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Game Reviews
By CHRIS HUMBURG, SCOTT STEINLE, JONATHAN BOCKMAN, CIARA COTEY, JENNA COTEY, KATHLEEN O. TOBIN and JULIE CHURCH NHL Hitz 20-02
NHL Hitz 20-02 is a nonstop, adrenaline-pumping hockey hit fest. It features all of your favorite NHL teams and lets you create custom teams that could include a model of yourself to battle it out with Vincent Lecavalier, Fredrik Modin and Martin St. Louis. During the high-energy three-on-three game play, it's survival of the fittest. You have to check or be checked. You can bodycheck players right through the glass and into the seats. But if you hit a player too many times, you just might get into a brawl. You can dive in front of the puck and block shots as your team's goalie. Don't worry if you don't know the rules of hockey, because in this game you won't need them. It won't take you more than five minutes to figure out the game, but you'll spend hours having fun playing it. The NHL Hitz soundtrack features hit songs from Korn, Fuel and Limp Bizkit, including Rollin' and Make Me Bad. With fierce and explosive slap shots, amazing steals and sometimes real-looking players, Hitz won't disappoint. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys hockey or other sports. GRADE: A Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X is the best PlayStation 2 game to date. It is the one PlayStation 2 gamers have been waiting for. Final Fantasy X will be an instant classic and the kind of game you'll never want to stop playing. Final Fantasy X is about a summoner named Yuna and a young man named Tidus who, along with his band of friends, must save their world. That world, Spira, is being destroyed by a mysterious force appropriately named Sin. Sin is a mammoth creature that defies description. Tidus finds many interesting characters that help him along the way. Each of the characters has a unique area of expertise, and some of them join him on his journey. Final Fantasy X, like Final Fantasy VII, showcases gaming technology advancements, and it's the first Final Fantasy game series to have characters with voices. With its lifelike environments and characters' realistic facial expressions, Final Fantasy X has the best graphics I have ever seen in a video game. GRADE: A Red Card 20-03
Red Card 20-03 is three goals short of a hat trick. Unlike other games made by Midway, Red Card 20-03 takes the fun out of playing your PlayStation 2 and replaces it with frustration. The graphics are decent, but the game is way too difficult to figure out, and the controls are hard to use. The coolest thing about Red Card 20-03 is the opening movie, which features various players in amazing detail using incomprehensible moves to score on dazed opponents. I like to play soccer, and I own other computer soccer games. But if Red Card 20-03 were a penalty shot it would be wide left. It is a bad way to spend $50. GRADE: F -- CHRIS HUMBURG, Times correspondent Shadow Hearts
Again, Midway has produced a game that is exceptional. Shadow Hearts is a great mix of action and story. As the name implies, the mood of the game is dark, with lots of demons and the undead wandering around, but there is enough comic relief to lighten the darkness. Shadow Hearts is about Yuri Hyuga, a young man who hears a mysterious voice that gives him commands and who, since the sudden death of his parents when he was 10, has had the ability to transform into demons and monsters. As the game begins, the voice tells Yuri to protect a young girl, an exorcist, whose father has been brutally murdered by Roger Bacon, a warlock and the main villain in Shadow Hearts. Bacon is trying to capture Alice and seize her magical powers. The graphics in Shadow Hearts are superior to those in many other role-playing games, with lots of color and outstanding movies throughout. Game play is challenging and is made more so by a feature called the Judgment Ring, which requires accuracy and coordination of the player. Shadow Hearts opens with a gruesome and bloody movie (no doubt the reason for its mature rating), but that level of violence does not continue throughout the game. Shadow Hearts could benefit from better music in some battle scenes. It gets monotonous. GRADE: A Star Wars Starfighter
Star Wars Starfighter is a great example of a good idea gone terribly wrong. Creating another flight game based on Star Wars was a good idea; flight games are fun. However, there are many problems with this one. The movies may be the worst of any PlayStation 2 game, and plot is virtually nonexistent. The game involves three pilots who are trying to save Naboo from the oppression of the Trade Federation. You get to fly their three ships -- two of which are new ship designs not seen in previous games -- on some 14 battle missions. The handling of the ships gets increasingly worse, which initially boosts the challenge of playing the game but eventually is just annoying. Flying the ships requires the use of both analog sticks most of the time and would be quite difficult for the poorly coordinated. The narration is silly; you may prefer playing the game without sound. A couple of features of this game were fun. There is a seemingly never-ending stream of enemies to kill on each mission. And the ability to zoom in on enemy targets is another plus. LucasArts could have produced a better game given the company's resources. Though this game is rated for teens, probably only younger children would find it appealing. GRADE: C- -- SCOTT STEINLE, Times correspondent Arctic Thunder
The package promises "the ultimate battle on snow." It's hardly the ultimate, but it's fun. There are six game modes: race, points, battle, training, arcade and upgrade. In race mode, you win races to unlock new races and new sleds. The levels have great detail. On one level, a huge ship almost comes crashing into you. Then you end up bouncing on slime. Before you know it, you're in this huge factory, all in one level. The graphics are great. The first thing I noticed was that the controller vibrates a lot, and the sled goes really fast. It's fun to watch your driver get knocked off his sled. There are also powerups: proximity missiles, snow bombs, atomic snowballs, super attack, rooster, boost and many more. Throughout the races you can go through short cuts to find hidden powerups. You can learn the basics of the game without using the instruction book. It's easy to learn but tough to win. GRADE: B+ NBA 2Night 2002
NBA 2Night 2002 is a big improvement on earlier versions of the game. There are five game modes: exhibition, quick start, playoffs, franchise and season. In season mode, you play, game by game, through a basketball season and try to win the NBA championship. The game play is realistic, and the graphics are much clearer than the earlier versions of the game. Foul shots aren't just an easy point; you really have to concentrate to make them. The play-by-play announcer is Brent Musberger, and the color commentary is provided by Stuart Scott. For the most part, they vary what they say. Every once in a while, though, you'll hear the same phrases over and over, and it can get annoying. GRADE: B+ -- JONATHAN BOCKMAN, Times correspondent Spyhunter
After Midway's other games with car themes, it finally created a masterpiece: Spyhunter. With its challenging strategies and high speed races against the clock, this game is definitely one people will want to play. It's about an individual and his followers setting out to destroy the Earth. You may be the only one who can stop them with the 6-6155 interceptor, the Spyhunter. You are assigned a mission to destroy this group and return peace to the world. In each operation, you have a primary objective and three to six secondary objectives. In order to succeed, you must complete the primary objective. If you wish to rank high enough to move on to the next level, you must complete most of the secondary objectives. The Spyhunter, a smooth-looking car with very advanced technology, is the key to defeating the enemy. It can transform into a super quick speedboat, a turbo jet watercraft or, if you are hit or shot too many times, the outside of your car will break off, turning it into an awesome motorcycle. If you have changed into a motorcycle and your stamina is running low, you will soon see a large blue circle in the center of your screen. If you continue toward it, you will come across a large truck with its back ramp down. Drive into it to replenish your energy and your car will be back. The variety of vehicles and the hard tests keep the game fresh, no matter how much you play. Though its graphics aren't as good as that of the Gran Turismo games, it is a cool game, and I'd recommend it to anyone 10 and up. There are guns and explosions, so it may not be appropriate for young children, and it is very challenging to play. GRADE: A -- CIARA COTEY, Times correspondent Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Baldur's Gate is like role playing, but you play the game and control the players rather than just rolling dice or clicking a mouse to make your moves. You pick one of three characters with unique powers, strengths and abilities. The characters are Vahn, the Arcane Archer; Kromlech, the Dwarven Fighter; and Adrianna, the Elven Sorceress. You search for thieves to get back money they stole from you. The game has a lot of blood and violence, which is why it is rated for players 13 and older. I'd recommend it for children over 15. The graphics are very good and make the characters look realistic. You'll meet people -- some helpful, some not -- who will make your adventure more interesting and dangerous. Watch out for kobolds, white dragons, ogres, displacer beasts and frost giants. Use a controller with analog sticks. If you don't, you can't move your character at all. The arrows help you pick spells, weapons and armor for your character, and you will pick up these throughout your adventure. The farther you get, the better the weapons and spells are. In each level, there is at least one monster you'll have to defeat. Each level becomes more difficult. By pressing the Select button, you'll see the Character Statistics Screen, which shows your weapons, armor, potions/magic, gold pieces, character model, carrying capacity, quest journal and your active feats. Some feats can only be done by certain characters. Because the game has so many levels and so much action, it never gets boring. But there is a lot of blood and killing, so parents take note. GRADE: A -- JENNA COTEY, Times correspondent Ollo in the Sunny Valley Fair
Ollo in the Sunny Valley Fair, from the creators of Putt-Putt and Freddi Fish, is marketed to kids ages 3 and up. I was skeptical, however, that it would appeal to my 3-year-old, who had never clicked a mouse in his life, or my 9-year-old, who would think it beneath her. That left my 6-year-old, who I knew would enjoy it. Here's the basic plot: Ollo, a bouncing blue ball of clay with eyes, and his best friend, Rose, are growing an experimental red tomato that they hope will win a blue ribbon at the Sunny Valley Fair. But the tomato gets so big it breaks from the vine and becomes a runaway. Kids play through six chapters, solving educational problems and seeking items that ultimately lead them back to the prize tomato. There are a number of fun activities, including planting a garden, playing a marble drop game and, my kids' favorite -- decorating a cake. Educational activities hidden on each screen include such tasks as color and shape matching, counting and reading three-letter words. The first time through is fairly tricky, but having played the game through once, my adult mind figured why play again? Not so, according to all three of my kids, who played it over and over. The 9-year-old compared it to a memory game, in which you try to get faster and faster each time you play. The 6-year-old said, "It never gets boring." And the 3-year-old, who almost instantaneously learned how to use a mouse, said succinctly: "I like Ollo 'cause he bounces. And the other thing I like is the tomato, 'cause it bounces, too." -- KATHLEEN O. TOBIN, Times staff writer Zoo Tycoon Dinosaur Digs Expansion Pack
Dinosaur Digs is expansion software for the popular Zoo Tycoon program. In Zoo Tycoon, players design and operate a zoo with the goal of becoming a tycoon. In Dinosaur Digs, players can add dinosaur habitats to their existing zoo or create a new zoo featuring just dinosaur habitats. Players can manage more than 20 new creatures, including a T-rex, velociraptor and even a saber-tooth tiger. The game starts when scientists find an egg and choose to use the player's zoo as the location to raise dinosaurs. Players must buy eggs and hire a team of scientists to care for the eggs until they hatch into dinosaurs. Players have to design an appropriate habitat for the dinosaur using terrain, foliage, rocks and shelters. As the dinosaurs grow they begin to trample their terrain and the exhibits begin to show wear. Players must hire maintenance workers to repair the exhibits. All of the choices come with associated costs. The goals are to make the habitat as pleasurable as possible for the dinosaurs so they don't try to escape and attack the zoo's guests and also to make a profit for the zoo. This game is appropriate for older children and adults. There can be some scenarios that are violent, so the game is not appropriate for the faint of heart. -- JULIE CHURCH
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