3/27/00

Brad’s Quickies: Late March

Well, the month of bankruptcy continues with another slew of good games, as well as a couple of not-so-good games. Man, March needs to hurry up and get over with so’s I can replenish ye olde bank account. Here’s what landed this past week:

Alundra 2 – Playstation – Contrail for Activision. Well, let’s get this out of the way first: I am not happy with the jump to 3D here. Like Zelda and Castlevania, this is one series that really should stick to 2D. But, since everyone is doing 3D these days, it looks like Contrail decided to jump on the bandwagon. However, Alundra 2 turned out as good as it possibly could, given the circumstances. While the graphics aren’t as detailed as handdrawn stuff, they’re still pretty good. As expected, the story and characters are great, and the voice-overs aren’t half bad. The translation wasn’t done by Working Designs this time, but it’s still pretty good. The only problem in Alundra 2 is one that is inherent to 3D games – namely the camera angles. Getting just the right angle can be quite frustrating whilst trying to dispatch enemies and solve puzzles. Other than that, Alundra 2 is pretty damn good. And, by the way, if you smashed one or more controllers in fits of rage due to the annoying jumping puzzles in Alundra 1, be sure to have extras around, ‘cause it’s more of the same in that department. You have been warned.

My score: 8 ½. Curse you, 3D! You have claimed yet another innocent soul!

Nascar Rumble – Playstation – Electronic Arts. I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but this game does not suck. Really. I know, looking at the box, it looks like nothing more than more redneck fodder. The funny thing is, once you actually start playing, you’ll find that it has almost nothing to do with Nascar. Yippee! Yes, those are Nascar vehicles driving around, but that’s where the similarities end. Nascar Rumble more closely resembles Mario Kart, with some funky tracks (that look great, by the way) and weapons aplenty. Yes, you heard me right. There are weapons in this game. Kart-style stuff like tornadoes and shockwaves make this game MUCH more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Overall, this is a surprisingly polished and balanced racer that almost anyone can get into. Recommended.

My score: 8 ½. This isn’t your hick neighbor’s Nascar game.

Front Mission 3 – Playstation – Square/EA. Now this is what I’m talkin’ about! If you got Final Fantasy Tactics and Armored Core really drunk one night, this is what their bastard child would like. This is your typical "Tactics" style game, but with huge, lumbering mechs in the place of archers and mages. That’s a good thing. Put simply: This game rules! The graphics are standard amazing Square visuals, and the soundtrack is great, as well. The game is played on the usual overhead map, but battles take place in groovy 3D cutscenes. You’ll probably end up turning those off after awhile in order to save time, but they’re still pretty cool. Speaking of time, this bad boy will likely take you upwards of 80 hours to finish. That’s a lotta bang for your buck. If you even remotely enjoy strategy/RPG’s, be sure to pick this up.

My score: 10. My other mech is a MadCat.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation – Dreamcast – Core for Eidos. Much like Final Fantasy 8, the Tomb Raider franchise has become very popular for gaming mags to dump on – I guess that it’s just the cool thing to do. The funny thing is, TR is still better than 90% of the sludge that comes out every month. Unfortunately, Core doesn’t change much from game to game, but really, that has probably as much to do with the aging Playstation hardware as anything else. Now, however, TR is appearing on a console other than Sony’s first-born. So, how did it turn out? Not bad. Not bad at all. I wasn’t expecting much, considering that they spent less than six months on the conversion, but this really is pretty good. The high-res graphics really give an entirely new feel to Tomb Raider, and Lara herself has been granted quite a polygon upgrade. In fact, it looks like everything in the game has been beefed up, much like in Soul Reaver. The analog control is great, as is the ambient sound. Of course, the usual TR annoyances, such as overly complex level designs and those damned timed puzzles, still apply, however the game looks and plays so well that you probably won’t care. The scary thing is that this makes four games in a row from Eidos that have rocked. Pretty soon we’ll have human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!

My score: 9. I have officially stopped dogging on Eidos…at least until they release Fighting Force 3.

Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000– Nintendo64 – Acclaim. Gee whiz, another pile of dung from Acclaim. I don’t know what to say. I am both shocked and amazed. Uh-huh. Anyway, continuing Acclaim’s grand tradition of releasing nothing but the smelliest crap is the new Jeremy McGrath title. Man, I hope that Mr. McGrath is getting paid well, ‘cause his name is getting dragged through the proverbial manure here. The graphics and sound suck, even for an N64 game, but the real crime here is the god-awful physics engine. These racers just fly all over the place, as unrealistically as possible, with some of the worst animation I have ever seen. Oh well, the first game for Playstation sucked even worse, and it sold a million copies, so I’m sure there are plenty of idiots just dying to pick this game up, as well. Sad. Why is it that the best motocross game around is still Excitebike for the ancient NES? Man, that’s really sad.

My score: 2. Well, if it isn’t Jeremy McGrath, and his new game, puke…

Roadsters – Dreamcast – Titus. Brought to you by those responsible for Superman64, we have this little gem. Actually, wonder of wonders, it doesn’t completely suck ass, but it is amazingly average in every conceivable way. The graphics, sound, and control are merely mediocre. There are over 30 cars, but they all control basically the same. There are over 10 tracks, but they all look pretty bland. Even the multiplayer is fairly dull. You could do worse (Test Drive 6), but I myself would rather wait for Sega GT or (whenever it comes out) Ridge Racer 5. Only pick this up if you must have a racing game right this minute.

My score: 5. Nothing to see here…move along…there’s nothing to see here…

Virtua Cop 2 – Dreamcast (Import) – Sega. Man, I just don’t know what all those reviewers were bitching about here. Every review I saw of this game said that it was nothing more than a graphically beefed up version of the VC2 arcade game, and then proceeded to give it a low score. Now, I must ask: What’s wrong with that? The DC version of VC2 has MUCH improved graphics over the arcade original, and has some cool options, as well, such as auto-reload and weapon select. All of the branching paths are intact, so there’s plenty of replay value. It’s also not nearly as difficult as House of the Dead 2. When it comes right down to it, though, this is a light gun game for Dreamcast. I mean, how many of those do you have to choose from? This is a great game for the guns, and, at $39.95 for an import, how can you go wrong? Be warned, however, that the auto-reload and auto-fire functions of U.S. light guns won’t work on VC2. So, if you’re using American guns, make sure you disable those functions, or else the game won’t recognize the guns. As long as you have guns, though, this should be a no-brainer purchase.

My score: 8 ½. I could go for some Virtua Coffee right about now…

Vampire Hunter D – Playstation (Import) – Victor Interactive. At first I wasn’t sure about this one, but, man, did it ever turn out sweet! Now, before I go any further, I should note that this game will mainly appeal to those that have seen the movie. Now, if you have seen the movie, you can imagine how cool it is to control a badass like D. This is good stuff. The game is basically set up like Resident Evil, only you have a really long sword instead of guns. There is a pretty large castle to explore, with a variety of enemies and bosses to vanquish. D also has access to an array of items and throwing weapons, and that hand-symbiote-thingy can fire various projectiles and cast healing spells. Unfortunately, I could barely figure out what was going on. Yes, aside from the options screen, the entire game is in nasty Japanese. And, since this game is apparently based on the second movie, which has yet to be released in the States, I didn’t really have anything to go from. You can find a good walkthrough at gamefaqs.com, though, so the game is entirely playable. I’m surprised that no one picked up the U.S. rights to this one – in English, it could easily be a million-seller. It is that good. If you have extra time and money on your hands, spend some on Vampire Hunter D.

My score: 9 ½. It’s sacrilicious!

Now, before I call it a day, I’d like to take this opportunity to warn everyone about Mission to Mars. For, you see, it is, without a doubt, THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE! I’m not kidding. Yeah, yeah, I know – the commercials all looked cool, and the reviews were all fairly decent, for some reason. However, do not be fooled. This is, by far, the worst written, worst acted melodramatic crap that I have ever had the misfortune of enduring. I’m not one to walk out of a movie, but man, it’s bad. Now, I didn’t have anyone to warn me, so take heed of my warning: THIS IS THE WORST MOVIE EVER MADE!!! Now, let us never speak of it again.

So, join us next time, when we look at Time Stalkers, Armored Core: Master of Arena, and, finally, Resident Evil: Code Veronica. See you next time, same Brad time, same Brad channel!

Cast and Crew   News, Articles and Reviews