Eighteen Wheeler: American Pro Trucker (PS2 Review)

Once upon a time, video game arcades covered the land from sea to shining sea in every available space. Whether it was in a shopping mall, pizza parlor or even your favorite corner convenience store, arcade game cabinets could be found everywhere. What drew the never-ending flow of quarters was simply the fact that home gaming platforms just couldn’t compete with the video output and action of their arcade brethren. However, once the 32-bit gaming machines started appearing in living rooms across the planet gamers began to stay home for their enjoyment and fewer and fewer arcade games were created. 

 

Even in this day and age of the home gaming system. game makers have continued to eek out a meager stream of arcade titles, continuing even today. However, the flow of the river has somewhat reversed upon itself. Now, most of the big games are first being released on a home platform and then translated to the arcade, or developers are using this medium to test out new game engines for future renditions, which of course will be tweaked and tuned for home consummation.

During this most recent time, Sega has been one of the biggest players in the arcade. Probably one of their biggest hits would have to be Crazy Taxi, however they’ve had numerous other titles enter into top-seller status. One of these would be Eighteen Wheeler, where gamers got the opportunity to get behind the big wheel and compete in delivering various loads across North America, all the while racing the clock. Now, perhaps if this title had come to fruition in the era of the NES instead of the PlayStation, its place in history might be more well defined instead of just being a footnote. Nevertheless, this title has made it’s way to a home version and we all have the opportunity to give it a run. Does Eighteen Wheeler deliver the goods on time, or does it fall a few miles short of its destination? That’s what we are about to find out. It’s time to shift into the high gears and take this baby for a ride.

Unfortunately, every video game has both it’s good and bad sides. Sometimes the bad outweighs the good, but usually there is enough silver lining the dark clouds to make the game at least palatable. Eighteen Wheeler: American Pro Trucker (EW:APT) is no exception. Personally, I like to get the bad news out in the open first, so lets take a look a the one glaring problem facing this title. Since this is a direct port from an arcade game, lack of depth and overall length is the big negative issue.

Since most quarter-munchers are designed with a high difficulty to keep the inflow of cash coming and short bursts of gaming between checkpoints to give the player a sense of accomplishment, EW: APT really lacks in the shelf-life department. With five different levels of difficulty selectable, gamers can tone down the frustration factor of racing a too short clock, but only having four stages of competition can allow gamers to complete the entire arcade section is about an hour.

Another issue is the rather meager selection of trucks and trailers available. Players can choose between just four different tractors and eventually seven different trailers for the complete game. There is no customization available and the only upgrades are those won in the three bonus areas between the driving stages. Moreover, you only have one competitor throughout the entire race to match wits against and the computer AI is rather suspect. If he gets a good lead on your truck, for some strange reason you’ll find him chugging along letting you have a final chance of beating him to the finish line. However, if the contest is a close one, or you are in the lead, quickly will the afterburners come on and you’ll soon be munching on a mouthful of dust.

Controlling your simulated big rig is incredibly simpler than that of real life, and this is coming from a guy who drives them for a living. Sega has allowed the player to completely customize their preferred layout so you get to pick which button does what on the DualShock 2. Personally, this has always my preferred method of gaming and I literally do flip-flops of joy whenever the option is available. My only complaint is that the right analog stick cannot be used for acceleration or braking, something that I’ve conformed to ever since picking up my first copy of Gran Turismo back in 1998. Nevertheless, when you hit a button to do something, it happens instantaneously with no delay at all, which makes for a very enjoyable gaming experience. Even though I’ve had limited experience with the Sega arcade titles, I do believe that Eighteen Wheeler is running on the same game engine of that of Crazy Taxi, which received numerous amounts of praise from both gamers and the media alike. If this is the case, I can easily understand why the game is such a joy to control.

Visually, EW:APT is an exact duplicate of the arcade version. In all honesty, this is a good thing, as the graphics definitely are not weak by any definition of the word. Environments are bustling with background action and there is a plethora of interaction between the sidewalks. Traffic is always coming and going on both sides of the roadways and it varies from other big trucks to tiny subcompacts. The environments are also just as fitting for whatever part of the country you are supposed to be driving through. There is no clipping, slowdown or even the tiniest bit of draw-in evident and the framerate maintains a constant flow no matter how many other vehicles are on the screen at the same time.

Along with the direct port of the arcade version, Eighteen Wheeler has two additional modes; Parking and Score Attack. Both modes have four individual levels to complete in where the regular assortment of tractors and trailers are available to be chosen. In the Parking mode, players are forced to manipulate their rigs along predetermined paths that range in various levels of difficulty. Each level has five different parking situations that the player must master before the expiring timer, well…err…um, expires. Penalties are accessed, in the form of time reductions, for hitting stationary objects, so it pays to keep control of your rig at all times.

The Score Attack mode has drivers looking to rack up as many points as possible while completing three circuits on one of the four available tracks. Players receive bonus points for wrecking specific vans and get penalty points for hitting other vehicles or smacking your trailer into barriers or walls, all the while racing the same driver you have competed against through the entire game. These two modes help to expand the rather limited shelf-life of the game, but neither do much more than adding a few hours of play at the most.

The sound options for Eighteen Wheeler are rather average. There is no surround sound support and gamers are limited to the regular mono or stereo options. Nevertheless, your world is filled with background noises aplenty, including some rather interesting CB conversation from your racing competition. Personally, I would have preferred more depth in this area, but the existing options are more than adequate for this title.

Unfortunately, the extras for Eighteen Wheeler: APT are exceptionally scarce. One might think that a title of this nature would require an online option, however, it was released before Sony had their online act together. Hence, gamers are forced to stay home and invite their friends over to take on the two-player versus mode instead. In this option, two players go head-to-head in the Score Attack mode. Players have, once again, a rather restrictive selection of trucks and trailers, four and seven respectively, to use in the competition. Furthermore, you have the exact same four tracks that were used in the one-player Score Attack to compete on. Although this mode is a a nice treat, it really is like handing a candy bar to a starving man; it takes the edge off the hunger but it doesn’t do much for nourishment.

There are some unlockable trucks and trailers available for completing the extra modes, but the one truck and two trailers really does little to expand your horizons.

Besides this, the only additional feature for the game is the ability to utilize the Logitech Driving Force steering wheel in place of your DualShock 2 controller. While this might not usually be a big deal, the Driving Force wheel is only surpassed in excellence by the official GT4 wheel, also developed by Logitech. Unlike the steering wheels made by other companies, the DF actually does what you want and helps to expand the gaming experience. Kudos to Sega for including this option.

Eighteen Wheeler: APT gives players as many ups and downs as an amusement park roller coaster. The gameplay and the control both are topnotch gaming while the depth and overall length of the title are extremely lacking. Although this is perfectly okay for an arcade machine, having something of this nature on a home system is just unacceptable. Here, quantity must at least equal quality and unfortunately the fuel tank is less than half full. EW: APT is completely fine as a rental, or as a back-up, back-up choice from the bargain bin when you just can’t find something else that tickles your fancy. It just doesn’t have the power to pull itself through the gaming gorge. This one ends up in the breakdown lane, waiting on the wrecker to arrive.

Difficulty: 5

Control: 8

Audio: 5

Visuals: 7

Replayability: 3

Overall: 5.2

Air Combat (PSOne Review)

For those of us old school gamers, I'm sure there are plenty of you that would attest that back in the day there was no better looking arcade flight shooter than Sega's After Burner. I honestly can't remember how many hours I wasted during my high school years standing besides that gigantic moveable cockpit cabinet wishing for the day to come where I could play something that looked that real from the comfort of my couch.

Once I discovered the PlayStation back in 1998, I figured that my hopes and dreams for gaming had finally come to fruition. Everything looked so much better than it ever had on my Commodore 64 and damn wasn't it close to what the arcade cabinets were able to put out. The only thing that seemed to be missing was the ability to get the sofa to move underneath me. Little did I know, this was just the beginning where in-home gaming was to surpass that of the arcade variety. We now could have all the fun without the need to use up our laundry quarters.

The flight genre is one of the least overall exploited categories in the PlayStation library. Although, if you take a snapshot of the early days, you'd think exactly the opposite. In the first couple of years, there seemed to be a literal avalanche of flight concentrated titles, some being top-down shooters while others decided to dabble in the third dimension. However, this flood quickly dried up and only a few stalwarts remained. One of the first just happened to become the be all, end all to the flight game genre on the PlayStation. Although it would go thru a name change, it still set the bar for all that would follow and kept the pretenders honest. Of course I'm referring to the big daddy of all flight games, Air Combat (AC).

The backstory for AC is nothing new or unique. You are a member of an elite group of mercenaries hired by the governments of the world to combat and defeat an invading force of terrorists. Where the air forces of the establishment have failed, it's up to you and your band of mercenaries to succeed. The danger is great, but so are the rewards. Are you up to the challenge? Well, strap in tight and let's get ready to taxi. Up next, Air Combat. Ready? Break Now!

The first thing for any flight game that a person wants is variety in the plane lineup. Well, Air Combat does not fail in this department. Although you initial choices are limited, as you progress through the game you will have the opportunity to pilot sixteen different planes ranging from the slow, plodding A-10 Warhog to the nimble SU-27. Each plane has varied ratings in five different categories (Stability, Offense, Defense, Power and Mobility) and they all handle differently, which adds the possibility of replayability for players looking to complete all the levels with all the different planes.

You begin the first mission with only 3 planes in your personal hanger. However, more become available for purchase as you progress through the game allowing up to eight planes total to be at the ready. However, if your plane gets shot down, or you crash and burn, to get that type of plane again you must purchase it from funds in your account. One thing to keep in mind though is that all unlocked planes do not remain purchasable at all times an you might have to wait to find your preferred ride again. Once you fill your hanger, you do have the option of selling lesser planes back, for half of their original purchase price, to open up a spot. But, once again, be careful of what you get rid of, as it may not become available later on when it could have been useful.

You also do not have to take on all the missions alone. You have the opportunity, in some of the missions, to purchase the assistance of various mercenary wingman to watch your back and help out when the going gets hot. Nevertheless, their respective abilities and planes are not free. These mercenaries want their money up-front, so if you crash and burn, not only do you lose the plane you had but also the cash you used to purchase your help. Money management is an added factor that must be taken into consideration at the beginning of every chapter.

Where do you get the funds? Well, along with a standard pre-announced cash prize for successfully completing the mission, everything that you shoot down or blow up has a prize value that gets added to your score when you achieve your goal. Usually there are specific targets, designated with special HUD cursors, that must be destroyed to complete the mission. However, all other additional forces can either be engaged or ignored, depending on the whim of the player. I would suggest though that leaving these targets still sitting on the table can create a real cash crisis later on in the game and should only be passed up if your plane is in a critical condition. Also, you do have a limited amount of missiles, ammunition and fuel to take into consideration. So, if you are running low on any of these, I'd advise you to concentrate on the primary objectives and leave the gravy on the plate.

The mission variety is definitely on par with any flight game you may have experienced. Dogfighting other planes does occupy the majority of the experiences, just as it should, however you can expect Namco to keep everything fresh and exciting. Not only will you take on terrorist planes and 'copters, but also ground forces, supply stations, naval vessels and even a super-sized air fortress in the final mission. One nice touch is that you don't have to follow the game linearly. After getting into the meat of the game, multiple mission branches begin to open up. Players can choose where they want to go next and tackle which specific mission when they want. Eventually, you will have to complete them all to get you to the end, but having the freedom to decide when is a big plus in my book. The environments are also as varied. Besides the wide blue yonder, you can expect to have to tackle desert lands, open ocean waters and some rather claustrophobic canyon runs tight enough to challenge Maverick and Goose. All in all, there are 17 very different missions to complete and each one has something different to offer.

Visually, Air Combat isn't that much of a backwards leap, even though it was released early in the lifespan of the original PlayStation. True, it doesn't have photo-realistic backgrounds and there definitely are some jaggies here and there. Nevertheless, unless you are a graphics whore, I really don't see much complaining to be done. Everything is running at a steady frame-rate, the distance draw-in is minimal, for a first generation PlayStation game, and there are no real collision detection issues that I've found. The night missions are a little more difficult than the normal day flights as you don't have a good clear view of your surroundings. But, I found if you pay just a bit more attention to the landscape than normal, you won't be having to scrape your plane off the side of a mountain as often.

While this is all may sound overly positive, everything in AC is not top notch, especially in the audio department. Yes, you do have eleven different background tunes to keep the dogfights fresh. However, the only way to pick your favorite tune is to use the music player in the options menu.  Each level usually has it's own set song, most of which would sound perfect if injected into the movie soundtrack for Top Gun. Nevertheless, they can become stale if you have to repeat the same level over and over again. Besides that, there are only the standard choices of mono or stereo in the options menu even though the PSOne is capable of so much more. Probably this disappointment stems more from the plethora of modern-day options available in today's games like custom soundtracks and multichannel surround sound. Nevertheless, the sound options and output are acceptable and keep you in the game and what does come out does it at an extremely high quality.

One other negative aspect I discovered in Air Combat was the lack of analog control, along with no support for the thumbsticks. Once again, this simply is a product of its time. These two options did not exist when the game was created. I found using the D-pad more difficult than piloting a plane with the later standard fare, but it still was possible to keep yourself flying once you got used to the retro controls.

According to the instruction booklet the controls are customizable, but the booklet is not very helpful in explaining how it is done. Only with extensive investigation did I discover that the "expert" controller setting does allow complete controller customization while the "novice" only allows a player to adjust the Y-Axis choice. Besides this, this only difference between the two is that the "expert" setting gives the player greater control over their turning ability. Selecting them means you can bank more sharply, execute maneuvers like barrel rolls or turn slightly using the separate yaw controls. Although this may be important to some air jockeys, you still can easily complete the game using the standard pre-set "novice" controls.

Players do have the option of choosing between the standard third-person (behind the plane) or the first-person (in-the-cockpit) views. Even though I tried both, and they are feasible, I much preferred to put myself into the virtual cockpit. Although I doubt that many players use the third-person view, it's nice that Namco added it in for gamers to exercise their personal taste. Either way, you are kept visually in the action and never have to worry about getting blindsided.

The one other thing that I found disappointing was the overall length of the game. There are seventeen different missions, but none of then had any extensive depth. Once I figured out the controls and got used to them, I was able to streak through most of the game in a single afternoon. I just had to finish up the final two levels after dinner to have the entire first playthough completed in a total of 6 hours. Granted, this was on the most simplistic of the three difficulty level, however I really would have preferred to have more available. One thing I did learn was that once you complete the game on different difficulty levels, you open up special unlockables to assist you repeating the process. Finishing up on the easy level allows players access to all of the planes in the game without having to purchase them, and without the limitation of hanger size. There are additional prizes, which I won't spoil for you, for completing the additional difficulty levels, so there is a reason to play the game through multiple times.

But, if you get tired of playing by yourself, Air Combat also comes packed with a 2-player split screen mode so you can fly the unfriendly skies against a buddy. There is not a lot of depth to this option. You can change up the initial face off of the combatants, giving one player an advantage of starting behind the other, but it really doesn't affect things that much after the first few seconds. Honestly, this mode is nothing to get overly excited about and only is a neat distraction that probably would last a couple of minutes, at the most, before you and a friend went to discover fun elsewhere.

In summation, Air Combat gives players a solid experience, especially if you take it's release date into consideration. However, it definitely gives room for development and refining for future renditions. As a flight game, it gives you a half decent time even though the story is a bit on the short side. Nevertheless, it's always nice to experience things at their origin, and in no way is Air Combat a disappointment to fans of the series. If nothing but for its historical nature, this one should be gobbled up by flight fans everywhere. For those casual gamers, you can probably pass it up for something with a fresher coat of paint.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 7

Audio: 6

Visuals: 7

Replayability: 8

Overall: 7.5

Gungriffon Blaze (PS2 Review)

Everyone knows that giant robots are badass. Ever since Robotech landed on our television sets, every boy has dreamed of piloting a mecha at some time or another. Size or speed makes no difference. Neither does the country of origin. Both Japan and the United States have had their share of television series’ which brought us from our mundane living rooms into the cockpits of a fighting machine in one way or another.

 

Gamers have also had a plethora of mech games on every platform imaginable. Some are heavily grounded in the simulation and building of the perfect mecha while others focus more on the action and leave the strategy sitting on the sidelines. No matter if you are a fan of the Armored Core series or of the Macross, just about everyone who has picked up a controller in the past ten years has experienced a mech game of one sort or another. Usually these games take place in the faraway future where mankind has evolved from his barbaric ways to embrace technology and use it for the greater good of humanity. Others have us continuing on our current path of hate and destruction turning technology against our brothers for nothing less than the conquest of our planet. One such series is the Gungriffon franchise.

Set in the post-apocalyptic world where global warming has turned the nations of the world into warring factions over the last remaining resources, Gungriffon Blaze continues on the tradition of the franchise established back on the Sega Saturn in 1996. Although this is the third game in the series, it actually is only the second iteration to make it here across the Pacific. How does it match up with other genre titles? Read on and find out for yourself.
 

Gungriffon Blaze picks up where the previous games left off. With use of the American AWGS’s (Armored Walking Gun Systems), Japan concedes WW III in 2015. US and AFTA countries station units in Europe and Asia to help quell tensions rising from food shortages. Because the weather patterns continue to worsen, citizens begin a mass migration to the south throwing the US and AFTA nations into anarchy. It is at that point, a power grab commences forcing the US and Japanese forces to work together to quash this new threat.

 

Part mech simulator, part first-person shooter, Gungriffon Blaze finds a way to meld the two genres into one big, fat, happy serving. As the game starts rolling, players are granted a look into some of the best FMVs (Full Motion Videos) seen up to this date (October 2000) on any system. After the title bursts into flames, you get right into the creation of your personal character. There are bunches of choices to make, including the nationality, name, age, sex, eyesight and even IQ. Although these make little difference in your actual playing ability, it is a unique way to enter codes for special unlockables by entering the proper combination, all of which you can find on a local code site nearest to you. Players also have the ability to alter bunches and bunches of options before getting hot and heavy into the mix. The menu system can be somewhat confusing for the beginner and could have used some streamlining, nevertheless you should be able to find your way to the meat of the sandwich after only minimal trial and error.

Before the mission actually starts, gamers are given a detailed explanation of their objectives and possible placement of enemy forces. Once this completes, you are dropped immediately into the fray. After you eliminate the first wave of combatants, you get your first opportunity to take a look around. Your line of sight is usually to the horizon with only rare instances of draw-in evident. Environments properly reflect your location, however there is not an excessive amount of variance. In fact, compared to today’s games, one could consider these to be barren.

Normally the game runs along at a steady 60 FPS, but there are slight instances of slowdown when multiple buildings begin to collapse and explode. And blow up buildings you will, as just about everything that you will run across will be destructible. However, this is one of the possible pitfalls that novice gamers might become trapped by, as each and every mission is running on a timer. If you spend too much time clearing the landscape, you might not have enough reserve time to complete your assigned missions. Environments are big enough to give you a challenge but still small enough to keep you from getting hopelessly lost. One downside is the invisible wall that keeps you in the prescribed playing field, when the landscape, and even opponents, are on the other side just screaming for your personal attention.

Do not expect this to be a one man show. For every assignment, after the training session, you will have numerous allies assisting you on your mission. This does take some getting used to, as your first instinct is to blow away everything moving in your field of vision. Enemy and friendly forces are designated by a different colored HUD (Head’s Up Display) overlay, but this is only active when you have a unit squarely in your crosshairs. Have an itchy trigger finger and you could easily waste one of your own people. Don’t think that a mistake like this will go unnoticed. Send a few rounds in the wrong direction and you will actually hear your counterparts warning you off. In fact, if you listen closely, the radio chatter will keep you abreast of the happenings out of your line of sight. Most of the time, allies do little to actually help you complete your missions, but there are those rare occasions where they will help eliminate a necessary enemy or pick off a combatant from over your shoulder. Needless to say, they are not the smartest bunch of NPCs (Non-Player Characters) you will ever meet, but it’s nice to have a little bit of help mopping up the numerous amounts of forces you will encounter.

Voices will not be the only thing sounding through your speaker system. The background music is a curious mix. The main menu offers players a selection of a classical sounding piece while the in-game music pounds out something similar to what one would hear at a rock concert. Also every time a gun fires, or something explodes, you can immediately recognize its origin. Ally and enemy fire sound remarkably different, even though the color of the rounds are the same. Thus, players are required to use their sense of hearing as well as that of sight to help them keep tabs on who is where on the battlefield. Unfortunately, gamers with surround sound systems will not be able to use their multiple speakers to assist with locating enemy combatants as you only have the standard mono or stereo selections available. This is one game that really could have benefited from Dolby adding their extra special touch to the audio.

Gungriffon Blaze makes excellent use of the DualShock 2. Players do have the limited ability to alter their controller settings to meet their personal preference via the numerous preset selections. Furthermore, you also have the ability to reverse that ever annoying Y-axis if you wish your up to be down. For those of us who are used to having one analog stick do most of the controlling, there will be some reconditioning necessary to be able to complete the missions and it took me about a half dozen runs through the training scenario before I felt comfortable enough to go out and take on my first real mission. Just about all of the buttons are utilized for one action or another, but you don’t have to worry about getting confused with overly complicated patterns to launch your weapons. Those of you who are FPS (First-Person Shooter) veterans will feel right at home and should be able to be mixing it up full force with little to no real learning necessary.

Players have six different levels to test their piloting mettle. You get to venture all over the world, doing everything from training missions, to assaulting military bases and even running interference for retreating forces. Although that might not sound like a lot, each of the six levels has an advanced version that can be unlocked via extended play. Also, every time you beat a level with a new high score, a new point plateau is reestablished for you to conquer. Furthermore, there are four separate difficulty levels that incrementally increase in challenge as you progress up the ladder. Of course, the harder the setting, the greater the reward in the form of a multiplier applied to your final point score. Thus, the replay value is there if you are really willing to put your skills to the test.

While we are talking about replay value, don’t think that you’ll have to take on the same levels over and over again using the same old mecha. As you acquire points and receive medals, new and more challenging mechs will become available. Some will be slower, unable to jump but pack a much stronger punch. Others will be on the complete flip side. Each different fighting machine will require you to modify your fighting style and flaunt the strengths, while minimizing the weaknesses, of the new mecha. This in itself brings the levels into a new light and keeps the continued playing fresh.

Another aspect that keeps your heart rate pounding is the multiple weapons and systems that the mecha can have equipped. During each mission, boxes, along with other assorted goodies, will appear once enemies or structures have been destroyed. There are three separate types of boxes that will allow the collection of new weapons, auxiliary items or models (these will be covered to a larger extent later on in the review). Weapons and auxiliary items come in three levels of strength and are so known by their color coding. However, there is a catch to actually getting these item boxes added to your inventory. Although you might gather twenty or more boxes on a level, your difficulty setting and how well you do on the assignment will determine how many boxes you get to open and keep. The only information you have is what category the box belongs in and the approximate strength of the prize within. After that, it’s strictly a grab bag. Usually it’s a good practice to take the highest level boxes first and work your way down the food chain until your number of choices expires. This way you have a better chance of getting something worthwhile for use in the harder levels. However, if you fail to complete your objective, you may only receive one choice to add to your inventory. This keeps players from running the same missions over and over again only to stock up on items without putting forth the necessary effort to win the battle every time you start one up.

However, don’t confuse the customization of your machine with those of other mecha games like Armored Core. Besides having the opportunity to choose which type of AWGS you want, you only get to pick one of the three weapon systems and two additional support items (advanced armor, advanced firepower, hyper zoom, jump regulators, etc.). You don’t have to spend hours putting your fighting machine together only to see it blown to pieces in the first few seconds of fighting. Gungriffon is all about the action, not the preliminary mishmash that some players thrive upon.

And action you will have, in fistfuls. Most battlefields are teeming with dozens of baddies just looking for a fight. From simple tanks and troop transports, to artillery placements and finally enemy mechs, your time spent in the cockpit will be fast and furious. Furthermore, reinforcements are constantly flowing from different points on the map, so you can’t expect a section to remain clear once you’ve sent all the enemy to Valhalla. Luckily, your HUD will help keep track of everything an aspiring pilot would need including proximity meters, jump regulators and ammunition counts. There also is an in-game compass displayed to help keep you heading in the correct direction along with giving you some idea where reinforcements are coming from when their presence is announced via the radio.

As mentioned earlier, players have the opportunity to select model boxes after they complete their missions. These do nothing for your gameplay, but they do unlock some rather interesting 3-D models. By going back to the original menu, gamers can select the model viewer where different groups of mecha and machines are selectable. The unique aspect is that when an item is selected, it is displayed as if it was a model kit like those found in most hobby shops. You have full control of the viewer and can get close up and personal with each and every kit. This does help in identifying enemy units on the battlefield, but does nothing else.

Unfortunately, Gungriffon Blaze only has single player support. This is one title that really would have shined being released later in the PS2 lifecycle, as we could have expected some sort of multiplayer aspect, possibly including online contests. Perhaps sometime in the future Game Arts will bring us a new version of the series that gives our online brethren something to howl about.

Gungriffon Blaze was IGN’s runner-up winner for the 2000 action game of the year (Timesplitters was the winner). Although the game came out as a launch title for the PlayStation 2, it probably was one of the most overlooked games in the entire lineup, especially since the series did not have the opportunity to create a true fanbase here in North America. This is one title definitely not for those lacking in the coordination department. Although far from being perfect, the good outweighs the bad and should keep players up late into the night as they try “just one more time” to top a previous high score or complete a mission. This was one of the first games I ever purchased for my PS2 and honestly it is the only launch title that still keeps me coming back for more. 

Unfortunately, the game is no longer in print, so your only chance to get your hands wrapped around a copy will be by scouring the used game sections. However, I will guarantee that the search will be worth your time. If you happen to come across a copy, and are a fan of either mechs or first-person shooters, add it to your collection without a second thought. All others should buy at their personal discretion, although the price point should be attractive enough to give it a whirl to see if it agrees with you.

Difficulty: 9

Control: 9

Audio: 7

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 8

Overall: 8.6

Aquanaut's Holiday (PSOne Review)

Back in the 90s there was this little television show about absolutely nothing. It set all types of viewing records and dethroned The Cosby Show as the must watch show of the week. You probably remember watching it at home, or have recently watched Seinfeld in reruns. Well, it was a huge success and there was no interlocking grand plot, no real continuing storyline or defined strategy. It simply was, and in doing so became one of the grandest sitcoms in television history.

Now I'm sure that you're asking yourself, "What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?" No, you haven't slipped into one of the new episodes of the Twilight Zone, and yes this will eventually get to a video game review. It's just that Aquanaut's Holiday (AH) has so much in common with Seinfeld. No, there is no Soup Nazi at the bottom of the ocean nor does Kramer come barging into your sub at inopportune times. It's simply that AH is seeming a game about nothing. In fact, if you go throughout the web you might think that it doesn't actually exist.

In doing my background research for Aquanaut's Holiday, I was astounded upon what, or more like the lack of, information concerning the title I found. One of the better known websites simply had two paragraphs for their entire review. Seriously, two whole paragraphs (the images weren't added until a year later) and that was it. Other big sites simply have the basic game info without any write-up at all. Honestly, it left a bad taste in my mouth and increased my rage against the establishment machine. Just because a game isn't CoD (Call of Duty) or Mario doesn't mean that it should be pushed to the side and forgotten. Every game deserves to be given the same consideration, in my opinion, niche game or not. Nevertheless, I'll make sure to fill the void where the "Industry" has stumbled.

Anyhow, Aquanaut's Holiday is unlike anything else I've experienced in my entire gaming career. There is no grand adventure, there is no real plot and there are no cut-scenes. It simply is an underwater simulator where you traverse the bottom of the ocean watching the fish swim their way around your submersible. That's where the "Holiday," or what we would call vacation, part of the title comes from. You aren't on any mission to save the planet. You are simply here in the underwater world to relax from a busy time at the office. Although this may sound extremely foolish to us here in the States, it is usually how people in other places enjoy their time off and recover from the day-to-day drumming of life. Seriously, we usually need a couple of days off after we complete our vacation to recover from all the running we did while we were supposed to be relaxing.

Nevertheless, there is a pretty large underwater world, at least in the PSOne standards of things, to discover. Upon leaving your underwater base, you can venture to all points of the compass seeing what there is to see. You can visit sunken ships, megalithic pillars and a bunch of other artifacts all at your desired pace. There is no time limit, no fictional restriction of air supply or no killer sharks chasing you around. You do have the option of dropping a marker to keep your place and using it to return at a later date if you want to quickly return to your base of operations. Although this might seem meaningless, it does serve a purpose. These way points allow you to not have to retrack over already discovered territory. Furthermore, they can be placed when you find some interesting artifact or sunken relic for an easier return in the future.

Even though it appears that AH has no purpose, there actually is one disguised as a mini-game. At your home base, you can construct your own coral reef. You acquire "blocks" as you adventure around doing your underwater exploration. You don't actually pick them up or collect them, as you do in other games, but simply more are available to use the more you explore. As your reef expands, more fish are attracted to it. Once you have collected a number reef blocks, it's up to you on how they are placed. Placement and color variation are key to attracting more and more fish. Eventually when you attract the maximum amount of fish, it unlocks a super secret ability to control the fish that you come across. When you fill the meter at the bottom of the screen, you have finally completed a game with no "official" ending.

Visually, Aquanaut's Holiday is decent for it's time-frame. Released in Japan during the PlayStation's first year in 1995 (it was released in the US one year later in 1996), things really aren't all that beautiful. In fact, the visual depth of the little fishes are very two-dimensional and they like to disappear as they turn from left to right. The variety of the wildlife does have a decent selection from normal everyday fish, to creatures of the deep like anglerfish, to sea snakes and even dolphins and sharks. Although the size and placement of the creatures may not be true to life, I'm sure that won't mean much to somebody willing to dedicate the hours needed to find them all. The environments are sparse and there is quite a bit of draw-in evident. Perhaps if Artdink had darkened the background a bit more it wouldn't have been as blatant, however all of the water environment is that light to medium shade of blue instead of the inky blackness that we all know that the depths actually have. Darkening the background color would have made the draw-in seem more realistic instead of what we were given. Nevertheless, taking into account the early release date of the game, it only gets an average overall score for the visuals instead of the expected poor score if it was being considered using today's standards.

Your underwater navigation is handled adeptly through a well defined HUD (Heads-Up Display). Players have three separate meters where they can monitor their forward or backward motion, their compass heading and their change in elevation. All of these appear on the screen when action is happening, but neatly disappear when the sub is in hover mode so that your view of the fishes is completely clear. All of the controls are digital in nature, as this title was released before analog became the standard, but everything responds in a timely fashion with no button delay at all.

The audio selection is about as sparse as the rest of the game. There is occasionally a slight orchestrated tune, depending upon your location, but most of the time the only thing that breaks the silence are the occasional machine beeps from the sub and the four different sonar sounds you use to communicate with the fish. In a way you become the PlayStation version of Aquaman and are able to slightly talk with the aquatic life surrounding your sub. Different types of fish respond uniquely to the different sounds your sub produces. By mixing and matching the specific sounds, one "ping" will call one fish while that same chime will send another off into the deep. It definitely gives you something to experiment with, and adds some depth to your adventure, however there is no reward for finding each fish's unique language.

When it all comes down to it, Aquanaut's Holiday is an enjoyable title if you know what to expect going in before you turn on your PSOne. This title definitely isn't for everyone and anyone expecting some form of collection, danger or adrenaline producing adventure should just move along to some more mainstream game. There is no real difficulty learning curve, so if you can run a DualShock you can play this game. Since there really is no ending, one can come back time and time again to Aquanaut's Holiday whenever you feel the need, for nothing more than the tranquility the title offers. Personally, if Artdink had added a photo option to the submersible where you collected pictures of the fish you found, kind of like how it was done in the PS2 game Everblue 2, AH would have done so much better with the general public. Nevertheless, it is what it is; a stress free underwater holiday without the trouble of renting the submarine. So, now as they say on the islands, "Mahalo nui loa and aloha."

Difficulty: 10

Control: 8

Audio: 4

Visuals: 5

Replayability: 7

Overall: 6.8

Shipwreckers! (PSOne Review)

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. That's what I always think of whenever I see that little Psygnosis symbol down on the bottom of a CD case. It always seemed that whatever they created, it was just "this close" to being a monster game. I always thought of them as the "little company that almost could." Unbeknownst to me at the time, they were one of Sony's in-house development companies acquired in 1993 before the Japanese launch of the original PlayStation.

For those familiar with the early days of the original PlayStation, there should be a plethora of known Psygnosis titles rolling off of your tongue. Colony Wars, Destruction Derby, Formula 1 and WipeOut are probably their best known titles with a multitude of lesser-known cult classics hiding in the shadows (Discworld anyone?). No matter how good these titles were, there just seemed to be a little something missing from each one to vault them into my favorites list. Nevertheless, I could always feel safe in knowing that seeing the Psygnosis label meant that there were some good times a'waiting to be played. So now, let's step away from the mainstream and lean more towards the cult classic flavor and check out one of Psygnosis' lesser known titles, Shipwreckers!

Most people would think that pirates and video games would go together like peanut butter and jelly. Nevertheless, nothing could be further from the truth. Really, one should expect to see pirate game after pirate game in one of the most bloated genre-exploiting explosions rather than the bare handful of titles spanning three separate console generations. If you take away the expected Pirates of the Caribbean tie-ins, you probably could have the rest of the genre counted out on one hand. Luckily, Psygnosis wasn't afraid to break from the crowd and bring us some Yo-Ho-Ho goodness.

Shipwreckers! gives players a top-down view of the Seven Seas with some of the best water effects available on the PSOne. However, players are not given full polygonal goodness as the whole game, minus the cut-scenes, are done via pixels. Although back in the 90s this might have been a negative, for today's gamers this is a refreshing trip down memory lane and gives the title a feeling of nostalgia. Nevertheless, this title doesn't offer much extra in the eyecandy department, even though the graphics are all clear, have no pop-in or ghosting at any time. There also are no in-game hesitations to distract you from hitting a target at the exact moment that you need to sink an opponent. Everything is pre-loaded before anything is accessible, which does create some rather extensive loading times, especially in this day and age of streaming.

Gamers are given plenty of depth with 20 different levels to play and three difficulty levels to play them at. For most of the levels, you simply have to find the assorted treasure chests, take over the seaside towns and obliterate the competition. Each of the end world levels pits your ship up against a big boss where quarters are close and the strength of the boss is intense. Level design is rather inventive. Hidden sections are scattered across the worlds. Some of which have to be blasted open, others are simply hiding behind waterfalls. All these hidden sections become more easily findable as you acquire floating map sections scattered throughout the level in the form of little green bottles. Players can also pick up additional weapons, ammunition and health floating in the water. Moreover, when you capture a town, usually a plethora of extra pick-ups appear to assist in your endeavors. More importantly, these captured towns work as checkpoints, so you aren't forced to start completely over when your ship gets inevitably sunk.

Over time, you ship's weaponry does increase in power and range, making things a bit easier to lay to and blow up structures from a distance. Players are also graced with weapons besides the everyday cannonball. Flaming oil slicks, MX missiles, depth charges, floating mines, flame-throwers and even Tesla-like electric weaponry all can be acquired and leveled-up while you sail the seven seas. This does give extreme flexibility for individuals to use whatever methods they find best to proceed through the story level. Perhaps using the broadsides multi-cannonball shot for taking out the competition is too difficult for you? Well, you do have the option for firing single shots from the bow or drop mines from the rear instead of trying to get yourself parallel to the quick moving targets. As the levels progress, your arsenal also grows to allow you to pack a punch big enough to take down anything you might come across.  

On the other hand, Shipwreckers! just doesn't stand pat with the regular enemies. As your ammo and weapons increase, newer and more challenging enemies make themselves known in the most rudest fashion. Regular sailing ships now pack flaming ammunition, bomb dropping birds appear along with crew-napping UFO's to keep things hopping. Mantas and baby sea monsters attack you from under the waves while airships attempt to drop explosives onto your deck. Although enjoyable at the beginning, as the levels progress things do start to get a bit repetitive, even with the introduction of more exotic weaponry that your ship can weld. Nevertheless, this game keeps you on your toes and doesn't give one inch unless you can take it.

If you are expecting a simple run to the end, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Even on the easiest difficulty setting, this game is no cakewalk. Players only have three ships to start, while additional ones can be acquired during gameplay, that's all you get to make it thru the 20 levels. This can up the frustration factor excessively, especially when you are down to your last ship and are up against one of the many boss battles. However before you get to the point where controllers are in jeopardy of being destroyed, there is a password access to use via cheat codes to sidestep the down to one ship frustration, if you are willing to compromise your gaming integrity. Shipwreckers! also does have memory card support, so you do have the ability to save your progress once you complete a level. Nevertheless, you'll start to hate that parrot sitting on the lit bomb loading screen after watching it for the umpteenth time when you keep losing your last ship over and over again.

However if you get bored sailing the seven seas by yourself, you can break out the multitap and have a 5 player free-for-all in the multiplayer part of the game. The multiplayer can go as far as 9 rounds of either timed or untimed action. Also, you can choose whether the health of the ships recharge at the end of the round or damage carries over in a survival mode. Players also have ten different arenas to choose from for their multi-ship action. This alone is worth the price of admission, as there really are very few good multiplayer games where players don't need to have an excess of experience to have a good time with their friends.

When you are looking for an example on how to do controls for a game correctly, you can use Shipwreckers! as the number one example.  To begin with, the default controller layout seems pretty much natural for anyone's preferences. Nevertheless, if there is something that you don't like, there's no need to fear because the entire button configuration can be customized to however you like it. The only downfall of the game is that it was designed before the DualShock came out, so the thumbsticks are not utilized. Besides that, this is exactly how all games should be done. Letting the consumer decide what works best for them without having to memorize some unnatural button layout when it's just as easy to let the user program their likes into the game. Surprisingly, this is not common practice two generations later and it's still only rarely done in games today.

The audio section of Shipwreckers! is also just as impressive, especially when you take its release date into consideration. Not only do you have the standard mono or stereo selections, there also is a Dolby sound option, the beginnings of what would eventually become surround sound. Moreover, you have the tuning option for the individually tweaking the BGM (BackGround Music) and the game's sound effects to your personal tastes. All of the BGM feels right for the game, varying from a bouncy lite island theme in the early stages to a heavy brooding dramatic score when the going starts to get a bit more tough. The only thing missing would be actual voices for the characters in the cut-scenes instead of the primitive grunts and groans used to barely convey a conversation. Anyway, that's a minor complaint and it barely scratches away at any of the overall rating.

All in all, Shipwreckers! gives players a decent, if not overly challenging, ride on the deep blue sea. The added multiplayer can give gamers a reason to keep it around after they somehow complete the 20 demanding levels of the single-player mode. Although I can pretty safely say that besides this, the replay factor just isn't high enough to expect much more. Shipwreckers! could have been gaming gold but, like most of my experiences with Psygnosis' products, it just falls slightly short. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, just don't expect to be completely blown away.

Difficulty: 6
Control: 9
Audio: 9
Visuals: 7
Replayability: 6
Overall: 7.4

Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events (PS2 Review)

Writing video game reviews is a very difficult occupation. Now, I’m not talking about plowing-the-fields difficult, working-a-double-shift-in-a-steel-mill hard or even taxing like spending a full day teaching a class of rowdy third graders. Each of those jobs are very much more important and involving, along with many others that I didn’t have room to mention, than sitting down and playing games for a living. Well, that’s not exactly true in the involving factor. You might be hard pressed to find an occupation that requires one to be so multifaceted. 

 

True, anybody can sit down and type up a review. Just as anyone can perform the duties of a police officer or doctor, however, the efficiency that the regular Joe can perform in one of those occupations is no where near the level that the truly chosen are capable of achieving. Reviewers must have reflexes like a cat, the patience of a priest, the deductive reasoning of a police detective, the attention to detail of an antique appraiser, the ability to express oneself in the written text like an author and the flexibility of a gymnast where gaming tastes are concerned. Just like most callings, there is more to it than meets the eye.

Not only do all of these requirements come into play, but one also must be able to put themselves into the place of your average everyday player. Normally, I’ll try to evaluate a game on how much I enjoy it, as my personal tastes are rather narrow. However, not every gaming genre matches well to the palate of every gamer. There is a minority of titles that will appeal to the majority of the public and these usually will receive a high rating. However, once a game falls out of that very tight grouping, the reviewer must now assume the likeness of a fan of the genre, even if they personally can’t stand to play games of this nature. You have to do a sort of out-of-body experience and transfer your consciousness to that of a player that looks forward to games of this specific genre. Now, you have to grade the title as a player of this magnitude would, and walk a mile in their shoes to see if this game is their cup of tea.

I can see a large group of people gathering pitchforks and torches, getting ready to storm the castle if I don’t quickly get to the heart of the matter. Well, my friends, I’ve taken this roundabout way to explain the how and why of my thinking process when evaluating a game so when you come to the end of this review you won’t be completely dumbfounded how this game received the score that it did. So without further adieu, let me introduce you to Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events.

However, before we get too deep into the review, let me give you a piece of advice: If you are neither a fan of the series or consider yourself to be a “hard-core” gamer, you really should stop reading now and go find an article on something more your style. In fact, as I take a page from the Lemony Snicket’s playbook, you really should stop reading now no matter if you have somehow managed to trudge your way through all of the unfortunate books or not. This review will be filled to the brim with some rather unpleasant circumstances and I’m sure that you could find something much more enjoyable to do with your time.

Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events is based from an extremely successful series of books. As of last count there have been 11 titles released, with at least two more waiting in the wings. Following along similar lines to the Harry Potter series, these are written for children, but have been adopted by the more seasoned reader because of their outstanding content and quality. However, unlike those of our young wizard, these books do not focus around the magical or the fantasy realms. Furthermore, readers are warned that if they are looking for a happy ending, or even a happy middle, to the story, that they should quickly close the book and look elsewhere for their enjoyment. The entire series is based on unfortunate events surrounding a trio of young orphans that seems to keep happiness from escaping from its dungeon. 

A Series of Unfortunate Events follows along the path of the first three books in the series, so those not familiar with the dreadful lives of the Baudelaire orphans should have no problem with being forced to do any backtracking. In fact, the game looks to be an interactive version of the movie due out in December, which just happens to have some massive star power of its own with Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, and Jude Law all playing parts in the big-screen adaptation. Nevertheless, gamers will have the opportunity to share in all of the misery of the three orphans, as each of the children are playable and you have to utilize their individual talents to progress through the game.

Well, I’m sure that you are asking yourself what is so terrible about the lives of these kids. Coming from a wealthy family, you would expect their entire existence to be one of happiness and joy. This is far from the case. After a mysterious fire destroyed their home, and killed their parents, they were bundled off to live with a distantly related Count Olaf, who just so happens to be one of the six worst villains in the entire world. Blinded by the opportunity to get his grubby mitts into their inheritance, Count Olaf begins to contemplate a way to get the pesky children out of the way. With the help of his extremely bizarre henchmen, and some incredibly horrible acting talents, he begins his quest to acquire the Baudelaire fortune.

Violet is the eldest of the trio and her specialty is in the department of invention. Brought up in the tradition of MacGyver, she has the unique talent of making incredible contraptions from common everyday household items. Her inventions are very impressive and they are necessary for the furthering of the game. Her devices are character specific and can be accessed immediately with the excellent control system that Lemony Snicket’s has been given. Even though most of your missions are pretty linear, the inclusion of the different items allows for some wiggle room for the player and gives you a selection on how you would like to handle certain situations.

Klaus is the middle child and is the perfect union of brains and brawn. Since he is the only male child, most of the physical requirements fall upon his shoulders. Moving heavy objects or reaching distant ledges is some of his personal specialties. Moreover, he has been blessed with a photographic memory and can remember anything that he has ever read. What is even better is that he can actually put this knowledge to use, which comes in exceptionally handy when confronted with new and difficult situations.

Sunny is the youngest, and she spends most of her time babbling away in her very own language while being carried along on Violet’s back. However, being tiny has it’s advantages as she is the one who can be counted on to get in those exceptionally tight areas and reach inaccessible sections by her older siblings. She also seems to be part beaver, as see really enjoys chewing on objects and this really neat ability to gnaw her way through the stoutish of obstacles.

One of the really nice things that Lemony Snicket’s does for the player is switches characters automatically when specific ones must be used to achieve a goal or defeat an enemy. Furthermore, the difficulty level of the game increases progressively, rather than in big jumps, so that the player will be able to handle the later missions, which provide a deeper challenge, without being overwhelmed. Overall control for any of the children is very tight and the button layout allows for versatility without requiring the player to have to remember too much or conquer complex button combinations. On the downside, players are required to manually save their progress and there is no autosave feature available. One would think that with the target audience, Amaze Entertainment would have utilized a feature similar to that of another recent release, Shark Tale, which worked excellently and always kept the player’s data file updated. 

The storybook presentation is truly wondrous and the way that the scenes appear as if they are being drawn solely for the gamer really reaches out and touches something inside in a great way. When you flip to the back pages of the instruction guide, you will also be excited to see that all of the cast from the movie, including Jim Carrey as the despicable Count Olaf, have done the voice-overs for their characters and their Hollywood professionalism does nothing but raise the bar on how future games should be graded.

Your styles of gameplay are just as varied. Most of the game is presented in the standard 3-D platformer presentation. However, when players must rely on the talents of little Sunny, the game shifts its perspective to that of an old-school 2-D side-scroller. There are some interesting select mini-games, like the Simon-styled lock-picking episode or the PaRappa the Rapper version of vibrating a piano into tiny pieces, but none of them are anything truly original. You also have some select areas where the game is transformed into that of a First-Person shooter, but these are few and far between the rest of the chapters. Nevertheless, each style works well and has no decreeable flaws. There are some minor instances when the camera gets blocked by walls or curves in the path, but these are a slight inconvenience at the worst. The environments all have plenty of background action and the level layout is well done, even though they border on the simplistic. 

This is where the game reaches it’s limit and shows its true intended audience. The game is not overly difficult at all. In fact, I could not imagine that very few experienced gamers would have to spend much time working completely through it, as everything is basically out in plain view to be discovered. My first time through it took me about 7 hours and that was getting every piece of the puzzle that the game had to offer. There wasn’t much of a challenge to me at all, but I was not whom this game was created for. The younger target audience should find Lemony Snicket’s neither too hard or too soft, but just right for gobbling up in big tasty spoonfuls.

Extra content is extremely limited in Lemony Snicket’s. Players do have the opportunity to unlock hidden special movies or production photographs from both the game and the upcoming movie, but that is about all that you can look forward to seeing. There is no online play, multiplayer aspects, special minigames, or awards for completing the game. Nevertheless, the little that is available does give the player a nice look behind the scenes and should be enjoyed by fans looking for exclusive content. Owners of high definition televisions also can take advantage of the built-in progressive scan for some exceptionally sharp graphics.

As I stated way back in the introduction, Lemony Snicket’s: A Series of Unfortunate Events is not something for every gamer. While some would criticize this, I applaud Activision for not trying to overstep their boundaries by keeping the game playable for those most likely to actually pick up a copy. Nothing about the title is exceptionally innovative or groundbreaking, but everything that is squeezed onto the disk is extraordinarily well crafted. More content would have been welcomed, along with some incentive to keep on playing after you complete the game, as I actually enjoyed my time with the game, however I’ll settle for what it had and move on from there. Between the solid controls, the insightful humor, the storybook presentation and the excellent voice-overs, I could find no real reason not to highly recommend this game. If you are a gamer who is daunted by the massive amount of objectives that you need to complete in today’s games like Jak and Daxter or worried about the content for younger players, this is the title to stuff in their stocking.

Difficulty: 6

Control: 9

Audio: 9

Visuals: 9

Replayability: 6

Overall: 8.5