MaximumPC 2004 03

Reviews

Armed and Dangerous

A few clever ideas get lost in a sea of repetition

H

aving tasted success with its wildly irreverent maiden title— Giants:

Citizen Kabuto —Planet Moon Studios returns with an even wackier

follow-up named Armed and Dangerous. Although the story and

game characters are not related to Giants in any way, this fast-paced, over-

the-top action game is similar in tone, style, and play. Unfortunately, it’s not

as fun or as groundbreaking as its predecessor.

Armed and Dangerous casts you as a member of a wacky trio of mer-

cenary types intent on deposing a tyrannical king. Played from a behind-

the-back, third-person perspective, the mission-based gameplay is fairly

straightforward. A typical level involves walking from point A to point B and

destroying a slew of bad guys and targets, along with virtually everything

else in your path. Occasionally, your character sports a jetpack or gets to

use a mounted gun to fend off sequential waves of attackers, but 90 percent

of the game is the “shoot anything that moves” variety. Unfortunately, this

gets old fast.

A big part of the tedium is that you end up using the same machine gun

most of the time to shoot at the same two or three enemies, who look dif-

ferent but behave similarly. Special weapons like the land shark gun, black

hole bomb, and topsy-turvy device (which plants a corkscrew into the

ground and then flips the world upside down) are clever and fun to use,

but you rarely gain access to them; and when you do, there’s so little

ammo they’re almost worthless.

Full-motion video cutscenes advance the story between missions, and

although these scenes are laugh-out-loud funny, the animation is overly

compressed. We’re baffled as to why the designers didn’t use the game’s

graphics engine for these

pre-rendered clips.

Ultimately, Armed and

Dangerous reminds us of

a typical post–Will Ferrell

Saturday Night Live skit. It

starts off entertaining, but

degenerates into monotony

as it milks the same gimmick

over and over again.

—JOSH NOREM

Intriguing puzzles, superb combat, and stylish

good looks.

SANDY BEACH

SANDY PANTS

Fixed camera can be annoying in tight spaces.

$50, http://www.princeofpersiagame.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 9

Clever weapons, funny story, and nice-looking

graphics

LOCKED AND LOADED

MOCKED AND BLOATED

Linear and repetitive gameplay, and not enough

use of fun weapons.

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 7

$40, http://www.lucasarts.com

78 MAXIMUMPC MARCH 2004

Zany weapons like the land shark gun, which fires a land

shark that burrows underground and eats multiple enemies,

are too few and far between in Armed and Dangerous.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

This 3D adventure is like Tomb Raider, except fun

Y

ou may not remember the original Prince of Persia game from 1989, or

even the 3D Dreamcast version released a few years ago. You will, how-

ever, remember Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. It’s one of the best

all-around games we’ve ever played.

In the game, you play as the noble prince, who inadvertently kills his

family by opening up a floodgate of sorts that releases the Sands of Time.

Your mission is to recollect the sand and hopefully turn back time in order to

get your family back.

Over the course of this delightfully sophisticated 15-hour adventure,

the prince encounters a variety of challenges ranging from gnarly jumping

puzzles to battles with the undead. The play mechanics are biased toward

tricky navigation and puzzles, and much like the original game, mainly con-

sist of moving from location to location over chasms, cracks, buzz saws,

spikey poles, and other potentially deadly hazards. Prince of Persia’s genius

is that these puzzles and sequences often challenge your mind more than

your reflexes. And they rarely grow old, frustrating, or boring. Another great

touch is the ability to rewind your most recent actions, which is handy for

replaying fatal sequences.

When the affable prince isn’t swinging around like a chimp, he’s busy dish-

ing out Persian pain. Hand-to-hand combat is excellent and sets a new stan-

dard for third-person fighting, thanks mostly to an arsenal of flamboyant moves

and easy-to-use controls. The prince is capable of spectacular attacks and

finishing moves that would make Jet Li jealous.

Unlike many third-person action adventures, Prince of Persia’s controls

are completely intuitive. The prince rarely missteps under your guidance,

which makes leaping from precipice to precipice or from impossibly small

ledge to hanging pole more enjoyable than we thought possible from jump-

ing puzzles. On the other hand, the fixed third-person camera occasionally

gets stuck in cramped spaces,

which can be disorienting.

Camera issues aside, The

Sands of Time is a brilliant game,

and will surely surprise you.

Anyone claiming to be a PC

gamer should pick up this title.

Otherwise, you’ll be forced to for-

feit your gamer card immediately.

—JOSH NOREM

The prince can pull off some wicked combat maneuvers,

including the ability to vault off an enemy’s chest and hack

him to pieces from behind on the way down.