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True Crime: New York City (PS2)
by Thebaker50
True crime new york is such a shameless clone of gta, that is just not done as well. You play an undercover cop, who has to infiltrate gangs etc, and build reputation. You can do questionable acts, like deal drugs, kill people, break laws etc, to gain criminal notority (but will make your cop buddies question your real motives, and make ... them more likely to "blow" your cover), or you can help the cops by stopping robberies and so on. This is one neat thing about this game, you can kinda decide on what motivates your character, is he a good guy pretending to be bad, or vice versa?
Basically, the game is a 3rd person rpg shooter, almost the same in mechanics as GTA, but you can tell they did not spend too much time, this is a very glitchy game. For example, one of the weapons is the flashlight. You can buy it once, and you can turn it on, or throw it at an opponent. However, if you throw it, and don't pick it up, you can't then buy it again, or retrieve it from a shop. As far as I can work out, you can't get it back.
Things get worse, in the manual, it says you place weapons in car boots, to save them, and they will automatically reload etc. However, when I did this, and saved, the next time I went to my car, the weapons weren't there??? And when I went to the gun shop, it said that all the weapons were already owned!!! So basically I got through a few levels into the game, unlocked the shotgun, a wicked pistol, a silenced pistol, and a smg, and then lost them all, and onyl had the basic pistol left!
So, whats good:
I like the maps, and the driving mechanics. Both of these are exceedingly good. I also like the concept of the game, the way if you build you good notority, you can unlock nice police cars and weapons (pepper spray, police sniper rifles etc), or if you go bad, you can get jammed up criminal cars and butcher style weapons (sawn off shotgun etc).
The bad:
I get this feeling that this game is not finished. I can't really think of it as a game, its almost like the producers couldn't be bothered to finish it off properly, so just sent it out to be sold. A real shame, for this reason I give it 1/5 stars, its just way to glitchy, and i don't even consider it a game.
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Shrek the Third (PS2)
by darren55
Shrek the Third is a spn-off playstation2 game which loosely follows the plot of the film and the player follows Shrek, Fiona etc through various platform levels and in this reviewers opinion a very poor game.
We have 2 young boys (2 and 3) who loved playing Shrek2 on the PS2, so after completing that game we bought Shrek3 via ... a well known auction website expecting more interactive games. We received the game and to be honest it's been a huge letdown, Shrek2 was built around a set of different characters going around a level with each one using their skills to get to the end. So you used Shrek to pick things up, cat for climbing, ginger for throwing etc. The use of a multiplayer approach made the levels fun but also challenging for the younger players as they had to use the right character at the right time.
Shrek3 is a platform, beat em up with little variation and very few interactive challenges, indeed the characters are never together during any of the scenes. There is a lot of fighting and killing and very little plot beyond going from one level to the other, killing the baddies and then a door opens allowing the character to move to the next level. The game is appalingly simplistic in its programming and was a huge disappointment, added with the limited use of graphics and some terrible camera angles you got a game with limited playability.
My main disappointment is the fighting, it's way too much and seems to take over the entire game, this player found the constant fighting limited in its appeal but suspect the younger players probably enjoy endlessly beating up soldiers and witches.
The graphics were another let down, Shrek2 was colourful, changing and visually a bit of a riot of different shapes and colours but Shrek3 was a general pale white packground usually a castle or set of walls and the endless grey, white or pale blue suggested limited game writing. There was also very litle 360 movement, the events were largely linear and whilst the levels at first glance appeared detailed it soon became clear that the character controlled could only move into limited areas on each section.
All in all, a poor game, this 30 something finished the core of the game in a weekend and had little desire to go through all the levels again to find the hidden items to complete the tasks, a joy in Shrek2. Whilst not wanting to compare it too much with Shrek2 and perhaps judge it too lowly but it does feel like a slack piece of games writing and this player wished they'd spent less time on the endless sections between levels where the graphics are detailed and extensively and rather more on game play and interaction with the player.
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (PS2)
by cath_del
After playing the other games within the Guitar Hero brand and becoming pretty good at playing it on the Guitar Hero controller, I had to buy the new game when it came out, otherwise it's just pretty much of a waste of this new skill I'd acquired! The game lived up to it's expectations that I had of it and definitely has made some ... improvements from the previous in the series with even more great song titles to pick from.
The game was around £25 when I bought it, but this was simply down to the fact that the fancy PS3 didn't exist! Now however, you can buy it for around £15 from Amazon or cheaper preowned at a GAME store. It's rated at a 12 due to the fact that some of the songs can contain mild sex or drug references, but once your playing in the game, you get so immersed in hitting the notes at the right time, you'll probably never even notice them.
Those who have played Guitar Hero before will know that this game is no different to the others, and has the exactly the same controls and still uses the same controller as before. The simple definition for those who have not played before is that using a guitar controller that can be purchased relatively cheaply, you will have to hit the five fret buttons on the controller in time with when they appear on the screen while using the strummer. It does take a while to get the hang of, but once you play for a while, it does get much easier. Usually it takes around 20 minutes upon first playing to get to grips with playing it and from then on you'll be used to the controls.
Scoring is easy to understand on this game, as you get points based upon how many notes you hit and whether you hold the long notes for enough time. You are also awarded points for combos, which gave me a bit more added interest in the game as I was constantly trying to get really long combos. In the game, there is also the abilty to get Star Power bonuses, which are where you play enough Star notes in line correctly to gain this power. While this does boost you extra points, I found it quite annoying to start as you have to lift the controller to activate it, which took a few tries at some points and often would distract you from hitting notes correctly.
The fact that there is 4 different difficulty settings from Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert is really great for families who are playing as in mine it has allowed everyone to be able to play without needing others for assistance. The easy and medium are great for casual play or just getting started, as they are not too difficult and not too easy, so there is still a small element of challenge within the game.
However, when the game reaches Hard and Expert, there is a clear difference between the settings and these definitely do need to play these modes a lot to fully master them. The only problem I found with these settings however, is that sometimes the songs included within this mode are ridiculously difficult and can be hard to even get on 2 stars. You'd definitely have to master the Medium mode before even thinking about trying these. However, when you do complete them, there is some greatg satisfaction at getting a difficult song on 5 stars.
The music is clearly one of the best parts of the Guitar Hero games, and is what makes the game as great as it is. There is music for any rock fan, as it as such a wide range of songs to suit any taste. Classic rock has songs represented by The Rolling Stones and ZZ Tops, with Alternative Rock by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Queens of the Stone Age, Metal by Iron Maiden and Slayer and Punk by the Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys.
There must be around 80 songs to play on Guitar Hero, most of them with great accompanying guitar tunes that really fit the game which makes playing it feel much more acheiving as it is like you are really playing the song. The music is enough to keep it varied and interesting, as if the songs had all been the same I know I would have gotten bored of it extremely quickly. Each "level" has a different variety of songs to, so you never really have a music set where all the songs sound the same. I also really liked the fact that within the game there was the ability to purchase song sets from famous bands like Tool, and it gave me more of a motive to play, as I kept trying to raise enough money to buy the sets.
The graphics do look better than some of the PS2 games I have played in the past, and the locations that the characters play in are quite well done for this console. The colours really do mix in with the rocky vibe to it, and nothing ever glitches in it. The characters are well developed, with a lot of customisation options and a nice variety to choose from.
Guitar Hero III definitely does have a lot of gameplay involved within it, as you could play for hours trying to get all the high scores or beating your previous ones. Aside from that, there is also the chance to purchase clothing/characters/guitars to customise your gameplay, and along with song sets available these really keep those who like collecting everything in a game motivated to carry on playing to earn money.
Multiplayer mode is the same as it has been previously and it hasn't changed much since the previous games, this is a nice addition, but I didn't play it that much as it required another controller that my friend had to bring around. However, there is also the option of a co-op career mode, where you take on the role of a band, and can have different roles from singer or bass or guitar players. I didn't get much of a chance to fully try this out, but from what I played it was quite impressive, and if I had another guitar controller I would have probably ended up playing with my sister for a long time.
Overall, I would say this is a great game for any Guitar Hero fan or someone who simply wants to try out Guitar Hero. It has a lot of gameplay time for the price, and has so many famous songs, it is bound to keep any rock music fan happy whatever style they prefer. The new improvements have only bettered the game, and multiplayer mode has become even more fun from what I have experienced from it.
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