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Old one over and other one begins and all that. Know there’s another best moments thread, but that doesn’t seem to be about games. Here’s my little review of the year – what do you guys have to say just games-wise?
PS2 Highlights
1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Come on, had to be there really. Not only PS2-wise but over all consoles this has to be my favourite game of 2002. The freedom you’re offered as a player is immense, and it’s true freedom. So many titles claim (or are labelled as having) freedom because you can wonder around aimlessly. Difference here is you can actually have fun without following the game’s progress path. In fact, with the multitude of people (and places) offering you missions there really isn’t one way of progressing through even the set missions. What I’m talking about as freedom is the way you can have fun totally outside any of that. Be it simply bombing up and down in a high powered car or seeing how much police attention you can get and still escape, they are enjoyable distractions that have no in-game purpose. While these are only distractions, the actual missions are varied and, most importantly, fun! It’s really hard to think of another game that gives you so much variety, with everything it throws at you being a total pleasure. It’s one of those rare treats - a sequel that improves almost all of its predecessor’s flaws and comes out as simultaneously familiar and fresh.
2. Pro Evo Soccer 2
Okay, so the FIFA/PES “battle” is as hotly fought between the developers as the fans. Everybody has a favourite and swears the other is nowhere near as good - I’m on the PES side. Like Vice City, PES2 had a brilliant but flawed predecessor, and again it improves just where you want it to. The differences take a while to come out, but the whole “feel” of play is different. Passing is more natural, as does player movement in general. After practice you can string together intricate passing plays, something that was virtually impossible in the previous version due to the stop-start nature resulting from the awkward way players took control of the ball and moved into a run. It’s something that’s hard to describe, but matches are now much more satisfying and there’s more here to learn for veterans of the series. The addition of the training exercises makes a nice distraction or introduction, depending on whether you’ve played the predecessors.
3. Less God-Awful Ads
Thank goodness we’re no longer quite so bombarded with those ridiculous 3rd place ads. They always were rubbish, but the most annoying thing is that they started off as quite clever. Initially the 3rd place concept came from some sociologist and described the increasing importance of a third, recreational place between home and work in the lives of modern people. The examples were things like a bar or gym and in adding the PlayStation 2 to this list Sony were making an interesting comment. Then they decided to get all silly and change it to some bringing imagination to life rubbish before the first advert was even aired. Awful. Then butchering Lynch’s launch advert was the final insult. Good riddance lets just get the last drizzle out of the way. What happened to the Sony who kept punters interested with a totally new campaign every so often?
Xbox Highlights
1. Halo
Strange choice for me as I’m usually not a big FPS fan but Halo is different. It’s really hard to single out what it does so well, but I’ve probably spent most time with the multi-player, so I’ll go for that first. Okay, so there are other great FPS multi-players, but most require other equipment – be it a multi-tap or modem. This takes a little organisation that most people couldn’t be bothered to do or simply isn’t possible at short notice. With Halo you’ve got friends around and you’re Xbox is there – everything is sorted. Once you do get down to playing there’s a good selection of weapons (vehicles are a treat too) and the customisation options allow you to bend the game in pretty much whatever way you’re likely to want. Having a range of levels for low numbers of players as well as groups is good too.
Then there’s the one player game. The amount of variety between the levels is a surprise for this sort of game and, of course, keeps things interesting. Enemy AI is passable, but your companions at times display exceptional routines. The genius of this game is that you are just one of a number of people fighting the “bad guys”. It makes a bigger difference than you’d think, as an example; you feel more of a loss when someone you’ve been fighting alongside (literally) dies than merely someone whose only purpose in the game is to be killed at that particular point. All in all, a joy.
2. The Price Drop/Value in General
Okay, Sony has been at it to, but Microsoft have handled it brilliantly. Basically, who else has ever offered such a generous package of goods for the people who “suffered” as a result of the price cut (noting no one should ever be shocked but post-launch period price cuts)? Microsoft had absolutely no compulsion to give early adopters the free games they did other than generosity. Talking of generosity – have you seen the deals you can get on an X-Box now? Console, Splinter Cell, Halo, Jet Set Radio Future and that Sega racing one for £200 – bargain.
3. Splinter Cell
I only actually got this at Christmas so have only had a few hours with it. Therefore I’ll have to be brief – it’s everything you wanted Metal Gear Solid 2 to be but it wasn’t.
Gamecube Highlights
1. Metriod
(I’ve got an American console so this was 2002 for me)
Play the first level – once that’s over you’ll know this game is special. You start off cautiously exploring, using your head display unit to scan items of interest and explore. Throughout the game this provides something a little different for your traditional FPS. You have to explore and occasionally problem solve, cranial aspects absent from most titles in the genre. Where the level really hots up is after you think you’ll have finished. You are faced with an imposingly huge bad guy that requires much fire-power before he’ll die. Once he’s gone you expect cut scene and move on. Nope. You have five minutes to get off the ship. Storming back through the ship is a nail biting, thrilling example of perfect gaming. As you have to take a different route out you’re never quite sure how much further you have to go. On the trip you get to use two interesting features – the transform-into-a-ball move and your Bionic Commando style grappling hook swing. Again, interesting additions you don’t usually find in a FPS. The lack of an auto-save or save at any point option makes this end of level dash all the more nail biting, they even hide the mid-level save point. Just disappointing Nintendo haven’t got around to releasing it in European territories yet.
2. Mario Sunshine
Bit of a difficult one this. You see as a standalone game this would be a totally satisfying, but its part of the Mario series so we expect that little bit more. It is brilliant, gem of a game, but just not quite what we were hoping for. Okay, okay, when could any game hyped this much ever live up to expectations? Well, the previous Mario platformers almost without exception did.
There seems little point in going into too much depth on this game as it is so similar to Mario 64, which is in turn so familiar to any gamer worth their salt. The addition of the backpack is an interesting diversion, but really it is only a tweak to the formula rather than any form of revolution. So you’ve got to ask yourself – do you want to replay what’s basically Mario 64, but set in totally new, perfectly designed levels? (if the answer isn’t yes, you’re a freak)
3. Wavebird
Hmmmm… I could have put Super Monkey Ball 2 here as it was fantastic (again, American console so this was 2002 for me, the original being 2001 so invalid), but it really wasn’t new enough to climb above the brilliance of the Wavebird. It’s simple, a controller, with no wires. It’s not significantly heavier than a usual controller and the wireless aspect is handled by radio waves so will even work 100% effectively through walls (forget the rubbish infra-red controllers, this is a whole new league). That’s just about all I can say, the benefit will depend on physically how you play your console. I recline on my bed with the TV at the foot. Due to the practicalities of having a huge TV and a number of consoles living in an already crowded bedroom, the consoles are quite a way from where I actually sit to play them. For the PS2 I need an ugly extension lead that leaves a huge wire trailing across the room. Gamecube, nothing, I’m totally unencumbered.
2002’s Disappointments
1. The Damp Squib of Broadband
On so many levels this is disappointing. For a start the god awful ADSL rollout, BT should be shot. They maintain on using a payback of three years on each exchange, when traditional BT projects have five year paybacks and they will provide no reason for the difference. Then the cost of the ASDL upgrade used to work out the trigger level includes the costs of repairing or replacing out dated equipment that BT will have to change anyway. Basically, the “trigger levels” could be a much lower. Then there’s the trigger levels themselves. It’s verging on illegal (literally). BT have a monopoly on the exchanges – only they can upgrade them. They benefit from this hugely in the phone business and make huge piles of cash because of it. However, they are using it unfairly here. They won’t upgrade an exchange until it reaches its trigger i.e. it’s profitable as an individual exchange. They don’t take into account the cash made from their highly lucrative inner-city exchanges. Their monopolistic position allows them to pick and choose their way to the highest profit in a manner they wouldn’t be able to if they had competition at the exchange level. Yeah, so they’re planning to let third parties bid to upgrade the exchanges, but this “plan” is years in the offing – when will they actually do it?
Then there’s the fact ADSL is barely broadband – 512k? That’s nowhere near fast enough for the full screen streaming video the adverts promise. Try the 8mb available to many Continentals, that’ll do it. We’re playing catch up with the rest of the developed world and we’re running backwards.
Microsoft’s attitude barely helps, not even providing an option for anyone without Broadband. They claim 56k isn’t enough for gaming. Rubbish, it isn’t perfect, but with optimised, efficient code they are highly possible. Oh, but that takes effort and money…
2. Metal Gear Solid 2
Rubbish. If I wanted to watch some talent-less screenwriter’s work with a bunch of new-age tripe I’d go watch a Stephen Segal film. I want to games where I play an active roll, not just act as a bridge between cut scenes.
3. Nintendo’s European Attitude
The only word for it is pathetic. Months for a PAL conversion? That’s not on – the amateur PS2 ripping teams can do it in weeks. Language translations can be done in a similar time, so why are we still getting this tripe? What Nintendo really need to say is the truth; they are diverting resources that would be used to print European titles to keep up with American demands. Get it sorted. Final slap in the face is the petty barring of the Freeloader. This handy bit of kit allows you to play games from anywhere on your UK Gamecube, but it has been delayed time and time again. Vicious internet rumours have assigned this to Datel’s inability to get the disk working effectively, simply not true. Nintendo have bared Datel from pressing any disks with their equipment (a problem in itself as Nintendo pretty much control the worlds output of 3.5 inch DVDs) and, more importantly, won’t licence the release. What exactly is the problem with us paying full price for genuine titles that just happen to come from another territory? If Nintendo Europe wants to keep local customers buying locally then treat us with a bit of respect. All irrelevant to me as I never believed the promises for near simultaneous worldwide releases around the time of the Gamecube’s launch and bought an American console in the first place.
PS2 Highlights
1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Come on, had to be there really. Not only PS2-wise but over all consoles this has to be my favourite game of 2002. The freedom you’re offered as a player is immense, and it’s true freedom. So many titles claim (or are labelled as having) freedom because you can wonder around aimlessly. Difference here is you can actually have fun without following the game’s progress path. In fact, with the multitude of people (and places) offering you missions there really isn’t one way of progressing through even the set missions. What I’m talking about as freedom is the way you can have fun totally outside any of that. Be it simply bombing up and down in a high powered car or seeing how much police attention you can get and still escape, they are enjoyable distractions that have no in-game purpose. While these are only distractions, the actual missions are varied and, most importantly, fun! It’s really hard to think of another game that gives you so much variety, with everything it throws at you being a total pleasure. It’s one of those rare treats - a sequel that improves almost all of its predecessor’s flaws and comes out as simultaneously familiar and fresh.
2. Pro Evo Soccer 2
Okay, so the FIFA/PES “battle” is as hotly fought between the developers as the fans. Everybody has a favourite and swears the other is nowhere near as good - I’m on the PES side. Like Vice City, PES2 had a brilliant but flawed predecessor, and again it improves just where you want it to. The differences take a while to come out, but the whole “feel” of play is different. Passing is more natural, as does player movement in general. After practice you can string together intricate passing plays, something that was virtually impossible in the previous version due to the stop-start nature resulting from the awkward way players took control of the ball and moved into a run. It’s something that’s hard to describe, but matches are now much more satisfying and there’s more here to learn for veterans of the series. The addition of the training exercises makes a nice distraction or introduction, depending on whether you’ve played the predecessors.
3. Less God-Awful Ads
Thank goodness we’re no longer quite so bombarded with those ridiculous 3rd place ads. They always were rubbish, but the most annoying thing is that they started off as quite clever. Initially the 3rd place concept came from some sociologist and described the increasing importance of a third, recreational place between home and work in the lives of modern people. The examples were things like a bar or gym and in adding the PlayStation 2 to this list Sony were making an interesting comment. Then they decided to get all silly and change it to some bringing imagination to life rubbish before the first advert was even aired. Awful. Then butchering Lynch’s launch advert was the final insult. Good riddance lets just get the last drizzle out of the way. What happened to the Sony who kept punters interested with a totally new campaign every so often?
Xbox Highlights
1. Halo
Strange choice for me as I’m usually not a big FPS fan but Halo is different. It’s really hard to single out what it does so well, but I’ve probably spent most time with the multi-player, so I’ll go for that first. Okay, so there are other great FPS multi-players, but most require other equipment – be it a multi-tap or modem. This takes a little organisation that most people couldn’t be bothered to do or simply isn’t possible at short notice. With Halo you’ve got friends around and you’re Xbox is there – everything is sorted. Once you do get down to playing there’s a good selection of weapons (vehicles are a treat too) and the customisation options allow you to bend the game in pretty much whatever way you’re likely to want. Having a range of levels for low numbers of players as well as groups is good too.
Then there’s the one player game. The amount of variety between the levels is a surprise for this sort of game and, of course, keeps things interesting. Enemy AI is passable, but your companions at times display exceptional routines. The genius of this game is that you are just one of a number of people fighting the “bad guys”. It makes a bigger difference than you’d think, as an example; you feel more of a loss when someone you’ve been fighting alongside (literally) dies than merely someone whose only purpose in the game is to be killed at that particular point. All in all, a joy.
2. The Price Drop/Value in General
Okay, Sony has been at it to, but Microsoft have handled it brilliantly. Basically, who else has ever offered such a generous package of goods for the people who “suffered” as a result of the price cut (noting no one should ever be shocked but post-launch period price cuts)? Microsoft had absolutely no compulsion to give early adopters the free games they did other than generosity. Talking of generosity – have you seen the deals you can get on an X-Box now? Console, Splinter Cell, Halo, Jet Set Radio Future and that Sega racing one for £200 – bargain.
3. Splinter Cell
I only actually got this at Christmas so have only had a few hours with it. Therefore I’ll have to be brief – it’s everything you wanted Metal Gear Solid 2 to be but it wasn’t.
Gamecube Highlights
1. Metriod
(I’ve got an American console so this was 2002 for me)
Play the first level – once that’s over you’ll know this game is special. You start off cautiously exploring, using your head display unit to scan items of interest and explore. Throughout the game this provides something a little different for your traditional FPS. You have to explore and occasionally problem solve, cranial aspects absent from most titles in the genre. Where the level really hots up is after you think you’ll have finished. You are faced with an imposingly huge bad guy that requires much fire-power before he’ll die. Once he’s gone you expect cut scene and move on. Nope. You have five minutes to get off the ship. Storming back through the ship is a nail biting, thrilling example of perfect gaming. As you have to take a different route out you’re never quite sure how much further you have to go. On the trip you get to use two interesting features – the transform-into-a-ball move and your Bionic Commando style grappling hook swing. Again, interesting additions you don’t usually find in a FPS. The lack of an auto-save or save at any point option makes this end of level dash all the more nail biting, they even hide the mid-level save point. Just disappointing Nintendo haven’t got around to releasing it in European territories yet.
2. Mario Sunshine
Bit of a difficult one this. You see as a standalone game this would be a totally satisfying, but its part of the Mario series so we expect that little bit more. It is brilliant, gem of a game, but just not quite what we were hoping for. Okay, okay, when could any game hyped this much ever live up to expectations? Well, the previous Mario platformers almost without exception did.
There seems little point in going into too much depth on this game as it is so similar to Mario 64, which is in turn so familiar to any gamer worth their salt. The addition of the backpack is an interesting diversion, but really it is only a tweak to the formula rather than any form of revolution. So you’ve got to ask yourself – do you want to replay what’s basically Mario 64, but set in totally new, perfectly designed levels? (if the answer isn’t yes, you’re a freak)
3. Wavebird
Hmmmm… I could have put Super Monkey Ball 2 here as it was fantastic (again, American console so this was 2002 for me, the original being 2001 so invalid), but it really wasn’t new enough to climb above the brilliance of the Wavebird. It’s simple, a controller, with no wires. It’s not significantly heavier than a usual controller and the wireless aspect is handled by radio waves so will even work 100% effectively through walls (forget the rubbish infra-red controllers, this is a whole new league). That’s just about all I can say, the benefit will depend on physically how you play your console. I recline on my bed with the TV at the foot. Due to the practicalities of having a huge TV and a number of consoles living in an already crowded bedroom, the consoles are quite a way from where I actually sit to play them. For the PS2 I need an ugly extension lead that leaves a huge wire trailing across the room. Gamecube, nothing, I’m totally unencumbered.
2002’s Disappointments
1. The Damp Squib of Broadband
On so many levels this is disappointing. For a start the god awful ADSL rollout, BT should be shot. They maintain on using a payback of three years on each exchange, when traditional BT projects have five year paybacks and they will provide no reason for the difference. Then the cost of the ASDL upgrade used to work out the trigger level includes the costs of repairing or replacing out dated equipment that BT will have to change anyway. Basically, the “trigger levels” could be a much lower. Then there’s the trigger levels themselves. It’s verging on illegal (literally). BT have a monopoly on the exchanges – only they can upgrade them. They benefit from this hugely in the phone business and make huge piles of cash because of it. However, they are using it unfairly here. They won’t upgrade an exchange until it reaches its trigger i.e. it’s profitable as an individual exchange. They don’t take into account the cash made from their highly lucrative inner-city exchanges. Their monopolistic position allows them to pick and choose their way to the highest profit in a manner they wouldn’t be able to if they had competition at the exchange level. Yeah, so they’re planning to let third parties bid to upgrade the exchanges, but this “plan” is years in the offing – when will they actually do it?
Then there’s the fact ADSL is barely broadband – 512k? That’s nowhere near fast enough for the full screen streaming video the adverts promise. Try the 8mb available to many Continentals, that’ll do it. We’re playing catch up with the rest of the developed world and we’re running backwards.
Microsoft’s attitude barely helps, not even providing an option for anyone without Broadband. They claim 56k isn’t enough for gaming. Rubbish, it isn’t perfect, but with optimised, efficient code they are highly possible. Oh, but that takes effort and money…
2. Metal Gear Solid 2
Rubbish. If I wanted to watch some talent-less screenwriter’s work with a bunch of new-age tripe I’d go watch a Stephen Segal film. I want to games where I play an active roll, not just act as a bridge between cut scenes.
3. Nintendo’s European Attitude
The only word for it is pathetic. Months for a PAL conversion? That’s not on – the amateur PS2 ripping teams can do it in weeks. Language translations can be done in a similar time, so why are we still getting this tripe? What Nintendo really need to say is the truth; they are diverting resources that would be used to print European titles to keep up with American demands. Get it sorted. Final slap in the face is the petty barring of the Freeloader. This handy bit of kit allows you to play games from anywhere on your UK Gamecube, but it has been delayed time and time again. Vicious internet rumours have assigned this to Datel’s inability to get the disk working effectively, simply not true. Nintendo have bared Datel from pressing any disks with their equipment (a problem in itself as Nintendo pretty much control the worlds output of 3.5 inch DVDs) and, more importantly, won’t licence the release. What exactly is the problem with us paying full price for genuine titles that just happen to come from another territory? If Nintendo Europe wants to keep local customers buying locally then treat us with a bit of respect. All irrelevant to me as I never believed the promises for near simultaneous worldwide releases around the time of the Gamecube’s launch and bought an American console in the first place.
I forgot all about Ico, it is a lovely wee game. I got it at the same time as PES 2 so it kind of got ignored - must go back and play a bit more :)
I think you can get the Wavebird for around £30, which is an absolute bargain. There is a Logitech (spelling?) PS2 Wi-Fi controller which is supposed to be quite good, but nothing official.
I think you can get the Wavebird for around £30, which is an absolute bargain. There is a Logitech (spelling?) PS2 Wi-Fi controller which is supposed to be quite good, but nothing official.
Rickoss wrote:
> As for gaming in general, I agree with the Wavebird, it's a great
> innovation and, after all, that's what gamings about.
>
Talking of wavebird - has anyone heard of a PS2 (or, indeed, XB) version of this. Its such a great idea, its bound to be stolen, as all great ideas are.
How much was it?
As for the post, I'd but Ico in the PS2 best bits. It's the most original and beautiful game since, like, ever. Although no-one bought it. Geez, they beg for originality, then ignore it.
Fools.
> As for gaming in general, I agree with the Wavebird, it's a great
> innovation and, after all, that's what gamings about.
>
Talking of wavebird - has anyone heard of a PS2 (or, indeed, XB) version of this. Its such a great idea, its bound to be stolen, as all great ideas are.
How much was it?
As for the post, I'd but Ico in the PS2 best bits. It's the most original and beautiful game since, like, ever. Although no-one bought it. Geez, they beg for originality, then ignore it.
Fools.
Super Mario Sunshine, a highlight of 2002? I've been a Nintendo fan for some time now and SMS is not a highlight of 2002, for me it's the biggest letdown of the year.
With Mario 64 I wanted to play until the end, find everything and I wouldn't stop until I had. There was something to keep you going because you could reach the castle roof, but with Super Mario SUnshine, all you do is spend hours wandering around looking for blue coins that could be absolutely anywhere.
The variation was alsoo terrible, you always diod the same missions and the levels were all the same. Add that to the fact that it's a very small game and you've gotn a huge disappointment.
As for best of 2002, Pikmin should certainly be there, such an innovation and amazing to play.
TimeSplitters 2 should also be on the No. 1 spot for any console. Yes, it's multiformat, but does that matter? It's best of the year by far ands should be savoured for years to come.
As for gaming in general, I agree with the Wavebird, it's a great innovation and, after all, that's what gamings about.
It's a great year - 2 new consoles, loads of great and some damn fine innovations too!
Great post.
With Mario 64 I wanted to play until the end, find everything and I wouldn't stop until I had. There was something to keep you going because you could reach the castle roof, but with Super Mario SUnshine, all you do is spend hours wandering around looking for blue coins that could be absolutely anywhere.
The variation was alsoo terrible, you always diod the same missions and the levels were all the same. Add that to the fact that it's a very small game and you've gotn a huge disappointment.
As for best of 2002, Pikmin should certainly be there, such an innovation and amazing to play.
TimeSplitters 2 should also be on the No. 1 spot for any console. Yes, it's multiformat, but does that matter? It's best of the year by far ands should be savoured for years to come.
As for gaming in general, I agree with the Wavebird, it's a great innovation and, after all, that's what gamings about.
It's a great year - 2 new consoles, loads of great and some damn fine innovations too!
Great post.
Old one over and other one begins and all that. Know there’s another best moments thread, but that doesn’t seem to be about games. Here’s my little review of the year – what do you guys have to say just games-wise?
PS2 Highlights
1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Come on, had to be there really. Not only PS2-wise but over all consoles this has to be my favourite game of 2002. The freedom you’re offered as a player is immense, and it’s true freedom. So many titles claim (or are labelled as having) freedom because you can wonder around aimlessly. Difference here is you can actually have fun without following the game’s progress path. In fact, with the multitude of people (and places) offering you missions there really isn’t one way of progressing through even the set missions. What I’m talking about as freedom is the way you can have fun totally outside any of that. Be it simply bombing up and down in a high powered car or seeing how much police attention you can get and still escape, they are enjoyable distractions that have no in-game purpose. While these are only distractions, the actual missions are varied and, most importantly, fun! It’s really hard to think of another game that gives you so much variety, with everything it throws at you being a total pleasure. It’s one of those rare treats - a sequel that improves almost all of its predecessor’s flaws and comes out as simultaneously familiar and fresh.
2. Pro Evo Soccer 2
Okay, so the FIFA/PES “battle” is as hotly fought between the developers as the fans. Everybody has a favourite and swears the other is nowhere near as good - I’m on the PES side. Like Vice City, PES2 had a brilliant but flawed predecessor, and again it improves just where you want it to. The differences take a while to come out, but the whole “feel” of play is different. Passing is more natural, as does player movement in general. After practice you can string together intricate passing plays, something that was virtually impossible in the previous version due to the stop-start nature resulting from the awkward way players took control of the ball and moved into a run. It’s something that’s hard to describe, but matches are now much more satisfying and there’s more here to learn for veterans of the series. The addition of the training exercises makes a nice distraction or introduction, depending on whether you’ve played the predecessors.
3. Less God-Awful Ads
Thank goodness we’re no longer quite so bombarded with those ridiculous 3rd place ads. They always were rubbish, but the most annoying thing is that they started off as quite clever. Initially the 3rd place concept came from some sociologist and described the increasing importance of a third, recreational place between home and work in the lives of modern people. The examples were things like a bar or gym and in adding the PlayStation 2 to this list Sony were making an interesting comment. Then they decided to get all silly and change it to some bringing imagination to life rubbish before the first advert was even aired. Awful. Then butchering Lynch’s launch advert was the final insult. Good riddance lets just get the last drizzle out of the way. What happened to the Sony who kept punters interested with a totally new campaign every so often?
Xbox Highlights
1. Halo
Strange choice for me as I’m usually not a big FPS fan but Halo is different. It’s really hard to single out what it does so well, but I’ve probably spent most time with the multi-player, so I’ll go for that first. Okay, so there are other great FPS multi-players, but most require other equipment – be it a multi-tap or modem. This takes a little organisation that most people couldn’t be bothered to do or simply isn’t possible at short notice. With Halo you’ve got friends around and you’re Xbox is there – everything is sorted. Once you do get down to playing there’s a good selection of weapons (vehicles are a treat too) and the customisation options allow you to bend the game in pretty much whatever way you’re likely to want. Having a range of levels for low numbers of players as well as groups is good too.
Then there’s the one player game. The amount of variety between the levels is a surprise for this sort of game and, of course, keeps things interesting. Enemy AI is passable, but your companions at times display exceptional routines. The genius of this game is that you are just one of a number of people fighting the “bad guys”. It makes a bigger difference than you’d think, as an example; you feel more of a loss when someone you’ve been fighting alongside (literally) dies than merely someone whose only purpose in the game is to be killed at that particular point. All in all, a joy.
2. The Price Drop/Value in General
Okay, Sony has been at it to, but Microsoft have handled it brilliantly. Basically, who else has ever offered such a generous package of goods for the people who “suffered” as a result of the price cut (noting no one should ever be shocked but post-launch period price cuts)? Microsoft had absolutely no compulsion to give early adopters the free games they did other than generosity. Talking of generosity – have you seen the deals you can get on an X-Box now? Console, Splinter Cell, Halo, Jet Set Radio Future and that Sega racing one for £200 – bargain.
3. Splinter Cell
I only actually got this at Christmas so have only had a few hours with it. Therefore I’ll have to be brief – it’s everything you wanted Metal Gear Solid 2 to be but it wasn’t.
Gamecube Highlights
1. Metriod
(I’ve got an American console so this was 2002 for me)
Play the first level – once that’s over you’ll know this game is special. You start off cautiously exploring, using your head display unit to scan items of interest and explore. Throughout the game this provides something a little different for your traditional FPS. You have to explore and occasionally problem solve, cranial aspects absent from most titles in the genre. Where the level really hots up is after you think you’ll have finished. You are faced with an imposingly huge bad guy that requires much fire-power before he’ll die. Once he’s gone you expect cut scene and move on. Nope. You have five minutes to get off the ship. Storming back through the ship is a nail biting, thrilling example of perfect gaming. As you have to take a different route out you’re never quite sure how much further you have to go. On the trip you get to use two interesting features – the transform-into-a-ball move and your Bionic Commando style grappling hook swing. Again, interesting additions you don’t usually find in a FPS. The lack of an auto-save or save at any point option makes this end of level dash all the more nail biting, they even hide the mid-level save point. Just disappointing Nintendo haven’t got around to releasing it in European territories yet.
2. Mario Sunshine
Bit of a difficult one this. You see as a standalone game this would be a totally satisfying, but its part of the Mario series so we expect that little bit more. It is brilliant, gem of a game, but just not quite what we were hoping for. Okay, okay, when could any game hyped this much ever live up to expectations? Well, the previous Mario platformers almost without exception did.
There seems little point in going into too much depth on this game as it is so similar to Mario 64, which is in turn so familiar to any gamer worth their salt. The addition of the backpack is an interesting diversion, but really it is only a tweak to the formula rather than any form of revolution. So you’ve got to ask yourself – do you want to replay what’s basically Mario 64, but set in totally new, perfectly designed levels? (if the answer isn’t yes, you’re a freak)
3. Wavebird
Hmmmm… I could have put Super Monkey Ball 2 here as it was fantastic (again, American console so this was 2002 for me, the original being 2001 so invalid), but it really wasn’t new enough to climb above the brilliance of the Wavebird. It’s simple, a controller, with no wires. It’s not significantly heavier than a usual controller and the wireless aspect is handled by radio waves so will even work 100% effectively through walls (forget the rubbish infra-red controllers, this is a whole new league). That’s just about all I can say, the benefit will depend on physically how you play your console. I recline on my bed with the TV at the foot. Due to the practicalities of having a huge TV and a number of consoles living in an already crowded bedroom, the consoles are quite a way from where I actually sit to play them. For the PS2 I need an ugly extension lead that leaves a huge wire trailing across the room. Gamecube, nothing, I’m totally unencumbered.
2002’s Disappointments
1. The Damp Squib of Broadband
On so many levels this is disappointing. For a start the god awful ADSL rollout, BT should be shot. They maintain on using a payback of three years on each exchange, when traditional BT projects have five year paybacks and they will provide no reason for the difference. Then the cost of the ASDL upgrade used to work out the trigger level includes the costs of repairing or replacing out dated equipment that BT will have to change anyway. Basically, the “trigger levels” could be a much lower. Then there’s the trigger levels themselves. It’s verging on illegal (literally). BT have a monopoly on the exchanges – only they can upgrade them. They benefit from this hugely in the phone business and make huge piles of cash because of it. However, they are using it unfairly here. They won’t upgrade an exchange until it reaches its trigger i.e. it’s profitable as an individual exchange. They don’t take into account the cash made from their highly lucrative inner-city exchanges. Their monopolistic position allows them to pick and choose their way to the highest profit in a manner they wouldn’t be able to if they had competition at the exchange level. Yeah, so they’re planning to let third parties bid to upgrade the exchanges, but this “plan” is years in the offing – when will they actually do it?
Then there’s the fact ADSL is barely broadband – 512k? That’s nowhere near fast enough for the full screen streaming video the adverts promise. Try the 8mb available to many Continentals, that’ll do it. We’re playing catch up with the rest of the developed world and we’re running backwards.
Microsoft’s attitude barely helps, not even providing an option for anyone without Broadband. They claim 56k isn’t enough for gaming. Rubbish, it isn’t perfect, but with optimised, efficient code they are highly possible. Oh, but that takes effort and money…
2. Metal Gear Solid 2
Rubbish. If I wanted to watch some talent-less screenwriter’s work with a bunch of new-age tripe I’d go watch a Stephen Segal film. I want to games where I play an active roll, not just act as a bridge between cut scenes.
3. Nintendo’s European Attitude
The only word for it is pathetic. Months for a PAL conversion? That’s not on – the amateur PS2 ripping teams can do it in weeks. Language translations can be done in a similar time, so why are we still getting this tripe? What Nintendo really need to say is the truth; they are diverting resources that would be used to print European titles to keep up with American demands. Get it sorted. Final slap in the face is the petty barring of the Freeloader. This handy bit of kit allows you to play games from anywhere on your UK Gamecube, but it has been delayed time and time again. Vicious internet rumours have assigned this to Datel’s inability to get the disk working effectively, simply not true. Nintendo have bared Datel from pressing any disks with their equipment (a problem in itself as Nintendo pretty much control the worlds output of 3.5 inch DVDs) and, more importantly, won’t licence the release. What exactly is the problem with us paying full price for genuine titles that just happen to come from another territory? If Nintendo Europe wants to keep local customers buying locally then treat us with a bit of respect. All irrelevant to me as I never believed the promises for near simultaneous worldwide releases around the time of the Gamecube’s launch and bought an American console in the first place.
PS2 Highlights
1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Come on, had to be there really. Not only PS2-wise but over all consoles this has to be my favourite game of 2002. The freedom you’re offered as a player is immense, and it’s true freedom. So many titles claim (or are labelled as having) freedom because you can wonder around aimlessly. Difference here is you can actually have fun without following the game’s progress path. In fact, with the multitude of people (and places) offering you missions there really isn’t one way of progressing through even the set missions. What I’m talking about as freedom is the way you can have fun totally outside any of that. Be it simply bombing up and down in a high powered car or seeing how much police attention you can get and still escape, they are enjoyable distractions that have no in-game purpose. While these are only distractions, the actual missions are varied and, most importantly, fun! It’s really hard to think of another game that gives you so much variety, with everything it throws at you being a total pleasure. It’s one of those rare treats - a sequel that improves almost all of its predecessor’s flaws and comes out as simultaneously familiar and fresh.
2. Pro Evo Soccer 2
Okay, so the FIFA/PES “battle” is as hotly fought between the developers as the fans. Everybody has a favourite and swears the other is nowhere near as good - I’m on the PES side. Like Vice City, PES2 had a brilliant but flawed predecessor, and again it improves just where you want it to. The differences take a while to come out, but the whole “feel” of play is different. Passing is more natural, as does player movement in general. After practice you can string together intricate passing plays, something that was virtually impossible in the previous version due to the stop-start nature resulting from the awkward way players took control of the ball and moved into a run. It’s something that’s hard to describe, but matches are now much more satisfying and there’s more here to learn for veterans of the series. The addition of the training exercises makes a nice distraction or introduction, depending on whether you’ve played the predecessors.
3. Less God-Awful Ads
Thank goodness we’re no longer quite so bombarded with those ridiculous 3rd place ads. They always were rubbish, but the most annoying thing is that they started off as quite clever. Initially the 3rd place concept came from some sociologist and described the increasing importance of a third, recreational place between home and work in the lives of modern people. The examples were things like a bar or gym and in adding the PlayStation 2 to this list Sony were making an interesting comment. Then they decided to get all silly and change it to some bringing imagination to life rubbish before the first advert was even aired. Awful. Then butchering Lynch’s launch advert was the final insult. Good riddance lets just get the last drizzle out of the way. What happened to the Sony who kept punters interested with a totally new campaign every so often?
Xbox Highlights
1. Halo
Strange choice for me as I’m usually not a big FPS fan but Halo is different. It’s really hard to single out what it does so well, but I’ve probably spent most time with the multi-player, so I’ll go for that first. Okay, so there are other great FPS multi-players, but most require other equipment – be it a multi-tap or modem. This takes a little organisation that most people couldn’t be bothered to do or simply isn’t possible at short notice. With Halo you’ve got friends around and you’re Xbox is there – everything is sorted. Once you do get down to playing there’s a good selection of weapons (vehicles are a treat too) and the customisation options allow you to bend the game in pretty much whatever way you’re likely to want. Having a range of levels for low numbers of players as well as groups is good too.
Then there’s the one player game. The amount of variety between the levels is a surprise for this sort of game and, of course, keeps things interesting. Enemy AI is passable, but your companions at times display exceptional routines. The genius of this game is that you are just one of a number of people fighting the “bad guys”. It makes a bigger difference than you’d think, as an example; you feel more of a loss when someone you’ve been fighting alongside (literally) dies than merely someone whose only purpose in the game is to be killed at that particular point. All in all, a joy.
2. The Price Drop/Value in General
Okay, Sony has been at it to, but Microsoft have handled it brilliantly. Basically, who else has ever offered such a generous package of goods for the people who “suffered” as a result of the price cut (noting no one should ever be shocked but post-launch period price cuts)? Microsoft had absolutely no compulsion to give early adopters the free games they did other than generosity. Talking of generosity – have you seen the deals you can get on an X-Box now? Console, Splinter Cell, Halo, Jet Set Radio Future and that Sega racing one for £200 – bargain.
3. Splinter Cell
I only actually got this at Christmas so have only had a few hours with it. Therefore I’ll have to be brief – it’s everything you wanted Metal Gear Solid 2 to be but it wasn’t.
Gamecube Highlights
1. Metriod
(I’ve got an American console so this was 2002 for me)
Play the first level – once that’s over you’ll know this game is special. You start off cautiously exploring, using your head display unit to scan items of interest and explore. Throughout the game this provides something a little different for your traditional FPS. You have to explore and occasionally problem solve, cranial aspects absent from most titles in the genre. Where the level really hots up is after you think you’ll have finished. You are faced with an imposingly huge bad guy that requires much fire-power before he’ll die. Once he’s gone you expect cut scene and move on. Nope. You have five minutes to get off the ship. Storming back through the ship is a nail biting, thrilling example of perfect gaming. As you have to take a different route out you’re never quite sure how much further you have to go. On the trip you get to use two interesting features – the transform-into-a-ball move and your Bionic Commando style grappling hook swing. Again, interesting additions you don’t usually find in a FPS. The lack of an auto-save or save at any point option makes this end of level dash all the more nail biting, they even hide the mid-level save point. Just disappointing Nintendo haven’t got around to releasing it in European territories yet.
2. Mario Sunshine
Bit of a difficult one this. You see as a standalone game this would be a totally satisfying, but its part of the Mario series so we expect that little bit more. It is brilliant, gem of a game, but just not quite what we were hoping for. Okay, okay, when could any game hyped this much ever live up to expectations? Well, the previous Mario platformers almost without exception did.
There seems little point in going into too much depth on this game as it is so similar to Mario 64, which is in turn so familiar to any gamer worth their salt. The addition of the backpack is an interesting diversion, but really it is only a tweak to the formula rather than any form of revolution. So you’ve got to ask yourself – do you want to replay what’s basically Mario 64, but set in totally new, perfectly designed levels? (if the answer isn’t yes, you’re a freak)
3. Wavebird
Hmmmm… I could have put Super Monkey Ball 2 here as it was fantastic (again, American console so this was 2002 for me, the original being 2001 so invalid), but it really wasn’t new enough to climb above the brilliance of the Wavebird. It’s simple, a controller, with no wires. It’s not significantly heavier than a usual controller and the wireless aspect is handled by radio waves so will even work 100% effectively through walls (forget the rubbish infra-red controllers, this is a whole new league). That’s just about all I can say, the benefit will depend on physically how you play your console. I recline on my bed with the TV at the foot. Due to the practicalities of having a huge TV and a number of consoles living in an already crowded bedroom, the consoles are quite a way from where I actually sit to play them. For the PS2 I need an ugly extension lead that leaves a huge wire trailing across the room. Gamecube, nothing, I’m totally unencumbered.
2002’s Disappointments
1. The Damp Squib of Broadband
On so many levels this is disappointing. For a start the god awful ADSL rollout, BT should be shot. They maintain on using a payback of three years on each exchange, when traditional BT projects have five year paybacks and they will provide no reason for the difference. Then the cost of the ASDL upgrade used to work out the trigger level includes the costs of repairing or replacing out dated equipment that BT will have to change anyway. Basically, the “trigger levels” could be a much lower. Then there’s the trigger levels themselves. It’s verging on illegal (literally). BT have a monopoly on the exchanges – only they can upgrade them. They benefit from this hugely in the phone business and make huge piles of cash because of it. However, they are using it unfairly here. They won’t upgrade an exchange until it reaches its trigger i.e. it’s profitable as an individual exchange. They don’t take into account the cash made from their highly lucrative inner-city exchanges. Their monopolistic position allows them to pick and choose their way to the highest profit in a manner they wouldn’t be able to if they had competition at the exchange level. Yeah, so they’re planning to let third parties bid to upgrade the exchanges, but this “plan” is years in the offing – when will they actually do it?
Then there’s the fact ADSL is barely broadband – 512k? That’s nowhere near fast enough for the full screen streaming video the adverts promise. Try the 8mb available to many Continentals, that’ll do it. We’re playing catch up with the rest of the developed world and we’re running backwards.
Microsoft’s attitude barely helps, not even providing an option for anyone without Broadband. They claim 56k isn’t enough for gaming. Rubbish, it isn’t perfect, but with optimised, efficient code they are highly possible. Oh, but that takes effort and money…
2. Metal Gear Solid 2
Rubbish. If I wanted to watch some talent-less screenwriter’s work with a bunch of new-age tripe I’d go watch a Stephen Segal film. I want to games where I play an active roll, not just act as a bridge between cut scenes.
3. Nintendo’s European Attitude
The only word for it is pathetic. Months for a PAL conversion? That’s not on – the amateur PS2 ripping teams can do it in weeks. Language translations can be done in a similar time, so why are we still getting this tripe? What Nintendo really need to say is the truth; they are diverting resources that would be used to print European titles to keep up with American demands. Get it sorted. Final slap in the face is the petty barring of the Freeloader. This handy bit of kit allows you to play games from anywhere on your UK Gamecube, but it has been delayed time and time again. Vicious internet rumours have assigned this to Datel’s inability to get the disk working effectively, simply not true. Nintendo have bared Datel from pressing any disks with their equipment (a problem in itself as Nintendo pretty much control the worlds output of 3.5 inch DVDs) and, more importantly, won’t licence the release. What exactly is the problem with us paying full price for genuine titles that just happen to come from another territory? If Nintendo Europe wants to keep local customers buying locally then treat us with a bit of respect. All irrelevant to me as I never believed the promises for near simultaneous worldwide releases around the time of the Gamecube’s launch and bought an American console in the first place.