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Personal Tech
Video game reviews
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 29, 2007
Lego: Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy Price: $49.99 Platform: All Rating: E (everyone) Company: Lucas Arts This union of blocks and a venerable sci-fi franchise makes for an effortless, if sometimes irksome, gaming experience. Like some alternative galaxy made entirely of plastic bricks a long time ago, the game lets you relive Episodes IV, V and VI as any number of short, squat Lego characters. This game openly smirks at the source material and had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. The gameplay is quite simple, with basic controls to move around, jump, shoot your laser blaster and swing around your light saber - and build. Building is, of course, what distinguishes a game so squarely focused on plastic blocks. Throughout the game, piles of Legos can be assembled into useful structures like bridges. You can even make complex vehicles like the strutting AT-STs and landspeeders, which can then be driven around. It's fun to play with this array of film icons-turned squat Lego characters. Still, some aspects had me screaming "nerfherder" just like Princess Leia. The camera angle in particular made it hard to see where I needed to go next. The game makes up for it with an excellent cooperative mode where another person can jump in at any time to help out with missions. It's definitely the best way to play. Call of Duty 3 Price: $59.99 Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii Rating: T (teen) Company: Activision The latest installment of Activision's epic World War II series drops you right in the middle of the Normandy Breakout, the post-D-day Allied campaign to push the Nazis out of France. Almost immediately, you're hurled into an intense firefight in the cemetery at St. Lo, with bombs exploding, ammunition flying and bodies dropping all around. It's bone-rattling, and it's worth the price of admission, even if the rest of the game doesn't quite live up to it. Call of Duty 3 places some emphasis on finding cover; racing across an open field is a good way to get picked off. There's a decent variety of missions, like rescuing hostages or identifying targets for airstrikes, but some of the new features - like an awkward hand-to-hand combat mode - aren't very exciting. One has to wonder how many more World War II games the market can bear, but Call of Duty 3 is a worthy addition. History Channel Civil War: A Nation Divided Price: $49.99 Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 2 Rating: T (teen) Company: Activision It's puzzling that there aren't more action games set during the War Between the States. A Nation Divided, which sports an endorsement from the History Channel, may demonstrate one problem: It's tough to reload your musket while an ornery rebel is attacking you with a saber. Civil War consists of 12 famous battles, from Bull Run in 1861 to Petersburg in 1865, divided into two campaigns, one for the Union, one for the Confederacy. The dirty, bedraggled appearance of most of the fighters creates a sense of grim realism, but that's offset by the fact that your character is a nearly superhuman killing machine. The goals in each battle are murky - a few times, after I'd slaughtered dozens of opponents, there were no hints to what I needed to do next. Lou Kesten, Associated Press
[Last modified January 29, 2007, 06:10:42]
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