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Look no further than Sega Sports' NFL 2K3 if you're seeking
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Look no further than Sega Sports' NFL 2K3 if you're seeking a more than worthy alternative to the established Madden American football franchise. The game's superb graphics alone are enough to draw in any fan, but its in-depth gameplay realism and ESPN broadcast presentation easily rank this as the finest American football game Sega has released to date. Thanks to its smarter-than-average artificial intelligence, NFL 2K3 sports a somewhat steep learning curve that requires sound football simulation instincts. Knowing your team's strengths and weaknesses will ultimately be a big help if you hope to win at advanced levels. Be prepared to mix up your play calling and make adjustments instead of thinking the same old reliable plays will get the job done. Of course, practice mode is always there if you need to work the kinks out of your game plan and master the multitude of offensive and defensive sets at your disposal. Graphically, sports games don't come much better looking than NFL 2K3. Among the highlights: player animations are amazingly realistic and lifelike, and a wide array of facial emotions appear that are relative to game scenarios; stadiums are painstakingly recreated to take on almost postcard-like feel; and replays access a wide variety of angles to put you right on the field or in the stands. One area in which NFL 2K3 easily aces Madden is its game commentary. As part of the game's ESPN broadcast presentation, announcers Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe call every bit of the action in varied detail. Their comments are far removed from stale Maddenisms, offering worthwhile play breakdowns, player assessments, and quips that don't make you wince in disgust (at least not too often). Stevens and O'Keefe, along with the crowd, will let you hear about it when you bite it on the field. --Larry White
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Right now, stealth is the only genre to be in if you want t
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Right now, stealth is the only genre to be in if you want to be the fashionable video game about town, but Rogue Ops isn't just some lazy Metal Gear Solid wannabe; it's got more than enough ideas of its own to ensure you get excited about it. Admittedly the idea of making the lead character an attractive death-dealing minx isn't one of them, but ex-Green Beret Nikki Connors isn't just about looks. Apart from excellent graphics, the real selling point with Rogue Ops is the vast number of different ways there are to solve every puzzle you come across in the game. Even just sneaking past a guard allows you to simply open fire on him, go for a stealth kill, creep away unseen or even pickpocket him for a security card first. In the preview we saw a more complex puzzle involved getting past a couple of remote sentry guns and a laser grid on the floor that would set them off. Again you can go for an all out violent attack, or you can attempt something subtler like finding something to block up the lasers or a way to climb onto the roof and take out the guns that way. The game world has been designed to be as interactive as possible--you should be able to experience it yourself soon enough. --David Jenkins This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.
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Playing X-Men: Next Dimension requires looking at the moves
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Playing X-Men: Next Dimension requires looking at the moves menu. A lot. If you're the kind of person who likes to memorise lists of moves--maybe even finds it fun as it gives you a sense of accomplishment--this game is for you. If you just want a game to play with some friends without cramming as if for an exam, you'd be better off with a different fighting title. But who doesn't love the X-Men? They're all represented here. The biggies (both good and bad): Wolverine, Rogue, Storm and Cyclops as well as Magneto, Mystique and Sabretooth. Other favourites also made the cut, including Gambit, Nightcrawler and Forge. The backgrounds are terrific, and in a particularly impressive design element, you can drift into other landscapes from your original map. For example, if while fighting from inside Dr X's mansion, you throw your opponent out the window, you'll find yourself outside on the garden map. It's a good trick, and it almost makes the load time between games reasonable (rematches are quick, but reloads that change environments are painfully slow). Each character has their own special "super meter" attacks, and all are fitting of the mutant power detailed in the comic books. Playing one-on-one with friends in versus mode, you can calibrate your character so practised players have less "energy" for a more balanced game. These touches are appreciated. So while it's not as addictive as Tekken or any similar benchmark game, X-Men still has appeal with a reasonably well-thought-out game design and endearing character elements. --Jennifer Buckendorff
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Mortal Kombat, the curse of spelling pedants and easily off
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Mortal Kombat, the curse of spelling pedants and easily offended parents everywhere, has returned (again)--and this time it's making a proper effort to reclaim its crown as king of the beat-'em-ups. There are some games that just seem to be a product of their time, appearing ridiculous when dragged kicking and screaming into the present day; Mortal Kombat suffered just such a fate when it was given one sequel too many and people realised that badly digitised 2-D characters in a dumbed-down version of Street Fighter II wasn't quite in keeping with the zeitgeist. Sensibly, instead of trying to do just the same old thing with better graphics, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance brings that most unexpected of presents to the beat-'em-up party: a new idea. Specifically, it gives you the ability to switch, at the press of a shoulder button, between one of three different fighting styles for each character. This works tremendously well, allowing you to change from ranged to close-up to weapons attacks, for example, with ease. The ability to see physical damage appear on your opponent during the course of a match is also a nice touch, but thankfully they haven't thrown the baby out with the bathwater and all the old Mortal Kombat extras are still here: there's a ton of spilt claret if you so much as touch the other player and a range of spine-ripping fatalities and brutalities to show off with at the end of a bout. Admittedly the graphics still aren't all that great, but they do the job and quite frankly anything that manages to make Mortal Kombat fresh and exciting again is doing very well indeed. --David Jenkins This preview is based on an incomplete version of the game; features or problems mentioned above may not appear in the finished game.
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Freekstyle, while generally a strong game, can't help but b
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Freekstyle, while generally a strong game, can't help but be the lesser cousin of EA Sports Big's smash hits SSX and SSX Tricky. The moves are more complicated, the learning curve steeper and the charm significantly less for this title compared to its more successful predecessors. And woe to you should you miss a steep jump and expect to hit restart, as in SSX. You'll be forced to take that jump again, with much less velocity than before you wiped out. You'll need to hit it over and over--a fact that makes initial play somewhat tedious. Still, it's unfair to punish Electronic Arts for their past perfection. On its own, Freekstyle has plenty to keep motocross fans happy: courses both for tricking and racing; real world riders and complicated road maps filled with pleasing secret shortcuts. --Jennifer Hauseman
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Realistic gameplay combined with total control over your te
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Realistic gameplay combined with total control over your team make Sega's NHL 2K3 the game of choice for serious hockey fans. The game captures all the intricacies of the NHL, from the furious, hard-hitting action on the ice to the day-to-day decisions made in the front office. Don't like the production you're getting out of one of your players? Send him down to the minors for a few weeks of seasoning to get his game in order. Prefer high-scoring shootouts or 1-0 grind-it-out defensive struggles? Tweak the game's highly customisable AI to set things just the way you like them. Regardless of your preferences, NHL 2K3 delivers the goods to make this a more than passable hockey sim. Like most of Sega's recent sports releases, NHL 2K3 hangs its hat on stellar gameplay and sweet graphics. Little, if anything, is overlooked: players move and react much like their real-life counterparts--goalies are especially acrobatic; the puck seamlessly glides, flips and bounces around the rink and off the posts and goalie's pads; players can be pinned to the boards during a scramble for the puck; missed shots are covered up by a diving goalie or slapped in off ensuing rebounds; arenas are painstakingly re-created and feature music and sounds specific to each. Off the ice, there's plenty of strategy and options to tinker with. NHL 2K3 boasts over 30 sliders to alter effects ranging from ice friction to referee collisions. And, of course, there's the franchise mode that allows up to 250 years of dynasty building. --Larry White
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Spy Hunter is a game almost unique in our time: not only a
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Spy Hunter is a game almost unique in our time: not only a genuinely top-quality PS2 game, but also a superb update of a retro classic--an unlikely achievement, of the same sort as a row of Oscars above Keanu Reeves' mantelpiece. The original Spy Hunter was a vertically scrolling shoot-'em-up from the early 80s that was inspired by the Lotus Esprit sequence from The Spy Who Loved Me. This sequel manages to update all the elements of the original in superb 3-D graphics-o-vision yet still maintains the same manic arcade spirit. The basic gameplay involves you driving your gadget-stuffed spy car (which can also transform into a boat) through one of 14 different courses attempting to complete a variety of different goals, such as blowing up prototype helicopters and defusing bombs. You only have to complete one goal to exit the course, but completing additional goals is the only way to access subsequent levels. Spy Hunter is unquestionably the best marriage of a driving game and shoot-'em-up ever--and considering how many games have attempted this in the past that's no small compliment. Shallow it might be, but this is great fun. --David Jenkins
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Shooter / FPS, Rating: M - (Mature), up to 2 play
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Shooter / FPS, Rating: M - (Mature), up to 2 players, published by: BAM Entertainment
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In Blood Omen 2 you play the bad guy, but the vampires in t
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In Blood Omen 2 you play the bad guy, but the vampires in the Legacy of Kain series are more likely to talk you to death than get around to chewing on your jugular. Blood Omen 2 is a sequel to the okay-ish original, whose greatest claim is that it spawned two much higher quality spin-offs, in the form of Soul Reaver 1 and 2. The original Blood Omen was a top-down, 2-D, with vaguely Zelda-esque RPG action that sold pretty much on the fact that you were the baddie and could run around drinking innocent people's vital fluids. This new game has the same concept, but because everything's in 3-D it comes across as nothing more than a poor man's Soul Reaver 2. Despite the fact that there's just as much combat in this game as Soul Reaver you're saddled with a very sluggish control system, and the puzzles have been made much less interesting--90 per cent of them involve pulling switches. The game is also incredibly linear and the graphics, although quite detailed in places, suffer from bad slowdown. In short, if you're a fan of the Legacy of Kain series buy Soul Reaver 2 on PS2 instead. If you can take or leave all the vampire nonsense then Star Fox Adventures is a much better entry in the hall of 3-D adventuring fame. --David Jenkins This review refers to the PlayStation 2 version.
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The best extreme-sports game gets even better in Tony Hawk'
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The best extreme-sports game gets even better in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. The elements that made the first two games (on the PlayStation) a success are back: tight controls, a deep trick system, a wide selection of skaters (including Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek, Rodney Mullen, Chad Muska, Elissa Steamer and others) and a slick soundtrack (featuring the Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Motorhead, KRS-One, Redman and more). Adding to the already brilliant formula is a new trick and GameCube-enhanced graphics. In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, players were introduced to the Manual--a move that greatly revolutionised the series' gameplay. This instalment introduces the Revert, and while it isn't as significant an addition as the Manual, it does add another layer to the already deep trick system. The game features solid graphics, but a level of detail was sacrificed in order to make the game's levels so large. There are a few moments of frame skipping and polygon clipping, but these instances are rare and don't overshadow the stellar gameplay. Career mode is as deep as ever, with eight objective-filled levels. In this single-player mode players traverse their way through some brilliantly designed courses to achieve high scores, collect the letters to the word "skate", find hidden video tapes and interact with level-specific objects. Two players can participate in the five multiplayer mini-games, which include King of the Hill, Horse, and Trick Attack. There's no reason for fans of sports, action and platform games not to have this title; this game will satisfy them all. --Raymond M Padilla
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardr
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a definitive action adventure based on the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media film capturing the renowned and beloved book series from author C.S. Lewis.Players enter the world of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter by the evil powers of the malevolent and evil White Witch. In order to end this frigid captivity and free his people, the mighty lion Aslan, true ruler of Narnia, invokes an ancient prophecy. It will become the destiny of four young siblings from our world: Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie to work together and use their unique combat skills, weaponry and abilities to defeat the Witch and her armies and save Narnia. These four unlikely heroes must battle the evil forces of the White Witch by waging war against a vast variety of creatures, including Centaurs, Minotaurs, Minoboars, Cyclops, Werewolves, Wraiths, Ankleslicers, Wolves, Satyrs, Boggles and more.
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Even for non-fans of The Rock, The Scorpion King: Rise of t
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Even for non-fans of The Rock, The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian still manages to surprise and charm. Exceeding the expectations of the movie-tie-in game is easy, but even with that meagre goal, Scorpion King rides high. The game makers didn't cheat on details: voiceover is provided by the actor (Dwayne Johnson) and the storyline is great. After walking through a basic training in the middle of the desert, your first quest is to fight for a woman's fallen honour. Here's the kind of thing that makes a game good: when Mathayus (your avatar) hits someone and they fall to the ground, his head slowly moves as he watches the enemy get up again. Those touches don't come cheap, and neither does intelligent game design. When you find a health powerup, it comes to you, saving you the annoyance of having to back out of battle to pick it up. Because of this, you walk through the map much more quickly--even Mathayus himself seems a little loose and speeded-up in his movements, compared to other games. Where they could have produced a cheap cop-out game (knowing they'd sell a certain number of games to fans, regardless), the team behind The Scorpion King made a fun mid-difficulty-level game. It's unlikely that you'll stay up until all hours playing this title, but the hours you spend will be fun and engaging, with good visuals and few mechanical annoyances. --Jennifer Buckendorff
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Action, Rating: T - (Teen), 1 player, published
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Action, Rating: T - (Teen), 1 player, published by: EA - Electronic Arts
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