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The Punisher (PS2)
by Thebaker50
Hi, this is my review of punisher on playstation 2.
The game is a 3rd person shooter, but with a more visceral element as opposed to a tactical element in common with most other shooting games. The game is based on the marvel comic books the punisher, a man who's family is killed by a criminal organisation (previous police ... officer). He becomes the punisher, because as quoted in the comics and films:
"its not about vengance, its not about justice, its all about punishment, and they deserve to be punished".
Ok so thats a brief plot summary out of the way, whats the game like?
Well the game starts off with your character in a prison cell being interogated by 2 officers, and one of them says something like so you mind telling us what happened, and there is a sort of flash back until where you start the level. THis contiunes all the way up to around the second form last level SPOILER ALERT where it turns out you intentionally get yourself caught by the police in order to kill one of the criminals who had hidden himself in jail. This plot is finished off nicely, and feels different, and in general just very awesome.
So, the gameplay.
There is a fair variety of guns, from pistols, hand cannons, automatic shotguns, flame throwers, sniper rifles, machine guns, assualt rifles... the list goes on. I think there must be about 24 weapons in total, but don't quote me on that. SOme weapons can even be used dual weilding, such as some SMGs, and pistols.
ONce in the game, you can uses these guns to shoot people, but as well as that if you get close, you can take some of them as human shields (steathy steathy time). Also, you can interogate them, and this forms on of the best and unique things about this game.
Basically, there are 2 main ways of interogation. Either just grab them, choose an interogation method (choke, punch etc) and press the buttons at the right time/direction to interogate. If you crack them, you get some extra points, some rage meter, and even some goodies like where weapons are hidden etc.
Another method is to use the environment, and there are set interogation areas (of which there are millions). For example, you could put your victim under a drill, and scare him by making him think you are about to drill a hole in his head. Or you could dangle your victim from a rooftop from his ankle, or leave him in a rhino enclosure and pull him away at the last second before a rhino charges him... the list is literally endless.
Note that if you interogate too hard, you kill your victim, and loose points. But tbh, sometimes you kill them intentionally just to see the gruesome graphics of drilling a hole in someones head (i need help :) )
Another cool part of this game is the "special kill", whereby you can kill people in awesome ways, by sticking flamethrowers in peoples mouths... grenade down throats, shotguns against necks etc. It adds another dimension to the game.
Finally, there is the general gameplay. It is awesome, and you feel like the enemies have a persona. For exmaple, I once got into a gunfight with 5 goons. I shot on of them in the leg with a shotgun, and it came completely off, blood everywhere. Most other games, that guy would die, and that would be that. But no, he falls to the floor screaming "my leg my leg my leg". Meanwhile one of his mates runs over to him and says "oh my god he got tony, he got tony he (i shot him too at this point, no idea what he was about to say next).
Its just little things like that throughout the game that make this game feel cool, and real.
But the graphics compared to games these days are outdated, and it is a bit gruesome game. But i think it is a very good game, and unlike any other game I know.
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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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Jimmy Neutron: Attack Of The Twonkies (PS2)
by cath_del
Jimmy Neutron used to be a great character on Nickelodeon, although I'm not too sure if they still play his cartoon anymore, and in 2005 had a game released based around him named Jimmy Neutron: Attack Of The Twonkies. Aimed at a young audience, this game is one that is not only fun and simple to learn the controls to but also manages to ... be as humourous as the television show was.
The game is rated at 3 plus due to the young target audience of the television show, and it is pretty accurate as anyone can play due to the simple controls and the missions are designed in an easy way for people to follow. Currently, this game is available for around £8 on Amazon and it's better just to buy it from them as it's unlikely you'll see it in even the preowned section of PS2 games.
The storyline is pretty simple and reminds me of a longer episode of his series Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Twonkus - 3 is a comet that flies past Earth every year and Jimmy wants to visit it, so he takes his homebuilt rocket and flies there. Unfortunately, a small cute alien which looks harmless finds it's way onto its rocket, and when they get back to Earth it causes a lot of trouble as it starts to multiply and eventually evolves into some really weird looking monsters. As Jimmy's reponsible for these mnonsters, it's now up to him to collect all of them and send them back to their comet.
The main objective is to make Jimmy run round his town using the gadgets he creates by picking up random objects to collect all the Twonkies around. At the beginning of the game you are only collecting the small Twonkies by using the Vacuum Demodulating Reciprocator (VDR) and this is relatively easy as you just have to collect a certain amount in the level. Then as the game progresses, so do the monsters, evolving into Stompers and Gromps which have to first use the Sheenograph (modelled on his best friends awful singing) to shrink them and then use the VDR.
Each level has different goals you have to complete before you move on, usually these are to collect a certain amount of Twonkies, to colllect a gadget or to talk to a specific person. They are pretty easy to understand and follow out, so kids will require little assistance from adults. However, the game does get slightly tricky at the end of some levels, as there are twonkie bosses you have to defeat. Two that stick in my mind is when Jimmy is at a playground and a frozen lake, as it took about 10 tries just to defeat this one level.
Aside from running around and collecting Twonkies, there is also some levels at which Jimmy has to fly in a rocket past objects or escaping from things. Aside from walking around to, Jimmy can also use his handy inventions of a jetpack or a lawnmower he finds around which adds a bit more to the platform element of the game.
At the end of each level you are rated with a grade to how well you did/how many twonkies you collected, and if you reach the A grade it unlocks a bonus level adding to the overall gameplay. Aside from collecting all the parts to make gadgets, there isn't that much collectables to get. But this isn't too important in this game, as they always have something new being made each level with the gadgets. However, when you complete levels, mini games and concept art is unlocked which is a nice feature.
Using the controls are really simple to grasp and use throughout the game as all you have to do is control Jimmy with the analog stick and then use the R2 buttons to switch gadgets. There isn't too much to learn in controls and only a few gadgets you have to use essentially, making it the perfect game for kids.
The graphics are pretty decent in this game, and it looks exactly like the cartoon series in 3D. It's nice being able to wander around the cartoon world in 3D and they are really well done for scenery and while not too much is focused upon small details they still look great. The cutscenes look pretty good to, and well animated unlike some cartoony games I have played. I'm pretty sure the same voice actors are used to and the sound effects match each gadget really well.
Overall, Jimmy Neutron: Attack Of The Twonkies is a great fun game that is perfect for kids to play and I would recommend it to anyone that was a fan of the television show. It keeps in with the humour that the show in it's storyline while combining with fun gameplay and good quality graphics and sound. While some of the boss fights can be difficult, this shouldn't distract away from the otherwise easy to understand and play levels.
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