Adrian Lawton awarded Rockstar’s
beat-’em-up 7/10, claiming that it
was a “non-stop orgy of violence
and destruction” that “glorifies mass
murder just for the sake of it”, but that
it featured “simplistic but addictive
gameplay” and was “an enjoyable (if
morally abhorrent) title”. Edge’s review
was more critical, awarding the game
4/10 and decrying it as a game with “no
charisma and nothing new to offer” as
well as “a videogame distinguished
only by the marketing ingenuity
behind it.” Other releases reviewed
by Official PlayStation 2 Magazine
this month included overlooked RPGShadow Hearts (7/10), arcade lightgun
conversion Vampire Night (6/10),
fantasy snowboarding oddity Dark
Summit (5/10) and the repugnant Peter
Pan: Return To Neverland (2/10).
Things weren’t much better
elsewhere. Virtua Striker 3 failed to
impress on the GameCube, with the
Japanese version earning 5/10 from
Edge and 50% from NGC. The latter
magazine commented that the football
game “feels about as close to the
sport as fishing”, and that it was “an
unreasonable, frustrating experience”.
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 was given
8.5/10 by XBM, but the Official Xbox
Magazine review wasn’t as positive,
with Jon Attaway feeling that “poor
controls spoil the overall experience”
and scoring it 6.9/10. Other Xbox
games reviewed this month include
Genma Onimusha (6/10, Edge),
Shrek (5.0/10, Official Xbox Magazine)
and Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath Of
Cortex (5.5/10, XBM).
In the world of computer games,
things were a little better. Warrior Kings
was PC Gamer’s game of the month,scoring a commendable 86% – a score
rather higher than the critical consensus,
but one that reviewer Tim Stone
felt that “one of the most attractive
and atmospheric titles ever to make
a play for the RTS throne” justified.
The aforementioned Star Trek: Bridge
Commander picked up 82% here,
while both the business simulation
Capitalism II and Sega’s Virtua Tennis
scored 80%, with framerate issues
causing Jim McCauley to declare that
the Dreamcast conversion “should
have been so much better”. Still, it was
better than the rest of the month’s fare,
including Europa Universalis II (58%),
Fairy Tale (47%) and Sid Meier’s Sim
Golf (68%).
Thankfully, the Game Boy Advance
also provided some respite from the
torrent of mediocrity. Other than the
aforementioned conversion of Broken
Sword, which earned a 5/5 from NGC
for its excellence, Tekken Advance
scored 4/5 for providing a reasonable
portable approximation of Tekken 3.
Overhead tactical shooter Rainbow
Six: Rogue Spear also earned 4/5 on
the strength of its multiplayer mode,
described as “tactical espionage
heaven”. Sadly, Mike Tyson Boxing (1/5),
Jurassic Park Dino Attack (2/5) and
Moto GP (2/5) just didn’t measure up.
Join us again next month for the
launch of the GameCube, and hopefully
the arrival of some more interesting
games, too.[Xbox] With poor releases like Shrek ruling schedules,
it’s no wonder the Xbox needed a huge price cut.[GameCube] Virtua Striker 3 just wasn’t realistic – look at England beating Germany here if you need any proof.THIS MONTH IN...
Edge
This month’s ‘Out There’ section
contains interesting news of a
device that scales RGB video signals
from any older console for VGA
computer monitors, and can add
scanlines. Apparently, Micomsoft’s
XRGB-2 “impresses with its clarity
and convenience” – we wonder
whatever became of that particular
product line?NGC
With the lack of any domestic
GameCube content to cover,
NGC runs a bizarre section titled
‘When Nintendo Characters
Attack’, featuring Mario losing it
at Richard and Judy, Peach doing
a runner from the police, Turok
shooting elephants and a Royal
Variety Performance featuring Link
and Ganon as a double act.Cube
Squaresoft and Nintendo have
mended fences after six years of
sour relations, meaning that the
famed RPG developer would be
bringing its games to GameCube
and Game Boy Advance. A Final
Fantasy Tactics game was in
the works for GBA, and Akitoshi
Kawazu’s new studio announced a
GC/GBA link-up Final Fantasy game.APRIL 2002
[GBA] Tekken Advance was like Tekken 3, but with
sprites instead of polygonal graphics. Great, right?FILM
1 About A Boy
2 Bend It Like Beckham
3 The Scorpion King
4 Joy Ride
5 Ice AgeMUSIC
1 The Hindu Times
(Oasis)
2 Girlfriend (NSync)
3 There Goes The Fear (Doves)
4 Unchained Melody
(Gareth Gates)
5 Lazy (X-Press 2 feat.
David Byrne)XBOX
1 Halo: Combat Evolved
(Microsoft)
2 Project Gotham Racing
(Microsoft)
3 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
(Activision)
4 Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
(Activision)
5 Max Payne (Take 2)PLAYSTATION 2
1 Grand Theft Auto III
(Take 2)
2 Max Payne (Take 2)
3 Legends Of Wrestling
(Acclaim)
4 Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of
The Future (Sony)
5 WipEout Fusion (Sony)RETRO GAMER | 19BACK TO THE NOUGHTIES: APRIL 2002