Escape From Monkey Island (PS2 Review)

My first thoughts when I saw that Escape From Monkey Island was coming to the PlayStation 2 that it had no business being released on the system. The cards seemed to be stacked against it having any real success. To begin with, it is the fourth game in a series that never has been available on the Sony family of consoles. Secondly, it’s a point-and-click adventure. For the majority of new age gamers who were not around in the 80′s when the genre was popular, it is best described as the grandfather to the action-adventure game.

 

I can already see in my mental mind your eyes rolling up to heaven asking the Almighty, “Why I would spend my precious time playing such an antique-styled game when there are so many fantastic titles available on the market?” I thought the same thing until I noticed that the game had somehow made the Top 50 Game list for the PS2 in one of my magazines. With my curiosity peaked, I began looking for this hard-to-find title to find out why it was given such a high rating. Since I now have experienced it myself I can understand why the game received such a grade. Perhaps this review can do the same for you.

You play the game as the character of Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate. The game picks up where the previous installment left off and you are returning from your three-month honeymoon with your newlywed wife Elaine Marley-Threepwood. She is the Governor of the Melee Island and has been proclaimed dead at sea since she has been gone for such a long time. This has caused much confusion on Melee Island and the populous has begun looking for a new leader. You also find out that a new person has entered the tri-island area and is attempting to transform the Caribbean into a pirate-free tourist trap. He has succeeded in buying up most of the properties scattered across the islands and has almost destroyed the pirate’s way of life.

It is up to Guybrush Threepwood, mighty pirate (once you play the game you will understand this continual reference), to right the wrongs and save the day for the entire tri-island area. I don’t wish to go into great detail about what is done throughout the story as to not spoil it for you, but you can be sure that the adventure is greatly diverse. The zaniness of the game can best be compared to Monty Python’s Flying Circus or to titles like Blazing Dragons and the Discworld series, all of which are previous PSOne games.

The style of the game is pretty basic. You control your character in the third-person perspective and go from place to place attempting to put all of the pieces of the puzzle that you are currently working on together. Solutions usually take a lot of work and are not easily figured out. What should be a simple task of acquiring a ship to allow you the freedom of exploring the other islands in the area takes over seven separate steps scattered throughout Melee Island.

Only with all of these completed, are you finally able to take the Dainty Lady (but…it’s pink) out into the sea and further your quest. I would recommend stocking up on brain food as some of these solutions really require you to think outside the box.

Insult fighting is the standard way for island citizens to settle their differences. There are many different versions of these battles, including the exceptionally funny arm-wrestling insult-fighting and sword insult-fighting. This basically boils down to a very witty way to have action scenes in a non-action title. Opponents trade insults back and forth while performing whatever version of the fighting that has currently been chosen. Only by picking the correct phrases from the available selection tilts the battle in your favor. Although Guybrush is a renown insult fighter, your only hope of saving the day is to journey through the tri-island area searching for the “Ultimate Insult” to be used to vanquish the bad guy and send him packing.

While there are a lot of inside jokes that fly over your head unless you have played the previous games, I do not recommend trying to drink anything while conversations are going on. The laughs come fast and furious, usually when you least expect them. The character interaction is all menu driven, which breaks down to a simple trial and error method to get the information necessary from each person. You can usually pick out which direction you should take the conversations, but it’s more fun to explore the entire available selection and enjoy the witty repartee. 

Guybrush has the best tailor in town as his pants are roomy enough to store every item that he finds along his travels. Furthermore, some items need to be assembled from putting multiple things together which can be done in the item inventory screen. The nice thing about the game is that it doesn’t let you inadvertently waste items by putting just anything together. Henceforth, even if you don’t have the brainpower you can still work your way through most of the puzzles with minimal effort.

Graphically the game is average at best. There are no breathtaking cut-scenes or dynamic full motion videos that will make you stare at the screen slack-jawed. The environments and the NPC’s in the game are well drawn and very interactive, but they in no way compete with the likes of Final Fantasy. If you are a player who is overly-concerned with eye-candy, you might as well look elsewhere as this title has nothing but the basics. Load times between scenes are minimal and rarely take more than 15 seconds to bring up the next locale.

The voice-overs, usually a weakness in most games, are superbly done and match up well with each person. Voice inflection flows excellently during the conversations and really brings you into the game unlike many others where players usually speed-flip through the dialogue to get back to the action. The background music is appropriately theme-based and never sounds manufactured or out of place.

Rating this game is rather difficult. It has almost none of the ingredients that a great game needs to make it a success. Replay value is nonexistent as there are no special endings or any another reason to play the game again. There are no real mini-games or side quests to keep the action going. Moreover, there really isn’t much action in the game at all. Take away the voice acting and the comedy and there really isn’t much to consider except for the inventive puzzles. Nevertheless, I can honestly say that I enjoyed playing Escape From Monkey Island and felt that it was time well spent. Unless you are a game collector or an avid fan of the series, there is no real reason to purchase the game. The entire quest can be completed during a weekend rental if you can find a copy of the game available. However, if you do decide to add this cerebral comedy to your library, you won’t be disappointed.

Difficulty: 6

Control: 7

Audio: 10

Visuals: 6

Replayability: 4

Overall: 8.5

Need For Speed: Underground (PS2 Review)

Things always seemed to be grouped by threes. Yes, I know that there are always the top five and ten lists, with a slight sprinkling of a twenty here and there. Nevertheless, the majority of life seems to be grouped into trios. Celebrity deaths happen in threes. There were a total of five Stooges, but only three were on stage at one time. Detroit shall be ever known for their Big Three in the automobile industry. Even Kevin Harvick won his third NASCAR race in his first season when he became the replacement driver for the Intimidator, who just so happened to be known for his black number three Chevy.

 

Although the PlayStation has literally had hundreds of racing games, it too has it’s Big Three that stand head and shoulders above the competition; Gran Turismo, Ridge Racer, and The Need For Speed franchise. Each of these series have been landmarks for video game racing on the PlayStation family. Gran Turismo, even though it almost was not released here in the United States, has become the exclusive “be all and end all” to simulation racing throughout the gaming world. Ridge Racer is the Granddaddy to all PlayStation racers, as it was there at the very beginning blowing away PSOne owners on its launch day back in 1995 and has continued this trend of grand arcade racing excellence through the six different PlayStation versions spread across three generations (R:Racing Evolution is not part of the RR universe) of gaming systems. The most prolific of the three would be none other than the Need For Speed franchise with well over fifteen unique entries (seven alone for the PSOne) that gave gamers an opportunity to experience the best of both worlds with their authentically licensed vehicles while still incorporating an arcade handling style to these exotic racers.

Need For Speed: Underground is the ninth iteration to be seen upon the PlayStation gaming family and our friends above the border have decided to take the series in a completely new direction. Gone are the exotic vehicles of yesterday. They now have been replaced with more common rides that racers can see on the streets everyday and are even more likely to have actually sitting in their driveway. Does this change affect the status of the series and reduce it to being just another racer or does it take the franchise into virgin territory to be explored and exploited? The only way to find out is to read on and take this baby out on the road for an extensive test drive. So, let’s kick the tires and light the fires and see what EA Canada has created.

One of the most popular new cult fascinations in Japan, and also here in the states, is the world of underground street racing. Tuners, as they have become to be known as, have taken normal everyday rides that you see on the streets and have converted them to unstoppable four and six-cylinder street monsters built to rival the heavy horsepower beasts of the 60s and 70s. With the fitting of aftermarket parts and a heavy dose of bling-bling, these four-wheeled rockets can reach speeds in excess of a hundred miles an hour while barely breaking a sweat. Since the advent of Rockstar’s Midnight Club, this select group has begun to receive more and more exposure in the gaming industry and has erupted onto the scene as the preferred method of racing for developers across the spectrum.

Customization is the main attractor for games of this style, and Underground seems to have taken this aspect to a completely new level. Each and every part that can be bolted on is officially licensed from the manufacturer. Whether it’s brake parts or engine upgrades, everybody who is anybody seemingly has gotten their name into the game. It is here where Underground excels. The hundreds of parts, not to mention the custom decals and paint schemes, insures that ever player will be able to add their personal touch to their rides and stand out from the crowd. Each of these add-on parts increases your rep meter with the adoring fans and makes it easier to acquire newer and wilder paint jobs and even unique decal schemes.

The amount of customization that a player is capable of is simply staggering. Between the multiple paint schemes, various decals and interchangeable parts, you can expect to have hours of fun putting your ride together then ripping it all back apart again. Even though I’m not usually one to dwell on the outward appearances of my vehicle, I found myself completely remaking my ride each and every time I unlocked a new decal or accessory. With all of the options available, one would be hard pressed to find an identical ride when taking the game onto the Internet. Everything from the color of neon underneath your car to the degree of tint for your windows has been covered with multiple choices. Although the best pieces have to be unlocked by progressing through the career mode, once you have moved through about a quarter of the game, the personality of your ride will easily be recognized.

Underground offers a decent selection of vehicles; however gamers expecting to have a huge selection at their fingertips will sorely be disappointed. Players will have the opportunity to try out any of the 20+ vehicles in the game from the ever impressive Skyline to the more popular Eclipse and even the ever reliable Civic. Most of these will have to be unlocked also, but you do have a decent group to start with from the very beginning. All of your rides must be purchased and, unfortunately, players can only have one vehicle at a time when working through the career mode. However all of your rides can be used in the quick race mode, but it just isn’t the same as having a garage full of sweet rides to show off to your friends when they stop over for some quality racing. Also, any of your upgrades and established paint schemes will automatically be switched when you change vehicles, which also was a distractor for me personally. I would have preferred to give each car a separate personality and this is only possible by reworking any new vehicle acquired, which eats into your actual racing time extensively.

Speaking of racing time, players will have to set aside a bunch of time if you are looking to complete the entire career section. With over 110 different races, and three available difficulty levels, you will be pushing aside quite a few games to just work your way to the end of the career. One bad thing was that each race allowed you to change up the difficulty so there was no set challenge to force you to improve. In fact, the major difference between the different settings seemed to be the amount of traffic one would encounter during a street race. Higher settings gives players more cash to use for buying new parts, but you will never seem strapped for accessible funds even if you stick to the easiest settings. Another bad thing was that once a race was completed, there was no way to go back and try your skills at a higher difficulty setting. So basically, you are driving down a one way street with no way to turn around. 

There is a decent selection of racing styles for players to enjoy. Along with the standard circuit (set number of laps), lap knockout (just like the circuit, but the last place car gets removed at the completion of each lap until only one car remains), and sprint (a point-to-point race), racers will also get to enjoy different versions of drag and drift (in the simplest terms, you get points for how well you slide your car around the track) racing. These last two definitely add some flavor to the standard racing scheme and do help to break up the staleness. A downside to the races is that you will only go up against three additional vehicles, which means you will spend quite a bit of time finishing your races in fourth place until you learn the ins and outs of the track. Now I consider myself to be a pretty decent racer, but with only having a 33% win factor (I have a 78% win factor for GT3) I really was forced to redo many of the races over and over again, usually because of bumping a wall at the wrong time and having the entire pack scream past me with little to no chance to catch up before the finish line. Each race will have ways for players to up their style meter, whether it’s drafting off of one of the cars in front of you, powersliding around corners, hang time on jumps or even leading laps, but the best way to get styling points is to take multiple runs through the drift races and top out your meter time and time again before moving on to the next series of races.

Nevertheless, all of the different tracks are variations based in a single city and just doesn’t keep one’s attention for very long. After progressing through about a quarter of the game, I noticed my attention beginning to wander away and was searching for some fresh alternatives. There are also hidden shortcuts on each track, which also give you points for your rep meter, but these didn’t seem to help much in gaining time on the leader. In fact, taking then usually resulted in losing time because of the tight maneuvering required or the jumps sending my vehicle off in an unexpected direction. Even by using them with no error didn’t seem to give me a quality increase in my distance over the pack or allowed me to close the gap on the leader. 

One of the most important aspects of any racer is in how the cars handle out on the road. The Need For Speed franchise has always been one to offer players a solid feel behind the controller, even though it is more based in the arcade category rather than being a sim-styled racer. I will say if you were expecting there to be a great variation in how the different models handle, you are in for a big disappointment. Whether you are driving a FWD, AWD or RWD vehicle, they all seem to suffer from the same handicap of tightness that one would expect from a FWD vehicle. Moreover, the cars do not handle in the same excellent tradition that the series has been known for throughout its existence. Cars do launch off the starting line and radiate that special sensation of speed, especially when you trip off the NOS system, but they all refuse to slow down upon command. In fact, you might as well get used to using the walls of the track to bounce you back into the thick of the gasoline-powered battles, as your vehicle just seems to refuse to traverse anything but the laziest of corners. Most of the time I found it better to barrel my way through a course than try to finesse my car through the tight turns. I’m really not sure upon which factor I should blame the lack of control, but the combination of a tight racetrack and non-responsive vehicles spells out a frustrating mixture of racing.

Another thing that seems to have been lost in the transition from Hot Pursuit 2 is the signature real-time damage modeling. Even through the most vicious of collisions, your ride will remain squeaky clean and in the same condition it was when it rolled off of the showroom floor. Collisions are visually impressive, as your point of view shifts to a completely different camera angle to give the player the best perspective on what your vehicle is going through, however this can be incredibly distracting when in the thick of a battle and you end up pointing in the wrong direction when all the tumbling is completed. Players do have control over the throttle and steering during these camera shifts and it is very easy to forget that you do have the ability to steer through the crashes to keep your car in the thick of the hunt. Also, it seems that computer-controlled cars do not react as severely as your ride when confronting oncoming traffic, which does stack the difficulty chips in their favor during the many races you will have to progress through.

EA Canada has done a great job with the visual presentation. All of the car models accurately represent their real-life counterparts. There are no slowdown, clipping or draw-in issues that I have noticed. There is a tiny collision detection problem, but this can be overcome by compensating and the issue is so minor that you easily bring the reins under control with minimal thought. The wet roads look exceptionally realistic and the environments are partially interactive. By that I mean there are some small objects that will scatter when they encounter your vehicle but larger items, like street lights, won’t budge in the least when they are hit, even at excessive speeds. Any of the camera angles will work for a player and it is solely at your discretion upon which one you prefer to use. Moreover, even though each of the races happen at night, you will always have a clear view of the track and are not hampered by the darkness in the least, which has been an issue for me personally in the past, even with great titles like Gran Turismo and its SS 5 and 11 courses. EA has also added some great visual assistance with moving arrows for all of the corners, so setting yourself up to take the turns is easy and simplistic. With all these great options, it’s really a shame that the control factor couldn’t have been better so you could actually enjoy the excellent scenery.

Unfortunately, they didn’t do the same with the audio tracks. Sure, the THX certification, along with the Dolby Surround Pro Logic II makes for an impressive foundation, but there really isn’t that much of a difference between the engine sounds of the different vehicles. Also the music tracks all revolved around the modern era, with little to nothing for us older gamers to sink our teeth into. The tracks are all selectable, which does allow a player to only have certain pieces running in different areas of the game, but I found that I enjoyed the game more with all of them turned completely off. This is all just reflective in personal taste, as I’m sure that the music was specifically targeted towards the younger tuner audience. None of the tracks were terrible. Mostly they were simply not my personal cup of tea.

EA does offer PlayStation 2 gamers online play, even though it does only support the broadband users in the bunch. Each of the racing modes are available, along with the ability to take your personal ride onto the Net to show off your customization skills. Match-ups will put you into the thick of the battle with three other racers, but there are no additional tracks or vehicles for gamers to acquire through downloadable content. I didn’t experience any new hardships with this mode and it seemed as if I was playing with a bunch of other gamers who were sitting right beside me instead of scattered across the United States.

Electronic Arts has also included the DNAS (Dynamic Network Authentication System) which seems to keep cheaters to a minimum. Also, in an interview, EA did acknowledge that their anti-hacker system was good, but not perfect, as hackers seem to find new ways all the time to beat the system. However, their protection was versatile enough to compensate against new, unique invasions and they would keep a close eye on new innovations for getting around the established system. So far, I would have to declare their system a success.

Need For Speed: Underground was nothing but a continuous exposure to disappointment for my personal tastes. Once you take away the novelty of customization for your vehicles and get past the eyecandy, you are left with a title wanting for more. For most series, I would not have been so excessively disappointed, but when you attach the history of such a momentous franchise to a new game, one expects the version to be head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. Perhaps if EA Canada had spent as much time working on the control of the vehicles as they did for the customization aspect we might have a completely different story to tell. Furthermore, you would expect the largest third-party software producer to be leading the pack in gaming innovation instead of falling in line with the current trends of less established companies. That is what made the Need For Speed series one of the must-have games previously, even though new titles were coming out twice as often as the competition. For those that might be interested in the tuner aspect, this will be a must-have for your gaming library, but for racing purists I would have to suggest looking at either picking up a copy of Hot Pursuit 2 or looking in a totally different direction until EA can return to what the series was originally all about.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 4

Audio: 6

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 8

Overall: 7.5

Monopoly Party! (PS2 Review)

Games have always been a popular way for mankind to put away their daily problems and retreat into a fantasy land. Although video games are the escape of choice for today’s generation, this was not always true. Back in the day before television or video games were even though of, people passed the rainy days away with board and card games. Very rarely would there be a dreary weekend go by without the family breaking out some form of board game to occupy the children and allow the parents to spend some quality time with the rest of their family. Probably the most popular game within the annals of history would have to be Monopoly.

 

Although the true origin of the game is debated, the current rendition that we all have come to know was created during the Great Depression in 1933 by Charles B. Darrow. This game was originally rejected by Parker Brothers. Undaunted by this decision, Darrow went about producing about 5000 handmade sets for sale to the public. Monopoly caught on like wildfire and Darrow was unable to keep up with the demand of the public for more copies. So, two years later, he re-approached Parker Brothers and the rest is history. Since that time, over 200 million games have been sold in 80 different countries and produced in 26 different languages. An uncountable number of versions have been released over the years, including multiple games for many of the home platforms and personal computers. We now take a break from our busy schedule to hitch a ride on the Reading Railroad. Let me introduce you to Monopoly Party!.

Since just about every living human has had the opportunity to sit down, at one time or another, to play some version of this 65-year classic, I won’t bore you with the complete list of the fundamentals for the game. Players simply move around the board and purchase properties that are landed upon. After you collect an entire set of colored properties, you then have the ability to build houses and hotels to jack up your income when opposing players land on your spaces. There are also Chance and Community Chest spaces where players can receive random cards that can either help or hurt you financially along with various other designated spaces that can either subtract or add to the size of your wallet.

Since the game has such a long and colorful history, there have been numerous special and customizable rules established along with the basic guidelines. Monopoly Party! has just about every rule variation known to man included in the game, and players can customize their playing preferences by going through the option section in the rules. Even though it may seem picky for players to care if there is a jackpot when landing on the Free Parking space, or that players have to pass Go the first time around the board before buying property, these are the specifics that many have grown up with and to exclude them would do nothing but ruin the personal feel of the game. 

For those who are a bit rusty on the rules, players can peruse the included tutorials. These are all fully animated and broken down into bite-sized helpings to keep things targeted for very specific refresher courses. Nevertheless, if you have never actually played the game, these can be utilized by the rookie to bring you quickly up to the knowledgeable level of the Monopoly pro in no time flat.

The big difference between this version of the game and previous renditions is the all new Party-Mode. Normal games of Monopoly have a habit of drawing out the hours like an anteater at an anthill. In an attempt to shorten the marathon style of the traditional game, Party-Mode has every player taking their turn at the same time. All of the players roll the dice and move their pieces together and when any cash payments need to be dished out, they are handled in the order of financial stature. Although this does speed up the overall time that you will have to dedicate for a complete game, it does make for some getting used to and can be chaotic when four players are on the board.

Visually, this is the best looking Monopoly game ever for a home system. You have your choice of the classic board or four additional themes that add quite a bit of flair and fashion to the game. Each theme has custom playing pieces that are animated when they move around the board, but these can only be appreciated when utilizing the standard play mode. When the game shifts its view for the party mode, since all players move at the same time the entire board must be visible, your aspect is extremely limited and it is exceptionally hard to keep track of the progress of the pieces. Another problem that arises when using the various themes is that all of the property names are changed to match, so only persons of intimate knowledge with the game will be able to know where they are and which properties are the desirable ones to have in their portfolio.

There are multiple intelligence levels for the computer opponents, for those rare occasions when you desire to play the game and nobody else is available. Fortunately, even if you are not able to have some human companionship, you don’t have to worry about falling prey to a lack of scruples. Even on the lowest setting, the computer will not allow unfair trades for property and stands its ground when its back is against the wall. Only allowing for a total of four players is a big minus for the game. Since most game sets usually have eight to ten different pieces, there really should be the ability to have more than just a normal quartet involved.

I’m personally disappointed in the lack of possibilities explored by Monopoly Party!. Although it gives a solid presentation and represents the franchise very well, there just could have been so much more to the game. Including a single-player storyline or tournament structure where a player could challenge various opponents would have transformed this from just being a title that sits on your shelf until a group of people come over on a rainy Saturday afternoon into a game that you wanted to play by yourself. Online play also would have helped keep the dust off of the case, as you could probably always find someone on the Internet willing to dedicate a few hours for a contest or two. Honestly, I found looking up the history of the game more interesting than actually sitting down to play it. If you are a Monopoly fanatic, or don’t personally own the board game, go ahead and pick up a copy. All others can save their dollars for something more stimulating.

Difficulty: 5

Control: 8

Audio: 5

Visuals: 7

Replayability: 3

Overall: 5.5

Road Trip (PS2 Review)

Today was supposed to be a busy day. I had many things planned to do: mow the lawn, wash the car, finish a shelving unit for my games and write one or two game reviews. While waiting for the morning dew to dry off of the grass, I decided to play a game. I picked an innocent-looking title from my shelves and popped it into my PS2. This was at 9 A.M. Twelve hours later I finally broke the spell that the game created and came back to reality. Suddenly I realized that the sun had set and none of my tasks had even been touched. I’m sure that most of you reading this would expect that the game had to be a blockbuster title like Final Fantasy, Metal Gear or Gran Turismo. However, I’m sure that 99% of the readers have never heard of this low-budget title. The game is simply called Road Trip, and what a wonderful trip it was.

The story behind the game is rather simple. The Road Trip World is one that is populated by living vehicles. The President has decided to step down from his role as leader. To choose a worthy replacement, he has decreed that whoever can conquer all of the world’s tournaments can then have the opportunity to race him for his office. You begin the game as a simple citizen that dares to take up the challenge. It is at this point that the game’s tentacles reach out and grab hold of you.

The world that you find yourself in is huge with many cities scattered across it. Populating these cities are hundreds of NPC characters for you to interact with. Some offer helpful information, quite a few ask to join your racing team, while others may request your assistance in solving their personal conflicts. These tasks can vary in difficulty from finding a missing girl, to delivering a package for a tired mailman halfway across the world or collecting 100 special Q Coins scattered across the land. For each of the 100 different assignments there is a special stamp that you collect in a book. One of the most challenging stamps to acquire is the one for visiting the 100 different photo shops throughout the world where you have your picture taken at the local tourist sites. Even though this sounds like enough to keep you busy, it hardly scratches the surface of the game.

There are over 250 different parts that you can collect for your car. Brakes, tires, engines, horns, headlights, and car shells are all available and upgradeable. Custom paint shops can be found in each city so that you can change the color of each and every car body that you collect in either a single or two-toned paint scheme. Members of your race team can also be upgraded and painted to your heart’s content. One of the nice features of the game is that if you change team members, all of the parts are automatically shifted from the former to the newer member so you do not have to spend more money to get them properly outfitted. Twenty mini-games are waiting to be discovered including the likes of a 9-hole golf course and a 3-on-3 soccer match. You also are responsible for creating an entire city by recruiting unhappy citizens throughout the land to relocate from their current residence. In-between all of these extracurricular activities we have the real meat of the sandwich, the races.

Before you start to get involved with the racing you might want to clear your calendar first. There are Maze Races, One-on-one Races, Team Races, Grand Prix Races, Barrel Dodging Races, Obstacle Course Races, Mountain Climbing Races and even a World Rally Race. There are over 100 different races that you must compete in to complete the game. Your main source of income comes from winning these races. Any money that is won by either you or any team member goes into your pocket to be spent as you see fit. Perhaps you can begin to understand how I lost an entire day to this game and only be about twenty-five percent complete.

Let me honestly say that Road Trip will never win any awards for Best Graphics. In fact, if you are solely drawn to a game because of its graphics and eye-candy, this title is simply not for you. This is not meant to imply that the game has an inferior game engine. Just like those "limited" graphics in Katamari Damacy, they work for giving this game it's proper "feel." The graphics are all clear with no drop in framerate or noticeable clipping, however they are not drop-dead gorgeous. The environments are cartoonish in nature and vary depending on what part of the world you are in. Seaside areas offer the tranquil island feel while the mountainous regions are cold and foreboding. It is also very important to equip your car for the specific region once arriving there. Special items like floats, wings or giant tires for traction are needed to reach remote sections of the cities. When these items are equipped, whether on your vehicle or a fellow team member, the car is visually altered. However, these changes can only be done in the garages in the different cities. So, if you come upon an obstacle where you need a special part to conquer, you may have to do quite a bit of backtracking to eventually move forward.

Even though there are no official licenses, the car bodies closely resemble real-life vehicles past and present. The control of you car is sluggish, especially when traveling at high speeds, but it can be overcome with familiarity of the race course and a bit of heads-up driving. The in-game music is supplied by one of two selectable radio stations. Neither channel is outstanding, nor is it one bad enough to cause permanent brain damage. Nevertheless, after spending hours and hours with the game, one might be likely to simply turn on their own music selection and mute the television.

Since this game is a basic budget title, there is not much included with the game besides the main adventure. There is a quick race option along with a two-player mode. But neither of these actually adds to the overall experience that Road Trip offers.

All in all, Road Trip gives the player exactly what we all cry for over and over again: Depth, Shelf-life and Affordability. This is no $50 three-hour tour that the average player can breeze through and then forget about. Originally released at the unheard of price of $19.99 in 2002, you can now find a new copy for fewer than ten dollars, that is if you can actually find a copy of the game. I look forward to losing many more hours to probably the best sleeper game that I’ve come across for quite a while. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go and complete just one more race. Just one more.

Difficulty: 8

Control: 9

Audio: 7

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 10

Overall: 9.0

Monster Rancher 3 (PS2 Review)

Once upon a time the virtual pet was the biggest thing to hit the scene since the invention of the Pet Rock. In 1997, Tecmo introduced the Monster Rancher series to the public. Although it never received the following that Pikachu and his friends did, it did gather enough of a fan base to spin-off multiple sequels in different game genres. This is the most current installment of the niche series.

 

The storyline starts in the history of the Tochikan people. Monsters were given to these people to help them in tasks and generally make their lives easier. Eventually, the sport of competition came into existence and owners would pit their monsters against one another during festivals. As this festivity become more popular, Monster Breeders were hired to help train the monsters so that they would become better in the arena. Different sections of the world had their own specific time when they would have these contests and ultimately they merged together and Monster Leagues were formed and rankings were created. You begin the game as a fledgling breeder with no experience with the ways of monsters. To help you on your journey to becoming a Master Breeder you are given assistance from Fleria, a Tochikan rookie adviser. While this may not sound impressive on its own, she is related to the leader of the Tochikan people and caretaker of the Monster Shrine, Grandpa Brogma. There are also twenty other characters that you will meet and defeat on your way to becoming the land’s premier breeder.

The Monster Rancher series has always been more about the breeding and training of your monster than about the battles that they are generated to fight in. How you treat your monster has a direct effect on its lifespan and simply feeding your beast the wrong food can shorten their life by years. Gameplay is broken down into weekly segments where you can only choose one specific task from a handful of available options. There are various training jobs that can be done by your monster. Working your monster increases the related statistics and each monster grows at its own speed. Some progress quickly while others evolve at a snail’s pace. Time management is critical to the success of your monster. If you spend too much time training and venturing, you may not have enough time left to move your monster up through the ranks before it passes on. 

There are weekly contests that can be entered with the big tournaments available at the end of the month or season. Even though any monster can enter any contest that has been unlocked by your ranking as a breeder, it is best to keep within their current ranking so that death or injury is less likely to occur. Moreover, if your monster is tired or overstressed it will not do as well. When the seasons change, your monster can go on Ventures where you can find rare items, boost your creature’s statistics, obtain new attacks or learn new training techniques. When your monster dies, you can take its heart and fuse it into a new creature. This option allows you to build on a previous generation which increases the chance of being able to win all of the tournaments within the lifespan of a single monster. With the proper choices, it is possible to sweep the five major Festas in only four generations.

The thing that set the original game apart from the rest of the Poke'-clones was how the player acquired his creatures. When prompted by the game, the player inserts any type of CD into their PlayStation. Each CD has a unique code that the game uses to generate a monster. Some CD’s have such a special code, mostly it is other games designed by Tecmo, that you can only find these rare monsters by using the predetermined discs. Once found, the monsters need to be trained so that they can fight in the multiple tournaments. If your monsters are successful, your rank improves and you gain the ability to unlock more challenging monsters to raise as your own.

Monster Rancher 3 improves the series in many ways. Since the game is designed to run on the PS2, you now have the ability to find monsters on DVD’s as well as CD’s. Although there are a limited number of monster types to be discovered, each disc has a monster with unique statistics. Secondly, the introduction of the Encyclopedia now gives players the option to save one type each of the 230+ monsters in the game. This helps out the player so that they do not have to remember which disc that they found which monster on. Moreover there are bunches of accessories that can be found or bought which can be used to increase your monster’s abilities. Most of these are monster-specific and can only be used on a certain group of monsters. Hats that work for one breed will not work for others. There are some generic items which will are allowed to be used on any of your new pets, but these are far and few in-between.

One additional new effect for the game is the environmental effect. Now, depending on where you train your monster, the area may have some genetic alterations. One clear example is if you spend too much time training your monster underwater, they can evolve to grow fins. These minor effects can have major results in the battlefield, so it is best to train throughout all of the game’s regions rather than just sticking to one specific location.

The game’s graphics are a bit better than your average Saturday morning cartoons. While the backgrounds and character appearances are a step up from previous installments, they in no way push the system to its limits. There is no slowdown in the framerate, nor any draw-in when playing the game. The time it takes to generate a monster can get tedious, especially when you are running through your media library looking for a specific monster type. The sounds and music of the game are average at best. I found myself turning the sound off and listening to the radio most of the time. The text translation can be confusing and sometimes make no real sense at all, especially when it gives you a one-liner about a monster’s preferences or abilities. Nevertheless, these flaws have been in existence throughout the series so they are in no way a step backwards for the current game.

Monster Rancher 3 is the first game in the Sony family to allow picture importation. Something that is just starting to be possible with the new EyeToy originally could have been done using a PictureParadise compatible digital camera in this game. This function allows players to take a facial snapshot and import their image onto a mask which any monster can wear.

The strength of this game is in its replay value. You can lose hours upon hours of your life simply checking your CD/DVD collection for monsters to add to your encyclopedia. Then once you have them, you can try to take each one up the tournament ranks. Overall it is the idea, rather than the game itself, which makes this game worthy of your attention. The sum of the whole is truly more than of its parts. I highly recommend this game for a rental to see if it agrees with you. For those who worship at the Temple Pokemon, it is a must buy. 

Difficulty: 7

Control: 9

Audio: 6

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 10

Overall: 8.6

NCAA Football 2005 (PS2 Review)

Are you ready for some football? That’s right sport-fans, it’s that time of year again where all of your pigskin favorites get a healthy refresher and are released upon the demanding public. No other division of the gaming world sells as well as the football genre, and there always is a heated debate over which game is the star of the show. Back in the day, it was GameDay and Madden fighting for the top honors on the PSOne. Although Madden NFL Football still is in the running for the top spot, they have a new competitor with Sega’s ESPN series and the discussions over which is the best 2005 football offering is even more torrid. While these two giants battle amongst themselves, they might want to start watching over their shoulder because there is a serious contender looking to take over the genre. Let me introduce you to NCAA Football 2005.

 

Most purists will argue that EA’s college classic just isn’t on the same page as that of the two previously mentioned titles. Others may debate the fact that both of EA’s football games are created by the same developer, hence they are just the same recycled gameplay with simply a different atmosphere. Whether either of these are your pre-established opinions, I simply ask that you suspend your judgments until the end of this simple review. Now let us begin the dissection.

NCAA Football 2005 brings back everything that was great from the previous versions and improves upon a successful formula. Making their triumphant return are the ever popular create-a-school mode, create-a-player, create-a-coach and the create-a-playbook options. This game lets players bring their best customizable offerings to the table in a healthy helping. But that is not all, we also have for dessert a create-a-sign feature. Now during video cut scenes that show your team’s fans, you can make up those cute signs that they all like to wave for the TV cameras. Although not a stunning enormous addition, it is another personal touch that the game allows players to import into their world. Moreover, the return of the adjustable hot routes adds to the flexibility of your play calling and is great for those of us who don’t wish to dedicate a ton of time recreating their entire playbook. Speaking of play calling, there also is an option to help trip up your competition when they are sitting on the couch next to you. When you pull up the playlist, you can pick three additional plays not visually displayed on the screen by simply pressing your L2 button before the regular selection. This option is available for both offense or defense and helps to stop those pesky players who always wait until you have chosen a play before making their selection.

The difficulty levels for the game are many, which guarantees that there is something for every player, no matter their experience or ability. The AI definitely ramps up as you move into the higher levels and once you reach the top, expect to bring nothing but your A+ game to the field. Also teams are ranked in four separate categories, so don’t plan on having the same success over a grade A defense that you do when taking on a lesser ranked opponent. The controller layout is nothing less than wondrous and the analog functions of the DualShock 2 are used to their fullest, including the ability to lead your receivers with the left analog stick to help make those tough catches in heavy traffic.

The overall presentment of the game is a mixed bag of nuts. The menu layout and navigation is exceptionally smooth and easy to find exactly what you are looking for. No matter what you are attempting to accomplish, you can be there within mere seconds. On the other hand, whenever you go into the saving or retrieving of data on the memory card, expect to invest in quite a few minutes of inactivity. EA wisely installed a prompt screen whenever files have been changed and gives you the option to either save or continue on with your gameplay, so you didn’t have to suffer through constantly long waiting endeavors unless you actually want to back-up your files with the new data. 

In this year’s version, the game clock seems to move slower than what I’m used to experiencing. Quarters can be customized for their length and unless you have about two hours to dedicate to a game, I would suggest a setting below the full 15 minute period. Without the proper coordination of both your playing difficulty and the quarter length, games will either last forever or not be long enough to possibly have a fair chance at victory.

The visual presentation of your on-field perspective is clear and precise. You always have an excellent view of everything that is going on, no matter which of the many available camera angles is your one of choice. Having your receivers highlighted with their corresponding controller buttons lets the player focus their attention on the entire field and work their way through all of their options. The new “match-up” ability of the game enables you to find the weakness in your opponents and by using the hot route function; you can learn to exploit it to your best advantage. Using the right analog stick, you can see the match-ups of either; the offensive and defensive line, the backfield and the linebackers or the secondary and your receiving core. This gives you the best information on the field that any player could ask for by exposing strengths in your own players or the loss of composure on the other side of the ball. This might not be an option you use on every play, nevertheless it definitely will be something to will want to look at when you are stacked deep in your own territory and facing a 3rd and 13 with two minutes remaining in the quarter.

The audio options for the game are no less than unbelievable. EA has kindly included the Dolby Pro-Logic II option along with the standard stereo choices and the surround sound can rock the house literally when your stadium of choice gets into the on-field action. The all-new Home Field Advantage is a step in the right direction for the series and brings everything that is college football right into your living-room. As the crowd gets excited, your controller begins to rumble and the screen literally begins to shake making everything more difficult to complete. Your players also can be affected by the atmosphere and their confidence can be reduced or increased by how your audience gets into your performance. When you lay down a massive smash, utilizing the all new big hit button, the crowd can become so stimulated that the other team may have difficulty just trying to get the next play called from scrimmage. However, if you let a running back break out into the open field a few times, their enthusiasm can drop to almost nothing. Your players can help to revive the crowd by signaling them from the field, but the best way to get the 12th player back into the game is to pull off something incredible in the way of a sack or an interception. There even is a new top 25 toughest places to play that changes over time, depending on the performance of teams throughout all of the divisions.

Play-by-play is once again done by the tremendous trio of Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Brad Nessler. Their commentary is always on-topic, including any new records that just were broken or the results of the previous offensive drive. Sometimes their comments can get rather stale, especially when you have taken the wind out of the home team’s sails and the crowd goes numb, but it’s an overall quality presentation worthy of any Saturday afternoon contest. One thing that I did notice was that if you did not have a game that was being telecast, these broadcasters would not be available and only the regular PA announcer could be heard during the game. This was a nice touch which drove you to play the higher ranked teams or to be one of them yourself. Once you entered into the top 25, you could expect to have these men cover your every move and if the match-up was big enough you could even have a national telecast, which brings more prestige to your school.

The Dynasty Mode is the heart of EA’s offering. It is here where you can create your own school and try to march through the ranks of the NCAA to become one of the most feared places ever to visit. Arenas, school colors, mascots, location, divisions and playing styles are all adjustable and can change over time. Also, you are responsible for corrective actions when your players step outside the boundaries of the NCAA and break established guidelines. Depending on what the infraction is, you have the option to suspend the player for just a single quarter or the entire season. Each corrective measure requires discipline points and it is up to you to keep both the players and the NCAA officials happy with your decisions. But you want to make sure that you keep points in reserve for those extremely rare major infractions that could result in your school being sanctioned or banned from participating in post-season bowl games. However, your performance is rated by others than just the NCAA and doing well can open bigger opportunities including contract offers from other schools and invitations to different conferences for your current school. Upon completing my first season, I received three different contract offers and an invite for my independent college to join the SEC. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance to enter the SEC and accepted a five-year contract extension for my current school. 

Post-season activity is plentiful and entertaining. Just like the life of real-time coaches, the playing season is only half the battle. You have several steps that need to be completed before the next season can start. School budgets need to be established, players graduate or can even leave for greener pastures prematurely and it is up to you to try to persuade them to stick it out for one more year. Recruiting is a gigantic endeavor which spans five weeks and can be simulated or handled personally. I found this aspect more challenging than matching up against any 1-AA school and was sorry to see it finally end. After getting your new class of recruits, you are given a ranking on how well you did compared to the other schools and then are faced with filling any holes in your roster by converting existing players to new positions. Veteran players are then given a chance at training camp to improve their statistics and you can cut down your rosters if so needed. The final step is reassigning the depth chart and setting up your starting players. This also can either be done manually or automatically, so if time is an issue you can have the PS2 do your work for you and get right back into the thick of the next season.

Score tickers are constantly being displayed on the screen along with the all new Pontiac Drive Summary. In fact, there are real-life product endorsements sponsoring everything from Red Zone statistics to the special college pennants that you unlock for use in the game. The return of the Sports Illustrated stats section continues to be some of the best ever in a simulated sporting event and the available sections change as your season progresses. There are a massive amount of personal awards along with the bowl and NCAA championship trophies to be won and each of these can be viewed in your personal trophy case. All three of the current NCAA ranking systems (Media, Coaches and BCS) reflect the happenings each week and the strength of your schedule really plays an important factor on which post-season Bowl invites you will receive. The Campus Challenge also returns again with almost 400 (396 to be exact) different unlockables that can be purchased with points obtained with on-field excellence. These vary from school specific enhancements to generic cheats to assist you when times get tough.

There are also special venues and mascot teams which can be used in the other various modes of play. Everything has meaning in this game, and nothing should be overlooked with indifference. Even the basic in-game timeouts have a specific function for helping to calm down a rattled secondary or to build some confidence in a production-struggling backfield.

Nevertheless, this is not your only playing opportunity for NCAA Football 2005. You can also recreate some of the greatest games in the history of college football by using the Pontiac College Classics option. Also there is a Rivalry mode where you can match up famous contests throughout the decades and win trophies for each of these including the ever-popular Commander’s Cup, which is awarded to each years best military college (Army Vs Navy anyone?). But that is not all. Now you can also take the field with your team made up of nothing but mascots. Nothing is more laughable than watching a full field of these costumed characters competing on the gridiron for bragging rights. Finally, there is a practice mode to work on your team’s plays and familiarize with the entire playbook.

Probably the only downpoint in the entire game would be in the full-motion videos (FMV) that supply a break in the action or spotlight a player after a big play. Even though the player models are improved over last year’s edition, the famous EA ghosting is still alive and well. In case you are unfamiliar with this reference, it basically can be broken down to define the fact that the highlighted character has a habit of walking through other players, coaches or any other object that happens to be within the same space that your player wishes to occupy. This is exceptionally distracting from the experience and ruins the real-life aspect that NCAA Football 2005 has attempted to achieve with their graphics engine. If EA could have fixed the collision detection problem in the FMV, I would have been hard pressed to give the game anything less than a near-perfect score.

Very few games available pack as big of a punch in the extras department. To start off, NCAA Football 2005 has a remarkable online service that allows just about every bell and whistle a fan could desire. Both broadband and dial-up users have the ability to join into the fun. However, only broadband players can use the Logitech USB headset for smacktalking with your opponent. Also, the game allows the use of any USB keyboard for typing messages, which is much easier than using the game’s built-in keyboard. The online service provided by EA has a bunch of different modes including; 32 player tournaments, the Overtime Drill and the Even Teams mode which levels the playing field by making each roster equal. Created schools can’t be taken online, which is regrettable since I was looking forward to leveling the competition with my own creation, PSX Tech College. 

Online cheating is also a big concern for EA and they have attempted to correct the problem by adding stat checkers and penalties for delays or disconnects. This way you can see the past performance of anyone who is online and stay away from those people who pull the plug when things are not going their way. For those of you who are not online with your PS2 yet, there also is multitap support for up to eight players. This is something that very few franchises still offer for players and is definitely great to have when a large group of people come over to visit. Thanks EA, for remembering that some people still prefer to have physical contact with their friends and enjoy the act of getting together for some old-styled gaming.

Even with this outstanding online package, my mind wonders to the question why there wasn’t any additional peripheral support for either the EyeToy or the Hard Disk Drive (HDD). For creating a player, there is no better device available than the EyeToy, especially for mapping your face onto the starting quarterback. The HDD would have cut down greatly on the extensive loading times that the game suffers from when loading or saving one of the many program files. I realize that this may seem minor to most people, however I have come to expect EA to be on the cutting edge where the PlayStation is concerned and mostly I’m disappointed in the fact that they didn’t push the envelope further.

However, EA does supply the player with a small tidbit of information on the upcoming Nascar Thunder 2005 in the way of the standard advertisement. Moreover, they do continue the use of the EA Bio option, which rewards brand loyalists with special unlockables when they have multiple games that fall under the EA umbrella. Also, owners of both of EA’s 2005 pigskin games can export their college players up to the professional ranks via the draft option found in Madden. This is something that I have enjoyed since its conception, having the ability to continue my player’s career and draft them into the next level.

So, we come to the end of yet another excellent EA Sports title. Honestly, I can pronounce this to be the finest offering for NCAA football ever seen on any home platform. The game is so packed with exceptional touches that I really find EA with their back up against the wall for any future releases. Perhaps the inclusion of a front office to be decorated with your trophies and accomplishments would be the only thing missing from having the experience completed. As stated before, the only downfalls of the game are the lack of extra peripheral support and the FMV ghosting, and since I always rank gameplay over eyecandy in importance, neither distract greatly from the overall score. In this era of professional primadonnas, I much prefer the task of molding unknown talents rather than haggling over contract bonuses or production incentives. Although I have yet to physically experience any other 2005 football title, I can fearlessly pronounce this game to be easily within arms-reach of anything else we may see this year by any developer. This game comes highly recommended to any sports-fan and it simply should be experienced by anyone who owns a PlayStation 2.

Difficulty: 9

Control: 10

Audio: 9

Visuals: 8

Replayability: 10

Overall: 9.5