February 2006 Issue

[rsstites]

The writers of the Gaming Chronicle will add their video game impressions, reviews, previews, and general opinion columns below this post.

(If you are interested in writing for the Chronicle, then click on the groups link in the header. Then chose the Chronicle usergroup, and then click join.)

[danny12]

PSP Review: Pursuit Force

My review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score


Background: This is the first of a kind for this game.

Story: A young cop is the front of a new police force named Pursuit Force which trains him how to jump incredible distances from car to car to boat to helicopter etc.... and also how to use weapons effectivley. The cop has to take down 5 gangs in war for control of the city called MAFIA, VIXENS, COMMANDOS, KILLER66 and CONVICTS.

Gameplay: With such a fresh idea as jumping from car to car it works surprisingly well. Action is never ending and it looks very cool jumping from a bike onto a huge lorry. Shooting is pretty basic but otherwise fine. However i was dissapointed at how incredibley tough some of the mission were. Some missions were so tough i felt like chucking my PSP out the window.


Graphics: This is where the game is let down. The graphics are very jaggy, unrealistic and don't suit the gaming enviroment. Hard on the eyes too.

Replayability: Once Carrer mode is over Race and Time Trial are to be done and after that the gallery must be completed so there is good replayability.

Faults: The graphics, aspects of gameplay, shortness.

My Opinion: For a first attempt this game owns but they could have spent more time on it perfecting every little touch.


Final Score: I don't like to be mean but this game is overall dissapointing. 6/10

[rickjames]

PSP Member Review: Socom: Fire Team Bravo




You are a part of a two man Seals team. You play as Sandman, and your teammate is Lonestar. As a SEAL, your duties include combating terrorism, foreign internal defense, information warfare, security assistance, and etc. The game starts off in Chile. As a player, your job in Chile is to help the government and stop the an organization called the CLL.. The missions span from rescuing the vice president and hostages to disabling the bombs filled with chlorine gas. There are also missions involving photographing different important objects, like a Morraco mission where the objective is to photograph a man talking to three different villigers without being detected. The story takes place in four different places around the world: Chile, Morocco, South Asia, and Poland.

This game is very much similar to the other SOCOMs. It is a first person shooter that rewards stealth. You are started off with a mission briefing before you start, and are able to pick the equipment for yourself and your teammate. The game consists of main objectives, secondary, and bonus objectives. Once you get in the game, and get used to the controls, the game gets fun. Because there is only one analog stick, you have to switch between free view mode and normal mode. First person and third person modes are also available. Luckily you can lock on to the enemy which makes killing them easier, although with freeview mode, one shot kills to the head become available, which is essential to the game.

Commands that you can issue to your teammate are available and prove to be an important part of the game. There are basic commands like "clear area" but there are also other special commands like "breach" or "diffuse bomb". Enough mission variety makes the game less repetitive and the grading system at the end of each mission rewards you for different aspects like team work and stealth. You are rewarded for completing bonus missions, with unlockables. These unlockables include weapons, characters, movies, and crosstalk. Unlockables like movies and characters are obtained by simply completing certain parts of the game, while the weapons and crosstalk are obtained by listening to enemies talking or achieving a certain rank.

On the negative side, you can’t always trust your teammate to breach the room without dying. There are no health packs during the level, you are stuck with the health you have at the beginning. On some missions, playing through the missions multiple times is inevitable. If you don't like to repeat missions, this game is not for you. Another downfall to the game is that it does not allow in mission saves. You have to beat the mission before saving. Even though the missions are about 15 minutes or more each, depending your stratagy, in mission saves would have been a plus for the gamer who picks up the psp while waiting for a bus or on their spare time in between work.

SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo allows you to play online with people around the world. The game offers two multiplayer modes: Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure. In Ad-Hoc, you play versus your friends that you are in the same house in or close to you. In the Infrastructure mode, you can play online. The online play is excellent, offering clans, a friends list and many varieties of games to play. There are many people online at any given time, which gives you a lot of opportunity. A headset is available in stores to buy, which can be used to talk to others while playing. Online play can be hard to get used considering that you are playing against real people.

The graphics are gorgeous for a PSP game. The levels are vast, with minimal load time only at the beginning of the game. Traveling in and out of buildings will not force you to sit through a loading screen. The clear and beautiful graphics allow you to get a head shot on someone who is very far away without using a scope. The levels offer a lot of variety. You can even switch to night vision mode.

The graphics, variety of missions, and the online play will make this game one of your favorite PSP games. If you have a PSP, get this game, it's a rarity on the PSP.

Final Score: 8.5/10

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Screenshots--Take a look at the grahics for your self






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RickJames, forums.HeroesOfGaming.com

[rsstites]

I know it has been out for a couple of months, but here is my Perfect Dark Zero review. I just got around to writing it.
_________________________________________

Perfect Dark Zero
Xbox 360
Microsoft Game Studios / Rare
Released: November 21, 2005

Overall Rating: 8.5

Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360 was touted as the game that was going to show the world what the Xbox 360 could really do. And in some ways, it truly lived up to that reputation. While in other ways it fell a bit short.

Perfect Dark Zero is the prequel to Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64. In its time Perfect Dark was an impressive game. PDZ had been in development for years, literally. Originally it was meant to be for the current generation of systems, but mid-way through its development cycle it found its new home as an Xbox 360 release title.

PDZ follows Joanna Dark, her father Jack Dark, and their young associate Chandra who is a bit of a hacker. These three form a small mercenary group called Dark Bail Bonds. Dark Bail Bonds perform various mercenary acts such as intel work for the highest bidder. You will play through the story mode of the game as Joanna and you will have a chance to meet several interesting characters along the way.

The game’s story was decent, but at times it felt a little lacking in depth. There was not much character development for anyone except Joanna. Half the time people’s motives aren’t exactly clear, even once they have been explained. I did enjoy the story, but I felt it could have been much more than what it was.

When you play in co-op mode the story becomes a little convoluted. You will find yourself talking to Chandra on the radio when your friend is playing as her and she is standing right next to you. To put it bluntly, the co-op mode feels forced and probably could have been implemented better.

The graphics in Perfect Dark Zero are pretty impressive, and give us a good taste of the new generation of console gaming power. Expect to find smooth detailed textures and character models along with an impressive amount of enemies on the screen at the same time. The level of detail almost rivals what we have come to expect in digitally animated videos, or FMV’s.

The real graphical gems are in the details. When your character picks up armor, then it actually shows them wearing the armor (you can see it in the multiplayer modes). As your character gets hit, the armor falls off your character in pieces as it’s damaged. The guns also sport a good level of detail, and look authentic and realistic enough to be believable in that near-future kind of way.

I have yet to experience any lag, even on-line. The game’s engine handles explosions, multiple enemies and advanced lighting effects well, even in the co-op mode. And when you are playing in HD everything looks even more vibrant and almost photo-realistic, but you will even be able to tell a world of difference from the current generation of games even on a standard resolution television.

Now don’t expect anything all that memorable from the game’s sounds. The music is good, and fits the quick pace of the game, but it just wasn’t memorable. The various gun shots sound authentic and add to the believability of the selection of weapons. Luckily the voice acting is done well, even if the dialogue is a little corny at times.

Now controlling Joanna around the various levels is done with ease. You have your standard console style first person shooter setup. You move her around with the left stick, and aim with the right one. You fire with the right trigger and the right shoulder button lets you switch to your weapons secondary function. All pretty standard, but it felt comfortable and worked well with the game’s options.

In addition to the wide array of weapons, the game also has a couple of vehicles. You can jump on the back of a hovercraft and man the big gun to take out countless enemies. The other vehicle is a jetpack that also transforms into a robotic walker. The jetpack is a blast to fly, and has unlimited ammo. Neither vehicle was used to its full potential in the story mode, but they do make appearances. The best place to use vehicles is in any of the multiplayer modes.

The multiplayer modes are where Perfect Dark Zero truly shines. Whether you are playing on-line or off you have plenty of options. Off line you can play using a split screen or via system link. On-line, via Xbox Live, you play against the world in ranked and un-ranked matches. You have your standard assortment of choices such as deathmatches, capture the flag and territory gains. Each of which are a blast in their own ways.

You also have full control over how long the matches last, what types of weapons are used, and if vehicles can be used. There are also multiple spawning areas that can be found. And they gave us the option to add bots to make the battles feel a little more epic.

If you have Xbox Live and an Xbox 360 you will be doing yourself a favor by getting PDZ. With its wide array of online multiplayer options you won’t find this title gathering dust any time soon. There are also plenty of reasons to keep playing offline. There are dozens of achievements to unlock, multiple difficulties, and a bunch of weapons to unlock as you go.

If the story mode and the co-op modes could have lived up to the multiplayer modes, then Perfect Dark Zero would’ve gone down in history as an unforgettable title. But even as it stands it is a great title game deserves to be played.

Richard S. Stites, HeroesOfGaming.com

[rickjames]

PSP games due out for Febuary

World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 International
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
EA Sports Fight Night Round 3
TOCA Race Driver 2
Exit
Generation of Chaos
FIFA Street 2
Neopets: Petpet Adventures-The wand of wishing
Stacked with Daniel Negreanu
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Yellow Avenger

[rickjames]

PSP Members Review: Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0



The Need for speed series has been around for a long time with Need for Speed for the original Playstation. Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0 is the 17th game in the series.

The premise of the game revolves around making it big in the "streets" and pimping out your ride with visual and performance upgrades like new spoilers or a new nitrous tank. The story involves winning races to and earning respect to be able to challenge the top 15 racers on the black list, and eventually achieving the goal of being number 1 on the black list.

In the beginning of the career mode, three cars are available to choose: the Golf, Cobalt SS, and the Mazda3. One you pick a car, the racing begins. To challenge the first black list leader, you have to win a certain number of races in the order you choose, and once completed, challenge the black list racer. Now you rinse and repeat for all of the 15 black list racers. This is the main problem of this game; it lacks variety and is very repetitious. Every race you win, you unlock a new visual upgrade or performance upgrade which you then apply to your car every single race. The schedule of this game is race, apply upgrades, race black list racer, and repeat.

The tracks offer even more repetition. Many tracks are repeated over and over again. This game doesn't offer a free-ride mode like the console version of this game or the race type variety, nor the decent rewards for beating one of the black list racers. Instead of getting rewards for beating the blacklist, the game rewards you with another extra race in which if you win, you get another mediocre upgrade. They haven’t left off the police chases, but the police serve nothing more than an annoyance because it does not affect your race because the AI is extremely easy and there is a car in your way for what seems every mile or so. Even the black list racers don't seem to pose a challenge.

The game isn't all bad, it does offer a wide variety of cars to unlock and the upgrades also allow you to customize your car to your style. The controls are smooth and responsive, although the using the d-pad proved to be better than the analog stick, although for different people it might differ. Even though the tracks are repeated over and over again, more than the nagging of a parent telling you to do your chores, the levels do offer some variety although it doesn't seem like it when you go through the same levels over and over.

Another plus is the soundtrack that offers more than 25 songs. The graphics are also good for a PSP game and is what you expect from EA. They are crisp and clean and you can even distinguish the signs over the road, although the rearview mirror doesn't actually show the cars, it just shows the lights, which look the same for every car. Overall the graphics for this game are above average.

That brings me to another good thing about the game, the online play. With EA's online play, you can make a username and race against people around the nation and even compete for the best ranking. A downside to the online play is that a lot of people want to play with the upgraded cars and if you're a beginner, you will have trouble playing online. The online play does allow you to make a custom match with your rules in which you can make the game ranked or unranked and choose whether you want to race with stock cars or upgraded cars. There are always people online to race with and once you get bored of the repetition of the AI, you will find some fun online.

Pros:
1. Online Play

2. Sound track (EA Trax)

3. Grahics.

4. Car custimization

Cons:
1. Very repetitive

2. AI is very easy, and there are no obstacles on the road like cars.

3. Not as many cars that some racing games offer.

4. Story is dull and basically not there.

EA brought out a mediocre game to the Need for Speed title. The game gets repetitive within a day of playing, but is good for intermittent fun racing your "pimped" out ride either online or in the career mode.

Final Score: 6.5/10

[rsstites]

Review:
Dead or Alive 4
Xbox 360
Overall Score: 9.2/10

The Dead or Alive series has earned a reputation of graphical excellence over the years. So naturally Team Ninja, the development team for the Dead or Alive franchise, decided to bring Dead or Alive to the most powerful console currently on the market, and the result of their work is absolutely stunning.

The graphics in Dead or Alive 4 (DOA4) are some of the best graphics that money can buy. The various levels are rich and detailed, offering interactive elements such as moving vehicles or dinosaurs. The character models are refined to near perfection, but they remind me more of plastic dolls than of real people. But not to worry, DOA4 offers a relatively deep fighting system and tons of modes of play.

The DOA franchise has always relied heavily on counters in one form or another. This time around the counter system is intuitive enough for a novice to pick up and be able to counter on a regular basis, or effective enough for an expert to counter just about every blow you throw at them. There are also team counters, and some characters have multi stage combos that deal a great deal of damage.

The punches and kicks are what have become standard for 3D fighters. You can punch or kick high, medium or low. It is also relatively easy to string together small combos that take advantage of the ability to switch from high to low attacks on the fly. DOA4 can even be picked up by a novice who does nothing more than smash buttons, and fare pretty well (trust me, I got whooped by one on several occasions).

Team Ninja does a good job of keeping DOA accessible for newcomers, and satisfying the hardcore fighter fans. On the other hand there is no longer an easy setting for story mode. And some of the grappling characters can deal an insane amount of damage with one or two counters or throws. And the sheer cheapness of the final character can leave one utterly defeated at times, figuratively and literally.

Luckily there are plenty of characters to choose from. You have classic characters making a return, and several new ones that really hold their own. The variety of fighting styles is refreshing. You can select from several professional wrestlers who vary from big and slow to quick and tricky. The rest of the characters follow some sort of structured (or unstructured) martial art. One of the new characters even excels in drunken boxing. This variety gives the various modes more life, and balances things a bit.

You can play the standard modes such as Story Mode, Time Attack Mode, Survival Mode and Versus mode. You can also play each mode one-on-one or you can go at it with a tag team. In addition to the normal modes of play, you can also play online via Xbox Live.

When playing on Xbox Live you can host your own match, or search for a match that fits your skill level or play type. When searching for a match you can select what grade will be allowed to play, what language and what match types are acceptable. The more matches you win online the higher your grade goes up, and the more you lose the lower your grade goes. This helps balance the play for newcomers, yet still offer the experienced players a decent challenge. In addition you also have an onscreen avatar that you can modify or change depending on how much in game currency you have. Despite some slow connections causing some serious lag, the online portion of DOA4 is outstanding.

In Dead or Alive 4 there is also a great deal of unlockable content. You start off with a decent offering of selectable characters, but can unlock many more by beating the story mode. There are also two secret characters that are more difficult to unlock. In addition to the unlockable characters, you can also unlock more costumes for each character. The number of costumes each character has varies. You can also unlock a stage, and you can buy content with points earned from online play.

Needless to say Dead or Alive 4 has a little something for every fighting fan out there. It is also the only fighting game on the Xbox 360. But with good online play, a relatively deep fighting system, single and tag match bouts, DOA4 makes itself a must have for any Xbox 360 owner.

Richard S. Stites, HeroesOfGaming.com
Not my longest, or best review, but I had been putting it off. So here you go.

[danny12]

PS2 Review: Shadow The Hedgehog


My review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score


Story: The story follows the life of Shadow the Hedgehog who has lost his memory and tries to remember his past. At the start a huge red cloud circles the sky and a lot of black creatures emerge and the leader approaches shadow saying "Find me the 7 chaos emeralds and i will restore your memory" so he goes in search of these emeralds.

Gameplay: Gameplay is very dissapointing on this game. Fighting is very basic but because of its layout very hard. Very few diffrent weapons on order and they do not handle very well. Also the veichles are rubbish with little speed and hard to move. The basic objective in each level is to get the chaos emerald but the story can change based on the mission you choose. Pick a dark mission and you start to follow the dark side of the story. Pick a hero mission and you start to follow the heroes. Or you can go normal and do neither of those.

Graphics: There is no other way to put this. They are the worst graphics ever seen on a PS2 game. Rough backgrounds, little charecter and level design add up to an atrocious graphics engine.

Replayability: Surprisinly for such a bad game there are lots of diffrent endings to unlock but a complete game playthrough only lasts 2-3 hours max so you could have got them all in a weekends hard play. There is also a basic multiplayer mode but its not worth talking about.

Faults: Where do i begin? The graphics are terrible, bad gameplay, rubbish replayability, bad storyline. Need i say more?

My Opinion: For the amount of time and previous titles made by this company i am dissapointed by how bad this game is. Sega and Sonic Team are usually used to making quality titles but this fails miserably.

Final Score: If your a major sonic fan this could be a good rent but nothing else trust me. 1/10

[danny12]

PS2 Review: Burnout Revenge



My review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score


Story: No REAL story to this game. Just basically a follow up to Burnout 3 Takedown with updated cars, tracks and some new ideas.

Gameplay: For a racing title this is basically the same layout as an ordinary racing game BUT this is no ordinary racing game. For one you can knock other racers out of the race by bumping into their sides, pushing them into cars, rubbing their backs etc... This is called a takedown and there are many diffrent versions of takedowns you can do, there are ordinary takedowns, traffic takedown, air takedown, aftertouch takedown and more. To use boost (nitros oxide which speeds up your car) you just hold down R1. Boost is obtained by knocking out other cars, driving on the wrong side of the road or brand new to this title you can drive into the back of traffic. The ranking system is used to lock certain races at the start. There are ten levels and everyone starts at level one but winning races and other modes builds up your ranking and your main game objective is to reach level 10. The diffrent modes include Traffic Attack where you have to make a certain amount of money by crashing civilians cars, Crash Mode where you have to cause a big pileup on a public road, Takedown mode where you have to elimanate a certain amount of cars in a time limit and there are some other modes like race etc....

Graphics: Very graphically enhanced game with the developers sparing no expense to make the backgrounds and the cars look as beautiful as they can be. Car crashses look impressive but the best part of the graphics are the car explosions. The explosions are extrmley powerfulMy and make you stare in awe.

Replayability: There is a multiplayer mode, gold medals to unlock, lots of cars to obtain and of course lots of races to complete it will be a LONG time before this game is finished.

Faults: The only problem i notice is that there are very few diffrences in all the game race tracks.

My Opinion: Not being a big car or racing game lover i was impressed at the level of brilliance in this game with great graphics, nice replayability and lovely gameplay.

Final Score: Other than few tracks this is a top class game. 9/10

[danny12]

PS2 Review: Fifa Street




My review is split into these sections.

Story
Gameplay
Graphics
Replayability
Faults
My Opinion
Final Score


Story: You are a young man who encourages his mates to play Street Football and before you know it your entering a Rule The Street Tournament and you decide to win them all!!!!

Gameplay: This is no ordinary football game. This football is urban style in which you play on the streets, alleys, car parks and so on. There are a good selection of pitches to play on so you don't have to play on the same ones all the time. At the beginning you create a player in the image of you and a couple of basic players to play on your team. Your basic objective is to play 7 "Kick About" games on a specific pitch and after those games the cup is unlocked to play for with an entrance to pay. After that you play three games of 3 minutes each half and the final 5 minutes each half. A win earns you resepct to build up your reputation and you also get money which you can use to either play matches to win better team mates or you can use it to upgrade yourself. A "Kick About" match lasts for around 10 minutes and the first person to win is the team to get 5 goals first with 4 people on each team 3 players and 1 goalkeeper. Team players and rivals can use special "tricks" to manouver and dodge players and also after a certain amount of tricks which earn points you may get a "Gamebreaker" which can be used to shoot a powerful shot at the goals. The modes include Rule The Street, Friendly and Game On.

Graphics: For a football game the graphics are pretty nice. Nice player design and face movement with excellent lighted pitches and colourful backgrounds.

Replayabiliy: Excellent replayability. There are two multiplayer modes for a friendly match or a more organised match. Also there are 5 players to be won in each cup with around 10/11 cups to win so the game won't be finished in a hurry.

Faults: The only real fault with the game which i would notice more because i'm not really a lover of football is that the game can get repetitive after a couple of days of playing. Also the game can get incredibly hard near the last few cups to win.

My Opinion: I must admit even though i had great fun with this game even though i dislike football but this is more of an arcade footballing game rather than the original game.

Final Score: If your an avid footballing fan this is an excellent change from the normal game of football we are used to. 8.5/10