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Brothers in Arms (PS2)
by heekeer
Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 is a shooter for the Playstation 2 developed by Gearbox.
The storyline follows you as Sergeant Baker and the rest of your squad who actually do have their own personalities and are not just mindless drones,
the games story is actually based on real events of the 101 st airborne division ... of the USA army who were dropped behind enemy lines just before the events of D Day took place, the action takes place during the fighting in France and leads up to the final defence of Hill 30. The story itself is quite compelling thanks to actually taking place you will unlock war photos of the actual events you take place in.
The gameplay on the face of it might appear as your usual war shooter where you can run and gun your way from point to point with ease, trying this in Brothers in Arms with leave you full of lead and very much dead. It does control like a standard shooter but the gunplay is not as satisfying as say a Call of Duty title.
The game has you take control of various squads which you can use to your advantage, enemies are usually dug into position and you have to suppress their fire with your squads and while they are busy you can flank them and take them out with relative ease. The game really makes you use your brain as you try and find a location of where your squad would be most effective but with a place for you to sneak around.
With multiple squads at your disposal this becomes even more tactical as you will want find ideal locations for all your squads. At times you even get a tank, you don't drive, but you can use it as a mobile cover point and man its mounted machine gun.
Graphics are quite realistic and the game is rather gritty in its portrayal of the war as there is quite a lot of blood and gore in the game. The voice work for your squad is very good and you will actually grow to care about them.
Brothers in Arms Road to Hill 30 is a good shooter offering a unique tactical style of play.
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Project Zero 2 - Crimson Butterfly (PS2)
by Mandekinz
Are you one of those who enjoy a good thrilling, heart pumping horror game, which by the way is overloaded with creepy ghosts and haunting atmospheres. Well heres Project Zero 2 - Crimson Butterfly.
Prepared to be scared.
My mum was given this game by my sister. After experiencing Project zero one, my mum never bothered ... playing number one, so the storyline was never that entirely sure with me. But number two, I did watch my mum play this game, as she loves to play these horrifying games. Unlike me and my sisters we would just jump and get all scared at the fact that the music makes you want to run away. If you are familiar with number one, then number two will sure set your heart for a race.
Crimson Butterfly has an amazing storyline which introduced two main characters, Mio and Mayu Amakura. The story begins with the twin sisters stumbling into a deserted village after following a crimson butterfly and must try to escape. They are also there to try and unfold the secrets of the ritual and battling the spirits of the undead. (the creepy scary ghosts.)
The story is told by Mio's perspective where she tries to discover whats going on, by the numerous clues and cut scenes which do occur throughout the gaming experience.
Its viewed in a third person narative with Mayu (Mio's sister) also appearing on screen, you don't actually take control of this character, except at times of cut scenes, you do one or two times control her for about 2-3 minutes. Then you are relived back to Mio. You will feel much better controlling Mio, because Mayu is very useless in the game, she is defencless and cries whenever their is a ghost attacking. Making this game harder, Mio not only has to protect herself and use the camera to snapshot, but you have to protect Mayu, because at times, ghosts can attack her as well.
One of the annoying pointers, is that Mayu continuously stalks Mio, which makes it very difficult to move around while controlling Mio. She can be stuck in tight corners where Mayu is blocking and can become very frustrating. But she can be pushed out the way, but sometimes she can block and you will have to reload the game.
The game also only introduced one weapon, your camera, which snaps photos of ghosts to make them disappear. This camera was made famous as the Camera Abscura in the number one hit game.
The game consists of different difficulty ghosts, which include some harmless ghosts where Mio has to act fast to capture the ghosts, even though they are harmless, they can build up points for you to upgrade your camera, with stun or new lenses which help defeat stronger enemies.
One of the good effects of this game are that when a ghost appears, your PS2 control will shake and a heartbeating sound will occur on screen, making you feel very disturbed and eager to run away screaming! ha ha!
The graphics are also fantastic, the fact that they textured everything to make it very daunting and dull. They created the characters very realisitic, but the lack of movement which makes it harder for gameplay, as Mio can only do a slow walk or a jog.
This game is full on tension building, and with its numerous japanese music, it really sets the mood for a dark depressing game, so you should turn up the volume which can create more fear.
This is a very good game, but it can take a very long time to complete, which may be a bonus to skilled players.
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Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (PS2)
by heekeer
Splinter Cell Double Agent is a stealth action game developed for the Playstation 2.
The story is told in flashbacks as Sam recounts the events after Chaos Theory. As Sam returns he is met by his commander Lambert, Sam is told his young daughter has been run over and killed, Sam then breaks down completely not caring what ... happens to him he decides to go for the most dangerous mission he can. He ditches his spy gear and chooses to infiltrate the terrorist group John Browns Army or the JBA, the story is one of the most gripping the series has to offer and is exciting all the way through.
A few new game mechanics have been added to the game most significantly the trust meter which is highly appropriate considering your role as a double agent, you will constantly have to balance the two completing some NSA objectives to satisfy them that you are still one of the good guys but not so much that the JBA will suspect you, letting this trust meter go down all the way for one of the factions will end the game.
The game also lets you make a few choices including really significant ones where you can either choose to kill or save your CIA friend Hisham and Sam's commander Irving Lambert, these moments are actually very intense.
The games trademark stealth gameplay is fully intact, Sam must stay in the cover of darkness and silently eliminate foes with his silenced weaponry which is explained by the NSA drop it in for him. The excellent melee system from Chaos Theory makes a return too allowing Sam to perform lethal and silent kills if he can get close to an enemy.
The game also includes some new co op missions for you to play with a friend including the exclusive to co op moves like helping your friend up to a ledge and helping him up, opening doors together and so on, these missions implements some elements from the games story it's really cool to perform missions to help out Sam.
Graphics haven't really improved since Chaos Theory but I think honestly they squeeze just about everything that's possible from the Playstation 2.
Splinter Cell Double Agent tells one of the series most exciting stories and is another superb game in the series.
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