Electronic Gaming Monthly articles from June 2006

Electronic Gaming Monthly archives from June 2006

EGM International.(The Genshijin)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... PS2 The Genshijin This isn't BC (Xbox), is it? Nah, that got killed. The Genshijin--the, like, 99th budget PS2 title that publisher D3 has foisted on an unsuspecting Japanese audience--is an action-strategy hybrid that places the...

God of War II: Divine Retribution.(Cory Barlog)(Interview)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Other Pieces of the Parchment God of War II Director Cory Barlog on... ... God of War Director--now Creative Director of Sony Santa Monica--David Jaffe's input: "The initial focus and the vision and the narrative and the path that...

Fantasy Fulfilled?(FFVII: Advent Children )(Product/service evaluation)(Discussion)
June 1, 2006... The videogame biz owes a lot to Final Fantasy VII: The 1997 PS1 classic introduced many in the U.S. to the role-playing genre. It gave Sony's first-ever console a huge edge, and one scene in particular proved that even recluse gamers had...

Final Fantasy XII.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Final Fantasy XII has arrived...in Japan, anyway. After years of delays and even rumors that it would never see release, Square Enix's latest role-playing odyssey has beaten the odds and turned out to be an exceptional piece of work, racking...

Xbox 360 Vs. Playstation 3.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Gotta give credit where credit's due: After getting the ol' stink-eye from Nintendo in the early '90s, Sony took its PlayStation concept and hit the market on its own, winning (rather handily) not just one but two consecutive console wars....

Phantasy Star Universe.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: Anyone who handed over 200 hours of his or her life to the various incarnations of Sega's Phantasy Star Online can attest to just how powerfully addictive online roleplaying can be. We hate to break this to the junkies, but...

Bomberman: Act Zero.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: We've been joyfully detonating explosives as Bomberman for 20 years, and the series' core gameplay remains as wildly addictive as ever. Few multiplayer games can compete with the pick-up-and-play simplicity of this addictive...

Viva Pinata.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: We can see it now--politicians all in a tizzy about a game that arms kids with baseball bats and encourages them to blindly bludgeon innocent little creatures out of this earthly realm. But, alas, they'd be wrong again. This...

Ninety-Nine Nights.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: That Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the guy_responsible for Ninety-Nine Nights, still remembers what videogames are supposed to be all about. "I was so nervous before making this game," said the creator of quirky hits such as Space Channel...

Also on the Way.(video games)(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Mobile Ops: the One-Year War Namco Bandai * Fall 2006 Take control of your Mobile Suit in a war of galactic proportions. You can also hop out of these towering mechs and embark upon the mission on foot. (Why would you want to do...

Coded Arms: Assault.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: Well, to be honest, we didn't particularly like Coded Arms on PSP. The game achieved ample success by being the only first-person shooter in the system's meager lineup, but its woefully limited controls and randomly generated...

Virtua Fighter 5.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: Fighting games don't get more serious, technical, or influential than Sega's legendary Virtua Fighter series. This is the franchise that birthed the whole 3D fighting genre, after all. Unlike fanciful fighters such as Soul...

Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: While the cynic in us sees a typical action-role-playing game with some next-gen polish, the team behind Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom feels the PS3 influence will revitalize this once PSP-exclusive series. "[Sony's new console]...

Fatal Inertia.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: You can totally tweak out your 23rd century hovercraft in this online combat-racer, bolting on new bits and designing custom paint jobs. But who cares? The potential fun here comes from blowing other players' rocket-powered...

Mercenaries: World in Flames.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: Freedom. If modern gaming had a movement, it'd be toward giving the player more freedom: freedom to go anywhere and do anything, freedom to behave in ways you'd never behave in real life, freedom to do things the designers of a...

Also on the Way For Playstation 3.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Lair Sony CEA * Fall 2006 Longtime Nintendo developer Factor 5 switches teams and swaps Star Wars' X-wings for armored dragons in its next-gen flight simulator. But not everything here is a roller coaster ride on some...

Sonic the Hedgehog.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: Well, for one thing, it's got very little in common with last year's disastrous series offshoot, Shadow the Hedgehog. That means Sega's blue blur won't be packing heat or using foul language here; instead, he'll be taking a cue...

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: That we get to play another next-gen war game. Seriously, would you be disappointed if Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway follows the path forged by Call of Duty 2 and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter--two of the Xbox 360's best...

Medal of Honor: Airborne.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: You'll enter World War II in a way that's simply a lot more exhilarating than in Hell's Highway: Each level here begins with what EA's billing as a "fully interactive airdrop into enemy territory." And, just like in any real...

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: It's the stuff that comic-book wet dreams are made of--an action-role-playing game starring more than 140 characters from the Marvel universe. And even though Ultimate Alliance's story is generic (Dr. Doom is hatching a scheme...

WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw 2007.(Product/service evaluation)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... What We Like: No shortcuts. As the 360 launch demonstrated, when annually updated franchises (like Madden) make their next-gen leap, you usually see much slimmer feature sets the first time out. This WWE wrassler is bucking that trend,...

Revolutionary Warfare.(Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto)(Interview)
June 1, 2006... The next-gen console war is almost here, and Nintendo's new console is armed with innovation (it's still online when you turn it off!) and experimental weapons (its controller has a speaker!). This time, the company is going for the big...

Revolutionary Link.(Eiji Aonuma)(Interview)
June 1, 2006... A year ago, the next Zelda game was highly anticipated. Now, halfway into a yearlong delay, the expectations surrounding The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess are...well, ridiculous. Fanboy blogs hypothesize wildly, their speculation...

Revolutionary Games.(Red Steel)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Red Steel Ubisoft * Fall 2006 What is it? Don't confuse this with some weird variation on Derek Zoolander's "Blue Steel" look. This first-person action game drops you into the seedier sections of Tokyo, where you'll shoot and slash...

This Month In Reviews...
June 1, 2006... After what seemed like an eternity banished to Reviews Wrap-up, Oblivion finally has its coming-out party, and the Crew welcomes it wholeheartedly. For the many of you who have already dug into this behemoth of an adventure, its Game of the...

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Robert C: So far in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, I've murdered a man by fixing a stuffed Minotaur head in his skull; woke up to find the ship I was sleeping on had been hijacked; stalked innocent people for a paranoiac who ultimately tried...

Winback 2: Project Poseidon.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: The commander sounds like Optimus Prime Bad: It's not a Transformers game Often Sounds Like: It has a porno soundtrack Matt: Pose, crouch, creep-creep-creep, peek, fire, bang-bang-you-win, flip a switch, open a door,...

Outrun 2006: Coast to Coast.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Same great gameplay as OutRun 2 Bad: Not enough new features Smoothest Version: Xbox Greg S: I'm one of those people who thinks the world still has room for the OutRun style of arcade racer despite the popularity and...

Rogue Trooper.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Solid gunplay, entertaining co-op modes Bad: Bland levels, typical run-and-gun feel Shocker: Xbox version plays a little smoother, looks better G. Ford: Rogue Trooper came stamped with huge double-whammy potential: Not only...

Hitman: Blood Money.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... G. Ford: Even a stroll through an idyllic neighborhood can't deter hired gun Agent 47 from the grind. Myriad ins to his target's house exist, but rather than sneaking through the basement (booor-ing) or dressing as the party clown (the tears...

Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Stunning graphics, a few novel missions Bad: Not enough checkpoints, blah levels and story Funky Glitch: Switching off the music mutes cinemas, too Crispin: Crack the sound barrier and watch vapor bloom from your fuselage....

Tourist Trophy.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Fantastic physics and pretty graphics Bad: Unforgiving controls and lonely races...no online Four Wheels: Better than two? Greg S: As a simulator, Tourist Trophy is about as good as you'll get on two wheels. The unforgiving...

Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: A fast-paced story Bad: Too much backtracking and fetch questing Atelier: A studio, especially for an artist Greg S: Apparently, my cohorts found the first Atelier Iris "charming" and "retro." I never played it, so I can't...

Dreamfall: the Longest Journey.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Unconventional story Bad: Jaggy graphics, hideously bad combat More Depressing: PC predecessor was a big-time award-winner Matt: God, I miss adventure games. On the other hand, I miss Betamax, reel-based home movies, and...

Field Commander.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Just like Advance Wars, but online Bad: The Advance Wars copying is relentlessly blatant Awesome: Downloadable, player-made missions Robert C: Remember how much you loved Advance Wars? All those different units, the solid...

Monster Hunter Freedom.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: It's a gorgeous game Bad: Defeating big beasts on your own is tough Unforgivable: No online play Bryan: Daxter, Syphon Filter, Field Commander--seems the PSP's finally building a respectable library of games. And Monster...

Odama.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: The satisfying crunch of destruction Bad: Harder than the bar exam...in a foreign language Humiliating: Playing Odama in public: "Press forward!" Robert A: We can just imagine Yoot Saito, Odama's creator, lounging on a...

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... DS Jennifer: This brain-training game took Japan by storm, and it's easy to see why: Doing well makes you feel really smart, and it somehow makes arithmetic fun. The timed exercises--which involve a variety of scientifically proven...

Lost Magic.(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Good: Clever stylus gameplay concepts, fun multiplayer Bad: Frustrating A.I. problems, uneven difficulty Character Designs: By anime legend Yoshiharu Sato (Studio Ghibli) Shane: Lost Magic may look like an unassuming action-RPG,...

Reviews Wrap-Up.(Far Cry Instincts: Predator)(Product/service evaluation)
June 1, 2006... Far Cry Instincts: Predator Xbox 360 * Ubisoft * ESRB: M Cheaters! No, not the online players in this first-person shooter (at least, not to our knowledge). We're talking about Ubisoft, for rereleasing the two Xbox 1 Far Cry games...