2/19/00

Brad’s Quickies February

There turned out to be quite a few releases over the last couple of weeks, and many of them were actually good. Of course, there were a few stinkers as well, so watch out for ‘em. Well, on with the show…

Saga Frontier 2 – Playstation – Square. Now this is more like it! Like most RPGers, I was less than impressed with the first Saga Frontier. While people had been screaming for a non-linear quest for years, it turned out that, in practice, it’s not such a good idea. The sequel is such a different game that I’m surprised that they still call it "Saga Frontier". The graphics are freakin’ amazing – they’re probably the best hand-drawn graphics I have ever seen. The battle graphics have improved light-years, as well. And, get this: The story actually makes sense! It does tend to jump around a bit, but if you could follow Back to the Future, you should be okay. There is a LOT of story here, which means a lot of text to read, but that’s just fine by me. The soundtrack is trademark amazing Square stuff – yup, you’ll have to buy the soundtrack for this one. This game is such a well-rounded package, and such an improvement over the first installment, that I can’t really find anything wrong with it. Square have truly redeemed themselves here. Buy it.

My Score: 9 ½ - Curse you, Square! You steal men’s souls…and make them your slaves!!!

ECW Hardcore Revolution – PSX, N64, DC – Acclaim. Oh, man…you know, when Acclaim said that they were using a modified version of the Warzone/Attitude engine, I expected some kind of modifications. Nope, t’was not meant to be. This IS Attitude – they just palette-swapped ECW wrestlers for the WWF models. The same horrible control and collision-detection are intact, as is the laughable animation. In short, it sucks. Hard. The differences among platforms are few. The N64 version seems to be the worst, with the PSX version running slightly faster and looking a tad sharper. The DC rev looks and plays better than the other two, but not by much. All versions of the "game" are horrible, and none deserve your hard-earned money. Acclaim must be stopped at all costs. Do your part and avoid this title completely. Together, we can stop this menace that has plagued our beloved hobby for so, so long.

My Score: 1 – It’s the perfect wrestling game…for me to poop on!

Test Drive 6 – Dreamcast – Accolade for Infogrames. Let the parade of mediocre DC racing games continue! This below-average racer comes from a long line of pathetic attempts at fun. Test Drive used to be a poor-man’s Need for Speed; now, it’s just a sad rip-off of Cruisin’ USA, which is a sad game in its own right. The backgrounds in the DC version of Test Drive 6 aren’t too bad, but the car models are a joke – they look like Jell-O-molds on wheels! The control is pretty weak, as well. I suppose that you could do worse, but you could also do much better. Go for Sega Rally 2, Tokyo Xtreme, or Speed Devils before even thinking about Test Drive 6.

My Score: 3 – I think it’s time to let Test Drive go to the big parking lot in the sky…

Elemental Gimmick Gear – Dreamcast – Hudson for Vatical. Like Evolution, here’s another game that got some pretty bad reviews, but turned out to be pretty good. This game is a wonderfully drawn 2D over-head action/RPG, and is a game that should not be missed. Although you can tell that this game started development as a Saturn title, Hudson did an admirable job of updating it for the more powerful DC hardware. The world maps and dungeons are all hand-drawn and look great. The boss battles are a funky 3D affair, but they work okay. The translation is terrible on a scale that I haven’t seen since the 8-Bit days, and it occasionally makes it difficult to figure out what you’re supposed to do next. However, this is really the only flaw in an otherwise great title. It’s just too bad that Working Designs didn’t translate this one. Of course, in that case, our sun would have gone out by the time E.G.G. was released. You can’t have everything, I guess.

My Score: 8 ½ - The incredible, edible E.G.G.!

Tomba! 2 – Playstation – Whoopee Camp for Sony. You know, the first Tomba! was pretty damn good, and this title continues that tradition. A great mix of platforming with RPG elements, the Tomba! games always give you a reason for jumping around and grabbing items. I think that’s why I hate most platformers – it all seems so pointless. Tomba!, on the other hand, has over a hundred quests to complete, although all are not necessary in order to complete the game. Tomba! 2 is rendered in 3D this time, but the gameplay is still firmly rooted in two dimensions. And, that’s a good thing. Somewhat like Mario 3, this game features the introduction of several new costumes, which allow for new play mechanics. The music is guaranteed to drive you insane in some areas, and I still hate bottomless pits, however Tomba! 2 is a title worthy of your time. Check it out.

My Score: 8 – Tomba’s makin’ bacon!

NHL2K – Dreamcast – Blackbox for Sega. I’m sure that everyone has seen some pretty negative reviews of this game by now, and many of those complaints are not unfounded. It’s a fact: NHL2K is not as good as the other Sega Sports games that we have seen thus far. I’m not sure if it’s because the title was rushed to release before the end of the NHL season, or if it’s because Visual Concepts didn’t develop this one. At any rate, there are some problems: First, there is no shot power meter, so it’s easy to make a wrist shot when you meant to do a slapshot. The stats are pretty minimal, even for a two-kay game. Then, there are several little things that tend to add up, like the fact that there is no "siren" noise when a goal is scored. Also, while the commentary is very good, it always seems to be second behind the action. It seems that EA has spoiled us in these respects. However, the graphics are truly amazing, and every little visual nuance of hockey is covered. The play control is nice and smooth, and the sound effects and ambient music are dead-on. And, the fighting system is THE best that I have ever seen. To be honest, this is still the best console hockey game out there, but it’s just not quite up to the standard set by NFL2K and NBA2K. I can see this game being truly great next year. If you can get past a couple of foibles, you will enjoy NHL2K very much. Go ahead and pick it up.

My Score: 8 ½ - He shoots, he scores! Mostly.

Marvel Vs. Capcom EX – Playstation – Capcom. Considering the limitations of the Playstation hardware, I am continually impressed by the 2D offerings by Capcom. Street Fighter Alpha 3 was amazing, and this title continues the winning streak. Now, let’s just get this out of the way: The tag-team feature is essentially absent here. So, if you have the means, the Dreamcast version is far superior, as it’s arcade perfect and then some. However, for a Playstation game, MvC holds up surprisingly well. The graphics are super-clean, and load times aren’t nearly as bad as they could be. There is some loss of animation frames, but it’s not too bad. The control is where it’s at, and MvC doesn’t disappoint. I personally can’t play Capcom fighters with the stock controller, but those that can will find it plays as well as any of Capcom’s previous efforts. In the end, MvC is one of the best 2D fighters on the Playstation.

My Score: 8 – America…still needs your help!

Resident Evil 2 – Nintendo64 – Angel for Capcom. Well, we can’t have a reviews page without at least one Resident Evil title, now can we? Like the recent import Dreamcast release, this version of RE2 vastly improves on the visuals of the original. Everything is crisp high-res goodness – it’s especially impressive considering that it’s on a freakin’ cartridge. The FMV is all here, although it’s letterboxed a bit, and all of the voice is here as well. All in all, this is an amazing translation to a format that shouldn’t technically be able to handle it. Of course, like the Dreamcast version, this game will probably only be important to die-hard fans of the series (like me), or the two people living in Antarctica who have yet to play the Playstation version. Impressive, nonetheless.

My Score: 9 – Capcom throws a bone to starving N64 owners everywhere!

NFL Quarterback Club 2000 – Dreamcast – Acclaim. Since people still ask me about this one, I guess I better put my opinion in writing: It blows. There it is. Oh, you want to know why? ‘Cause it’s Acclaim. Why else? Hoo boy, here we go: While the graphics may look purdy in still shots, it looks god-awful in motion. In typical Acclaim slide-show fashion, the animation is choppy as hell. The sounds are canned, and commentary is almost nonexistent. The real villain here, though, is the gameplay, or should I say lack thereof? Can you say "catch button", boys and girls? Let me say that again: "catch button". This is probably the most idiotic thing I have ever heard of, and it works about as good as you would think it would. It seems to be completely random if you catch the ball or not. Luckily, the AI is so bad that you won’t be the only one looking like a tool. This game is completely devoid of any good qualities, and should be avoided at all costs.

My Score: 1 – It’s polly-wally crappy!!!

Wild Metal – Dreamcast – DMA Design for Rockstar. I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but this game does NOT completely suck. From everything I had seen prior to its release, WM looked horrible. And, technically, it does look horrible. The graphics have that N64 Smear and Blur Effect™, and there’s quite a bit of fog, as well. Also, there’s no music. None! That’s’ pretty weird. The funny thing is, even with all of these strikes against it, it still turns out to be fun. The physics model is brilliant, and the missions are pretty decent in the one-player mode. The maps are huge, and effectively convey the feeling of roaming across an uncharted planet. Also, the two-player mode is basically a 3D version of Scorched Earth! Very nice. This game isn’t gonna win any beauty contests, but it’s still worth checking out.

My score: 7 ½ - Like your momma told ya, beauty is only skin deep!

Alrighty, that’ll do it for today. Check back with us next time for looks at Carrier, Fear Effect, and the continuing saga of "When the Frag Will DC Rainbow Six Come Out???". So, remember kids: Same Brad time, same Brad channel!

Note: The inflammatory comments spewed forth in Brad's Soapbox are his own editorial steps on the brink of madness, and are not necessarily the opinions of Gamehits, or anyone else on Earth, for that matter.

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