Playstation Update

In case you’ve been sealed up in your cave for the last few months, I should mention that next week Peter Jackson’s King Kong is being released for PS2 (and every other console, if you care). Seems that making a game from a blockbuster movie (or vice versa) seldom works, but Ubisoft, with a little help from our friend Peter Jackson of course, has gotten something right this time.

You play Jack Driscoll, the screenwriter type who tags along with filmmaker Carl Denham and actress Ann Darrow to the mysterious Skull Island. Here you’ll find dinosaurs, crazed natives, and of course our favorite enormous gorilla. The first person perspective as Jack is quite different. There is no heads up display at all, an attempt to more fully immerse you in the game.

You’ll play as Driscoll for about 70 percent of the game, but in critical moments control switches to King Kong, whom you play in the third person perspective. Kong can climg cliffs, swing from branches, smash obstacles, and generally do all sorts of other things that our Mr. Driscoll could not on his own accomplish.

Sounds like a winner to me.

Peter Jackson’s King Kong is Games Digest Game of the Week. Make sure to pick it up!

If you’re one of the masses of unhappy PS2 owners whose systems fell victim to the infamous “disc read error” bug, you may get something back from Sony. A class action lawsuit was filed against SCEA, Sony of Canada, and Toys R Us of Canada. The parties reached a settlement in the matter recently.

The settlement is still pending approval by the courts in both the US and Canada. If it’s approved, anyone who has recently repaired or lost use of an affected PS2 will be eligible to receive a check for $25, a free PS2 game (from a specified list), or a free or “reduced cost” repair or replacement. What you get depends on what “subclass” you’re in.

Sony, of course, is not actually admitting that anything was wrong with the machines, but states that a settlement was reached to “avoid the costs and risks of a trial”. Anyway…

If you think you might be eligible, the settlement website has more information.

From Gamespot

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Yes, another game from 2001. I’ve been catching up recently on the oldies. I just finished it for the first time last weekend, and I was quite impressed.

While the graphics don’t have the “wow” factor you get from newer games, the gameplay is hard to beat. Camera angle switches can be a little too frequent, and confusing at times, but other than that getting Dante to whup serious demon ass is a piece of cake. There are enough moves and weapons to make things interesting, but not so many that you have to spend time memorizing things.

The story is good if you don’t mind a little gothic cheese. You are Dante, half-demon son of Sparda, the Dark Knight. A terribly evil dude, whom Sparda smote 2000 years ago, has risen again. It is your job to find the gate to the Underworld, and defeat this beast again. If you just pretend you haven’t heard this cliché many times before, it’s quite entertaining.

One thing I really enjoyed about the game is that it seemed remarkably unrepetetive. You didn’t have to spend hours and hours beating up the same old demons before getting to the boss. Boss battles are really the bulk of the gameplay, and there are a lot of them. You end up fighting the same bosses several times, but they change between battles (usually getting harder), and the environment changes as well.

Any serious gamer has probably already played this one several times, but if you haven’t, you really should.

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2001 isn’t exactly retro in the rest of the world, but it’s really the infancy of the PS2’s life. I just finished playing 2001’s ICO, and it was really something else. The graphics were stunning. Not just technically impressive, which they were for a 2001 PS2 game, but artistically stunning as well. It wasn’t a terribly difficult game. It’s more of a series of puzzles than anything else, but there are mild action and platform elements thrown in for balance.

The story is that of a Ico, a young boy born with a set of bull horns (I thought he was wearing a viking helmet most of the game, guess I wasn’t paying attention to the beginning). Anyhow he’s sent off to be sacrificed, but due to some rather good luck, he ends up escaping this fate. He presently stumbles across a ghostly girl locked in a giant bird cage, who he frees. He then spends the rest of the game fending off smoky black beasts that come in several shapes and sizes. Fighting the smoky guys isn’t too difficult. You just have to make sure you don’t leave the girl alone for too long, or they suck her into a smoky puddle, and you lose.

Gameplay is really seamless. Load time is impressively minimal, especially considering the beautifully rendered world. Cinematic sequences are impressive, and don’t seem to intrude much. Figuring out the controls will take you all of about 30 seconds. You can run, jump, grab things, and swing your stick. Sounds dull, but the game is so well done that it doesn’t get boring. It’s also rather short at about 7-8 hours, but since you can pick it up for about $10 now, it’s quite a bargain.

Check it out, you won’t regret it.

Technorati Tags: playstation, playstation 2, ps2, ico, reviews

For all you Matrix fans out there, Tuesday is your day. Or is it Monday? Most are claiming a ship date of 11/7, while the official Atari.com site for the game states in big Matrix-y type that 11/8 is the day. In any case, sometime next week you’ll be able to pick up this game. And it looks like it will be a good one. At long last, after a slew of Matrix games, you get to play as “The One”. The game follows Neo through the path of all three Matrix movies.

If that sounds like a bit much to bite off for one game, consider the fact that both Wachowski brothers served as writer/director types on this project. They’ve apparently tweaked the story line just for the game, and they’ve created an all-new ending. With video game budgets entering the realm of blockbuster movie budgets, it’s interesting to see the big name creative folks getting involved.

Anyhow from what I’ve read, gameplay is much improved over earlier Matrix titles. You’ll start out punching and kicking, but you’ll find it fairly easy in time to master more impressive moves. As the game progresses, you’ll also have the opportunity to improve your character, selecting from different attributes to improve throughout the game. In the end you’ll end up with your very own customized butt kicking Neo.

Technorati Tags: Matrix, Neo, PS2, Playstation, Playstation 2, Reviews

And speaking of Resident Evil… Everyone needs one of these. Now that the PS2 version of Resident Evil 4 is out, Nuby has released the Playstation 2 version of the Resident Evil Chainsaw Controller. Now don’t get too excited, it’s just a controller in the shape of a chainsaw. You don’t get to go attacking your tv with it or anything. Well, you could, but I doubt it would help much.

Comes “hand spattered” with yucky blood, in it’s very own beautiful collector’s case. Plus, get this, the PS2 version has a pull cord that actually works as a second start button. Pull the cord and you also get nifty rumbling and chainsaw noises. How can you possibly resist?

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At last, Resident Evil 4 is upon us! I haven’t picked it up yet, but I’m definitely going to. Reviews have been nothing short of fantastic across the board. The latest PSM gives it a perfect 10, a rarity for those guys. Gamespot.com gives it a 9.3, along with an “Editor’s Choice” award.

Originally released for the Gamecube earlier this year, Resident Evil 4 has arrived for the Playstation 2, in all its gory glory. It features an interesting new perspective. Your view is over the shoulder of the main character, Leon, whom you may remember from RE2. Pressing the R1 button will zoom in even tighter, allowing you to perform nifty stunts like blowing weapons out of the hands of your opponents.

The game is more action packed than previous iterations in the series, without losing the superb adventure elements that made the previous games so good. There are also plenty of good, interactive cinema scenes. On note is an entire boss battle that involves lots of precise button timing moves, along the lines of those found in God of War.

In addition to superb gameplay, the game is simply amazing to look at. It features full widescreen progressive scan support, if you have the TV to support such a thing. Gamespot.com has a whole slew of great screenshots. I’m definitely going to be getting this one.

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Eidos announced today that the game previously know as Roll Call, will be redubbed Zero Tolerance. The game is described as a “high-velocity action shooter.” In it, you play Nick Mason, who has just joined the T-Zero anti-gang squad of Franklin City. The goal is to take back the city using all sorts of high-tech weapons and devices.

Currently Eidos is planning to release the game in Europe in 2006. Official plans for a US release have not yet been announced.

Technorati Tags: playstation 2, ps2, news, preview, zero tolerance, roll call

I’m not terribly into soccer sims personally, but particularly for those in parts of the world that (more rightfully) call it “football”, this is apparently the game to have. The most realistic Pro Evo title to date, this game has received rave reviews across the board. GameSpot users give it an average 9.4/10, and the reviews across the web are similar. “Revolutionary”, “masterpiece”, and “addictive” seem to be common among the reviewers.

Where Gaming is Oxygen has the following to say:

Where player awarness and tactcial play is crucial in winning the game. There are noticable improvements in off the ball running and even on the ball battling for the ball. Where players animations are even more life like than before. The grappling for the ball in midfield, injured players limp off who are not even involved in the play, with strikers going through to goal and end up clinging to the net further to add to realism of the game.

Sounds like I might need to look into the soccer sim thing.

Technorati Tags: playstation, playstation 2, ps2, reviews, pro evo, pro evolution

From the team that created the fabulous ICO in 2001, comes a new fantasy adventure, Shadow of the Colossus. As with ICO, the attention to graphical detail is impressive. It’s truly a work of art. The collosi (is that the plural of collosus?) are intricately rendered, towering beasts, and they’re really the stars of the show.

This is not your traditional RPG, where you must battle hundreds of insignificant foes before taking on the bosses. Here, right from the outset, you are pitted against these huge beasts. The challenge is determing how to defeat each one. In this respect, the game becomes more of a puzzle than a traditional action game or RPG. You must climb up to the top of each collosus in order to figure out how to destroy it. Oddly enough, the creatures don’t much like this, and as such, they will try mightily to throw you off. By pressing R1, you can (usually) manage to keep from being thrown. After you defeat each colossus, it’s normally a fairly trivial matter to find the next one. This sounds a bit repetetive, but it’s strangely not. Each collosus is different, and requires a different strategy to defeat.

As in ICO, the play control can take some getting used to. Your character can stumble, and mounting your horse can be a bit awkward. The character animations are quite impressive and realistic, but this does translate into some delayed reactions. The character doesn’t change direction instantly.

The game itself is rather short. Because you need not spend hours wandering around defeating hordes of lesser enemies, you can probably finish it in under 12 hours. Still, those will be 12 hours well spent. And would you really rather spend 30 hours beating on minons, or 12 figuring out how to defeat creatures that tower hundreds of feet above your head?

This is a truly original game. It probably won’t get the attention that the mega sequels will get, but it’s definitely worth playing.

Official Playstation Site

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