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Ico (PS2)
by WayneKWilkins
I bought ICO on a whim quite recently after seeing it for £11.00 in my local CEX. I had hears of it before but had never researched it, so after holding the case for ten minutes while I read about it on my Blackberry, I decided to give it a go. It looked good immediately and considering it was a cult classic RPG adventure, I thought what ... have I really got to lose? Well, as it turns out, I had £11.00 to lose. I didn't buy into this ICO hype, and this game has put me off buying it's sequel, "Shadow of the Colossus" also, because I just plain and simply didn't like it, for a number of valid reasons.
The gameplay immediately looks brilliant. You are thrown right into the storyline from the get-go which is awesome and I did thoroughly enjoy it. Then, when you first get control of the main character at the beginning, it again has a brilliant feel to it. Kind of like Baldur's Gate. So, hooked, I carry on with the storyline. Then, out of nowhere, you rescue a girl from a cage. That's where it went down-hill for me. You have to, quite literally, hold this girl's hand through every single part of the game and let go only to defeat enemies that try to catch her. I thought this would just be temporary, like the Water Temple mission in Ocarina of Time, but after watching videos online, I soon realized that such a tedious thing actually follows you throughout the ENTIRE game...
I quickly got bored of holding her hand, then waiting for her to catch up, then defeating enemies that catch her, which by the way, is very dull as all the enemies do the same - just try to drag her down into the abyss. You kill them, done, repeat the process in two minutes. It was so boring, and that, along with the tediousness of having to hold her hand everywhere, quickly made this game incredibly dull and repetetive.
It's weird, because graphic and music wise, this game is perfect for me. I am a huge RPG fan as many of you know from my other reviews and as far as atmosphere is concerned, this game was flawless, as was the storyline - but the gameplay is a thorough let-down. If they would jsut let me kill that girl so I can play the game without - quite literally - having to hold some girl's hand because she doesn't seem to be able to do anything for herself then this could have been a brilliant game because of the surroundings, the general atmosphere, the storyline and the awesome controls. But, that little detail lets it down...
This game is a cult classic and has recieved pretty much only good reviews over the years and the one thing I ask is, WHY? I cannot get used to having to hold the girl's hand from the start of the game to the finish. The adventure element is flawless, the atsmophere, graphics, music and storyline are all amazing - and then that one HUGE let-down ruins the ENTIRE game for me. It's sad that I will never have the patience to finish this game, because it looks and plays wonderfully and would be an actual masterpiece to me if not for that obnoxious girl...
Give it a try at least once, you may not find it as tedious as me.
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The Getaway (Platinum Edition) (PS2)
by WayneKWilkins
INTRODUCTION
The Getaway, in many ways just feels like a clone of other games from the era, if not slightly more evolved. It feels like GTA and Driver. However, if you look past the façade, you will immediately see a flawless story perfectly detailing the more sinister side of England and the British crime scene. Featuring ... suits, real cars, a brilliant storyline and some flawless character development; The Getaway, today is a cult-classic, and for a very good reason - because the game really was brilliant. However, there are some let-downs which will be detailed below...
GRAPHICS
The graphics of The Getaway are very polished for the time. However, for today's standards, they would appear to be dated. Everything just has a nice shine to it and it pushes the PS2 to its limits. Everything from the suits, character shading and all the way to the brilliant detail of the cars, the buses and the streets of London is just awesome; the graphics are brilliant and fit the gameplay perfectly.
MUSIC
The music of The Getaway is good, but it could have been great. Considering the amount of effort that went into other elements of the game, they could have gone to town on the music to make it memorable. However, I usually forget about the music until it is pointed out to me. It isn't bad, and it does contribute to the atmosphere at certain points of the game, but it could be much, much better.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is where The Getaway really shines. You start off by controlling an ex convict who has just been released from prison. Then, he witnesses his wife murdered and his son kidnapped and just like that, he is thrown right back into the life of crime against his will. Think of Carlito's Way or Donnie Brasco, only set in London, and you have an eerily similar storyline. The storyline is phenomenal. The gameplay is what you would expect from this genre. After the first mission, you can free-roam around London as you please. You can steal cars, beat people up; just like Grand Theft auto, only in London. It is very well made and you can have fun following the storyline or just causing havoc around London.
PRICE
The Getaway is still very cheap these days. In-fact, you can usually get it for under 5 pounds, probably due to its age. It is well worth the money.
IN SUMMARY
The Getaway will appeal to fans of games such as Grand Theft auto and Driver, but it will also appeal to fans just looking for a great storyline with easy to master gameplay. The Getaway is well worth a play through at least once and even when the main story is over, you'll probably still find yourself playing this years on just to raise hell around London. A great all around game that is very difficult to criticise!
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The Incredibles (PS2)
by cath_del
The Incredibles is one of my favourite films by Pixar, based around a family of superheroes trying to hide their identities. So when they made a game out of it, I purchased it simply just because of how much I enjoyed the film. I didn't expect it to be as amazing as other games due to the fact it was based on a film, but it surprised me ... and was much better than expected.
The game is rated at 7 plus as there is a fair bit of violence that occurs in the game as you have to beat up enemies that try and stop the heroes. As it is a PS2 game it's quite cheap on Amazon now, and you can find it there for around £10. Occasionally I do see it in places like GAME, but this is very rare and they're at the same price that Amazon charge.
The PS2 storyline follows exactly the same as what happened in movie, as we follow the family of superheroes led by Mr Incredible and Elastigirl with their children Violet and Dash, hiding themselves from the publics eye and their attempts to be a normal family. Yet, they don't stay hidden for long when a villain named Syndrome appears with all his technology. There are random scenes which weren't included in the movie, but I think this improved the game, as ones that just copy the film directly always turn out bad.
The gameplay is mostly a platformer as you run around as one of the members of the family beating up various enemies, solving problems and doing things that only that members super power would let you. That's one thing I liked about the game, the levels were all suited around a particular character so they were relatively easy to understand and it meant not switching between characters all the time.
Mr Incredibles levels are a bit beat up em arcade style, where you go around punching waves of enemies down, throwing various heavy items and solving little puzzles which tend to involve something and his strength. Elastigirl in her levels has to solve things using her stretchiness so its generally her flying from one thing to another by reaching things far away or hitting them from far away before they have a chance to get to her. Playing as these two characters is pretty fun as they do do a lot of actions and loads go on to keep you entertained and challenged.
Dash's levels aren't really like this and they're more of a race as he runs so fast and you have to reach the end of the level in the time limit while avoiding obstacles. I found these levels to be quite short, but they are a perfect time as too long would just have got very dull. Violet isn't my favourite character to play out of the family, as the gameplay with her is centred mostly around stealth, and I just find that element of gaming annoying and difficult at times.
While the gameplay included in the Incredibles isn't the most unique around, it is pretty enjoyable to play throughout. The variety of characters, however annoying some of the parts of the levels can be, add to the game making it less repetitive than is expected of a platformer like this. The only annoying thing is that the characters themselves will make a lot of the same comments over, and over, and over again which if you play for a long time will have you really annoyed.
The graphics are well done within the game, and remind me of the movie itself, as they look animated enough to be cartoons but also have a humanish look to them. For those who are fans of the movie, they'll be happy to see that the characters have some details you'll see in the film, and while not as defined, they're still pretty decent. The sceneries are pretty good to, whether it's in the cities, forests or Syndrome's lab, most of them are as detailed as they can get and capture the look. This look is combined with a catchy superhero soundtrack and kept me wanting to play as it fit in with the whole beat up enemies style of the game.
Overall, I would say that this is a pretty decent game for those who are a fan of the Incredibles movie or looking for a platformer with a bit of variety. It is quite simple for the experienced gamer though, so I'd say it definitely is more of a kiddy game. However, there is quite a considerable amount of gameplay available and is not as bad as some titles I've seen direct from a movie, as they do try to change it a bit.
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