After the critical success of the first The Longest Journey (PC-2000), publishers Fun Com felt, quite rightly, that it was a good idea to make a sequel. Fans of the previous title will not be disappointed with Dreamfall; it is an exciting and inventive game that contains aspects of the original while also displaying dramatic improvements. Both of the The Longest Journey titles cast the player as cool female characters with enough attitude and good looks to make the games not only a joy to play, but also to sit back and watch.

In Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, the player assumes the role of Zoe Castillo, a hip brunette who lives in a moderately futuristic version of Casablanca and is described as a ‘Seeker, Nomad, and Dreamer’. Zoe is going through some emotional problems and feels at war with the world. To make matters worse, it seems that our heroine is being ‘haunted’ by a young girl and a frightening message “Find April Ryan. Save her.”—which is only seen by Zoe, and only transmitted to her through technology.

The game has a very interesting and in-depth plotline and, although things are a little slow in the beginning, it becomes extremely enjoyable when the story picks up and the real action takes place. However, some of the action requires fighting; this is an aspect of the game that proves less than desirable. The camera angles are quite poor throughout the game and when Zoe’s life depends on the outcome of combat it can become increasingly frustrating. Although fighting is a fairly integral part of the game, when you get used to the terrible collision detection the confrontations don’t seem to hinder the gameplay all that much.

A great aspect of The Longest Journey is that there are multiple outcomes and you have to choose very carefully how you interact with other characters; for example, you can choose to be aggressive or calm, snappy or patient, etc. The choices are yours and the reactions of NPCs change depending on the way you handle different situations. Another brilliant aspect of the game is that, apart from Zoe, you also play as 2 other game characters; the first of whom is April Ryan, who is described as ‘Rebel, Emissary, and Chosen’ and is a character with a destiny that simply cannot be evaded. For those who haven’t played the original The Longest Journey, April Ryan was its main character. Then there’s the mysterious Kian, a deadly individual described as ‘Soldier, Apostle, and Assassin’, whose religious faith is shaken to its very foundations through the course of the game.

The graphics in Dreamfall are fairly impressive, although to get the full effect of the game you need to have a great computer and a very powerful graphics card. Though, that said, even without these top-of-the-range peripherals the visuals and story are still thoroughly enjoyable. The story is intense and, like many other videogames that see governments playing an important part, Dreamfall has its fair share of conspiracy and lies.

The EYE (the world’s government), has a very important role in the game and they are in constant pursuit of Zoe—much like George Orwell’s 1984 where “Big Brother is watching”. This game is original in that it portrays futuristic elements; for example, when playing as Zoe, you have a fury interactive A.I. pet called Wonkers, and public transportation hovers on air rather than rolls on wheels. However, there are also fantasy aspects, whereupon you can play as 2 other characters, and swords, magic, and spells also play a huge part.

Another enjoyable and ‘real’ aspect of Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is its voice talent. Everyone that you choose to speak to or encounter has an amazing voice. The accents range from proper English to cockney, from American to Jamaican—and all are brilliantly portrayed. Not once do you find yourself irritated by repetitive and unbelievable voices. All the chat is subtitled and it is also all recorded textually in a handy notebook, which all 3 of the playable characters have. This is very useful as it’s necessary to remember things that people have said, and even the names of people your characters have only met once during a brief encounter.

In-game puzzles are evident throughout Dreamfall, but they aren’t particularly challenging and can be easily conquered. The puzzles generally require the deciphering of a code or the direct use (or combination and use) of inventory items. However, the game does make a habit of sending you on tedious treasure hunts where you are required to speak to various NPCs in scattered locations. You will find that Dreamfall with have you running around in circles, going from character to character collecting information, items, and clues.

Essentially, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is a point-and-click, action-adventure told through a third-person perspective. Although this is the case, the game is very effective and enjoyable to both play and watch. The adult and colorful language used by game characters does add a realistic and fun element. The surroundings and computer art is stunning, although it can lose its appeal when you have seen it 10 times whilst running back and forth collecting information.

I really did enjoy playing this title and, although its gameplay can be a little tedious at times, the compelling story kept me pushing onward. The coupling of different worlds and multiple playable characters across both futuristic and fantasy settings also proves to be an excellent combination. There did seem to be a few frustrating instances, but there was a huge sense of satisfaction when getting past repetitive moments in the game. Dreamfall does build upon the first Longest Journey title, but it perhaps doesn’t hold its own for new players to the series. Although it does continue where the previous title left off, it is not essential to have played it. Adventure gamers will not be disappointed.

Thumbs up – this title makes use of more than one kick-ass girl character and it is done with style and not just sex appeal. I thoroughly enjoyed the crossover worlds of fantasy and future.

Thumbs down – the camera angles in Dreamfall are terrible but I overcame this difficulty with a lot of patience. Less patient gamers may have a problem though. Also, the game can be very repetitive at times, but you will feel extremely satisfied when all deeds are done.

Review by Amanda and Colin

Tut…sigh…groan…grumble…yawn. There are times when industrious perseverance and dedication to the written craft can quickly descend to craving the submission of the 5 aforementioned words as a full and printable description for a videogame review. And, unsurprisingly, the temptation to implement this timesaving minimalist approach to reviewing generally occurs when dealing with bland and unoriginal Hollywood tie-ins. So, without further ado, let me introduce you to the wonder of Zathura.

“The intergalactic journey begins when a mysterious board game thrusts the house of two young brothers, Walter and Danny, into outer space. The boys must put aside their sibling rivalry, and players must utilise each character’s unique strengths, to survive each challenge. Battle deadly aliens, menacing robots and other celestial hazards in the space journey filled with action-packed adventure in order to get back home safely to planet Earth.”

Tut: Zathura is essentially a 3D platform game consisting of simplistic button pushing and obstacle dodging, mundane door opening and platform navigation, and repetitive enemy blasting and dull item collection to unlock Zathura-based extras in the Start menu. As an experience it offers nothing especially taxing to its audience, and its single ‘difficulty’ setting and 22 levels can be rattled off in a measly 4-5 hours. Criticism here may well be deflected by publisher and developer alike due to the game’s youthful 10+ target demographic, but that would only further expose their collective ignorance concerning adolescent consumers as ANY gamer of 10+ will demolish Zathura without breaking a sweat and then subsequently wonder exactly why they bothered.

Sigh: In terms of recent gaming quality it’s a case of ever-decreasing circles with Hollywood tie-ins, while the publishing profit circles are seemingly ever expanding. And Zathura exists as a truly blatant attempt to prize those last few pennies from unknowing parents keen to pad out the Zathura movie experience for their children—not many kids standing in GAME with money to burn are likely to reach for Zathura, regardless of its 19,99 price point.

Groan: Aesthetically, Zathura occupies that grey middle ground where nothing in the game causes waves of uncontrollable nausea, but also fails in every way to inspire anything beyond frowns of disappointment. Visuals are flat and unoriginal, colours insipid and dull, and animation is jerky, weightless, and thoroughly unconvincing (apart from the occasional robot levels—yes you get to control a robot as well as Walter and Danny—which only work as said robot doesn’t require accurate human movement). Game sound and dialogue are delivered without passion or emotion, and the effects are hollow and lack aural kick; the constant and poorly delivered arguing of the two brothers quickly grates the senses (and the accompanying story subtitles are even resplendent with spelling and grammar mistakes). The musical score is fairly impressive, though it is, of course, taken directly from the movie and therefore conveniently more impressive than the rest of the game package. Ultimately, Zathura performs more like an old PS1 game and, considering the squeezed power presently available through the PlayStation 2, that’s downright appalling.

Grumble: Gameplay in Zathura is instantly recognisable, and players will easily grasp the mechanics of necessary jumps, platform navigation, button pushes, weaponry usage, and boss clashes. Yet, that immediate familiarity will also expose the game’s central failing: it’s all been done before—and SO much better. Character control is easy enough; it’s lots of repetitious running and fighting from room to room in space stations and galactic prisons, with intermittent levelled platform negotiation through lazily designed environments including fiery lava pits, dust-filled canyons, and giant floating asteroids. However, every gameplay element, though passable in terms of execution, is fundamentally disgraced by a total lack of ANY innovation and/or originality. Every available weapon causes damage, regardless of the opposition; there’s never a need to select an appropriate tool for the job. Buttons to open doors are never hidden, or restricted, there’s no puzzle element and a sense of achievement through progression. And boss clashes are laughably easy. There’s nothing new on show to test player ability, no fresh angles, and no perplexing reinvention. Nothing. It’s routine and by the numbers from start to finish, and, frankly, it’s just not good enough.

Yawn: As per usual, girl gamers don’t get a look in with Zathura when it comes to playable female characters. Its central male protagonists (including an NPC astronaut later in the game) are all thoroughly dislikeable, and the robot, which is ‘technically’ without gender is referred to as a ‘he’ by the two brothers throughout the game. There’s not a woman in sight during Zathura—but then most girl characters wouldn’t wish to be associated with such a profit-scraping exercise in mediocrity. It’s about time that some kind of independent QA board (consisting of videogame consumers perhaps) was set up to monitor and control the output of publishers and developers in the videogame industry, especially when some companies strive tirelessly to create products of the utmost quality. The reduced price point of Zathura does not excuse its complete inability to provide anything more than a paint by numbers sideshow to the glitzy Hollywood product, and its absolute failure to achieve the most basic of gaming requirements: fun. Boo and, indeed, hiss.

Review by Stevie

Another high-profile summer blockbuster from Hollywood gets the licensed videogame tie-in treatment as Activision and Z-Axis offer up X-Men: The Official Game for our collective ‘entertainment’. However, Hollywood tie-ins generally exist as little more than sideshow attractions to boost both the movie’s exposure and its global till receipts (Batman Begins is perhaps the worthy exception), so does X-Men: The Official Game transcend that stereotype by delivering a game faithful to the source material while also providing genuine gaming attraction? The answers to those questions are ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively.

X-Men: The Official Game has plenty of franchise oomph in terms of star names providing their physical likenesses and vocal talents to the game’s characters, and the likes of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier all help to cement an air of believability to the game’s narrative structure, which is a stage-setting prelude to the events of X-Men III: The Last Stand. Game music is also lifted directly from the movie and its beautifully orchestrated pacing certainly adds further enhancement to the authentic vocal performances.

Yet, for all its franchise credibility, X-Men: The Official Game feels sadly flat, stilted, and under developed—much like most movie tie-ins—and the game as a whole falls well short of the most basic videogame requirement: fun. This ultimately damning failure arises through various components of the game, which include a strictly limited and predetermined selection of playable X-Men characters, a sporadically unhelpful in-game camera, disappointing level design and visuals, no mid-mission game saves, and unbelievably repetitive gameplay.

Having only Wolverine, Iceman, and Nightcrawler (a weak cast at best) as mission-specific rotating playable characters seems an almighty waste of considerable resources when gazing across the wealth of X-Men that are either unused or relegated to NPCs during the game. Girl gamers will not be best pleased to discover that not one of the central characters is drawn from the female mutant gene pool, which is made all the more disappointing and inexplicable by the intermittent in-game appearances of Storm (Ororo Munroe) during Wolverine’s levels. In relationship to the player’s usage of Wolverine, his missions are merely devolved exercises of hack-and-slash frustration that quickly grow tiresome, in no small part due to a trailing camera that cannot move throughout 360 degrees of vision and the game’s distinct lack of save points. Indeed, Wolverine’s amazing adamantine claws are not especially useful when attackers are inflicting damage from beyond his field of view and the camera won’t swing into a user-friendly position in order to help adapt to given situations. The simple fact that the camera is completely open and moveable during Nightcrawler and Iceman missions only further instils a sense of perplexed despair when saddled with the game’s claw-wielding lead mutant. However, Nightcrawler and Iceman levels fair little better in terms of originality and entertainment value, and even though the game’s triple character structure ably showcases the individual powers and abilities of each mutant—teleportation, surfing on an icy slide, miraculous healing, etc—there’s little on display to hold player attention for more than a few curious hours.

Graphically, X-Men: The Official Game is built around a serviceable 3D engine that copes relatively well without ever excelling in the presentation department. Environments are largely dull and dark affairs (typically places such as Alkali Lake and Dark Cerebro) that try their hardest to exude an air of menace and foreboding, but instead only conjure up a sense of unfortunate underachievement. Character representations are impressive throughout; all the in-game characters appear like their movie selves, and players can look forward to seeing the likes of Magneto, Pyro, Sabretooth, Silver Samurai, The Sentinel, Multiple Man, Colossus, and a returning Lady Deathstrike all thrown into the mix. The game’s main plotline gradually unfolds between missions via comic book storyboard frames that sport thoroughly believable—but largely static—versions of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Halle Berry as Storm, Alan Cummings as Nightcrawler, etc. Though certainly well implemented and competent in delivering the narrative segue moments (perhaps thanks to the actors’ voices), these rendered animatic storyboards ultimately smack of being unfinished elements left static rather than seen through to a completed and worthy end. In fact, the whole game feels much the same.

As already mentioned, the musical score for X-Men; The Official Game is lifted from the movie itself and it’s superb from start to finish, imbuing a degree of impact and ambiance to proceedings that’s sadly lacking across other critical departments. Game sound is carried along ably by the vocal performances of the assembled acting talent, but atmospherics, battle sounds, death cries, etc, are all perfectly acceptable behind the stellar cast. Deaf gamers, or those with hearing impairments, can follow the storyline in X-Men: The Official Game thanks to optional full subtitle accompaniment—which is handy as the storyboard segues contain a great deal of information before each new mission.

As with most modern videogames, X-Men: The Official Game holds a considerable amount of unlockable extras to be abused outside or alongside its central gameplay. In this case, various Danger Room challenges (the Danger Room is a training simulator) can be unlocked during the game, as can new X-Men costumes, and also character-specific moves and powers. Despite the moderate distraction handed down by this minor extra content, and the game’s interesting preceding storyline (to the new movie), the fact remains that X-Men: The Official Game holds limited appeal for hardened X-Men fans and casual gamers alike. Only three playable X-Men characters (all male—Ed) is the game’s first slap across the face of the consumer, whereas two of them being dull as dishwater emerges as the second. Banal and repetitive gameplay is then the equivalent of a swift kick to the solar plexus, while the Wolverine-missions’ game camera sticks a metal claw through the eye as it all-but kills any form of fluid movement and on-the-go navigation. Add uninspiring visuals, grimy presentation, and lacklustre story explanations and you’re left with great music and great vocal performances…both of which are taken from the X-Men III: The Last Stand movie. Make of that what you will.

Review by Stevie

Following a massive battle between the forces of Magneto and an invading Apocalypse, the city of Genosha lies in scarred ruins, its people all-but destroyed, and a desperate Magneto left with only one choice: seek help. And so, the nefarious Brotherhood of Mutants form a fragile alliance with Professor Xavier’s X-Men in an attempt to rid the world of a common evil that threatens all. Meanwhile, Apocalypse is abducting individual mutants and performing mysterious genetic tests on them, sampling their DNA, searching for something specific—but what? Join the X-Men and the Brotherhood in their quest to thwart Apocalypse and discover the unsettling truth behind his relentless pursuits.

ThumbBandits.com is primarily a girl-gaming site. A safe haven for gaming’s female demographic, where all things girl-related concerning videogames can be discussed, admired, and criticized without fear of stunted discrimination. Yet, the site’s ‘Latest Reviews’ page rarely contains titles that offer the female demographic a true girl’s adventure in terms of character content—and this is not down to coverage choice, but publishing trend. Well, allow Activision and Raven to put that little inadequacy to rest. Here come the X-Men.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. Not a particularly good start considering the “Men” of the title, but look beyond the overtly male packaging and you’ll find an instantly accessible game that allows players to freely exercise interchangeable character favoritism from start to finish. And that’s the key. The game itself plays somewhat like Phantasy Star Online; it’s a third-person adventure that embraces progress via action more than careful exploration. And though not an RPG in the strictest sense of the word, character interaction with NPCs is certainly in evidence but not essential to the game’s evolution. At its core, the player leads a band of four on-screen mutants from chapter to chapter, and each of them steadily levels-up in strength and ability through experience points amassed by defeating foes—and here’s where ThumbBandits’ faithful female followers get their money’s worth.

If so inclined, players can elect a four-strong team of mixed sex mutants, or same sex, and for once that means choosing from a broad selection of powerful and interesting male and female characters. Though the guys still outweigh the gals, including the likes of Cyclops, Wolverine, Juggernaut, Colossus, Magneto, Nightcrawler Iceman, and more, the female offering includes Jean Grey, Rogue, Storm, and Scarlet Witch. Other non-playable lady mutants appear during the story, and it’s a shame that Mystique is not included to the playable ranks, but it’s still not often that a videogame places its entire female contingent in prime position for complete and utter ass kicking from the off—and X-Men Legends II is all the more refreshing because of this.

Progressive leveling-up can be assigned directly by the player or automatically by the game, and increases character special moves and mutant abilities, as well as providing better access to the wealth of applicable equipment options. The equipment store is situated in various ‘base headquarter’ areas within the game, where players will also find other members of the X-Men and Brotherhood who offer advice and mission tips. This is also where players can interact with Professor Xavier (voiced by Patrick Stewart), who doles out mission directives and generally acts as the fragile balance between the two bands of mutant forces.

Aesthetically, Rise of Apocalypse is slickly presented throughout. Visuals are well crafted, from the impressively rendered story sequences, to in-game design, character models, and overall animation. Frame rate levels remain constant and secure amidst often-frenetic onscreen action and the player never feels separated from the brawling. Character controls initially border on the worryingly extensive, yet soon become second nature as intuitively swift button combination’s provide instant access to great sways of impressive mutant moves. Game sound is also fabulously complementary, and ably enhances the experience with a moodily orchestrated score accompanied by snappy mutant dialogue and resonating sound effects. The central story is well voiced by all attending actors, and those players with hearing deficiencies can fully enjoy each passing event through the implementation of comprehensive subtitles.

Beyond the game’s central story mode, Rise of Apocalypse also has a co-op mode and online multiplayer options (for up to 4 players) via Network Ethernet. And, through the attainment of various hidden items in the main game, players can also unlock masses of extra content, including classic comic covers, concept artwork, character pin-ups, and ‘danger room’ missions for special bonuses. All in all, there’s plenty to hold your attention should the main game become stale—which it probably won’t.

Running against the usual flowing dirge of comic book videogames, Activision has turned in a pretty impressive year where Marvel licenses are concerned. Ultimate Spider-Man certainly swung elegantly from publisher to consumer, and now X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse offers solid third-person thrills, an intriguing plot, relentless action, progressive leveling, and mass character variety. Let us all turn a blind eye to the truly abhorrent Fantastic 4—but two out of three winners in a genre that generally disappoints is still an admirable achievement.

Review by Stevie

Urban Chaos has slid unnoticed onto the gaming scene amid a deafening lack of fanfare; patiently twiddling its inventive first-person shooter thumbs while waiting for some form of consumer reaction. Thus far, it hasn’t really had any; slipping in and out of the ELSPA’s Top-20 All-Format chart within the space of a single week. As of this week’s chart, Urban Chaos isn’t even in the Top-40, while complete dross such as FIFA Street 2 has held fast to the chart for some 20 weeks—EA’s truly awful street-soccer sequel proving to be both bewilderingly popular and a completely different form of ‘urban chaos’.

Perhaps it’s the title that turns gamers away: Urban Chaos: Riot Response; granted, it sounds a little naff, but, have faith, what lies within is certainly worthy of your attention. First-person shooters are two-a-penny these days, and most are shamefully hollow attempts at mirroring the past achievements of other, far superior efforts. What Urban Chaos brings to the genre is blatantly violent overindulgence, a twisted sense of news anchor-inspired humor, intriguingly addictive run-and-gun action, confrontational hostage situations, and a wealth of instantly usable unlockable features that are gained dependent on level-to-level performance.

Urban Chaos is guilty of delivering a slightly less than polished package amid a frenetically paced presentation, which does dull the overall positive impression somewhat, though it’s still an experience unlikely to disappoint—and players would be wise to remember that the tarnished gleam of gold does not compromise its true value.

In a city overrun by a criminal arson-loving gang known as ‘The Burners’, the player is dispatched as part of a controversial new police ‘riot response’ unit called ‘T-Zero’ (Zero Tolerance?) to quell the uprising and return a state of order. However, as the central story unfolds via live-action news anchor segues, which serve as convenient waypoints for T-Zero’s missions and also televised platforms for the growing citywide destruction and criticism regarding the unit’s ‘excessive’ methods, it soon becomes evident that The Burners are a tool for deeper, more influential, and more sinister motivations. The storyline isn’t exactly an example of first-rate creative writing, and each twist of its narrative path will be fairly predictable for those already well versed in the FPS genre. However, Urban Chaos never rests on its plot for entertainment value, instead choosing to rely on a high level of gameplay quality to successfully secure unswerving player participation.

It achieves this by utilizing the basics of first-person gunplay with a staunch reliance on what works, and the avoidance of what doesn’t. For example, weapon selection is quick and easy, aiming fluidity is smooth but requires analogue precision, enemies come thick and fast (perhaps to hide the sometimes stilted A.I.), mission briefs and individual related tasks tie together well and unlock plenty of inspiring ‘unapproved’ T-Zero weaponry, and the difficulty level is always just the right side of “I’ll do it this time!” when the light of heaven shines down on your bullet-riddled corpse. The in-game action in constantly appealing, not least because of the incredibly graphic nature of enemy deaths; the rag-doll physics and blood spatter are both ramped up to 11 in Urban Chaos, and the level designs always lead without ever making the player feel overly led.

There are various interesting facets woven into the gameplay of Urban Chaos, all of which add significantly to an otherwise by-the-numbers FPS thrill ride. Firstly, there are specific medals that can (and really must) be earned during each mission. Certain set tasks relevant to each mission exist as secondary targets beyond the obvious extermination of opposing Burners. These tasks include actually arresting a number of enemies via a ‘non-lethal’ electricity-delivering stun weapon—which is disturbingly gratifying when you let loose at close quarters, then there’s a set amount of morbid ‘sharpshooter head shots’ that must also be harvested from the willing criminal hordes, plus the non-lethal capture of gang leaders, and also the collection of hidden evidence that’s scattered throughout each level. Other medals are awarded for getting through a level in one attempt and not reverting to a mid-level checkpoint after dying.

Naturally, levels can be completed without accomplishing any of the aforementioned tasks, but then enjoyable weapon, armor, and accessory add-ons remain beyond reach, which deprives the player of some genuine modification fun. Also, medal attainment opens access to ‘emergency’ levels, which throw the player into frantic rescue missions against the clock—but with the added attraction of prototype T-Zero weaponry that can be secured within the player’s armory upon completion.

Then there’s the invaluable T-Zero ‘riot shield’, which can be brought up defensively at any time to deflect standard bullets, shotgun blasts, high velocity rounds, and shrapnel from nearby explosions, while also serving as an effective barrier with which to pass through walls of fire. When facing Burners in close confines, the riot shield can also be used as a fairly devastating weapon when it’s brutally thrust into the face of anyone unlucky enough to get in its way.

The riot shield also plays a major part in the various graphically entertaining ‘hostage situations’ that crop up across Urban Chaos. Whenever the player encounters a hostage situation, the riot shield must be employed in order to shuffle carefully forward as bullets continually smash you backward. The Burner holding the hostage will himself shimmy backwards while hurling bullets, Molotov cocktails, and foul language in the player’s direction and protecting himself with a terrified human shield. But be wary, if you draw too close, the Burner will mercilessly execute the hostage and take flight—leading to an immediate ‘game over’. But, with a little distance and patience, the deadly game can always be won—and the end result is often worth the wait. Everyone has to reload sooner or later, and when the Burner attempts to slide home a fresh clip, the game automatically shifts into slow-mo, zooms in slightly on the hostage, and the player has a strictly limited time to lower their riot shield, take precarious aim, and send (sometimes successive) headshots at the exposed Burner. Without going into any spoiling detail, these little adrenaline-friendly set pieces often end in a creatively gratuitous fashion for the hostage taker. Laughter seems somewhat out of place considering the gravity of each hostage situation, but chuckles may still escape players’ lips at the bloody climax of each confrontation.

Graphically and aurally, Urban Chaos: Riot Response is not a frontrunner for any PlayStation 2 development awards, but it performs fairly well throughout and the bland character designs, forgettable atmospheric score, gritty presentation, and little moments of chop and obvious jagging are forgivable beside the game’s additively entertaining ethos. Deaf or hard-of-hearing gamers can follow Urban Chaos in its entirety thanks to full subtitle accompaniment from start to finish both while in play and during the CNN-style anchor segues. Unfortunately, the death-dealing protagonist behind the vast array of weaponry is male, although there’s never any close up evidence of the fact. But, as with most FPS titles, the gender of the main character quickly becomes an afterthought amid the steadily growing body count.

Urban Chaos: Riot Response is a cracking FPS addition with enough fresh action nuance, shamelessly graphic action, potty-mouth dialogue, and original gameplay elements to successfully raise it above most—but not all—similar genre titles. Some gamers may wince at the gore, shake their heads at the obscenities, and point fingers at the grime, while others will pile in gleefully and let the hard-hitting but tongue-in-cheek nature of the game sweep them effortlessly along for the ride.

Review by Stevie

In the past, big-name Hollywood movies have often been mirrored by a separate release that follows an almost exact vein of subject matter. Most notably, in 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves clashed swords with (surprise, surprise) Robin Hood, and in 1994 Kurt Russell’s Tombstone faced down Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp behind the OK Corral. In short, rival companies occasionally squeeze the same genre for all it’s worth, while exploiting incredibly similar structure, narrative, and execution.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, in this case, the chicken is Radical’s Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and the egg is Activision’s Ultimate Spider-Man, and their respective release dates would decree that the chicken did indeed come first—by just over a month. Yet 30 days of birthing separation apart, the two games are almost exactly the same. Their aesthetics may differ, their storylines and characters may follow separate paths, and their creators may not share the same studio space, but the similarities are glaringly obvious. And, while Ultimate Spider-Man is an incredibly slick, well-crafted, and beautifully presented game, it unfortunately suffers through those similarities and the later release.

Set across a sprawled, free-roaming New York City environment, Ultimate Spider-Man revolves around Peter Parker’s emergent battle against long-time friend Eddie Brock as he assumes his father’s ‘legacy’ and becomes the evil Venom. However, in a gameplay twist—and somewhat oddly in terms of central empathy—players also intermittently assume the role of Brock’s Venom during the game’s unfolding plot. Along the way, both Spidey and Venom will encounter and battle various Marvel-inspired heroes and villains, such as X-Men’s Wolverine, the Green Goblin, Electro, The Human Torch, R.H.I.N.O, Silver Sable, Nick Fury, and Carnage. All of which lend an expansive and ever-apparent sensation of comic authenticity to the experience, while playing some minor role in the game’s leading narrative.

All-important gameplay is handled superbly well for Spidey, as he swings and springs effortlessly from street to street and building to building, the player never once having to struggle with web-shooter control thanks to the game’s intuitive location awareness and immediate button response when needed. However, Venom’s controls differ somewhat in that he’s able to leap across great distances while possessing super-human strength and power. Unfortunately the towering skyscrapers of New York don’t often allow for a genuine sense of free movement while using Venom, but thankfully the game’s core element is occupied with Spider-Man, and Venom’s appearances are limited to narrative twists and story explanations.

Interacting with the environment in its entirety means plenty of easy and joyous web-swinging and wall-crawling fun while also enjoying considerable acrobatic prowess and crime purging through an array of effective and impressive fight moves. Vast distance can be covered quickly and, quite frankly, you’ll never tire of enthusiastically swinging to your required destinations. Plenty of icon-marked timed ‘races’ across rooftops and through city streets, coupled with ‘combat tours’ against various roaming street gangs, lead the player gently down a road of familiarity with Spidey and soon his movement and fight controls become fluid and second nature. Completion of map-prompted ‘city events’ such as sporadic muggings, varied rescues, and thug confrontations open further scripted story-arc moments and generally provide the highlighted segues between boss battles, plot expansion, and temporarily assuming the role of Venom.

Graphically, Ultimate Spider-Man closely resembles a living three-dimensional comic, with considered artistic attention invested in the inked line weights and slightly exaggerated comic design of the characters. This impressive in-game feel is furthered by the application of cel-shading, which, while adding extra depth in terms of 3D during close-ups, does perhaps compromise the 2D world that’s providing inspiration for the game—to the extent that cut-sequence characters appear a little ill-fitting and chunky. Environmental depth is broad in scope and unfailingly crisp in execution, while detail fade-out over extreme height and distance is subtly handled without losing that invaluable sense of stretching horizons and dizzying vertigo. Animation is fabulous throughout, the game betraying no sign of chop or slow-down as Spidey assuredly swings down busy city streets alive with chatting pedestrians and frantic traffic. Presentation is, on the whole, wonderfully captured and unfailing in its quality.

Game sound is handled well, and exists through a dramatic musical score overlaid with guiding Spidey dialogue, comedic one-liners, dense ambiance, and peripheral NPC chatter. Fight sound is suitably meaty without ever crossing the blurry line from comic book to realistic, and indeed all the audio aspects fit together comfortably and are complementary to the overall game by their relative innocuous nature. While never forcing their way into your psyche by way of repetition or monotony, the sound elements always remain on just the right side of noteworthy. Unlike most narrative-heavy videogames, Ultimate Spider-Man strangely offers its hard of hearing demographic no in-game subtitle option, though the comic cut sequences do contain text so the story shouldn’t be completely lost. And dedicated girls gamers are sadly left with no playable female heroine, the game only offering up NPCs in the form of mysterious Silver Sable, and the ever-faithful Mary Jane Parker. Spider-Girl? Now there’s a thought, eh, Marvel?

Obvious comparisons with Hulk: Ultimate Destruction exist through the employment of the GTA-esque free-roaming gameplay mechanic, arena-based boss battles, collection of hidden tokens to unlock masses of game extras, and map-prompted story elements, not to mention the almost identical gameplay feeling derived from both titles. Whereas Ultimate Spider-Man certainly outshines Hulk in terms of gloss and polish, the big lumbering green menace usurps Spidey through immersion factor. Swinging merrily through lively New York streets simply doesn’t compare to the absolute ‘destructive’ pleasure procured from Ultimate Destruction. Indeed, the oddly disruptive Venom interludes offered up in Ultimate Spider-Man lean heavily toward that missing element of player power not found within Spidey’s elegant repertoire. Venom can leap across distances, clamber up tall buildings, and fling cars, bikes and trucks at enemies…much like the Hulk. Perhaps some inter-studio spying took place between the two development teams? Who knows?

However, the simple fact remains that though Ultimate Spider-Man is a visually stunning and thoroughly entertaining title, true to its source material, and undoubtedly fun to play, it doesn’t quite achieve the same levels of satisfaction provoked by Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Of course, specific character fans will naturally gravitate toward their favorite hero—and neither will be disappointed—but for those more comic-neutral gamers, Mr. Hulk provides the more rounded, all-powerful, and immediately visceral experience. Ultimate Spider-Man is quietly graceful, immensely enjoyable, and beautifully realized, but the fizzing spit of web shooters and warning buzz of spidey-sense simply can’t overthrow that basic compulsion to “Smash!!” anything and everything while gleefully succumbing to Ultimate Destruction’s gritty superiority.

Review by Stevie

Fo Shizzle homies it’s time to review Street Crime New York City. I will firstly point out, to you my humble reader, that I am bereft of feeling when it comes to these sorts of titles, I see them as filler titles and not ‘true’ games, because any moron can throw together a 3rd person shooty shooty with gangsta speak, a few rap songs and perhaps a car chase or two. There’s no spark or newness, since the GTA series have essentially milked the idea of street ‘hood’ to death and then some. I will remain objective though, I’m just that kind of gal.

The Big Apple … setting (unsurprisingly) for True Crime New York City, followup to the 2003 title True Crime Streets of LA. I never played that title, but it was met with fairly good reviews overall on its release, though most suggested it lacked polish. Sadly True Crimes: New York City seems to have a similar fate. The game begins with what is essentially a prologue background story in which you play as ‘Marcus’, a bloodied gang member type whose family have a history of crime, but let’s not spoil the story. Essentially Marcus slays a few hoodlums and is let off the hook by a family friend, Detective Higgins and a mere five years later Marcus, with the aid of Detective Higgins is now a NYC cop, just picking up his detective badge, ahh how simple that was after mowing down that gangster scum at the beginning of the title. And so the real game begins with a bang as it were a little further along.

Detective Reed, you’re a bad, bad man … but who cares about that, let’s get to the GTA styled missions and side missions. For me, there is little here that hasn’t been done better elsewhere. The story is full of the cheesiest cop / gangster cliché’s you’re ever likely to see / hear. There are the usual informants that will lead you to another scumbag and so it goes. The overall structure is okay, but there’s nothing overtly gripping. It’s all a bit crap really and repetitive, get mission, do mission, arrest perp, get career points. There’s also good cop / bad cop points, but I never really saw that these had any effect on the game overall. Each mission (for the most part) is quite samey and laden with henchmen you must mow down to progress. Some of the side missions were okay, but again they just felt hollow.

It’s gritty, It’s the city … environments are, in a word ‘samey’. I understand this is NYC and perhaps, to the non-visitor there this may be the case, but I’ve live in NYC and in my personal experience the city has a lot more to offer than a bunch of buildings and work places that inside seem surprisingly similar. The city itself is fairly well done and it’s a shame the same effort was not put into other aspects within the game environment. Character models are well done, but again I got the feeling I’d seen some of the same models a couple of times in the game, at different scenes, very strange. Driving sections were also pretty good, but at times it did feel that the framerate suffered for it. Along with this there was a bit of clipping and there’s not much left to say.

Cut that siren off god damn it! … The audio in the game is actually not too bad, some fairly decent voice acting even exists (names to drop: Lawrence Fishburne and Christopher Walken), let down only by some instances of sound pause, a very strange phenomenon, like a paused explosion or crash. It also cuts out completely at times. Music wise, it’s a NYC cop title with a lead African American gangster come copper main character, I’ll give you one guess, of course that’s all you need. It’s rap, at least for the most part. There are a few genres covered but essentially my brovaz and sistaz it’s rap with a capital C. Profanity abounds, but then you would expect that I suppose given the 18+ rating and the seedy NY underbelly of the story. For me it just felt a little forced and over done. No-one f_cking needs to swear that f_cking much, surely to f_ck? You get the picture. Deaf and hard of hearing gamers will find the subtitles option tucked away, not in the ‘audio’ section, but in the ‘display’ section of the options menu.

Good cop, Bad cop, Male Cop, Girl Cop … Yes there are female characters in the title and sadly I didn’t see one that had me thinking “She’s pretty cool”. I think the first female character you see is a female cop and this essentially sets the scene for the rest of the title. She’s in a position of power and wearing a teeny tiny mini skirt, I’m fairly sure this isn’t the usual dress code for a cop in a city like NYC, maybe she was undercover, making a Britney Spears video. Yes the ‘hoes’ are here too and even a ‘Godmother’ styled villain, but don’t panic, just as the usual racial stereotypes are in full effect, so is the usual array of crappy, one dimensional peripheral female characterization. Ahh bless them for not even trying.

At the end of the day … well why not finish a review of a clichéd game with one of the most annoying clichés in the English language. The story is trite and the ‘free-roaming’ gaming experience is never as free as you might want it to be. There are some nice touches, such as the cityscape itself, but overall it’s a repetitive title that relies heavily on the GTA loving crowd. Add to this a few glitches and it all became a little frustrating, the game froze on me 3 times, not too bad considering the time I spent with it you may think, but I’ve played other games longer and they’ve not crashed, so it really depends on your outlook. On the upside, the overall cinematic feel will be enjoyed by those of you who like gritty cop shows and some of the cutscenes are fairly entertaining. For this girl though, it was less Cagney and Lacey and more G-Unit and P-Duddy. A slightly above average 3 out of 5 for the GTA style certain gamers adore.

Review by Eden

Those cheeky time traveling thieves, the TimeSpilitters are back again. Once more trying to steal the time crystals so that they can control time, and take over the world…the universe….and everything!!!!

Now if only there was someone who would follow them through time and take em down!! Ah Cortez, it’s good to have you back. But this time it’s not only the Splitters that Cortez will have to deal with…

I’ve been a BIG fan of the TimeSplitters series since getting the original as one of my first games for my PS2 and loving it, and playing it for hours. And then the follow up was even better, so I have been really looking forward to this third installment.

I’m not even going to try to explain the story to much because it goes back and forth more than a back and forth machine on the back and fourth of July!!! There are times when another Cortez will protect you (Cortez), and then later in the level YOU will be the other Cortez from earlier protecting the Cortez (you) that you were earlier….(read it slowly..it sort of makes sense???!!!) Even later there’s more than one future and past Cotez’s in on the action at once. It does work, and it is really cool seeing the you from earlier, and being the you from later… I’ll leave that for now, but take it from me, when you play it, it’s a great idea that works well.

The fact that there is an actual story is a bit of a thing really. The first game was a ‘bad aliens – kill em – different time periods’ sort of situation. And some people complained about it not having story at all. I personally did not mind about the lack of a deep story line because the game was so flippin playable, especially in multiplayer. With TS2 and more so now with Future Perfect, they have put more
effort into the story, I think to try to appeal to the more middle of the road gamer. And thankfully it does not make the game any less playable, if anything it makes me want to get a bit further each time to find out where I’m going next, and what’s going to happen. But it does seem easier, even on the normal setting. Stick it on hard if your a player and you should get a decent challenge though

There are some quite funny film and game references. Such as on one level you have to help the human resistance to defeat the ‘Ultranet’ robots!!! And on another level you have to help to hack into a mainframe (very Matrix style). One of the new baddie zombie types is very ‘flood’ like, exploding when they come near you, and on another level you dress like a scientist, and you’re told that your name is Gordon…??? (what game could that be???) And there are lots of other funny bits in the single player campaign. Most of these are when you team up with other NPCs (although some of these characters are the you from earlier…or later…or both!!!) At some points in the game you get to take control of vehicles, including jeeps, and in the Scottish castle level, a truck with a machine gun mounted on the back. At this point you can choose to drive the truck, and let the computer character mount the gun, or you can take control of the turret, and have your buddy drive you. Although on this level it’s a straightforward road, on other levels you’ll need to turn the vehicle more, and this can be a bit awkward because of an erratic camera, but it’s only a minor quibble.

The main single player game is well worth playing through, and it’s really fun to do so as well. But even after competing the single player portion of the game you won’t be finished….not by a long shot (sniper shot). There are loads of Arcade and Challenge levels to be getting on with, including loads of different modes in single player (these can also be played in multiplayer as well) Some of these levels include having to blow zombie monkeys heads clean off, and racing a remote control cat!!! Getting all the medals in these arcade and challenge levels will take quite a while, but it’s worth doing for the unlockable characters
(Around 150).

The multiplayer aspect has always been a strong point for the TimeSplitters games, with a wealth of different game types, loads of great characters, and really well put together and well thought out maps. And Future Perfect is just as good, actually it’s even better now. This is due to TS finally going online. So now you’ll always have real people to be playing against, rather than bots. The map maker in this third game has been given a bit of a makeover, and is now easier to use, and so this makes it easier to produce more multiplayer maps, so that ‘if’ you do get bored with the standard ones you can create your own!! And now that the game is online, you can download new maps made by other people the world over…so the number of maps to play on is limitless. This gives the game endless replayability, because as well as multi player maps, you can also create story levels (and download story levels created by other people). The only problem here, and it’ll only apply to the PS2 version, is storing the maps. A memory card will fill pretty damn quickly if you start downloading lots of maps!! So unless you wanna buy lots of new memory cards, or one of those maxdrive thingys, then you can only have a few maps at a time. Like I say, it’ll only be like that for the PS2 version, on the Xbox you’ll be able to keep tons of maps. That way you’ll always have a different map for the next match.

Graphically the game looks great…really great, one of the best looking games I’ve got for PS2. Nice colourful cartoony characters, and on some levels there is lots going on in the background, like the castle level, which is being attacked by planes, and having missiles fired at it. And the graphics don’t suffer because of all this action, which is really good.

Sound is good too. With a decent soundtrack (that still sounds so very Goldeneye), and good voice acting, some of which is really funny. And the guns sounds spot on, as are the explosions and other effects. For the hearing impaired or deaf gamer the game features subtitles and mission objectives are written on screen.

Female aspect of the game. Well in the story mode you play as Cortez, so no female aspect there!! But in the multiplayer, there are loads of female characters to choose, so a big yay for the girls – at least in multiplayer – then!!

Overall I’d say this game is a must buy if you like first person shooters, even if you don’t, give it a try…it may convert you! You’ll be playing this games for months to come. First of all to complete the story, then to unlock the characters in the arcade and challenge modes, and what’ll keep you playing is the fantastic multiplayer.

Now…it’s Time to Split!!!

Review by Roy

Whatever opinion you hold of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, there’s no denying that it has considerable marketing power: it spawned a major Hollywood film as well as a game, both released around the same time. Movie or book-based games often leave something to be desired in terms of gameplay, but is The Da Vinci Code able to break through this curse and emerge as a winner?

Girl gamers can rejoice at the inclusion of a playable female character whose most important asset is intelligence instead of bra size. You play both as symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptographer Sophie Neveu as you explore various locations, solving puzzles, fighting enemies, and using stealth to unlock the mystery behind the murder of Sophie’s grandfather, Jacques Saunière. The game alternates between Sophie and Robert automatically, and it’s rather disappointing that there is absolutely no difference between the two save for their appearance. They’re controlled the same way and have the same available commands.

The majority of the game is spent solving puzzles while using discovered items to help decipher codes. The puzzles themselves, while quite interesting, prove to be on the easy side. It’s usually obvious what you need to do. This is especially true considering the fact that the game limits you to picking up only those items that have a purpose, going so far as to tell you not to bother when you try to pick up other objects. There are a few puzzles that take some thought, but these are cracked after a few sessions of trial and error.

Somewhat incongruous with The Da Vinci Code’s focus on puzzle solving, fighting is an integral part of the game. While exploring areas for clues, you’ll come into contact with policemen and fanatical monks who want to arrest you and murder you respectively, so combat is therefore unavoidable. When you’re close to enemies, you’re able to throw punches or hit them with weapons you’ve picked up. Once enemies engage you in a grappling lock, you have the option of attacking, pushing, or throwing. Whichever option you choose, you’ll be presented with a sequence of buttons to press within a time limit in order to successfully carry out the required action. Defense works in much the same way: correctly pressing a sequence of buttons results in successfully dodging blows. As you might have guessed, combat becomes repetitive after only a short while. Once you finally beat an enemy unconscious, you have the option of dragging the body to a less conspicuous spot.

You’ll have to take care to engage only one enemy in combat at a time, as rushing in to attack two enemies makes things more difficult. This is easy to avoid, as enemies always act in the exact same manner. You’ll almost always find them in pairs, but after a few minutes of small talk they’ll split up. You can either leap to the offensive and attack the enemy nearest to you, or choose to be stealthy and wait behind a wall for the enemy to walk by before throwing a punch. Speaking of stealth, it’s a gameplay element that is unrealistically implemented in The Da Vinci Code. Once you’re in the stealth position, you can walk right up to an enemy or be in their line of sight and they won’t even be aware of you. Being stealthy is one thing, but it’s quite another to be completely invisible.

The game itself is relatively buggy. At Normandy Mansion, for example, a figurine that you need to solve a puzzle is in plain sight on the floor, but you can’t pick it up until you move an object on the table above it—whereupon you’re greeted with a short clip of the same figurine falling from the table. In another instance, when you defeat an enemy near a staircase, you may encounter the floating body phenomenon: the unconscious enemy floats in the air instead of dropping to the ground. The floating body cannot be dragged, by the way.

The graphics are adequate, although nothing special. While a couple of areas have beautiful landscapes, Robert and Sophie suffer from a lack of facial expression. The soundtrack for the game sets the mood well with tense rhythms and almost melancholic tunes. The voiceovers, however, will soon grate on your nerves, with the same phrases said over and over. In addition, Sophie’s French accent is sometimes overdone.

Subtitles are available and utilized for every snippet of speech in the game, from the main narrative to overheard conversations between non-playable characters (NPCs). They continue without any player prompting and proceed at the same speed as the voiceovers, similar to movie subtitles. However, this particular quality doesn’t translate well to games: sometimes you’ll find yourself in the middle of reading an important passage when the text changes, and at other times the subtitles flash and disappear from the screen so fast you’ll barely have time to read past the first two words. There doesn’t appear to be any way of going back and replaying messages, so if you miss something from the narrative then you miss it forever. Also, note that pressing ‘START’ during a cut-scene won’t pause the game—it will cause you to skip through the entire scene altogether.

Gameplay is also plagued by a range of annoying issues. Firstly, The Da Vinci Code is an extremely linear experience—so linear, in fact, that the game almost seems to penalize you if you don’t follow its predetermined route to the letter. For example, you’ll come across items that you should be able to pick up but can’t—even when it’s obvious that you need them—until you trigger a particular clue or perform a certain action, which makes exploration a chore rather than something fun. Another frustrating aspect is when both main characters are together. You control only one of them, while the other follows you so closely that you’ll frequently find yourself trapped in corners or small spaces, trying to break free. In addition, holding a weapon prevents you from interacting with everything: you can’t pick up items, open drawers, or anything else. The camera also leaves much to be desired and, at times, it can become stuck in the most inconvenient places at the most inconvenient times. Besides moments when you find yourself staring at a wall while the camera tries to reorient itself, it’s also hopeless during combat in enclosed spaces: after jerking around crazily, the camera will invariably decide to show you a close-up of someone’s elbow. Even the way your inventory works isn’t exempt from irritating issues as it resets when you leave a particular area, emptying itself of all-but items crucial to the next point of the game. In light of this, there’s no point in saving up health-restoring bandages, since they simply disappear when you progress to another area.

Although The Da Vinci Code has an intriguing storyline, its poor implementation, extreme linearity, bugs, and host of pesky gameplay elements prevent the game from being fun and engaging. The game is relatively short and can be finished in about ten hours. Once it’s over you’ll most likely want to either give it away or shelve it—there isn’t much replay value due to its linearity, and its frustrating gameplay acts as a further deterrent.

Review by Mallika

Wouldn’t it be marvelous to have a time machine? Traveling to the future, taking a peek at what it holds. Or perhaps the other way around, traveling back in time to relive the past, making up for past mistakes or enjoying moments of nostalgia all over again. Regarding gaming, I would like to be transferred back to the late 1970s, when the first videogames became available via arcade machines. I’d like to relive my first gaming experience: when I begged my mum for a nickel and inserted it into that attractive but mysterious machine to start a virtual adventure that would affect my entire future. That would be a dream come true.

As there’s no time machine at the moment I’m glad to see that arcade game manufacturers are presenting compilations of their gaming accomplishments. Taito is one of those manufacturers that converted their original arcade games into PlayStation, Xbox and PC videogames. In this review we’re going to have a look at their latest arcade compilation: Taito Legends 2. Maybe Taito already sounds familiar—that wouldn’t be a surprise as they designed and produced ‘Space Invaders’, which was a milestone in gaming history. Ever since then, Taito have been pioneers throughout the history of arcade gaming.

Taito Legends 2. The title already reveals that this compilation contains some truly legendary arcade games. 39 games are bundled into one masterpiece to please every retro gamer or newbie gamer who wants to experience what gaming was all about back in the day. Legends 2 includes titles such as Darius Gaiden, Puzzle Bobble 2, Space Invaders DX, Crazy Balloon, Rastan 2, Qix, Alpine Ski, Football Champ, and more—a complete listing of games is available at the end of the review, but I merely wanted to highlight some of the oldest included titles here.
Lunar Rescue: The oldest game on the disc, which is dated 1979. The simplistic gameplay revolves around controlling a rescue ship that needs to land on the moon in order to save stranded astronauts. After a rescue pick-up it is then necessary to return the astronauts safely back to the waiting mother ship. The game’s difficulty factor lies in needing to avoid dangerous meteorites and UFOs during the process of rescuing the astronauts.

Crazy Balloon: This game was first released in 1980 and its gameplay has since been copied a multitude of times. It’s about precisely guiding an object through a cave. In this case, however, the object is a swaying balloon that needs to reach a certain point in the cave in order to complete the level. While it sounds easy it can be quite frustrating because whenever the balloon hits the walls of the cave you need to begin all over again from the starting point.

Qix: One of the most original games in terms of design, and one that kept me and many other gamers occupied for a long time way back in 1981. Its goal is to fill 75 percent of a square by drawing lines within it. The difficulty emerges through perilous sparkles that are moving along the lines. Also then there are a swinging bundle of lines (that’s the Qix) going through the square also. Once it hits the line you’re drawing, it is game over—at least if you’ve been hit three times.

Alpine Ski: All retro gamers recall themselves playing as the world’s ultimate virtual downhill skier. This game became available in 1982 and its gameplay has also been used many times since. Avoid objects such as trees, watch out for slippery ice, and collect as many points as possible by skiing over the numbers. And, as if avoiding dangerous objects isn’t hard enough, there’s also a timer involved too. Finish within the time limit or it’s game over.

The Fairyland Story: In 1985 gamers got the chance to control a little witch in a playfield full of lines. The witch could jump onto each line to reach the enemies. By shooting magic, they turned into cake and whenever the witch tossed the cake down the lines to the bottom of the screen, the enemies disappeared. If all of them were defeated, the stage was completed and a new stage with more complicated lines to move around became available.

Over the course of playing various videogames from 1979 to 1997, it’s remarkable to see the graphical improvement across the years. Of course, it’s totally inappropriate to compare these titles to today’s standards. The overview for the games can be listed either by date or alphabetically by title. When selecting a game, full instructions become available on one screen, which includes each controller button and its functionality, goals, how to achieve extra bonus points and lives, and, if there’s a story mode, it’s briefly explained. The result is that you don’t have to consult a vast manual because everything you need to know is available on the screen.

What counts for the graphics also counts for the sound. It improves chronologically through the compilation but the non-complicated tunes from the early ‘80s are quite funny to listen to. Sound effects have been used over and over again in all types of games, but that’s totally acceptable given the limitations at that time. In the games occupying the bracket of ‘beginning years’ the sound effects are really rather rare but, as more years go by, the number of different sound effects increases. Deaf gamers, or those with hearing difficulties, can rest assured that sound is absolutely not necessary to secure full enjoyment of all the games in Taito Legends 2.

To my surprise, lots of female characters are integrated throughout the compilation—and some even have leading roles. Who would have imagined that? Well, Taito certainly did. For example, in KiKi KaiKai priestess Sayo-chan has a leading role. It’s her duty to repel ghosts in order to rescue Seven Lucky Gods. Also, in The Fairyland Story, Ptolemy the witch uses magic to turn the monsters into cakes to defeat them. And then there’s Princess Lisa who stars in Arabian Magic, her strength is to defeat enemies at a distance with powerful attacks. Naturally, not all female characters in Taito Legends 2 have leading roles. Alas, the more common and stereotypical assigning of females and princesses needing help and/or rescuing is also in evidence. Ah, well, currently we’re already used to them. For the somewhat older female gamer who was an active gamer in ‘80s, I surely can recommend to give Taito Legends 2 a chance. Nostalgic emotion can be a wonderful experience.

With respect toTaito, we should thank them for the impact they’ve had on games, gamers, and the industry overall, and, more importantly, for giving us all a chance to experience virtual joy since as far back as the late 1970s. Taito Legends 2 sums up most of Taito’s historic games, which will provoke some priceless waves of nostalgia in players. Each genre is included on the disc, such as role-playing, puzzle, platform, fighting, and sport—so there’s a little something for everyone. No button bashing or knowledge of difficult combinations is needed to succeed, as an arcade game has a maximum of 4 buttons to press, plus a control stick—actually, a lot of the included games could originally be played by repeatedly pushing just one button and guiding the control stick. Before you can start a game, a nickel needs to be inserted—at least that’s what’s mentioned on the screen to prove that it is indeed an arcade game. Hopefully no one will take it seriously, standing in front of their PS2 with a nickel looking where to insert it. Anyway, Taito Legends 2 is an impressive retro compilation with sound and graphics just like they were back in the early years of arcade games.

Complete Taito Legends 2 games listing:
Alpine Ski, Arabian Magic, Balloon Bomber, Bonze Adventure, Cameltry, Chack ‘n Pop, Cleopatra Fortune, Crazy Balloon, Darius Gaiden, Don Doko Don, Dungeon Magic, Elevator Action Returns, The Fairyland Story, Football Champ, Front Line, G Darius, Gekirindan, Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer, Growl, Gun Frontier, Inspector X, KiKi KaiKai, Kuri Kinton, Legend Of Kage, Liquid Kids, Lunar Rescue, Metal Black, Nastar (Rastan 2), Puchi Carat, Puzzle Bobble 2, Qix, Raimais, Ray Storm, Space Invaders 95, Space Invaders DX, Super Space Invaders 91, Syvalion, Violence Fight, Wild Western.

Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.