Electronic Gaming Monthly articles from October 2005

Electronic Gaming Monthly archives from October 2005

No Nookie Allowed.(Entertainment Software Ratings Board's adults only rating)
October 1, 2005... Until recently, all most gamers knew about the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's Adults Only rating was that they didn't see too much of it. Like NC-17 for films, the dreaded AO is something publishers go out of their way to...

What's Playing in The Computer Gaming World.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Battlefield 2: Special Forces F.E.A.R. If the millions of first-person-shooter fans out there are any indication, then whoever claimed violence is bad for games is clearly an idiot. Online gaming clans have no doubt already...

News Tidbit.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Xbox 360 Lookin' Marvelous! Attention all true believers: Spider-Man, the Hulk, and the rest of the Marvel superhero family have found a new home--Xbox 360. Microsoft recently acquired the exclusive rights to make massively multiplayer...

Call of Duty 2.
October 1, 2005... XB360 * Activision * November 2005 Targets Acquired: For a young series, Call of Duty already sports a twisted family tree. This Xbox 360 launch title is the direct sequel to the original 2003 PC hit, not last year's console smash, Finest...

Star Wars Battlefront II.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... PS2/XB/PSP * LucasArts * November 2005 Targets Acquired: In this massive shooter spanning both the new and old Star Wars trilogies, you'll have the opportunity to blast just about every man, woman, droid, and Ewok in the far, faraway...

This Fall's Shooters Don't Go Down Easily.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Once the playthings of the hardcore PC crowd, shooters (either first person or otherwise) are now solidly mainstream, and the recent massive success of Halo 2 proves that the love affair between gamers and gunplay is still as hot as an...

Half-Life 2.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... XB * VU Games * October 2005 Targets Acquired: On the keyboard-and-mouse side of gaming, few games get bigger praise or more hype than Half-Life 2. The thrilling PC first-person shooter killed with realistic environments, even more...

Serious Sam II.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... XB * 2K Games * October 2005 Targets Acquired: While other shooters strive for realism, Sam II approaches the genre with a lighter touch. And by lighter touch, we mean going toe-to-toe against swarms of maniacal, unicycle-riding clowns...

Game Coaching.
October 1, 2005... Dying via needler, the shard-spitting wimpiest weapon in Halo 2, is like being tickled to death--only more embarrassing. And it was happening to me, EGM's lowly intern, at the hands my boss, Editor-in-Chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu. We were in the...

Bringing Out Their Dead.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... We've seen zombies hustle in Resident Evil games before (the Crimson Heads creatures of the RE GameCube remake managed a power-walker's pace), but the trotting rotters of the just-unveiled Resident Evil 5 should be tested for...

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy Vii.
October 1, 2005... PlayStation 2 Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Release Date: Spring 2006 The idea of blending the swords-and-sorcery realm of Final Fantasy with the trigger-happy shooter genre might seem far-fetched, but Square...

Afterthoughts: Final Fantasy VII.(Interview)
October 1, 2005... In light of all these new FFVII offshoots, we thought it would be interesting to look back at the groundbreaking original PS1 game that popularized the role-playing genre in the United States. We waxed nostalgic with two of FFVII's most...

What's Up With Final Fantasy Xii?(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... With all this hoopla surrounding the FFVII spin-offs, it's easy to forget about Final Fantasy XII, first shown nearly two years ago. After a series of crippling delays, the game is finally back on track and scheduled for release on PS2 in...

Frantix.
October 1, 2005... CHRISTIAN: Frantix is not terribly 2005. It's more of a charming throwback to the late '80s action puzzles that populated the Nintendo Entertainment System-- the kind in which you control a character and pick up gizmos, avoid enemies,...

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.(Interview)
October 1, 2005... fter the painful failure of 2001's big-screen effort Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the franchise's chances of crossing over into the realm of motion pictures seemed doomed. Surprisingly, Square Enix decided to take another stab at the...

West Easy.(four western based movies)(Movie Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson When Crow Indians scalped pioneer John Johnson's pregnant wife, he didn't get mad--he got psycho. This book follows the real frontiersman's path of vengeance as he hunts Crows and gulps their...

The Good & Evil Residents of Re4.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Leon S. Kennedy Six years ago during his first night as a Raccoon City police officer in Resident Evil 2 his boss went completely insane, the station house was overrun by flesh-eating zombies, and the entire city was bombed into ashes....

Four Ways to Play Resident Evil 4.
October 1, 2005... 1 - The Main Game Approximate completion time: 16-24 hours You'll go over a river and through the woods, but instead of grandma's house, you'll find a nasty old castle, caves, and...well, we won't ruin it for you. The goal here is to...

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy Vii.
October 1, 2005... Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Release Date: Late 2006 When Square Enix announced an all-new PSP action-RPG based on Final Fantasy VII, fans anxiously waited for further details...and they're still waiting. So...

Xbox 360 Vs. Playstation 3: Round 2.
October 1, 2005... In the arsenal of any console maker, it'd be a terrifying weapon. Capcom's Resident Evil 5, sequel to the GameCube-only early-2005 horror hit that's still our front-runner for Game of the Year, has just shown its rotting face in Japan (see...

Displayed in Japan: Five Fresh Xbox 360 Games (And One to Keep An Eye On).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Rumble Roses XX--At last, a game receives the rare and provocative "double X" rating! (Actually, the "XX" means "tag team.") Konami has added four-girl brawls and a "relationship system" to this version. Sounds a little...awesome. Frame...

Displayed in Japan: Five Fresh Playstation 3 Games.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Endless Saga--The PS3's first massively multiplayer online role-playing game comes from WEBZEN, a Korean developer with a long history of this stuff. The trailer revealed little--just a butterfly fluttering by a hot iron-armored maiden. ...

Driver: Parallel Lines.
October 1, 2005... Publisher: Atari Developer: Reflections Release Date: March 2006 Former Driver series hero Tanner has turned in his tarnished badge. The conflicted undercover cop who slaughtered hundreds of innocents and lawmen alike just to...

EGM International.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... STAR SOLDIER I've heard that name somewhere before. Then congratulations--you're officially a game dork. Originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Hudson's Star Soldier has made an appearance on a massive variety of...

Gun.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... Publisher: Activision Developer: Neversoft Release Date: November 2005 When Los Angeles police walked into a mirror-glassed office building after an intruder tripped its silent alarm, they found a wiry man with a handlebar...

Bullet Time: We Walk a Mile in the Game's Cowboy Boots...
October 1, 2005... Those carefree deer and antelope have it made. But for cowboys, home on the range is one tough place to make a living. Gun keeps you busy with side tasks anytime you decide to take a break from the main story (which itself has about 20...

Resident Evil 4.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom Release Date: October 2005 If Vegas set odds for the gaming industry, the chances of Resident Evil 4 coming to the PlayStation 2 would've fallen somewhere between "New Mario title exclusively...

Zeld Watch.
October 1, 2005... It's only the second edition of our monthly Zelda Watch and we've already hit a goron-sized snag: no new info. Nintendo promises the drought will end soon, and there's always zeldawatch.1UP. com for up-to-the-minute updates--interviews, new...

"Sweep the Leg!".(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Tom Taylor, AKA: Tsquared Rated in the top four in 16 consecutive pro tournaments, this hotshot Halo 2 sensei gets paid anywhere from $400 to $800 a week teaching players level 3 to 37. He's getting profiled for True Life on MTV. ...

Take This Job: Game Designer.
October 1, 2005... This month: Lorne Lanning President and creative director of Oddworld Inhabitants Lanning's Details Experience: Eleven years as a designer, 19 years in the graphics industry Notable games: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PS1),...

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... Publisher: Konami Developer: Konami Tokyo Release Date: October 2005 After 19 years of gothic flagellation, Konami's most prolific action-adventure series still manages to successfully reanimate itself on a regular basis....

The Rumor Mill.
October 1, 2005... Man, how time flies. To think it was 20 years ago that I rocked out to MA[paragraph]tley CrA1/4e, learned from MacGyver how to make a rocket launcher out of tree bark and two rubber bands, and purchased Nintendo's very first console (check...

The Top 10 Bosses.
October 1, 2005... Gwa-ha-ha! So, you want to get closer to EGM's 200th issue? FOOLS! You will have to get through us first, for we are the top 10 bosses of all time! Whether we intimidated you with our stunning looks, finished off your game in dramatic...

The Hot 10.
October 1, 2005... 1 - ALTOIDS CANS AS GAME CASES Once you get rid of the crap inside, those round Altoids sours tins are the perfect size to hold three PSP UMDs. DS owners, try the Altoids chewing gum case for your carts. 2 - HIDDEN CONTENT San...

Darkwatch.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... CRISPIN: Fear not that the armies of the underworld are idle and wasting away. They're gainfully employed--thousands upon thousands of them--in Darkwatch, a gritty Old West shooter with an extra-crypty flavor. As an outlaw hero turned...

Beat Down: Fists of Vengeance.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... G. FORD: Recent years haven't seen much in terms of memorable brawlers--and even though Capcom makes a noble attempt with Beat Down, a 3D beat-em-up with some interesting ideas, it's not enough to rekindle this once beloved genre. Beat Down's...

NHL 2K6 VS. NHL 06.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... It's a brave new world over in the real NHL, and it's the same over here on the videogame side. The 2K series is solid as usual, but EA Sports has finally turned its hockey game around. Does parity reign once again? BRYAN: It's fitting...

Chihuahua Grudge Match.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... COST The first year of ownership runs around $1,000. But counting Minnie's wardrobe and spa treatments, it's like $2,500 Even if you didn't have a DS and bought all three versions of Nintendogs, you'd still spend only $250 or so ...

Nintendogs.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... Different versions of Nintendogs contain different breeds. Don't worry if your fave isn't on yours--hook up with friends and their breeds will become available in your kennel. SHOE: Good thing Bob Barker and his ball-bustin' crusade to...

187: Ride or Die.(Product/Service Evaluation)
October 1, 2005... (PS2/XB) DEMIAN: Every once in a while a game comes around that really makes you think. 187: Ride or Die is one of those games, and what it makes me think is that when marketing guys have free reign to do whatever they want, the...

Urban Reign.
October 1, 2005... ROBERT: Fusing the traditionally separate genres of wrestling, fighting, and old-school beat-em-up, Urban Reign is a kind of Unified Theory of Fisticuffs. You got your grappling moves, your martial arts, your broken bottles, and your lead...

Radiata Stories.
October 1, 2005... CHRISTIAN: Radiata Stories spins a generic fantasy yarn with slight comedic flair. Young Jack Russell aspires to be a knight. His comrade in arms, Ridley Silverlake, finds herself at the center of a political conspiracy against the elves,...

Motogp 3.
October 1, 2005... GREG: When you look at something like EA's NASCAR series, which has seen large, sweeping changes every year for a while now, it's hard to get too excited about MotoGP 3, which is essentially the same game it has been since the original...

Mario Superstar Baseball.
October 1, 2005... G. FORD: Though he may not look the part, Mario always got picked first for sports. The Mario Tennis and Golf series have won over hardcore fans and casuals alike with a mix of newbie-friendly pick-up-and-play controls and deep gameplay. But...

WWE Day of Reckoning 2.
October 1, 2005... GREG: Wrestling games have been mediocre for so long now that it's hard not to be jaded about the incremental improvements we get to see every couple of years. Day of Reckoning 2 is a definite improvement over last year's GC wrasslin'...

Medievil Resurrection.
October 1, 2005... CRISPIN: Turns out that great action games really don't die. They just fade away, replaced by niftier, more innovative titles. Such is the case with MediEvil, a PlayStation 1 hack-and-slash adventure that in its day charmed us with moody...

Namco Museum Battle Collection.
October 1, 2005... SHANE: If you're interested in this collection of geriatric arcade titles, you're either an oldster who survived Pac-Man fever...or someone who's sick of all the sports sims and racing games clogging PSP shelves. Namco's collection oozes...

Gripshift.
October 1, 2005... KATHLEEN: If Dr. Frankenstein made a game, he'd probably patch together something like this self-proclaimed puzzle/platform/driving/actioner. Let's break it down. First, GripShift fails as a platformer: Its twisty, hazard-filled,...

Trace Memory.
October 1, 2005... SHANE: What a bizarre little game. Trace Memory beams in from the art-house gaming zone, melding the old-timey point-and-click adventure aspects of Myst with a surreal, postmodern murder mystery plot. The results are, well...suitably weird....

Reviews Wrap-Up.
October 1, 2005... Donkey Kong: King of Swing GBA * Nintendo * ESRB: E Remember back when Nintendo made normal platformers? Yeah, neither do we. But DK: King of Swing is one of the company's better excursions off the beaten path: Gameplay revolves...

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... PS2/XB * Ubisoft * October 2005 Targets Acquired: Everyone's bitching about the overabundance of shooters based on that big ol' war that grandpappy was a part of. But at least Brothers in Arms did something to set itself apart--instead...

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... XB360/PS2/XB/GC * Ubisoft * November 2005 Targets Acquired: The "Rainbow Six for the outdoorsman" Ghost Recon series continues to explore near-future technology with Advanced Warfighter. It's 2013, and the U.S. Army can now outfit its...

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... PS2/XB/GC * Activision * October 2005 Targets Acquired: Yep, it's more World War II, 'cept this Call of Duty 2 is on the consoles that are currently in your possession. It's not quite as visually stunning as its Xbox 360 cousin, but for...

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... PS2/XB * EA Games * October 2005 Targets Acquired: Hop into a tank, helicopter, gunboat, jeep...or hoof it on foot. In this jack-of-all-trades shooter, you can do whatever you want, however you want. Each time you spawn, you pick a...

The Characters of Advent Children.
October 1, 2005... CLOUD STRIFE FFVII's mopey antihero is still working through a lot of personal issues and contracting the dangerous geostigma disease isn't helping. SEPHIROTH FFVII's bad-ass villain certainly seemed dead, yet we have to wonder...

The Final Countdown.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Final Fantasy stands firm as the most successful and influential role-playing series in the history of console gaming. But do you remember the last time you actually played a regular Final Fantasy game? The three most recent releases were...

Before Crisis: Final Fantasy Vii.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Release Date: Spring 2006 Although you probably consider cell phone games to be fluffy fare like Bejeweled, Jamdat Bowling, or Tetris, Square Enix intends to change the way U.S....

Beyond Final Fantasy Vii.
October 1, 2005... At the massive E3 game conference this past May, Square Enix debuted a trailer dubbed "Final Fantasy VII Tech Demo for PS3." This clip re-created the opening CG cinema from the PS1 game in vastly improved form, all of it rendered in real time...

NBA Live 06.
October 1, 2005... Publisher: EA Sports Developer: EA Canada Release Date: November 2005 "Oh man, just wait until they see the game." That's what Tim Tschirner tells us he said to himself a few months back after reading our first (and quite...