I first picked up RaC: UyA, I was expecting the same thing I rented: a nice platformer/shooter. I was correct!Let’s start with the single player adventure. It has over 12 weapons. They each can be upgraded to level 5. Basically, single player mode pits you against Dr. Nefarious, who plans to turn all organic life(which he’s dubbed “squishies”) into robots. The single player mode is short(10-15 hours), but it’s hilarious.

The multiplayer mode is a new addition to the series. It has online play, local play, and an option to create a profile. A profile is basically default options. The local play has no bots, meaning if you plan on playing multiplayer alone, you’ll play it alone. The three modes are Siege, Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. The online play can be enjoyed with up to 8 players while the local play can be played with up to four players if you have a multitap. The game is compatible with Dual Shock 1 controllers so you don’t need to spend money on Dual Shock 2 controllers if you’re low on cash. Overall, the multiplayer is a good addition.

The graphics in the game are great. They really show the PS2’s capibilities. From the deaths of enemies to jumping off the ship, the game is beautiful. The framerates stay the same about 98% of the time.

The sound in the game is excellent. The background music matches each area nicely and the gun sounds are great. Sound is better with surround sound, of course.

The replay value is above average. When you beat the short single player mode, you can play Challenge Mode, which features new upgrades to weapons and an overall harder single player mode. The multiplayer will keep you busy for a long time.

Overall, this game is an experience you have to play. If you need a good game in your library, this is it. If you need a good shooter and you don’t like blood/gore, this is it.

Star Fox: Assault

It’s February, 2004. Star: Fox Assault hits the shelves. Namco delivers it this time, trying to combine the space missions of Star Fox 64 with the action/adventure of Star Fox Adventures. And oh how it tries.

The single player mode isn’t that long, with someone beating it within 5-7 hours on the bronze setting. The missions are made so that you can replay them over and over. Why would you? You’ll find out later on.

Anyway, it starts to look like another ‘Andross’ battle at the beginning, but soon turns out to be a race called the Aparoids, which are robotic bugs bent on assimilating everything.
The graphics are pretty well done. The team’s outfits have never looked better, and I’ve yet to see a pixelization when you look at something really close. Fox’s fur seems to have clung to his skin, though.

The sound is great for a futuristic game. Orchestrated. A lot. It has enough music to add to the action, but not get in the way.

The gameplay, however, has changed. There isn’t just Arwing mode. Now there’s the Landmaster and on foot too! Actually, on foot was done before, but the system is new. The pilot mode is just you carrying a gun. It isn’t all that bad, though. Fox goes at a nice speed, the weapons nearly never reload, and the variety of weapons is quite good. The Arwing is on rails most of the time in single-player, but in multiplayer, you’re free to roam wherever.

Speaking of multiplayer, the action is fun and exciting. There are lots of unlockables. LOTs of unlockables. And each mode you unlock adds more variety. Now you can pit Fox against Falco, Peppy against Slippy, and Krystal against Wolf. The modes in multiplayer aren’t that varied. There is Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch.

Wow. Also, no computers. CPUs should’ve been included.

Value…how can I put it? In single-player mode, you can beat each mission with a certain difficulty, and the higher the difficulty, the higher the rewards. Multiplayer is the main factor when it comes to multiplayer, so make sure you have friends if you buy this game.
All in all, Star Fox: Assault is a ‘good try’ to Namco, and it can be improved, but any Star Fox fan really should at least give this a play. You probably won’t regret it.